It is now fitting to tell of
Demonax for two reasons—that he may be retained
in memory by men of culture as far as I can bring it
about, and that young men of good instincts who
aspire to philosophy may not have to shape themselves by ancient precedents alone, but may be able
to set themselves a pattern from our modern world
and to copy that man, the best of all the philosophers
whom I know about.





 
 
He was a Cypriote by birth, and not of common
stock as regards civic-rank and property. Nevertheless, rising above all this and thinking that he
deserved the best that life offers, he aspired to
philosophy. It was not at the instigation of
Agathobulus or his predecessor Demetrius or
Epictetus, though he studied with all these men and
with Timocrates of Heraclia besides, a wise man of
great sublimity in thought as well as in language.
As I was saying, however, Demonax was not
enlisted in the cause by any of these men, but even
from his boyltood felt the stirring of an individual
impulse toward the higher life and an inborn love for
philosophy, so that he despised all that men count
good, and, committing himself unreservedly to
liberty and free-speech, was steadfast in leading a
Straight, sane, irreproachable life and in setting an
example to all who saw and heard him by his good
judgment and the honesty of his philosophy.