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 DIOGENES 45 for flocking about him and attending with eagerness to a mere trifle, while they would not so much as listen to things of the greatest importance. Walking out once at noon, with a lighted torch in his hand, he was asked what he was in quest of. " I am searching for a man" said he. On another oc- casion he called out in the middle of a street : " Ho ! men men." A great many people assembling around him, Diogenes beat them away with his stick, saying " I was calling for men." Alexander passing through Corinth on one occasion, had the curiosity to see Diogenes, who happened to be there at that time. He found him basking in the sun in the grove Craneum, where he was cementing his tub. " I am," said he to him, " the great king Alexander." "And I," replied the philosopher, "am the dog Diogenes." " Are you not afraid of me ? " continued Alexander. " Are you good or bad?" returned Diogenes. "lam good," rejoined Alexander. "And who would be afraid of one who is good ? " replied Diogenes. Alexander admired the penetration and free manners of Diogenes. After some conversation, he said to him : " I see, Diogenes, that you are in want of many things ; and I shall be happy to have an opportunity of assisting you : ask of me what you will." " Retire a little to one side then," replied Diogenes ; "you are depriving me of the rays of the sun." It is no wonder that Alexander stood astonished at seeing a man so com- pletely above every human concern. " Which of the two is richest ? " continued Diogenes : " he who is content with his cloak and his bag, or he for whom a whole kingdom is not sufficient, but who is daily exposing himself to a thousand dan- gers in order to extend its limits ? " Alexander's courtiers felt indignant that so great a king should do so much honor to such a dog as Diogenes, who did not even rise from his place. Alexander perceived it, and turning about to them said : " Were I not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes." As Diogenes was one day going to Egina, he was taken by pirates, who brought him to Crete, and exposed him to sale. He did not appear to be in the least disconcerted, nor to feel the least uneasiness on account of his misfortune. Seeing one Xeniades, corpulent and well-dressed, " I must be sold to that per- son," said he, " for I perceive he needs a master. Come, child," said he to Xeni- ades, as he was coming up to purchase him, "come, child, buy a man." Being asked what he could do, he said he had the talent of commanding men. " Crier," said he, " call out in the market, If anyone needs a master, let him come liere and purchase one." Xeniades charged him with the instruction of his children, a task which Dio- genes performed with great fidelity. He made them commit to memory the finest passages of the poets, with an abridgment of his own philosophy, which he composed on purpose for them. He made them exercise themselves in running, wrestling, hunting, horsemanship, and in using the bow and the sling. He ac- customed them to very plain fare, and in their ordinary meals to drink nothing but water. He ordered them to be shaven to the skin. He brought them with him into the streets very carelessly dressed, and frequently without sandals and