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Monimus

Field	Value
name	Monimus of Syracuse
native_name	Μόνιμος
image	Monimus.jpg
caption	Monimus of Syracuse
birth_date
birth_place	Syracuse, Sicily
era	Ancient philosophy
region	Ancient Greek philosophy
school_tradition	Cynicism
main_interests	Problem of the criterion
notable_ideas	All is vanity ("typhos")

Monimus (; ; 4th century BC) of Syracuse, Magna Graecia, was a Cynic philosopher, and a notable student of Diogenes

Biography

According to Diogenes Laërtius, Monimus was the slave of a Corinthian money-changer who heard tales about Diogenes of Sinope from Xeniades, Diogenes' master. In order that he might become the pupil of Diogenes, Monimus feigned madness by throwing money around until his master discarded him. Monimus also became acquainted with Crates of Thebes. Menander claimed that Monimus held three beggar's wallets instead of one; this may have been intended to imply that Monimus was three times as much of a Cynic as others, or might have been a satire implying that he was more fond of money than was considered proper for a Cynic philosopher.

Philosophy

According to both Diogenes Laërtius and Sextus Empiricus, Monimus abolished the criterion, meaning that he rejected the idea that there was any standard of judgment for attaining knowledge. According to Sextus Empiricus, Monimus was like Anaxarchus because they "compared existing things to a scene-painting and supposed them to resemble the impressions experienced in sleep or madness." Monimus was famous for saying that "everything is vanity" (τῦφος, tuphos, literally 'mist' or 'smoke'). In book two of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius writes:

There is obvious truth to the Cynic Monimus' statement that 'all is opinion'; and obvious, too, is the usefulness of this statement if a man profits from it insofar as it is true.

According to Stobaeus, Monimus also said that "it was better to lack sight than education, because under the first affliction, you fall to the ground, under the latter, deep underground," and he also said that "Wealth is the vomiting of Fortune."

Works

According to Diogenes Laërtius, Monimus wrote two books: On Impulses, and an Exhortation to Philosophy, and he also wrote some jests mixed with serious themes (presumably related to Cynic-style spoudogeloia). Another work by Monimus, A Collection of Wonderful Events, is quoted by Clement of Alexandria.

Notes

References

Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 82
vi. 82-83
Adv. Math VII 221
Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Logicians'', 7.88.
Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 83; compare Marcus Aurelius, ''Meditations'', ii. 15.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, trans. Maxwell Staniforth. §2.15
Stobaeus, ''Florilegium'', ii. 13. 88
Stobaeus, ''Florilegium'', iv. 31. 89
Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 83
Clement of Alexandria, ''Exhortations'', 3.1

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4th-century-bc-greek-philosophers classical-greek-philosophers ancient-syracusans cynic-philosophers philosophers-of-magna-graecia metic-philosophers-in-classical-athens hellenistic-era-philosophers-in-athens

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