Diogenes of Sinope lived in a tub in the marketplace. Since it was a long time ago, around the 4th century BCE (before the common era), the details are few. I feel a certain intellectual kinship to Diogenes because I too am a cynic. He must have been a remarkable man, going by the stories told about him.
It is said that he sometimes walked around with a lamp even in broad daylight. When asked why, he replied, “I am looking for an honest man.” A cynic to the core.
He lived an austere life, and claimed (correctly, I believe) that man’s needs are basically simple. He had few possessions and lived in a tub, and I suppose lived on handouts and charity. He must have been like the bhikshus that hung around the Buddha who, one must remember, lived a century before Diogenes.
During a sea voyage in his old age, he was captured by pirates and brought to a market in Crete to be sold. When asked for what he was capable of, he answered, “I can govern men; so sell me to someone who wants a master.” Xeniades, a rich man of Corinth, heard this and bought Diogenes and gave him his freedom. Diogenes was in Corinth when Alexander the Great sent word through a messenger asking Diogenes to come see him in Macedonia.
What would you do if Bill Gates sent word that he would like to meet you since he has heard so much about you?
Diogenes told the messenger, “Go tell your emperor that Corinth is as far from Macedonia as Macedonia is from Corinth. So if your emperor wants to see me, he can come and find me here.” Irrefutable logic and infinite self-assurance. The last bit can only come from someone who really does not need anything from anyone however high and mighty.
Alexander surely was not used to being turned down. I suppose being a warrior, he admired courage. So he went to Corinth to meet Diogenes. Diogenes was sitting in his tub and enjoying the morning sun when Alexander showed up on his high horse with a whole bunch of soldiers.
After a brief introduction, Alexander proudly offered to give Diogenes anything that he needed. “Is there anything I can do for you, Sir?” asked Alexander. Diogenes replied, “Yes, you could. You are blocking the sun. Please stand aside.”
Alexander was a megalomaniac — you had to be if you wanted to (and indeed did) conquer a massive part of the world. So impressed he was with Diogenes that he later remarked, “If I had not been Alexander, I would have liked to be Diogenes.”
9 responses so far ↓
1 Jyoti Iyer // Oct 8, 2004 at 8:43 pm
So would i
2 Nitin // Oct 10, 2004 at 8:41 am
Atanu,
Great post. But cynicism if not done properly can be mistaken for intellectual snobbery. Diogenes seems to have been an amusing eccentric as well.
And I wont ask you if you live in your bathtub
Nitin
3 Frank McNeill // Oct 11, 2004 at 11:43 am
In response to the question about how to answer an invitation to visit Bill Gates, I would ask him to meet me in Kansas and bring a complimentary copy of Windows for Mac so I can open a RISC document that I downloaded from your web site.
4 Elango // Oct 12, 2004 at 9:59 am
I posted several messages asking about the status of the Pilot project..no reply yet from anybody. Like I said before, Indians can analyze everything under the sun, but can’t get anything done! That may sound CYNICAL but that’s the TURTH.
5 Venkat Ramanan // Oct 12, 2004 at 10:51 am
Hi Atanu!
The blog is looking great in it’s New Avatar! Change in the blog is so easy to adapt to and sanguine for the eyes that i never expected a change to be so comfy to get used to! HAH.. anyhow, there are many diogenes in our everyday life, if we observe people carefully. but to be a cynic too, one needs extraordinary semantics to use the right word at the right place. Thanks for the story on diogenes. you have started posting non-techie, non-serious stuff too! That’s great!
6 Atanu Dey // Oct 12, 2004 at 12:42 pm
As it happens, our attempts so far to get partners for participating in the pilot have not been successful. The RISC model requires public/private partnership and coordinated investment.
It is the old story about laying out the plan, marking out the roadmap, distributing them to all and sundry and explaining why it is a good idea. But in the end, the babus and the movers and shakers are busy with the usual things that they have been busy with the last 57 years which has led us to where we are today.
Disillusionment is the first step on the road to cynicism.
7 Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Modest Proposal — Part 4 // Jan 14, 2006 at 2:21 pm
[…]
Previous post: « A Modest Proposal — Part 3
Next post: Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic »
07. Oct ‘04 3:30 p […]
8 Atanu Dey on India’s Development » Indian Secularism // Feb 17, 2006 at 1:57 pm
[…] ifferent set of goodies from the government cornucopia. As an intellectual descendant of Diogenes, the cynic, I see the motives of the governments of India to be what the […]
9 Whoring Aamir Khan Style // Apr 4, 2008 at 11:45 pm
[…] that everyone has a price and can be bought to assume any desired position. I am a cynic and Diogenes of Sinope is a hero of […]