Wikiquote:Transwiki/Anecdotes about Diogenes preserved by Athenaeus
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- “Did not your progenitor Diogenes once greedily eat up a whole cake at dinner, and in reply to a question say that he was eating some very good bread?” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, iii. 113F.[1]
- “And Socrates used to say that he differed from all other men in that they live to eat whereas he ate to live. Diogenes, too, answered those who chided him for rubbing himself down: "Would that I were able, by rubbing my belly as well, to quell its hunger and want!"[n 1]” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, iv. 158F.[2]
- “Diogenes ordains that in his ideal state the currency shall be dice.” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, iv. 159C.[3]
- “Concerning this city [Athens] Diogenes was right in saying that it had far better go to the crows rather than to the flatterers,[n 2] for the latter devour good men while they are still alive.” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, vi. 254C.[4]
- “Diogenes the Cynic also died when his belly swelled up after he had eaten a raw polypus.[n 3]” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, viii. 341E.[5]
- “And Diogenes, when he saw some one once whose chin was smooth, said, "I am afraid you think you have great ground to accuse nature, for having made you a man and not a woman." And once, when he saw another man, riding a horse who was shaved in the same manner, and perfumed all over, and clothed, too, in a fashion corresponding to those particulars, he said that he had often asked what a sex-addict[n 4] was; and now he had found out.” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, xiii. 565C.[6]
- “But as for Lais of Hyccara - and Hyccara is a city in Sicily, from which place she came to Corinth . . . Aristippus was one of her lovers, and so was Demosthenes the orator, and Diogenes the Cynic.” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, xiii. 588C.[7]
- “And Aristippus every year used to spend whole days with her [Lais] in Aegina, at the festival of Poseidon. And once, being reproached by his servant, who said to him - "You give her such large sums of money, but she admits Diogenes the Cynic for nothing;" he answered, "I give Lais a great deal, that I myself may enjoy her, and not that no one else may." And when Diogenes said, "Since you, O Aristippus, cohabit with a common prostitute, either, therefore, become a Cynic yourself, as I am, or else abandon her;" Aristippus answered him - "Does it appear to you, O Diogenes, an absurd thing to live in a house where other men have lived before you?" "Not at all," said he. "Well then, does it appear to you absurd to sail in a ship in which other men have sailed before you?" "By no means," said he. "Well, then," replied Aristippus, "it is not a bit more absurd to be in love with a woman with whom many men have been in love already."” — Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, xiii. 588EF.[8]
Footnotes
[edit]- ↑ Cf. Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 46, 69.
- ↑ Punning on korakas, "crows," and kolakas, "flatterers." Diogenes Laërtius (vi. 4) ascribes this remark to Antisthenes.
- ↑ Cf. Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 76.
- ↑ ἱππόπορνος: an excessive prostitute or fornicator. Derived from ἵππος: (lit. horse) large or coarse, and πόρνος: male prostitute or unlawful fornicator.
Citations
[edit]References
[edit]- Gulick, Charles Burton (1927), The Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, Loeb Classical Library, I, Harvard University Press
- Gulick, Charles Burton (1928), The Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, Loeb Classical Library, II, Harvard University Press
- Gulick, Charles Burton (1929), The Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, Loeb Classical Library, III, Harvard University Press
- Gulick, Charles Burton (1930), The Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, Loeb Classical Library, IV, Harvard University Press
- Yonge, Charles Duke (1854), Athenaeus of Naucratis / The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned of Athenaeus, III