# Bias of Priene — The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers character guide

> Bias of Priene in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bias with Salarus of Priene

**First appearance:** 0008-bias

## Snapshot

The Prienian sage who held that the wise man lives by the law of virtue rather than the laws of the state, and who said a just man is worth more than a relative.

## Who they are

Bias of Priene belongs to the Seven Sages, but the doctrines Diogenes records under his name have a harder, more self-reliant edge: virtue is a weapon no one can take from you, prudence is the safest fortification, and one should attend to one's enemies because they are the first to notice one's errors. He is credited with the maxim that the wise man will marry for children and choose the most beautiful wife, and with the claim that virtue is the same in a woman as in a man — a striking line in a collection otherwise full of casual misogyny. He matters as a hinge between the practical wisdom of the sages and the sterner ethics that later Stoics would claim as their inheritance.

## In the story

### [Thales](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/thales)

Mentioned as another sage who invited Solon to Priene.

### [Bias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/bias)

Central figure of the chapter; a wise man of Priene, son of Teutamus, known for his virtue, eloquence, and practical wisdom.

## Links

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