Epimenides, 2.
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Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap.
— Diogenes Laërtius
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap." in the context of "Epimenides, 2." to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Diogenes Laërtius" (Quotes, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 2: Socrates, his predecessors and followers)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius (fl. c. 3rd century AD), was a biographer of ancient Greek philosophers. His Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, in ten books, is still extant and is an important source of information on the development of Greek philosophy. The period when he lived is not exactly known, but it is supposed to have been during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
About Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius (fl. c. 3rd century AD), was a biographer of ancient Greek philosophers. His Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, in ten books, is still extant and is an important source of information on the development of Greek philosophy. The period when he lived is not exactly known, but it is supposed to have been during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
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