Crates

Contemporary with Polemo, the succensor of Xenpcrates in the school of Plato, flourished about the 113th Olympiad.

One of the most fkmous disciples of the cde* brated Diogenes was Crates, the son of Ascondus, a Theban. His fomily was very wealthy, and highly respectable. Being present one day at the performance of a tragedy in which Telephns, one of the principal characters, abandons all his possessions in order to embrace the Cynic philosophy, he was so struck by the example, that he instantly resolved to Imitate it; and accordingly sold all his patrimony, for which he received above two hundred talents. Hiis sum he placed in the hands of a banker, for the future benefit of his children, should they happen only to have capacities of the ordinary level; but should they, on the contrary, possess suflicient elevation of mind to rank themselves with philosophers, he intended the money to be distributed among the citizens of Thebes, as an article which philosophers did not require. His friends went to him to entreat htm not to persevere in his deter-

23B CRATBt.

mination, but he drove them out of hU house, and even ran after them some way with a stick.

In the summer Crates wore a thick cloak; in the depth 'Of winter, on the contrary, he was always lightly clad; in order that he might accustom himself to the changes and varieties of the season, without bdng inconvenienced by them. He boldly entered the; residence of all sorts of persons, if he iprished to reprimand them for any thin^ which had displeased him. lie used to run after people of dissolute conduct, and pour out a torrent of abuse on them, in hopes of drawing it on himself in return; intending by so doing to render calumny and injustice habitually easy for him to bear. Like the rest of the pypjcs^ he lived austerely^ and dn^nk nothing but water.

The orator Metrodes had ceased to speak in j^ubUc, on account of being tormented with datulencj, which he could not help betraying in certsun audible sounds, which often covered him with confosipn in the oiiddle of his harangues., This circumstanoey simple enough in itself, chagrined him so greatly, tha^ he confined himself entirely at home, resolving to pass the remainder of his life in all the forlornness of solitude. Crates heard his situation mentioned, and immediately devouring a great quautit^ of lupins, in order to fill himsdf with wind, he wen^ directly afterwards to the house of Metrocles. Ht entered into conversation witl) him; and made 9 number of excellent observations, in order to prove to him that where there wais no guilt there ougl^t to be no shame: that the inconveniences of which be complained, were common to all the world

CilATBf. 339 besides; " And 1 should not be at all surprisedy" added he, '< if I were to show you that I am no way exempt from them myself/' While he spoke the lupins began to produce the effect he wished: he seemed not in the least disconcerted at it; and Metroeles, taking courage from Such a good example, and feeling that he annexed too much importance to the cauM that had driven him out of sodety, burst through all the restraints of ceremony, burned the writings of Theophrastus, under whom he had studied, and attached himself ever afterwards to Crates, who soon made him <an excellent Cynic. In the course of time, Metrodes himself became a celebrated teacher of the Cynic philosophy, and had many disciples of eminence: but as he advanced In years, disgusted with the infirmities of age, he became weary of his existence, and put a violent end to it by strangling himself.

Crates was ugly by nature; and, to render his appearance still more remarkable and hideous, he covered his cloak with sheep-skins, so that it was diffleult to say at first sight to what species of animal he belonged. He was likewise tery agile in all kinds of etemses; and when he went into public, to join in wrestling and other sports of that kind, the singularity of his figure and habits always excited laughter. This, howevei', never gave him the Smallest vex« ation2 he used only id lift up his hands and exclaim, «« Patience, Crates! diose who laugh at you now, will soon find it their turn to weep; and you win kiave the pleasure of seeing them envy your enjoyments, and lament their own imbecility." He went one:day to ask a fiitour of a master, for one of his ti^ CEAtftS.

scboldrs; but instead of enforcing bis request in thd usual manner, by embracing the master's knees, he embraced his thi^s. This appeared very extraordinary to the master, who evinced great displeasure Bt it. ** Why should you be offended," aslsed Craites; '' do not your thighs belong to you as much as your knees?'^ He used to say, that it was impossible to fiud any human being without fasdty but that a few rotten grains did not spoil a fine pomegranate.

Crates wished his disciples to be entirely disencumbered from worldly possessions. " My learning as my own wealth," he used to say; ** every thing else I have freely resigned to those who delight in luxury and «how." He exhorted his followers to avoid sensual pleasures above all things; because a philosopher ought to think liberty more desirable than any other enjoyment, and voluptuousness was the most tyrannical of all masters. ** Hunger," said he, ** gets the better of love; or if that be not sufflci-^ endy powerful,time will do the rest: and at any rate one may always find a cord, and settle the matter by hanging oneself." Whenever he began to decUum against the corrupt manners of his own time, he always launched into the bitterest censures of the folly of mankind, who willingly incurred any expense for things of whk^ they ought to be ashamed, provided they were connected with the gratificatbn of the passions, and yet grudged the smallest cost for any thing laudable and profitable.

It was Crates who formed the scale of rewards which has since been so often repeated: To a oook, ten mine; to a physician, a drachma; to a flatlerer aa4 a castle-builder, five talents; to a courtezan, a talent; and to a philosopher, an obolus. Bdng asked what he had learned by his philosophy, he replied, *'Tobe contented with vegetables, and to live without care or uneasiness." One day Demetrius Phalereus sent him some wine and bread. Crates, indignant at the thought that a philosopher should require wine, sent it back, saying with an air of displeasure, " Would to heaven we could be supplied with bread also, by fountiuns, as we are with water!"

llie freedom of manners which Crates assumed towards every one so charmed Hipparchia^ the sister of Metrocles, that she refused the most advantageous matches on his account; and even went so far as to threaten her parents that she would kill herself, if they did not suffer her to marry him. In vidn they endeavoured by every argument in their power to make her change her resolution; and they were forced to have recourse to Crates himself, entreating him to use his influence over her, to divert her from her design. He was not more successful, however, than they had been; at last he rose from his seat, and stripped himself in her presence, in order that she might see his hump back and crooked body ^ then throwing his staff and wallet upon the ground, beside the cloak, "Now," said he, ''that you may not be deceived in your choice of a husband, take notice, that you see me as I am, and all my possessions. Consider well what you mean to do; for, if you marry me, I have nothing better to offer you." Hipparchia did not hesitate a moment, but instantly determined to secure Crates, at the ex*

Y pense of all i^e possessed at that time, and all <he might hope for at a future period. She n^er for* 80ok her husband, but went every where with him; eren iiito the most crowded meetings. One day, being at an entertsunment at the hou^e of Lysimachus, she Sported this sophism with Hieodohxs the Impious, who was also one of the guests. "If llieodonis do an act for which he is not blamed, neither ought Hipparchia, doing the same act, to be blamed. Theodorus in striking himself commitiis an action which no one has any right to blame him for; therefore, Hipparchia, in striking Theodorus,'* (enforcing her argument with a slap in the face), "does not commit an action that any one has a right to blame her for.'* Theodorus did not make a direct reply to thiis logic, but pulling her cloak aside, he cried out, "Look! here is a wo^ man, who has left her needl^ and thread!" " True,** replied Hipparchia, •• but you surely will not condemn me for preferring philosophy to such feminine occupations.*'

From this well-assorted marriage of Crat<Ss and Hipparchia, sprung a son named Posides, who was educated with great care, both by his father and mother, in the principles of the Cynic philosophy. Alexander one day asked Crates if he would li&e to see his native city rebuilt: ** There would be no use in it,** he' replied; "for most likely some other Alexander would come and destroy it again." He used to say, that he had no other country than poverty and contempt of grandeur; and that he was a citizen of Phogeribs, and consequently exempt from every species of envy.

He compared the wealth of the great to trees which spring up on mountains and inaccessible rocks, and only serve to nourish kites and ravens, in the same manner that the great lavish their riches only on flatterers and women of loose habits; in fact, he said, a rich man was only a calf surrounded by wolves. Being asked what length of time It might be necessary to study philosophy, he replied, '' Until you have learned that generals of armies are much the same sort of persons with drivers of asses."

Crates, like the rest of the Cynics devoted himself entirely to the study of ethics, paying no atteni tiou to any of the other sciences. Towards the dose of his life he was lient almost double with the burthen of his years. Perceiving his end approaching, he said, as he surveyed himself, '< Ah! poor Hiunp-Back, thy load of years is now bringing thee to the grave! thou wilt soon see the palace of Pluto " Thus weakness and old age at length terminated his existence. The time when his reputation was at its zenith, was about the 1 13th Olympiad; it was during this period that he flourished at Thebes, and surpassed all the Cynics of that time. He was the master of Zeno, tl^e founder of the celebrated sect of Stoics.