Through watching a mouse running about, says Theophrastus in the Megarian dialogue, not looking for a place to lie down in, not afraid of the dark, not seeking any of the things which are considered to be dainties, he discovered the means of adapting himself to circumstances. Once when he stretched out his staff against him, the pupil offered his head with the words, ' Strike, for you will find no wood hard enough to keep me away from you, so long as I think you've something to say.' From that time forward he was his pupil, and, exile as he was, set out upon a simple life.

Being repulsed by him, because he never welcomed pupils, by sheer persistence Diogenes wore him out. On reaching Athens he fell in with Antisthenes. But Eubulides in his book on Diogenes says that Diogenes himself did this and was forced to leave home along with his father. Diocles relates that he went into exile because his father was entrusted with the money of the state and adulterated the coinage. He is said to have died of old age in the same year as Alexander the Great in 323 BC.ĭiogenes was a native of Sinope, son of Hicesius, a banker. Later on in his life he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery in Crete to Xeniades, who was so impressed by the philosopher that he made him the teacher of his children. If people back then were anything like they are today, he probably didn't find any. It also is said that he used to carry a lantern around with him in search of an honest man. According to legend he even went so far as to live for a period of time in a pithos or large tub. Taking the Cynic's way of life to heart, Diogenes rejected all of the comforts of civilized life, and lived an extremely ascetic lifestyle. Having to flee from Sinope because of charges against him and his father for debasing the public coin, Diogenes went to Athens where he studied under Antisthenes. Theother, more notorious, Diogenes was Diogenes of Sinope who was a famous Cynic philosopher living during the time of Plato (the 4th century BC). The first is Diogenes Laertius who lived during the 3rd century AD and who wrote an important work entitled, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (several of your readings for this course, in fact, have come from this work). There are two famous Diogenes' in the ancient world.

Diogenes of sinope life and legend