DIOGENES, "the Cynic," Greek philosopher, was born at Sinope about 412 B.C., and died in 323 at Corinth, according to Diogenes Laertius, on the day on which Alexander the Great died at Babylon. When his father was exiled Diogenes was in cluded in the charge and went to Athens. Attracted by the ascetic teaching of Antisthenes, he became his pupil, and rapidly excelled his master both in reputation and in the austerity of his life. The stories which are told of him are probably true ; in any case, they serve to illustrate the logical consistency of his character. He inured himself to the vicissitudes of weather by living in a tub belonging to the temple of Cybele. The single wooden bowl he possessed he destroyed on seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. On a voyage to Aegina he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Crete to a Corinthian named Xeniades. Being asked his trade, he replied that he knew no trade but that of governing men, and that he wished to be sold to a man who needed a master. As tutor to the two sons of Xeniades, he lived in Corinth for the rest of his life, which he devoted entirely to preaching the doctrines of self-control. It was, probably, at the Isthmian games, during which he used to lecture, that he craved from Alexander the single boon that he would not stand between him and the sun. to which Alexander replied "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." On his death the Corinthians erected to his memory a pillar on which there rested a dog of Parian marble. His ethical teaching will be found in the article CYNICS (q.v.). It may suffice to say here that virtue, for him, consisted in the avoidance of all physical pleasure; that pain and hunger were positively helpful in the pursuit of goodness ; that morality implies a return to nature and simplicity. Both in ancient and in modern times, his personality has appealed strongly to sculptors and to painters. Ancient busts exist in the museums of the Vatican, 'the Louvre and the Capitol. The interview between Diogenes and Alexander is represented in an ancient marble bas-relief found in the Villa Albani.
The chief ancient authority for his life is Diogenes Laertius vi. 20; see also Mayor's notes on Juvenal, Satires, xiv. 308-314; Quellen Untersuchungen z. Leben n. Philosophie des Diogenes von Sinope (Philolojus, Supplementband 18, 1926) .