[8,0] ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ Η ΠΕΡΙ ΑΡΕΤΗΣ. (8,1) Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεὺς ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, οὐδενὸς διαφέρων τῶν πάνυ φαύλων Ἀθήναζε ἀφίκετο, καὶ καταλαμβάνει συχνοὺς ἔτι τῶν Σωκράτους ἑταίρων· καὶ γὰρ Πλάτωνα καὶ Ἀρίστιππον καὶ Αἰσχίνην καὶ Ἀντισθένην καὶ τὸν Μεγαρέα Εὐκλείδην· Ξενοφῶν δὲ ἔφευγε διὰ τὴν μετὰ Κύρου στρατείαν. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων ταχὺ κατεφρόνησεν, Ἀντισθένει δὲ ἐχρῆτο, οὐκ αὐτὸν οὕτως ἐπαινῶν ὡς τοὺς λόγους οὓς ἔλεγεν, ἡγούμενος μόνους εἶναι ἀληθεῖς καὶ μάλιστα δυναμένους ἄνθρωπον ὠφελῆσαι. (8,2) ἐπεὶ αὐτόν γε τὸν Ἀντισθένην παραβάλλων πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ἐνίοτε ἤλεγχεν ὡς πολὺ μαλακώτερον, καὶ ἔφη αὐτὸν εἶναι σάλπιγγα λοιδορῶν· αὑτοῦ γὰρ οὐκ ἀκούειν φθεγγομένου μέγιστον. καὶ ὁ Ἀντισθένης ὑπέμενεν αὐτὸν ταῦτα ἀκούων· πάνυ γὰρ ἐθαύμαζε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν φύσιν. (8,3) ἔλεγεν οὖν ἀμυνόμενος ἀντὶ τῆς σάλπιγγος τοῖς σφηξὶν αὐτὸν ὅμοιον εἶναι. καὶ γὰρ τῶν σφηκῶν εἶναι τὸν μὲν ψόφον τῶν πτερῶν μικρόν, τὸ δὲ κέντρον δριμύτατον. ἔχαιρεν οὖν τῇ παρρησίᾳ τοῦ Διογένους, ὥσπερ οἱ ἱππικοί, ὅταν ἵππον θυμοειδῆ λάβωσιν, ἄλλως δὲ ἀνδρεῖον καὶ φιλόπονον, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἀποδέχονται τὸ χαλεπὸν τοῦ ἵππου· τοὺς δὲ νωθροὺς καὶ βραδεῖς μισοῦσι καὶ ἀποδοκιμάζουσιν. (8,4) ἐνίοτε μὲν οὖν ἐπέτεινεν αὐτόν, ἐνίοτε δὲ ἐπειρᾶτο ἀνιέναι, ὥσπερ οἱ χορδοστρόφοι τὰ νεῦρα {τείνουσι}, προσέχοντες μὴ ῥαγῇ. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπέθανεν ὁ Ἀντισθένης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδένα ἡγεῖτο συνουσίας ἄξιον, μετέβη εἰς Κόρινθον, κἀκεῖ διῆγεν οὔτε οἰκίαν μισθωσάμενος οὔτε παρὰ ξένῳ τινὶ καταγόμενος, ἀλλ´ ἐν τῷ Κρανείῳ θυραυλῶν. (8,5) ἑώρα γὰρ ὅτι πλεῖστοι ἄνθρωποι ἐκεῖ συνίασι διὰ τοὺς λιμένας καὶ τὰς ἑταίρας, καὶ ὅτι ἡ πόλις ὥσπερ ἐν τριόδῳ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἔκειτο. δεῖν οὖν τὸν φρόνιμον ἄνδρα, ὥσπερ τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἰατρόν, ὅπου πλεῖστοι κάμνουσιν, ἐκεῖσε ἰέναι βοηθήσοντα, οὕτως ὅπου πλεῖστοί εἰσιν ἄφρονες, ἐκεῖ μάλιστα ἐπιδημεῖν, ἐξελέγχοντα καὶ κολάζοντα τὴν ἄνοιαν αὐτῶν. (8,6) ἐπεὶ δὲ ἧκεν ὁ τῶν Ἰσθμίων χρόνος καὶ πάντες ἦσαν ἐν Ἰσθμῷ, κατέβη καὶ αὐτός. εἰώθει γὰρ ἐπισκοπεῖν ἐν ταῖς πανηγύρεσι τὰς σπουδὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ὧν ἕνεκα ἀδημονοῦσι καὶ ἐπὶ τίσι μέγα φρονοῦσι. (8,7) παρέσχε δὲ καὶ αὑτὸν τῷ βουλομένῳ ἐντυγχάνειν, καὶ ἔλεγε θαυμάζειν ὅτι εἰ μὲν ἔφη ὀδόντας ἰᾶσθαι, πάντες ἂν αὐτῷ προσῇσαν οἱ δεόμενοι ὀδόντα ἐξελέσθαι, καὶ νὴ Δία εἰ ὑπέσχετο ὀφθαλμοὺς θεραπεύειν, πάντες ἂν οἱ ὀφθαλμιῶντες αὑτοὺς ἐπεδείκνυον· ὁμοίως δέ, εἰ σπληνὸς ἢ ποδάγρας ἢ κορύζης εἰδέναι φάρμακον· (8,8) ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔφη παύσειν τοὺς πεισομένους αὐτῷ ἀγνοίας καὶ πονηρίας καὶ ἀκολασίας, οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ προσεῖχεν οὐδὲ ἐκέλευεν ἰᾶσθαι αὑτόν, οὐδ´ ἂν εἰ πολὺ προσλήψεσθαι ἀργύριον ἔμελλεν, ὡς ἧττον ὑπὸ τούτων {ἢ ἐκεῖνοι} ἐνοχλούμενος ἢ χαλεπώτερον ἀνθρώπῳ σπληνὸς ἀνέχεσθαι οἰδοῦντος καὶ διεφθαρμένου ὀδόντος ἢ ψυχῆς ἄφρονος καὶ ἀμαθοῦς καὶ δειλῆς καὶ θρασείας καὶ φιληδόνου καὶ ἀνελευθέρου καὶ ὀργίλης καὶ λυπηρᾶς καὶ πανούργου καὶ πάντα τρόπον διεφθαρμένης. (8,9) καὶ δὴ καὶ τότε ἦν περὶ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἀκούειν πολλῶν μὲν σοφιστῶν κακοδαιμόνων βοώντων καὶ λοιδορουμένων ἀλλήλοις, καὶ τῶν λεγομένων μαθητῶν ἄλλου ἄλλῳ μαχομένων, πολλῶν δὲ συγγραφέων ἀναγιγνωσκόντων ἀναίσθητα συγγράμματα, πολλῶν δὲ ποιητῶν ποιήματα ᾀδόντων, καὶ τούτους ἐπαινούντων ἑτέρων, πολλῶν δὲ θαυματοποιῶν θαύματα ἐπιδεικνύντων, πολλῶν δὲ τερατοσκόπων τέρατα κρινόντων, μυρίων δὲ ῥητόρων δίκας στρεφόντων, οὐκ ὀλίγων δὲ καπήλων διακαπηλευόντων ὅ,τι τύχοιεν ἕκαστος.

[8,0] The Eighth Discourse: Diogenes or On Virtue. 1 When Diogenes was exiled from his native Sinope, he came to Athens, looking like the veriest beggar; and there he found a goodly number still of Socrates' companions: to wit, Plato, Aristippus, Aeschylus, Antisthenes, and Eucleides of Megara; but Xenophon was in exile on account of his campaign with Cyrus. Now it was not long before he despised them all save Antisthenes, whom he cultivated, not so much from approval of the man himself as of the words he spoke, which he felt to be alone true and best adapted to whether mankind. 2 For when he contrasted the man Antisthenes with his words, he sometimes made this criticism, that the man himself was much weaker; and so in reproach he would call him a trumpet because he could not hear his own self, no matter how much noise he made. Antisthenes tolerated this banter of his since he greatly admired the man's character; 3 and so, in requital for being called a trumpet, he used to say that Diogenes was like the wasps, the buzz of whose wings is slight but the sting very sharp. Therefore he took delight in the outspokenness of Diogenes, just as horsemen, when they get a horse that is high-strung and yet (p379) courageous and willing to work, do not object to the difficult temper of the animal, but dislike and have no use for the lazy and slow. 4 Sometimes, therefore, he used to key Diogenes up, while at other times he tried to relax his tension, just as those who twist strings for musical instruments stretch the strings, taking care, however, not to break them. After Antisthenes' death he moved to Corinth, since he considered none of the others worth associating with, and there he lived without renting a house or staying with a friend, but camping out in the Craneion. 5 For he observed that large numbers gathered at Corinth on account of the harbours and the hetaerae, and because the city was situated as it were at the cross-roads of Greece. Accordingly, just as the good physician should go and offer his services where the sick are most numerous, so, said he, the man of wisdom should take up his abode where fools are thickest in order to convict them of their folly and reprove them. 6 So, when the time for the Isthmian games arrived, and everybody was at Isthmus, he went down also. For it was his custom at the great assemblies to make a study of the pursuits and ambitions of men, of their reasons for being abroad, and of the things on which they prided themselves. 7 He gave his time also to any who wished to interview him, remarking that he was surprised by the fact that (p381) had he claimed to be a physician for the teeth, everybody would flock to him who needed to have a tooth pulled; yes, and by heavens, had he professed to treat the eyes, all who were suffering from sore eyes would present themselves, and similarly, if he had claimed to know of a medicine for diseases of the spleen or for gout or for running of the nose; 8 but when he declared that all who should follow his treatment would be relieved of folly, wickedness, and intemperance, not a man would listen to him or seek to be cured by him, no matter how much richer he might become thereby, as though he were less inconvenienced by these spiritual complaints than by the other kind, or as though it were worse for a man to suffer from an enlarged spleen or a decayed tooth than from a soul that is foolish, ignorant, cowardly, rash, pleasure-loving, illiberal, irascible, unkind, and wicked, in fact utterly corrupt. 9 That was the time, too, when one could hear crowds of wretched sophists around Poseidon's temple shouting and reviling one another, and their disciples, as they were called, fighting with one another, many writers reading aloud their stupid works, many poets reciting their poems while others applauded them, many jugglers showing their tricks, many fortune-tellers interpreting fortunes, lawyers innumerable perverting judgment, and peddlers not a few peddling whatever they happened to have.