CHAP. good things of life; freeing from the prejudices and fancies which stand in the way of success, such as envy, passionate love, superstition; 2 preserving from regret for the past, from desire for the future, from dependence on present enjoyment; and guaranteeing that freedom of soul of which we stand in need would we at every moment rest contented with our present lot.3 Hence the cultivation of the mind is urgently advocated by these philosophers, and philosophy in particular pointed to as the way to a truly human life. They even assert that therein lies the essential condition of happiness; for although mankind are too far dependent on external circumstances for the wise man to be invariably happy, and the foolish man invariably miserable, yet as a rule so it is. Nor is this a departure from the fundamental principle of the School, the pursuit of pleasure, but certainly something very different has come of it from what might at first have been expected. CHAP. XIV. Herewith agrees all that is further known as to C. Practhe views and conduct of Aristippus. His leading of the Cytical life thought is comprised in the adage, that life offers renaics. most to him who, without ever denying himself a pleasure, at every moment continues master of himself and his surroundings. The Cynic freedom from wants is not his concern. Prudent enjoyment he says is a greater art1 than abstinence. He lived not only comfortably, but even luxuriously.2 A good table he enjoyed, wore costly clothing, scented himself with perfumes, and caroused with mistresses. Nor were Stob. Floril. 17, 18: Kратe ἡδονῆς οὐχ ὁ ἀπεχόμενος, ἀλλ ̓ ὁ χρώμενος μὲν μὴ παρεκφερόμενος Se. Diog. 75: тò кратeîν кal μn ἡττᾶσθαι ἡδονῶν κράτιστον, οὐ τὸ μὴ χρῆσθαι. 2 Xen. Mem. ii. 1, 1, already calls him ἀκολαστοτέρως ἔχοντα πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα [πρὸς ἐπιθυμίαν βρωτοῦ καὶ ποτοῦ καὶ λαγνείας], etc. He says himself then, 1, 9, that his object is † pậσrá Ti Kal HdioTa BioTeve and Socrates asks whether he depended for his homelessness on the circumstance that no one could like to have him even as a slave? rís yàp àv éléλoi &v0ρwπоv ev oikią exei toveîv μèv undèv ἐθέλοντα, τῇ δὲ πολυτελεστάτῃ dialτn xaipovтa; this picture was afterwards more deeply coloured by later writers, and certainly not without exaggeration. See Athen. xii. 544, 6, e. according to Alexis; Ibid. viii. 3 See the anecdotes in Diog. 4 Max. Tyr. Diss. vii. 9; 5 That he made use of fra- 6 His relations to Lais are well known. Hermesianax in CHAP. the means neglected by which this mode of life was rendered possible. On the contrary, he argued that the more of these you possess, the better for you. Riches are not like shoes, which when too large can not be worn. He accordingly not only demanded payment for his instruction; 2 but did not hesitate to enrich himself by means, and for this purpose to submit to things which any other philosopher would have considered below his dignity.3 The fear of Athen. xiii. 599, b, 588 c; xii. 544, b, d.; Cic. ad Fam. ix. 26; Plut. Erot. 4, 5, p. 750; Diog. 74, 85; Clemens, Strom. ii. 411, C.; Theod. Cur. Gr. Aff. xii. 50, p. 173; Lact. Inst. iii. 15. A few other stories of the same kind may be found, Diog. 67; 69; 81; iv. 40. 1 Stob. Floril. 94, 32. 3 Here belong. many of the anecdotes which relate to Aristippus' stay at the court of Dionysius. According to Diog. 77, Aristippus is said to have announced to Dionysius, on his arrival, that he came to impart what he had, and to receive what he had not; or, according to a more probable version, Ibid. 78, when he wanted instruction he used to go to Socrates for it, now that he wanted money, he had come to Dionysius. To the same person, too, according to Diog. 69, his remark was addressed that the reason why philosophers appeared before the doors of the rich, and not the contrary, was because philosophers knew what they wanted, whilst the rich did not. The same story is found in Stob. Floril. 3, 46, and in a somewhat different connection, Diog. 70 and 81. Yet Schleiermacher on Plato's Republic, vi. 489, has no business to refer this passage to this remark, because of Arist. Rhet. ii. 16, 1391, a, 8, but he is quite right in setting down the Scholiast who wished to attribute the remark of Socrates to Aristippus. Of the liberal offer made by Dionysius to Plato, he remarks in Plut. Dio. 19: ἀσφαλῶς μεγαλόψυχον εἶναι Διονύσιον· αὐτοῖς μὲν γὰρ μικρὰ διδόναι πλειόνων διομένοις, Πλάτωνι δὲ πολλὰ μηδὲν λαμβάνοντι. Dionysius at first refusing to give him any money because the wise man, on his own show. ing, was never in difficulties, he replied, Give me the money this once, and I will explain to you how it is; but no sooner had he got it, than he exclaimed, Ah! was I not right? Diog. 82, Diog. 67, 73, and Athen. xii. 544, tell further, on the authority of Hegesander, that once having been placed at the bottom of the table by Dionysius because of some free expression, he contented himself death too, from which his teaching professed to deliver,' was not so fully overcome by him that he could face danger with the composure of a Socrates.2 It would, nevertheless, be doing Aristippus a great injustice to consider him an ordinary, or at most a somewhat more intellectual pleasure-seeker. Enjoy he will, but, at the same time, he will be above enjoyment. He possesses not only the skill of adapting himself to circumstances and making use of persons and things,3 not only the wit which is never at with remarking, To-day, this is the place of honour which he assigns. Another time he is said to have taken it quite quietly when Dionysius spat in his face, observing: A fisherman must put up with more moisture, to catch even a smaller fish. Once, when begging a favour for a friend, he fell at the feet of Dionysius, Diog. 79, and when reproached for so doing, Wherefore, he asked, has Dionysius ears on his legs? It is a common story that Dionysius once asked him and Plato to appear dressed in purple: Plato refused to do so, but Aristippus acceded with a smile. Sext. Pyrrh. iii. 204, i. 155; Diog. 78; Suid. 'Αρίστ.; Stob. Floril. 5, 46; Greg. Νaz. Carm. ii. 10, 324: the latter unskilfully places the incident at the court of Archelaus. Stein, 67. The observation in Diog. 81, is likewise referred to Plato, that he allowed himself to be abused by Dionysius for the same reasons that others abused him: a preacher of morals after all is only pursuing his own inter ests. He is represented as a 1 See Diog. 76: at the same 2 On the occasion of a storm at sea he was charged with displaying more fear than others, notwithstanding his philosophy, to which he adroitly replied: οὐ γὰρ περὶ ὁμοίας ψυχῆς аywviwμev åupóтepoι, Diog. 71; Gell. xix. 1, 10; Elian, V. H. ix. 20. 3 Diog. 66: v de ikavds åpμóσaσlai kal Tóπw kai Xpóvw καὶ προσώπῳ, καὶ πᾶσαν περίστασιν ἁρμοδίως ὑποκρίνασθαι· διὸ καὶ παρὰ Διονυσίῳ τῶν ἄλλων εὐδοκίμει μᾶλλον, ἀεὶ τὸ προσπεσὸν εὖ διατιOéuevos. A few instances of this skill have been already seen (p. 362, 3). Here, too, belongs what is told by Galen. and Vitruv. (see p. 340), that after having suffered shipwreck, and lost everything, he immediately contrived in Syracuse or Rho CHAP. XIV. СНАР. a loss for repartee,' but he possesses also calmness of mind and freedom of spirit, which can forego pleasure without a pang, bear loss with composure, be content with what it hath, and feel happy in any position. His maxim is to enjoy the present, leaving care either for the future or the past, and under all circum des to procure an ample supply of necessities. Further, it is stated in Plutarch, Dio. 19, that he was the first to notice the growing estrangement between Dionysius and Plato. In Diog. 68, he answers the question, What good he has got from philosophy, by saying: τὸ δύνασθαι πᾶσι θαῤῥούντως ὁμιλeiv-and Diog. 79, relates that when brought as a captive before Artaphernes, some one asked him how he liked his situation, to which he replied, that now he was perfectly at rest. Well-known is the answer which he is reported to have given to Diogenes (which, however, is told of others), Diog. vi. 58, ii. 102: etπep ydels ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλεῖν, οὐκ ἂν λάχανα ĚπλUVES. Diog. 68; Hor. Ep. i. 17, 13; Valer. Max. iv. 3, Ext. 4. 1 See p. 362, 1; 363, 2. In a similar way he could defend his luxuriousness. When blamed for giving fifty drachmæ for a partridge, Aristippus asked if he would have given a farthing for it. The reply being in the affirmative; I, said Aristippus, do not care more for fifty drachmæ than you do for a farthing. Diog. 66, 75; or with a different turn in Athen. viii. 343, c., where the story is told of him and Plato àpropos of a ὅτι dish of fish: opâs ouv.. σὺν ἐγὼ ὀψοφάγος, ἀλλὰ σὺ σιλαρyupos. Another time he argues that if good living were wrong, it would not be employed to honour the festivals of the gods. Ibid. 68. Another time, when some one took him to task for his good living, he asked him to dinner. The invitation being accepted, he at once drew the conclusion that he must be too stingy to live well himself. Ibid. 76. When Dionysius offered him the choice between three mistresses, he chose them all, with the gallant observation, that it had been a bad thing for Paris to prefer one of three goddesses, but bade them all farewell at his door. Ibid. 67. When attacked for his relations to Lais, he answered with the well-known exw kai οὐκ ἔχομαι. The same relation is said to have given rise to other light jokes; it was all the same to him whether the house in which he lived had been occupied by others before; he did not care whether a fish liked him, if he liked the fish. The Cynicism is betrayed by the anecdotes in Diog. 81, p. 341, 4, although they are not otherwise at variance with Grecian morals. |