And his student Diogenes of Sinope gave with his life an example of a Cynic sage, which served as a source for many anecdotes associated with Diogenes, which abound in the corresponding chapter in the famous book of Diogenes Laertius. It was Diogenes who reduced his needs to the extreme, tempered himself by subjecting his body to tests. For example, in the summer he lay down on the hot sand, and in the winter he hugged statues covered with snow. He lived in a large clay round barrel (pithos). Seeing one boy drinking water from a handful, and another eating lentil soup from a piece of eaten bread, Diogenes threw away both the cup and the bowl. He accustomed himself not only to physical deprivation, but also to moral humiliation. He asked for alms from the statues in order to accustom himself to refusals, because people give to the lame and the poor and do not give to philosophers, because they know that they can still become lame and beggars, but never wise men. Diogenes brought his teacher Antisthenes's contempt for pleasure to its climax. He said that he “would prefer madness to pleasure.” Diogenes found pleasure in the very contempt of pleasure. He taught the poor and downtrodden to counter the contempt of the rich and noble with contempt for what they value, without calling on them to follow his way of life with its extremes and extravagances. But only by an excessive example can people be taught to observe moderation. He said that he takes an example from singing teachers, who deliberately sing in a higher tone so that the students understand in what tone they themselves need to sing.
Diogenes in his barrel. Painting by J. L. Jerome, 1860
Diogenes himself, in his oversimplification, reached the point of complete shamelessness; he challenged society, refusing to observe all the rules of decency, thereby incurring a hail of ridicule and provocative antics, to which he always responded with extraordinary resourcefulness and accuracy, confusing those who wanted to embarrass him. . When bones were thrown at him, who called himself a dog, at one dinner, he walked up to them and urinated on them. To the question: if he is a dog, what breed? - Diogenes calmly answered that when he is hungry, he is of the Maltese breed (i.e., affectionate), and when he is full, he is of the Milian breed (i.e., ferocious).
With his behavior that went beyond all limits of what was permitted, Diogenes emphasized the superiority of the sage over ordinary people who deserve only contempt. One day he began to call people, and when they came running, he attacked them with a stick, saying that he was calling people, not scoundrels. Another time, in daylight, he was looking for a person with a lit lantern. In fact, so-called people compete to see who will push whom into the ditch (a type of competition), but no one competes in the art of being beautiful and kind. In his contempt for people, Diogenes made no exception for either priests or kings. When Alexander the Great once approached him and said: “I am the great King Alexander,” Diogenes, not at all embarrassed, replied: “And I am the dog Diogenes.” When another time Alexander the Great, approaching Diogenes, who was basking in the sun, invited him to ask him for what he wanted, Diogenes replied: “Do not block the sun for me.” All this allegedly made such a great impression on the Macedonian king that he said that if he were not Alexander the King, he would like to be Diogenes.
Alexander the Great shows respect to Diogenes. Painting by J. Regnault
Having become a slave of a certain Xeniades (Diogenes was captured by pirates and sold into slavery), the philosopher applied an excellent system of education to the children of his master, accustoming them to modest food and water, to simplicity in clothing, engaging in physical exercises with them, but only to the extent how necessary it is for health; he taught them knowledge, giving them basic information in a short form for ease of memorization and teaching them to memorize pieces from the works of poets, mentors and Diogenes himself. Slavery did not humiliate Diogenes. Refusing to be redeemed from slavery by his disciples, he wanted to show that a Cynic philosopher, even being a slave, could become the master of his master - a slave of his passions and public opinion. When he was being sold in Crete, he asked a herald to announce if anyone wanted to buy the owner for themselves.
Diogenes placed philosophy above all forms of culture. He himself had an amazing power of persuasion; no one could resist his arguments. However, in philosophy, Diogenes recognized only its moral and practical side. He philosophized his way of life, which he considered the best, freeing a person from all conventions, attachments and even almost all needs. To the man who said that he did not care about philosophy, Diogenes objected: “Why do you live if you do not care to live well?” Diogenes surpassed Antisthenes in transforming philosophy into practical science. If philosophy gave Antisthenes, in his words, “the ability to talk with oneself,” then philosophy gave Diogenes “at least a readiness for any turn of fate.”
At the same time, Diogenes was interested in theoretical philosophy and expressed his negative attitude towards both the idealism of Plato and the metaphysics (as anti-dialectics) of Zeno, both in words and actions. When someone argued that movement does not exist, Diogenes stood up and began to walk. When Plato was talking about ideas and coming up with names for “capacity” and “cupness,” Diogenes said that he saw a table and a cup, but did not see a table and a bowl. Diogenes systematically mocked Plato, calling his eloquence empty talk, reproaching him for vanity and for groveling before the powers that be. For his part, Plato, who did not like Diogenes, called him a dog and accused him of vanity and lack of reason. When Diogenes stood naked in the rain, Plato said to those who wanted to take the Cynic away: “If you want to pity him, step aside,” referring to his vanity. (In the same way, Socrates once said to Antisthenes, who was showing off a hole in his cloak: “Your vanity is visible through this cloak!”) Diogenes’ words that he does not see either the cup or the table, Plato countered with the words: “To see the table and the cup, you have eyes, but to see the abundance and the cup, you have no mind.” Plato called Diogenes "the mad Socrates."
Rejecting all types of social inequality between people, without denying, however, slavery, ridiculing noble origin, fame, wealth, Diogenes denied both the family and the state. He considered the whole world to be the only true state and called himself a “citizen of the world.” He said that wives should be common. When a certain tyrant asked him which copper was best suited for statues, Diogenes answered: “The one from which Harmodius and Aristogeiton were cast” (the famous Athenian tyrannicides). Diogenes died at ninety years of age, holding his breath. His gravestone featured a dog. His works have not reached us.
As a collective image of the Cynic, Diogenes was derived from Luciana. There Diogenes says to his interlocutor: “You see before you a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world... I am fighting... against pleasures... I am the liberator of humanity and the enemy of passions... I want to be a prophet of truth and freedom of speech.” Next it says what will happen to his interlocutor if he wants to be a Cynic: “First of all, I will take away the effeminacy from you... I will force you to work, sleep on the bare ground, drink water and eat anything. You will throw your wealth into the sea. You will not care about marriage, or about children, or about the fatherland... Let your knapsack be full of beans and packages, written on both sides. Leading such a lifestyle, you will call yourself happier than the great king... erase the ability to blush from your face forever... In front of everyone, boldly do what someone else would not do on the sidelines.”
The Rise of Cynicism
Diogenes of Sinope became a symbol of the Cynic movement. Diogenes was an older contemporary of Alexander. One source says that he died in Corinth on the same day as Alexander in Babylon.
Diogenes surpassed the fame of his teacher Antisthenes. This was a young man from Sinope on the Euxine, whom Antisthenes disliked at first sight; he was the son of a money changer with a dubious reputation, who was in prison for damaging a coin. Antisthenes drove the young man away, but he did not pay attention to it. Antisthenes beat him with a stick, but he did not budge. He needed "wisdom", and he believed that Antisthenes should give it to him. His goal in life was to do what his father did - “spoil the coin,” but on a much larger scale. He would like to spoil all the “coin” available in the world. Any accepted stamp is false, false. People with the stamp of generals and kings, things with the stamp of honor and wisdom, happiness and wealth - all these were base metals with a false inscription.
Diogenes decided to live like a dog, and therefore he was called "cynic", which means canine (another version of the origin of the name of the school). He rejected all conventions concerning religion, manners, clothing, housing, food, and decency. They say that he lived in a barrel, but Gilbert Murray assures that this is a mistake: it was a huge jug, such as were used in primitive times for burials. He lived like an Indian fakir, by alms. He declares his brotherhood not only with the entire human race, but also with animals. He was a man about whom stories were collected during his lifetime. It is widely known that Alexander visited him and asked if he wanted any favor. “Just don’t block my light,” Diogenes replied.
Diogenes' teaching was in no way what we now call "cynical", quite the opposite. He ardently strived for “virtue,” in comparison with which, as he argued, all earthly goods are worthless. He sought virtue and moral freedom in freedom from desire: be indifferent to the blessings that fortune has bestowed upon you, and you will be free from fear. Diogenes believed that Prometheus was rightly punished for bringing to man the arts that gave rise to the complexity and artificiality of modern life.
Diogenes not only strengthened the extremism of Antisthenes, but created a new ideal of life of extraordinary severity, which became paradigmatic for centuries.
One phrase can express the entire program of this philosopher: “I am looking for a person,” which he repeated with a lantern in his hands among the crowd and in broad daylight, provoking an ironic reaction. I'm looking for a man who lives in accordance with his purpose. I am looking for a person who is above everything external, above social prejudices, above even the whims of fate, who knows and knows how to find his own and unique nature, with which he agrees, and, therefore, he is happy.
“The Cynic Diogenes,” an ancient source testifies, “repeated that the gods gave people the means to live, but they were mistaken about these people.” Diogenes saw his task as showing that a person always has everything at his disposal to be happy if he understands the requirements of his nature.
In this context, his statements about the uselessness of mathematics, physics, astronomy, music, and the absurdity of metaphysical constructions are understandable. Cynicism has become the most anti-cultural phenomenon of all the philosophical movements of Greece and the West in general. One of the most extreme conclusions was that the most essential needs of man are those of animals.
Only the one who is free from the greatest number of needs is free. The Cynics tirelessly insisted on freedom, losing their measure. In the face of the almighty, they were bordering on recklessness in defending freedom of speech." parrhesia". "Anaideia", freedom of action, was intended to show all the unnaturalness of the behavior of the Greeks. In one luxurious house, in response to a request to maintain order, Diogenes spat in the owner’s face, noting that he had not seen a more nasty place.
Diogenes defines the method and path leading to freedom and virtues with the concepts of “asceticism,” “effort,” and “hard work.” Training the soul and body to the point of readiness to withstand the adversity of the elements, the ability to dominate lusts, moreover, contempt for pleasures are the fundamental values of the Cynics, for pleasures not only relax the body and soul, but seriously threaten freedom, making a person a slave to his affections. For the same reason, marriage was also condemned in favor of free cohabitation between a man and a woman. However, the Cynic is also outside the state, his fatherland is the whole world. "Autarky", i.e. self-sufficiency, apathy and indifference to everything are the ideals of cynic life.
(ancient Greek Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς; lat. Diogenes Sinopeus; c. 412 BC, Sinop - June 10, 323 BC, Corinth) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Antisthenes, founder of the Cynic school.
In broad daylight he walked down the street with a lantern and shouted: “I’m looking for a man!” - “And how did you find it?” - "No. Only slaves."
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751–1829). "Diogenes was looking for a man"
When asked who he was and where he was from, Diogenes answered: “I am a citizen of the world” (it was Diogenes who invented the term “cosmopolitan”), he denied the idea of the state and the advantage of some people over others: citizens over non-citizens, rulers over the people, men over women, legitimate over illegitimate. He considered the only true state to be the whole world, in which people from birth are equal before the gods.
Jacob Jordaens (Jacob Jordaens). Diogenes Seeking Man. 1641-1642. Art gallery, Dresden. 
He laughed at those who purchased luxury goods: “How is this so! Is it right that they pay three thousand coins for a marble statue, and two thousand for a vital measure of barley?”
Diogenes did not hide why he was expelled from Sinope, and when someone reproached him for damaging the coin and reproached him for his expulsion, he replied: “Fool! After all, thanks to exile, I became a philosopher!
Diogenes believed that a virtuous life, like any other task, must be learned. He chose Antisthenes, the most severe of Socrates' students, as his teacher. The gloomy warrior, the hero of the Battle of Tanagra, at one time walked 16 kilometers every day to learn from Socrates firmness and endurance and to adopt the impassivity of the sage. In order not to lose anything, you must have nothing - he learned. Minimize your needs. To keep the body like a slave in hunger and cold: “contempt for pleasure is also pleasure”
. Looking at the ragged followers of Antisthenes, the bulk of whom were freedmen and slaves, the Athenians called them cynics (cynics; in Greek kyon - dog).
A well-known symbol is the Diogenes barrel in which he lived; it was not a barrel, but a pithos - a huge clay jug for storing grain and wine.
John William Waterhouse (eng. John William Waterhouse; 1849 - 1917). Diogenes. 1882. Art Gallery of New South Wales 
One of the most famous parables about Diogenes tells: Alexander the Great came to Athens specifically to look at the philosopher in a barrel. “I am Alexander, king of Macedonia,” he said, “and in the future, of the whole world. Ask me what you want." “Do not block the sun for me,” answered Diogenes. The amazed Alexander said to his friends: “If I were not Alexander, I would become Diogenes.”
I.F. Tupylev. Alexander the Great before Diogenes. 1787 
While in Corinth, Diogenes put on the winner's laurel wreath. They demanded that he remove the wreath, since he had not defeated anyone.
“On the contrary,” Diogenes objected, “I am no match for those slaves who wrestle, throw the discus and compete in running. My opponents are more serious: poverty, exile, oblivion, anger, sadness, passion and fear, and the most invincible, insidious monster - pleasure.”
His defiant behavior did not bring much charity. When asked why people give to the poor and not to philosophers, he said: “Because they know: they may become lame and blind, but never wise.”
Legend says that Diogenes died on the same day as
Alexander - at the age of thirty-three in distant and alien Babylon. His last request was to bury him with his arms outstretched, palms up, he asked to make holes in the coffin and pull out his hands so that everyone could see that they were empty. He told the world: “I have conquered half the world, but I am leaving empty-handed.”
Diogenes - in the eighty-ninth year of his life in his native Corinth on a city wasteland.
Feeling the approach of the end, Diogenes came to the wasteland and said to the watchman: “When I die, throw me into a ditch - let the brother dogs feast on it.”
The townspeople buried Diogenes near the city gates. A column was erected over the grave, and on it was a dog carved from marble. Later, other compatriots honored Diogenes by erecting bronze monuments to him.
Aphorisms
Treat nobles like fire; don't stand too close or too far from them.
When extending your hand to friends, do not clench your fingers into a fist.
Poverty itself paves the way to philosophy; What philosophy tries to convince in words, poverty forces us to implement in practice.
The slanderer is the most fierce of wild beasts; The flatterer is the most dangerous of tame animals.
Gratitude ages the fastest.
Philosophy and medicine have made man the most intelligent of animals; fortune telling and astrology - the craziest; superstition and despotism - the most unfortunate.
Death is not evil, for there is no dishonor in it.
Philosophy gives you readiness for any turn of fate.
I am a citizen of the world.
If there is no pleasure in life, then there must be at least some meaning.
The ultimate goal is to choose wisely what is in accordance with nature. 
Old Greek Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς
ancient Greek philosopher
OK. 412 - 323 BC e.
short biography
Many of our contemporaries remember the first thing about Diogenes that he lived in a barrel. In fact, this is far from being a “city madman”: Diogenes of Sinope is a famous ancient Greek philosopher, a prominent representative of the Cynic school, a student of Antisthenes, who continued to develop his teaching. The main source of information about the biography of Diogenes is another Diogenes, Laertius, who wrote the treatise “On the Life, Teachings and Sayings of Famous Philosophers.” It is now difficult to assess the reliability of the data it contains, as well as other information about this philosopher.
Diogenes of Sinope was born around 400 BC. e. (dates vary in different sources) in Sinope, in the family of the noble and wealthy banker Hykesius. As a young man, he became an outcast: the townspeople kicked him out for helping his father make counterfeit money in his minting workshop. According to one legend, Diogenes, who was in doubt, sought advice from the oracle of Apollo by going to Delphi. Diogenes took the advice to “reassess values” as an indication of the admissibility of what his father proposed on the topic. According to another version, Diogenes ended up in Delphi after he and his father had been exposed and escaped and did not try to resolve doubts, but asked about ways to fame. Having received the above advice, the future philosopher turned into a wanderer and traveled a lot throughout his country. Around 355-350 BC. e. he ended up in the capital, where he joined the number of students of the philosopher Antisthenes, who founded the school of Cynics. In Diogenes Laertius one can find information about 14 philosophical and ethical works of Diogenes of Sinope, which gave an idea of the system of views of their author. In addition, he is considered the author of seven tragedies.
The views of this ancient Greek philosopher, his way of life, his manner of behavior in the eyes of other people were very original and even shocking. The only thing that Diogenes recognized was ascetic virtue, which was based on imitation of nature. It is precisely this, its achievement, that constitutes man’s only goal, and the path to it lies through work, exercise and reason. Diogenes called himself a citizen of the world, advocated for children and wives to be common, and spoke about the relativity of authorities, including in the field of philosophy. For example, in the famous Plato he saw a talker. He considered the state, social laws, and religious institutions to be the brainchild of demagogues. A primitive society with its simple, natural morals, not disfigured by civilization and culture, seemed ideal to him. At the same time, he believed that people needed philosophy - as a doctor or a helmsman. Diogenes showed complete indifference to public life, to everything that ordinary people considered benefits and moral standards. As a home, he chose a large vessel for storing wine, wore rags, publicly relieved his most intimate needs, communicated with people rudely and straightforwardly, regardless of their faces, for which he received the nickname “Dog” from the townspeople.
Habits, ways of expressing a negative attitude towards society and morality, Diogenes’ statements were most likely subsequently exaggerated, and today no one can say what is true in the numerous anecdotes and stories about Diogenes and what is myth or fiction. Be that as it may, Diogenes of Sinope is one of the brightest representatives of the ancient era, and his views had a significant influence on later philosophical concepts.
Legend has it that Diogenes took his own life voluntarily by holding his breath. This happened in Corinth in 323 BC. e. A marble monument depicting a dog was erected at the grave of the original philosopher.
Biography from Wikipedia
Diogenes of Sinope(ancient Greek Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς; about 412 BC, Sinop - June 10, 323 BC, Corinth) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Antisthenes, founder of the Cynic school.
The main source of information about Diogenes is Diogenes Laertius, who compiled a book of popular (and often unreliable) anecdotes about ancient Greek philosophers. According to his description, the philosopher Diogenes was the son of the money changer Hykesius. Once in Delphi, he asked the oracle what he should do, to which he received the answer: “revaluation of values” (Greek παραχάραττειν τὸ νόµισµα). Initially, he understood this saying as "recoining", however, being exiled, he realized his calling in philosophy. In Athens he joined Antisthenes. He built his dwelling near the Athenian agora in a large clay vessel - pithos, which was buried in the ground and in which grain, wine, oil were stored or people were buried. (Later historical and artistic tradition attributed Diogenes to living in a barrel, but the ancient Greeks did not make barrels). One day the boys destroyed his house. The Athenians later provided him with a new pithos.
Disputes with Plato
Diogenes argued with Plato on several occasions. Once, trampling a mat, he exclaimed: “I am trampling Plato’s arrogance.” When Plato said that man is “a biped without feathers,” Diogenes plucked the rooster and called him Plato’s man. Plato, in turn, called him "the maddened Socrates." Objecting to Plato’s teaching about the essence of things, Diogenes said: “I see the cup, but not the cup.” Seeing the meager lifestyle of Diogenes, Plato noticed that even in slavery to the tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius, he did not wash his own vegetables, to which he received the answer that if he had washed the vegetables himself, he would not have ended up in slavery.
Slavery at Xeniades
Diogenes took part in the Battle of Chaeronea, but was captured by the Macedonians. At the slave market, when asked what he could do, he answered: “to rule over people.” A certain Xeniad bought it as a mentor to his children. Diogenes taught them horse riding, javelin throwing, history and Greek poetry. Dying, he asked his master to bury him face down.
Shocking
Diogenes shocked his contemporaries, in particular, he ate food in the square (in the time of Diogenes, public eating was considered indecent) and openly engaged in masturbation, saying: “If only hunger could be relieved by rubbing the stomach!” One day Diogenes began to give a philosophical lecture in the city square. Nobody listened to him. Then Diogenes screeched like a bird, and a hundred onlookers gathered around. “This, Athenians, is the price of your mind,” Diogenes told them. - “When I told you smart things, no one paid attention to me, and when I chirped like an unreasonable bird, you listen to me with your mouth open.” Diogenes considered the Athenians unworthy to be called people. He mocked religious ceremonies and despised those who believed in dream-readers. He considered demagogues and politicians to be flatterers of the mob. He declared himself a citizen of the world; promoted the relativity of generally accepted moral norms.
Death
He died, according to Diogenes Laertius, on the same day as Alexander the Great.
A marble monument in the shape of a dog was erected on his grave, with the epitaph:
Let the copper grow old under the power of time - still
Your glory will survive the centuries, Diogenes:
You taught us how to live, being content with what you have,
You showed us a path that couldn’t be easier.
Essays
Diogenes Laertius nevertheless reports, referring to Sotion, about 14 works of Diogenes, among which are presented both philosophical works (“On Virtue”, “On the Good”, etc.) and several tragedies. Turning, however, to the vast number of Cynic doxographies, one can come to the conclusion that Diogenes had a fully formed system of views.
Asceticism
Diogenes proclaimed the ideal of asceticism using the example of a mouse that was not afraid of anything, did not strive for anything and was content with little. Diogenes' life in a clay jug - pithos, and the use of a cloak instead of a bed illustrated this principle. The only things he had were a bag and a staff. Sometimes he was seen walking barefoot in the snow. He only asked Alexander the Great not to block the sun for him. The meaning of asceticism was that true happiness lies in freedom and independence.
Incidents from the life of Diogenes
A famous story has been preserved: when someone argued that movement does not exist, Diogenes simply got up and began to walk.
- Once, already an old man, Diogenes saw a boy drinking water from a handful, and in frustration threw his cup out of his bag, saying: “The boy has surpassed me in the simplicity of life.” He also threw away the bowl when he saw another boy who, having broken his bowl, was eating lentil soup from a piece of eaten bread.
- Diogenes begged for alms from the statues “to accustom himself to refusal.”
- When Diogenes asked someone to borrow money, he did not say “give me money,” but “give me my money.”
- When Alexander the Great came to Attica, he, of course, wanted to get to know the famous “outcast” like many others. Plutarch says that Alexander waited a long time for Diogenes himself to come to him to pay his respects, but the philosopher spent his time calmly at home. Then Alexander himself decided to visit him. And, finding Diogenes in Crania (in a gymnasium near Corinth), when he was basking in the sun, he approached him and said: “I am the great King Alexander.” “And I,” answered Diogenes, “the dog Diogenes.” “And why do they call you a dog?” “Whoever throws a piece, I wag, whoever doesn’t throw, I bark, whoever is an evil person, I bite.” “Are you afraid of me?” - asked Alexander. “What are you,” asked Diogenes, “evil or good?” “Good,” he said. “And who is afraid of good?” Finally, Alexander said: “Ask me whatever you want.” “Move away, you are blocking the sun for me,” said Diogenes and continued to bask. On the way back, in response to the jokes of his friends who were making fun of the philosopher, Alexander allegedly even remarked: “If I were not Alexander, I would like to become Diogenes.” Ironically, Alexander died on the same day as Diogenes, June 10, 323 BC. e.
- When the Athenians were preparing for war with Philip of Macedon and bustle and excitement reigned in the city, Diogenes began to roll his clay barrel in which he lived through the streets back and forth. When asked why he was doing this, Diogenes replied: “Everyone is in trouble now, that’s why it’s not good for me to be idle, but I roll pithos because I have nothing else.”
- Diogenes said that grammarians study the disasters of Odysseus and do not know their own; musicians fret the strings of the lyre and cannot control their own temper; mathematicians follow the sun and moon, but do not see what is under their feet; rhetoricians teach to speak correctly and do not teach to act correctly; finally, misers scold money, but they themselves love it most of all.
- Diogenes' lantern, with which he wandered through crowded places in broad daylight with the words “I am looking for a Man,” became a textbook example back in antiquity.
- One day, after washing, Diogenes was leaving the bathhouse, and acquaintances who were just about to wash were walking towards him. “Diogenes,” they asked in passing, “how is it full of people?” “That’s enough,” Diogenes nodded. Immediately he met other acquaintances who were also going to wash and also asked: “Hello, Diogenes, are there a lot of people washing?” “There are almost no people,” Diogenes shook his head. Returning once from Olympia, when asked whether there were many people there, he replied: “There are a lot of people, but very few people.” And one day he went out into the square and shouted: “Hey, people, people!”; but when the people came running, Diogenes attacked him with a stick, saying: “I called people, not scoundrels.”
- Diogenes continually engaged in handjobs in full view of everyone; when the Athenians remarked about this, they say, “Diogenes, everything is clear, we have a democracy and you can do what you want, but aren’t you going too far?”, he replied: “If only hunger could be relieved by rubbing your stomach.”
- When Plato gave a definition that had great success: “Man is an animal with two legs, devoid of feathers,” Diogenes plucked the rooster and brought it to his school, declaring: “Here is Plato’s man!” To which Plato was forced to add “... and with flat nails” to his definition.
- One day Diogenes came to a lecture with Anaximenes of Lampsacus, sat in the back rows, took a fish out of a bag and raised it above his head. First one listener turned around and began to look at the fish, then another, then almost everyone. Anaximenes was indignant: “You ruined my lecture!” “But what is a lecture worth,” said Diogenes, “if some salted fish upset your reasoning?”
- Diogenes, seeing how the slaves of Anaximenes of Lampsacus were carrying numerous belongings, asked who they belonged to. When they answered him that Anaximenes, he was indignant: “And isn’t it a shame for him, owning such property, not to control himself?”
- When asked which wine tastes best to him, he answered: “Someone else’s.”
- One day someone brought him to a luxurious home and remarked: “You see how clean it is here, don’t spit somewhere, it will be all right for you.” Diogenes looked around and spat in his face, declaring: “Where to spit if there is no worse place.”
- When someone was reading a long work and an unwritten place at the end of the scroll appeared, Diogenes exclaimed: “Courage, friends: the shore is visible!”
- To the inscription of one newlywed who wrote on his house: “The son of Zeus, victorious Hercules, dwells here, let no evil enter!” Diogenes added: “First war, then alliance.”
- Seeing an incompetent archer, Diogenes sat down near the target and explained: “This is so that it doesn’t hit me.”
- One day Diogenes begged for alms from a man with a bad character. “I’ll give you money if you convince me,” he said. “If I could convince you,” said Diogenes, “I would convince you to hang yourself.”
- Someone reproached him for damaging the coin. “That was the time,” said Diogenes, “when I was what you are now; but you will never become what I am now.” Someone else reproached him with the same thing. Diogenes replied: “Once upon a time I wet my bed, but now I don’t.”
- Seeing the son of a hetaera throwing stones into the crowd, Diogenes said: “Beware of hitting your father!”
- In a large crowd of people, where Diogenes was also present, a young man involuntarily released gases, for which Diogenes hit him with a stick and said: “Listen, you bastard, having really done nothing to behave impudently in public, you began to show us your contempt for the opinions of the [majority]?
- Once upon a time a philosopher
People's lives are filled with a wide variety of conventions and excesses. Man has forgotten his true nature and surrounded himself with absolutely unnecessary things. As a result of this, he entangled himself with thousands of norms, laws, and some rules. All this makes his life difficult and vain. Philosophers have always opposed this state of affairs. They urged people to abandon excesses and appreciate simple earthly joys. The very first who tried to show a true and correct life by personal example was Diogenes.
This is an ancient Greek sage who lived in 412-323 BC. e. He did not leave any writings or philosophical works. The memory of him was preserved only thanks to the stories of his contemporaries. All these stories were collected and systematized by the historian of philosophy Diogenes Laertius. And the founder of botany and zoology, the ancient Greek philosopher Theophastus, argued that insight came to Diogenes when, while still very young, he looked at a mouse running by. The future sage thought that the animal does not need bedding, is not afraid of the dark, and does not seek unnecessary pleasures. He behaves completely naturally. So why can't a person live exactly the same way?
Thus was born the philosophy of Diogenes. All his life the sage was content with little, the most necessary for life. The philosopher used his cloak not only to wear it, but also to sleep on it. He carried food in his bag, and any place was suitable for him to eat, sleep and talk. This amazing man built his home in a clay barrel. In Ancient Greece it was called "pithos" and was a clay vessel the size of a man. Grain, oil, and wine were stored in such large vessels. Well, our hero used it for housing.
The philosopher regularly tempered his body. In the summer he lay on the hot sand, and in the winter he pressed himself against marble statues covered with snow. Both in summer and winter he walked barefoot. Living in a barrel, the sage had nothing but a cup and bowl. But one day he saw the boy cup his hands into a handful and begin to drink water from the source.
Our hero exclaimed: “The boy turned out to be wiser than me, since he surpassed me in the simplicity and naturalness of life.” The cup was thrown away, and then it was the turn of the bowls, when another boy, in front of the philosopher’s eyes, began to eat lentil stew, pouring it into the crust of the bread.
The philosophy of Diogenes opposed reason to passions, and the laws of nature to judicial laws.. The sage often said that the gods gave people a very easy life. But they complicated it many times over, entangling themselves with far-fetched conventions and norms.
One day the philosopher caught the eye of a man who was being shoed by his slave. Looking at this, our hero remarked: “You would be immensely happy if they also wiped you. So cut off your hands, and then complete happiness will come.”
The sage approached the statues and asked them for alms. He was asked why he was doing this. And he replied: “I do this in order to accustom myself to refusal.” At the same time, he asked people for alms if he was hungry. One day, one of the passers-by asked why he should serve it to him. To which I received the answer: “If you give to others, then it will not be difficult for you to give to me. If you have never given before, then start with me.”
Once our hero was sitting in the square and talking about important things. But people did not listen to him and walked past. Then the philosopher began to imitate various bird voices. A crowd immediately gathered, and the sage began to shame her. He reproached people that for the sake of trifles they run away, abandoning everything, but for the sake of important things they do not want to stop and pass by.
He said that a person loves to compete with his own kind in the most unsightly matters, but never competes in the art of goodness and helping others. The sage was surprised that musicians tune the strings of the lyre, but cannot tune peace and tranquility in their souls. Rhetors teach to speak correctly, but are not able to teach to act correctly. People make sacrifices to the gods and ask for health and long life. But then they sit down at the banquet table and overeat to the detriment of their health.
The philosophy of Diogenes taught people simplicity, naturalness and harmony with the world around them. But few of the sage’s contemporaries followed his example. He died in the same year as Alexander the Great. They say that even in one day. This is very symbolic, since the great conqueror sought to enjoy all the blessings of life, and our hero called for completely abandoning them. Two extremes disappeared in one day, leaving people with a choice. But they chose not a philosopher, but a conqueror. Until today, humanity has not reconsidered its views, and therefore is steadily heading towards destruction.
Valery Krapivin
