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In his Rhetoric Aristotle cites notable instances of metaphoric language among his contemporaries. ‘The Dog,’ he reports, ‘used to say that taverns were the mess halls of the Athenians.’ With this oblique reference, the Dog (Greek cyn, related to English ‘canine’) and by extension Cynicism, the movement the Dog did most to inaugurate, make their first appearance in the written record. The Dog is Diogenes of Sinope.
Diogenes once begged money from a statue. Asked what he thought he was doing, he answered, ‘Getting used to being refused.’
Shortly before death Demonax was asked what his wishes were regarding funeral arrangements.
‘Don’t trouble yourself, the stench will ensure that I get buried.’
‘But,’ the other objected, ‘isn’t it wrong that the body of a great man should be exposed as food for birds and dogs?’
‘On the contrary,’ he said, ‘it’s the part of a great man, even in death, to be of service to the living.’
Onesicritus' history of Alexander was harshly criticized for distorting facts in the interest of presenting its subject in the best possible light and for including as much fable as fact. The distortions begin with his representing himself as the commander of Alexander’s fleet, when it appears he was only a pilot. An account of a meeting between Alexander and the queen of the Amazons was also included. Such transparent fictions served to discredit Onesicritus as an historian, even among the first generation of his readers. It appears he was also the original source for the legendary meeting between Alexander and Diogenes – the two great heroes in his life between whom he tried to find a common moral ground.
Asked what he gained from philosophy, Antisthenes answered, ‘The habit of engaging myself in dialogue.’