human condition had been corrupted and, consequently, on the methods that were to be applied to effect the desired change. The rigoristic Cynics had an extremely pessimistic view of mankind, which earned them the charge of misanthropy.25 This view is especially, but not exclusively, represented by most of the letters attributed to Crates, Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Hippocrates.26 Most people, they held, are totally deluded, puffed up in their evil, and completely bereft of reason and self-control.