Myson of Chenae

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Myson of Chenae (also Khenai or Chen; Greek: Μύσων ὁ Χηνεύς) was an eminent Greek philosopher, known as, according to some accounts, one of the Seven Sages of Greece. He was "a husbandman of the Laconian town of Etia, and resided at a place called Chen in the same country".¹ According to Sosicrates, who quoted Hermippus, Myson was the son of Strymon, a tyrant of his country. He died at the age of 97. ^[3]

In Protagoras, Plato lists Myson of Chen as one of the Seven Sages of Greece, instead of Periander, son of Kypselos, who was claimed as one by Stobaeus, citing Demetrius of Phaleron as his authority. Eudoxus also lists Myson, but omits Cleobulus instead.

The Oracle of Delphi proclaimed Myson the wisest of all men when Anacharsis consulted it:

"Myson of Chen in Oeta; this is he

Who for wiseheartedness surpasses thee;" ^[3]

There is some confusion as to whether he was a true Spartan: "there is a story in Plutarch, (Quaest. Rom. 84), of Myson making in winter a fork for tossing the corn, and, when Chilon wondered at it, of his justifying himself by an apposite answer; where Myson is opposed, as a Perioecian farmer, to the noble Spartan".²

[edit] Quotations

"We should not investigate facts by the light of arguments, but arguments by the light of facts." ^[3]

[edit] References

The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Karl Otfried Müller, trans from the German by Henry Tufnell and George Cornewall Lewis, 2nd Edition, revised, publisher: John Murray, 1839. Vol II, pg 26. Public Domain.
See also: Plato Protagoras; Diod. de Virt. et Vit. p. 551. Paus. X 24.1. Clement of Alexandria Stromata. I. p. 299. Sylf. Steph. Byz. in χην and ητια.
^{^} Diogenes Laertius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Translated by R. D. Hicks. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Volume 1. 1982. Page 113.