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About Cynism.
WHEN one of his pupils inquired of Epictetus, and he was
a person who appeared to be inclined to Cynism, what
kind of person a Cynic ought to be and what was the
notion (πρόληψις) of the thing, we will inquire, said Epictetus, at leisure: but I have so much to say to you that
he who without God attempts so great a matter, is hateful
to God, and has no other purpose than to act indecently
in public. For in any well-managed house no man comes
forward, and says to himself, I ought to be manager of
the house. If he does so, the master turns round, and
seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth and
flogs him. So it is also in this great city (the world);
for here also there is a master of the house who orders
every thing. (He says) You are the sun; you can by
going round make the year and seasons, and make the
fruits grow and nourish them, and stir the winds and
make them remit, and warm the bodies of men properly:
go, travel round, and so administer things from the greatest
to the least. You are a calf; when a lion shall appear,
do your proper business (i. e. run away): if you do not,
you will suffer. You are a bull: advance and fight, for
this is your business, and becomes you, and you can do it.
You can lead the army against Ilium; be Agamemnon.
You can fight in single combat against Hector: be
Achilles. But if Thersites1 came forward and claimed
the command, he would either not have obtained it; or
if he did obtain it, he would have disgraced himself
before many witnesses.
Do you also think about the matter carefully: it is not
what it seems to you. (You say) I wear a cloak now
and I shall wear it then: I sleep hard now, and I shall
sleep hard then: I will take in addition a little bag now
and a staff, and I will go about and begin to beg and to
abuse those whom I meet; and if I see any man plucking
the hair out of his body, I will rebuke him, or if he has
dressed his hair, or if he walks about in purple—If you
imagine the thing to be such as this, keep far away from
it: do not approach it: it is not at all for you. But if
you imagine it to be what it is, and do not think your-
self to be unfit for it, consider what a great thing you
undertake.
In the first place in the things which relate to yourself,
you must not be in any respect like what you do now:
you must not blame God or man: you must take away
desire altogether, you must transfer avoidance (ἔκκλισις)
only to the things which are within the power of the will:
you must not feel anger nor resentment nor envy nor pity;
a girl must not appear handsome to you, nor must you
love a little reputation, nor be pleased with a boy or a
cake. For you ought to know that the rest of men throw
walls around them and houses and darkness when they
do any such things, and they have many means of con-
cealment. A man shuts the door, he sets somebody before
the chamber: if a person comes, say that he is out, he is
not at leisure. But the Cynic instead of all these things
must use modesty as his protection: if he does not, he
will be indecent in his nakedness and under the open sky.
This is his house, his door: this is the slave before his
bedchamber: this is his darkness. For he ought not to
wish to hide any thing that he does: and if he does, he
is gone, he has lost the character of a Cynic, of a man
who lives under the open sky, of a free man: he has
begun to fear some external thing, he has begun to have
need of concealment, nor can he get concealment when
he chooses. For where shall he hide himself and how?
And if by chance this public instructor shall be detected,
this paedagogue, what kind of things will he be compelled
to suffer? when then a man fears these things, is it pos-
sible for him to be bold with his whole soul to superintend
men? It cannot be: it is impossible.
In the first place then you must make your ruling
faculty pure, and this mode of life also. Now (you should
say), to me the matter to work on is my understanding,
as wood is to the carpenter, as hides to the shoemaker;
and my business is the right use of appearances. But the
body is nothing to me: the parts of it are nothing to me.
Death? Let it come when it chooses, either death of the
whole or of a part. Fly, you say. And whither; can
any man eject me out of the world? He cannot. But
wherever I go, there is the sun, there is the moon, there
are the stars, dreams, omens, and the conversation (ὁμιλία)
with Gods.
Then, if he is thus prepared, the true Cynic cannot be
satisfied with this; but he must know that he is sent a
messenger from Zeus to men about good and bad things,2 to
show them that they have wandered and are seeking the
substance of good and evil where it is not, but where it
is, they never think; and that he is a spy, as Diogenes3
was carried off to Philip after the battle of Chaeroneia as
a spy. For in fact a Cynic is a spy of the things which
are good for men and which are evil, and it is his duty to
examine carefully and to come and report truly, and not
to be struck with terror so as to point out as enemies
those who are not enemies, nor in any other way to be
perturbed by appearances nor confounded.
It is his duty then to be able with a loud voice, if the
occasion should arise, and appearing on the tragic stage
to say like Socrates: Men, whither are you hurrying, what
are you doing, wretches? like blind people you are wan-
dering up and down: you are going by another road, and
have left the true road: you seek for prosperity and hap-
piness where they are not, and if another shows you where
they are, you do not believe him. Why do you seek it
without?4 In the body? It is not there. If you doubt,
look at Myro, look at Ophellius.5 In possessions? It
is not there. But if you do not believe me, look at
Croesus: look at those who are now rich, with what
lamentations their life is filled. In power? It is not
there. If it is, those must be happy who have been twice
and thrice consuls; but they are not. Whom shall we
believe in these matters? You who from without see their
affairs and are dazzled by an appearance, or the men
themselves? What do they say? Hear them when they
groan, when they grieve, when on account of these very
consulships and glory and splendour they think that they
are more wretched and in greater danger. Is it in royal
power? It is not: if it were, Nero would have been
happy, and Sardanapalus. But neither was Agamemnon
happy, though he was a better man than Sardanapalus and
Nero; but while others are snoring, what is he doing?
Much from his head he tore his rooted hair:
Iliad, x. 15.
and what does he say himself?
'I am perplexed,' he says, 'and
Disturb'd I am,' and 'my heart out of my bosom
Is leaping.'
Iliad x. 91.
Wretch, which of your affairs goes badly? Your posses-
sions? No. Your body? No. But you are rich in gold
and copper. What then is the matter with you? That
part of you, whatever it is, has been neglected by you
and is corrupted, the part with which we desire, with
which we avoid, with which we move towards and
move from things. How neglected? He knows not
the nature of good for which he is made by nature and
the nature of evil; and what is his own, and what be-
longs to another; and when any thing that belongs to
others goes badly, he says, Wo to me, for the Hellenes
are in danger. Wretched is his ruling faculty, and alone
neglected and uncared for. The Hellenes are going to
die destroyed by the Trojans. And if the Trojans do
not kill them, will they not die? Yes; but not all at
once. What difference then does it make? For if death
is an evil, whether men die altogether, or if they die
singly, it is equally an evil. Is any thing else then going
to happen than the separation of the soul and the body?6
Nothing. And if the Hellenes perish, is the door closed,
and is it not in your power to die? It is. Why then do
you lament (and say) Oh, you who are a king and have
the sceptre of Zeus? An unhappy king does not exist
more than an unhappy god. What then art thou? In
truth a shepherd: for you weep as shepherds do, when
a wolf has carried off one of their sheep: and these who
are governed by you are sheep. And why did you come
hither? Was your desire in any danger? was your aver-
sion (ἔκκλισις)? was your movement (pursuits)? was your
avoidance of things? He replies, No; but the wife of my
brother was carried off. Was it not then a great gain
to be deprived of an adulterous wife?—Shall we be de-
spised then by the Trojans?—What kind of people are
the Trojans, wise or foolish? If they are wise, why do
you fight with them? If they are fools, why do you care
about them?
In what then is the good, since it is not in these things?
Tell us, you who are lord, messenger and spy. Where
you do not think that it is, nor choose to seek it: for if
you chose to seek it, you would have found it to be in
yourselves; nor would you be wandering out of the way,
nor seeking what belongs to others as if it were your own.
Turn your thoughts into yourselves: observe the precon-
ceptions which you have. What kind of a thing do you
imagine the good to be? That which flows easily, that
which is happy, that which is not impeded. Come, and
do you not naturally imagine it to be great, do you not
imagine it to be valuable? do you not imagine it to be
free from harm? In what material then ought you to
seek for that which flows easily, for that which is not im-
peded? in that which serves or in that which is free? In
that which is free. Do you possess the body then free or
is it in servile condition? We do not know. Do you not
know that it is the slave of fever, of gout, ophthalmia,
dysentery, of a tyrant, of fire, of iron, of every thing
which is stronger? Yes, it is a slave. How then is it
possible that any thing which belongs to the body can be
free from hindrance? and how is a thing great or valuable
which is naturally dead, or earth, or mud? Well then, do
you possess nothing which is free? Perhaps nothing.
And who is able to compel you to assent to that which
appears false? No man. And who can compel you not
to assent to that which appears true? No man. By this
then you see that there is something in you naturally free.
But to desire or to be averse from, or to move towards an
object or to move from it, or to prepare yourself, or to
propose to do any thing, which of you can do this, unless
he has received an impression of the appearance of that
which is profitable or a duty? No man. You have then
in these things also something which is not hindered and
is free. Wretched men, work out this, take care of this,
seek for good here.
And how is it possible that a man who has nothing,
who is naked, houseless, without a hearth, squalid, without
a slave, without a city, can pass a life that flows easily?
See, God has sent you a man to show you that it is pos-
sible.7 Look at me, who am without a city, without a
house, without possessions, without a slave; I sleep on
the ground; I have no wife, no children, no praetorium,
but only the earth and heavens, and one poor cloak. And
what do I want? Am I not without sorrow? am I not
without fear? Am I not free? When did any of you see
me failing in the object of my desire? or ever falling into
that which I would avoid? did I ever blame God or man?8
did I ever accuse any man? did any of you ever see me
with sorrowful countenance? And how do I meet with
those whom you are afraid of and admire? Do not I
treat them like slaves? Who, when he sees me, does not
think that he sees his king and master?
This is the language of the Cynics, this their character,
this is their purpose. You say No: but their charac-
teristic is the little wallet, and staff, and great jaws: the
devouring of all that you give them, or storing it up, or
the abusing unseasonably all whom they meet, or dis-
playing their shoulder as a fine thing.—Do you see how
you are going to undertake so great a business? First
take a mirror: look at your shoulders; observe your loins,
your thighs. You are going, my man, to be enrolled as a
combatant in the Olympic games, no frigid and miserable
contest. In the Olympic games a man is not permitted to
be conquered only and to take his departure; but first he
must be disgraced in the sight of all the world, not in
the sight of Athenians only, or of Lacedaemonians or of
Nicopolitans; next he must be whipped also if he has
entered9 into the contests rashly: and before being whipped,
he must suffer thirst and heat, and swallow much dust.
Reflect more carefully, know thyself,10 consult the divi-
nity, without God attempt nothing; for if he shall advise
you (to do this or anything), be assured that he intends
you to become great or to receive many blows. For this
very amusing quality is conjoined to a Cynic: he must be
flogged like an ass, and when he is flogged, he must love
those who flog him, as if he were the father of all, and
the brother of all.11—You say No; but if a man flogs you,
stand in the public place and call out, 'Caesar, what do I
suffer in this state of peace under thy protection?' Let us
bring the offender before the proconsul.—But what is
Caesar to a Cynic, or what is a proconsul or what is any
other except him who sent the Cynic down hither, and
whom he serves, namely Zeus? Does he call upon any
other than Zeus? Is he not convinced that whatever
he suffers, it is Zeus who is exercising him? Hercules
when he was exercised by Eurystheus did not think that
he was wretched, but without hesitation he attempted to
execute all that he had in hand. And is he who is trained
to the contest and exercised by Zeus going to call out and
to be vexed, he who is worthy to bear the sceptre of
Diogenes? Hear what Diogenes says to the passers by
when he is in a fever, Miserable wretches, will you not
stay? but are you going so long a journey to Olympia to see
the destruction or the fight of athletes; and will you not
choose to see the combat between a fever and a man?12
Would such a man accuse God who sent him down as if
God were treating him unworthily, a man who gloried in
his circumstances, and claimed to be an example to those
who were passing by? For what shall he accuse him of?
because he maintains a decency of behaviour, because he
displays his virtue more conspicuously?13 Well, and
what does he say of poverty, about death, about pain?
How did he compare his own happiness with that of the
great king (the king of Persia)? or rather he thought
that there was no comparison between them. For where
there are perturbations, and griefs, and fears, and desires
not satisfied, and aversions of things which you cannot
avoid, and envies and jealousies, how is there a road to
happiness there? But where there are corrupt principles,
there these things must of necessity be.
When the young man asked, if when a Cynic has fallen
sick, and a friend asks him to come to his house and to be
take care of in his sickness, shall the Cynic accept the
invitation, he replied, And where shall you find, I ask, a
Cynic's friend?14 For the man who invites ought to be
such another as the Cynic that he may be worthy of being
reckoned the Cynic's friend. He ought to be a partner in
the Cynic's sceptre and his royalty, and a worthy minister,
if he intends to be considered worthy of a Cynic's friendship, as Diogenes was a friend of Antisthenes, as Crates
was a friend of Diogenes. Do you think that if a man
comes to a Cynic and salutes him, that he is the Cynic's
friend, and that the Cynic will think him worthy of
receiving a Cynio into his house? So that if you please,15
reflect on this also: rather look round for some convenient
dunghill on which you shall bear your fever and which
will shelter you from the north wind that you may not be
chilled. But you seem to me to wish to go into some
man's house and to be well fed there for a time. Why
then do you think of attempting so great a thing (as the
life of a Cynic)?
But, said the young man, shall marriage and the pro-
creation of children as a chief duty be undertaken by the
Cynic?16 If you grant me a community of wise men,
Epictetus replies, perhaps no man will readily apply
himself to the Cynic practice. For on whose account
should he undertake this manner of life? However if we
suppose that he does, nothing will prevent him from
marrying and begetting children; for his wife will be
another like himself, and his father in law another like
himself, and his children will be brought up like himself. But in the present state of things which is like
that of an army placed in battle order, is it not fit that
the Cynic should without any distraction be employed only
on the ministration of God,17 able to go about among men,
not tied down to the common duties of mankind, nor
entangled in the ordinary relations of life, which if he
neglects, he will not maintain the character of an honour-
able and good man? and if he observes them he will lose
the character of the messenger, and spy and herald of God.
For consider that it is his duty to do something towards
his father in law, something to the other kinsfolks of his
wife, something to his wife also (if he has one). He is
also excluded by being a Cynic from looking after the
sickness of his own family, and from providing for their
support. And to say nothing of the rest, he must have a
vessel for heating water for the child that he may wash
it in the bath; wool for his wife when she is delivered of
a child, oil, a bed, a cup: so the furniture of the house is
increased. I say nothing of his other occupations, and of
his distraction. Where then now is that king, he who
devotes himself to the public interests,
The people's guardian and so full of cares.
Homer, Iliad ii. 25
whose duty it is to look after others, the married and
those who have children; to see who uses his wife well,
who uses her badly; who quarrels; what family is well
administered, what is not; going about as a physician
does and feels pulses? He says to one, you have a fever,
to another you have a head-ache, or the gout: he says to
one, abstain from food;18 to another he says, eat; or do
not use the bath; to another, you require the knife, or the
cautery. How can he have time for this who is tied to
the duties of common life? is it not his duty to supply
clothing to his children, and to send them to the school-
master with writing tablets, and styles (for writing).19
Besides must he not supply them with beds? for they
cannot be genuine Cynics as soon as they are born. If he
does not do this, it would be better to expose the children
as soon as they are born than to kill them in this way.
Consider what we are bringing the Cynic down to, how
we are taking his royalty from him.—Yes, but Crates
took a wife.—You are speaking of a circumstance which
arose from love and of a woman who was another Crates.20
But we are inquiring about ordinary marriages and those
which are free from distractions,21 and making this inquiry
we do not find the affair of marriage in this state of the
world a thing which is especially suited to the Cynic.
How then shall a man maintain the existence of society?
In the name of God, are those men greater benefactors to
society who introduce into the world to occupy their own
places two or three grunting children,22 or those who superintend as far as they can all mankind, and see what they do,
how they live, what they attend to, what they neglect con-
trary to their duty? Did they who left little children to the
Thebans do them more good than Epaminondas who died
childless? And did Priamus who begat fifty worthless
sons or Danaus or Aeolus contribute more to the community than Homer? then shall the duty of a general or
the business of a writer exclude a man from marriage or
the begetting of children, and such a man shall not be
judged to have accepted the condition of childlessness for
nothing; and shall not the royalty of a Cynic be considered
an equivalent for the want of children? Do we not perceive his grandeur and do we not justly contemplate the
character of Diogenes; and do we instead of this turn our
eyes to the present Cynics who are dogs that wait at tables,
and in no respect imitate the Cynics of old except perchance
in breaking wind, but in nothing else? For such matters
would not have moved us at all nor should we have
wondered if a Cynic should not marry or beget children.
Man, the Cynic is the father of all men; the men are his
sons, the women are his daughters: he so carefully visits
all, so well does he care for all. Do you think that it is
from idle impertinence that he rebukes those whom he
meets? He does it as a father, as a brother, and as the
minister of the father of all, the minister of Zeus.
If you please, ask me also if a Cynic shall engage in the
administration of the state. Fool, do you seek a greater
form of administration than that in which he is engaged?
Do you ask if he shall appear among the Athenians and
say something about the revenues and the supplies, he
who must talk with all men, alike with Athenians, alike
with Corinthians, alike with Romans, not about supplies,
nor yet about revenues, nor about peace or war, but about
happiness and unhappiness, about good fortune and bad
fortune, about slavery and freedom? When a man has
undertaken the administration of such a state, do you ask
me if he shall engage in the administration of a state? ask
me also if he shall govern (hold a magisterial office): again
I will say to you, Fool, what greater government shall he
exercise than that which he exercises now?
It is necessary also for such a man (the Cynic) to have a
certain habit of body: for if he appears to be consumptive,
thin and pale, his testimony has not then the same weight.
For he must not only by showing the qualities of the soul
prove to the vulgar that it is in his power independent of the
things which they admire to be a good man, but he must
also show by his body that his simple and frugal way of
living in the open air does not injure even the body. See,
he says, I am a proof of this, and my own body also is.
So Diogenes used to do, for he used to go about fresh
looking, and he attracted the notice of the many by his
personal appearance. But if a Cynic is an object of com-
passion, he seems to be a beggar: all persons turn away
from him, all are offended with him; for neither ought he
to appear dirty so that he shall not also in this respect
drive away men; but his very roughness ought to be clean
and attractive.
There ought also to belong to the Cynic much natural
grace and sharpness; and if this is not so, he is a stupid
fellow, and nothing else; and he must have these qualities
that he may be able readily and fitly to be a match for all
circumstances that may happen. So Diogenes replied to
one who said, Are you the Diogenes who does not believe
that there are gods?23 And, how, replied Diogenes, can
this be when I think that you are odious to the gods?
On another occasion in reply to Alexander, who stood
by him when he was sleeping, and quoted Homer's line
(Iliad, ii. 24)
A man a councillor should not sleep all night,
he answered, when he was half asleep,
The people's guardian and so full of cares.
But before all the Cynic's ruling faculty must be purer
than the sun; and if it is not, he must necessarily be a
cunning knave and a fellow of no principle, since while he
himself is entangled in some vice he will reprove others.24
For see how the matter stands: to these kings and tyrants
their guards and arms give the power of reproving some
persons, and of being able even to punish those who do
wrong though they are themselves bad; but to a Cynic
instead of arms and guards it is conscience (τὸ συνειδός)
which gives this power. When he knows that he has
watched and laboured for mankind, and has slept pure,
and sleep has left him still purer, and that he thought
whatever he has thought as a friend of the gods, as a
minister, as a participator of the power of Zeus, and that
on all occasions he is ready to say
Lead me, O Zeus, and thou, O Destiny;
25
and also, If so it pleases the gods, so let it be; why should
he not have confidence to speak freely to his own brothers,
to his children, in a word to his kinsmen? For this reason
he is neither over curious nor a busybody when he is in
this state of mind; for he is not a meddler with the affairs
of others when he is superintending human affairs, but he
is looking after his own affairs. If that is not so, you may
also say that the general is a busybody, when he inspects
his soldiers, and examines them and watches them and
punishes the disorderly. But if while you have a cake
under your arm, you rebuke others, I will say to you,
Will you not rather go away into a corner and eat that
which you have stolen; what have you to do with the
affairs of others? For who are you? are you the bull of
the herd, or the queen of the bees? Show me the tokens
of your supremacy, such as they have from nature. But if
you are a drone claiming the sovereignty over the bees, do
you not suppose that your fellow citizens will put you
down as the bees do the drones?
The Cynic also ought to have such power of endurance
as to seem insensible to the common sort and a stone: no
man reviles him, no man strikes him, no man insults him,
but he gives his body that any man who chooses may do
with it what he likes. For he bears in mind that the
inferior must be overpowered by the superior in that in
which it is inferior; and the body is inferior to the many,
the weaker to the stronger. He never then descends into
such a contest in which he can be overpowered; but he
immediately withdraws from things which belong to
others, he claims not the things which are servile. But
where there is will and the use of appearances, there you
will see how many eyes he has so that you may say, Argus
was blind compared with him. Is his assent ever hasty,
his movement (towards an object) rash, does his desire
ever fail in its object, does that which he would avoid
befal him, is his purpose unaccomplished, does he ever find
fault, is he ever humiliated, is he ever envious? To these
he directs all his attention and energy; but as to every
thing else he snores supine. All is peace; there is no
robber who takes away his will,26 no tyrant. But what
say you as to his body? I say there is. And his possessions?
I say there is. And as to magistracies and honours?—
What does he care for them?—When then any person would
frighten him through them, he says to him, Begone, look
for children: masks are formidable to them; but I know
that they are made of shell, and they have nothing inside.
About such a matter as this you are deliberating.
Therefore, if you please, I urge you in God's name, defer
the matter, and first consider your preparation for it. For
see what Hector says to Andromache, Retire rather, he
says, into the house and weave:
War is the work of men
Of all indeed, but specially 'tis mine.
II. vi. 490.
So he was conscious of his own qualification, and knew
her weakness.