Diogenes or the Isthmian Oration

Diogenes or the Isthmian Oration (Ancient Greek: Διογένης ἢ Ἰσθμικός, romanized: Diogenēs e Isthmikos, Oration 9 in modern corpora) is a short speech delivered by Dio Chrysostom between AD 82 and 96,[1] which describes the behaviour of the Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope at the Isthmian Games.

Dio compares Diogenes at the Games to Odysseus among the suitors, "a king and master in fact, wearing the costume of a beggar" (8-9).

First, Diogenes crowns himself with a pine wreath (the prize awarded to victors at the Isthmian Games) and when the organisers of the Games demand that he remove the wreath, he responds that he is more worthy than athletes because he is a victor over hardships, vices, and especially over pleasure (hedone), while athletes are merely people "who eat the most meat" (10-13).

Next, Diogenes confronts a jubilant victor in the stadion race and tells him that he has nothing to be proud of: speed is only a sign of cowardice (deilia), Heracles and Achilles were actually both very slow-moving, his victory was very close so he is only better than his competitors "by one step," plenty of animals are still much faster than him, and there is nothing more to be proud of in being the fastest human than there would be in being the fastest ant.

[4] Jason König draws connections to negative depictions of athletic training in Lucian's Anacharsis and Seneca's Letters 15 and 80.