<blockquote>#Demonax# came of a Cyprian family which enjoyed considerable property and political influence. But his views soared above such things as these; he claimed nothing less than the highest, and devoted himself to philosophy. This was not due to any exhortations of Agathobulus, his predecessor Demetrius, or Epictetus. He did indeed enjoy the converse of all these, as well as of Timocrates of Heraclea, that wise man whose gifts of expression and of understanding were equal. It was not, however, to the exhortations of any of these, but to a natural impulse towards the good, an innate yearning for philosophy which manifested itself in childish years, that he owed his superiority to all the things that ordinary men pursue. He took independence and candour for his guiding principles, lived himself an upright, wholesome, irreproachable life, and exhibited to all who saw or heard him the model of his own disposition and philosophic sincerity.</blockquote>

<blockquote>'Proteus now set out again on his wanderings. The Christians were meat and drink to him; under their protection he lacked nothing, and this luxurious state of things went on for some time. At last he got into trouble even with them; I suppose they caught him partaking of some of their forbidden meats. They would have nothing more to do with him, and he thought the best way out of his difficulties would be, to change his mind about that property, and try and get it back. He accordingly sent in a petition to the emperor, suing for its restitution. But as the people of Parium sent up a deputation to remonstrate, nothing came of it all; he was told that as he had been under no compulsion in making his dispositions, he must abide by them.

'Pilgrimage number three, to Egypt, to see Agathobulus. Here he went through a most interesting course of discipline: shaved half his head bare; anointed his face with mud; grossly exposed himself before a large concourse of spectators, as a practical illustration of “Stoic indifference”; received castigation with a birch rod; administered the same; and mystified the public with a number of still more extravagant follies. Thus prepared, he took ship to Italy, and was scarcely on dry land again when he began abusing everybody, especially the Emperor, on whose indulgence and good nature he knew that he could safely rely. The Emperor, as you may suppose, was not greatly concerned at his invectives; and it was his theory that no one in the garb of philosophy should be called to account for his words, least of all a specialist in scandal. Proteus's reputation throve upon neglect. The crack-brained philosopher became the cynosure of unsophisticated eyes; and he grew at last to be so unbearable that the city prefect judiciously expelled him: “we do not require philosophers of your school,” he explained. Even this made for his notoriety: he was in every one's mouth as the philosopher who was banished for being too outspoken, and saying what he thought. He took rank with Musonius, Dion, Epictetus, and others who have been in the same predicament.'</blockquote>

<blockquote>Plutarch of Chaeronea, Sextus, Agathabolus, and Oenomaus are considered notable philosophers.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Agathoboulos is to us little more than a name, but there is evidence that he was a person of importance in his own day. Eusebius names him with Plutarch, Sextus, and Oenomaus as the most notable philosophers flourishing about A.D. 120; and that he was one of the most prominent Cynics is to be inferred from the fact that he taught both Demonax and Peregrinus. Nothing more can be said about his life except that it extended beyond A.D. 155, the date of Peregrinus' visit. He practised Cynicism in its most ascetic form, laying particular stress on its squalor, on the public exhibition of anaideia and of the endurance of pain. These austerities, however, were not the sole activity of the Cynics of Alexandria. In the Oration to the Alexandrians Dio Chrysostom speaks of them as being a bad influence on the populace, and suggests that their speeches inflamed the excitable temper of the city mob and so helped to cause the frequent riots which broke out in Alexandria, a notable example of which had occurred just before his visit in A.D. 105. Rostovtseff gives the best explanation of the peculiar turbulence of Alexandrian politics throughout the early Empire; according to him, the usual social struggle between rich and poor was complicated by an anti-Roman feeling, and since the Roman government supported the richer classes, the outbreaks of the city mob, though they might take the form of Jewish pogroms, were really demonstrations against the Roman authority. Nor is documentary evidence lacking to show that the Cynics encouraged the anti-Roman feeling of the Alexandrian lower classes. That curious document known as the 'Acts of the Heathen Martyrs', though a compilation of the age of Commodus, contains, according to Rostovtseff, much material of an earlier date. He points out how its whole tone is anti-Roman, and also how Cynic influence is to be seen in the denunciation of tyrants. Now immediately after his stay with Agathoboulos Peregrinus went to Rome and began to abuse the Emperor, and afterwards stirred up anti-Roman feeling to the point of armed rebellion in Achaea. All indications point in the same direction that Agathoboulos was the most prominent of these Alexandrian Cynics who throughout the second century were notorious for their anti-Roman attitude and for their influence on the city mob.</blockquote>