A Comment About the Pithos and Marriage

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Diogenes actually lived in the tub - pithos - mostly through chance. He was looking for what would would consider more appropriate housing, but he ended up in the pithos at the end of the day. The reason why Diogenes is so acclaimed is that he said I am not going to hinge my happiness on things that are not in my control. So, Diogenes was unable to find anything but a pithos. He rolled with it.

Diogenes probably thought it most appropriate for marriage to be communal as it states in Diogenes Laertius. Needless to say, marriage or even relationship were not personal and I feel Diogenes would encourage anyone not to get too tied to someone else, friend or lover:

He advocated community of wives, recognizing no other marriage than a union of the man who persuades with the woman who consents. And for this reason he thought sons too should be held in common.

• Laertius 6.72