Eudoxus of Cnidus

Eudoxus of Cnidus arrived in Athens poor and hungry, attached himself to the Socratic circle, then sailed to Egypt with letters of introduction and spent a year and a half among the priests, adopting their customs down to the eyebrows. He returned to teach at Cyzicus and the Propontis, drew crowds of disciples, and — according to some — did so partly to needle Plato, who had once dropped him from his school. His reputation was so bright that people called him Endoxus, 'of good repute,' and the story of Apis the bull licking his cloak gives his biography the shape of a fable about brilliance and brevity.