The Defense of Corinth

When Philip, King of Macedon, enterprised the Siege and ruin of

Corinth, the Corinthians, having received certain intelligence, by

their spies, that he with a numerous army in battle array was coming

against them, were all of them, not without cause, most terribly

afraid; and therefore were not neglectful of their duty, in doing

their best endeavors to put themselves in a fit posture to resist his

hostile approach, and defend their own city.

Some from the field brought into the fortified places their

moveables, cattle, corn, wine, fruit, victuals, and other necessary

provisions. Others did fortify and rampire their walls, set up

little fortresses, bastions, squared ravelins, digged trenches,

cleansed counter-mines, fenced themselves with gabions, contrived

platforms, emptied casements, erected the cavaliers, mortaised

barbacans, plaistered the courtines, fastened the herses and

cataracts, new pointed with portcullices with fine steel or iron, and

doubled their patrouille. Everyone did watch and ward, and not one

was exempted from carrying the basket. Some polish'd corselets,

varnished backs and breasts, cleaned the headpieces, mailcoats,

briggandins, haubergeons, brassars and cuissars, greves, jacks,

targets, shields. They sharpened spears. They sharpened staves,

prepared scymetars, partisans, chipping knives, javelins, javelots,

zagages, truncheons, dags, daggers, poignards, bayonets, darts,

dartlets, rapiers, arrowheads, staves, skenes, sables, maces,

back-swirds, battle-axes, quarter-staves, cutlasses, clubs. Ev'ry

man exercised his weapon; every man scowered off the rust from his

natural hanger; nor was there a woman amongst them, (though never

reserved or old), who made not her harness to be well furbished; as

you know, the Corinthian women of old were reputed very dangerous

combatants.

Diogenes, seeing them all warm at work and himself not employed by

the magistrates in any business whatsoever, he did very seriously

(for many days together without speaking one word) consider and

contemplate the countenances of his fellow citizens. Then on a

sudden, as if he had been roused up and inspired by a martial spirit,

he girded his cloak, scarfways about his left arm, tucked up his

sleeves to the elbow, trussed himself like a clown gathering apples,

and giving to one of his old acquaintances his wallet, books, and

opistographs, away went he out of town towards a little hill or

promontory of Corinth called Craneum: and there on the strand, a

pretty level place, did he roll his jolly tub, which served him for

an house to shelter him from injuries of the weather; there, I say,

in a great vehemency of spirit, did he turn it, veer it, wheel it,

whirl it, frisk it, jumble it, shuffle it, huddle it, tumble it,

hurry it, justle it, jumble it, joult it, evert it, overthrow it,

subvert it, beat it, thwack it, bump it, knock it, thrust it, push

it, batterit, shock it, shake it, throw it, toss it, jerk it,

overthrow it upside-down, topsy-turvy, arsiversy, tread it, trample

it, stamp it, slamp it, tap it, ting it, ring it, tingle it, towl it,

sound it, resound it, shut it, unbung it, stop it, close it,

unstopple it. He hurled it, slid it down the hill, precipitated it

from the very height of the Craneum; heaved it, transfigured it,

bespattered it, garnished it, furnished it, bored it, bewrayed it,

parched it, bedashed, tottered it, adorned, staggered it, transformed

it, brangled it, heaved it, carried it, bedashed it, hacked it; then

from the foot to the top, like another Sisyphus with his stone, bore

it up again, slid it down the hill, and every way so banged it and

belaboured it that it was ten thousand to one he had not struck the

bottom of it out.

Which, when one of his friends had seen, and asked him, why he did so

toil his body, perplex his spirit, and torment his tub, the

Philosopher's answer was "That not being engaged in any other office

by the Republic, he thought it expedient to thunder and storm it so

tempestuously upon his tub, that amongst a people so fervently busy,

and earnest of work, he alone might not seem a loitering slug and

lazy fellow."