Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/264

246 used to inure himself to the vicissitudes of the weather by rolling himself in hot sand in summer, and in winter by embracing statues covered with snow, are facts resting on the authority of all the ancient historians. His numerous witty apophthegms are preserved by Diogenes Laertius. After his voyage to Ægina, during which he fell into the hands of pirates, who sold him as a slave in Crete, the conduct of Diogenes appears in a much less ridiculous light. With characteristic boldness he proclaimed to his captors that he knew no trade except " to govern men," and wished to be sold "to a man that wanted a master." Such a purchaser he seems to have found in Xeniades, who took him to Corinth to superintend the education of his children. There he spent the rest of his life; and he is said to have reached an extreme old age. There at the Isthmian games he taught the assembled concourse in the Kraneion ; and thither he attracted a crowd of disciples when Antisthenes had ceased to tickle their ears in Cynosarges. There, too, in all probability, his famous interview with Alexander took place, in which the only favour he had to beg of the prince was that he would not stand between him and the sun, when Alexander is said to have exclaimed, " If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." To Athens Diogenes seems never to have returned. Of his death, which is said to have taken place on the same day with that of Alexander the Great, there are various con flicting accounts. That he perished by the bite of a dog, or from the immoderate use of raw flesh, or by his own hand, is now generally disbelieved. It is more probable that his death was calm and peaceful ; and in spite of his desire to be thrown to the beasts of the field, he received from Xeniades an honourable interment. In the days of P.iusanias the Corinthians pointed with pride to his grave ; and on the isthmus there was a pillar erected to his memory, on which, as the self-chosen symbol of his life, there rested a dog of Parian marble. His alleged con nection with Lais, and the open indecencies of which he is said to have been guilty, have thrown a shade upon his character. The former is, however, it must be confessed, exceedingly improbable ; and the latter charge was undoubtedly exaggerated, if it was not originated by the shameless excesses of the later Cynics. The Cynics answered arguments by facts. When some one was arguing in support of Zeno of Elea s notion respecting the impossibility of movement, Diogenes rose and walked. Definitions might prove that there was no motion, but definitions were only verbal, and could be answered by facts. This appeal to common sense, the argumentum ad bacilhim, was of more value and importance in ethical than in speculative philosophy.  DIOGENES LAERTIUS, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laertii. Of the circumstances of his life we know nothing. The date at which he wrote probably the reign of Septimius Severus (–) is known only from conjecture. His own opinions are equally uncertain. By some he was regarded as a Christian; but it seems more probable that he was an Epicurean. The work by which he is known professes to give an account of the lives and sayings of the Greek philosophers. Although it is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as giving us an insight into the private life of the Greek sages, justly led Montaigne to exclaim that he wished that instead of one Laertius there had been a dozen. In the commencement of the work he divides philosophers into the Ionic and Italic schools. The biographies of the former begin with Anaximander, and end with Clitomachus, Theophrastus, and Chrysippus ; the latter -begins with Pythagoras, and ends with Epicurus. The Socratic school, with its various branches, ia classed with the Ionic ; while the Eleatics and sceptics are treated under the Italic. The whole of the last book is devoted to Epicurus. From the statements of Burlseus, the text of Laertius seems to have been much fuller than that which we now possess ; and hopes have been entertained of obtaining a more complete copy.

1em  DIOMEDES, son of the impetuous Tydeus, is a hero of the Ætolian and Argo -Theban legends. He is in the Iliad the leader of the tribes which belong to the government of the Amythonidse. A favourite of Athene, from whom he received the gift of immortality, he does not spare even gods if she is standing by his side. He carried off the Trojan Palladium and brought it to Argos, where it was preserved by his descendants. He was known in many other places as a devotee of Athene and a supporter of her worship, In Argos his shield was carried through the town as a relic on the festival of Athene. A temple of Athene Anemotis (the storm ruler) was said to have been founded by him. He was worshipped in several parts of Italy, and in Salamis in Cyprus. Indeed he may be said generally to belong to the worship of Athene in so far as she is the goddess of storm and war.  DION, of Syracuse (–), was the son of Hipparinus, and brother-in-law of Dionysius the Elder. In his youth he was an ardent admirer and diligent pupil of Plato, whom Dionysius had invited to Syracuse ; aud he used every effort to promote the carrying out of his master s maxims in the administration of the kingdom. His near relationship to the despot gave him great influence at court, and also enabled him to amass considerable wealth. Accordingly, on the accession of the younger Dionysius, the stern morality of the philosopher stood in marked con trast to the dissolute character of the prince. An antagonism thus silently sprung up between the two ; and the proposal of Dion to invite Plato again to Syracuse was made the occasion of an open rupture. To counteract the influence of that distinguished philosopher, the enemies of Dion obtained the recall of the historian Philistus, vho had already signalized himself as a faithful supporter of despotic power. This artful courtier quickly regained his ascendency over the mind of Dionysius, and was at length successful in procuring the banishment of Dion. The exiled philosopher retired to Athens, where he was at first permitted to enjoy his revenues in peace ; but the interces sions of Plato served to exasperate the tyrant, and at length provoked him to confiscate the property of Dion, and give his wife to another. This last outrage roused Dion to seek the liberation of his country by force of arms. Assembling a small force at Zacynthus, he sailed to Sicily, and, in the absence of Dionysius, was received with demonstrations of joy. He succeeded in defeating the forces of the tyrant, but was himself soon after supplanted by the intrigues of Heraclides. Again he was banished ; but the incompetency of the new leader soon led to his recall. He had, however, scarcely made himself master of Sicily when the people began to express their discontent with his tyrannical conduct, and he was assassinated by Caliphus, an Athenian who had accompanied him in his expedition.  DION CASSIUS COCCEIANUS, the celebrated his torian of Rome, was born at Nicæa in Bithynia, His father's name was Cassius Apronianus, and by his mother s side be was the grandson of Dion Chrysostom, who also obtained the surname of Cocceianus. When a young man he accompanied his father to Cilicia, of which he had the administration ; and on his father s death he went to Rome, where in the last year of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, or immediately after the death of that 