Dio Chrysostomos is not always associated with the cynics, but his Euboean speech outlines the basics of cynical virtue in poverty and simplicity. In it, Dio Chrysostomos describes the dwelling and way of life of a hunter he has met, who lives in complete simplicity along with an extended family -- they hunt, and till the land a little, not concerning themselves with wealth but merely with obtaining enough to survive (Atchity & McKenna, 315). The man Dio Chrysostomos describes meeting in this speech also tells him how their fathers used to keep herds for a rich man, and how on this man's death the herds and lands were taken by other rich men, leaving them without their mode of survival until they realized that the complexities of working for another were totally unnecessary, and they went back to the simple way of life that nature had intended and became entirely self-sufficient. In this speech, Dio Chrysostomos describes not only the quintessential virtuous life that the cynics were...
8). Another of Crates pupils, Zeno of Citium, is considered the founder of Stoicism, making the link between the two schools of thought very definite. Both believed that simplicity was the key to virtue -- a lesson we could do well to learn today.
Works Cited
Atchity, Kenneth and McKenna, Rosemary. The Classical Greek Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Piering, Julie. "Cynics." The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed 16 February 2009. http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/cynics.htm
