Οὐκ οἶσθα ὅπως τοὺς μὲν νέους τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀπάγουσιν, ἄλλα ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις τῶν [pg 050] φιλοσόφων θρυλοῦντες; οἱ Πυθαγόρου καὶ Πλάτωνος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους χορευταὶ γνήσιοι γόητες εἶναι λέγονται καὶ σοφισταὶ καὶ τετυφωμένοι καὶ φαρμακεῖς. [198] τῶν Κυνικῶν εἴ που τις γέγονε σπουδαῖος, ἐλεεινὸς δοκεῖ· μέμνημαι γοῦν ἐγώ ποτε τροφέως εἰπόντος πρός με, ἐπειδὴ τὸν ἑταῖρον εἶδεν Ἰφικλέα αὐχμηρὰν ἔχοντα τὴν κόμην καὶ κατερρωγότα τὰ στέρνα ἱμάτιόν τε παντάπασι φαῦλον ἐν δεινῷ χειμῶνι· τίς ἄρα δαίμων τοῦτον εἰς ταύτην περιέτρεψε τὴν συμφοράν, ὑφ᾽ ἧς αὐτὸς μὲν ἐλεεινός, ἐλεεινότεροι δὲ οἱ πατέρες αὐτοῦ, θρέψαντες σὺν ἐπιμελείᾳ καὶ παιδεύσαντες ὡς ἐνεδέχετο σπουδαίως, [B] ὁ δὲ οὕτω νῦν περιέρχεται, πάντα ἀφείς, οὐδὲν τῶν προσαιτούντων κρείττων; ἐκείνου μὲν οὖν ἐγὼ οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως τότε κατειρωνευσάμην· εὖ μέντοι γε ἴσθι ταῦτα καὶ[88] ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀληθῶς κυνῶν τοὺς πολλοὺς διανοουμένους. καὶ οὐ τοῦτο δεινόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ πλοῦτον ἀγαπᾶν πείθουσι καὶ πενίαν μισεῖν καὶ τὴν γαστέρα θεραπεύειν καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἕνεκα πάντα ὑπομένειν πόνον καὶ πιαίνειν τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς δεσμὸν καὶ τράπεζαν παρατίθεσθαι πολυτελῆ [C] καὶ μηδέποτε νύκτωρ καθεύδειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντα δρᾶν ἐν τῷ σκότῳ λανθάνοντα; τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ Ταρτάρου χεῖρον; οὐ βέλτιόν ἐστιν ὑπὸ τὴν Χάρυβδιν καὶ τὸν Κωκυτὸν καὶ μυρίας ὀργυιὰς κατὰ γῆς δῦναι, ἢ πεσεῖν εἰς τοιοῦτον βίον αἰδοίοις καὶ γαστρὶ δουλεύοντα, καὶ οὐδὲ τούτοις ἁπλῶς ὥσπερ τὰ θηρία, πράγματα δὲ ἔχειν, ὡς ἂν καὶ [pg 052] λάθοιμεν ὑπὸ τῷ σκότῳ ταῦτα ἐξεργαζόμενοι; καίτοι πόσῳ [D] κρεῖττον ἀπέχεσθαι παντάπασιν αὐτῶν; εἰ δὲ μὴ ῥᾴδιον, οἱ Διογένους νόμοι καὶ Κράτητος ὑπὲρ τούτων οὐκ ἀτιμαστέοι· ἔρωτα λύει λιμός, ἂν δὲ τούτῳ χρῆσθαι μὴ δύνῃ,[89] βρόχος. οὐκ οἶσθα, ὅτι ταῦτα ἔπραξαν ἐκεῖνοι τῷ βίῳ διδόντες ὁδὸν εὐτελείας; οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν μαζοφάγων, φησὶν ὁ Διογένης, [199] οἱ τύραννοι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν δειπνούντων πολυτελῶς. καὶ ὁ Κράτης μέντοι πεποίηκεν ὕμνον εἰς τὴν Εὐτέλειαν·
(Do you not know how people lure away the young from philosophy by continually uttering now one slander and then another against all the philosophers in turn? The genuine disciples of Pythagoras and Plato and Aristotle are called sorcerers and sophists and conceited and quacks. If here and there among the Cynics one is really virtuous he is regarded with pity. For instance I remember that once my tutor said to me when he saw my fellow-pupil Iphicles with his hair unkempt and his clothes in tatters on his chest and wearing a wretched cloak in severe winter weather: “What evil genius can have plunged him into this sad state which makes not only him pitiable but even more so his parents who reared him with care and gave him the best education they could! And now he goes about in this condition, neglecting everything and no better than a beggar!” At the time I answered him with some pleasantry or other. But I assure you that the multitude hold these views about genuine Cynics also. And that is not so dreadful, but do you see that they persuade them to love wealth, to hate poverty, to minister to the belly, to endure any toil for the body's sake, to fatten that prison of the soul, to keep up an expensive table, never to sleep alone at night,[90] provided only that they do all this in the dark and are not found out? Is not this worse than Tartarus? Is it not better to sink beneath Charybdis and Cocytus or ten thousand fathoms deep in the earth[91] than to fall into a life like this, enslaved to lust and appetite, and not even to these simply and openly, like the beasts, but to take pains so that when we act thus we may be hidden under cover of darkness? And yet much better is it to refrain altogether from all this! And if that be difficult the rules of Diogenes and Crates on these matters are not to be despised: “Fasting quenches desire, and if you cannot fast, hang yourself.”[92] Do you not know that those great men lived as they did in order to introduce among men the way of plain living? "For," says Diogenes, “it is not among men who live on bread that you will find tyrants, but among those who eat costly dinners.” Moreover Crates wrote a hymn to Plain Living:)
Χαῖρε, θεὰ δέσποινα, σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀγάπημα,
Εὐτελίη, κλεινῆς ἔγγονε Σωφροσύνης.
(“Hail, goddess and Queen, darling of wise men, Plain Living, child of glorious Temperance.”[93])
ἔστω δὴ μὴ κατὰ τὸν Οἰνόμαον ὁ κύων ἀναιδὴς μηδὲ ἀναίσχυντος μηδὲ ὑπερόπτης πάντων ὁμοῦ θείων τε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων, ἀλλὰ εὐλαβὴς μὲν τὰ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον, ὥσπερ Διογένης· [B] ἐπείσθη γοῦν ἐκεῖνος τῷ Πυθίῳ, καὶ οὐ μετεμέλησεν αὐτῷ πεισθέντι· εἰ δὲ, ὅτι μὴ προσῄει μηδὲ ἐθεράπευε τοὺς νεὼς μηδὲ τὰ ἀγάλματα μηδὲ τοὺς βωμούς, οἴεταί τις ἀθεότητος εἶναι σημεῖον, οὐκ ὀρθῶς νομίζει· ἦν γὰρ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν τοιούτων, οὐ λιβανωτός, οὐ σπονδή, οὐκ ἀργύριον, ὅθεν αὐτὰ πρίαιτο. εἰ δὲ ἐνόει περὶ θεῶν ὀρθῶς, ἤρκει τοῦτο μόνον· αὐτῇ γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐθεράπευε[94] τῇ ψυχῇ, διδοὺς οἶμαι τὰ τιμιώτατα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ, τὸ καθοσιῶσαι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν διὰ τῶν ἐννοιῶν. [C] ἀπερυθριάτω δὲ μηδαμῶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἑπόμενος τῷ λόγῳ πρότερον μὲν αὑτῷ χειρόηθες καταστησάτω τὸ παθηματικὸν [pg 054] τῆς ψυχῆς μόριον, ὥστε παντάπασιν ἐξελεῖν αὐτὸ καὶ μηδὲ ὅτι κρατεῖ τῶν ἡδονῶν εἰδέναι. εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἄμεινον ἐλθεῖν, εἰς τὸ καί, εἰ πάσχει τις τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὅλως ἀγνοῆσαι· τοῦτο δὲ ἡμῖν οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ διὰ τῶν γυμνασιῶν προσγένεται. ἵνα δὲ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ με ταῦτα ἄλλως λέγειν, ἐκ τῶν [D] παιγνίων Κράτητος ὀλίγα σοι παραγράψω·
(Then let not the Cynic be like Oenomaus shameless or impudent, or a scorner of everything human and divine, but reverent towards sacred things, like Diogenes. For he obeyed the Pythian oracle nor did he repent of his obedience. But if anyone supposes that because he did not visit the temples or worship statues or altars this is a sign of impiety, he does not think rightly. For Diogenes possessed nothing that is usually offered, incense or libations or money to buy them with. But if he held right opinions about the gods, that in itself was enough. For he worshipped them with his whole soul, thus offering them as I think the most precious of his possessions, the dedication of his soul through his thoughts. Let not the Cynic be shameless, but led by reason let him first make subservient to himself the emotional part of his soul so that he may entirely do away with it and not even be aware that he is superior to pleasures. For it is nobler to attain to this, I mean to complete ignorance whether one has any such emotions. And this comes to us only through training. And that none may think I say this at random I will add for your benefit a few lines from the lighter verse of Crates:[95])
Μνημοσύνης καὶ Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου ἀγλαὰ τέκνα,
Μοῦσαι Πιερίδες, κλῦτέ μοι εὐχομένῳ·
Χόρτον ἀεὶ συνεχῶς δότε γαστέρι, ἥτε μοι αἰεὶ