DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69463#0079
Greece.] DIOGENES THE CYNIC.
came before him, from the .monarch to the meanest citi-
zen. We shall notice some of his most ingenious sallies,
after having terminated the short recital of his life.
Taking an excursion by sea, he was captured by some
pirates, who carried him into Crete, and offered him to
sale in the public market place. He performed, himself,
the office of cryer, and said, “ Who is willing to buy a
Master.” A person named Xeniades stepping forward to
make the purchase, asked him what he could do ? u I can
command man,” was his reply. When Xeniades had bought
him, he said to him, “ Now that you are my master, be
prepared to obey me.” Xeniades, however, made him
preceptor to his children, and what will appear extra-
ordinary, he acquitted himself extremely well in this
employ. He strengthened the bodies of his pupils by re-
gimen and exercise; inculcated in their minds the prin-
ciples of the purest morality, and improved their under-
standing by making them commit to memory the finest
passages of the Greek poets. The only thing that seemed
reprehensible in his system of education, was that he per-
mitted his disciples to dress themselves almost as negli-
gently as himself. In other respects they greatly es-
teemed him, and incessantly applauded him before their
parents. Some of his friends were disposed to remove
him out of slavery. a You are wanting in sense,” said he
to them, i( do you not know that the lion is not the slave
of those who feed him, but that they are the vassals of
the lion and persisted in remaining with Xeniades. It
is imagined that he continued in this condition till a late
period of life, and died in the first year of the 104th
Olympiad, aged about ninety.
The cause of his death is uncertain. Some believe that
he voluntarily suffocated himself, by retaining his breath.
He was found enveloped in his mantle, in the attitude of
came before him, from the .monarch to the meanest citi-
zen. We shall notice some of his most ingenious sallies,
after having terminated the short recital of his life.
Taking an excursion by sea, he was captured by some
pirates, who carried him into Crete, and offered him to
sale in the public market place. He performed, himself,
the office of cryer, and said, “ Who is willing to buy a
Master.” A person named Xeniades stepping forward to
make the purchase, asked him what he could do ? u I can
command man,” was his reply. When Xeniades had bought
him, he said to him, “ Now that you are my master, be
prepared to obey me.” Xeniades, however, made him
preceptor to his children, and what will appear extra-
ordinary, he acquitted himself extremely well in this
employ. He strengthened the bodies of his pupils by re-
gimen and exercise; inculcated in their minds the prin-
ciples of the purest morality, and improved their under-
standing by making them commit to memory the finest
passages of the Greek poets. The only thing that seemed
reprehensible in his system of education, was that he per-
mitted his disciples to dress themselves almost as negli-
gently as himself. In other respects they greatly es-
teemed him, and incessantly applauded him before their
parents. Some of his friends were disposed to remove
him out of slavery. a You are wanting in sense,” said he
to them, i( do you not know that the lion is not the slave
of those who feed him, but that they are the vassals of
the lion and persisted in remaining with Xeniades. It
is imagined that he continued in this condition till a late
period of life, and died in the first year of the 104th
Olympiad, aged about ninety.
The cause of his death is uncertain. Some believe that
he voluntarily suffocated himself, by retaining his breath.
He was found enveloped in his mantle, in the attitude of