XLI. To Melesippus (p. 173)
Whoa.  It’s not controversial to state that not everyone *will* be virtuous, but it’s another thing entirely to say that not every *is capable* of virtue.  And to think, the Stoics are considered elitists!

XLII. To the wise Melesippe, greetings (p. 173)
Oh, Diogenes, flouting the νόμος.

XLIII. To the Maroneans, do well (p. 173)
**Even though** Hipparchia is a woman, she’ s a good figure to name a city after.  <rolls_eyes>.  I wonder if there would have been a “Cynic temperance movement” a la the WCTU in the 1920s and 1930s.  I suppose they wouldn’t have used the state in horrifying way, rather they’d have pointed out the absurdity of the drunkards.  We probably would have avoided the rise of the mafia, and NFA ’34, though…

XLIV. To Metrocles, do well (p. 175)
I don’t recall ever seeing “manual labor” as taking the place of interpersonal romantic activities.  Crates and Hipparchia come to mind as two Cynics who continued to engage in martial relations of a sort.

It’s interesting that the Ps-Diogenes is here advocating, effectively, a form of celibacy.  Maybe Diogenes’ Cynic really did anticipate the future priestly classes.

XLV. To Perdiccas, do well (p. 175)
Here, the Ps-Diogenes, friend of the gods, warns someone threatening him that only bad things would result from killing him.  I wonder how this meshes with the issue of Diogenes beating up an interlocutor, and also his public shaming of those who assaulted him?  I’m not sure if those stories are here, but I’ll keep my eye out for them.

This is part of the Cynic Epistles Reading Plan.