Book 6
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Crates, son of Ascondas, was a Theban. He too was amongst the Cynic’s famous pupils. Hippobotus, however, alleges that he was a pupil not of Diogenes, but of BrysonNot the same as Bryson of Heracleia, whom we know from the Platonic Epistles, from Aristotle, and from Athenaeus (xi. p. 508). He may, however, have been the disciple of Pythagoras mentioned by Iamblichus (Vita Pyth. c. 23). the Achaean. The following playful lines are attributed to himAnth. Plan. v. 13.: There is a city Pera in the midst of wine-dark vapour, Fair, fruitful, passing squalid, owning nought, Into which sails nor fool nor parasite Nor glutton, slave of sensual appetite, But thyme it bears, garlic, and figs and loaves, For which things’ sake men fight not each with other, Nor stand to arms for money or for fame.
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There is also his widely circulated day-book, which runs as follows: Set down for the chef ten minas, for the doctor One drachma, for a flatterer talents five, For counsel smoke, for mercenary beauty A talent, for a philosopher three obols.
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He was known as the Door-opener—the caller to whom all doors fly open—from his habit of entering every house and admonishing those within. Here is another specimen of his compositionAnth. Pal. vii. 326.: That much I have which I have learnt and thought, The noble lessons taught me by the Muses: But wealth amassed is prey to vanity. And again he says that what he has gained from philosophy is A quart of lupins and to care for no one. This too is quoted as hisAnth. Pal. ix. 497.: Hunger stops love, or, if not hunger, Time, Or, failing both these means of help,—a halter.
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He flourished in the 113th Olympiad.328-324 B.C.
