Single Idea 21336

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 2. Ancient Philosophy / c. Classical philosophy]

Full Idea

Crates, with his bag and threadbare cloak, spent his whole life laughing and joking as though he were on holiday.

Gist of Idea

Crates lived in poverty, and treated his whole life as a joke

Source

report of Crates (Theb) (fragments/reports [c.325 BCE]) by Plutarch - 30: Quiet of Mind 266e

Book Reference

Plutarch: 'Essays', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1992], p.215


A Reaction

Crates sounds a little less alarming than Diogenes, while living a similar life. Was Crates the first ancestor of post-modernism?