Diogenes or on Servants

Diogenes or on Servants (Ancient Greek: Διογένης ἢ περὶ οἰκέτων, romanized: Diogenēs e peri oiketōn, Oration 10 in modern corpora) is a short speech delivered by Dio Chrysostom between AD 82 and 96,[1] presenting a dialogue between Diogenes of Sinope and an unnamed traveller, which presents arguments against slavery and consulting oracles.

The fourth-century BC philosopher Diogenes became a proponent of the Cynic school of philosophy after being exiled from his hometown of Sinope.

Finally, the traveller suggests that he should recover the slave in order to sell him and buy a good one, but Diogenes responds that selling something one knows to be bad is fraud and that a focus on acquisition of property merely turns oneself into a slave to material things; the best approach would be to own no property at all, like animals (13-16).

First Diogenes points out that using something without fully understanding how to use it is dangerous, giving the examples of an untrained man trying to ride a horse, employ hunting dogs, play a lyre, use the rudder of a boat, or fight with shield and sword (17-20).

The speech concludes with a short revisionist account of Oedipus, in which Diogenes claims that his problems arose from consulting an oracle without sufficient understanding and that his behaviour once he discovered that he had married his own mother proved his stupidity - he should have kept the matter secret or just legalised it and he certainly did not need to blind himself in order to go into exile (29-30).

[3] Despite the comments in these orations, In Defence of his Relations with Prusa shows that Dio sought to recover his lost slaves when he was allowed to return from exile in AD 96.