The ancient Greek philosopher Aristippus,① by paying court to the tyrant Dionysius, had acquired a comfortable living and looked down upon his less prosperous fellow sages with no small degree of contempt. Seeing Diogenes② washing some vegetables, he said to him disdainfully, "If you would only learn to flatter King Dionysius, you would not have to be washing lentils."
"And you," retorted Diogenes in the same tone, "if you would only learn to live on lentils, would not have to flatter King Dionysius."③
古希臘哲學家亞里斯提卜①求得暴君狄奧尼西奧斯寵幸，生活優裕，非常看不起沒有他那麼富足的哲學家。有一天，他看見戴奧真尼斯②在洗蔬菜，就一副鄙夷口吻說：「先生只要學會諂事大王狄奧尼西奧斯，就不必這樣洗扁豆吃。」
戴奧真尼斯用同樣鄙夷的口吻，回答說：「先生只要學會吃扁豆充飢，就不必那樣諂事大王狄奧尼西奧斯。」③
①亞里斯提卜鼓吹享樂主義（hedonism），是昔蘭尼學派創始人。
②戴奧真尼斯是白犬派哲學家，以苦行知名。
③《莊子·列禦寇》有一個類似故事：宋人曹商得秦王歡心，賜車百輛。他見莊子貧居陋巷，自誇說：「困窘織屨（織草鞋為生），槁項黃馘者（頸枯面黃），商之所短也（我做不到）；一悟萬乘之主（使君王動心），而從車百乘者，商之所長也。」莊子回答說，秦王據說患痔瘡：「舐痔者得車五乘。子豈治其痔耶，何得車之多也？子行矣（你快走吧）！」