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DIOGENES

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 282 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIOGENES , " the Cynic," See also:

Greek philosopher, was See also:born at See also:Sinope about 412 B.C., and died in 323 at See also:Corinth, according to Diogenes Laertius, on the See also:day on which See also:Alexander the See also:Great died at See also:Babylon. His See also:father, Icesias, a See also:money-changer, was imprisoned or exiled on the See also:charge of adulterating the coinage. Diogenes was included in the charge, and went to See also:Athens with one attendant, whom he dismissed, saying, " If See also:Manes can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes ? " Attracted by the ascetic teaching of See also:Antisthenes, be became his See also:pupil, despite the brutality with which he was received, and rapidly excelled his See also:master both in reputation and in the austerity of his See also:life. The stories which are told of him are probably true; in any See also:case, they serve to illustrate the logical consistency of his See also:character. He inured himself to the vicissitudes of See also:weather by living in a tub belonging to the See also:temple of See also:Cybele. The single wooden bowl he possessed he destroyed on seeing a See also:peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. On a voyage to See also:Aegina he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in See also:Crete to a Corinthian named Xeniades. Being asked his See also:trade, he replied that he knew no trade but that of governing men, and that he wished to be sold to a See also:man who needed a master. As See also:tutor to the two sons of Xeniades, he lived in Corinth for the See also:rest of his life, which he devoted entirely to See also:preaching the doctrines of virtuous self-See also:control. At the Isthmian See also: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 See also:sun, to which Alexander replied " If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." On his See also:death, about which there exist several accounts, the See also:Corinthians erected to his memory a See also:pillar on which there rested a See also:dog of Parian See also:marble.

His ethical teaching will be found in the See also:

article See also:CYNICS (q.v.). It may suffice to say here that virtue, for him, consisted in the avoidance of all See also:physical See also:pleasure; that See also:pain and See also: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 See also:ancient and in See also:modern times, his See also: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-See also:relief found in the See also:Villa See also:Albani. See also:Rubens, See also:Jordaens, See also:Steen, See also:Van der Werff, Jeaurat, Salvator See also:Rosa and Karel Dujardin have painted various episodes in his life. The See also:chief ancient authority for his life is Diogenes Laertius vi. 20; see also See also:Mayor's notes on See also:Juvenal, Satires, xiv. 308-314; and article CYNICS.

End of Article: DIOGENES

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