Latest / Marcus Aurelius: Rome's Philosopher King — Fexingo History / Marcus Aurelius and the Cynic Philosopher Demonax
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- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism—how he tried to live by its principles, how it shaped his reign. But there was another philosophical tradition that he had a complicated relationship with: Cynicism. Luna: Cynicism? Like Diogenes in his barrel? Lucas: Exactly. The Cynics were the radical ascetics of the ancient world. They rejected social conventions, wealth, and power. Diogenes famously told Alexander the Great to get out of his sunlight. By Marcus's time, Cynicism was still around, and it had a fascinating figure named Demonax. Lucas: Demonax was a philosopher from Cyprus who lived in Athens in the 2nd century AD. He wasn't a writer—we know him mainly through the satirist Lucian, who wrote a biography of him. And he was beloved in Athens for his wit, his kindness, and his fearless truth-telling. Luna: So he was like a gentle Diogenes? Lucas: Exactly. Lucian says Demonax never insulted anyone, but he could deflate arrogance with a single sentence. Once, a pompous orator was giving a long, boring speech, and Demonax simply said, 'I think I hear my cloak calling me.' He walked out, and everyone laughed. Another time, a man asked him for a cloak, and Demonax said, 'I have one, but it's too heavy for you—you're not strong enough to bear its weight.' The man insisted, so Demonax gave it to him, and the man sold it. Later, Demonax saw him begging and said, 'I told you it would be too heavy.' Luna: He sounds like a prankster, but a wise one. Lucas: He had a serious side too. When the Athenians were about to execute a man for impiety, Demonax stood up and said, 'If you kill him, you'll just be proving his point—that the gods don't care about Athens.' They let the man go. And when a plague hit Athens, Demonax stayed and helped the sick, while others fled. Luna: Did Marcus ever meet him? Lucas: We don't know for sure. Marcus studied in Athens as a young man, and he would have been in the city while Demonax was there. Lucian says Demonax was friends with many prominent Romans, and Marcus was known to seek out philosophers. It's very likely they crossed paths. Lucas: And even if they didn't meet, Marcus certainly knew of him. In his Meditations, Marcus often praises simplicity, endurance, and indifference to externals—all Cynic virtues. But he also says, 'Don't be a Cynic,' almost verbatim. He warns against performing philosophy for show. Luna: So he admired Cynic ideals but didn't want to be one? Lucas: Right. Because a Cynic rejects all social roles. They wouldn't be emperor. Marcus had a duty to rule. But he could incorporate Cynic detachment into his Stoicism. For example, he slept on a hard bed, ate simple food, and refused to wear the purple cloak unless necessary. That's Cynic austerity, but within his role. Lucas: And there was another Cynic, Peregrinus Proteus, who was much more extreme. He gave away his fortune, lived as a beggar, and eventually burned himself alive at the Olympic Games in 165 AD. Lucian wrote a scathing satire of him, but Marcus must have known about it. That kind of theatrical suicide was the opposite of what Marcus valued. Luna: So Demonax was the good Cynic, and Peregrinus was the bad one? Lucas: In a way. But Lucian admired Demonax while hating Peregrinus. Demonax lived to be almost a hundred, laughing and teaching until the end. When he was dying, someone asked what he wanted done with his body. He said, 'Don't bother burying it; the dogs will take care of it.' The man said, 'But that would be shameful.' And Demonax replied, 'It's not shameful to be useful to others, even after death.' Luna: That's almost like Marcus's own attitude toward death. Lucas: Exactly. Marcus writes in the Meditations: 'We should leave life as a ripe olive falls—blessing the tree that bore it and grateful to the earth that nourished it.' That peaceful acceptance is very similar to Demonax's calm. So while Marcus wasn't a Cynic, he shared their core insight: that happiness comes from inner freedom, not from what the world gives you. Lucas: And Demonax's philosophy had a political dimension. He criticized tyranny and injustice. Once, when a Roman governor was acting cruelly, Demonax said, 'You are not the terror of Athens; Athens is the terror of you.' That kind of fearless speech was something Marcus, as emperor, had to be open to hearing. He surrounded himself with honest advisors. Luna: So Demonax influenced Marcus indirectly, through the atmosphere of Athenian philosophy? Lucas: I think so. The Meditations are full of Cynic-sounding advice: 'Wear a rough cloak, sleep on the ground, eat plain food—but do it without looking down on others.' That's straight from the Cynic playbook, but tempered with Stoic cosmopolitanism. Marcus was trying to be a philosopher-king, and Demonax showed that philosophy could be lived with humor and grace, not just stern lectures. Luna: It's nice to think of Marcus smiling at one of Demonax's jokes. Lucas: It is. And maybe that's why he wrote those lines in the Meditations: 'Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.' That's pure Cynic practicality. Demonax would have approved.