What was it about his fellow Greeks that provoked Diogenes’ disdain? One answer is that they failed to embrace poverty, and the total freedom and self-sufficiency that paradoxically came with it. If exile made him a philosopher, it was because exile gave him the priceless gift of poverty. Diogenes Laertius quotes Theophrastus, saying that Diogenes the Cynic embraced his lifestyle upon observing a mouse, and realizing that this humble creature makes do with nothing (6.22). A similar story has him already living as a Cynic, owning little more than his pouch, stick, and a cup for drinking. Seeing
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