Diogenes and Alexander

I know that everybody has heard this story, but I was thinking about it this morning and wanted to make a post about it.

Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, was lying in the gutter and was approached by Alexander the Great.

Alexander, being one of the most powerful men in the world, says to him, “Ask anything of me, and I’ll give it to you.”

Diogenes says, “Stand out of my sunlight.”

Alexander later says, “If I were not Alexander the Great, I should like to be Diogenes.”

I read an interesting comment from Julie Ann Piering, a philosophy professor at Northern Arizona University, in this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/diogenes.htm.

“When you’re indebted to a politician, a statesman, or even more so the emperor, you have lost your ability to speak freely and act freely,” says Piering. “So not only does Diogenes not need anything from Alexander the Great, he doesn’t want anything from him.”