ssary to make ourselves somewhat
familiar with the environment in which he lived and wrote. We
shall thus be able to comprehend more fully the standpoint from
which he regarded philosophical questions.

Let us accordingly attempt to give some details of his life,
including his profession, the time when he lived, the place of
his birth, the country in which he taught, and the general aim
and character of his works. Here, however, we encounter great
difficulties, for although we possess most of the writings of
Sextus well preserved, the evidence which they provide on the
points mentioned is very slight. He does not give us
biographical details in regard to himself, nor does he refer to
his contemporaries in a way to afford any exact knowledge of
them. His name even furnishes us with a problem impossible of
solution. He is called [Greek: Sextos ho empeirikos] by Diogenes
Laertius[1]: [Greek: Herodotou de diekouse Sextos ho empeirikos
hou kai ta deka ton skeptikon kai alla kallista' Sextou de
diekouse Satorninos ho Kythenas, empeirikos kai autos]. Although
in this passage Diogenes speaks of Sextus the second time
without the surname, we cannot understand the meaning otherwise
than that Diogenes considered Sextus a physician of the
Empirical School. Other evidence also is not wanting that Sextus
bore this surname. Fabricius, in his edition of the works of
Sextus, quotes from the _Tabella de Sectis Medicorum_ of
Lambecius the statement that Sextus was called Empiricus because
of his position in medicine.[2]

Pseudo-Galen also refers to him as one of the directors of the
Empirical School, and calls him [Greek: Sextos ho
empeirikos].[3] His name is often found in the manuscripts
written with the surname, as for example at the end of _Logic
II_.[4] In other places it is found written without the surname,
as Fabricius testifies, where Sextus is mentioned as a Sceptic
in connection with Pyrrho.

[1] Diog. Laert. IX. 12, 116.

[2] Fabricius _Testimonia_, p. 2.

[3] Pseudo-Galen _Isag._ 4; Fabricius _Testimonia_, p. 2.

[4] Bekker _Math._ VIII. 481.

The Sceptical School was long closely connected with the
Empirical School of medicine, and the later Pyrrhoneans, when
they were physicians, as was often the case, belonged for the
most part to this school. Menedotus of Nicomedia is the first
Sceptic, however, who is formally spoken of as an Empirical
physician,[1] and his contemporary Theodas of Laodicea was