{
    "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1",
    "id": "diogenes.pseudo_epistles",
    "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/pseudo-diogenes/pseudo-epistles/reference-10/",
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Pseudo-Diogenic Epistles",
    "author": "Pseudo-Diogenes",
    "date": "late Hellenistic or Imperial period, 1st century BCE-2nd century CE",
    "summary": "These letters transmitted under Diogenes’ name dramatize Cynic frankness, contempt for wealth, and freedom before rulers. Their attribution is conventional: they belong to a literary tradition later than the historical philosopher.",
    "learning": "Recognize conventions of the philosophical letter, follow the construction of a Cynic voice, and avoid confusing manuscript attribution with historical authorship.",
    "long_summary": "Epistolary form gives doctrine a situation and addressee. Advice, refusals, and provocative replies construct a Diogenes consistent with the anecdotal image, turning voluntary poverty and exile into signs of independence.\n\nThat consistency is itself an effect of reception. The texts are not personal archives and guarantee neither their setting nor displayed author. They show how later writers extended a Cynic voice considered exemplary.",
    "historical_context": "The corpus manifests do not yet establish the precise place and circumstances of composition. The images below document the author’s world or the text’s transmission. They do not claim to show the exact scene of writing.",
    "material_world_label": "Classical Greek world, 5th century BCE",
    "material_world": {
        "technology": "Bronze, iron, pottery, simple cranes, and shipbuilding sustain cities. Power still comes mainly from people, animals, wind, and water.",
        "science": "Geometry, astronomy, inquiry into nature, and rational argument advance without modern measuring instruments or standardized experiments.",
        "medicine": "Practitioners observe symptoms, diet, and seasons; healing sanctuaries and ritual treatment also remain common.",
        "transport": "Walking and animals dominate on land. Sailing ships and triremes connect islands, ports, and colonies.",
        "agriculture": "Small farms, grain, vines, olives, goats, and sheep shape the diet; harvests remain vulnerable to weather and war.",
        "communication": "Public speech, messengers, and handwritten letters carry news. Theatre, the civic square, and the banquet are major social media.",
        "clothing": "Women and men drape wool or linen as chitons, peploi, and cloaks. Garments are pinned, belted, and shaped by status rather than tailored like modern clothes."
    },
    "material_world_scenes": [
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-01.webp",
            "title": "Technology, science, and care",
            "description": "Bronze, iron, pottery, simple cranes, and shipbuilding sustain cities. Power still comes mainly from people, animals, wind, and water. Geometry, astronomy, inquiry into nature, and rational argument advance without modern measuring instruments or standardized experiments. Practitioners observe symptoms, diet, and seasons; healing sanctuaries and ritual treatment also remain common."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-02.webp",
            "title": "Travel and communication",
            "description": "Walking and animals dominate on land. Sailing ships and triremes connect islands, ports, and colonies. Public speech, messengers, and handwritten letters carry news. Theatre, the civic square, and the banquet are major social media."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-03.webp",
            "title": "Farming and food",
            "description": "Small farms, grain, vines, olives, goats, and sheep shape the diet; harvests remain vulnerable to weather and war."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/03-431-bce/world-04.webp",
            "title": "Clothing, women and men",
            "description": "Women and men drape wool or linen as chitons, peploi, and cloaks. Garments are pinned, belted, and shaped by status rather than tailored like modern clothes."
        }
    ],
    "intellectual_tradition": {
        "id": "greek-roman-traditions",
        "label": "Greek and Roman traditions"
    },
    "period": {
        "id": "ancient",
        "label": "Antiquity"
    },
    "languages": [
        "grc",
        "en",
        "fr"
    ],
    "manifestations": [
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/diogenes/pseudo_epistles/representations/grc.ndjson",
            "language": "grc",
            "records": 51,
            "role": "original",
            "sha256": "e4f26fd70e440910e826dffae0dfc59da8dec5fdf75d14878f7a589a34ba3be6",
            "source_id": "pseudo-letters-grc"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/diogenes/pseudo_epistles/representations/ai-generated/en-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "en",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 51,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "61e0672dd868238b9da5049f680d2b102408bdf5a379469c1c7b0d4cb604d175",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/diogenes/pseudo_epistles/representations/ai-generated/fr-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "fr",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 51,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "bfb30bad977c9439f4defbf41ae809cf83a35c82e55d367ed6c792276bf890eb",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        }
    ],
    "concepts": [
        {
            "id": "education",
            "label": "Education"
        },
        {
            "id": "freedom",
            "label": "Freedom"
        },
        {
            "id": "friendship",
            "label": "Friendship"
        },
        {
            "id": "justice",
            "label": "Justice"
        },
        {
            "id": "nature",
            "label": "Nature"
        },
        {
            "id": "simple_living",
            "label": "Simple living"
        },
        {
            "id": "time",
            "label": "Time"
        },
        {
            "id": "virtue",
            "label": "Virtue"
        }
    ],
    "source_work_ids": [
        "diogenes.pseudo_epistles"
    ],
    "passages": 51,
    "word_count": 10974,
    "word_counts_by_language": {
        "en": 10974,
        "fr": 11335,
        "grc": 8885
    },
    "editorial_status": "gpt_5_6_semantic_draft_v1",
    "structure": {
        "citation_scheme": "diogenes-carrier-explicit-v1",
        "kind": "native",
        "levels": [
            {
                "key": "carrier_reference",
                "label_fr": "Référence du témoin",
                "label_en": "Carrier reference"
            }
        ],
        "leaf_fr": "Témoignage",
        "leaf_en": "Testimony"
    },
    "canonical_passage_id": "passage:diogenes.pseudo_epistles:10",
    "canonical_ref": "10",
    "canonical_parent_ref": null,
    "canonical_parent_id": null,
    "representations": [
        {
            "language": "grc",
            "text": "Μὴ μόνον ἐπὶ τῇ στολῇ καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι καὶ τῇ διαίτῃ θάρρει, Μητρόκλεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ αἰτεῖν ἀνθρώπους τὰ σωτήρια· οὐ γὰρ αἰσχρόν. βασιλεῖς γέ τοι καὶ δυνάσται παρὰ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων αἰτοῦσι χρήματα, στρατιώτας, ναῦς, σῖτον, καὶ οἱ κάμνοντες παρὰ τῶν ἰατρῶν φάρμακα καὶ οὐ μόνον πυρετοῦ, ἁλλὰ καὶ φρίκης καὶ λοιμοῦ, καὶ οἱ ἐρασταὶ παρὰ τῶν παιδικῶν φιλήματα καὶ ἐπαφήματα, τὸν δὲ Ἡρακλέα παρὰ τῶν ἀναισθήτων φασὶ καὶ ἰσχὺν λαμβάνειν. οὐ γὰρ προῖκα οὐδ’ ἐπὶ χείρονι ἀνταλλαγῇ, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ πάντων ἔστιν αἰτεῖν, ἀνθρώπους τὰ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ταὐτὰ ποιεῖν Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ Διὸς καὶ ἔχειν ἀμείβεσθαι πολὺ κρείττονα ὧν λαμβάνεις αὐτός. (2) τίνα ταῦτα; μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν εἶναί σοι τὴν μάχην τοῦτο πράσσοντι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν δόξαν. ᾗ πάντη μάχου, κἂν μηδέν σε ἐπείγῃ· καλὸν γάρ τι ἔθος καὶ ὁ πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα πόλεμος. Σωκράτης δὲ ἔλεγε μὴ αἰτεῖν τοὺς σπουδαίους, ἀλλὰ ἀπαιτεῖν· εἶναι γὰρ αὐτῶν τὰ πάντα ὡς καὶ τῶν θεῶν. καὶ τοῦτ’ ἐπειρᾶτο συνάγειν ἐκ τοῦ κυρίους μὲν ὑπάρχειν τῶν πάντων τοὺς θεούς, κοινὰ δ’ εἶναι τὰ τῶν φίλων, φίλον δ’ εἶναι τῷ θεῷ τὸν σπουδαῖον. αἰτήσεις τοίνυν τὰ ἴδια.",
            "translator": "Rudolf Hercher, editor",
            "edition": "pseudo-letters-grc",
            "source_id": "pseudo-letters-grc",
            "translation_type": "original"
        },
        {
            "language": "en",
            "text": "Take courage, Metrocles, not only in your garb, name, and way of life, but also in asking human beings for the things that save them, for this is not shameful. Kings and rulers ask their subjects for money, soldiers, ships, and grain; the sick ask physicians for drugs, not only against fever but also against chills and plague; lovers ask their beloved boys for kisses and caresses; and they say that Heracles even receives strength from the unfeeling. Asking people for what accords with nature is not asking for nothing or in exchange for something worse, but for the salvation of all, so that you may do the same things as Heracles the son of Zeus and have much better things to give in return than those you receive.\n\n(2) What are these? That in doing this your struggle may be not against truth but against opinion. Fight opinion everywhere, even when nothing presses you, for warfare against such things is a noble practice. Socrates used to say that good men do not ask, but demand back what is theirs, since everything belongs to them just as it does to the gods. He sought to infer this from the premises that the gods are masters of everything, that friends' possessions are held in common, and that the good man is a friend of the god. You will therefore be asking for your own property.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "generation_model": "gpt-5.6-sol"
        },
        {
            "language": "fr",
            "text": "Prends confiance, Métroclès, non seulement dans ton vêtement, ton nom et ton régime, mais aussi lorsque tu demandes aux hommes ce qui doit les sauver; car ce n’est pas honteux. Les rois et les puissants demandent à leurs sujets de l’argent, des soldats, des navires et du blé; les malades demandent aux médecins des remèdes, non seulement contre la fièvre, mais aussi contre les frissons et la peste; les amants demandent à leurs bien-aimés des baisers et des caresses; on dit même qu’Héraclès reçoit sa force des êtres insensibles. Ce n’est ni gratuitement ni en échange d’un moindre bien que l’on peut demander aux hommes ce qui est conforme à la nature, mais pour le salut de tous, afin d’agir comme Héraclès, fils de Zeus, et de pouvoir rendre des biens bien supérieurs à ceux que tu reçois toi-même. (2) Quels sont-ils? En agissant ainsi, tu ne combattras pas la vérité, mais l’opinion. Combats-la partout, même quand rien ne t’y presse; car la guerre contre de telles choses est une belle habitude. Socrate disait que les hommes vertueux ne demandaient pas, mais réclamaient leur dû; car tout leur appartient comme tout appartient aux dieux. Il tentait de le déduire ainsi: les dieux sont maîtres de toutes choses; les biens des amis sont communs; l’homme vertueux est l’ami du dieu. Tu réclameras donc ce qui t’appartient.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "generation_model": "gpt-5.6-sol"
        }
    ],
    "content_checksum": "799803a12af0c654e3e8ed3a212590aaceceabebfefbbf0b028a0f47b99bd227"
}