Much of what is known about his life in Athens and Corinth comes from the work The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius (3rd century CE). His cause of death has been given as either severe food poisoning from eating a raw ox's foot, rabies from a dog bite, or suicide by holding his breath. He lived in Corinth with Xeniades' family for the rest of his life and died there at the age of ninety. Xeniades, for example, placed Diogenes in charge of tutoring his young sons and, in time, the philosopher became part of the family. When asked what talent he had he replied, “That of governing men” and then demanded to be sold to Xeniades saying, “Sell me to that man for he wants a master.” Even though he was a slave at this point, and in no position to demand anything, he believed so completely in himself that others felt compelled to listen to him and do what he said. Whether true or another fable, the tale of Diogenes' capture by pirates and his being sold into slavery in Corinth bears testimony to the strength of his convictions. To be true to oneself, then, no matter how 'mad' one may appear, was to pursue a life worth living. Wikipedia User: AndreasPraefcke (Public Domain)įor Diogenes, a reasonable life is one lived in accordance with nature and with one's natural inclinations. He owned a cup which served also as a bowl for food but threw it away when he saw a boy drinking water from his hands and eating food off a piece of bread, realizing one did not even need a bowl for sustenance. He owned nothing, lived on the streets of Athens, and seems to have subsisted on the charity of others. He was so ardent in his beliefs that he lived them very publicly in the market place of Athens. Like Antisthenes, Diogenes believed in self-control, the importance of personal excellence in one's behavior (in Greek, arete, usually translated as 'virtue'), and the rejection of all that was considered unnecessary in life such as personal possessions and social status. Diogenes would take his teacher's beliefs to an extreme degree. Antisthenes at first refused him as a student, even beating him with his staff to drive him away, but eventually was worn down by his persistence.

He became interested in the teachings of Antisthenes and asked to be admitted to his school. He lived in the cask his entire time in Athens. He had written to a friend to rent him a small house there but, when this friend failed to find a place, Diogenes threw his cloak into a large, empty, wine cask outside the temple of Cybele near the Agora and called it home. He was most likely a student of the philosopher Antisthenes (445-365 BCE) and, in the words of Plato (allegedly), was “A Socrates gone mad.” He was driven into exile from his native city of Sinope and settled in Athens. 404-323 BCE) was a Greek Cynic philosopher best known for holding a lantern to the faces of the citizens of Athens claiming he was searching for an honest man.

Diogenes the dog