Tales of the Philosophers

Aulus Gellius relates the following story: to Herodes Atticus there came a man dressed in a cloak, with long hair and a beard reaching almost to his waist, and this man asked that money be given to him for bread. When Herodes asked the man who he was, the man replied angrily that he was a philosopher, as should have been obvious from his appearance. “I see a beard and a cloak,” replied Herodes, “but a philosopher I do not yet see. I ask you, then, by what signs do you think we may recognize you to be a philosopher?” Then being told by one of his companions that the man was a ne’er-do-well and a troublemaker, Herodes said, “let us give him some money, whatever he may be, not because he is a man, but because we are,” and he ordered that money be given to him to buy bread for thirty days. And he told how the philosopher Musonius had once given a thousand sesterces to such a man. Being told that the man was a rogue and deserving of nothing good, he smiled and replied, “then he deserves money.” (Attic Nights, IX.2)