When someone declared that life is an evil, Diogenes corrected him: "Not life itself, but living ill."
When he was advised to go in pursuit of his runaway slave, he replied, "It would be absurd, if Manes can live without Diogenes, but Diogenes cannot get on without Manes."
When breakfasting on olives amongst which a cake had been inserted, he flung it away and addressed it thus:
Stranger, betake thee from the princes' path!
And on another occasion thus:
He lashed an olive.
Being asked what kind of hound he was, he replied, "When hungry, a Maltese; when full, a Molossian—two breeds which most people praise, though for fear of fatigue they do not venture out hunting with them.
"So neither can you live with me, because you are afraid of the discomforts."
—Diogenes Laërtius, 6.55
IMAGE: D.E. Pugons, Dog Begging Diogenes (1902)
No comments:
Post a Comment