![]() ![]() ATVer, the socially and physically idle tree-hugger seems in need of … something. For instance, after witnessing all the apparently polarized (and polarizing) language traded between the “tree huggers†and the ATVers over “Crossfire Canyon,†I can imagine the following scene.Īn ATVer of some social standing rides his new ATV, bought not on credit but with his hard-earned and carefully saved wages, up to a tree-hugger basking on a rock. Call it a weird hobby, but my mind casts them in different versions of the Diogenes and Alexander tale. ![]() But along with Highet’s essay, it rises to mind whenever I see people who argue opposite positions fling the same anger- or fear-charged tones and flaming rhetoric at each other. I folded my arms across my chest, sat down hard in a chair, and resolved to sit tight until, as I thought in the dream, “something better happens.†As I made my way to an empty chair, I heard the speaker, a balding man dressed in a suit and tie, say in exactly the same tone the hippy had used, “You can’t trust non-Mormons. A meeting was in progress – an LDS fireside. This was my actual destination, and I went in. Shocked and offended, I followed these gentlemen until I came to a doorway that led to a well-lit cavern. As I walked behind two men, both hippy-like in appearance with long hair, beards, and careless clothes, I heard one say to the other, “You can’t trust Mormons. Over one archway, a sunflower had been carved into the rock. Diogenes alexander the great series#I was walking through a series of passages cut through solid stone. This author suggests narcissism on both sides.Īround the time I used this story in class, I had a funny dream. But instead of showing how the two men shared freedom of mind and body, the story might suggest how similar excesses of personality bound them in spirit. But Highet thinks that Alexander recognized himself in Diogenes: “ knew that of all men then alive in the world only Alexander the conqueror and Diogenes the beggar were truly free.†I think Highet might be right, Alexander did recognize himself in Diogenes. Highet says those hearing Alexander’s remark thought it a bit of glibness meant to defuse an awkward situation. But Alexander only walked away, saying, “If I were not Alexander, I should be Diogenes.†The crowd awaited the king’s reaction to Diogenes’ surly words. He asked, “Is there anything I can do for you, Diogenes?†![]() Diogenes alexander the great cracked#Highet’s version of the story has Alexander taking notice of the rag Diogenes wore, his neglected person, and the cracked pot he was reputed to live in. The meaning of this “Mutt Who Snarled at a King†story seems to hinge upon polar differences between the two men, one a much feared and fawned upon conquerer, the other a relentless and often grotesque social critic who scorned human comforts and lampooned conventions at every turn.Īs the story goes, Diogenes lay stretched across the ground, basking in the sun, paying little attention either to the gathering crowd or to Alexander’s approach. The textbook I used when I taught freshman comp at BYU contains an essay by Gilbert Highet titled “Diogenes and Alexander.†This well embellished tale recounts the legendary maybe-it-happened, maybe-it-didn’t visit that Alexander the Great paid to the notorious Cynic philosopher at Corinth. ![]()
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