CEBES

Form: Gr. Kebes.

A Greek philosopher, the author of a school-book called Pinax or "The Picture," which was very popular, and was translated into Arabic. It is a dialogue upon an allegorical picture, representing the condition of the soul before its union with the body, and the nature of human life in general. The purport of the conversation is to prove that the foundations of happiness are development of the mind and the conscious practice of virtue. It is doubtful to which Cebes the book is to be referred, for there were two philosophers of the name. One was Cebes of Thebes, the disciple of Socrates, who wrote three philosophical dialogues, one of which bore the title Pinax; the other was a Stoic of Cyzicus, who flourished in the 2nd century A.D.