Diogenes

di-oj'e-nes (412-323 B. C.), a Greek philosopher. He was a native of Sinope, Asia Minor. He traveled to Athens and became a cynic. He and his father were accused of tampering with gold coins and were expelled from the city. Of all his belongings, he kept only his cloak, purse, and a wooden bowl, declaring that the more a man had, the greater were his wants. Seeing a boy drink from the hollow of his hand, he even threw away his bowl. He lived in an empty cask, still spoken of as Diogenes' tub. As this circumstance is spoken of by satirists, rather than by historians, it is regarded sometimes as untrue. On one occasion Diogenes was seen walking through the streets of Athens with a lantern in broad daylight. On being asked what he was looking for, he replied, "I am seeking an honest man." On a trip to Aegina he was captured by pirates and carried to Crete. On being offered for sale as a slave he proclaimed that someone needing a master should buy him. He was purchased by a wealthy merchant of Corinth, who appears to have enjoyed his eccentricities, and to have retained him much as a medieval prince kept a jester. On one occasion Alexander the Great is said to have asked Diogenes what he could do for him. Diogenes replied that the only favor he could grant was not to stand between him and the sun. Alexander was so impressed with the cynic's content that he exclaimed, "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." A story runs to the effect that, Plato having defined man to be a two-legged animal without feathers, Diogenes plucked a cock, and bringing him into the school, said, "Here is Plato's man." Whereupon Plato deemed it well to add to his definition the words, "with broad, flat nails."