Chapter 8

The buyer begins to question Diogenes the Cynic and in response, Diogenes speaks of his cosmopolitanism and embraces a comparison to Heracles.

τὸ πρῶτον: "first of all" (adverbial acc. in an expression of time or succession: S. 1611).

πῶς λέγεις: "what do you mean?" (lit. "how do you say (that)?").

τοῦ κόσμου πολίτην: "a citizen of the universe." Diogenes is well known as an iconoclast who rejected the norms of society, including being limited to citizenship in one city-state. Scholars are divided about the philosophical significance (or lack thereof) of Diogenes' cosmopolitanism. Diogenes' questioning of societal norms is to some degree a Socratic quest to ensure that people think through their values and commitments but whether he was ultimately motivated by an interest in educating people or in articulating a developed philosophical perspective remains unclear. 

τί οὖν οὐχί: "why then do (you) not...?" For τί οὖν in impatient questions, see S. 2962. In such questions expressing surprise, the aorist is more typical but the present tense appears less frequently (see S. 1936). Such questions effectively function as polite commands or injunctions. The placement of οὐ at the beginning of question expects an affirmative answer (S. 2651). The deictic iota at the end of οὐχί adds emphasis (as it does on τουτί two sentences later). For the deictic suffix -ι, see S. 333g.

τὸ...ξύλον: "as for the club" (acc. of respect specifically detailing a quality or attribute: S. 1601b).

On the τριβώνιον, see Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, s.v. Pallium: "Philosophers wore a coarse and cheap pallium, which from being exposed to much wear was called τρίβων and τριβώνιον (Aristoph. Plut. 897; Athen. V p211E; Themist. Orat. X. p155, ed. Dindorf; palliastrum, Apul. Florid. I). The same was worn also by poor persons (Isaeus, de Dic.p94, ed. Reiske; Polyaen. Strat. VII.35), by the Spartans (Athen. XII p535E; Aelian, V.H. VII.13), and in a later age by monks and hermits (φαιὸν τριβώνιον, Synes. Epist. 147; sagum rusticum, Hieron. Vita Hilar.). These blanketeers (τριβωνοφόροι, Palladii, Hist. Laus., in vita Serap.) often went without a tunic, and they sometimes supplied its place by the greater size of their pallium. It is recorded of the philosopher Antisthenes, that "he first doubled his pallium" (Diog. Laërt. VI.6, 13), in which contrivance he was followed by his brother Cynics (Brunck, Anal. II.22; Hor. Epist. I.7.25), and especially by Diogenes, who also slept and died in it, and who according to some was the first inventor of this fashion (Diog. Laërt. VI.22, 77). The large pallium, thus used, was called διπλοϊς(diplois, Isid. Hisp. Orig. XIX.24), and also Exomis, because, being worn without the fibula, it left the right shoulder bare, as seen in the preceding figure of Polynices, and in the bas-relief in Dodwell's Tour already referred to (Plaut. Mil. IV.4.43; Aelian, V.H. IX.34); and, when a girdle was added round the waist, it approached still more to the appearance of the single-sleeved tunic, the use of which it superseded."

εὖ γε τῆς προαιρέσεως: "well said for the way of life!" (the genitive of cause is used in exclamations and is often preceded by an interjection as here with εὖ γε). For the genitive of cause, see S. 1407.

ἐκκαθᾶραι: aor. act. infin. from ἐκκαθαίρω.

ἀλλά τι μάλιστα εἰδέναι σε φῶμεν;: "but should we say that you know something especially well?" Subjunctive in a deliberative question (S.  2639 ; for the deliberative subjunctive generally, see S.  1805 ).

ἢ τίνα τὴν τέχνην: "or what skill...?"  (τίνα interrog. adj.: S. 1262 ). ἤ can be used without πότερον to introduce a second more pointed or focused question after an initial question full of uncertainty. See S. 2657 and S. 2860.

ἰατρὸς τῶν παθῶν: "healer of sufferings."  πάθος can refer to physical suffering or psychic disturbance (Montanari πάθος D) and it can be refer figuratively to pain or difficulty of all private and public. Plutarch describes the Spartan king Agesilaus "as a healer of political difficulties" (30.2 τῶν πολιτικῶν ἀποριῶν ἰατρῷ) while Menander calls a good friend a "a healer of grief" (Monostichoi 577: λύπης ἰατρός ἐστιν ὁ χρηστὸς φίλος). In a line very similar to what Diogenes says here, Menander also describes λόγος as a "healer for the suffering in the soul" (Monostichoi 587: ὁ λόγος ἰατρός ἐστι τοῦ κατὰ ψυχὴν πάθους).

τὸ δὲ ὅλον: "and in short" (Montanari ὅλος C).