Democʹritos

The laughing philosopher of Abdeʹra. He should rather be termed the deriding philosopher, because he derided or laughed at people’s folly or vanity. It is said that he put out his eyes that he might think more deeply.

“Democritus, dear droll, revisit earth,

And with our follies glut thy heightened mirth.”

Prior.

Democʹritus Junior. Robert Burton, author of The Anatomy of Melancholy (1576–1640).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.