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Article: Diogenes the Cynic in the Dialogues of the Dead of Thomas Brown, Lord Lyttelton, and William Blake.(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- Texas Studies in Literature and Language
- Article date:
- June 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 University of Texas at Austin (University of Texas Press). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Diogenes once passing neare to Hell
Beheld Mydas, that sometime liv'd a King,
Now in Infernall Beggery to dwell,
Base, ragged, dispossesst of ev'ry thing;
And laughing said, ah ah my golden Asse,
Ist possible the world comes thus to Passe?
--Arthur Warren, "Poverties Patience" (1605)
Dialogues of the Dead and Cynic Philosophy
When Lucian of Samosata composed his Dialogues of the Dead in the second century A.D., he gave Diogenes the Cynic an important though intermittent role in its underworld debates and intellectual satire. (1) Lucian's Dialogues featured not only Diogenes, but other Cynics such as Menippus, Crates, and Antisthenes, ...