DIOGENES, di-oj'e-nez, the most famous of the Cynic philosophers: b. about 412 ac., in Sinope, city of Pontus in Asia; d. Corinth 323 B.C. Having been banished from his native place with his father Icesias, a banker, who had been accused of coining false money, he went to Athens and requested Antisthenes to admit him among his disciples. That philoso pher in vain attempted to repel the importunate supplicant, even by blows, but finally granted his request. Diogenes devoted himself, with the greatest diligence, to the lessons of his master, whose doctrines he extended still fur ther. At the same time he applied, in its fullest extent, his principle of divesting himself of all superfluities. He taught that a wise man, in order to be happy, must endeavor to pre serve himself independent of fortune, of men and of himself; in order to do this, he must despise riches, power, honor, arts and sciences, and all the enjoyments of life. He endeavored to exhibit, in his own person, a model of Cynic virtue. For this purpose he subjected himself to the severest trials and disregarded all the forms of polite society. He often struggled to overcome his appetite or satisfied it with the coarsest food; practised the most rigid temperance, even at feasts, in the midst of the greatest abundance, and did not even consider it beneath his dignity to ask alms. By day he walked through the streets of Athens barefoot, without any coat, with a long beard, a stick in his hand and a wallet on his should ers; by night he slept in a tub, though this last has been doubted. He defied the inclemency of the weather and bore the scoffs and insults of the people with the greatest equanimity. Seeing a boy draw water with his hand, he threw away his wooden goblet as an unnecessary utensil. He never spared the follies of men, but openly and loudly inveighed against vice and corruption, attacking them with satire and irony. The people, and even the higher classes, heard him with pleasure, and tried their wit upon him. When he made them feel his su periority, they often had recourse to abuse, by which, however, he was little moved. On a
voyage to the island of iEgina he fell into the hands of pirates, who sold him as a slave to the Corinthian Xeniades in Crete. The latter emancipated him and entrusted him with the education of his children. In summer he lived at Corinth and in winter at Athens. It was at the former place that Alexander found him on the roadside basking in the sun, and aston ished at the indifference with which the ragged beggar regarded him, entered into conversation with him, saying, "I am Alexander the Great," to which the philosopher answered, "And I am Diogenes the Cynic.'" Alexander finally gave him permission to ask for a boon. "I as nothing,") answered thephilosopher, "but that thou wouldst get out of my sunshine." Sur prised at this proof of content, the king is said to have exclaimed: "Were I not Alexander, I would be
At another time be was carrying a lantern through the streets of Athens in the daytime: on being asked what he was looking for, he answered, "I am seeking an honest man? Thinking he had found in the Spartans the greatest capacity for becoming such men as he wished, he said, "Men I have found nowhere; but children, at least, I have seen at Lacedxmon." We are told that Socrates once remarked to him, "I see your vanity through the holes of your coat"; but history will not admit of the truth of this anecdote. No doubt many of the anecdotes told of this singular man are fiction. He died 323 s.c., at a great age, and, according to tradition, on the same day with Alexander the Great. When he felt death approaching he seated himself on the road leading to Olympia, where he died with philosophical calmness, in the presence of a great number of people, who were collected around him. Consult Hermann,
Geschichte and Kritik des Diogenes von Sinope' (Heil bronn 1860); Windelband-Bonhoffer, (Ge schichte der antiken Philosophie' (3d ed., Mu nich 1912) ; Zeller,