The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

DIOGENES

Diogenes of Sinope was the most famous of the Cynic philosophers. He was born about 412 BC and died in 323 BC Having been banished from his native place with his father, who had been accused of coining false money, he went to Athens, and thrust himself upon Antisthenes as a disciple. Like Antisthenes he despised all philosophical speculations, and opposed the corrupt morals of his time; but while the stern austerity of. Antisthenes was repulsive, Diogenes exposed the follies of his contemporaries with wit and good humour. As an exemplar of Cynic virtue he satisfied his appetite with the coarsest food, practised the most rigid temperance, walked through the streets of Athens barefoot, without any coat, with a long beard, a stick in his hand, and a wallet on his shoulders, and by night, according to the popular story, slept in a tub (or large earthenware vessel).

On a voyage to the island of AEgina he fell into the hands of pirates, who sold him as a slave to the Corinthian Xeniades in Crete. The latter emancipated him, and intrusted him with the education of his children. He attended to the duties of his new employment with the greatest care, commonly living in summer at Corinth and in winter at Athens.

Of the many stories related of him the majority are probably fictions; many indeed are chronologically impossible. His enemies accused him of various scandalous offences, but there is no ground for supposing him guilty of any worse fault than that of elevating impertinence to the rank of a fine art.
Research Diogenes