CEBES  , the name of two

Greek philosophers . (1) CEBES OF Cvzscus, mentioned in Athenaeus (iv . 156 D), seems to have been a Stoic, who lived during the reign of Marcus Aurelius . Some would attribute to him the Tabula Cebetis (see below),but as that work was well known in the time of Lucian, it is probably to be placed earlier . (2) CEBES OF THEBES, a disciple of Socrates and Philolaus . He is one of the speakers in the Phaedo of Plato, in which he is represented as an earnest seeker after virtue and truth, keen in argument and cautious in decision . Three dialogues, the `E(3Soµn, the 4puvtXos and the Ilivat, or Tabula, are attributed to him by Suidas and Diogenes Laertius . The two former are lost, and most scholars deny the authenticity of the Tabula on the ground of material and verbal anachronisms . They attribute it either to Cebes of Cyzicus (above) or to an anonymous author, of the 1st century A.D., who assumed the character of Cebes of Thebes . The work professes to be an interpretation of an allegorical picture in the temple of Cronus at Athens or Thebes . The author develops the Platonic theory of pre-existence, and shows that true education consists not in mere erudition, but rather in the formation of character . The' Tabula has been widely translated both into European languages and into Arabic (the latter version published with the Greek text and Latin translation by Salmasius in 164o) .

It is usually printed together with

Epictetus . Separate editions by C . S . Jerram (with introduction and notes, 1878), C . Prachter (1893), and many others . See Zeller's History of Greek Philosophy; F . Klopfer, De Cebetis Tabula (1818–1822) ; C . Prachter, Cebetis Tabula quanam aetate conscripta esse videatur (1885) .