How dare you destroy a boy's fath in his Diogenes!!!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 2:39 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Diogenes, the Kynical "Kyneges" Geary: "Speaking of Diogenes -- I don't know no Laertius, just him of Sinope who said my favorite saying: "In a rich man's house there's no place to spit but in his face." God, that warms for my Speranzific Communist soul." Well, the anecdote is indeed retold by Diog. Laertius: "Eisagagóntos tinós autón eis oíkon polutelé kai kolúontos ptúsai epeidé ekhrémapsato, eis ten ópsin autoú éptusen, eipón kheírona tópon me eurekénai." So we see the 'pragmatics' of the scenario are slightly different, "In a rich man's house there's no place to spit but in his face." runs Geary's version. Apparently, it was not a generalisation, and the rude action (and possibly remark) was certainly _motivated_ by the person's previous comment. "Eisagagóntos tinós autón Someone took Diogenes eis oíkon polutelé kai kolúontos ptúsai into a magnificent house and warned him *not to expectorate*, [rude even to suggest. JLS] epeidé ekhrémapsato, whereupon having cleared his throat, eis ten ópsin autoú éptusen, Diogenes discharged the phlegm into the man's face, eipón kheírona tópon me eurekénai." being unable, he _said_, to find a meaner receptacle. --- I notice that Diogenes was found of hunting, and that he would hunt with his students -- upon making him learn his own aphorisms by heart. The verb for hunting here is indeed, "kunegesia". Cheers, JL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage.