DIOGENES

This article appears in Volume V08, Page 282 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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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

GREAT

died at Babylon. His father, Icesias, a money-changer, was imprisoned or exiled on the charge of adulterating the coinage. Diogenes was included in the charge, and went to Athens with one attendant, whom he dismissed, saying, " If Manes can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes ? " Attracted by the ascetic teaching of Antisthenes, be became his pupil, despite the brutality with which he was received, 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

CRETE (Gr. Kp;rrrr; Turk. Kirid, Ital. Candia)

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 virtuous self-

control

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

. At the Isthmian games he lectured to large audiences who turned to him from Antisthenes. It was, probably, at one of these festivals 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, about which there exist several accounts, the Corinthians erected to his memory a pillar on which there rested a dog of Parian

marble

MARBLE (from Lat. marmor, Gr. pApľapos, shining stone)

. His ethical teaching will be found in the article

CYNICS

CYNICS

(q.v.). It may suffice to say here that virtue, for him, consisted in the avoidance of all

physical

PHYSICAL

pleasure; that pain and hunger were positively helpful in the pursuit of goodness; that all the artificial growths of society appeared to him incompatible with truth and goodness; that moralization implies a return to nature and simplicity. He has been credited with going to extremes of impropriety in pursuance of these ideas; probably, however, his reputation has suffered from the undoubted immorality of some of his successors. 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

MARBLE (from Lat. marmor, Gr. pApľapos, shining stone)

bas-relief found in the Villa Albani.

Rubens

RUBENS, PETER PAUL (1577-164o)

, Jordaens, Steen, Van der Werff, Jeaurat, Salvator Rosa and Karel Dujardin have painted various episodes in his life.
The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

ancient authority for his life is Diogenes Laertius vi. 20; see also Mayor's notes on Juvenal, Satires, xiv. 308-314; and article

CYNICS

CYNICS

.

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