IX. Anacharsis to Croesus (p. 47)
Today’s letters has a section which jumped out at me:

“We protect our cattle from wild beasts, and in return receive milk and cheese.  We have weapons, not to attack other people, but to defend ourselves, if it should be necessary.”

The letters of the Pseudo-Anacharsis have seemed to veer fairly significantly from the Cynic route as I understand it.  How do we compare the position (which I agree with, by the way), that we have weapons for defense with the chreia of Diogenes rolling his barrel around the market when the city is under siege?  They seem to be two mutually exclusive positions.

Pseudo-Anacharis harshly criticizes the Greeks, saying that they ascribe their own evils to the Gods, and that they prize nothing which comes from toil, but then they admire toil itself.  The first claim paints them to be like children, the second little better than hypocrites.

 X. Anacharsis to Croesus (p. 51)
No earthly gold, merely the betterment of character.  An interesting parting note.

This is part of the Cynic Epistles Reading Plan.