Of the
early philosophers who followed in the footsteps of Socrates, no-one was as striking, or as
eccentric, as Diogenes.
He was the original stoic, a man who rid himself of the trappings of society, living in an
oversized wine casket and championing the lifestyle of dogs over humans.
He also challenged all of the norms of society, shocking people with his outrageous actions
and cutting wit.
In today’s Biographics, we take a close look at the bizarre life of Diogenes the Cynic.
Beginnings The life of Diogenes is woven in legend and
myth.
Getting to the facts of his life is difficult and there is much that is not known.
We do know that he was born in the Greek city of Sinope between 412 and 403 BCE.
He was the son of a prominent civil servant by the name of Hicesias, who was the master
of the town mint.
This position would have provided the family with a higher standard of living than most
people.
That is all we know of Diogenes’ early years.
Ancient biographers tell us that his fascination with philosophy began with a scandal involving
his home city.
Sinope was a busy seaport situated in the southern coast of Euxine, which we know as
the Black Sea.
It was a crossroads between Crimea to the north and Upper Mesopotamia to the south.
Many of the people who lived in Sinope had been resettled from Athens.
As a result, the city was a regional center of Greek culture.
The coinage of Sinope was the preferred currency for regional trade.
At some point, an accusation was made that the master of the mint, Hicesias, had been
tampering with the coinage.
One account, that of Eubulides, claims that it was actually Diogenes himself, who was
working at the mint, who damaged the coinage.
Either way, both father and son were forced to flee the city.
One account tells us that they were eventually caught, convicted and sent to prison, with
Hicesias dying in his cell, while Diogenes managed to escape.
Exile Diogenes now found himself driven from his
hometown.
He had lost his home, his possessions, his livelihood and his citizenship.
Some accounts claim that he travelled to Delphi, near Mount Parmassus in upper central Greece.
It was there that the seat of Pythia was located.
This was the home of the oracle, the priestess of the sanctuary dedicated to Apollo.
The oracle was renowned as being a source of wisdom and prophecy.
Diogenes is said to have consulted the Oracle to inquire how to restore his besmirched reputation.
She replied . . . Deface the currency.
Diogenes apparently took the advice figuratively rather than literally.
Having been wrongly accused of defacing the physical currency of his home city, he would
now deface the currency of society.
He would do this by finding a way to take counterfeit moral values out of society.
A biography written by Diogenes of Laertius (no relation) stated . . .
, giving to matters of convention nothing of the weight that he granted to matters that
accord with nature, and asserting that the manner of life he lived was the same as that
of Heracles when he preferred freedom to everything.
Citizen of the World Diogenes next travelled to Athens in search
of further enlightenment.
He resolved to take his adverse situation and convert it into a virtue.
He began to assert his pride in being without a state, a home or any material possessions,
referring to himself as a cosmopolitan or ‘citizen of the world’.
He spent some time in Athens, where he sought guidance from a famous orator by the name
of Gorgias.
At this time there were a growing number of followers of Socrates in Athens.
Diogenes came into contact with some of them, including Plato, Aristippus and Eucleides
of Megara.
He chose to become a disciple of Antisthenes, who was one of the most committed of Socrates
students to living a life of radical freedom.
According to Antisthenes, virtue was expressed in actions, not in thought or discourse.
He saw little value in teaching, much preferring to converse with himself.
Diogenes became like a shadow to Antisthenes.
After some time, the master became annoyed at his constant close proximity.
He lifted his staff in order to warn Diogenes off.
At this, Diogenes said . . . 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.
Diogenes copied Antisthenes’ style and manner.
He developed a similar cutting humor and extreme practices.
On one occasion, Diogenes was trying to sleep in a corner of a room, when he was disturbed
by Athenians who were involved in revelries and partying.
This caused him to fall into a mood of reflection.
First century Greek writer Plutarch related that he . . .
fell into some very disturbing and disheartening reflections.
He mentally compared the efforts he was making to live a simple life with the licentious
living of the people of the city.
Plutarch goes on . . .
A moment later, however, a mouse, it is said, crept up and busied itself with the crumbs
of his bread, whereupon he once more recovered his spirits, and said to himself as though
rebuking himself for cowardice, ‘What are you saying, Diogenes?
Your leavings make a feast for this creature, but as for you, a man of birth and breeding,
just because you cannot be getting drunk over there, reclining on soft and flowery couches,
do you bewail and lament your lot?’
Diogenes concluded that if a mouse could be satisfied with a few crumbs, why couldn’t
he be happy with little means?
This incident prompted Diogenes to take his ascetic way of life to new levels.
He remained single by choice and traveled very lightly, with just a knapsack and a folded
cloak that he used as a bed.
He had no home, traveling from city to city.
He would often sleep outdoors but when he was in Corinth, he was said to have made a
home out of a clay wine jar that was as big as a bathtub.
He would test his mental fortitude by rolling in hot sand in summer and hugging statues
covered in snow for extended time periods during winter.
Diogenes was constantly seeking ways to make his life even more simple.
On one occasion, he saw a young boy drinking water from his hand.
He then took his cup from his knapsack and broke it, exclaiming . . .
Fool that I am, to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time!
He made no attempts to groom himself.
In fact, his appearance was so unkempt that people referred to him as ‘the dog’.
When asked why people refer to him that way, he said . . .
I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in
rascals.
There are many accounts that refer to the dog-like behaviour of Diogenes.
He personally praised the nature of dogs and so probably felt that the references to him
being doglike, which were intended as insults were actually compliments.
He counselled others to look to the dog as a model of how to live a natural, unaffected
life.
Dogs, he pointed out, perform their natural bodily functions in public, they eat anything
offered to them and sleep anywhere.
They also live off instinct, have no anxieties about the future and are not weighed down
by materialism or philosophy.
Writings It is unknown how many written works were
produced by Diogenes.
They range from none at all to thirteen.
None of them have survived so we have to rely on what others have recorded about his writings.
According to 1st century writer Philodemus, Diogenes wrote some very controversial things.
These included that there is nothing in existence that is naturally good.
He also apparently gave defences for such things as cannibalism, incest, sexual promiscuity
and murder.
Philodemus claimed that the contents of Diogenes body of work were so scandalous that later
stoics deliberately suppressed them in order to clean up his image.
Diogenes differed from philosophers like Socrates and Plato in that he did not seek out others
to engage in intellectual discussions.
Nor did he attempt to start up a philosophical school or pass on his teachings to others.
In contrast to Socrates and Plato, he also showed absolutely no interest in politics
or civil matters.
He was the ultimate loner who much preferred his own company to that of other people.
The one exception to his tendency to isolation was when the would travel to the great athletic
contests of the times.
He joined the crowds at the Olympian, Isthmian and Pythian Games.
At these events he would spend more time watching the crowds than the athletes, as he studied
what brings man pleasure and excitement.
His unkempt look and strange habits would inevitably draw a crowd, which he would play
up to with some outrageous comment or outrageous act.
He would then tell the people that everyone who followed his example would . . .
be relieved of folly, wickedness, and intemperance.
Diogenes seemed to revel in the flouting of conventional societal norms.
He believed that anything done in private should also be done in public.
As a result, he would regularly masturbate and urinate in public.
Once at the Isthmian Games, he was talking to a crowd of people about the struggle to
resist temptation.
When he had finished speaking, he squatted on the ground and proceeded to defecate on
the ground.
The disgusted crowd turned away, calling him a crazy man.
On another occasion, people began throwing their bones to him as if he were a dog.
In response he began to urinate over the bones.
At times he appeared to go out of his way to insult people for no reason.
There is an instance recorded of one of his admirers inviting him into a mansion and asking
him not to spit in the house.
In response, Diogenes projected a full mouthful of phlegm into
the man’s face.
Taken Captive During a voyage to Aegina, Diogenes was captured
by pirates.
1st century writer Philo of Alexandria gives us an account of how his stoicism shone through
during this ordeal . . . When he was taken prisoner…, and when they
fed him very sparingly, and scarcely gave him even necessary food, he was not weighed
down by the circumstances which surrounded him, and did not fear the inhumanity of the
masters into whose power he had fallen, but said, “that it was a most absurd thing for
pigs or sheep, when they are going to be sold, to be carefully provided with abundant food,
so as to be rendered fat and fleshy; but for the most excellent of all animals, man, to
be reduced to a skeleton by bad food and continual scarcity, and so to be rendered of less value
than before.”
And then, when he had otained sufficient food, and when he was about to be sold with the
rest of the captives, he sat down first, and breakfasted with great cheerfulness and courage,
giving some of his breakfast to his neighbors.
And seeing one of them not merely sorrowful, but in a state of extreme despondency, he
said, “Will you not give up being miserable?
Take what you can get.”
The pirates put Diogenes up for sale at a slave auction.
When the auctioneer asked him what he was good for, he replied . . .
Ruling over men.
He then went on to let loose with one of his sarcastic discourses, turning the auction
on its head.
He was eventually purchased by a Corinthian by the name of Xeniades, who was impressed
with his wit.
He gave Diogenes the job of tutoring his two sons.
Diogenes spent the rest of his life in Corinth, though he was released as a slave after some
time.
It has been recorded that when Alexander the Great passed through on his journey of conquest
over the Persian world, he sought out Diogenes.
Alexander expected to be met with the usual adulation that he was accustomed to having
heaped upon him.
He came across Diogenes lying in the sun.
Alexander approached him and told him that he would like to grant any wish that Diogenes
desired.
This was intended to be an act of respect toward Diogenes while also reflecting Alexander’s
great power.
In response, however, Diogenes simply asked that Alexander move out of the sunlight.
Alexander was initially taken aback by what could have been perceived as a lack of respect.
But as he walked away from the philosopher, he commented that if he wasn’t Alexander,
he would wish to be Diogenes.
There are accounts of further interaction between the two men.
According to Arab tradition.
Alexander once visited Diogenes in Corinth and found him sleeping.
Alexander kicked to waken him and then said . . .
Get up.
I have just conquered your city!
At this, Diogenes is said to have responded . . .
Conquering cities is not to be held against kings, but kicking is how donkeys act.
On yet another occasion, Alexander is said to have sent a messenger to Diogenes to invite
him to some and see the king.
The stoic refused the offer, instructing the messenger to say to Alexander . . .
That which prevents you from coming to us is that which prevents us from coming to you.
The messenger was apprehensive and told Diogenes what he expected the king to say, which was
. . . So, what prevents me and what prevents you?
To this, Diogenes replied . . . You are too powerful to need me—and I am
too self-sufficient to need you.
Self-Mastery Diogenes believed that the truest level of
freedom was to develop perfect mastery over oneself.
This self-sovereignty was what he sought to achieve in every area of his life.
First century stoic philosopher Epictetus summed up Diogenes’ beliefs as follows . . .
In all that pertains to yourself, you must change completely from your present practices,
and must cease to blame God or man; you must utterly wipe out desire, and must turn your
aversion toward the things which lie within the province of the moral purpose, and these
only; you must feel no anger, no rage, no envy, no pity.
In addition to exercising an extraordinary level of self-control and self-sufficiency,
Diogenes also displayed fearlessness in his speech as seen by his interactions with Alexander.
Diogenes VS Plato Plato was a contemporary of Diogenes.
The two men were polar opposites on the philosophical spectrum.
Diogenes considered Plato’s lectures and writings to be a complete waste of time.
He made fun of Plato’s dialectic teaching and method by which his students had to learn
key terms.
On one occasion, Plato was delivering a lecture in which he defined man as an animal who was
biped and featherless.
To mock this notion, Diogenes walked into the lecture theatre holding a chicken which
had been plucked and announced . . . Here is Plato’s man.
On another occasion, Plato was lecturing about his theory of forms, he spoke of tablehood
and cuphood.
Diogenes then replied . . . Table and cup I see, but your tablehood and
cubhood, Plato, I see nowhere.
Plato attempted, to ridicule Diogenes’ simple lifestyle once when he saw him washing lettuces.
He said . . . Had you paid Court to Dionysius [ruler of
Syracuse], you wouldn’t be now be washing lettuces.
To this Diogenes replied, If you had washed lettuces, you wouldn’t
have paid court to Dionysius.
With his wit, Diogenes was here making an important distinction.
He was the true, uncorrupted philosopher.
Plato had curried favor with the rich and powerful and been corrupted in the process.
He had become enamored of his own fame and intellect and in the process become a hypocrite
to the teachings of Socrates.
For his part, Plato viewed Diogenes as a version of Socrates gone crazy.
In fact, Diogenes very much resembles a character that Plato created in his dialogue about the
stoic’s master Gorgias.
In this work, the character Callicles states that all things should be done according to
nature, regardless of how shameful they might be.
Plato refers to Callicles as an amoralist whose actions are curbed, not by dialectical
argument, which he considers to be wasted effort, but by a sense of shame.
There is never any evidence, though, that Diogenes’ actions were ever stemmed by a
sense of shame.
However, there are recorded accounts where he used shame to encourage others to consider
their own actions.
Once when he saw a young man acting effeminately, he asked him . . .
Seeing a young man behaving effeminately, Diogenes said, ‘Are you not ashamed … that
your own intention about yourself should be worse than nature’s: for nature made you
a man, but you are forcing yourself to play the woman’.
Yet, this admonition seems to stand in contrast to his own lack of restraint with regard to
such things as masturbating and defecating in public, and condoning incest and cannibalism.
Despite his repugnant acts and ideas, Diogenes became an object of veneration in Corinth
and Athens.
On one occasion, a boy accidently broke off a part of Diogenes’s clay tub.
The people of the city were enraged.
They had the boy flogged and purchased a new tub for Diogenes.
Unlike Socrates or Plato, he was never seen as a threat by the people or the state.
Rather, many viewed him as a curiosity, even a harmless clown and were proud to have such
an attraction in their midst.
The Death of Diogenes There are conflicting accounts as to the death
of Diogenes.
Yet, they all agree that he live to a ripe old age of around 90 years.
According to some sources, he held his breath until he expired.
In another account he is said to have died after eating raw octopus.
A twist on the octopus story is that he was bitten while trying to divide an octopus among
dogs.
In Corinth and Athens, statues were erected in his memory.
A statue was also raised in his hometown of Sinope.
Its inscription read . . . Even bronze grows old with time, but your
fame, Diogenes, not all Eternity shall take away.
For you alone did point out to mortals the lessons of self-sufficiency, and the path
for the best and easiest life.