Ariston of Chios’ meeting with Polemon and Zenon’s illness: an exegetical note on Diog. Laert. 7,162

Diogenes Laertios (7,162), citing the late Hellenistic biographer and doxographer Diokles of Magnesia, reports that the ‘dissident’ Stoic Ariston of Chios, after meeting the Academic Polemon, left his master Zenon of Kition when the latter was suffering from a protracted illness. We argue that this anecdote, which is not attested in other ancient sources, is to be interpreted in the light of the doctrinal debate concerning the concept of the preferable indifferent that arose between Ariston, Zenon, and Polemon.