It was on the cards, it seems, that our modern
world should not be altogether destitute of noteworthy and memorable’ men, but should produce
enormous physical prowess and a highly philosophic
mind. I speak with reference to the Boeotian
Sostratus, whom the Greeks called Heracles and
believed to be that hero, and especially to Demonax,
the philosopher. Both these men I saw myself, and
saw with wonderment: and under one of them,
Demonax, I was long a student. I have written
about ‘Sostratus elsewhere,
 The treatise is lost. 
and have described his
size and excessive strength, his open-air life on
Parnassus, his bed that was no bed of ease, his
mountain fare and his deeds (not inconsistent with
his name The nickname Heracles. ) achieved in the way of slaying robbers,
making roads in‘untravelled country and bridging
places hard to pass.