For a young man not yet; for an old man never at all

Ἀγαμία (celibacy) was a Cynic principle in spite of the tradition that Crates had a wife and children. "Being asked what was the right time to marry, Diogenes replied, 'For a young man not yet; for an old man never at all'" (D. L. 6, 54). The 47th Letter of Diogenes represents him as urging Zeno not to marry because marriage will bring him nothing but trouble; he adds, "Whoever trusts us will remain single; those who do not trust us will rear children. And if the race of men should cease to exist, there would be as much cause for regret as there would be if the flies and wasps should pass away." Maximus of Tyre says of Diogenes; "He did not marry, for he had heard of Xanthippe; he did not rear children, for he knew the troubles involved" (Diss. 3, 9). Lucian represents a Cynic as saying, "With wife and children and country you will not concern yourself" (Vitarum auctio 10). "But, said the young man, shall marriage and the procreation of children as a chief duty be undertaken by the Cynic? If you grant me a community of wise men, Epictetus replies, perhaps no man will readily apply himself to the Cynic practice... But in the present state of things which is like that of an army placed in battle order, is it not fit that the Cynic should without any distraction be employed only on the ministration of God, able to go about among men, not tied down to the common duties of mankind, nor entangled in the ordinary relations of life?" (Arrian 3, 22, 67-69).

Epictetus confirms the belief that the Cynics were celibates, but the reasons which he assigns for their celibacy differ widely from those given in the Letters and by Maximus Tyrius, and the discrepancy indicates that Epictetus took a highly idealized and unrealistic view of the functions of the Cynic. He admits that his ideal Cynic had no actual existence in his own time (Arrian 3, 22, 80). The Cynics advocated promiscuous sexual intercourse (D. L. 6, 72), which was inconsistent with marriage, and they regarded marriage as restricting freedom (Maximus Tyrius 36, 5).

Image: Xanthippe in a book published by Guillaume Rouillé in 1553
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

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