He lived with dogs since he couldn't find an honest man. Smart guy.
Diogenes Diogenes was the most famous of the Cynics. He desperately wanted to be a disciple of Antisthenes, but the latter initially chased him out of his house with a stick. Antisthenes was eventually charmed by Diogenes's dogged desire to study under the master, so he was accepted into the Cynical fold.
Diogenes lived the life of a homeless man, wearing tattered robes, begging for food, sleeping on the street, and occasionally in a pithos, which is a large tub or barrel. As an old man, he was on a sea voyage when he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery. On the auction block, he announced that he was a natural leader, so he should be purchased by someone who wanted a master. A wealthy man in the crowd found this to be hilarious and promptly bought him, freed him, and made Diogenes the tutor of his children. During this period, it is said that he met Alexander the Great, and the eccentric Cynic asked the world conqueror to move because he was blocking the sun. This apparently thoroughly charmed Alexander.
If all these anecdotes seem like tall tales, they very well may be. Poets and playwrights such as Juvenal and Plutarch recounted much these long after the fact. Even the story of Diogenes's death may be apocryphal. Legend has it he lived to the ripe old age of ninety, and the monument of a dog was erected at his gravesite. |
