Mind-Benders of Greek & Roman History
The philosopher who was auctioned off as a slave
Ancient biographers report that Diogenes of Sinope, the founding figure of the Cynics, was captured by pirates and put up for sale as a slave. Asked at the auction what he could do, he is said to have answered “govern men” — and told the seller to offer him to a buyer in need of a master.
How we know
Diogenes of Sinope c. 412–323 BCE; the enslavement anecdote is from Diogenes Laërtius, Lives 6.29ff (sold to Xeniades of Corinth), a traditional and possibly apocryphal report.
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