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 here and purchase
one_."

Xeniades charged him with the instruction of his children, a task which
Diogenes 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 accustomed 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 tunics. These
children had a great affection for Diogenes, and took particular care to
recommend him to their parents.

When Diogenes was in slavery, some of his friends used their interest to
procure him his liberty. "Fools!" said he, "you are jesting. Do you not
know that the lion is not the slave of them who feed him? They who feed
him are his slaves."

Diogenes one day heard a herald publish that Dioxippus had conquered men
at the Olympic games. "Say slaves and wretches," said he to them. "It is
I who have conquered men."

When it was said to him, "You are old, you must take your ease," he
said, "What? must I slacken my pace at the end of my course? Would it
not be fitter that I should redouble my efforts?"

When walking in the streets, he observed a man let fall some bread which
he was ashamed to lift. In order to show him that a man ought never to
blush when he is desirous to save anything, Diogenes collected the
fragments of a broken bottle and carried them through the town. "I am
like good musicians," said he, "who leave the true sound that others may
catch it." To one who came to him to be his disciple, he gave a gammon
of bacon to carry and desired him to follow him. Ashamed to carry it
through the streets, the man threw it down and made off. Diogenes
meeting him a few days after, said to him, "What? has a gammon of bacon
broken our friendship?"

After reflecting on his life, Diogenes smiling said: "That all the
imprecations generally uttered in tragedies had fallen upon him; that he
had neither house, nor city, nor country; and that, in a state of
indigence he l