Someone dropped a loaf of bread and was ashamed to pick it up; whereupon Diogenes, wishing to read him a lesson, tied a rope to the neck of a wine jar and proceeded to drag it across the Ceramicus.
He used to say that he followed the example of the trainers of choruses; for they too set the note a little high, to ensure that the rest should hit the right note.
Most people, he would say, are so nearly mad that a finger makes all the difference. For, if you go along with your middle finger stretched out, some one will think you mad, but, if it's the little finger, he will not think so.
Very valuable things, said he, were bartered for things of no value, and vice versa. At all events a statue fetches three thousand drachmas, while a quart of barley flour is sold for two copper coins.
—Diogenes Laërtius, 6.35
I just want to salute the effort I'm assuming it took to find a good image for this.
ReplyDeleteWell, we had already used the rude chimpanzee for the previous Early Cynics entry, so this seemed to be a good counterpart! ;-)
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