Lucian describes the Cynic philosopher as someone who “must blame neither God nor man. [One] must obliterate yearnings and turn [their] tendencies toward moral considerations alone.” The requirements of a Cynic philosopher are vast and very complex, a Cynic philosopher “must never feel wrath, nor anger, nor envy, nor pity.” Being a Cynic philosopher requires one to remove most of himself; feelings, wants, desires, the things that today we would say make us, us, those are not the things a Cynic philosopher should be focused on. The cynic philosopher must also give up all personal feelings about his own body, his death or his exile, as Lucian showed us in Epictetus 20-22. Once a Cynic is prepared he must understand his purpose as a scout, “he must know that he has been sent as a messenger from Zeus to men to show them good and evil things,” he is supposed to act as a spy.

Look to Epictetus 95 for the motto that Lucian claims every Cynic must have, “Lead me on, O Zeus and Destiny!” It is an interesting relationship that Lucian drives home about a true Cynic philosopher and God. It is that he must be truthful, not distracted and be unafraid of God, he said, “Consider carefully. Know yourself. Ask God. Without God, do nothing,”

Demonax does not display his traits as straight forward as Epictetus however; I felt that Demonax 37 was a good example of something you would find in Epictetus. After seeing a soothsayer charging money for his prophecies he approaches the soothsayer about his work and ends up questioning the man’s profession, “but if everything is decreed by god, what is the point of your soothsaying?” This seemed like something that you would find in Epictetus because of the strong connection to God and the fact that he did not want anyone questioning God’s work.

There were definitely parallels between these stories and the gospels and how they portray Jesus as a teacher. On page 203 White says this while talking about pronouncement stories or chreiai, “They are not as generic as aphorisms, but they are typically brief anecdotes that make a moral point.” In Luke 6 there is a section called Love for Enemies and in that there is a great example of Jesus teaching through anecdotes. Luke 6:27-31 in summary is about Jesus teaching us what many of us have learned to be called the “golden rule” Luke 6:31 says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Both Jesus and Lucian teach through telling stories of something that has actually happened, as to help the reader better understand what they are trying to tell us.