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diff --git a/78134-0.txt b/78134-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8210784 --- /dev/null +++ b/78134-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21472 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78134 *** + +Transcriber’s notes: + +Italic text is denoted _thus_. + +The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the +original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been +corrected. + + + + +[Illustration: _Pandora’s Box._ + +_From the painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti._] + + + + +PLUTARCH’S ESSAYS AND MISCELLANIES + +Comprising all his Works Collected under the Title of “Morals” · +Translated from the Greek by Several Hands Corrected and Revised by +WILLIAM W. GOODWIN, Ph.D., Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard +University In Five Volumes · Volume One + + +[Illustration: HONOS ET VIRTVS] + + + BOSTON · LITTLE, BROWN + AND COMPANY · MCMXI + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, By LITTLE, + BROWN, AND COMPANY, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at + Washington. + + + Copyright, 1898, 1905, By LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + + Printers S. J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. + + + + + EDITOR’S PREFACE. + + +The translation of Plutarch’s Morals “by Several Hands” was first +published in London in 1684-1694. The fifth edition, “revised and +corrected from the many errors of the former editions,” published in +1718, is the basis of the present translation. The earlier translation +made by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physick, published in London in +1603 and again in 1657, has often been of great use in the revision. It +hardly need be stated, that the name “Morals” is used by tradition to +include all the works of Plutarch except the Lives. + +The original editions of the present work contained translations of +every grade of merit. Some of the essays were translated by eminent +scholars like William Baxter (nephew of Richard Baxter) and Thomas +Creech, whose work generally required merely such revision as every +translation of such an age would now need. But a large number, +including some of the longest and most difficult treatises, were +translated by men whose ignorance of Greek—or whatever language was +the immediate ancestor of their own version—was only one of their +many defects as translators. Perhaps we may gain a better idea than we +have had of the scholars of Oxford whom Bentley delighted to torment, +from these specimens of the learning of their generation; and it may +have been a fortunate thing for some of our translators that Bentley +was too much occupied with the wise heads of Christ Church to be able +to notice the blunders of men who could write notes saying that the +Parthenon is “a Promontory shooting into the Black Sea, where stood a +Chappel dedicated to some Virgin God-head, and famous for some Victory +thereabout obtain’d;” or who could torture a plain statement that a +certain water when stirred produced _bubbles_ (πομφόλυγες) into a story +of a new substance called _Pompholyx_, “made by Mixture of Brass with +the Air”! See Vol. V. p. 337, and Vol. III. p. 517, of the original +translation. + +Besides the great variety of scholarship and ignorance, each translator +had his own theory of translation. While some attempted a literal +version, so as even to bracket all words not actually represented +in the Greek, others gave a mere paraphrase, which in one case +(Mr. Pulleyn’s “Customs of the Lacedaemonians”) became an original +essay on the subject, based on the facts supplied by Plutarch. The +present editor’s duty, of course, changed with each new style of +translation. It would have been impossible to bring the whole work to +a uniform standard of verbal correctness, unless essentially a new +translation had been made. The original version was often so hopelessly +incorrect that no revision was possible; and here the editor cannot +flatter himself that he has succeeded in patching the English of the +seventeenth century with his own without detriment. Fortunately, +the earlier translation of Holland supplied words, and even whole +sentences, in many cases in which the other was beyond the help of mere +revision. The translation of Holland is generally more accurate than +the other, and, on the whole, a more conscientious work; its antiquated +style and diffuseness, however, render it less fitted for republication +at the present time. Notwithstanding all the defects of the translation +which is here revised, it is beyond all question a more readable +version than could be made now; and the liveliness of its style will +more than make up to most readers for its want of literal correctness. +It need not be stated to professional scholars, that translations made +in the seventeenth century cannot, even by the most careful revision, +be made to answer the demands of modern critical scholarship. + +One of the greatest difficulties in preparing the present work has been +to decide how much of the antiquated language of the old translation +should be retained. On this point the editor has fortunately been +able to consult the wisest and most experienced advisers, to whose +aid he has been constantly indebted; but even the highest authorities +occasionally disagree on the first principles. He is fully aware, +therefore, that he has dissatisfied a large number of the friends +of Plutarch in this respect; but he is equally sure that he should +have dissatisfied an equal number by any other course which he might +have followed. The general principle adopted has been to retain such +expressions as were in good use when the translation was made, provided +the meaning is obvious or easy to be learned from a dictionary, and +to discard such as would be unintelligible to ordinary readers. It +has, in some cases, been assumed that the use of a phrase of obvious +meaning in this translation is of itself authority for accepting it. +On these principles many words and expressions are retained, which +are decidedly weaker than their modern equivalents, especially many +Latinisms and Gallicisms which now seem pedantic. Even here consistency +has been impossible, where the duty of a reviser changed with every +new treatise. Perhaps the editor cannot state his own object more +correctly, than by saying that he has tried to make each treatise what +the original translator would have made it if he had carried out his +own purpose conscientiously and thoroughly. Where so many errors were +to be corrected, it would be absurd to hope that many have not remained +still unnoticed. + +The corrupt state of the Greek text of many parts of Plutarch’s +Morals must not be overlooked. No complete edition of the Greek has +been published since Wyttenbach’s (1795-1800), except the French one +by Dübner in the Didot collection. The latter gives no manuscript +readings; and although it professes to be based partly on a new +collation of the manuscripts in the public library of Paris, nothing +distinguishes the changes made on this authority from conjectures of +the editor and his predecessors. A slight glance at Wyttenbach will +show that many parts of the text are restored by conjecture; and many +of the conjectures, though plausible and ingenious, are not such as +would be accepted by modern scholarship if they were made in earlier +classic authors. A translator must accept many of these under silent +protest; to enumerate one-half of them would introduce a critical +commentary entirely out of place in a translation. In fact, no critical +translation of these treatises is possible, until a thorough revision +of the text, with the help of the best manuscripts, has been made; and +this is a task from which most scholars would shrink in dismay. In +many cases in this edition, blanks have been preferred to uncertain +conjectures or traditional nonsense. The treatises on Music, on the +Procreation of the Soul, and the two on the Stoics, have many of their +dark corners made darker by the utter uncertainty of the Greek text. + +The essays in this edition follow the same order as in the old +translation; but those on Fortune, and on Virtue and Vice, with the +Conjugal Precepts, are transferred from the beginning of volume +third to the end of volume second. The sections have been numbered +in accordance with the modern editions of the Greek text. References +to most of the classic authors quoted by Plutarch are given in the +foot-notes, except where a quotation is a mere fragment of an unknown +work. The tragic fragments are numbered according to the edition of +Nauck (Leipsic, 1856). All notes (except these references) introduced +by the editor are marked G. A few notes are taken from Holland; and all +which are not otherwise marked are retained from the old translation. + +In conclusion, the editor must express his warmest thanks to his +colleagues at the University and other friends who have kindly aided +him with their advice and skill. Without their help, the undertaking +would sometimes have seemed hopeless. + + WILLIAM W. GOODWIN. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +It is remarkable that of an author so familiar as Plutarch, not only +to scholars, but to all reading men, and whose history is so easily +gathered from his works, no accurate memoir of his life, not even the +dates of his birth and death, should have come down to us. Strange that +the writer of so many illustrious biographies should wait so long for +his own. It is agreed that he was born about the year 50 A. D. He has +been represented as having been the tutor of the Emperor Trajan, as +dedicating one of his books to him, as living long in Rome in great +esteem, as having received from Trajan the consular dignity, and as +having been appointed by him the governor of Greece. He was a man whose +real superiority had no need of these flatteries. Meantime, the simple +truth is, that he was not the tutor of Trajan, that he dedicated no +book to him, was not consul in Rome, nor governor of Greece; appears +never to have been in Rome but on two occasions, and then on business +of the people of his native city, Chæronæa; and though he found or made +friends at Rome, and read lectures to some friends or scholars, he did +not know or learn the Latin language there; with one or two doubtful +exceptions, never quotes a Latin book; and though the contemporary in +his youth, or in his old age, of Persius, Juvenal, Lucan, and Seneca, +of Quintilian, Martial, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Elder, and +the Younger, he does not cite them, and in return his name is never +mentioned by any Roman writer. It would seem that the community of +letters and of personal news was even more rare at that day than the +want of printing, of railroads and telegraphs, would suggest to us. + +But this neglect by his contemporaries has been compensated by an +immense popularity in modern nations. Whilst his books were never +known to the world in their own Greek tongue, it is curious that the +“Lives” were translated and printed in Latin, thence into Italian, +French, and English, more than a century before the original “Works” +were yet printed. For whilst the “Lives” were translated in Rome in +1471, and the “Morals,” part by part, soon after, the first printed +edition of the Greek “Works” did not appear until 1572. Hardly current +in his own Greek, these found learned interpreters in the scholars +of Germany, Spain, and Italy. In France, in the middle of the most +turbulent civil wars, Amyot’s translation awakened general attention. +His genial version of the “Lives” in 1559, of the “Morals” in 1572, had +signal success. King Henry IV. wrote to his wife, Marie de Medicis: +“_Vive Dieu._ As God liveth, you could not have sent me any thing which +could be more agreeable than the news of the pleasure you have taken +in this reading. Plutarch always delights me with a fresh novelty. +To love him is to love me; for he has been long time the instructor +of my youth. My good mother, to whom I owe all, and who would not +wish, she said, to see her son an illustrious dunce, put this book +into my hands almost when I was a child at the breast. It has been +like my conscience, and has whispered in my ear many good suggestions +and maxims for my conduct, and the government of my affairs.” Still +earlier, Rabelais cites him with due respect. Montaigne, in 1589, says: +“We dunces had been lost, had not this book raised us out of the dirt. +By this favor of his we dare now speak and write. The ladies are able +to read to schoolmasters. ’Tis our breviary.” Montesquieu drew from him +his definition of law, and, in his _Pensées_, declares, “I am always +charmed with Plutarch; in his writings are circumstances attached to +persons, which give great pleasure;” and adds examples. Saint Evremond +read Plutarch to the great Condé under a tent. Rollin, so long the +historian of antiquity for France, drew unhesitatingly his history +from him. Voltaire honored him, and Rousseau acknowledged him as his +master. In England, Sir Thomas North translated the “Lives” in 1579, +and Holland the “Morals” in 1603, in time to be used by Shakspeare in +his plays, and read by Bacon, Dryden, and Cudworth. + +Then, recently, there has been a remarkable revival, in France, in +the taste for Plutarch and his contemporaries, led, we may say, by +the eminent critic Saint-Beuve. M. Octave Gréard, in a critical work +on the “Morals,” has carefully corrected the popular legends, and +constructed from the works of Plutarch himself his true biography. M. +Levéque has given an exposition of his moral philosophy, under the +title of “A Physician of the Soul,” in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_; and +M. C. Martha, chapters on the genius of Marcus Aurelius, of Persius, +and Lucretius, in the same journal; whilst M. Fustel de Coulanges has +explored from its roots in the Aryan race, then in their Greek and +Roman descendants, the primeval religion of the household. + +Plutarch occupies a unique place in literature as an encyclopædia of +Greek and Roman antiquity. Whatever is eminent in fact or in fiction, +in opinion, in character, in institutions, in science—natural, +moral, or metaphysical, or in memorable sayings, drew his attention +and came to his pen with more or less fulness of record. He is, among +prose-writers, what Chaucer is among English poets, a repertory for +those who want the story without searching for it at first hand,—a +compend of all accepted traditions. And all this without any supreme +intellectual gifts. He is not a profound mind; not a master in any +science; not a lawgiver, like Lycurgus or Solon; not a metaphysician, +like Parmenides, Plato, or Aristotle; not the founder of any sect +or community, like Pythagoras or Zeno; not a naturalist, like Pliny +or Linnæus; not a leader of the mind of a generation, like Plato or +Goethe. But if he had not the highest powers, he was yet a man of rare +gifts. He had that universal sympathy with genius which makes all its +victories his own; though he never used verse, he had many qualities +of the poet in the power of his imagination, the speed of his mental +associations, and his sharp, objective eyes. But what specially marks +him, he is a chief example of the illumination of the intellect by +the force of morals. Though the most amiable of boon-companions, this +generous religion gives him _aperçus_ like Goethe’s. + +Plutarch was well-born, well-taught, well-conditioned; a +self-respecting, amiable man, who knew how to better a good education +by travels, by devotion to affairs private and public; a master of +ancient culture, he read books with a just criticism; eminently social, +he was a king in his own house, surrounded himself with select friends, +and knew the high value of good conversation; and declares in a letter +written to his wife that “he finds scarcely an erasure, as in a book +well-written, in the happiness of his life.” + +The range of mind makes the glad writer. The reason of Plutarch’s vast +popularity is his humanity. A man of society, of affairs; upright, +practical; a good son, husband, father, and friend,—he has a taste +for common life, and knows the court, the camp, and the judgment-hall, +but also the forge, farm, kitchen, and cellar, and every utensil and +use, and with a wise man’s or a poet’s eye. Thought defends him from +any degradation. He does not lose his way, for the attractions are from +within, not from without. A poet in verse or prose must have a sensuous +eye, but an intellectual co-perception. Plutarch’s memory is full, and +his horizon wide. Nothing touches man but he feels to be his; he is +tolerant even of vice, if he finds it genial; enough a man of the world +to give even the devil his due, and would have hugged Robert Burns, +when he cried. + + “O wad ye tak’ a thought and mend!” + +He is a philosopher with philosophers, a naturalist with naturalists, +and sufficiently a mathematician to leave some of his readers, now and +then, at a long distance behind him, or respectfully skipping to the +next chapter. But this scholastic omniscience of our author engages a +new respect, since they hope he understands his own diagram. + +He perpetually suggests Montaigne, who was the best reader he has ever +found, though Montaigne excelled his master in the point and surprise +of his sentences. Plutarch had a religion which Montaigne wanted, +and which defends him from wantonness; and though Plutarch is as +plain-spoken, his moral sentiment is always pure. What better praise +has any writer received than he whom Montaigne finds “frank in giving +things, not words,” dryly adding, “it vexes me that he is so exposed +to the spoil of those that are conversant with him.” It is one of the +felicities of literary history, the tie which inseparably couples +these two names across fourteen centuries. Montaigne, whilst he grasps +Étienne de la Boèce with one hand, reaches back the other to Plutarch. +These distant friendships charm us, and honor all the parties, and make +the best example of the universal citizenship and fraternity of the +human mind. + +I do not know where to find a book—to borrow a phrase of Ben +Jonson’s—“so rammed with life,” and this in chapters chiefly ethical, +which are so prone to be heavy and sentimental. No poet could +illustrate his thought with more novel or striking similes or happier +anecdotes. His style is realistic, picturesque, and varied; his sharp +objective eyes seeing every thing that moves, shines, or threatens in +nature or art, or thought or dreams. Indeed, twilights, shadows, omens, +and spectres have a charm for him. He believes in witchcraft and the +evil eye, in demons and ghosts,—but prefers, if you please, to talk +of these in the morning. His vivacity and abundance never leave him to +loiter or pound on an incident. I admire his rapid and crowded style, +as if he had such store of anecdotes of his heroes that he is forced to +suppress more than he recounts, in order to keep up with the hasting +history. + +His surprising merit is the genial facility with which he deals with +his manifold topics. There is no trace of labor or pain. He gossips of +heroes, philosophers, and poets; of virtues and genius; of love and +fate and empires. It is for his pleasure that he recites all that is +best in his reading: he prattles history. But he is no courtier, and +no Boswell: he is ever manly, far from fawning, and would be welcome +to the sages and warriors he reports, as one having a native right +to admire and recount these stirring deeds and speeches. I find him +a better teacher of rhetoric than any modern. His superstitions are +poetic, aspiring, affirmative. A poet might rhyme all day with hints +drawn from Plutarch, page on page. No doubt, this superior suggestion +for the modern reader owes much to the foreign air, the Greek wine, +the religion and history of antique heroes. Thebes, Sparta, Athens, +and Rome charm us away from the disgust of the passing hour. But his +own cheerfulness and rude health are also magnetic. In his immense +quotation and allusion, we quickly cease to discriminate between what +he quotes and what he invents. We sail on his memory into the ports of +every nation, enter into every private property, and do not stop to +discriminate owners, but give him the praise of all. ’Tis all Plutarch, +by right of eminent domain, and all property vests in this emperor. +This facility and abundance make the joy of his narrative, and he is +read to the neglect of more careful historians. Yet he inspires a +curiosity, sometimes makes a necessity, to read them. He disowns any +attempt to rival Thucydides; but I suppose he has a hundred readers +where Thucydides finds one, and Thucydides must often thank Plutarch +for that one. He has preserved for us a multitude + +of precious sentences, in prose or verse, of authors whose books are +lost; and these embalmed fragments, through his loving selection alone, +have come to be proverbs of later mankind. I hope it is only my immense +ignorance that makes me believe that they do not survive out of his +pages,—not only Thespis, Polemos, Euphorion, Ariston, Evenus, &c., but +fragments of Menander and Pindar. At all events, it is in reading the +fragments he has saved from lost authors that I have hailed another +example of the sacred care which has unrolled in our times, and still +searches and unrolls _papyri_ from ruined libraries and buried cities, +and has drawn attention to what an ancient might call the politeness of +Fate,—we will say, more advisedly, the benign Providence which uses +the violence of war, of earthquakes, and changed watercourses, to save +underground through barbarous ages the relics of ancient art, and thus +allows us to witness the upturning of the alphabets of old races, and +the deciphering of forgotten languages, so to complete the annals of +the forefathers of Asia, Africa, and Europe. + +His delight in poetry makes him cite with joy the speech of Gorgias, +“that the tragic poet who deceived was juster than he who deceived not, +and he that was deceived was wiser than he who was not deceived.” + +It is a consequence of this poetic trait in his mind, that I confess +that, in reading him, I embrace the particulars, and carry a faint +memory of the argument or general design of the chapter; but he is not +less welcome, and he leaves the reader with a relish and a necessity +for completing his studies. Many examples might be cited of nervous +expression and happy allusion, that indicate a poet and an orator, +though he is not ambitious of these titles, and cleaves to the security +of prose narrative, and only shows his intellectual sympathy with +these; yet I cannot forbear to cite one or two sentences which none who +reads them will forget. In treating of the style of the Pythian Oracle, +he says,— + + “Do you not observe, some one will say, what a grace there is in + Sappho’s measures, and how they delight and tickle the ears and + fancies of the hearers? Whereas the Sibyl, with her frantic grimaces, + uttering sentences altogether thoughtful and serious, neither fucused + nor perfumed, continues her voice a thousand years through the favor + of the Divinity that speaks within her.” + +Another gives an insight into his mystic tendencies,— + + “Early this morning, asking Epaminondas about the manner of + Lysis’s burial, I found that Lysis had taught him as far as the + incommunicable mysteries of our sect, and that the same Dæmon that + waited on Lysis, presided over him, if I can guess at the pilot from + the sailing of the ship. The paths of life are large, but in few are + men directed by the Dæmons. When Theanor had said this, he looked + attentively on Epaminondas, as if he designed a fresh search into his + nature and inclinations.” + +And here is his sentiment on superstition, somewhat condensed in Lord +Bacon’s citation of it: “I had rather a great deal that men should say, +There was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say, +that there was one Plutarch that would eat up his children as soon as +they were born, as the poets speak of Saturn.” + +The chapter “On Fortune” should be read by poets, and other wise men; +and the vigor of his pen appears in the chapter “Whether the Athenians +were more Warlike or Learned,” and in his attack upon Usurers. + +There is, of course, a wide difference of time in the writing of these +discourses, and so in their merit. Many of them are mere sketches +or notes for chapters in preparation, which were never digested or +finished. Many are notes for disputations in the lecture-room. His poor +indignation against Herodotus was perhaps a youthful prize essay: it +appeared to me captious and labored; or perhaps, at a rhetorician’s +school, the subject of Herodotus being the lesson of the day, Plutarch +was appointed by lot to take the adverse side. + +The plain-speaking of Plutarch, as of the ancient writers generally, +coming from the habit of writing for one sex only, has a great gain +for brevity, and, in our new tendencies of civilization, may tend to +correct a false delicacy. + + * * * * * + +We are always interested in the man who treats the intellect well. +We expect it from the philosopher,—from Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, +and Kant; but we know that metaphysical studies in any but minds of +large horizon and incessant inspiration have their dangers. One asks +sometimes whether a metaphysician can treat the intellect well. The +central fact is the superhuman intelligence pouring into us from its +unknown fountain, to be received with religious awe, and defended +from any mixture of our will. But this high Muse comes and goes; and +the danger is that, when the Muse is wanting, the student is prone to +supply its place with microscopic subtleties and logomachy. It is fatal +to spiritual health to lose your admiration. “Let others wrangle,” said +St. Augustine: “I will wonder.” Plato and Plotinus are enthusiasts, +who honor the race; but the logic of the sophists and materialists, +whether Greek or French, fills us with disgust. Whilst we expect this +awe and reverence of the spiritual power from the philosopher in his +closet, we praise it in the man of the world,—the man who lives on +quiet terms with existing institutions, yet indicates his perception of +these high oracles, as do Plutarch, Montaigne, Hume, and Goethe. These +men lift themselves at once from the vulgar, and are not the parasites +of wealth. Perhaps they sometimes compromise, go out to dine, make and +take compliments; but they keep open the source of wisdom and health. +Plutarch is uniformly true to this centre. He had not lost his wonder. +He is a pronounced idealist, who does not hesitate to say, like another +Berkeley, “Matter is itself privation;” and again, “The Sun is the +cause that all men are ignorant of Apollo, by sense withdrawing the +rational intellect from that which is to that which appears.” He thinks +that “souls are naturally endowed with the faculty of prediction;” he +delights in memory, with its miraculous power of resisting time. He +thinks that “Alexander invaded Persia with greater assistance from +Aristotle than from his father Philip.” He thinks that “he who has +ideas of his own is a bad judge of another man’s, it being true that +the Eleans would be the most proper judges of the Olympic games, were +no Eleans gamesters.” He says of Socrates, that he endeavored to bring +reason and things together, and make truth consist with sober sense. He +wonders with Plato at that nail of pain and pleasure which fastens the +body to the mind. The mathematics give him unspeakable pleasure, but he +chiefly liked that proportion which teaches us to account that which is +just, equal; and not that which is equal, just. + +Of philosophy he is more interested in the results than in the method. +He has a just instinct of the presence of a master, and prefers to +sit as a scholar with Plato, than as a disputant; and, true to his +practical character, he wishes the philosopher not to hide in a corner, +but to commend himself to men of public regards and ruling genius: +“for, if he once possess such a man with principles of honor and +religion, he takes a compendious method, by doing good to one, to +oblige a great part of mankind.” ’Tis a temperance, not an eclecticism, +which makes him adverse to the severe Stoic, or the Gymnosophist, or +Diogenes, or any other extremist. That vice of theirs shall not hinder +him from citing any good word they chance to drop. He is an eclectic +in such sense as Montaigne was,—willing to be an expectant, not a +dogmatist. + +In many of these chapters it is easy to infer the relation between +the Greek philosophers and those who came to them for instruction. +This teaching was no play nor routine, but strict, sincere, and +affectionate. The part of each of the class is as important as that of +the master. They are like the base-ball players, to whom the pitcher, +the bat, the catcher, and the scout are equally important. And Plutarch +thought, with Ariston, “that neither a bath nor a lecture served any +purpose, unless they were purgative.” Plutarch has such a keen pleasure +in realities that he has none in verbal disputes; he is impatient of +sophistry, and despises the Epicharmian disputations: as, that he who +ran in debt yesterday owes nothing to-day, as being another man; so, he +that was yesterday invited to supper, the next night comes an unbidden +guest, for that he is quite another person. + + * * * * * + +Except as historical curiosities, little can be said in behalf of +the scientific value of the “Opinions of the Philosophers,” the +“Questions,” and the “Symposiacs.” They are, for the most part, very +crude opinions; many of them so puerile that one would believe that +Plutarch in his haste adopted the notes of his younger auditors, some +of them jocosely misreporting the dogma of the professor, who laid +them aside as _memoranda_ for future revision, which he never gave, +and they were posthumously published. Now and then there are hints of +superior science. You may cull from this record of barbarous guesses +of shepherds and travellers statements that are predictions of facts +established in modern science. Usually, when Thales, Anaximenes, or +Anaximander are quoted, it is really a good judgment. The explanation +of the rainbow, of the floods of the Nile, and of the _remora_, &c., +are just; and the bad guesses are not worse than many of Lord Bacon’s. + +His Natural History is that of a lover and poet, and not of a +physicist. His humanity stooped affectionately to trace the virtues +which he loved in the animals also. “Knowing and not knowing is the +affirmative or negative of the dog; knowing you is to be your friend; +not knowing you, your enemy.” He quotes Thucydides, saying, “that +not the desire of honor only never grows old, but much less also the +inclination to society and affection to the State, which continue even +in ants and bees to the very last.” + + * * * * * + +But though curious in the questions of the schools on the nature and +genesis of things, his extreme interest in every trait of character, +and his broad humanity, lead him constantly to Morals, to the study of +the Beautiful and Good. Hence his love of heroes, his rule of life, +and his clear convictions of the high destiny of the soul. La Harpe +said “that Plutarch is the genius the most naturally moral that ever +existed.” + +’Tis almost inevitable to compare Plutarch with Seneca, who, born fifty +years earlier, was for many years his contemporary, though they never +met, and their writings were perhaps unknown to each other. Plutarch +is genial, with an endless interest in all human and divine things; +Seneca, a professional philosopher, a writer of sentences, and, though +he keep a sublime path, is less interesting, because less humane; +and when we have shut his book, we forget to open it again. There is +a certain violence in his opinions, and want of sweetness. He lacks +the sympathy of Plutarch. He is tiresome through perpetual didactics. +He is not happily living. Cannot the simple lover of truth enjoy the +virtues of those he meets, and the virtues suggested by them, so to +find himself at some time purely contented? Seneca was still more a man +of the world than Plutarch; and, by his conversation with the Court +of Nero, and his own skill, like Voltaire’s, of living with men of +business, and emulating their address in affairs by great accumulation +of his own property, learned to temper his philosophy with facts. He +ventured far—apparently too far—for so keen a conscience as he inly +had. Yet we owe to that wonderful moralist illustrious maxims; as +if the scarlet vices of the times of Nero had the natural effect of +driving virtue to its loftiest antagonisms. “Seneca,” says L’Estrange, +“was a pagan Christian, and is very good reading for our Christian +pagans.” He was Buddhist in his cold abstract virtue, with a certain +impassibility beyond humanity. He called “pity, that fault of narrow +souls.” Yet what noble words we owe to him: “God divided man into men, +that they might help each other;” and again, “The good man differs from +God in nothing but duration.” His thoughts are excellent, if only he +had a right to say them. Plutarch, meantime, with every virtue under +heaven, thought it the top of wisdom to philosophize, yet not appear to +do it, and to reach in mirth the same ends which the most serious are +proposing. + +Plutarch thought “truth to be the greatest good that man can receive, +and the goodliest blessing that God can give.” “When you are persuaded +in your mind that you cannot either offer or perform any thing more +agreeable to the gods than the entertaining a right notion of them, you +will then avoid superstition as a no less evil than atheism.” He cites +Euripides to affirm, “If gods do aught dishonest, they are no gods,” +and the memorable words of Antigone, in Sophocles, concerning the moral +sentiment:— + + “For neither now nor yesterday began + These thoughts, which have been ever, nor yet can + A man be found who their first entrance knew.” + +His faith in the immortality of the soul is another measure of his deep +humanity. He reminds his friends that the Delphic oracles have given +several answers the same in substance as that formerly given to Corax +the Naxian:— + + “It sounds profane impiety + To teach that human souls e’er die.” + +He believes that the doctrine of the Divine Providence, and that of the +immortality of the soul, rest on one and the same basis. He thinks it +impossible either that a man beloved of the gods should not be happy, +or that a wise and just man should not be beloved of the gods. To him +the Epicureans are hateful, who held that the soul perishes when it is +separated from the body. “The soul, incapable of death, suffers in the +same manner in the body, as birds that are kept in a cage.” He believes +“that the souls of infants pass immediately into a better and more +divine state.” + +I can easily believe that an anxious soul may find in Plutarch’s +chapter called “Pleasure not attainable by Epicurus,” and his “Letter +to his Wife Timoxena,” a more sweet and reassuring argument on the +immortality than in the Phædo of Plato; for Plutarch always addresses +the question on the human side, and not on the metaphysical; as Walter +Scott took hold of boys and young men, in England and America, and +through them of their fathers. His grand perceptions of duty lead him +to his stern delight in heroism; a stoic resistance to low indulgence; +to a fight with fortune; a regard for truth; his love of Sparta, and +of heroes like Aristides, Phocion, and Cato. He insists that the +highest good is in action. He thinks that the inhabitants of Asia came +to be vassals to one only, for not having been able to pronounce one +syllable; which is, No. So keen is his sense of allegiance to right +reason, that he makes a fight against Fortune whenever she is named. At +Rome he thinks her wings were clipped: she stood no longer on a ball, +but on a cube as large as Italy. He thinks it was by superior virtue +that Alexander won his battles in Asia and Africa, and the Greeks +theirs against Persia. + +But this Stoic in his fight with Fortune, with vices, effeminacy, and +indolence, is gentle as a woman when other strings are touched. He is +the most amiable of men. “To erect a trophy in the soul against anger +is that which none but a great and victorious puissance is able to +achieve.”—“Anger turns the mind out of doors, and bolts the door.” +He has a tenderness almost to tears when he writes on “Friendship,” +on “Marriage,” on “the Training of Children,” and on the “Love of +Brothers.” “There is no treasure,” he says, “parents can give to their +children, like a brother; ’tis a friend given by nature, a gift nothing +can supply; once lost, not to be replaced. The Arcadian prophet, of +whom Herodotus speaks, was obliged to make a wooden foot in place +of that which had been chopped off. A brother, embroiled with his +brother, going to seek in the street a stranger who can take his place, +resembles him who will cut off his foot to give himself one of wood.” + +All his judgments are noble. He thought, with Epicurus, that it is more +delightful to do than to receive a kindness. “This courteous, gentle, +and benign disposition and behavior is not so acceptable, so obliging +or delightful to any of those with whom we converse, as it is to those +who have it.” There is really no limit to his bounty: “It would be +generous to lend our eyes and ears, nay, if possible, our reason and +fortitude to others, whilst we are idle or asleep.” His excessive and +fanciful humanity reminds one of Charles Lamb, whilst it much exceeds +him. When the guests are gone, he “would leave one lamp burning, only +as a sign of the respect he bore to fires, for nothing so resembles +an animal as fire. It is moved and nourished by itself, and by its +brightness, like the soul, discovers and makes every thing apparent, +and in its quenching shows some power that seems to proceed from a +vital principle, for it makes a noise and resists, like an animal +dying, or violently slaughtered;” and he praises the Romans, who, when +the feast was over, “dealt well with the lamps, and did not take away +the nourishment they had given, but permitted them to live and shine by +it.” + +I can almost regret that the learned editor of the present +republication has not preserved, if only as a piece of history, +the preface of Mr. Morgan, the editor and in part writer of this +Translation of 1718. In his dedication of the work to the Archbishop +of Canterbury, Wm. Wake, he tells the Primate that “Plutarch was the +wisest man of his age, and, if he had been a Christian, one of the +best too; _but it was his severe fate to flourish in those days of +ignorance, which, ’tis a favorable opinion to hope that the Almighty +will sometime wink at; that our souls may be with these philosophers +together in the same state of bliss_.” The puzzle in the worthy +translator’s mind between his theology and his reason well re-appears +in the puzzle of his sentence. + + * * * * * + +I know that the chapter of “Apothegms of Noble Commanders” is rejected +by some critics as not a genuine work of Plutarch; but the matter is +good, and is so agreeable to his taste and genius, that if he had found +it, he would have adopted it. If he did not compile the piece, many, +perhaps most, of the anecdotes were already scattered in his works. +If I do not lament that a work not his should be ascribed to him, I +regret that he should have suffered such destruction of his own. What +a trilogy is lost to mankind in his Lives of Scipio, Epaminondas, and +Pindar! + +His delight in magnanimity and self-sacrifice has made his books, like +Homer’s Iliad, a bible for heroes; and wherever the Cid is relished, +the legends of Arthur, Saxon Alfred, and Richard the Lion-hearted, +Robert Bruce, Sydney, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Cromwell, Nelson, +Bonaparte, and Walter Scott’s Chronicles in prose or verse,—there will +Plutarch, who told the story of Leonidas, of Agesilaus, of Aristides, +Phocion, Themistocles, Demosthenes, Epaminondas, Cæsar, Cato, and +the rest, sit as the bestower of the crown of noble knighthood, and +laureate of the ancient world. + +The chapters “On the Fortune of Alexander,” in the “Morals,” are +an important appendix to the portrait in the “Lives.” The union in +Alexander of sublime courage with the refinement of his pure tastes, +making him the carrier of civilization into the East, are in the +spirit of the ideal hero, and endeared him to Plutarch. That prince +kept Homer’s poems, not only for himself under his pillow in his tent, +but carried these for the delight of the Persian youth, and made them +acquainted also with the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles. He +persuaded the Sogdians not to kill, but to cherish their aged parents; +the Persians to reverence, not marry their mothers; the Scythians to +bury, and not eat their dead parents. What a fruit and fitting monument +of his best days was his city Alexandria to be the birthplace or home +of Plotinus, St. Augustine, Synesius, Posidonius, Ammonius, Jamblichus, +Porphyry, Origen, Aratus, Apollonius, and Apuleius. + +If Plutarch delighted in heroes, and held the balance between the +severe Stoic and the indulgent Epicurean, his humanity shines not less +in his intercourse with his personal friends. He was a genial host and +guest, and delighted in bringing chosen companions to the supper-table. +He knew the laws of conversation and the laws of good-fellowship quite +as well as Horace, and has set them down with such candor and grace as +to make them good reading to-day. The guests not invited to a private +board by the entertainer, but introduced by a guest as his companions, +the Greeks called _shadows_; and the question is debated whether it +was civil to bring them, and he treats it candidly, but concludes: +“Therefore, when I make an invitation, since it is hard to break the +custom of the place, I give my guests leave to bring shadows; but when +I myself am invited as a shadow, I assure you I refuse to go.” He +has an objection to the introduction of music at feasts. He thought +it wonderful that a man having a muse in his own breast, and all the +pleasantness that would fit an entertainment, would have pipes and +harps play, and by that external noise destroy all the sweetness that +was proper and his own. + + * * * * * + +I cannot close these notes without expressing my sense of the valuable +service which the Editor has rendered to his Author and to his +readers. Professor Goodwin is a silent benefactor to the book, wherever +I have compared the editions. I did not know how careless and vicious +in parts the old book was, until in recent reading of the old text, on +coming on any thing absurd or unintelligible, I referred to the new +text, and found a clear and accurate statement in its place. It is the +vindication of Plutarch. The correction is not only of names of authors +and of places grossly altered or misspelled, but of unpardonable +liberties taken by the translators, whether from negligence or freak. + +One proof of Plutarch’s skill as a writer is that he bears translation +so well. In spite of its carelessness and manifold faults, which, I +doubt not, have tried the patience of its present learned editor and +corrector, I yet confess my enjoyment of this old version for its +vigorous English style. The work of some forty or fifty University men, +some of them imperfect in their Greek, it is a monument of the English +language at a period of singular vigor and freedom of style. I hope the +Commission of the Philological Society in London, charged with the duty +of preparing a Critical Dictionary, will not overlook these volumes, +which show the wealth of their tongue to greater advantage than many +books of more renown as models. It runs through the whole scale of +conversation in the street, the market, the coffee-house, the law +courts, the palace, the college, and the church. There are, no doubt, +many vulgar phrases, and many blunders of the printer; but it is the +speech of business and conversation, and in every tone, from lowest to +highest. + +We owe to these translators many sharp perceptions of the wit and humor +of their author, sometimes even to the adding of the point. I notice +one, which, although the translator has justified his rendering in a +note, the severer criticism of the Editor has not retained. “Were there +not a sun, we might, for all the other stars, pass our days in Reverend +Dark, as Heraclitus calls it.” I find a humor in the phrase which might +well excuse its doubtful accuracy. + + * * * * * + +It is a service to our Republic to publish a book that can force +ambitious young men, before they mount the platform of the county +conventions, to read the “Laconic Apothegms” and the “Apothegms of +Great Commanders.” If we could keep the secret, and communicate it +only to a few chosen aspirants, we might confide that, by this noble +infiltration, they would easily carry the victory over all competitors. +But, as it was the desire of these old patriots to fill with their +majestic spirit all Sparta or Rome, and not a few leaders only, we +hasten to offer them to the American people. + +Plutarch’s popularity will return in rapid cycles. If over-read in +this decade, so that his anecdotes and opinions become commonplace, +and to-day’s novelties are sought for variety, his sterling values +will presently recall the eye and thought of the best minds, and his +books will be reprinted and read anew by coming generations. And thus +Plutarch will be perpetually rediscovered from time to time as long as +books last. + + RALPH WALDO EMERSON + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. + + WITH THE TRANSLATORS’ NAMES. + + + A DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN. + + BY SIMON FORD, D.D. + + Effect on children of impurity in the parents, 3; of intemperance + in the parents, 4. Instruction and training necessary, 5. Training + must assist nature, 5. Defective natural parts may be improved by + instruction, 5, 6. Diligent effort may supply native deficiencies, + 6. A virtuous character partly the effect of custom and habit, 7. + Mothers should nurse their own children, 7, 8. Manners of children + to be well-formed from the beginning, 8. Care to be taken of their + associates, 9. Teachers of children to be carefully chosen, 9, + 10. Moral character of teachers to be carefully regarded, 10, 11. + Unhappy consequences of the ill-training of children, 11, 12. A good + education preferable to the gifts of fortune, 12, 13. Learning better + than bodily strength, 13. Children should be trained to think before + they speak, 14, 15. A pompous style of speech to be avoided, 16. + Tameness of speech to be avoided, 16. The principal study of youth + should be philosophy, 17, 18. Bodily exercise not to be neglected, + 19. Gymnastic and military exercises, 19. Corporal and disgraceful + punishments not to be used, 20. Motives to be addressed to the + understanding and conscience, 20. Severe tasks not to be imposed + on children, 21. Relaxation to be allowed them, 21. Memory to be + cultivated, 22. A courteous manner of speaking to be inculcated. + 22. Self-control to be taught, 23, 24. Restraint of the tongue, + 23, 24. Sotades punished for free speech, 25. Severity to children + unwise, 26. Young men to be restrained from vicious company, 28, 29. + Flatterers to be avoided, 29. Allowance should be made for youthful + impetuosity, 30. Marriage a security for young men, 31. Fathers not + to be severe and harsh, but examples to their children, 30, 31. + + + CONCERNING THE CURE OF ANGER. + + BY WILLIAM DILLINGHAM, D.D. + + How may a tendency to anger be overcome? i. 34. Not by the + interference of other persons, 35. The mind being then under the + influence of stormy passion, 36. The aid of reason and judgment is + more effectual, 37. Resist the beginning of anger, 37. When inclined + to anger, try to be quiet and composed, 38, 39. Anger is unreasonable + and foolish, 39. It disfigures the countenance, 40. Tends to one’s + dishonor and discredit, 41. Produces absurd and insulting speeches, + 42. Is disingenuous and unmanly, 42. Indicates a weak mind, 42. + Discovers meanness of spirit, 43. Fortitude consists with a mild + temper, 44. Anger can destroy, it cannot restore, 46. It often + overreaches itself, 47. Excessive urgency often fails of success, 47. + Forbearance towards servants urged, 48. Anger towards servants makes + them worse, 48. Never punish in anger, 49. Allow anger to cool, 49. + No harm arises from deferring anger, 49. Causes of anger examined; + we think we incur contempt without it, 50; it arises from self-love, + 52; and a spirit of fault-finding, 52. The absence of these makes a + man gentle towards others, 53, 54. Nobody can dwell with an angry + man, 54. Anger, the essence of all bad passions, 56. Good temper in + us will disarm others, 55. Moderate expectations prevent anger, 56. + Knowledge of human nature softens anger, 57. Make trial for a few + days of abstinence from anger, 59. + + + OF BASHFULNESS. + + BY THOMAS HOY, FELLOW OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE IN OXFORD. + + Bashfulness defined, 60. Two extremes: too much or too little + modesty; both to be avoided, 61. Bashfulness, an excess of modesty, + 61, 62. It is injurious, 62; leaves a person at the mercy of others, + 63; a bashful person is liable to imposition, 63; many are thus + ruined, 64. Deny an unreasonable request, 65. The fear of giving + offence—bashfulness—hinders the proper care of our health, and of + our property, 67, 68; exposes to the very evils it seeks to avoid, + 69. The people of Asia are slaves, because they cannot say, “No,” 69. + Deny recommendation to those not known to be worthy, 71. Undertake + no services to which you are not competent, 72. Cheerfully render + good offices to those that deserve them, 72; but deny them to the + unworthy, 73. We may not violate law and justice to please anybody, + 74. Men who would dread to blunder in a matter of literature, + often violate law, 74. Err not from the right, either from fear or + flattery, 76. Remember what bashfulness has cost us, 77. + + + THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT. + + BY MR. PATRICK, OF THE CHARTERHOUSE. + + If men may be taught to sing, dance, and read; to be skilful + husbandmen and good riders,—why not to order their lives aright? + 78. The practice of virtue is immensely more important than graceful + speech and manners, 79. If things of trifling moment may be taught, + much more things of the deepest concern, 80. + + + THE ACCOUNT OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS. + + BY MR. JOHN PULLEYN, OF TRINITY COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE. + + Institutions of Lycurgus, 82. The citizens ate at one table, 82. + Conversation at the table, 82. The food: black broth, 83; spare diet, + 84. Learning, philosophy, mechanic trades, theatrical performances, + utterly banished, 85. Scanty apparel, 86; hard beds, 86; social + attachments, 86. A strict watch kept over the young, 87. Respect to + the aged, 88. Control by the aged of other people’s children, 88, 89. + Children allowed to steal, if the theft were carefully concealed, + 89. The Spartan poetry and music, 90; martial music, 91. Tenacity + of ancient customs, 92. Funerals, 92, 93; inscriptions, 93. Foreign + travel prohibited, 98. A community of children, 93; and of goods and + estates, 94. Their warlike expeditions, 94. Their religious worship, + 95. The Helots, when drunk, exhibited before the children, 96. None + but grave poetry allowed, 96. Meekness and forgiveness of injuries + not tolerated, 97. A laconic style of speaking practised, 98. + Whipping of boys annually before the altar of Diana, 98. Neglect of + maritime affairs, 99. Gold and silver banished, 99. Final overthrow + of the institutions of Lycurgus, 100. + + + CONCERNING MUSIC. + + BY JOHN PHILIPS, GENT. + + Principles of Greek music: the tetrachord, heptachord, octachord; + scale of fifteen notes, 102, 103, _note_. History of music, 104, + _et seq._ The lyre, 105. Amphion, Linus, Anthes, Pierus, Philammon, + Thamyras, &c., 105. Terpander, an inventor, 105, 106, 109, 112, 122. + Olympus, 107, 109, 123; Hyagnis, 107; Clonas, 107. History of wind + instruments, 108; the flute, _ib._ Three musical moods,—the Dorian, + the Phrygian, the Lydian, 109. Makers of paeans, 110. The enharmonic + species of music, 110. Its relations to the diatonic and chromatic, + 111. Varieties of rhythm, 112. The harp an invention of Apollo, 113. + His statue at Delos a proof of this, _ib._ Manly and grave music + used by the ancients for its worth, 114. The moderns have introduced + an inferior sort, 114. The Lydian mood, 114; the Dorian, 115. The + chromatic more ancient than the enharmonic scale, 116; though many + of the ancient musicians did not use it, 117. Plato’s remarks + on harmony, 118. Music a mathematical science, 119. Harmony as + related to the senses, 121. Why the Greeks were so careful to teach + their children music, 121. The high purposes of music, 121, 122. + Archilochus, his improvements, 122, 123. Improvements of Polymnestus, + 107, 123. Improvements of Lasus, 123. Decline of the ancient music, + 123-125. To learn music, philosophy is needful, 126. Music too + much a thing of chance, 126. A sound judgment is necessary, 127. A + perfect judgment of music not derived from a partial knowledge, 129. + Degeneracy of modern music, 130. Benefits of a proper acquaintance + with music, 132; facts in proof of this, 133. + + + OF THE TRANQUILLITY OF THE MIND. + + BY MATTHEW MORGAN, A.M., OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE IN OXFORD. + + Plutarch salutes his friend Paccius, 136. Worldly honor or wealth + cannot procure quietness of mind, 137. We should fortify ourselves + against trouble, _ib._ Tranquillity of mind not to be procured by + neglect of public or private duty, _ib._ Idleness is to many an + affliction, 138. Changes in life do not remove causes of disquiet, + 140. The mind itself renders life pleasant or otherwise, 141. Make + the best of our circumstances, 142. Wise men derive benefit even + from affliction, 142. No trouble can arise, but good may come of it, + 143. Be not soured with the perverseness of others, 144; nor fret at + their failings, 145. A consideration of the good we enjoy may help + us bear our afflictions, 146. Thus balancing one against the other, + 147. Consider what the loss would be of our present enjoyments, 148. + Cultivate a contented mind, 148, 149. The want of which creates + suffering, 149. Look at those worse off than ourselves, 150. Every + one has his particular trouble, 151; therefore give no place to envy, + _ib._ Do not repine because some things are beyond your reach, 152. + Let every man know what he can do and be contented with doing it, + 154. Let alone what you are not capable of, 155. It is wise to call + to mind past enjoyment, 156. Do not distress yourself by dwelling + on past sorrows, nor give way to despondency of the future, 157, + 158. Neither be too sanguine in your hopes, 159. Afflictions come + as a matter of necessity, 161. Outward sufferings do not reach our + nobler part, the mind, 162. Death not a real, ultimate evil, 163. The + wise man may look down on things terrible to the vulgar, 164. Guilt + produces remorse, 165. A clear conscience a rich possession, 165. + Life should be full of joy, 166. That it is not to some is their own + fault, 167. + + + OF SUPERSTITION, OR INDISCREET DEVOTION. + + BY WILLIAM BAXTER, GENT. + + Ignorance respecting God may lead either to atheism or superstition, + 168. Atheism and superstition compared, 168, _et seq._ Atheism tends + to indifference, superstition to terror, 169. Superstition infuses + into the mind a constant alarm and dread, 170. Superstition allows + of no escape from fear, it permits no hope, 172. It perverts the + moral sense, 173, 174. The atheist may be fretful and impatient; the + superstitious man charges all his misfortunes and troubles to God, + 175. Is full of unreasonable apprehensions, 176. Converts tolerable + evils into fatal ones, 177. Misinterprets the course of nature, 177. + Is afraid of things that will not hurt him, 177. Allows himself no + enjoyment, 178. Entertains dishonorable thoughts of God, 180; and + thus is morally wrong, 181. He secretly hates God, and would have + no God, 181. Superstition affords an apology for atheism, 152. + Superstition of the Gauls, Scythians, and Carthaginians; they offered + human sacrifices, 182, 183. In avoiding superstition do not fall into + atheism, 184. + + + THE APOPHTHEGMS OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF KINGS AND GREAT COMMANDERS, + 185-250. + + BY E. HINTON, OF WITNEY IN OXFORDSHIRE. + + + RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. + + BY MATTHEW POOLE, D.D., OF NORTHAMPTON. + + Introduction, 251. The hands to be kept always warm, 252. Accustom + yourself in health to the food proper in sickness, 253. Avoid + all excess in eating and drinking, especially at feasts, 254. Be + prepared to excuse yourself if invited to drink to excess, 255. + Partake of agreeable food and drink, when needful; otherwise not, + 256. Lean to the side of moderation and abstinence, rather than the + gratification of appetite, 257. Intemperance is as destructive of + pleasure as of health, 258. Sickness may be avoided by the use of a + moderate diet, 259. A luxurious course of living adds to the force + of other causes of disease, 260. Be especially careful of what you + do, when threatened with illness, 261. When the body is out of order, + things that are otherwise pleasant become disgusting, 262. Extreme + carefulness in our diet should be avoided, 263. Disturbed sleep and + distressing dreams show a diseased state of body, 264. Avoid things + which have proved causes of disease to others, 264, 265. Reading or + speaking aloud is to a scholar conducive to health, 266. Yet this + must not be carried to excess, 267. The cold bath not to be used + after exercise; use the warm bath, 268. Use solid food cautiously + and sparingly; light food more freely, 268. Drink wine diluted with + water, or water simply, 269, 270. After supper, there should be a + considerable interval, to be occupied with gentle exercise either + of body or mind, 271, 272. Sufferers from gluttony or excess should + not attempt to relieve themselves by physic but by abstinence, 273. + Do not fast when there is no need, 274. Idleness is not conducive to + health, 275. After severe labor, allow the body to rest, even from + pleasure, 276. A man should well study his own case, and know what he + can bear, 277. The body and the mind must deal carefully with each + other, 278, 279. + + + HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT FROM HIS ENEMIES. + + BY JOHN HARTCLIFFE, FELLOW OF KING’S COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE. + + Ill-will always to be expected, 280. It is not enough that our + enemies do us no harm, 281. We may not be able to change bad men into + good men, 282. But it is possible to derive good even from bad men, + 283. An enemy, in order to discover our failings, carefully watches + all our movements and affairs, 283. Learn from this to be wary and + circumspect, 284. Learn to be discreet and sober, and to give offence + to nobody, 285. Live above reproach, 286, 287. When censured and + accused, examine if there be just cause for it, 288. Be willing + to hear the truth even from the lips of enemies, 289. If accused + unjustly, avoid even the appearance of the supposed wrong, 290. + Have you given any occasion for the false accusation? 291. Learn to + keep the tongue in subjection, 292. Be magnanimous and kind to your + enemy, 293. Indulge no malignant passion, 294. Envy not your enemy’s + success, 297. + + + CONSOLATION TO APOLLONIUS. + + BY MATTHEW MORGAN, A.M., OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE IN OXFORD. + + The son of Apollonius had died, 299. Apathy and excessive grief are + alike unnatural and improper, 300. Avoid both of these extremes, + 300. Uninterrupted happiness is not to be expected, 302. Every thing + is subject to change, 303. Evil is to be expected, 304, 305. Sorrow + will not remove suffering, 306, 307, Others are in trouble besides + ourselves, 308. Why should death be considered so great an evil? + 308. Death is but the debt of nature, 309. Death is inevitable, and + the termination of all human calamity, 310. Death is the brother of + sleep, 311. Death divests us of the body, and thus frees us from + great evil, 312. The gods have often sent death as a reward for + distinguished piety; illustrated by the cases of Biton and Cleobis, + of Agamedes and Trophonius, of Pindar and Euthynous, 313, 314. Even + if death be the extinction of our being, it is no evil, and why, + 315. Even untimely death may shield from evil, 317. Not long life, + but virtuous is desirable, 317, 318. Sorrow for the dead may proceed + from selfish considerations, 319. Does the mourner intend to cherish + grief as long as he lives? 320. Excessive grief is unmanly, 321. + An untimely death differs not much from that which is timely, 322. + It may be desirable, 323, 324. Excessive grief is unreasonable, + 325. The state of the dead is better than that of the living, 326. + The evil in the world far exceeds the good, 327. Life is a loan, + soon to be recalled, 327. Some people are querulous and can never + be satisfied, 329. Death is fixed by fate, 331. Life is short, and + should not be wasted in unavailing sorrow, 332. Derive comfort from + the example of those who have borne the death of their sons bravely, + 332, 333. Providence wisely disposes, 335. Your son died at the + best time for him, 335. He is now numbered with the blest, 336. The + conclusion; a touching appeal to Apollonius, 339. + + + CONCERNING THE VIRTUES OF WOMEN. + + BY ISAAC CHAUNCY, OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON. + + It is right to praise virtuous women, 340. Virtue in man and woman is + the same, 340; even as the poetic art in man and woman is the same, + 341. There may be variety, yet unity, 341. Virtue of the Trojan women + after landing in Italy, 342. Of the Phocian women in the war with the + Thessalians, 343. Of the women of Chios, 344. Of the Argive women and + their repulse of the Spartan army, 346. Of the Persian women, 347. + Of the Celtic women, 347. Of the Melian women, 348. Of the Tyrrhene + women, 349. Of the Lycian women, 351. Of the women of Salmantica in + Spain, 352. Of the maidens of Miletus, bent on self-murder, and how + this was prevented, 354. Of the maids of Cios, 354. Of the women of + Phocis during the Sacred War, 355. Of the Roman Lucretia, Valeria, + and Cloelia, 355-357. Of Micca and Megisto, and other women of Elis, + during the tyranny of Aristotimus, 357-363. Of Pieria and other women + of Myus, at Miletus, 363, 364. Of Polycrita in the war between Naxos + and Miletus, 364-366. Of Lampsace, 366. Of Aretaphila, and how she + delivered Cyrene from tyranny, 367-371. Of Camma the Galatian, 372. + Of Stratonica of Galatia, 373. Of Chiomara of Galatia, 374. Of the + women of Pergamus, 374. Of Timoclea at the taking of Thebes, 376. + Of Eryxo of Cyrene, 378. Of Xenocrita of Cumae, 380. Of Pythes the + Lydian and his wife, 382. + + + LACONIC APOPHTHEGMS; OR, REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF THE SPARTANS. + + BY THOMAS CREECH, A.M., OF WADHAM COLLEGE IN OXFORD. + + + OF HEARING. + + BY THOMAS HOY, FELLOW OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE IN OXFORD. + + Introduction, addressed to Nicander, a young man, 441. Remarks on + hearing in general, 442. Of the sense of hearing, as an inlet of + thought and feeling, 442. A guard to be placed over it, 443. How + to hear with benefit, 443. Faults to be avoided, 444. In hearing + a discourse, hear with attention to the close, 445. Guard against + envy and ill-nature, 445, 446. Hear with calmness and candor, 446. + Endeavor to reap advantage from the speaker’s faults, 447. Yield not + to undue admiration, 448. Examine the argument of the speaker apart + from his expression, 449. Separate the substance of a discourse from + its accessories, 450, 451. Interrupt not the speaker with trifling + questions, 452. Propose no impertinent questions, 453. Wait till + the proper time for asking, 453. Withhold not praise when it is + due, 454. Yet bestow not inordinate praise, 455. Something worthy + of praise may be found in every discourse, 456. The hearer owes a + duty to the speaker no less than the speaker to the hearer, 457. Be + not indiscriminate in your praises, 458. Bear admonition in a proper + spirit, 459. If you find difficulties in the lecturer’s instructions, + ask him to explain, 460, 461. Concluding exhortation, 462, 463. + + + OF LARGE ACQUAINTANCE: OR, AN ESSAY TO PROVE THE FOLLY OF SEEKING + MANY FRIENDS. + + BY W. G. + + True friendship a thing of rare occurrence, 464. In the early times, + friends went in pairs, Orestes and Pylades, &c., 465. True friendship + cannot embrace a multitude, 466. If we have numerous acquaintances, + there should be one eminently a friend, 466. The requisites to a + true friendship, 467. The difficulty of finding a true friend, 467. + Be not hasty in getting friends, 468. Admit none to your confidence + without long and thorough trial, 468. As true friendship cements two + hearts into one, so a large acquaintance divides and distracts the + heart, 469. We cannot discharge the obligations of friendship to + a multitude, 470; therefore do not attempt it, 471. Joining one’s + self intimately to another involves one in his calamities, 472. Real + friendship always has its origin in likeness, even in brutes, 472. + There must be a substantial oneness, 473. Therefore it is next to a + miracle to find a constant and sure friend, 474. + + + CONCERNING THE FORTUNE OR VIRTUE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. + + BY JOHN PHILIPS, GENT. + + Did he receive his empire as the gift of Fortune? By no means, 475. + It was acquired at the expense of many severe wounds, 476, 507; of + many hardships and much daring, 477; as the issue of his training + under Aristotle, 478. He was himself a great philosopher, 479. He + was the great civilizer of Asia, 480. He realized the dreams of + philosophers by making the world his country, 481. Uniting the Greeks + and the barbarians, 482. Gaining the affection of the vanquished, + 483. Aiming to establish universal brotherhood, 484. His philosophy + as exhibited in his recorded sayings, 485-489. His generous conduct, + 490. His patronage of learned men, 491. So different from other + monarchs, 492. His magnanimity, 495. Such a man owes little to + Fortune, 496. Contrasted with Sardanapalus, 497. His greatness as + seen in the confusion which followed his death, 498. Fortune cannot + make an Alexander, 499. His silly imitators attest his greatness, + 501. His self-government, 502. The Persian empire was overthrown, not + by Fortune, but by the superior genius and virtue of Alexander, 503. + Alexander owed nothing to Fortune, 506. His wisdom, his prowess, his + many wounds, his constancy and energy, procured his great success, + 507-511. Compared with the ablest men of antiquity, he is superior + to all, 512, 513. His daring courage, great dangers, and marvellous + escape, while besieging a town of the Oxydracae, 513-516. + + INDEX + + + + + PLUTARCH’S MORALS. + + VOL. I. + + + + + PLUTARCH’S MORALS. + + + + + A DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN. + + +1. The course which ought to be taken for the training of free-born +children, and the means whereby their manners may be rendered +virtuous, will, with the reader’s leave, be the subject of our present +disquisition. + +2. In the management of which, perhaps it may be expedient to take +our rise from their very procreation. I would therefore, in the first +place, advise those who desire to become the parents of famous and +eminent children, that they keep not company with all women that they +light on; I mean such as harlots, or concubines. For such children +as are blemished in their birth, either by the father’s or the +mother’s side, are liable to be pursued, as long as they live, with +the indelible infamy of their base extraction, as that which offers a +ready occasion to all that desire to take hold of it of reproaching and +disgracing them therewith. So that it was a wise speech of the poet who +said,— + + Misfortune on that family’s entailed, + Whose reputation in its founder failed.[1] + +Wherefore, since to be well born gives men a good stock of confidence, +the consideration hereof ought to be of no small value to such as +desire to leave behind them a lawful issue. For the spirits of men who +are alloyed and counterfeit in their birth are naturally enfeebled and +debased; as rightly said the poet again,— + + A bold and daring spirit is often daunted. + When with the guilt of parents’ crimes ’tis haunted.[2] + +So, on the contrary, a certain loftiness and natural gallantry of +spirit is wont to fill the breasts of those who are born of illustrious +parents. Of which Diophantus, the young son of Themistocles, is a +notable instance; for he is reported to have made his boast often and +in many companies, that whatsoever pleased him pleased also all Athens: +for whatever he liked, his mother liked; and whatever his mother liked, +Themistocles liked; and whatever Themistocles liked, all the Athenians +liked. Wherefore it was gallantly done of the Lacedaemonian States, +when they laid a round fine on their king Archidamus for marrying a +little woman, giving this reason for their so doing: that he meant to +beget for them not kings, but kinglings. + +3. The advice which I am, in the next place, about to give, is, indeed, +no other than what hath been given by those who have undertaken this +argument before me. You will ask me what is that? It is this: that no +man keep company with his wife for issue’s sake but when he is sober, +having drunk either no wine, or at least not such a quantity as to +distemper him; for they usually prove wine-bibbers and drunkards, whose +parents begot them when they were drunk. Wherefore Diogenes said to a +stripling somewhat crack-brained and half-witted: Surely, young man, +thy father begot thee when he was drunk. Let this suffice to be spoken +concerning the procreation of children: and let us pass thence to their +education. + +4. And here, to speak summarily, what we are wont to say of arts +and sciences may be said also concerning virtue: that there is a +concurrence of three things requisite to the completing thereof in +practice,—which are nature, reason, and use. Now by reason here I +would be understood to mean learning; and by use, exercise. Now the +principles come from instruction, the practice comes from exercise, +and perfection from all three combined. And accordingly as either +of the three is deficient, virtue must needs be defective. For if +nature be not improved by instruction, it is blind; if instruction +be not assisted by nature, it is maimed; and if exercise fail of the +assistance of both, it is imperfect as to the attainment of its end. +And as in husbandry it is first requisite that the soil be fertile, +next that the husbandman be skilful, and lastly that the seed he sows +be good; so here nature resembles the soil, the instructor of youth the +husbandman, and the rational principles and precepts which are taught, +the seed. And I would peremptorily affirm that all these met and +jointly conspired to the completing of the souls of those universally +celebrated men, Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, together with all +others whose eminent worth hath gotten them immortal glory. And happy +is that man certainly, and well-beloved of the Gods, on whom by the +bounty of any of them all these are conferred. + +And yet if any one thinks that those in whom Nature hath not thoroughly +done her part may not in some measure make up her defects, if they be +so happy as to light upon good teaching, and withal apply their own +industry towards the attainment of virtue, he is to know that he is +very much, nay, altogether, mistaken. For as a good natural capacity +may be impaired by slothfulness, so dull and heavy natural parts may +be improved by instruction; and whereas negligent students arrive not +at the capacity of understanding the most easy things, those who are +industrious conquer the greatest difficulties. And many instances we +may observe, that give us a clear demonstration of the mighty force +and successful efficacy of labor and industry. For water continually +dropping will wear hard rocks hollow; yea, iron and brass are worn out +with constant handling. Nor can we, if we would, reduce the felloes of +a cart-wheel to their former straightness, when once they have been +bent by force; yea, it is above the power of force to straighten the +bended staves sometimes used by actors upon the stage. So far is that +which labor effects, though against nature, more potent than what is +produced according to it. Yea, have we not many millions of instances +more which evidence the force of industry? Let us see in some few that +follow. A man’s ground is of itself good; yet, if it be unmanured, it +will contract barrenness; and the better it was naturally, so much +the more is it ruined by carelessness, if it be ill-husbanded. On +the other side, let a man’s ground be more than ordinarily rough and +rugged; yet experience tells us that, if it be well manured, it will be +quickly made capable of bearing excellent fruit. Yea, what sort of tree +is there which will not, if neglected, grow crooked and unfruitful; +and what but will, if rightly ordered, prove fruitful and bring its +fruit to maturity? What strength of body is there which will not lose +its vigor and fall to decay by laziness, nice usage, and debauchery? +And, on the contrary, where is the man of never so crazy a natural +constitution, who cannot render himself far more robust, if he will +only give himself to exercises of activity and strength? What horse +well managed from a colt proves not easily governable by the rider? And +where is there one to be found which, if not broken betimes, proves not +stiff-necked and unmanageable? Yea, why need we wonder at any thing +else when we see the wildest beasts made tame and brought to hand by +industry? And lastly, as to men themselves, that Thessalian answered +not amiss, who, being asked which of his countrymen were the meekest, +replied: Those that have received their discharge from the wars. + +But what need of multiplying more words in this matter, when even the +notion of the word ἦθος in the Greek language imports continuance, +and he that should call moral virtues customary virtues would seem to +speak not incongruously? I shall conclude this part of my discourse, +therefore, with the addition of one only instance. Lycurgus, the +Lacedaemonian lawgiver, once took two whelps of the same litter, and +ordered them to be bred in a quite different manner; whereby the one +became dainty and ravenous, and the other of a good scent and skilled +in hunting; which done, a while after he took occasion thence in an +assembly of the Lacedaemonians to discourse in this manner: Of great +weight in the attainment of virtue, fellow-citizens, are habits, +instruction, precepts, and indeed the whole manner of life,—as I will +presently let you see by example. And, withal, he ordered the producing +those two whelps into the midst of the hall, where also there were set +down before them a plate and a live hare. Whereupon, as they had been +bred, the one presently flies upon the hare, and the other as greedily +runs to the plate. And while the people were musing, not perfectly +apprehending what he meant by producing those whelps thus, he added: +These whelps were both of one litter, but differently bred; the one, +you see, has turned out a greedy cur, and the other a good hound. And +this shall suffice to be spoken concerning custom and different ways of +living. + +5. The next thing that falls under our consideration is the nursing +of children, which, in my judgment, the mothers should do themselves, +giving their own breasts to those they have borne. For this office +will certainly be performed with more tenderness and carefulness by +natural mothers, who will love their children intimately, as the saying +is, from their tender nails.[3] Whereas, both wet and dry nurses, who +are hired, love only for their pay, and are affected to their work +as ordinarily those that are substituted and deputed in the place of +others are. Yea, even Nature seems to have assigned the suckling and +nursing of the issue to those that bear them; for which cause she hath +bestowed upon every living creature that brings forth young, milk to +nourish them withal. And, in conformity thereto, Providence hath also +wisely ordered that women should have two breasts, that so, if any of +them should happen to bear twins, they might have two several springs +of nourishment ready for them. Though, if they had not that furniture, +mothers would still be more kind and loving to their own children. +And that not without reason; for constant feeding together is a great +means to heighten the affection mutually betwixt any persons. Yea, even +beasts, when they are separated from those that have grazed with them, +do in their way show a longing for the absent. Wherefore, as I have +said, mothers themselves should strive to the utmost to nurse their own +children. But if they find it impossible to do it themselves, either +because of bodily weakness (and such a case may fall out), or because +they are apt to be quickly with child again, then are they to choose +the honestest nurses they can get, and not to take whomsoever they have +offered them. And the first thing to be looked after in this choice +is, that the nurses be bred after the Greek fashion. For as it is +needful that the members of children be shaped aright as soon as they +are born, that they may not afterwards prove crooked and distorted, so +it is no less expedient that their manners be well fashioned from the +very beginning. For childhood is a tender thing, and easily wrought +into any shape. Yea, and the very souls of children readily receive the +impressions of those things that are dropped into them while they are +yet but soft; but when they grow older, they will, as all hard things +are, be more difficult to be wrought upon. And as soft wax is apt to +take the stamp of the seal, so are the minds of children to receive +the instructions imprinted on them at that age. Whence, also, it seems +to me good advice which divine Plato gives to nurses, not to tell all +sorts of common tales to children in infancy, lest thereby their minds +should chance to be filled with foolish and corrupt notions.[4] The +like good counsel Phocylides, the poet, seems to give in this verse of +his:— + + If we’ll have virtuous children, we should choose + Their tenderest age good principles to infuse. + +6. Nor are we to omit taking due care, in the first place, that those +children who are appointed to attend upon such young nurslings, and +to be bred with them for play-fellows, be well-mannered, and next +that they speak plain, natural Greek; lest, being constantly used to +converse with persons of a barbarous language and evil manners, they +receive corrupt tinctures from them. For it is a true proverb, that if +you live with a lame man, you will learn to halt. + +7. Next, when a child is arrived at such an age as to be put under the +care of pedagogues, great care is to be used that we be not deceived in +them, and so commit our children to slaves or barbarians or cheating +fellows. For it is a course never enough to be laughed at which many +men nowadays take in this affair; for if any of their servants be +better than the rest, they dispose some of them to follow husbandry, +some to navigation, some to merchandise, some to be stewards in their +houses, and some, lastly, to put out their money to use for them. But +if they find any slave that is a drunkard or a glutton, and unfit +for any other business, to him they assign the government of their +children; whereas, a good pedagogue ought to be such a one in his +disposition as Phoenix, tutor to Achilles, was. + +And now I come to speak of that which is a greater matter, and of more +concern than any that I have said. We are to look after such masters +for our children as are blameless in their lives, not justly reprovable +for their manners, and of the best experience in teaching. For the very +spring and root of honesty and virtue lies in the felicity of lighting +on good education. And as husbandmen are wont to set forks to prop up +feeble plants, so do honest schoolmasters prop up youth by careful +instructions and admonitions, that they may duly bring forth the buds +of good manners. But there are certain fathers nowadays who deserve +that men should spit on them in contempt, who, before making any proof +of those to whom they design to commit the teaching of their children, +either through unacquaintance, or, as it sometimes falls out, through +unskilfulness, intrust them to men of no good reputation, or, it may +be, such as are branded with infamy. Although they are not altogether +so ridiculous, if they offend herein through unskilfulness; but it +is a thing most extremely absurd, when, as oftentimes it happens, +though they know and are told beforehand, by those who understand +better than themselves, both of the inability and rascality of certain +schoolmasters, they nevertheless commit the charge of their children +to them, sometimes overcome by their fair and flattering speeches, +and sometimes prevailed on to gratify friends who entreat them. This +is an error of like nature with that of the sick man, who, to please +his friends, forbears to send for the physician that might save his +life by his skill, and employs a mountebank that quickly dispatcheth +him out of the world; or of him who refuses a skilful shipmaster, and +then, at his friend’s entreaty, commits the care of his vessel to one +that is therein much his inferior. In the name of Jupiter and all +the Gods, tell me how can that man deserve the name of a father, who +is more concerned to gratify others in their requests, than to have +his children well educated? Or, is not that rather fitly applicable +to this case, which Socrates, that ancient philosopher, was wont to +say,—that, if he could get up to the highest place in the city, he +would lift up his voice and make this proclamation thence: “What mean +you, fellow-citizens, that you thus turn every stone to scrape wealth +together, and take so little care of your children, to whom, one day, +you must relinquish it all?”—to which I would add this, that such +parents do like him that is solicitous about his shoe, but neglects the +foot that is to wear it. And yet many fathers there are, who so love +their money and hate their children, that, lest it should cost them +more than they are willing to spare to hire a good schoolmaster for +them, they rather choose such persons to instruct their children as are +of no worth; thereby beating down the market, that they may purchase +ignorance cheap. It was, therefore, a witty and handsome jeer which +Aristippus bestowed on a sottish father, who asked him what he would +take to teach his child. He answered, A thousand drachms. Whereupon +the other cried out: O Hercules, what a price you ask! for I can buy +a slave at that rate. Do so, then, said the philosopher, and thou +shalt have two slaves instead of one,—thy son for one, and him thou +buyest for another. Lastly, how absurd it is, when thou accustomest thy +children to take their food with their right hands, and chidest them if +they receive it with their left, yet thou takest no care at all that +the principles that are infused into them be right and regular. + +And now I will tell you what ordinarily is like to befall such +prodigious parents, when they have had their sons ill nursed and worse +taught. For when such sons are arrived at man’s estate, and, through +contempt of a sound and orderly way of living, precipitate themselves +into all manner of disorderly and servile pleasures, then will those +parents dearly repent of their own neglect of their children’s +education, when it is too late to amend it; and vex themselves, +even to distraction, at their vicious courses. For then do some of +those children acquaint themselves with flatterers and parasites, a +sort of infamous and execrable persons, the very pests that corrupt +and ruin young men; others maintain mistresses and harlots, insolent +and extravagant; others waste their substance; others, again, come +to shipwreck on gaming and revelling. And some venture on still more +audacious crimes, committing adultery and joining in the orgies of +Bacchus, being ready to purchase one bout of debauched pleasure at +the price of their lives. If now they had but conversed with some +philosopher, they would never have enslaved themselves to such courses +as these; though possibly they might have learned at least to put in +practice the precept of Diogenes, delivered by him indeed in rude +language, but yet containing, as to the scope of it, a great truth, +when he advised a young man to go to the public stews, that he might +then inform himself, by experience, how things of greatest value and +things of no value at all were there of equal worth. + +8. In brief therefore I say (and what I say may justly challenge the +repute of an oracle rather than of advice), that the one chief thing +in this matter—which compriseth the beginning, middle, and end of +all—is good education and regular instruction; and that these two +afford great help and assistance towards the attainment of virtue and +felicity. For all other good things are but human and of small value, +such as will hardly recompense the industry required to the getting +of them. It is, indeed, a desirable thing to be well descended; but +the glory belongs to our ancestors. Riches are valuable; but they are +the goods of Fortune, who frequently takes them from those that have +them, and carries them to those that never so much as hoped for them. +Yea, the greater they are, the fairer mark are they for those to aim +at who design to make our bags their prize; I mean evil servants and +accusers. But the weightiest consideration of all is, that riches may +be enjoyed by the worst as well as the best of men. Glory is a thing +deserving respect, but unstable; beauty is a prize that men fight to +obtain, but, when obtained, it is of little continuance; health is a +precious enjoyment, but easily impaired; strength is a thing desirable, +but apt to be the prey of diseases and old age. And, in general, let +any man who values himself upon strength of body know that he makes a +great mistake; for what indeed is any proportion of human strength, +if compared to that of other animals, such as elephants and bulls +and lions? But learning alone, of all things in our possession, is +immortal and divine. And two things there are that are most peculiar +to human nature, reason and speech; of which two, reason is the master +of speech, and speech is the servant of reason, impregnable against +all assaults of fortune, not to be taken away by false accusation, nor +impaired by sickness, nor enfeebled by old age. For reason alone grows +youthful by age; and time, which decays all other things, increaseth +knowledge in us in our decaying years. Yea, war itself, which like a +winter torrent bears down all other things before it and carries them +away with it, leaves learning alone behind. Whence the answer seems +to me very remarkable, which Stilpo, a philosopher of Megara, gave +to Demetrius, who, when he levelled that city to the ground and made +all the citizens bondmen, asked Stilpo whether he had lost any thing. +Nothing, said he, for war cannot plunder virtue. To this saying that +of Socrates also is very agreeable; who, when Gorgias (as I take it) +asked him what his opinion was of the king of Persia, and whether he +judged him happy, returned answer, that he could not tell what to +think of him, because he knew not how he was furnished with virtue and +learning,—as judging human felicity to consist in those endowments, +and not in those which are subject to fortune. + +9. Moreover, as it is my advice to parents that they make the breeding +up of their children to learning the chiefest of their care, so I here +add, that the learning they ought to train them up unto should be sound +and wholesome, and such as is most remote from those trifles which suit +the popular humor. For to please the many is to displease the wise. To +this saying of mine that of Euripides himself bears witness:— + + I’m better skilled to treat a few, my peers, + Than in a crowd to tickle vulgar ears; + Though others have the luck on’t, when they babble + Most to the wise, then most to please the rabble.[5] + +Besides, I find by my own observation, that those persons who make it +their business to speak so as to deserve the favor and approbation +of the scum of the people, ordinarily live at a suitable rate, +voluptuously and intemperately. And there is reason for it. For they +who have no regard to what is honest, so they may make provision for +other men’s pleasures, will surely not be very propense to prefer what +is right and wholesome before that which gratifies their own inordinate +pleasures and luxurious inclinations, and to quit that which humors +them for that which restrains them. + +If any one ask what the next thing is wherein I would have children +instructed, and to what further good qualities I would have them +inured, I answer, that I think it advisable that they neither speak nor +do any thing rashly; for, according to the proverb, the best things +are the most difficult. But extemporary discourses are full of much +ordinary and loose stuff, nor do such speakers well know where to +begin or where to make an end. And besides other faults which those +who speak suddenly are commonly guilty of, they are commonly liable to +this great one, that they multiply words without measure; whereas, +premeditation will not suffer a man to enlarge his discourse beyond a +due proportion. To this purpose it is reported of Pericles, that, being +often called upon by the people to speak, he would not, because (as he +said) he was unprepared. And Demosthenes also, who imitated him in the +managery of public affairs, when the Athenians urged him to give his +counsel, refused it with this answer: I have not yet prepared myself. +Though it may be that this story is a mere fiction, brought down to us +by uncertain tradition, without any credible author. But Demosthenes, +in his oration against Midias, clearly sets forth the usefulness of +premeditation. For there he says: “I confess, O ye Athenians! that +I came hither provided to speak; and I will by no means deny that +I have spent my utmost study upon the composing this oration. For +it had been a pitiful omission in me, if, having suffered and still +suffering such things, I should have neglected that which in this +cause was to be spoken by me.”[6] But here I would not be understood +altogether to condemn all readiness to discourse extempore, nor yet +to allow the use of it upon such occasions as do not require it; but +we are to use it only as we do physic. Still, before a person arrives +at complete manhood, I would not permit him to speak upon any sudden +incident occasion; though, after he has attained a radicated faculty +of speaking, he may allow himself a greater liberty, as opportunity is +offered. For as they who have been a long time in chains, when they are +at last set at liberty, are unable to walk, on account of their former +continual restraint, and are very apt to trip, so they who have been +used to a fettered way of speaking a great while, if upon any occasion +they be enforced to speak on a sudden, will hardly be able to express +themselves without some tokens of their former confinement. But to +permit those that are yet children to speak extemporally is to give +them occasion for extremely idle talk. A wretched painter, they say, +showing Apelles a picture, told him withal that he had taken a very +little time to paint it. If thou hadst not told me so, said Apelles, I +see cause enough to believe it was a hasty draught; but I wonder that +in that space of time thou hast not painted many more such pictures. + +I advise therefore (for I return now to the subject that I have +digressed from) the shunning and avoiding, not merely of a starched, +theatrical, and over-tragical form of speaking, but also of that which +is too low and mean. For that which is too swelling is not fit for the +managery of public affairs; and that, on the other side, which is too +thin is very inapt to work any notable impression upon the hearers. +For as it is not only requisite that a man’s body be healthy, but also +that it be of a firm constitution, so ought a discourse to be not only +sound, but nervous also. For though such as is composed cautiously may +be commended, yet that is all it can arrive at; whereas that which hath +some adventurous passages in it is admired also. And my opinion is the +same concerning the affections of the speaker’s mind. For he must be +neither of a too confident nor of a too mean and dejected spirit; for +the one is apt to lead to impudence, the other to servility; and much +of the orator’s art, as well as great circumspection, is required to +direct his course skilfully betwixt the two. + +And now (whilst I am handling this point concerning the instruction +of children) I will also give you my judgment concerning the frame of +a discourse; which is this, that to compose it in all parts uniformly +not only is a great argument of a defect in learning, but also is apt, +I think, to nauseate the auditory when it is practised; and in no case +can it give lasting pleasure. For to sing the same tune, as the saying +is, is in every thing cloying and offensive; but men are generally +pleased with variety, as in speeches and pageants, so in all other +entertainments. + +10. Wherefore, though we ought not to permit an ingenuous child +entirely to neglect any of the common sorts of learning, so far as +they may be gotten by lectures or from public shows; yet I would +have him to salute these only as in his passage, taking a bare taste +of each of them (seeing no man can possibly attain to perfection in +all), and to give philosophy the pre-eminence of them all. I can +illustrate my meaning by an example. It is a fine thing to sail round +and visit many cities, but it is profitable to fix our dwelling in +the best. Witty also was the saying of Bias, the philosopher, that, +as the wooers of Penelope, when they could not have their desire of +the mistress, contented themselves to have to do with her maids, so +commonly those students who are not capable of understanding philosophy +waste themselves in the study of those sciences that are of no value. +Whence it follows, that we ought to make philosophy the chief of all +our learning. For though, in order to the welfare of the body, the +industry of men hath found out two arts,—medicine, which assists to +the recovery of lost health, and gymnastics, which help us to attain +a sound constitution,—yet there is but one remedy for the distempers +and diseases of the mind, and that is philosophy. For by the advice and +assistance thereof it is that we come to understand what is honest, +and what dishonest; what is just, and what unjust; in a word, what we +are to seek, and what to avoid. We learn by it how we are to demean +ourselves towards the Gods, towards our parents, our elders, the laws, +strangers, governors, friends, wives, children, and servants. That is, +we are to worship the Gods, to honor our parents, to reverence our +elders, to be subject to the laws, to obey our governors, to love our +friends, to use sobriety towards our wives, to be affectionate to our +children, and not to treat our servants insolently; and (which is the +chiefest lesson of all) not to be overjoyed in prosperity nor too much +dejected in adversity; not to be dissolute in our pleasures, nor in +our anger to be transported with brutish rage and fury. These things +I account the principal advantages which we gain by philosophy. For to +use prosperity generously is the part of a man; to manage it so as to +decline envy, of a well governed man; to master our pleasures by reason +is the property of wise men; and to moderate anger is the attainment +only of extraordinary men. But those of all men I count most complete, +who know how to mix and temper the managery of civil affairs with +philosophy; seeing they are thereby masters of two of the greatest good +things that are,—a life of public usefulness as statesmen, and a life +of calm tranquillity as students of philosophy. For, whereas there are +three sorts of lives,—the life of action, the life of contemplation, +and the life of pleasure,—the man who is utterly abandoned and a slave +to pleasure is brutish and mean-spirited; he that spends his time +in contemplation without action is an unprofitable man; and he that +lives in action and is destitute of philosophy is a rustical man, and +commits many absurdities. Wherefore we are to apply our utmost endeavor +to enable ourselves for both; that is, to manage public employments, +and withal, at convenient seasons, to give ourselves to philosophical +studies. Such statesmen were Pericles and Archytas the Tarentine; such +were Dion the Syracusan and Epaminondas the Theban, both of whom were +of Plato’s familiar acquaintance. + +I think it not necessary to spend many more words about this point, +the instruction of children in learning. Only it may be profitable at +least, or even necessary, not to omit procuring for them the writings +of ancient authors, but to make such a collection of them as husbandmen +are wont to do of all needful tools. For of the same nature is the use +of books to scholars, as being the tools and instruments of learning, +and withal enabling them to derive knowledge from its proper fountains. + +11. In the next place, the exercise of the body must not be neglected; +but children must be sent to schools of gymnastics, where they may have +sufficient employment that way also. This will conduce partly to a more +handsome carriage, and partly to the improvement of their strength. +For the foundation of a vigorous old age is a good constitution of +the body in childhood. Wherefore, as it is expedient to provide those +things in fair weather which may be useful to the mariners in a storm, +so is it to keep good order and govern ourselves by rules of temperance +in youth, as the best provision we can lay in for age. Yet must they +husband their strength, so as not to become dried up (as it were) and +destitute of strength to follow their studies. For, according to Plato, +sleep and weariness are enemies to the arts.[7] + +But why do I stand so long on these things? I hasten to speak of that +which is of the greatest importance, even beyond all that has been +spoken of; namely, I would have boys trained for the contests of wars +by practice in the throwing of darts, shooting of arrows, and hunting +of wild beasts. For we must remember in war the goods of the conquered +are proposed as rewards to the conquerors. But war does not agree with +a delicate habit of body, used only to the shade; for even one lean +soldier that hath been used to military exercises shall overthrow +whole troops of mere wrestlers who know nothing of war. But, somebody +may say, whilst you profess to give precepts for the education of all +free-born children, why do you carry the matter so as to seem only to +accommodate those precepts to the rich, and neglect to suit them also +to the children of poor men and plebeians? To which objection it is +no difficult thing to reply. For it is my desire that all children +whatsoever may partake of the benefit of education alike; but if yet +any persons, by reason of the narrowness of their estates, cannot make +use of my precepts, let them not blame me that give them, but Fortune, +which disableth them from making the advantage by them they otherwise +might. Though even poor men must use their utmost endeavor to give +their children the best education; or, if they cannot, they must bestow +upon them the best that their abilities will reach. Thus much I thought +fit here to insert in the body of my discourse, that I might the +better be enabled to annex what I have yet to add concerning the right +training of children. + +12. I say now, that children are to be won to follow liberal studies +by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced +thereto by whipping or any other contumelious punishments. I will not +urge that such usage seems to be more agreeable to slaves than to +ingenuous children; and even slaves, when thus handled, are dulled and +discouraged from the performance of their tasks, partly by reason of +the smart of their stripes, and partly because of the disgrace thereby +inflicted. But praise and reproof are more effectual upon free-born +children than any such disgraceful handling; the former to incite them +to what is good, and the latter to restrain them from that which is +evil. But we must use reprehensions and commendations alternately, and +of various kinds according to the occasion; so that when they grow +petulant, they may be shamed by reprehension, and again, when they +better deserve it, they may be encouraged by commendations. Wherein +we ought to imitate nurses, who, when they have made their infants +cry, stop their mouths with the nipple to quiet them again. It is also +useful not to give them such large commendations as to puff them up +with pride; for this is the ready way to fill them with a vain conceit +of themselves, and to enfeeble their minds. + +13. Moreover, I have seen some parents whose too much love to their +children hath occasioned, in truth, their not loving them at all. I +will give light to this assertion by an example to those who ask +what it means. It is this: while they are over-hasty to advance their +children in all sorts of learning beyond their equals, they set them +too hard and laborious tasks, whereby they fall under discouragement; +and this, with other inconveniences accompanying it, causeth them +in the issue to be ill affected to learning itself. For as plants +by moderate watering are nourished, but with over-much moisture are +glutted, so is the spirit improved by moderate labors, but overwhelmed +by such as are excessive. We ought therefore to give children some +time to take breath from their constant labors, considering that +all human life is divided betwixt business and relaxation. To which +purpose it is that we are inclined by nature not only to wake, but to +sleep also; that as we have sometimes wars, so likewise at other times +peace; as some foul, so other fair days; and, as we have seasons of +important business, so also the vacation times of festivals. And, to +contract all in a word, rest is the sauce of labor. Nor is it thus in +living creatures only, but in things inanimate too. For even in bows +and harps, we loosen their strings, that we may bend and wind them up +again. Yea, it is universally seen that, as the body is maintained by +repletion and evacuation, so is the mind by employment and relaxation. + +Those parents, moreover, are to be blamed who, when they have committed +their sons to the care of pedagogues or schoolmasters, never see or +hear them perform their tasks; wherein they fail much of their duty. +For they ought, ever and anon, after the intermission of some days, to +make trial of their children’s proficiency; and not intrust their hopes +of them to the discretion of a hireling. For even that sort of men will +take more care of the children, when they know that they are regularly +to be called to account. And here the saying of the king’s groom is +very applicable, that nothing made the horse so fat as the king’s eye. + +But we must most of all exercise and keep in constant employment the +memory of children; for that is, as it were, the storehouse of all +learning. Wherefore the mythologists have made Mnemosyne, or Memory, +the mother of the Muses, plainly intimating thereby that nothing doth +so beget or nourish learning as memory. Wherefore we must employ it to +both those purposes, whether the children be naturally apt or backward +to remember. For so shall we both strengthen it in those to whom Nature +in this respect hath been bountiful, and supply that to others wherein +she hath been deficient. And as the former sort of boys will thereby +come to excel others, so will the latter sort excel themselves. For +that of Hesiod was well said,— + + Oft little add to little, and the account + Will swell: heapt atoms thus produce a mount.[8] + +Neither, therefore, let the parents be ignorant of this, that the +exercising of memory in the schools doth not only give the greatest +assistance towards the attainment of learning, but also to all the +actions of life. For the remembrance of things past affords us examples +in our consults about things to come. + +14. Children ought to be made to abstain from speaking filthily, +seeing, as Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions. +They are, moreover, to be instructed to be affable and courteous in +discourse. For as churlish manners are always detestable, so children +may be kept from being odious in conversation, if they will not be +pertinaciously bent to maintain all they say in dispute. For it is +of use to a man to understand not only how to overcome, but also how +to give ground when to conquer would turn to his disadvantage. For +there is such a thing sometimes as a Cadmean victory; which the wise +Euripides attesteth, when he saith,— + + Where two discourse, if the one’s anger rise, + The man who lets the contest fall is wise.[9] + +Add we now to these things some others of which children ought to have +no less, yea, rather greater care; to wit, that they avoid luxurious +living, bridle their tongues, subdue anger, and refrain their hands. +Of how great moment each of these counsels is, I now come to inquire; +and we may best judge of them by examples. To begin with the last: +some men there have been, who, by opening their hands to take what +they ought not, have lost all the honor they got in the former part +of their lives. So Gylippus the Lacedaemonian,[10] for unsewing the +public money-bags, was condemned to banishment from Sparta. And to be +able also to subdue anger is the part of a wise man. Such a one was +Socrates; for when a hectoring and debauched young man rudely kicked +him, so that those in his company, being sorely offended, were ready to +run after him and call him to account for it, What, said he to them, +if an ass had kicked me, would you think it handsomely done to kick +him again? And yet the young man himself escaped not unpunished; for +when all persons reproached him for so unworthy an act, and gave him +the nickname of Λακτιστής, or the kicker, he hanged himself. The same +Socrates,—when Aristophanes, publishing his play which he called the +Clouds, therein threw all sorts of the foulest reproaches upon him, +and a friend of his, who was present at the acting of it, repeated to +him what was there said in the same comical manner, asking him withal, +Does not this offend you, Socrates?—replied: Not at all, for I can as +well bear with a fool in a play as at a great feast. And something of +the same nature is reported to have been done by Archytas of Tarentum +and Plato. Archytas, when, upon his return from the war, wherein he +had been a general, he was informed that his land had been impaired +by his bailiff’s negligence, sent for him, and said only thus to him +when he came: If I were not very angry with thee, I would severely +correct thee. And Plato, being offended with a gluttonous and debauched +servant, called to him Speusippus, his sister’s son, and said unto him: +Go beat thou this fellow; for I am too much offended with him to do it +myself. + +These things, you will perhaps say, are very difficult to be imitated. +I confess it; but yet we must endeavor to the utmost of our power, +by setting such examples before us, to repress the extravagancy of +our immoderate, furious anger. For neither are we able to rival the +experience or virtue of such men in many other matters; but we do, +nevertheless, as sacred interpreters of divine mysteries and priests +of wisdom, strive to follow these examples, and, as it were, to enrich +ourselves with what we can nibble from them. + +And as to the bridling of the tongue, concerning which also I am +obliged to speak, if any man think it a small matter or of mean +concernment, he is much mistaken. For it is a point of wisdom to +be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though +never so well. And, in my judgment, for this reason the ancients +instituted mystical rites of initiation in religion, that, being in +them accustomed to silence, we might thence transfer the fear we have +of the Gods to the fidelity required in human secrets. Yea, indeed, +experience shows that no man ever repented of having kept silence; but +many that they have not done so. And a man may, when he will, easily +utter what he hath by silence concealed; but it is impossible for him +to recall what he hath once spoken. And, moreover, I can remember +infinite examples that have been told me of those that have procured +great damages to themselves by intemperance of the tongue; one or two +of which I will give, omitting the rest. When Ptolemaeus Philadelphus +had taken his sister Arsinoe to wife, Sotades for breaking an obscene +jest[11] upon him lay languishing in prison a great while; a punishment +which he deserved for his unseasonable babbling, whereby to provoke +laughter in others he purchased a long time of mourning to himself. +Much after the same rate, or rather still worse, did Theocritus the +Sophist both talk and suffer. For when Alexander commanded the Grecians +to provide him a purple robe, wherein, upon his return from the wars, +he meant to sacrifice to the Gods in gratitude for his victorious +success against the barbarians, and the various states were bringing in +the sums assessed upon them, Theocritus said: I now see clearly that +this is what Homer calls purple death, which I never understood before. +By which speech he made the king his enemy from that time forwards. +The same person provoked Antigonus, the king of Macedonia, to great +wrath, by reproaching him with his defect, as having but one eye. Thus +it was. Antigonus commanded Eutropion his master-cook (then in waiting) +to go to this Theocritus and settle some accounts with him. And when +he announced his errand to Theocritus, and called frequently about the +business, the latter said: I know that thou hast a mind to dish me up +raw to that Cyclops; thus reproaching at once the king with the want of +his eye, and the cook with his employment. To which Eutropion replied: +Then thou shalt lose thy head, as the penalty of thy loquacity and +madness. And he was as good as his word; for he departed and informed +the king, who sent and put Theocritus to death. + +Besides all these things, we are to accustom children to speak the +truth, and to account it, as indeed it is, a matter of religion for +them to do so. For lying is a servile quality, deserving the hatred of +all mankind; yea, a fault for which we ought not to forgive our meanest +servants. + +15. Thus far have I discoursed concerning the good breeding of +children, and the sobriety requisite to that age, without any +hesitation or doubt in my own mind concerning any thing that I have +said. But in what remains to be said, I am dubious and divided in my +own thoughts, which, as if they were laid in a balance, sometimes +incline this, and sometimes that way. I am therefore loath to persuade +or dissuade in the matter. But I must venture to answer one question, +which is this: whether we ought to admit those that make love to our +sons to keep them company, or whether we should not rather thrust them +out of doors, and banish them from their society. For when I look upon +those straightforward parents, of a harsh and austere temper, who think +it an outrage not to be endured that their sons should have any thing +to say to lovers, I am tender of being the persuader or encourager of +such a practice. But, on the other side, when I call to mind Socrates, +and Plato, and Xenophon, and Aeschines, and Cebes, with an whole troop +of other such men, who have approved those masculine loves, and still +have brought up young men to learning, public employments, and virtuous +living, I am again of another mind, and am much influenced by my zeal +to imitate such great men. And the testimony also of Euripides is +favorable to their opinion, when he says,— + + Another love there is in mortals found; + The love of just and chaste and virtuous souls.[12] + +And yet I think it not improper here to mention withal that saying of +Plato, spoken betwixt jest and earnest, that men of great eminence must +be allowed to show affection to what beautiful objects they please.[13] +I would decide then that parents are to keep off such as make beauty +the object of their affection, and admit altogether such as direct +the love to the soul; whence such loves are to be avoided as are in +Thebes and Elis, and that sort which in Crete they call ravishment +(ἁρπαγμός);[14] and such are to be imitated as are in Athens and Sparta. + +16. But in this matter let every man follow his own judgment. Thus +far have I discoursed concerning the right ordering and decent +carriage of children. I will now pass thence, to speak somewhat +concerning the next age, that of youth. For I have often blamed the +evil custom of some, who commit their boys in childhood to pedagogues +and teachers, and then suffer the impetuosity of their youth to range +without restraint; whereas boys of that age need to be kept under a +stricter guard than children. For who does not know that the errors +of childhood are small, and perfectly capable of being amended; such +as slighting their pedagogues, or disobedience to their teachers’ +instructions. But when they begin to grow towards maturity, their +offences are oftentimes very great and heinous; such as gluttony, +pilfering money from their parents, dicing, revellings, drunkenness, +courting of maidens, and defiling of marriage-beds. Wherefore it is +expedient that such impetuous heats should with great care be kept +under and restrained. For the ripeness of that age admits no bounds +in its pleasures, is skittish, and needs a curb to check it; so that +those parents who do not hold in their sons with great strength about +that time find to their surprise that they are giving their vicious +inclinations full swing in the pursuit of the vilest actions. Wherefore +it is a duty incumbent upon wise parents, in that age especially, to +set a strict watch upon them, and to keep them within the bounds of +sobriety by instructions, threatenings, entreaties, counsels, promises, +and by laying before them examples of those men (on one side) who +by immoderate love of pleasures have brought themselves into great +mischief, and of those (on the other) who by abstinence in the pursuit +of them have purchased to themselves very great praise and glory. For +these two things (hope of honor, and fear of punishment) are, in a +sort, the first elements of virtue; the former whereof spurs men on the +more eagerly to the pursuit of honest studies, while the latter blunts +the edge of their inclinations to vicious courses. + +17. And in sum, it is necessary to restrain young men from the +conversation of debauched persons, lest they take infection from their +evil examples. This was taught by Pythagoras in certain enigmatical +sentences, which I shall here relate and expound, as being greatly +useful to further virtuous inclinations. Such are these. Taste not of +fish that have black tails; that is, converse not with men that are +smutted with vicious qualities. Stride not over the beam of the scales; +wherein he teacheth us the regard we ought to have for justice, so as +not to go beyond its measures. Sit not on a choenix; wherein he forbids +sloth, and requires us to take care to provide ourselves with the +necessaries of life. Do not strike hands with every man; he means we +ought not to be over hasty to make acquaintances or friendships with +others. Wear not a tight ring; that is, we are to labor after a free +and independent way of living, and to submit to no fetters. Stir not +up the fire with a sword; signifying that we ought not to provoke a +man more when he is angry already (since this is a most unseemly act), +but we should rather comply with him while his passion is in its heat. +Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them +with vexatious cares. Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public +offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by +beans. Put not food in a chamber-pot; wherein he declares that elegant +discourse ought not to be put into an impure mind; for discourse is the +food of the mind, which is rendered unclean by the foulness of the man +who receives it. When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn +back; that is, those who are near the end of their days, and see the +period of their lives approaching, ought to entertain it contentedly, +and not to be grieved at it. + +But to return from this digression,—our children, as I have said, are +to be debarred the company of all evil men, but especially flatterers. +For I would still affirm what I have often said in the presence of +divers fathers, that there is not a more pestilent sort of men than +these, nor any that more certainly and speedily hurry youth into +precipices. Yea, they utterly ruin both fathers and sons, making the +old age of the one and the youth of the other full of sorrow, while +they cover the hook of their evil counsels with the unavoidable bait +of voluptuousness. Parents, when they have good estates to leave +their children, exhort them to sobriety, flatterers to drunkenness; +parents exhort to continence, these to lasciviousness; parents to +good husbandry, these to prodigality; parents to industry, these to +slothfulness. And they usually entertain them with such discourses as +these: The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it +therefore while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose. Why should +you so much regard the displeasure of your father?—an old doting fool, +with one foot already in the grave, and ’tis to be hoped it will not +be long ere we carry him thither altogether. And some of them there +are who procure young men foul harlots, yea, prostitute wives to them; +and they even make a prey of those things which the careful fathers +have provided for the sustenance of their old age. A cursed tribe! +True friendship’s hypocrites, they have no knowledge of plain dealing +and frank speech. They flatter the rich, and despise the poor; and +they seduce the young, as by a musical charm. When those who feed them +begin to laugh, then they grin and show their teeth. They are mere +counterfeits, bastard pretenders to humanity, living at the nod and +beck of the rich; free by birth, yet slaves by choice, who always think +themselves abused when they are not so, because they are not supported +in idleness at others’ cost. Wherefore, if fathers have any care for +the good breeding of their children, they ought to drive such foul +beasts as these out of doors. They ought also to keep them from the +companionship of vicious school-fellows, for these are able to corrupt +the most ingenuous dispositions. + +18. These counsels which I have now given are of great worth and +importance; what I have now to add touches certain allowances that are +to be made to human nature. Again therefore I would not have fathers +of an over-rigid and harsh temper, but so mild as to forgive some +slips of youth, remembering that they themselves were once young. +But as physicians are wont to mix their bitter medicines with sweet +syrups, to make what is pleasant a vehicle for what is wholesome, so +should fathers temper the keenness of their reproofs with lenity. +They may occasionally loosen the reins, and allow their children to +take some liberties they are inclined to, and again, when it is fit, +manage them with a straighter bridle. But chiefly should they bear +their errors without passion, if it may be; and if they chance to be +heated more than ordinary, they ought not to suffer the flame to burn +long. For it is better that a father’s anger be hasty than severe; +because the heaviness of his wrath, joined with unplacableness, is no +small argument of hatred towards the child. It is good also not to +discover the notice they take of divers faults, and to transfer to +such cases that dimness of sight and hardness of hearing that are wont +to accompany old age; so as sometimes not to hear what they hear, nor +to see what they see, of their children’s miscarriages. We use to bear +with some failings in our friends, and it is no wonder if we do the +like to our children, especially when we sometimes overlook drunkenness +in our very servants. Thou hast at times been too straight-handed to +thy son; make him at other whiles a larger allowance. Thou hast, it +may be, been too angry with him; pardon him the next fault to make +him amends. He hath made use of a servant’s wit to circumvent thee in +something; restrain thy anger. He hath made bold to take a yoke of oxen +out of the pasture, or he hath come home smelling of his yesterday’s +drink; take no notice of it; and if of ointments too, say nothing. +For by this means the wild colt sometimes is made more tame. Besides, +for those who are intemperate in their youthful lusts, and will not +be amended by reproof, it is good to provide wives; for marriage is +the strongest bond to hamper wild youth withal. But we must take care +that the wives we procure for them be neither of too noble a birth +nor of too great a portion to suit their circumstances; for it is a +wise saying, drive on your own track.[15] Whereas men that marry women +very much superior to themselves are not so truly husbands to their +wives, as they are unawares made slaves to their portions. I will add +a few words more, and put an end to these advices. The chiefest thing +that fathers are to look to is, that they themselves become effectual +examples to their children, by doing all those things which belong to +them and avoiding all vicious practices, that in their lives, as in a +glass, their children may see enough to give them an aversion to all +ill words and actions. For those that chide children for such faults +as they themselves fall into unconsciously accuse themselves, under +their children’s names. And if they are altogether vicious in their own +lives, they lose the right of reprehending their very servants, and +much more do they forfeit it towards their sons. Yea, what is more than +that, they make themselves even counsellors and instructors to them in +wickedness. For where old men are impudent, there of necessity must the +young men be so too. Wherefore we are to apply our minds to all such +practices as may conduce to the good breeding of our children. And here +we may take example from Eurydice of Hierapolis, who, although she was +an Illyrian, and so thrice a barbarian, yet applied herself to learning +when she was well advanced in years, that she might teach her children. +Her love towards her children appears evidently in this Epigram of +hers, which she dedicated to the Muses:— + + Eurydice to the Muses here doth raise + This monument, her honest love to praise; + Who her grown sons that she might scholars breed, + Then well in years, herself first learned to read. + +And thus have I finished the precepts which I designed to give +concerning this subject. But that they should all be followed by any +one reader is rather, I fear, to be wished than hoped. And to follow +the greater part of them, though it may not be impossible to human +nature, yet will need a concurrence of more than ordinary diligence +joined with good fortune. + + + + +CONCERNING THE CURE OF ANGER. + +A DIALOGUE. + + +SYLLA, FUNDANUS. + +1. SYLLA. Those painters, O Fundanus, in my opinion do very wisely, who +never finish any piece at the first sitting, but take a review of it +at some convenient distance of time; because the eye, being relieved +for a time, renews its power by making frequent and fresh judgments, +and becomes able to observe many small and critical differences which +continual poring and familiarity would prevent it from noticing. Now, +because it cannot be that a man should stand off from himself and +interrupt his consciousness, and then after some interval return to +accost himself again (which is one principal reason why a man is a +worse judge of himself than of other men), the next best course that a +man can take will be to inspect his friends after some time of absence, +and also to offer himself to their examination, not to see whether he +be grown old on the sudden, or whether the habit of his body be become +better or worse than it was before, but that they may take notice of +his manner and behavior, whether in that time he hath made any advance +in goodness, or gained ground of his vices. Wherefore, being after +two years’ absence returned to Rome, and having since conversed with +thee here again for these five months, I think it no great matter of +wonder that those good qualities which, by the advantage of a good +natural disposition, you were formerly possessed of, have in this time +received so considerable an increase. But truly, when I behold how that +vehement and fiery disposition which you had to anger is now through +the conduct of reason become so gentle and tractable, my mind prompts +me to say, with Homer,— + + O wonder! how much gentler is he grown![16] + +Nor hath this gentleness produced in thee any laziness or irresolution; +but, like cultivation in the earth, it hath caused an evenness and a +profundity very effectual unto fruitful action, instead of thy former +vehemency and over-eagerness. And therefore it is evident that thy +former proneness to anger hath not been withered in thee by any decay +of vigor which age might have effected, or spontaneously; but that it +hath been cured by making use of some mollifying precepts. + +And indeed, to tell you the truth, when I heard our friend Eros say +the same thing, I had a suspicion that he did not report the thing as +it was, but that out of mere good-will he testified those things of +you which ought to be found in every good and virtuous man. And yet +you know he cannot be easily induced to depart from what he judges to +be true, in order to favor any man. But now, truly, as I acquit him of +having therein made any false report of thee, so I desire thee, being +now at leisure from thy journey, to declare unto us the means and (as +it were) the medicine, by use whereof thou hast brought thy mind to be +thus manageable and natural, thus gentle and obedient unto reason. + +FUNDANUS. But in the mean while, O most kind Sylla, you had best +beware, lest you also through affection and friendship may be somewhat +careless in making an estimate of my affairs. For Eros, having himself +also a mind oft-times unable to keep its ground and to contain +itself within that obedience which Homer mentions, but subject to be +exasperated through an hatred of men’s wickedness, may perhaps think +I am grown more mild; just as in music, when the key is changed, that +note which before was the base becomes a higher note with respect to +others which are now below it. + +SYLLA. Neither of these is so, Fundanus; but, I pray you, gratify us +all by granting the request I made. + +2. FUNDANUS. This then, O Sylla, is one of those excellent rules given +by Musonius which I bear in memory,—that those who would be in sound +health must physic themselves all their lives. Now I do not think that +reason cures, like hellebore, by purging out itself together with +the disease it cures, but by keeping possession of the soul, and so +governing and guarding its judgments. For the power of reason is not +like drugs, but like wholesome food; and, with the assistance of a good +natural disposition, it produceth a healthful constitution in all with +whom it hath become familiar. + +And as for those good exhortations and admonitions which are applied +to passions while they swell and are at their height, they work but +slowly and with small success; and they differ in nothing from those +strong-smelling things, which indeed do serve to put those that have +the falling sickness upon their legs again after they are fallen, but +are not able to remove the disease. For whereas other passions, even +when they are in their ruff and acme, do in some sort yield and admit +reason into the soul, which comes to help it from without; anger does +not, as Melanthius says,— + + Displace the mind, and then act dismal things; + +but it absolutely turns the mind out of doors, and bolts the door +against it; and, like those who burn their houses and themselves within +them, it makes all things within full of confusion, smoke, and noise, +so that the soul can neither see nor hear any thing that might relieve +it. Wherefore sooner will an empty ship in a storm at sea admit of a +pilot from without, than a man tossed with anger and rage listen to +the advice of another, unless he have his own reason first prepared to +entertain it. + +But as those who expect to be besieged are wont to gather together and +lay in provisions of such things as they are like to need, not trusting +to hopes of relief from without, so ought it to be our special concern +to fetch in from philosophy such foreign helps as it affords against +anger, and to store them up in the soul beforehand, seeing that it +will not be so easy a matter to provide ourselves when the time is +come for using them. For either the soul cannot hear what is spoken +without, by reason of the tumult, unless it have its own reason (like +the director of the rowers in a ship) ready to entertain and understand +whatsoever precept shall be given; or, if it do chance to hear, yet +will it be ready to despise what is patiently and mildly offered, and +to be exasperated by what shall be pressed upon it with more vehemency. +For, since wrath is proud and self-conceited, and utterly averse from +compliance with others, like a fortified and guarded tyranny, that +which is to overthrow it must be bred within it and be of its own +household. + +3. Now the continuance of anger and frequent fits of it produce an evil +habit in the soul called wrathfulness, or a propensity to be angry, +which oft-times ends in choleric temper, bitterness, and moroseness. +Then the mind becomes ulcerated, peevish, and querulous, and like a +thin, weak plate of iron, receives impression and is wounded by even +the least occurrence; but when the judgment presently seizes upon +wrathful ebullitions and suppresses them, it not only works a cure +for the present, but renders the soul firm and not so liable to such +impressions for the future. And truly, when I myself had twice or +thrice made a resolute resistance unto anger, the like befell me that +did the Thebans; who, having once foiled the Lacedaemonians, that +before that time had held themselves invincible, never after lost so +much as one battle which they fought against them. For I became fully +assured in my mind, that anger might be overcome by the use of reason. +And I perceived that it might not only be quieted by the sprinkling of +cold water, as Aristotle relates, but also be extinguished by putting +one into a fright. Yea, according to Homer, many men have had their +anger melted and dissipated by sudden surprise of joy. So that I came +to this firm resolution, that this passion is not altogether incurable +to such as are but willing to be cured; since the beginnings and +occasions of it are not always great or forcible; but a scoff, or a +jest, or the laughing at one, or a nod only, or some other matter of +no great importance, will put many men into a passion. Thus Helen, by +addressing her niece in the words beginning,— + + O my Electra, now a virgin stale, + +provoked her to make this nipping return:— + + Thou’rt wise too late, thou shouldst have kept at home.[17] + +And so did Callisthenes provoke Alexander by saying, when the great +bowl was going round, I will not drink so deep in honor of Alexander, +as to make work for Aesculapius. + +4. As therefore it is an easy matter to stop the fire that is kindled +only in hare’s wool, candle-wick, or a little chaff, but if it have +once taken hold of matter that hath solidity and thickness, it soon +inflames and consumes, as Aeschylus says,— + + With youthful vigor the carpenter’s lofty work; + +so he that observes anger while it is in its beginning, and sees it +by degrees smoking and taking fire from some speech or chaff-like +scurrility, need take no great pains to extinguish it, but oftentimes +can put an end to it only by silence or neglect. For as he that adds +no fuel to the fire hath already as good as put it out, so he that +doth not feed anger at the first, nor blow the fire in himself, +hath prevented and destroyed it. Wherefore Hieronymus, although he +taught many other useful things, yet hath given me no satisfaction in +saying that anger is not perceptible in its birth, by reason of its +suddenness, but only after its birth and while it lives; for there is +no other passion, while it is gathering and stirring up, which hath its +rise and increase so conspicuous and observable. This is very skilfully +taught by Homer, by making Achilles suddenly surprised with grief as +soon as ever the word fell on his ear, saying of him,— + + This said, a sable cloud of grief covered him o’er;[18] + +but making Agamemnon grow angry slowly and need many words to inflame +him, so that, if these had been stopped and forbidden when they began, +the contest had never grown to that degree and greatness which it did. +Wherefore Socrates, as oft as he perceived any fierceness of spirit +to rise within him towards any of his friends, setting himself like a +promontory to break the waves, would speak with a lower voice, bear +a smiling countenance, and look with a more gentle eye; and thus, by +bending the other way and moving contrary to the passion, he kept +himself from falling or being worsted. + +5. For the first way, my friend, to suppress anger, as you would a +tyrant, is not to obey or yield to it when it commands us to speak +high, to look fiercely, and to beat ourselves; but to be quiet, and +not increase the passion, as we do a disease, by impatient tossing and +crying out. It is true that lovers’ practices, such as revelling, +singing, crowning the door with garlands, have a kind of alleviation in +them which is neither rude nor unpleasing:— + + Coming, I asked not who or whose she was, + But kissed her door full sweetly,—that I wot; + If this be sin, to sin I can but choose. + +So the weeping and lamentation which we permit in mourners doubtless +carry forth much of the grief together with the tears. But anger, quite +on the contrary, is more inflamed by what the angry persons say or do. + +The best course then is for a man to compose himself, or else to run +away and hide himself and retreat into quiet, as into an haven, as if +he perceived a fit of epilepsy coming on, lest he fall, or rather fall +upon others; and truly we do most and most frequently fall upon our +friends. For we neither love all, nor envy all, nor fear all men; but +there is nothing untouched and unset upon by anger. We are angry with +our foes and with our friends; with our own children and our parents; +nay, with the Gods above, and the very beasts below us, and instruments +that have no life, as Thamyras was,— + + His horn, though bound with gold, he brake in’s ire, + He brake his melodious and well-strung lyre;[19] + +and Pandarus, wishing a curse upon himself if he did not burn his bow. + + First broken by his hands.[20] + +But Xerxes dealt blows and marks of his displeasure to the sea itself, +and sent his letters to the mountain in the style ensuing: “O thou +wretched Athos, whose top now reaches to the skies, I charge thee, put +not in the way of my works stones too big and difficult to be wrought. +If thou do, I will cut thee into pieces, and cast thee into the sea.” + +For anger hath many terrible effects, and many also that are +ridiculous; and therefore of all passions, this of anger is most hated +and most contemned, and it is good to consider it in both respects. + +6. I therefore, whether rightly or not I know not, began this cure +with learning the nature of anger by beholding it in other men, as the +Lacedaemonians learned what drunkenness was by seeing it in the Helots. +And, in the first place, as Hippocrates said that that was the most +dangerous disease which made the sick man’s countenance most unlike +to what it was, so I observed that men transported with anger also +exceedingly change their visage, color, gait, and voice. Accordingly +I formed a kind of image of that passion to myself, withal conceiving +great indignation against myself if I should at any time appear to my +friends, or to my wife and daughters, so terrible and discomposed, +not only with so wild and strange a look, but also with so fierce and +harsh a voice, as I had met with in some others of my acquaintance, +who by reason of anger were not able to observe either good manners +or countenance or graceful speech, or even their persuasiveness and +affability in conversation. + +Wherefore Caius Gracchus, the orator, being of a rugged disposition +and a passionate kind of speaker, had a pipe made for him, such as +musicians use to vary their voice higher or lower by degrees; and with +this pipe his servant stood behind him while he pronounced, and gave +him a mild and gentle note, whereby he took him down from his loudness, +and took off the harshness and angriness of his voice, assuaging and +charming the anger of the orator, + + As their shrill wax-joined reed who herds do keep + Sounds forth sweet measures, which invite to sleep.[21] + +For my own part, had I a careful and pleasant companion who would show +me my angry face in a glass, I should not at all take it ill. In like +manner, some are wont to have a looking-glass held to them after +they have bathed, though to little purpose; but to behold one’s self +unnaturally disguised and disordered will conduce not a little to the +impeachment of anger. For those who delight in pleasant fables tell +us, that Minerva herself, playing on a pipe was thus admonished by a +satyr:— + + That look becomes you not, lay down your pipes, + And take your arms, and set your cheeks to rights; + +but would not regard it; yet, when by chance she beheld the mien of her +countenance in a river, she was moved with indignation, and cast her +pipes away; and yet here art had the delight of melody to comfort her +for the deformity. And Marsyas, as it seems, did with a kind of muzzle +and mouth-piece restrain by force the too horrible eruption of his +breath when he played, and so corrected and concealed the distortion of +his visage:— + + With shining gold he girt his temples rough, + And his wide mouth with thongs that tied behind. + +Now anger doth swell and puff up the countenance very indecently, and +sends forth a yet more indecent and unpleasant voice,— + + Moving the heart-strings, which should be at rest. + +For when the sea is tossed and troubled with winds, and casts up moss +and sea-weed, they say it is purged; but those impure, bitter, and +vain words which anger throws up when the soul has become a kind of +whirlpool, defile the speakers, in the first place, and fill them with +dishonor, arguing them to have always had such things in them and to +be full of them, only now they are discovered to have them by their +anger. So for a mere word, the lightest of things (as Plato says), +they undergo the heaviest of punishments, being ever after accounted +enemies, evil speakers, and of a malignant disposition. + +7. While now I see all this and bear it in mind, the thought occurs to +me, and I naturally consider by myself, that as it is good for one in a +fever, so much better is it for one in anger, to have his tongue soft +and smooth. For if the tongue in a fever be unnaturally affected, it is +indeed an evil symptom, but not a cause of harm; but when the tongue of +angry men becomes rough and foul, and breaks out into absurd speeches, +it produces insults which work irreconcilable hatred, and proves that a +poisonous malevolence lies festering within. For wine does not make men +vent any thing so impure and odious as anger doth; and, besides, what +proceeds from wine is matter for jest and laughter, but that from anger +is mixed with gall and bitterness. And he that is silent in his cups is +counted a burthen, and a bore to the company, whereas in anger there is +nothing more commended than peace and silence; as Sappho adviseth,—- + + When anger once is spread within thy breast, + Shut up thy tongue, that vainly barking beast. + +8. Nor doth the constant observation of ourselves in anger minister +these things only to our consideration, but it also gives us to +understand another natural property of anger, how disingenuous and +unmanly a thing it is, and how far from true wisdom and greatness of +mind. Yet the vulgar account the angry man’s turbulence to be his +activity, his loud threats to argue boldness, and his refractoriness +strength; as also some mistake his cruelty for an undertaking of great +matters, his implacableness for a firmness of resolution, and his +morosity for an hatred of that which is evil. For, in truth, both the +deeds and motions and the whole mien of angry men do accuse them of +much littleness and infirmity, not only when they vex little children, +scold silly women, and think dogs and horses and asses worthy of their +anger and deserving to be punished (as Ctesiphon the Pancratiast, who +vouchsafed to kick the ass that had kicked him first); but even in +their tyrannical slaughters, their mean-spiritedness appearing in their +bitterness, and their suffering exhibited outwardly in their actions, +are but like to the biting of serpents who, when they themselves become +burnt and full of pain, violently thrust the venom that inflames them +from themselves into those that have hurt them. For as a great blow +causes a great swelling in the flesh, so in the softest souls the +giving way to a passion for hurting others, like a stroke on the soul, +doth make it to swell with anger; and all the more, the greater is its +weakness. + +For this cause it is that women are more apt to be angry than men are, +and sick persons than the healthful, and old men than those who are in +their perfect age and strength, and men in misery than such as prosper. +For the covetous man is most prone to be angry with his steward, the +glutton with his cook, the jealous man with his wife, the vain-glorious +person with him that speaks ill of him; but of all men there are none +so exceedingly disposed to be angry as those who are ambitious of +honor, and affect to carry on a faction in a city, which (according +to Pindar) is but a splendid vexation. In like manner, from the great +grief and suffering of the soul, through weakness especially, there +ariseth anger, which is not like the nerves of the soul (as one spake), +but like its straining and convulsive motions when it vehemently stirs +itself up in its desires and endeavors of revenge. + +9. Indeed such evil examples as these afford us speculations which are +necessary, though not pleasant. But now, from those who have carried +themselves mildly and gently in their anger, I shall present you with +most excellent sayings and beautiful contemplations; and I begin to +contemn such as say, You have wronged a man indeed, and is a man +to bear this?—Stamp on his neck, tread him down in the dirt,—and +such like provoking speeches, whereby some do very unhandsomely +translate and remove anger from the women’s to the men’s apartment. +For fortitude, which in other respects agrees with justice, seems +only to disagree in respect of mildness, which she claims as more +properly her own. For it sometimes befalls even worser men to bear +rule over those who are better than themselves; but to erect a trophy +in the soul against anger (which Heraclitus says it is an hard thing +to fight against, because whatever it resolves to have, it buys at no +less a price than the soul itself) is that which none but a great and +victorious power is able to achieve, since that alone can bind and curb +the passions by its decrees, as with nerves and tendons. + +Wherefore I always strive to collect and read not only the sayings and +deeds of philosophers, who (wise men say) had no gall in them, but +especially those of kings and tyrants. Of this sort was the saying of +Antigonus to his soldiers, when, as some were reviling him near his +tent supposing that he had not heard them, he stretched his staff out +of the tent, and said: What! will you not stand somewhere farther off, +while you revile me? So was that of Arcadio the Achaean, who was ever +speaking ill of Philip, exhorting men to flee + + Till they should come where none would Philip know. + +When afterwards by some accident he appeared in Macedonia, Philip’s +friends were of opinion that he ought not to be suffered, but be +punished; but Philip meeting him and speaking courteously to him, and +then sending him gifts, particularly such as were wont to be given to +strangers, bade him learn for the time to come what to speak of him +to the Greeks. And when all testified that the man was become a great +praiser of Philip, even to admiration, You see, said Philip, I am a +better physician than you. And when he had been reproached at the +Olympic solemnities, and some said it was fit to make the Grecians +smart and rue it for reviling Philip, who had dealt well with them, +What then, said he, will they do, if I make them smart? Those things +also which Pisistratus did to Thrasybulus, and Porsena to Mutius, were +bravely done; and so was that of Magas to Philemon, for having been +by him exposed to laughter in a comedy on the public stage, in these +words:— + + Magas, the king hath sent thee letters: + Unhappy Magas, thou dost know no letters. + +And having taken Philemon as he was by a tempest cast on shore at +Paraetonium, he commanded a soldier only to touch his neck with his +naked sword and to go quietly away; and then having sent him a ball +and huckle-bones, as if he were a child that wanted understanding, he +dismissed him. Ptolemy was once jeering a grammarian for his want of +learning, and asked him who was the father of Peleus: I will answer you +(quoth he) if you will tell me first who was the father of Lagus. This +jeer gave the king a rub for the obscurity of his birth, whereat all +were moved with indignation, as a thing not to be endured. But, said +Ptolemy, if it is not fit for a king to be jeered, then no more is it +fit for him to jeer others. But Alexander was more severe than he was +wont in his carriage towards Calisthenes and Clitus. Wherefore Porus, +being taken captive by him, desired him to treat him like a king; and +when Alexander asked him if he desired no more, he answered, When I say +like a king, I have comprised all. And hence it is that they call the +king of the Gods Meilichius, while the Athenians, I think, call him +Maimactes; but the office of punishing they ascribe to the Furies and +evil Genii, never giving it the epithet of divine or heavenly. + +10. As therefore one said of Philip, when he razed the city of +Olynthus, But he is not able to build such another city; so may it +be said to anger, Thou canst overthrow, and destroy, and cut down; +but to restore, to save, to spare, and to bear with, is the work of +gentleness and moderation, of a Camillus, a Metellus, an Aristides, +and a Socrates; but to strike the sting into one and to bite is the +part of pismires and horse-flies. And truly, while I well consider +revenge, I find that the way which anger takes for it proves for the +most part ineffectual, being spent in biting the lips, gnashing the +teeth, vain assaults, and railings fall of silly threats; and then it +acts like children in a race, who, for want of governing themselves, +tumble down ridiculously before they come to the goal towards which +they are hastening. Hence that Rhodian said not amiss to the servant of +the Roman general, who spake loudly and fiercely to him, It matters not +much what thou sayest, but what this your master in silence thinks. And +Sophocles, having introduced Neoptolemus and Eurypylus in full armor, +gave a high commendation of them when he said,— + + Into the hosts of brazen-armed men + Each boldly charged, but ne’er reviled his foe. + +Some indeed of the barbarians poison their swords; but true valor has +no need of choler, as being dipped in reason; but anger and fury are +weak and easily broken. Wherefore the Lacedaemonians are wont by the +sounding of pipes to take off the edge of anger from their soldiers, +when they fight; and before they go to battle, to sacrifice to the +Muses, that they may have the steady use of their reason; and when +they have put their enemies to flight, they pursue them not, but sound +a retreat (as it were) to their wrath, which, like a short dagger, +can easily be handled and drawn back. But anger makes slaughter of +thousands before it can avenge itself, as it did of Cyrus and Pelopidas +the Theban. Agathocles, being reviled by some whom he besieged, bore it +with mildness; and when one said to him, O Potter, whence wilt thou +have pay for thy mercenary soldiers? he answered with laughter, From +your city, if I can take it. And when some one from the wall derided +Antigonus for his deformity, he answered, I thought surely I had a +handsome face: and when he had taken the city, he sold those for slaves +who had scoffed at him, protesting that, if they reviled him so again, +he would call them to account before their masters. + +Furthermore, I observe that hunters and orators are wont to be much +foiled by anger. Aristotle reports that the friends of Satyrus once +stopped his ears with wax, when he was to plead a cause, that so +he might not confound the matter through anger at the revilings of +his enemies. Do we not ourselves oftentimes miss of punishing an +offending servant, because he runs away from us in fright when he +hears our threatening words? That therefore which nurses say to little +children—Do not cry, and thou shalt have it—-may not unfitly be +applied to our mind when angry. Be not hasty, neither speak too loud, +nor be too urgent, and so what you desire will be sooner and better +accomplished. For as a father, when he sees his son about to cleave or +cut something with an hatchet, takes the hatchet himself and doth it +for him; so one taking the work of revenge out of the hand of anger +doth himself, without danger or hurt, yea, with profit also, inflict +punishment on him that deserves it, and not on himself instead of him, +as anger oft-times doth. + +11. Now, whereas all passions do stand in need of discipline, which by +exercise tames and subdues their unreasonableness and stubbornness, +there is none about which we have more need to be exercised in +reference to servants than that of anger. For neither do we envy nor +fear them, nor have we any competition for honor with them; but we +have frequent fits of anger with them, which cause many offences and +errors, by reason of the very power possessed by us as masters, and +which bring us easily to the ground, as if we stood in a slippery +place with no one standing by to save us. For it is impossible to keep +an irresponsible power from offending in the excitement of passion, +unless we gird up that great power with gentleness, and can slight +the frequent speeches of wife and friends accusing us of remissness. +And indeed I myself have by nothing more than by such speeches been +incensed against my servants, as if they were spoiled for want of +beating. And truly it was late before I came to understand, that it +was better that servants should be something the worse by indulgence, +than that one should distort himself through wrath and bitterness +for the amendment of others. And secondly, observing that many by +this very impunity have been brought to be ashamed to be wicked, and +have begun their change to virtue more from being pardoned than from +being punished, and that they have obeyed some upon their nod only, +peaceably, and more willingly than they have done others with all their +beating and scourging, I became persuaded of this, that reason was +fitter to govern with than anger. For it is not as the poet said,— + + Wherever fear is, there is modesty; + +but, on the contrary, it is in the modest that that fear is bred which +produces moderation, whereas continual and unmerciful beating doth +not make men repent of doing evil, but only devise plans for doing it +without being detected. And in the third place I always remember and +consider with myself, that as he who taught us the art of shooting did +not forbid us to shoot, but only to shoot amiss, so no more can it be +any hindrance from punishing to teach us how we may do it seasonably +and moderately, with benefit and decency. I therefore strive to put +away anger, especially by not denying the punished a liberty to plead +for themselves, but granting them an hearing. For time gives a +breathing-space unto passion, and a delay which mitigates and dissolves +it; and a man’s judgment in the mean while finds out both a becoming +manner and a proportionable measure of punishing. And moreover hereby, +he that is punished hath not any pretence left him to object against +the correction given him, if he is punished not out of anger, but being +first himself convinced of his fault. And finally we are here saved +from the greatest disgrace of all, for by this means the servant will +not seem to speak more just things than his master. + +As therefore Phocion after the death of Alexander, to hinder the +Athenians from rising too soon or believing it too hastily, said: O +Athenians, if he is dead to-day, he will be so to-morrow, and on the +next day after that; in like manner do I judge one ought to suggest to +himself, who through anger is making haste to punish: If it is true +to-day that he hath thus wronged thee, it will be true to-morrow, and +on the next day, also. Nor will there any inconvenience follow upon +the deferring of his punishment for a while; but if he be punished all +in haste, he will ever after seem to have been innocent, as it hath +oftentimes fallen out heretofore. For which of us all is so cruel as +to torment or scourge a servant because, five or ten days before, he +burnt the meat, or overturned the table, or did not soon enough what +he was bidden? And yet it is for just such things as these, while they +are fresh and newly done, that we are so disordered, and become cruel +and implacable. For as bodies through a mist, so actions through anger +seem greater than they are. Wherefore we ought speedily to recall such +considerations as these are to our mind; and when we are unquestionably +out of passion, if then to a pure and composed reason the deed do +appear to be wicked, we ought to animadvert, and no longer neglect or +abstain from punishment, as if we had lost our appetite for it. For +there is nothing to which we can more justly impute men’s punishing +others in their anger, than to a habit of not punishing them when their +anger is over, but growing remiss, and doing like lazy mariners, who in +fair weather keep loitering within the haven, and then put themselves +in danger by setting sail when the wind blows strong. So we likewise, +condemning the remissness and over-calmness of our reason in punishing, +make haste to do it while our anger is up, pushing us forward like a +dangerous wind. + +He that useth food doth it to gratify his hunger, which is natural; but +he that inflicts punishment should do it without either hungering or +thirsting after it, not needing anger, like sauce, to whet him on to +punish; but when he is farthest off from desiring it, then he should +do it as a deed of necessity under the guidance of reason. And though +Aristotle reports, that in his time servants in Etruria were wont to +be scourged while the music played, yet they who punish others ought +not to be carried on with a desire of punishing, as of a thing they +delight in, nor to rejoice when they punish, and then repent of it +when they have done,—whereof the first is savage, the last womanish; +but, without either sorrow or pleasure, they should inflict just +punishment when reason is free to judge, leaving no pretence for anger +to intermeddle. + +12. But this perhaps may seem to be not a cure of anger, but only a +thrusting by and avoiding of such miscarriages as some men fall into +when they are angry. And yet, as Hieronymus tells us, although the +swelling of the spleen is but a symptom of the fever, the assuaging +thereof abates the disease. But, considering well the origin of anger +itself, I have observed that divers men fall into anger for different +causes; and yet in the minds of all of them was probably an opinion +of being despised and neglected. We must therefore assist those who +would avoid anger, by removing the act which roused their anger as +far as possible from all suspicion of contempt or insult, and by +imputing it rather to folly or necessity or disorder of mind, or to the +misadventure of those that did it. Thus Sophocles in Antigone:— + + The best resolved mind in misery + Can’t keep its ground, but suffers ecstasy.[22] + +And so Agamemnon, ascribing to Ate the taking away of Briseis, adds:— + + Since I so foolish was as thee to wrong, + I’ll please thee now, and give thee splendid gifts.[23] + +For supplication is an act of one who is far from contemning; and when +he that hath done an injury appears submissive, he thereby removes all +suspicion of contempt. But he that is moved to anger must not expect or +wait for such a submission, but must rather take to himself the saying +of Diogenes, who, when one said to him, They deride thee, O Diogenes, +made answer, But I am not derided; and he must not think himself +contemned, but rather himself contemn that man that offends him, as one +acting out of weakness or error, rashness or carelessness, rudeness or +dotage, or childishness. But, above all, we must bear with our servants +and friends herein; for surely they do not despise us as being impotent +or slothful, but they think less of us by reason of our very moderation +or good-will towards them, some because we are gentle, others because +we are loving towards them. But now, alas! out of a surmise that we +are contemned, we not only become exasperated against our wives, our +servants, and friends, but we oftentimes fall out also with drunken +innkeepers, and mariners and ostlers, and all out of a suspicion that +they despise us. Yea, we quarrel with dogs because they bark at us, and +asses if they chance to rush against us; like him who was going to beat +a driver of asses, but when the latter cried out, I am an Athenian, +fell to beating the ass, saying, Thou surely art not an Athenian too, +and so accosted him with many a bastinado. + +13. And especially self-love and morosity, together with luxury and +effeminacy, breed in us long and frequent fits of anger, which by +little and little are gathered together into our souls, like a swarm of +bees or wasps. Wherefore there is nothing more conducing to a gentle +behavior towards our wife and servants and friends than contentedness +and simplicity, if we can be satisfied with what we have, and not stand +in need of many superfluities. Whereas the man described in the poet,— + + Who never is content with boiled or roast, + Nor likes his meat, what way soever drest,— + +who can never drink unless he have snow by him, or eat bread if it +be bought in the market, or taste victuals out of a mean or earthen +vessel, or sleep on a bed unless it be swelled and puffed up with +feathers, like to the sea when it is heaved up from the bottom; but +who with cudgels and blows, with running, calling, and sweating doth +hasten his servitors that wait at table, as if they were sent for +plasters for some inflamed ulcer, he being slave to a weak, morose, and +fault-finding style of life,—doth, as it were by a continual cough +or many buffetings, breed in himself, before he is aware, an ulcerous +and defluxive disposition unto anger. And therefore the body is to be +accustomed to contentment by frugality, and so be made sufficient for +itself. For they who need but few things are not disappointed of many; +and it is no hard matter, beginning with our food, to accept quietly +whatever is sent to us, and not by being angry and querulous at every +thing, to entertain ourselves and our friends with the most unpleasant +dish of all, which is anger. And surely + + Than that supper nought can more unpleasant be,[24] + +where the servants are beaten and the wife railed at, because something +is burnt or smoked or not salt enough, or because the bread is too +cold. Arcesilaus was once entertaining his friends and some strangers +at a feast; the supper was set on the board, but there wanted bread, +the servants having, it seems, neglected to buy any. Now, on such an +occasion, which of us would not have rent the very walls with outcries? +But he smiling said only: What a fine thing it is for a philosopher to +be a jolly feaster! Once also when Socrates took Euthydemus from the +wrestling-house home with him to supper, his wife Xanthippe fell upon +him in a pelting chase, scolding him, and in conclusion overthrew the +table. Whereupon Euthydemus rose up and went his way, being very much +troubled at what had happened. But Socrates said to him: Did not a +hen at your house the other day come flying in, and do the like? and +yet I was not troubled at it. For friends are to be entertained by +good-nature, by smiles, and by a hospitable welcome; not by knitting +brows, or by striking horror and trembling into those that serve. + +We must also accustom ourselves to the use of any cups indifferently, +and not to use one rather than another, as some are wont to single +some one cup out of many (as they say Marius used to do) or else a +drinking-horn, and to drink out of none but that; and they do the same +with oil-glasses and brushes, affecting one above all the rest, and +when any one of these chances to be broken or lost, then they take it +heinously, and punish severely those that did it. And therefore he +that is prone to be angry should refrain from such things as are rare +and curiously wrought, such as cups and seals and precious stones; for +such things distract a man by their loss more than cheap and ordinary +things are apt to do. Wherefore when Nero had made an octagonal tent, +a wonderful spectacle for cost and beauty, Seneca said to him: You +have proved yourself to be a poor man; for if you chance to lose +this, you cannot tell where to get such another. And indeed it so fell +out that the ship was sunk, and this tent was lost with it. But Nero, +remembering the words of Seneca, bore the loss of it with greater +moderation. + +But this contentedness in other matters doth make a man good-tempered +and gentle towards his servants; and if towards servants, then +doubtless towards friends and subjects also. We see also that newly +bought servants enquire concerning him that bought them, not whether he +be superstitious or envious, but whether he be an angry man or not; and +that universally, neither men can endure their wives, though chaste, +nor women their husbands, though kind, if they be ill-tempered withal; +nor friends the conversation of one another. And so neither wedlock +nor friendship with anger is to be endured; but if anger be away, even +drunkenness itself is counted a light matter for the ferule of Bacchus +is a sufficient chastiser of a drunken man, if the addition of anger +do not change the God of wine from Lyaeus and Choraeus (the looser of +cares and the leader of dances) to the savage and furious deity. And +Anticyra (with its hellebore) is of itself able to cure simple madness; +but madness mixed with anger furnishes matter for tragedies and dismal +stories. + +14. Neither ought any, even in their playing and jesting, to give way +to their anger, for it turns good-will into hatred; nor when they +are disputing, for it turns a desire of knowing truth into a love of +contention; nor when they sit in judgment, for it adds violence to +authority; nor when they are teaching, for it dulls the learner, and +breeds in him a hatred of all learning; nor if they be in prosperity, +for it increases envy; nor if in adversity, for it makes them to +be unpitied, if they are morose and apt to quarrel with those who +commiserate them, as Priam did:— + + Be gone, ye upbraiding scoundrels, haven’t ye at home + Enough, that to help bear my grief ye come?[25] + +On the other hand, good temper doth remedy some things, put an ornament +upon others, and sweeten others; and it wholly overcomes all anger and +moroseness, by gentleness. As may be seen in that excellent example of +Euclid, who, when his brother had said in a quarrel, Let me perish if I +be not avenged of you, replied, And let me perish if I do not persuade +you into a better mind; and by so saying he straightway diverted him +from his purpose, and changed his mind. And Polemon, being reviled by +one that loved precious stones well and was even sick with the love +of costly signets, answered nothing, but noticed one of the signets +which the man wore, and looked wistfully upon it. Whereat the man being +pleased said: Not so, Polemon, but look upon it in the sunshine, and +it will appear much better to you. And Aristippus, when there happened +to be a falling out between him and Aeschines, and one said to him, O +Aristippus, what is now become of the friendship that was between you +two? answered, It is asleep, but I will go and awaken it. Then coming +to Aeschines, he said to him, What? dost thou take me to be so utterly +wretched and incurable as not to be worth thy admonition? No wonder, +said Aeschines, if thou, by nature so excelling me in every thing, +didst here also discern before me what was right and fitting to be done. + + A woman’s, nay a little child’s soft hand, + With gentle stroking easier doth command, + And make the bristling boar to couch and fall, + Than any boisterous wrestler of them all. + +But we that can tame wild beasts and make them gentle, carrying young +wolves and the whelps of lions in our arms, do in a fit of anger +cast our own children, friends, and companions out of our embraces; +and we let loose our wrath like a wild beast upon our servants and +fellow-citizens. And we but poorly disguise our rage when we give it +the specious name of zeal against wickedness; and it is with this, I +suppose, as with other passions and diseases of the soul,—although we +call one forethought, another liberality, another piety, we cannot so +acquit and clear ourselves of any of them. + +15. And as Zeno has said that the seed was a mixture drawn from all +the powers of the soul, in like manner anger seems to be a kind of +universal seed extracted from all the passions. For it is taken from +grief and pleasure and insolence; and then from envy it hath the evil +property of rejoicing at another’s adversity; and it is even worse than +murder itself, for it doth not strive to free itself from suffering, +but to bring mischief to itself, if it may thereby but do another man +an evil turn. And it hath the most odious kind of desire inbred in it, +if the appetite for grieving and hurting another may be called a desire. + +Wherefore, when we go to the houses of drunkards, we may hear a wench +playing the flute betimes in the morning, and behold there, as one +said, the muddy dregs of wine, and scattered fragments of garlands, +and servants drunk at the door; and the marks of angry and surly +men may be read in the faces, brands, and fetters of the servants. +“But lamentation is the only bard that is always to be heard beneath +the roof” of the angry man, while his stewards are beaten and his +maid-servants tormented; so that the spectators, in the midst of their +mirth and delight, cannot but pity those sad effects of anger. + +16. And even those who, out of a real hatred of wickedness, often +happen to be surprised with anger, can abate the excess and vehemence +of it so soon as they give up their excessive confidence in those with +whom they converse. For of all causes this doth most increase anger +when one proves to be wicked whom we took for a good man, or when one +who we thought had loved us falls into some difference and chiding with +us. + +As for my own disposition, thou knowest very well with how strong +inclinations it is carried to show kindness to men and to confide +in them; and therefore, like those who miss their step and tread on +nothing, when I most of all trust to men’s love and, as it were, prop +myself up with it, I do then most of all miscarry, and, finding myself +disappointed, am troubled at it. And indeed I should never succeed +in freeing myself from this too great eagerness and forwardness in +my love; but against excessive confidence perhaps I can make use of +Plato’s caution for a bridle. For he said that he so commended Helicon, +the mathematician, because he thought him a naturally versatile animal; +but that he had a jealousy of those who had been well educated in +the city, lest, being men and the offspring of men, they should in +something or other discover the infirmity of their nature. But when +Sophocles says, If you search the deeds of mortals, you will find the +most are base, he seems to insult and disparage us over much. Still +even such a harsh and censorious judgment as this may make us more +moderate in our anger; for it is the sudden and the unexpected which do +most drive us to frenzy. But we ought, as Panaetius somewhere said, to +imitate Anaxagoras; and as he said upon the death of his son, I knew +before that I had begotten but a mortal, so should every one of us use +expressions like these of those offences which stir up to anger: I +knew, when I bought my servant, that I was not buying a philosopher; I +knew that I did not get a friend that had no passions; I knew that I +had a wife that was but a woman. But if every one would always repeat +the question of Plato to himself, But am not I perhaps such a one +myself? and turn his reason from abroad to look into himself, and put +restraint upon his reprehension of others, he would not make so much +use of his hatred of evil in reproving other men, seeing himself to +stand in need of great indulgence. But now every one of us, when he is +angry and punishing, can bring the words of Aristides and of Cato: Do +not steal, Do not lie, and Why are ye so slothful? And, what is most +truly shameful of all, we do in our anger reprove others for being +angry, and what was done amiss through anger we punish in our passion, +therein not acting like physicians, who + + Purge bitter choler with a bitter pill,[26] + +but rather increasing and exasperating the disease which we pretend to +cure. + +While therefore I am thus reasoning with myself, I endeavor also to +abate something of my curiosity; because for any one over curiously +to enquire and pry into every thing, and to make a public business of +every employment of a servant, every action of a friend, every pastime +of a son, every whispering of a wife, causes great and long and daily +fits of anger, whereof the product and issue is a peevish and morose +disposition. Wherefore God, as Euripides says, + + Affairs of greatest weight himself directeth, + But matters small to Fortune he committeth.[27] + +But I think a prudent man ought not to commit any thing at all to +Fortune, nor to neglect any thing, but to trust and commit some +things to his wife, some things to his servants, and some things to +his friends (as a prince to certain vicegerents and accountants and +administrators), while he himself is employing his reason about the +weightiest matters, and those of greatest concern. + +For as small letters hurt the sight, so do small matters him that is +too much intent upon them; they vex and stir up anger, which begets +an evil habit in him in reference to greater affairs. But above all +the rest, I look on that of Empedocles as a divine thing, “To fast +from evil.” And I commended also those vows and professions made in +prayers, as things neither indecent in themselves nor unbecoming a +philosopher,—for a whole year to abstain from venery and wine, serving +God with temperance all the while; or else again, for a certain time +to abstain from lying, minding and watching over ourselves, that we +speak nothing but what is true, either in earnest or in jest. After +the manner of these vows then I made my own, supposing it would be +no less acceptable to God and sacred than theirs; and I set myself +first to observe a few sacred days also, wherein I would abstain from +being angry, as if it were from being drunk or from drinking wine, +celebrating a kind of Nephalia and Melisponda[28] with respect to my +anger. Then, making trial of myself little by little for a month or +two, I by this means in time made some good progress unto further +patience in bearing evils, diligently observing and keeping myself +courteous in language and behavior, free from anger, and pure from all +wicked words and absurd actions, and from passion, which for a little +(and that no grateful) pleasure brings with itself great perturbations +and shameful repentance. Whence experience, not without some divine +assistance, hath, I suppose, made it evident that that was a very +true judgment and assertion, that this courteous, gentle, and kindly +disposition and behavior is not so acceptable, so pleasing, and so +delightful to any of those with whom we converse, as it is to those +that have it. + + + + +OF BASHFULNESS. + + +1. Some plants there are, in their own nature wild and barren, and +hurtful to seed and garden-sets, which yet among able husbandmen pass +for infallible signs of a rich and promising soil. In like manner, some +passions of the mind not good in themselves yet serve as first shoots +and promises of a disposition which is naturally good, and also capable +of much improvement by cultivation. Among these I rank bashfulness, the +subject of our present discourse; no ill sign indeed, but the cause +and occasion of a great deal of harm. For the bashful oftentimes run +into the same enormities as the most hardened and impudent, with this +difference only, that the former feel a regret for such miscarriages, +but the latter take a pleasure and satisfaction therein. The shameless +person is without sense of grief for his baseness, and the bashful +is in distress at the very appearance of it. For bashfulness is only +modesty in the excess, and is aptly enough named δυσωπία (_the being +put out of countenance_), since the face is in some sense confused and +dejected with the mind. For as that grief which casts down the eyes is +termed dejection, so that kind of modesty which cannot look another in +the face is called bashfulness. The orator, speaking of a shameless +fellow, said he carried harlots, not virgins, in his eyes;[29] on the +other hand, the sheepishly bashful betrays no less the effeminacy +and softness of his mind in his looks, palliating his weakness, which +exposes him to the mercy of impudence, with the specious name of +modesty. Cato indeed was wont to say of young persons, he had a greater +opinion of such as were subject to color than of those that looked +pale; teaching us thereby to look with greater apprehension on the +heinousness of an action than on the reprimand which might follow, and +to be more afraid of the suspicion of doing an ill thing than of the +danger of it. However, too much anxiety and timidity lest we may do +wrong is also to be avoided; because many men have become cowards and +been deterred from generous undertakings, no less for fear of calumny +and detraction than by the danger or difficulty of such attempts. + +2. While therefore we must not suffer the weakness in the one case +to pass unnoticed, neither must we abet or countenance invincible +impudence in the other, such as is reported of Anaxarchus,— + + Whose dog-like carriage and effrontery, + Despising infamy, out-faced disgrace. + +A convenient mien between both is rather to be endeavored after, by +repressing the over impudent, and animating the too meek temper. But as +this kind of cure is difficult, so is the restraining such excesses not +without danger; for as a gardener, in stubbing up some wild or useless +bushes, makes at them carelessly with his spade, or burns them off the +ground, but in dressing a vine, or grafting an apple, or pruning an +olive, carries his hand with the greatest wariness and deliberation, +that he may not unluckily injure the tree; so a philosopher, in +removing envy, that useless and untractable plant or covetousness +or immoderate love of pleasure from the mind of youth, may cut deep +safely, and make a large scar; but if he be to apply his discourse to +some more sensible or delicate part, such as the restraining excess +of bashfulness, it lies upon him to be very careful not to cut off +or eradicate modesty with the contrary vice. For nurses who too often +wipe away the dirt from their infants are apt to tear their flesh and +put them to pain. And in like manner we must not so far extirpate all +bashfulness in youth as to leave them careless or impudent; but as +those that pull down private houses adjoining to the temples of the +Gods prop up such parts as are contiguous to them, so in undermining +bashfulness, due regard is to be had to adjacent modesty, good nature, +and humanity. And yet these are the very qualities by which bashfulness +insinuates itself and becomes fixed in a man, flattering him that +he is good-natured, courteous, and civil, and has common sense, and +that he is not obstinate and inexorable. The Stoics, therefore, in +their discourses of modesty, distinguish all along betwixt that and +bashfulness, leaving not so much as ambiguity of terms for a pretence +to the vice. However, asking their good leave, we shall make bold to +use such words indifferently in either sense; or rather we shall follow +the example of Homer, whose authority we have for it, that + + Much harm oft-times from modesty befalls, + Much good oft-times.[30] + +And it was not done amiss of him to make mention of the hurtfulness of +it first, because modesty becomes profitable only through reason, which +cuts off what is superfluous and leaves a just mean behind. + +3. In the first place, therefore, the bashful man must be persuaded +and satisfied that that distemper of the mind is prejudicial to him, +and that nothing which is so can be eligible. And withal, he must be +cautious how he suffers himself to be cajoled and led by the nose with +the titles of courteous or sociable, in exchange for those of grave, +great, and just; nor like Pegasus in Euripides, who, when Bellerophon +mounted him, + + With trembling stooped more than his lord desired,[31] + +must he debase himself and yield to all who make their addresses to +him, for fear of appearing hard and ungentle. + +It is recorded of Bocchoris, king of Egypt, a man of a very cruel +nature, that the goddess Isis sent a kind of a serpent (called aspis), +which winding itself about his head cast a shadow over him from above, +and was a means to him of determining causes according to equity. But +bashfulness, on the contrary, happening upon remiss and spirit less +tempers, suffers them not to express their dislike of any thing or to +argue against it, but perverts many times the sentence of arbitrators, +and stops the mouths of skilful pleaders, forcing them often to act +and speak contrary to their conviction. And the most reckless man will +always tyrannize and domineer over such a one, forcing his bashfulness +by his own strength of impudence. Upon this account it is that +bashfulness, like a low piece of soft ground, can make no resistance +and decline no encounter but is exposed to the meanest actions and +vilest passions. But, above all, this is the worst guardian of raw and +inexperienced youth. For, as Brutus said, he seems to have had but an +ill education that has not learned to deny any thing. And no better +overseer is it of the marriage-bed or the woman’s apartment; as the +repentant lady in Sophocles accuses the spark that had debauched her,— + + Thy tongue, thy flattering tongue prevailed.[32] + +So this vice, happening upon a disposition inclinable to debauchery, +prepares and opens the way, and leaves all things easy and accessible +to such as are ready to prefer their wicked designs. Presents and +treats are irresistible baits for common mercenary creatures; but +importunity, befriended with bashfulness on their side, has sometimes +undone the modestest women. I omit what inconveniences this kind of +modesty occasions, when it obliges men to lend their money to such +whose credit is blown upon in the world, or to give bail for those they +dare not trust; we do this, it is true, with an ill-will, and in our +heart reflect upon that old saying, Be bail, and pay for it, yet cannot +make use of it in our practice. + +4. How many this fault has ruined, it is no easy thing to recount. +Creon in the play gave a very good lesson for others to follow, when he +told Medea,— + + ’Tis better now to brave thy direst hate, + Than curse a foolish easiness too late.[33] + +Yet afterwards, being wrought upon through his bashfulness to grant +her but one day longer, he ruined himself and family by it. For the +same reason, some, suspecting designs against them of murder or +poisoning, have neglected to provide for their safety. Thus Dion could +not be ignorant of the treachery of Callippus, yet thought it unfit +to entertain such thoughts of his pretended friend and guest, and so +perished. So again, Antipater, the son of Cassander, having entertained +Demetrius at supper, and being engaged by him for the next night, +because he was unwilling to distrust one who had trusted him, went, and +had his throat cut after supper. Polysperchon had promised Cassander +for an hundred talents to murder Hercules, the son of Alexander by +Barsine. Upon this he invites him to sup; but the young man, having +some suspicion of the thing, pretends himself indisposed. Polysperchon +coming to him said: Sir, above all things endeavor after your father’s +courteous behavior and obliging way to his friends, unless haply you +look on us with suspicion as if we were compassing your health. The +young man out of mere modesty was prevailed upon to go, and was +strangled as he sat at meat. It is not therefore (as some will have us +believe) insignificant or ridiculous, but on the contrary very wise +advice, which Hesiod gives,— + + Welcome a friend, but never call thy foe.[34] + +Be not bashful and mealy-mouthed in refusing him that you are satisfied +has a pique against you; but never reject him that seemeth to put his +trust in you. For if you invite, you must expect to be invited again; +and some time or other your entertainment will be repaid you, if +bashfulness have once softened or turned the edge of that diffidence +which ought to be your guard. + +5. To the end therefore that we may get the better of this disease, +which is the cause of so many evils, we must make our first attempts +(as our custom is in other things) upon matters of no great difficulty. +As, if one drink to you after you have taken what is sufficient, be +not so foolishly modest to do violence to your nature, but rather +venture to pass the glass. Another, it may be, would tempt you to play +at dice while drinking; be not over-persuaded into a compliance, for +fear of being the subject of his drollery, but reply with Xenophanes, +when Lasus of Hermione called him coward because he refused to play +at dice: Yes, said he, I confess myself the greatest coward in the +world, for I dare not do an ill thing. Again, you light upon an +impertinent talker, that sticks upon you like a burr; don’t be bashful, +but break off the discourse, and pursue your business. These evasions +and repulses, whereby our resolution and assurance are exercised in +matters of less moment, will accustom us to it by degrees in greater +occasions. And here it will be but seasonable to give you a passage, +as it is recorded of Demosthenes. The Athenians having one time been +moved to send succors to Harpalus, and themselves to engage in a war +against Alexander, it happened that Philoxenus, Alexander’s admiral, +unexpectedly arrived on their coast; and the people being so astonished +as to be speechless for very fear, Demosthenes cried out: How would +they endure the sun, who are not able to look against a lamp! Or how +would you comport yourself in weightier concerns, while your prince or +the people had an awe over you, if you cannot refuse a glass of wine +when an acquaintance offers it, or turn off an impertinent babbler, +but suffer the eternal trifler to walk over you without telling him, +Another time, good sir, at present I am in haste. + +6. Besides all this, the exercising such a resolution is of great use +in praising others. If one of my friend’s harpers play lewdly, or a +comedian he has hired at a great rate murder a piece of Menander in the +acting, although the vulgar clap their hands and admire, I think it +no moroseness or ill-breeding to sit silently all the while, without +servilely joining in the common applauses contrary to my judgment. +For if you scruple to deal openly with him in these cases, what will +you do, should he repeat to you an insipid composition of his own, +or submit to your revisal a ridiculous oration? You will applaud, +of course, and enter yourself into the list of common parasites and +flatterers! But how then can you direct him impartially in the greatest +administrations of his life? how be free with him where he fails in any +duties of his trust or marriage, or neglects the offices incumbent on +him as a member of the community? I must confess, I cannot by any means +approve of the reply Pericles made to a friend who besought him to give +false evidence, and that too upon oath, when he thus answered: As far +as the altar I am wholly at your service. Methinks he went too far. But +he that has long before accustomed himself not to commend any thing +against his judgment, or applaud an ill voice, or seem pleased with +indecent scurrilities, will never suffer things to come to that issue; +nor will any one be so bold as to solicit him in this manner: Swear on +my side, give false evidence, or bring in an unjust verdict. + +7. After the same manner we may learn to refuse such as come to borrow +considerable sums of us, if we have used to deny in little matters +where refusal is easy. As Archelaus, king of Macedon, sat at supper, +one of his retinue, a fellow who thought there was nothing so honest +as to receive, begged of him a golden cup. But the king commanded a +waiter to give it immediately to Euripides: For you, sir, said he, are +fit indeed to ask any thing, but to receive nothing; and he deserves to +receive, though he lacks the confidence to ask. Thus wisely did he make +his judgment, and not bashful timidity, his guide in bestowing favors. +Yet we oftentimes, when the honesty, nearness, and necessities of our +friends and relations are not motives sufficient to prevail with us to +their relief, can give profusely to impudence and importunity, not out +of any willingness to bestow our money so ill, but merely for want of +confidence and resolution to deny. This was the case of Antigonus the +elder. Being wearied out with the importunity of Bias, Give, said he +to his servants, one talent to Bias and necessity. Yet at other times +he was as expert at encountering such addresses as any prince, and +dismissed them with as remarkable answers. Thus a certain Cynic one +day begging of him a groat, he made answer, That is not for a prince +to give. And the poor man replying, Then bestow a talent, he reparteed +briskly, Nor that for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive. Diogenes +went about begging to all the statues in the Ceramicus; and his answer +to some that wondered at his fancy in it was, he was practising how +to bear a repulse. But indeed it chiefly lies upon us to exercise +ourselves in smaller matters to refuse an unreasonable request, that +we may not be at loss how to refuse on occasions of greater magnitude. +For no one, as Demosthenes says, who has spent all the money that he +had in unnecessary expenses, will have plenty of money that he has +not for his necessary expenses.[35] And our disgrace is increased many +fold, if we want what is necessary or decent, and abound in trifles and +fopperies. + +8. Yet bashfulness is not only a bad steward of our estate, but even +in weightier concerns it refuses to hearken to the wholesome advice +of right reason. Thus, in a dangerous fit of sickness, we send not to +the ablest physician, for fear of giving offence to another of our +acquaintance. Or, in taking tutors and governors for our children, we +make choice of such as obtrude themselves upon us, not such as are +better qualified for that service. Or, in our lawsuits, we regard not +to obtain counsel learned in the law, because we must gratify the +son of some friend or relation, and give him an opportunity to show +himself in the world. Nay, lastly, you shall find some that bear the +name of philosophers, who call themselves Epicureans or Stoics, not out +of choice, or upon the least conviction, but merely to oblige their +friends or acquaintance, who have taken advantage of their modesty. +Since then the case is so with us, we ought to prepare and exercise +ourselves in things that we daily meet with and of course, not so much +as indulging that foolish weakness in the choice of a barber or fuller, +or in lodging in a paltry inn when better accommodation is to be had, +to oblige the landlord who has cringed to us. But if it be merely +to break ourselves of such follies, in those cases still we should +make use of the best, though the difference be but inconsiderable; as +the Pythagoreans were strict in observing not to cross their right +knee with the left, or to use an even number with an odd, though all +things else were indifferent. We must observe also, when we celebrate +a sacrifice or keep a wedding or make a public entertainment, to +deny ourselves so far as not to invite any that have been extremely +complacent to us or that put themselves upon us, before those who +are known for their good-humor or whose conversation is like to prove +beneficial. For he that has accustomed himself thus far will hardly be +caught and surprised, nay, rather he shall not so much as be tempted, +in greater instances. + +9. And thus much may suffice concerning exercising ourselves. My +first use of what has been said is to observe, that all passions and +distempers of the mind are still accompanied with those very evils +which by their means we hoped to avoid. Thus disgrace pursues ambition; +pain and indisposition, sensuality; softness and effeminacy are fretted +with troubles; contentiousness with disappointment and defeats. +But this is nowhere more conspicuous than in bashfulness, which, +endeavoring to avoid the smoke of reproach, throws itself into the +fire. Such men, wanting confidence to withstand those that unreasonably +importune them, afterwards feel shame before those who justly accuse +them, and for fear of a slight private rebuke incur more public +disgrace. For example, not having the heart to deny a friend that +comes to borrow, in short time they are reduced to the same extremity +themselves, and exposed openly. Some again, after promising to help +friends in a lawsuit, are ashamed to face the opposite party, and are +forced to hide their heads and run away. Many have been so unreasonably +weak in this particular as to accept of disadvantageous proposals of +marriage for a daughter or sister, and upon second thoughts have been +forced to bring themselves off with an arrant lie. + +10. One made this observation of the people of Asia, that they were +all slaves to one man, merely because they could not pronounce that +syllable No; but he spake only in raillery. But now the bashful man, +though he be not able to say one word, has but to raise his brows or +nod downward, as if he minded not, and he may decline many ungrateful +and unreasonable offices. Euripides was wont to say, Silence is an +answer to a wise man;[36] but we seem to have greater occasion for +it in our dealings with fools and unreasonable persons, for men of +breeding and sense will be satisfied with reason and fair words. Upon +this account we should be always provided with some notable sayings +and choice apothegms of famous and excellent men, to repeat to the +bashful,—such as that of Phocion to Antipater, You cannot have me for +both a friend and a flatterer; and that of his to the Athenians, when +they called upon him to come in for his share to defray the expenses of +a festival; I am ashamed, said he, pointing to Callicles his creditor, +to contribute towards your follies, without paying this man his due. +For, as Thucydides says, It is an ill thing to be ashamed of one’s +poverty, but much worse not to make use of lawful endeavors to avoid +it.[37] But he that is so foolishly good-natured that he cannot answer +one that comes to borrow,— + + My friend, no silver white have I in all my caves,— + +but gives him a promise to be better provided,— + + The wretch has made himself a slave to shame, + And drags a tiresome, though an unforged chain.[38] + +Persaeus, being about to accommodate a friend with a sum of money, paid +it publicly in the market, and made the conditions before a banker, +remembering, it may be, that of Hesiod,— + + Seem not thy brother’s honesty to doubt; + Yet, smiling, call a witness to his hand.[39] + +But when his friend marvelled and asked, How now, so formally and +according to law? Yea, quoth he, because I would receive my money again +as a friend, and not have to trouble the law to recover it. For many +out of bashfulness, not taking care to have good security at first, +have been forced afterwards to break with their friends, and to have +recourse to law for their money. + +11. Again, Plato writing to Dionysius, by Helicon of Cyzicus, gives +the bearer a good character for honesty and moderation, but withal in +the postscript tells him, Yet this I write of a man, who, as such, is +by nature an animal subject to change. Xenocrates, though a man of +rigid morals, was prevailed upon by this kind of modesty to recommend +to Polysperchon a person, as it proved in the end, not so honest as +he was reputed. For when the Macedonian in compliment bade him call +for whatever he wanted, he presently desired a talent of silver. +Polysperchon ordered it accordingly to be paid him, but despatched +away letters immediately to Xenocrates, advising him for the future +to be better acquainted with those he recommended. Now all this came +to pass through Xenocrates’s ignorance of his man; but we oftentimes +give testimonials and squander away our money to advance such as we +are very well satisfied have no qualification or desert to recommend +them, and this too with the forfeiture of our reputation, and without +the pleasure that men have who are profuse upon whores and flatterers, +but all the while in an agony, and struggling with that impudence which +does violence to our reason. Whereas, if at any time, that verse can +here be properly used,— + + I know the dreadful consequence, and fear,[40] + +when such persons are at a man to forswear himself, or to give a wrong +sentence, or to vote for an unjust bill, or lastly to be bound for one +that will never be able to pay the debt. + +12. All passions of the mind have repentance still pursuing them +closely, but it overtakes this of bashfulness in the very act. For +we give with regret, and we are in confusion while we bear false +witness; our reputation is questioned when we engage for others, and +when we fail we are condemned by all men. From this imperfection also +it proceeds, that many things are imposed upon us not in our power to +perform, as to recommend such a man to court, or to carry up an address +to the governor, because we dare not, or at least we will not, confess +that we are unknown to the prince or that another has more of his ear. +Lysander, on the other hand, when he was in disgrace at court, but yet +for his great services was thought to preserve something of his former +esteem with Agesilaus, made no scruple to dismiss suitors, directing +them to such as were more powerful with the king. For it is no disgrace +not to be able to do every thing; but to undertake or pretend to what +you are not made for is not only shameful, but extremely troublesome +and vexatious. + +13. But to proceed to another head, we must perform all reasonable and +good offices to those that deserve them, not forced thereto by fear of +shame, but cheerfully and readily. But where any thing prejudicial or +unhandsome is required of us, we ought to remember the story that is +related of Zeno. Meeting a young man of his acquaintance that slunk +away under a wall, as if he would not be seen, and having learned from +him that he withdrew from a friend that importuned him to perjure +himself, What, replied he, you novice! is that fellow not afraid +or ashamed to require of thee what is unreasonable and unjust, and +darest thou not stand against him in that which is just and honest? +For he that first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best +defence against a knave, was but an ill teacher, advising us to keep +off wickedness by imitating it. But for such as presume upon our +modesty, to keep them off with their own weapons, and not gratify their +unreasonable impudence with an easy compliance, is but just and good, +and the duty of every wise man. + +14. Neither is it a hard matter to put off some mean and ordinary +people, which will be apt to prove troublesome to you in that nature. +Some shift them off with a jest or a smart repartee; as Theocritus, +being asked in the bath to lend his flesh-brush by two persons, whereof +one was a stranger to him, and the other a notorious thief, made +answer: You, sir, I know not well enough, and you I know too well. +And Lysimache, the priestess of Minerva Polias in Athens, when the +muleteers that brought the provision for the festival desired her to +let them drink, replied, No; for I fear it may grow into a custom. +So again, when a captain’s son, a young fluttering bully but a great +coward, petitioned Antigonus for promotion, the latter answered Sir, it +is my way to reward my soldiers for their valor, not their parentage. + +15. But if he that is importunate with us prove a man of great honor +or interest (and such persons are not easily answered with excuses, +when they come for our vote in the senate or judicial cases), at such a +time perhaps it will be neither easy nor necessary to behave ourselves +to them as Cato did towards Catulus. Catulus, a person of the highest +rank among the Romans, and at that time censor, once waited on Cato, +who was then quaestor and still a young man, on behalf of a friend whom +Cato had fined; and when he had used a great deal of importunity to no +purpose, yet would not be denied, Cato grew out of patience, and told +him, It would be an unseemly sight to have the censor dragged hence by +my officers. Catulus at this went away, out of countenance and very +angry. But consider whether the answers of Agesilaus and Themistocles +have not in them much more of candor and equity. Agesilaus, being +bidden by his own father to give sentence contrary to law, replied: I +have been always taught by you to be observant of the laws, and I shall +endeavor to obey you at this time, by doing nothing contrary to them. +And Themistocles, when Simonides tempted him to commit a piece of +injustice, said: You would be no good poet, should you break the laws +of verse; and should I judge against the law, I should make no better +magistrate. + +16. For it is not because of blunders in metre in lyric songs, as Plato +observes, that cities and friends are set at variance to their utter +ruin and destruction, but because of their blunders with regard to law +and justice. Yet there are a sort of men that can be very curious and +critical in their verses and letters and lyric measures, and yet would +persuade others to neglect that justice and honesty which all men ought +to observe in offices, in passing judgments, and in all actions. But +these men are to be dealt with after the following manner. An orator +perhaps presses you to show him favor in a cause to be heard before +you, or a demagogue importunes you when you are a senator: tell him you +are ready to please him, on condition that he make a solecism in the +beginning of his oration, or be guilty of some barbarous expression +in his narration. These terms, for shame, he will not accept; for +some we see so superstitiously accurate as not to allow of two vowels +meeting one another. Again, you are moved by a person of quality to +something of ill reputation: bid him come over the market-place at full +noon dancing, or making buffoon-like grimaces; if he refuse, question +him once more, whether he think it a more heinous offence to make a +solecism or a grimace, than to break a law or to perjure one’s self, +or to show more favor to a rascal than to an honest man. Nicostratus +the Argive, when Archidamus promised him a vast sum of money and his +choice of the Spartan ladies in marriage, if he would deliver up the +town Cromnum into his hands, returned him this answer: He could no +longer believe him descended from Hercules, he said, because Hercules +traversed the world to destroy wicked men, but Archidamus made it his +business to debauch those that were good. In like manner, if one +that stands upon his quality or reputation presses us to do any thing +dishonorable, we must tell him freely, he acts not as becomes a person +of his character in the world. + +17. But if it be a man of no quality that shall importune you, you may +enquire of the covetous man, whether he would lend you a considerable +sum without any other security than your word; desire the proud man to +give you the higher seat; or the ambitious, to quit his pretensions +to some honor that lies fair for him. For, to deal plainly, it is a +shameful thing that these men should continue so stiff, so resolute, +and so unmoved in their vicious habits, while we, who profess ourselves +lovers of justice and honesty, have too little command of ourselves not +to give up and betray basely the cause of virtue. If they that would +practise upon our modesty do this out of desire of glory or power, +why should we contract disgrace or infamy to ourselves, to advance +the authority or set off the reputation of others?—like those who +bestow the reward wrongfully in public games, or betray their trust in +collecting the poll, who confer indeed garlands and honors upon other +men, but at the same time forfeit their own reputation and good word. +But suppose it be matter of interest only that puts them upon it; why +should it not appear an unreasonable piece of service for us to forego +our reputation and conscience to no other purpose than to satisfy +another man’s avarice or make his coffers the heavier? After all, these +I am afraid are the grand motives with most men in such cases, and they +are even conscious that they are guilty; as men that are challenged and +compelled to take too large a glass raise an hundred scruples and make +as many grimaces before they drink. + +18. This weakness of the mind may be compared to a constitution of body +that can endure neither heat nor cold. For let them be praised by those +that thus impudently set upon them, and they are at once mollified and +broken by the flattery; but let them be blamed or so much as suspected +by the same men after their suit has been refused, and they are ready +to die for woe and fear. We ought therefore to prepare and fortify +ourselves against both extremes, so as to be made a prey neither to +such as pretend to frighten, nor to such as would cajole us. Thucydides +is of opinion, since there is a necessary connection between envy and +great undertakings, that he takes the wisest counsel who incurs envy +by aiming the highest.[41] But we who esteem it less difficult to +avoid the envy of all men than to escape the censure of those we live +among, ought to order things so as rather to grapple with the unjust +hatred of evil men, than to deserve their just accusation after we have +served their base ends. We ought to go armed against that false and +counterfeit praise such men are apt to fling upon us, not suffering +ourselves like swine to be scratched and tickled by them, till, having +got the advantage of us, they use us after their own pleasure. For they +that reach out their ears to flatterers differ very little from such as +stand fair and quiet to be tripped up, excepting that the former catch +the more disgraceful fall. These put up with the affronts and forbear +the correction of wicked men, to get the reputation of good-natured or +merciful; or else are drawn into needless and perilous quarrels at the +instance of flatterers, who bear them in hand all the while for the +only men of judgment, the only men not to be caught with flattery, and +call them the only men who have mouths and voices. Bion used to compare +these men to pitchers: Take them, said he, by the ears, and you may +move them as you please. Thus Alexinus, the sophist, was reporting many +scandalous things in the lyceum of Stilpo the Megarian; but when one +present informed him that Stilpo always spake very honorably of him, +Why truly, says he, he is one of the most obliging and best of men. +But now Menedemus, when it was told him that Alexinus often praised +him, replied: That may be, but I always talk against him; for he must +be bad who either praises a bad man or is blamed by an honest one. So +wary was he of being caught by such baits, agreeably to that precept of +Hercules in Antisthenes,[42] who cautioned his sons not to be thankful +to such as were used to praise them,—thereby meaning no more than that +they should be so far from being wheedled thereby as not even to return +their flatteries. That of Pindar was very apposite, and enough to be +said in such a case: when one told him, I cry you up among all men, and +speak to your advantage on all occasions; and I, replied he, am always +very thankful, in that I take care you shall not tell a lie. + +19. I shall conclude with one general rule, of sovereign use against +all the passions and diseases of the mind, but particularly beneficial +to such as labor under the present distemper, bashfulness. And it is +this: whenever they have given way to this weakness, let them store +up carefully such failings in their memory, and taking therein deep +and lively impressions of what remorse and disquiet they occasioned, +bestow much time in reflecting upon them and keeping them fresh. For +as travellers that have got a dangerous fall against such a stone, +or sailors shipwrecked upon a particular promontory, keeping the +image of their misfortune continually before them, appear fearful +and apprehensive not only of the same but even the like dangers; so +they that keep in mind the disgraceful and prejudicial effects of +bashfulness will soon be enabled to restrain themselves in like cases, +and will not easily slip again on any occasion. + + + + +THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT. + + +1. Men deliberate and dispute variously concerning virtue, whether +prudence and justice and the right ordering of one’s life can be +taught. Moreover, we marvel that the works of orators, shipmasters, +musicians, carpenters, and husbandmen are infinite in number, while +good men are only a name, and are talked of like centaurs, giants, and +the Cyclops, and that as for any virtuous action that is sincere and +unblamable, and manners that are without any touch and mixture of bad +passions and affections, they are not to be found; but if Nature of its +own accord should produce any thing good and excellent, so many things +of a foreign nature mix with it (just as wild and impure productions +with generous fruit) that the good is scarce discernible. Men learn +to sing, dance, and read, and to be skilful in husbandry and good +horsemanship; they learn how to put on their shoes and their garments; +they have those that teach them how to fill wine, and to dress and cook +their meat; and none of these things can be done as they ought, unless +they be instructed how to do them. And will ye say, O foolish men! that +the skill of ordering one’s life well (for the sake of which are all +the rest) is not to be taught, but to come of its own accord, without +reason and without art? + +2. Why do we, by asserting that virtue is not to be taught, make it +a thing that does not at all exist? For if by its being learned it +is produced, he that hinders its being learned destroys it. And now, +as Plato[43] says, we never heard that because of a blunder in metre +in a lyric song, therefore one brother made war against another, nor +that it put friends at variance, nor that cities hereupon were at such +enmity that they did to one another and suffered one from another the +extremest injuries. Nor can any one tell us of a sedition raised in a +city about the right accenting or pronouncing of a word,—as whether +we are to say Τελχῖνας or Τέλχινας,—nor that a difference arose in +a family betwixt man and wife about the woof and the warp in cloth. +Yet none will go about to weave in a loom or to handle a book or a +harp, unless he has first been taught, though no great harm would +follow if he did, but only the fear of making himself ridiculous (for, +as Heraclitus says, it is a piece of discretion to conceal one’s +ignorance); and yet a man without instruction presumes himself able to +order a family, a wife, or a commonwealth, and to govern very well. +Diogenes, seeing a youth devouring his victuals too greedily, gave his +tutor a box on the ear, and that deservedly, as judging it the fault +of him that had not taught, not of him that had not learned better +manners. And what? is it necessary to begin to learn from a boy how to +eat and drink handsomely in company, as Aristophanes expresses it,— + + Not to devour their meat in haste, nor giggle, + Nor awkwardly their feet across to wriggle,[44] + +and yet are men fit to enter into the fellowship of a family, city, +married estate, private conversation, or public office, and to manage +it without blame, without any previous instruction concerning good +behavior in conversation? + +When one asked Aristippus this question, What, are you everywhere? +he laughed and said, I throw away the fare of the waterman, if I am +everywhere. And why canst not thou also answer, that the salary given +to tutors is thrown away and lost, if none are the better for their +discipline and instruction. But, as nurses shape and form the body +of a child with their hands, so these masters, when the nurses have +done with them, first receive them into their charge, in order to the +forming of their manners and directing their steps into the first +tracks of virtue. To which purpose the Lacedaemonian, that was asked +what good he did to the child of whom he had the charge, answered well: +I make good and honest things pleasant to children. These masters also +teach them to bend down their heads as they go along, to touch salt +fish with one finger only, but fresh fish, bread, and flesh with two; +thus to scratch themselves, and thus to tuck up their garments. + +3. Now he that says that the art of physic may be proper for a tetter +or a whitlow, but not to be made use of for a pleurisy, a fever, or +a frenzy, in what does he differ from him that should say that it +is fit there should be schools, and discourses, and precepts, to +teach trifling and childish things, but that all skill in greater +and more manly things comes from use without art and from accidental +opportunity? For as he would be ridiculous who should say, that one +who never learned to row ought not to lay hand on the oar, but that +he might guide the helm who was never taught it; so is he that gives +leave for men to be instructed in other arts, but not in virtue. +He seems to be quite contrary to the practice of the Scythians, +who, as Herodotus[45] tells us, put out their servants’ eyes, to +prevent them from running away; but he puts the eye of reason into +these base and slavish arts, and plucks it from virtue. But the +general Iphicrates—when Callias, the son of Chabrias, asked him, +What art thou? Art thou an archer or a targeteer, a trooper or a +foot-soldier?—answered well, I am none of all these, but one that +commands them all. He therefore would be ridiculous that should say +that the skill of drawing a bow, of handling arms, of throwing with +a sling, and of good horsemanship, might indeed be taught, but the +skill of commanding and leading an army came as it happened, one knew +not how. And would not he be still more ridiculous who should say that +prudence only could not be taught, without which all those arts are +useless and unprofitable? When she is the governess, ranking all things +in due place and order, every thing is assigned to become useful; for +instance, how ungraceful would a feast be, though all concerned were +skilful and enough practised in cookery, in dressing and serving up the +meat, and in filling the wine as they ought, if all things were not +well disposed and ordered among those that waited at the table?... + + + + +THE ACCOUNT OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS.[46] + + +1. It was a singular instance of the wisdom of this nation, in that +they took the greatest care they could, by an early sober education, +to instil into their youth the principles of virtue and good manners, +that so, by a constant succession of prudent and valiant men, they +might the better provide for the honor and security of their state, and +lay in the minds of every one a solid and good foundation of love and +friendship, of prudence and knowledge, of temperance and frugality, +of courage and resolution. And therefore their great lawgiver thought +it necessary for the ends of government to institute several distinct +societies and conventions of the people; amongst which was that of +their solemn and public living together at one table, where their +custom was to admit their youth into the conversation of their wise +and elderly men, that so by daily eating and drinking with them they +might insensibly, as it were, be trained up to a right knowledge +of themselves, to a just submission to their superiors, and to the +learning of whatever might conduce to the reputation of their laws +and the interest of their country. For here they were taught all the +wholesome rules of discipline, and daily instructed how to demean +themselves from the example and practice of their great ones; and +though they did not at this public meeting confine themselves to set +and grave discourses concerning the civil government, but allowed +themselves a larger freedom, by mingling sometimes with their politics +the easy and familiar entertainments of mirth and satire, yet this was +ever done with the greatest modesty and discretion, not so much to +expose the person of any one, as to reprove the fault he had committed. +Whatever was transacted at these stated and common feasts was to be +locked up in every one’s breast with the greatest silence and secrecy, +insomuch as the eldest among them at these assemblies, pointing to the +door, acquainted him who entered the room that nothing of what was done +or spoken there was to be talked of afterwards. + +2. At all these public meetings they used a great deal of moderation, +they being designed only for schools of temperance and modesty, not +for luxury and indecency; their chief dish and only delicacy being a +sort of pottage (called by them their black broth, and made of some +little pieces of flesh, with a small quantity of blood, salt, and +vinegar), and this the more ancient among them generally preferred +to any sort of meat whatsoever, as the more pleasing entertainment +and of a more substantial nourishment. The younger sort contented +themselves with flesh and other ordinary provisions, without tasting of +this dish, which was reserved only for the old men. It is reported of +Dionysius, the Sicilian tyrant, that having heard of the great fame and +commendation of this broth, he hired a certain cook of Lacedaemon, who +was thoroughly skilled in the make and composition of it, to furnish +his table every day with so great and curious a dainty; and that he +might have it in the greatest perfection, enjoined him to spare no cost +in the making it agreeable and pleasant to his palate. But it seems +the end answered not the pains he took in it; for after all his care +and niceness, the king, as soon as he had tasted of it, found it both +fulsome and nauseous to his stomach, and spitting it out with great +distaste, as if he had taken down a vomit, sufficiently expressed his +disapprobation of it. But the cook, not discouraged at this dislike of +his master, told the tyrant that he humbly conceived the reason of this +disagreeableness to him was not in the pottage, but rather in himself, +who had not prepared his body for such food according to the Laconic +mode and custom. For hard labors and long exercises and moderate +abstinence (the best preparatives to a good and healthy appetite) and +frequent bathings in the river Eurotas were the only necessaries for a +right relish and understanding of the excellency of this entertainment. + +3. ’Tis true, their constant diet was very mean and sparing; not what +might pamper their bodies or make their minds soft and delicate, but +such only as would barely serve to supply the common necessities of +nature. This they accustomed themselves to, that so they might become +sober and governable, active and bold in the defence of their country; +they accounting only such men serviceable to the state, who could best +endure the extremes of hunger and cold, and with cheerfulness and vigor +run through the fatigues of labor and the difficulties of hardship. +Those who could fast longest after a slender meal, and with the least +provision satisfy their appetites, were esteemed the most frugal and +temperate, and most sprightly and healthful, the most comely and well +proportioned; nature, through such a temperance and moderation of +diet, not suffering the constitution to run out into an unwieldy bulk +or greatness of body (the usual consequence of full tables and too +much ease), but rather rendering it thereby nervous and sinewy, of a +just and equal growth, and consolidating and knitting together all the +several parts and members of it. A very little drink did serve their +turn, who never drank but when an extreme thirst provoked them to +it; for at all their common entertainments they studied the greatest +measures of sobriety, and took care they should be deprived of all +kinds of compotations whatsoever. And at night when they returned home, +they went cheerfully to their sleep, without the assistance of any +light to direct them to their lodging; that being prohibited them as +an indecent thing, the better to accustom them to travel in the dark, +without any sense of fear or apprehensions of danger. + +4. They never applied their minds to any kind of learning, further +than what was necessary for use and service; nature indeed having +made them more fit for the purposes of war than for the improvements +of knowledge. And therefore for speculative sciences and philosophic +studies, they looked upon them as foreign to their business and +unserviceable to their ends of living, and for this reason they would +not tolerate them amongst them, nor suffer the professors of them to +live within their government. They banished them their cities, as +they did all sorts of strangers, esteeming them as things that did +debase the true worth and excellency of virtue, which they made to +consist only in manly actions and generous exercises, and not in vain +disputations and empty notions. So that the whole of what their youth +was instructed in was to learn obedience to the laws and injunctions +of their governors, to endure with patience the greatest labors, and +where they could not conquer, to die valiantly in the field. For this +reason likewise it was, that all mechanic arts and trades, all vain +and insignificant employments, such as regarded only curiosity or +pleasure, were strictly prohibited them, as things that would make +them degenerate into idleness and covetousness, would render them vain +and effeminate, useless to themselves, and unserviceable to the state; +and on this account it was that they would never suffer any scenes or +interludes, whether of comedy or tragedy, to be set up among them, lest +there should be any encouragement given to speak or act any thing that +might savor of contempt or contumely against their laws and government, +it being customary for the stage to assume an indecent liberty of +taxing the one with faults and the other with imperfections. + +5. As to their apparel, they were as thinly clad as they were dieted, +never exceeding one garment, which they wore for the space of a +whole year. And this they did, the better to inure them to hardship +and to bear up against all the injuries of the weather, that so the +extremities of heat and cold should have no influence at all upon their +constitution. They were as regardless of their selves as they were +negligent of their clothes, denying themselves (unless it were at some +stated time of the year) the use of ointments and bathings to keep them +clean and sweet, as too expensive and signs of a too soft and delicate +temper of body. + +6. Their youth, as they were instructed and ate in public together, so +at night slept in distinct companies in one common chamber, and on no +other beds than what were made of reeds, which they had gathered out of +the river Eurotas, near the banks of which they grew. This was the only +accommodation they had in the summer, but in winter they mingled with +the reeds a certain soft and downy thistle, having much more of heat +and warmth in it than the other. + +7. It was freely allowed them to place an ardent affection upon +those whose excellent endowments recommended them to the love +and consideration of any one; but then this was always done with +the greatest innocency and modesty, and every way becoming the +strictest rules and measures of virtue, it being accounted a base and +dishonorable passion in any one to love the body and not the mind, as +those did who in their young men preferred the beauty of the one before +the excellency of the other. Chaste thoughts and modest discourses were +the usual entertainments of their loves; and if any one was accused at +any time either of wanton actions or impure discourse, it was esteemed +by all so infamous a thing, that the stains it left upon his reputation +could never be wiped out during his whole life. + +8. So strict and severe was the education of their youth, that whenever +they were met with in the streets by your grave and elderly persons, +they underwent a close examination; it being their custom to enquire +of them upon what business and whither they were going, and if they +did not give them a direct and true answer to the question demanded +of them, but shamed them with some idle story or false pretence, +they never escaped without a rigorous censure and sharp correction. +And this they did to prevent their youth from stealing abroad upon +any idle or bad design, that so, through the uneasy fears of meeting +these grave examiners, and the impossibility of escaping punishment +upon their false account and representations of things, they might +be kept within due compass, and do nothing that might entrench upon +truth or offend against the rules of virtue. Nor was it expected +only from their superiors to censure and admonish them upon any +miscarriage or indecency whatsoever, but it was strictly required of +them under a severe penalty; for he who did not reprove a fault that +was committed in his presence, and showed not his just resentments +of it by a verbal correction, was adjudged equally culpable with the +guilty, and obnoxious to the same punishment. For they could not +imagine that person had a serious regard for the honor of their laws +and the reputation of their government, who could carelessly pass by +any immorality and patiently see the least corruption of good manners +in their youth; by which means they took away all occasions of +fondness, partiality, and indulgence in the aged, and all presumption, +irreverence, and disobedience, and especially all impatiency of +reproof, in the younger sort. For not to endure the reprehension of +their superiors in such cases was highly disgraceful to them, and ever +interpreted as an open renunciation of their authority, and a downright +opposing of the justice of their proceedings. + +9. Besides, when any was surprised in the commission of some notorious +offence, he was presently sentenced to walk round a certain altar in +the city, and publicly to shame himself by singing an ingenious satire, +composed by himself, upon the crime and folly he had been guilty of, +that so the punishment might be inflicted by the same hand which had +contracted the guilt. + +10. Their children were brought up in a strict obedience to their +parents, and taught from their infancy to pay a profound reverence +to all their dictates and commands. And no less were they enjoined +to show an awful regard and observance to all their superiors in age +and authority, so as to rise up before the hoary head, and to honor +the face of the old man, to give him the way when they met him in the +streets, and to stand still and remain silent till he was passed by; +insomuch as it was indulged them, as a peculiar privilege due to their +age and wisdom, not only to have a paternal authority over their own +children, servants, and estates, but over their neighbors too, as if +they were a part of their own family and propriety; that so in general +there might be a mutual care, and an united interest, zealously carried +on betwixt them for the private good of every one in particular, as +well as for the public good of the communities they lived in. By this +means they never wanted faithful counsellors to assist with good advice +in all their concerns, nor hearty friends to prosecute each other’s +interest as it were their own; by this means they never wanted careful +tutors and guardians for their youth, who were always at hand to +admonish and instruct them in the solid principles of virtue. + +11. No one durst show himself refractory to their instructions, nor at +the least murmur at their reprehensions; insomuch that, whenever any of +their youth had been punished by them for some ill that had been done, +and a complaint thereupon made by them to their parents of the severity +they had suffered, hoping for some little relief from their indulgence +and affection, it was accounted highly dishonorable in them not to add +to their punishment by a fresh correction for the folly and injustice +of their complaint. For by the common interest of discipline, and that +great care that every one was obliged to take in the education of their +youth, they had a firm trust and assurance in one another, that they +never would enjoin their children the performance of any thing that was +in the least unnecessary or unbecoming them. + +12. Though it might seem very strange and unaccountable in this wise +nation, that any thing which had the least semblance of baseness or +dishonesty should be universally approved, commended, and encouraged +by their laws, yet so it was in the case of theft, whereby their young +children were allowed to steal certain things, as particularly the +fruit of their orchards or their messes at their feasts. But then this +was not done to encourage them to the desires of avarice and injustice, +but to sharpen their wits, and to make them crafty and subtle, and +to train them up in all sorts of wiles and cunning, watchfulness and +circumspection, whereby they were rendered more apt to serve them +in their wars, which was upon the matter the whole profession of +this commonwealth. And if at any time they were taken in the act of +stealing, they were most certainly punished with rods and the penance +of fasting; not because they esteemed the stealth criminal, but because +they wanted skill and cunning in the management and concealing of +it.[47] + +14. They spent a great part of their studies in poetry and music, +which raised their minds above the ordinary level, and by a kind of +artificial enthusiasm inspired them with generous heats and resolutions +for action. Their compositions, consisting only of very grave and moral +subjects, were easy and natural, in a plain dress, and without any +paint or ornament, containing nothing else but the just commendations +of those great personages whose singular wisdom and virtue had made +their lives famous and exemplary, and whose courage in defence of their +country had made their deaths honorable and happy. Nor were the valiant +and virtuous only the subject of these songs; but the better to make +men sensible of what rewards and honors are due to the memory of such, +they made invectives in them upon those who were signally vicious and +cowards, as men who died with as much contempt as they had lived with +infamy. They generally concluded their poem with a solemn profession of +what they would be, boasting of their progress in virtue, agreeable to +the abilities of their nature and the expectations of their age. + +15. At all their public festivals these songs were a great part of +their entertainment, where there were three companies of singers, +representing the three several ages of nature. The old men made up the +first chorus, whose business was to present what they had been after +this manner:— + + That active courage youthful blood contains + Did once with equal vigor warm our veins. + +To which the chorus, consisting of young men only, thus answers:— + + Valiant and bold we are, let who will try: + Who dare accept our challenge soon shall die. + +The third, which were of young children, replied to them in this +manner:— + + Those seeds which Nature in our breast did sow + Shall soon to generous fruits of virtue grow; + Then all those valiant deeds which you relate + We will excel, and scorn to imitate.[48] + +16. They made use of a peculiar measure in their songs, when their +armies were in their march towards an enemy, which being sung in a +full choir to their flutes seemed proper to excite in them a generous +courage and contempt of death. Lycurgus was the first who brought this +warlike music into the field, that so he might moderate and soften +the rage and fury of their minds in an engagement by solemn musical +measures, and that their valor (which should be no boisterous and +unruly thing) might always be under the government of their reason, and +not of passion. To this end it was always their custom before the fight +to sacrifice to the Muses, that they might behave themselves with as +much good conduct as with courage, and do such actions as were worthy +of memory, and which might challenge the applauses and commendations of +every one. + +17. And indeed so great an esteem and veneration had they for the +gravity and simplicity of their ancient music, that no one was allowed +to recede in the least from the established rules and measures of it, +insomuch as the Ephori, upon complaint made to them, laid a severe +mulct upon Terpander (a musician of great note and eminency for his +incomparable skill and excellency in playing upon the harp, and who, +as he had ever professed a great veneration for antiquity, so ever +testified by his eulogiums and commendations the esteem he always had +of virtuous and heroic actions), depriving him of his harp, and (as +a peculiar punishment) exposing it to the censure of the people, by +fixing it upon a nail, because he had added one string more to his +instrument than was the usual and stated number, though done with no +other design and advantage than to vary the sound, and to make it more +useful and pleasant. That music was ever accounted among them the best, +which was most grave, simple, and natural. And for this reason too, +when Timotheus in their Carnean feasts, which were instituted in honor +of Apollo, contended for a preference in his art, one of the Ephori +took a knife in his hand, and cut the strings of his harp, for having +exceeded the number of seven in it. So severely tenacious were they of +their ancient customs and practices, that they would not suffer the +least innovation, though in things that were indifferent and of no +great importance, lest an indulgence in one thing might have introduced +another, till at length by gradual and insensible alterations the whole +body of their laws might be disregarded and contemned, and so the main +pillar which did support the fabric of their government be weakened and +undermined. + +18. Lycurgus took away that superstition, which formerly indeed had +been the practice among them, concerning their sepulchre and funeral +solemnities, by permitting them to bury the remains of their departed +friends within the city, that so they might the better secure them +from the rude and barbarous violence of an enemy, and to erect their +monuments for them in separated places joining to their temples; that, +having their graves and tombs always before their eyes, they might +not only remember but imitate the worthy actions they had done, and +so lessen the fears and apprehensions of death with the consideration +of those honors they paid their memories when they put off their +mortalities. He took away those pollutions which they formerly looked +upon as arising from their dead bodies, and prohibited all costly +and sumptuous expenses at their funerals, it being very improper for +those who while alive generally abstained from whatever was vain and +curious to be carried to the grave with any pomp and magnificence. +Therefore without the use of drugs and ointments, without any rich +odors and perfumes, without any art or curiosity, save only the little +ornament of a red vestment and a few olive-leaves, they carried him +to the place of burying, where he was, without any formal sorrows and +public lamentations, honorably and securely laid up in a decent and +convenient sepulchre. And here it was lawful for any one who would be +at the trouble to erect a monument for the person deceased, but not to +engrave the least inscription on it; this being the peculiar reward of +such only who had signalized themselves in war, and died gallantly in +defence of their country. + +19, 20. It was not allowed any of them to travel into foreign +countries, lest their conversation should be tinctured with the customs +of those places, and they at their return introduce amongst them new +modes and incorrect ways of living, to the corruption of good manners +and the prejudice of their own laws and usage; for which reason they +expelled all strangers from Sparta, lest they should insinuate their +vices and their folly into the affections of the people, and leave in +the minds of their citizens the bad principles of softness and luxury, +ease and covetousness. + +21. Nothing could sooner forfeit the right and privilege of a citizen, +than refusing their children that public education which their +laws and country demanded of them. For as none of them were on any +account exempt from obedience to their laws, so, if any one out of an +extraordinary tenderness and indulgence would not suffer his sons to be +brought up according to their strict discipline and institutions, he +was straightways disfranchised. For they could not think that person +could ever prove serviceable to their government, who had not been +educated with the same care and severity with his fellow-subjects. And +it was no less a shame and reproach to the parents themselves, who +could be of such mean and abject spirits as to prefer the love of their +children to the love of their country, and the satisfaction of a fond +and imprudent passion to the honor and security of their state. + +23. Nay further, as there was a community of children, so there was of +their goods and estates, it being free for them in case of necessity +to make use of their neighbor’s servants, as if they were their own; +and not only so, but of their horses and dogs too, unless the owners +stood in need of them themselves, whenever they designed the diversion +of hunting, an exercise peculiar to this nation, and to which they were +accustomed from their youth. And if upon any extraordinary occasion any +one was pressed with the want of what his neighbors were possessed of, +he went freely to them and borrowed, as though he had been the right +proprietary of their storehouses; and being supplied answerably to his +necessities, he carefully sealed them up again and left them secure. + +24. In all their warlike expeditions they generally clothed themselves +with a garment of a purple color, as best becoming the profession of +soldiers, and carrying in them a signification of that blood they +were resolved to shed in the service of their country. It was of use +likewise, not only to cast a greater terror into their adversaries +and to secure from their discovery the wounds they should receive, +but likewise for distinction’s sake, that in the heat and fury of the +battle they might discriminate each other from the enemy. They always +fought with consideration and cunning, craft being many times of more +advantage to them than downright blows; for it is not the multitude +of men, nor the strongest arm and the sharpest sword, that make men +masters of the field. + +25. Whenever a victory was gained through a well-contrived stratagem, +and thereby with little loss of men and blood, they always sacrificed +an ox to Mars; but when the success was purely owing to their valor +and prowess, they only offered up a cock to him; it being in their +estimation more honorable for their generals and commanders to overcome +their enemies by policy and subtlety than by mere strength and courage. + +26, 27. One great part of their religion lay in their solemn prayers +and devotion, which they daily offered up to their Gods, heartily +requesting of them to enable them to bear all kinds of injuries with +a generous and unshaken mind, and to reward them with honor and +prosperity, according to their performances of piety and virtue. + +28. Besides, it was a great part of that honor they paid their Gods, +of whatever sex they were, to adorn them with military weapons and +armor, partly out of superstition and an extraordinary reverence they +had for the virtue of fortitude, which they preferred to all others, +and which they looked upon as an immediate gift of the Gods, as being +the greatest lovers and patrons of those who were endued with it; and +partly to encourage every one to address his devotions to them for +it; insomuch as Venus herself, who in other nations was generally +represented naked, had her armor too, as well as her particular altars +and worshippers. + +29. Whenever they take any business of moment in hand, they generally +pray to Fortune in a set form of words for their success in it;[49] it +being no better in their esteem than profaneness and irreverence to +their Gods to invoke them upon slight and trivial emergencies. + +30. No discovery of what is bad and vicious comes with greater evidence +to the spirits and apprehensions of children, who are unable to bear +the force of reason, than that which is offered to them by way of +example. Therefore the Spartan discipline did endeavor to preserve +their youth (on whom philosophical discourses would have made but +small impression) from all kinds of intemperance and excess of wine, +by presenting before them all the indecencies of their drunken Helots, +persons indeed who were their slaves, and employed not only in all +kinds of servile offices, but especially in tilling of their fields +and manuring of their ground, which was let out to them at reasonable +rates, they paying in every year their returns of rent, according to +what was anciently established and ordained amongst them at the first +general division of their lands. And if any did exact greater payments +from them, it was esteemed an execrable thing amongst them; they being +desirous that the Helots might reap gain and profit from their labors, +and thereupon be obliged faithfully to serve their masters as well +as their own interest with greater cheerfulness and industry. And +therefore their lords never required more of them than what bare custom +and contracts exacted of them. + +33. They adjudged it necessary for the preservation of that gravity +and seriousness of manners which was required of their youth for the +attainments of wisdom and virtue, never to admit of any light and +wanton, any ludicrous or effeminate poetry; which made them allow of +no poets among them but such only who for their grave and virtuous +compositions were approved by the public magistrate; that being hereby +under some restraint, they might neither act nor write any thing to +the prejudice of good manners, or to the dishonor of their laws and +government. + +34. And therefore it was, that when they heard of Archilochus’s arrival +at Sparta (though a Lacedaemonian, and of an excellent wit), yet they +presently commanded him to depart the city, having understood how that +in a poem of his he had affirmed it was greater wisdom for a man to +throw his arms away and secure himself by flight, than to stand to his +own defence with the hazard of his life, or therein to die valiantly in +the field. His words were after this manner:— + + Let who will boast their courage in the field, + I find but little safety from my shield. + Nature’s not Honor’s laws we must obey; + This made me cast my useless shield away, + And by a prudent flight and cunning save + A life, which valor could not, from the grave. + A better buckler I can soon regain, + But who can get another life again?[50] + +35. It was a received opinion amongst many nations, that some of their +Gods were propitious only to their men, and others only to their women, +which made them sometimes prohibit the one and sometimes the other +from being present at their sacred rites and solemnities. But the +Lacedaemonians took away this piece of superstition by not excluding +either sex from their temples and religious services; but, as they +were always bred up to the same civil exercises, so they were to the +same common performances of their holy mysteries, so that by an early +knowledge of each other there might be a real love and friendship +established betwixt them, which ever stood most firm upon the basis of +religion. + +36. Their virtuous man, as he was to do no wrong, so likewise was not +to suffer any without a due sense and modest resentment of it; and +therefore the Ephori laid a mulct upon Sciraphidas, because he could +so tamely receive the many injuries and affronts that were offered +him,—concluding that he who was so insensible of his own interest as +not to stand up in a bold and honest vindication of himself from the +wrongs and injustice that may be done to his good name and honor, +would without all doubt be as dull and listless, when an opportunity +should invite him to it, in appearing for the defence of the fame and +reputation of his country. + +39. Action and not speaking was the study and commendation of a +Spartan, and therefore polite discourses and long harangues were +not with them the character of a wise or learned man, their speech +being always grave and sententious, without any ornament or tedious +argumentation. They accustomed themselves to brevity, and upon every +subject to express themselves in the finest words, with as much satire +and smartness as possible; insomuch as they had a law among them for +the instruction of their youth, by which they were enjoined to practise +a close and compendious style in all their orations; which made them +banish one Cephisophon, a talkative rhetorician, for boasting publicly +that he could upon any subject whatsoever entertain his auditory for +a whole day together; alleging this as a sufficient reason for their +justification, that it was the part of a good orator to adjust his +discourse according to the weight and dignity of the matter he was to +treat of. + +40. There was indeed a strange and unnatural custom amongst them, +annually observed at the celebration of the bloody rites of Diana +Orthia, where there was a certain number of children, not only of the +vulgar sort but of the gentry and nobility, who were whipped almost +to death with rods before the altar of the goddess; their parents and +relations standing by, and all the while exhorting them to patience +and constancy in suffering. Although this ceremony lasted for the +space of a whole day, yet they underwent this barbarous rite with such +a prodigious cheerfulness and resolution of mind as never could be +expected from the softness and tenderness of their age. They did not so +much as express one little sigh or groan during the whole solemnity, +but out of a certain emulation and desire of glory there was a +great contention among them, who should excel his companions in the +constancy of enduring the length and sharpness of their pains; and he +who held out the longest was ever the most esteemed and valued person +amongst them, and the glory and reputation wherewith they rewarded his +sufferings rendered his after life much more eminent and illustrious. + +42. They had a very slight regard to maritime affairs, on the account +of an ancient law amongst them, whereby they were prohibited from +applying of themselves to the becoming of good seamen or engaging +themselves in any sea-fight. Afterwards indeed, through the necessity +of affairs and the security of their country, they judged it +convenient, when they were invaded by the Athenians and other nations, +to furnish themselves with a navy; by which it was that Lysander, who +was then the general in that expedition, obtained a great victory +over the Athenians, and thereby for a considerable time secured the +sovereignty of the seas to themselves. But finding afterwards this +grievance arising from it, that there was a very sensible corruption +of good manners and decay of discipline amongst them, from the +conversation of their rude and debauched mariners, they were obliged +to lay this profession wholly aside, and by a revival of this law +endeavor to retrieve their ancient sobriety, and, by turning the bent +and inclinations of the people into their old channel again, to make +them tractable and obedient, modest and virtuous. Though indeed they +did not long hold to their resolution herein, any more than they were +wont to do in other matters of moment, which could not but be variable, +according to the circumstances of affairs and the necessities of their +government. For though great riches and large possessions were things +they hated to death, it being a capital crime and punishment to have +any gold or silver in their houses, or to amass up together heaps of +money (which was generally made with them of iron or leather),—for +which reason several had been put to death, according to that law which +banished covetousness out of the city, on the account of an answer of +their oracle to Alcamenes and Theopompus, two of their Spartan kings, + + That the love of money should be the ruin of Sparta,— + +yet notwithstanding the severe penalty annexed to the heaping up much +wealth, and the example of those who had suffered for it, Lysander +was highly honored and rewarded for bringing in a great quantity of +gold and silver to Lacedaemon, after the victory he had gained over +the Athenians, and the taking of the city of Athens itself, wherein an +inestimable treasure was found. So that what had been a capital crime +in others was a meritorious act in him. It is true indeed that as long +as the Spartans did adhere closely to the observation of the laws and +rules of Lycurgus, and keep their oath religiously to be true to their +own government, they outstripped all the other cities of Greece for +prudence and valor, and for the space of five hundred years became +famous everywhere for the excellency of their laws and the wisdom of +their policy. But when the honor of these laws began to lessen and +their citizens grew luxurious and exorbitant, when covetousness and +too much liberty had softened their minds and almost destroyed the +wholesome constitution of their state, their former greatness and power +began by little and little to decay and dwindle in the estimation +of men. And as by reason of these vices and ill customs they proved +unserviceable to themselves, so likewise they became less formidable +to others; insomuch as their several allies and confederates, who had +with them jointly carried on their common good and interest, were +wholly alienated from them. But although their affairs were in such a +languishing posture, when Philip of Macedon, after his great victory at +Chaeronea, was by the Grecians declared their general both by land and +sea, as likewise his son Alexander after the conquest of the Thebans; +yet the Lacedaemonians, though their cities had no other walls for +their security, but only their own courage, though by reason of their +frequent wars they were reduced to low measures and small numbers of +men, and thereby become so weak as to be an easy prey to any powerful +enemy, yet retaining amongst them some reverence for those few remains +of Lycurgus’s institution and government, they could not be brought +to assist these two, or any other of their Macedonian kings in their +wars and expeditions; neither could they be prevailed with to assist +at their common assemblies and consults with them, nor pay any tribute +or contributions to them. But when all those laws and customs (which +are the main pillars that support a state) enacted by Lycurgus, and so +highly approved of by the government, were now universally despised +and unobserved, they immediately became a prey to the ambition and +usurpation, to the cruelty and tyranny of their fellow-citizens; and +having no regard at all to their ancient virtues and constitution, they +utterly lost their ancient glory and reputation, and by degrees, as +well as weaker nations, did in a very little time everywhere degenerate +into poverty, contempt, and servitude; being at present subject to the +Romans, like all the other cities of Greece. + + + + +CONCERNING MUSIC.[51] + + +ONESICRATES, SOTERICHUS, LYSIAS. + +1. The wife of Phocion the just was always wont to maintain that her +chiefest glory consisted in the warlike achievements of her husband. +For my part, I am of opinion that all my glory, not only that peculiar +to myself, but also what is common to all my familiar friends and +relations, flows from the care and diligence of my master that taught +me learning. For the most renowned performances of great commanders +tend only to the preservation of some few private soldiers or the +safety of a single city or nation, but make neither the soldiers nor +the citizens nor the people any thing the better. But true learning, +being the essence and body of felicity and the source of prudence, we +find to be profitable and beneficial, not only to one house or city or +nation, but to all the race of men. Therefore by how much the more the +benefit and advantage of learning transcends the profits of military +performances, by so much the more is it to be remembered and mentioned, +as most worthy your study and esteem. + +2. For this reason, upon the second day of the Saturnalian festival, +the famous Onesicrates invited certain persons, the best skilled in +music, to a banquet; by name Soterichus of Alexandria, and Lysias, +one of those to whom he gave a yearly pension. After all had done and +the table was cleared,—To dive, said he, most worthy friends, into +the nature and reason of the human voice is not an argument proper +for this merry meeting, as being a subject that requires a more sober +scrutiny. But because our chiefest grammarians define the voice to be +a percussion of the air made sensible to the ear, and for that we were +yesterday discoursing of Grammar,—which is an art that can give the +voice form and shape by means of letters, and store it up in the memory +as a magazine,—let us consider what is the next science to this which +may be said to relate to the voice. In my opinion, it must be music. +For it is one of the chiefest and most religious duties belonging to +man, to celebrate the praise of the Gods, who gave to him alone the +most excelling advantage of articulate discourse, as Homer has observed +in the following verses:— + + With sacred hymns and songs that sweetly please, + The Grecian youth all day the Gods appease; + Their lofty paeans bright Apollo hears, + And still the charming sounds delight his ears.[52] + +Now then, you that are of the grand musical chorus, tell your friends, +who was the first that brought music into use; what time has added for +the advantage of the science; who have been the most famous of its +professors; and lastly, for what and how far it may be beneficial to +mankind. + +3. This the scholar propounded; to which Lysias made reply. Noble +Onesicrates, said he, you desire the solution of a hard question, that +has been by many already proposed. For of the Platonics the most, of +the Peripatetic philosophers the best, have made it their business to +compile several treatises concerning the ancient music and the reasons +why it came to lose its pristine perfection. Nay, the very grammarians +and musicians themselves who arrived to the height of education have +expended much time and study upon the same subject, whence has arisen +great variety of discording opinions among the several writers. +Heraclides in his Compendium of Music asserts, that Amphion, the son +of Jupiter and Antiope, was the first that invented playing on the +harp and lyric poesy, being first instructed by his father; which is +confirmed by a small manuscript, preserved in the city of Sicyon, +wherein is set down a catalogue of the priests, poets, and musicians +of Argos. In the same age, he tells us, Linus the Euboean composed +several elegies; Anthes of Anthedon in Boeotia was the first author of +hymns, and Pierus of Pieria the first that wrote in the praise of the +Muses. Philammon also, the Delphian, set forth in verse a poem in honor +of the nativity of Latona, Diana, and Apollo, and was the first that +instituted dancing about the temple of Delphi. Thamyras, of Thracian +extraction, had the best voice and the neatest manner of singing of +any of his time; so that the poets feigned him to be a contender with +the Muses. He is said to have described in a poem the Titans’ war +against the Gods. There was also Demodocus the Corcyraean, who is said +to have written the Destruction of Troy, and the Nuptials of Vulcan +and Venus; and then Phemius of Ithaca composed a poem, entitled The +Return of those who came back with Agamemnon from Troy. Not that any +of these stories before cited were compiled in a style like prose +without metre; they were rather like the poems of Stesichorus and other +ancient lyric poets, who composed in heroic verse and added a musical +accompaniment. The same Heraclides writes that Terpander, the first +that instituted the lyric _nomes_,[53] set verses of Homer as well as +his own to music according to each of these nomes, and sang them at +public trials of skill. He also was the first to give names to the +lyric nomes. In imitation of Terpander, Clonas, an elegiac and epic +poet, first instituted nomes for flute-music, and also the songs called +Prosodia.[54] And Polymnestus the Colophonian in later times used the +same measure in his compositions. + +4. Now the measures appointed by these persons, noble Onesicrates, +in reference to such songs as are to be sung to the flutes or pipes, +were distinguished by these names,—Apothetus, Elegiac, Comarchius, +Schoenion, Cepion, Tenedius, and Trimeles (or of three parts). + +To these succeeding ages added another sort, which were called +Polymnastia. But the measures set down for those that played and +sung to the harp, being the invention of Terpander, were much more +ancient than the former. To these he gave the several appellations +of Boeotian, Aeolian, Trochaean, the Acute, Cepion, Terpandrian, and +Tetraoedian.[55] And Terpander made preludes to be sung to the lyre in +heroic verse. Besides, Timotheus testifies how that the lyric nomes +were anciently appropriated to epic verses. For Timotheus merely +intermixed the dithyrambic style with the ancient nomes in heroic +measure, and thus sang them, that he might not seem to make too sudden +an innovation upon the ancient music. But as for Terpander, he seems to +have been the most excellent composer to the harp of his age, for he is +recorded to have been four times in succession a victor at the Pythian +games. And certainly he was one of the most ancient musicians in the +world; for Glaucus the Italian in his treatise of the ancient poets and +musicians asserts him to have lived before Archilochus, affirming him +to be the second next to those that first invented wind-music. + +5. Alexander in his Collections of Phrygia says, that Olympus was the +first that brought into Greece the manner of touching the strings +with a quill; and next to him were the Idaean Dactyli; Hyagnis was +the first that sang to the pipe; after him his son Marsyas, then +Olympus; that Terpander imitated Homer in his verses and Orpheus in his +musical compositions; but that Orpheus never imitated any one, since +in his time there were none but such as composed to the pipe, which +was a manner quite different from that of Orpheus. Clonas, a composer +of nomes for flute-music, and somewhat later than Terpander, as the +Arcadians affirm, was born in Tegea or, as the Boeotians allege, at +Thebes. After Terpander and Clonas flourished Archilochus; yet there +are some writers who affirm, that Ardalus the Troezenian taught the +manner of composing to wind-music before Clonas. There was also the +poet Polymnestus, the son of Meles the Colophonian, who invented the +Polymnestian measures. They farther write that Clonas invented the +nomes Apothetus and Schoenion. Of Polymnestus mention is made by Pindar +and Alcman, both lyric poets; but of several of the lyric nomes said to +be instituted by Terpander they make Philammon (the ancient Delphian) +author. + +6. Now the music appropriated to the harp, such as it was in the time +of Terpander, continued in all its simplicity, till Phrynis grew into +esteem. For it was not the ancient custom to make lyric poems in the +present style, or to intermix measures and rhythms. For in each nome +they were careful to observe its own proper pitch; whence came the +expression _nome_ (from νόμος, _law_), because it was unlawful to +alter the pitch appointed for each one. At length, falling from their +devotion to the Gods, they began to sing the verses of Homer and other +poets. This is manifest by the proems of Terpander. Then for the form +of the harp, it was such as Cepion, one of Terpander’s scholars, first +caused to be made, and it was called the Asian harp, because the +Lesbian harpers bordering upon Asia always made use of it. And it is +said that Periclitus, a Lesbian by birth, was the last harper who won a +prize by his skill, which he did at one of the Spartan festivals called +Carneia; but he being dead, that succession of skilful musicians, which +had so long continued among the Lesbians, expired. Some there are who +erroneously believe that Hipponax was contemporary with Terpander, when +it is plain that Hipponax lived after Periclitus. + +7. Having thus discoursed of the several nomes appropriated to the +stringed as well as to the wind instruments, we will now speak +something in particular concerning those peculiar to the wind +instruments. First they say, that Olympus, a Phrygian player upon +the flute, invented a certain nome in honor of Apollo, which he +called Polycephalus,[56] or of many heads. This Olympus, they say, +was descended from the first Olympus, the scholar of Marsyas, who +invented several forms of composition in honor of the Gods; and he, +being a boy beloved of Marsyas, and by him taught to play upon the +flute, first brought into Greece the laws of harmony. Others ascribe +the Polycephalus to Crates, the scholar of Olympus; though Pratinas +will have Olympus the younger to be the author of it. The Harmatian +nome is also said to be invented by Olympus, the scholar of Marsyas. +This Marsyas was by some said to be called Masses; which others deny, +not allowing him any other name but that of Marsyas, the son of that +Hyagnis who invented the art of playing upon the pipe. But that +Olympus was the author of the Harmatian nome is plainly to be seen in +Glaucus’s treatise of the ancient poets; and that Stesichorus of Himera +imitated neither Orpheus nor Terpander nor Antilochus nor Thales, but +Olympus, and that he made use of the Harmatian nome and the dactylic +dance, which some rather apply to the Orthian mood, while others aver +it to have been the invention of the Mysians, for that some of the +ancient pipers were Mysians. + +8. There was also another mood in use among the ancients, called +Cradias, which Hipponax says Mimnermus always delighted in. For +formerly they that played upon the flute sang also elegies at the same +time set to notes. Which the description of the Panathenaea concerning +the musical combat makes manifest. Among the rest, Sacadas of Argos +set several odes and elegies to music, he himself being also a good +flute-player and thrice a victor at the Pythian games. Of him Pindar +makes mention. Now whereas in the time of Polymnestus and Sacadas there +existed three musical moods, the Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian, it is +said that Sacadas composed a strophe in every one of those moods, and +then taught the choruses to sing the first after the Dorian manner, +the second according to the Phrygian, and the third after the Lydian +manner; and this nome was called Trimeres (or threefold) by reason of +the shifting of the moods, although in the Sicyonian catalogue of the +poets Clonas is said to be the inventor of this name. + +9. Music then received its first constitution from Terpander at Sparta. +Of the second constitution, Thaletas the Gortinean, Xenodamus the +Cytherean, Xenocritus the Locrian, Polymnestus the Colophonian, and +Sacadas the Argive were deservedly acknowledged to be the authors. For +these, having introduced the Gymnopaediae into Lacedaemon, settled the +so-called Apodeixeis (or Exhibitions) among the Arcadians, and the +Endymatia in Argos. Now Thaletas, Xenodamus, and Xenocritus, and their +scholars, were poets that addicted themselves altogether to making +of paeans; Polymnestus was all for the Orthian or military strain, +and Sacadas for elegies. Others, and among the rest Pratinas, affirm +Xenodamus to have been a maker of songs for dances (Hyporchemes), and +not of paeans; and a tune of Xenodamus is preserved, which plainly +appears to have been composed for a dance. Now that a paean differs +from a song made for a dance is manifest from the poems of Pindar, who +made both. + +10. Polymnestus also composed nomes for flute-music; but in the +Orthian nome he made use of his lyric vein, as the students in harmony +declare. But in this we cannot be positive, because we have nothing +of certainty concerning it from antiquity; and whether Thaletas of +Crete was a composer of hymns is much doubted. For Glaucus, asserting +Thaletas to be born after Archilochus, says that he imitated the odes +of Archilochus, only he made them longer, and used the Paeonic and +Cretic rhythm, which neither Archilochus nor Orpheus nor Terpander +ever did; for Thaletas learned these from Olympus, and became a good +poet besides. As for Xenocritus the Locrian from Italy, it is much +questioned whether he was a maker of paeans or not, as being one that +always took heroic subjects with dramatic action for his verses, for +which reason some there were who called his arguments Dithyrambic. +Moreover, Glaucus asserts Thaletas to have preceded him in time. + +11. Olympus, by the report of Aristoxenus, is supposed by the musicians +to have been the inventor of the enharmonic species of music; for +before him there was no other than the diatonic and chromatic. And +it is thought that the invention of the enharmonic species was thus +brought to pass:[57] for that Olympus before altogether composing +and playing in the diatonic species, and having frequent occasion +to shift to the diatonic parhypate, sometimes from the paramese and +sometimes from the mese, skipping the diatonic lichanos, he found +the beauty that appeared in the new character; and thus, admiring a +conjunction or scheme so agreeable to proportion, he made this new +species in the Doric mood. For now he held no longer to what belonged +either to the diatonic or to the chromatic, but he was already come to +the enharmonic. And the first foundations of enharmonic music which +he laid were these: in enharmonics the first thing that appears is +the spondiasmus,[58] to which none of the divisions of the tetrachord +seems properly to belong, unless any one will take the more intense +spondiasmus to be diatonic. But he that maintained this would maintain +a falsehood and an absurdity in harmony; a falsehood, because it would +be less by a diesis than is required by the leading note; an absurdity +in harmony, because, even if we should place the proper nature of the +more intense spondiasmus in the simple chromatic, it would then come to +pass, that two double tones would follow in order, the one compounded, +the other uncompounded. For the thick enharmonic now used in the middle +notes does not seem to be the invention of the fore-mentioned author. +But this is more easily understood by hearing any musician play in the +ancient style; for then you shall find the semi-tone in the middle +parts to be uncompounded. + +These were the beginnings of enharmonic music; afterwards the semitone +was also divided, as well in the Phrygian as Lydian moods. But Olympus +seems to have advanced music by producing something never known or +heard of before, and to have gained to himself the honor of being the +most excellent, not only in the Grecian but in all other music. + +12. Let us now proceed to rhythms; for there were several varieties +of these, as well in musical as in rhythmical composition. And here +Terpander, among all those novelties with which he adorned music, +introduced an elegant manner, that gave it much life. After him, beside +the Terpandrian, which he did not relinquish, Polymnestus brought in +use another of his own, retaining however the former elegant manner, +as did also Thaletas and Sacadas. Other innovations were also made by +Alkman and Stesichorus, who nevertheless receded not from the ancient +forms. But Crexus, Timotheus, and Philoxenus, and those other poets of +the same age, growing more arrogant and studious of novelty, affected +those other manners now called Philanthropic and Thematic. For now the +fewness of strings and the plainness and majesty of the old music are +looked upon as absolutely out of date. + +13. And now, having discoursed to the best of my ability of the ancient +music and the first inventors of it, and how succeeding ages brought +it to more and more perfection, I shall make an end, and give way to +my friend Soterichus, not only greatly skilled in music but in all +the rest of the sciences. For we have always labored rather on the +practical than the contemplative part. Which when Lysias had said, he +forbare speaking any farther; but then Soterichus thus began. + +14. Most noble Onesicrates, said he, since you have engaged us to +speak our knowledge concerning the most venerable excellencies of +music, which is most pleasing to the Gods, I cannot but approve the +learning of our master Lysias, and his great memory in reciting all the +inventors of the ancient music, and those who have written concerning +it. But I must needs say, that he has given us this account, trusting +only to what he has found recorded. We on the other side have not +heard of any man that was the inventor of the benefits of music, but +of the God Apollo, adorned with all manner of virtue. The flute was +neither the invention of Marsyas nor Olympus nor Hyagnis; nor was the +harp Apollo’s invention only, but as a God he was the inventor of all +the music both of the flute and harp. This is manifest from the dances +and sacrifices which were solemnized to Apollo, as Alcaeus and others +in their hymns relate. His statue also placed in the Temple of Delos +holds in his right hand a bow; at his left the Graces stand, with every +one a musical instrument in her hands, one carrying a harp, another a +flute, another with a shepherd’s pipe set to her lips. And that this +is no conceit of mine appears from this, that Anticles and Ister have +testified the same in their commentaries upon these things. And the +statue is reported to be so ancient, that the artificers were said to +have lived in the time of Hercules. The youth also that carries the +Tempic laurel into Delphi is accompanied by one playing upon the flute. +And the sacred presents of the Hyperboreans were sent of old to Delos, +attended with flutes, pipes, and harps. Some have thought that the God +himself played upon the flute, as the best of lyrics, Alcman, relates. +Corinna also asserts that Apollo was by Minerva taught to pipe. +Venerable is therefore music altogether, as being the invention of the +Gods. + +15. The ancients made use of it for its worth, as they did all other +beneficial sciences. But our men of art, contemning its ancient +majesty, instead of that manly, grave, heaven-born music, so acceptable +to the Gods, have brought into the theatres a sort of effeminate +musical tattling, mere sound without substance; which Plato utterly +rejects in the third book of his commonwealth, refusing the Lydian +harmony as fit only for lamentations. And they say that this was first +instituted for doleful songs. Aristoxenus, in his first book of music, +tells us how that Olympus sang an elegy upon the death of Python in the +Lydian mood, though some will have Menalippides to be the author of +that song. Pindar, in his paean on the nuptials of Niobe, asserts that +the Lydian harmony was first used by Anthippus. Others affirm, that +Torebus was the first that made use of that sort of harmony; among the +rest, Dionysius the iambic writer. + +16. The mixed Lydian moves the affections, and is fit for tragedies. +This mood, as Aristoxenus alleges, was invented by Sappho, from whom +the tragedians learned it and joined it with the Doric. The one becomes +a majestic, lofty style, the other mollifies and stirs to pity; both +which are the properties of tragedy. The history of music, however, +made Pythoclides the flute-player to be the author of it; and Lysis +reports that Lamprocles the Athenian, finding that the diazeuxis (or +separation of two tetrachords) was not where almost all others thought +it had been, but toward the treble, made such a scheme as is now from +paramese to the highest hypate. But for the softer Lydian, being +contrary to the mixed Lydian and like the Ionian, they say it was +invented by Damon the Athenian. + +17. But as for those sorts of harmony, the one being sad and doleful, +the other loose and effeminate, Plato deservedly rejected them, and +made choice of the Dorian, as more proper for sober and warlike men; +not being ignorant, however (as Aristoxenus discourses in his second +book of music), that there might be something advantageous in the rest +to a circumspect and wary commonwealth. For Plato gave much attention +to the art of music, as being the hearer of Draco the Athenian and +Metellus the Agrigentine; but considering, as we have intimated before, +that there was much more majesty in the Dorian mood, it was that +he preferred. He knew moreover that Aleman, Pindar, Simonides, and +Bacchylides had composed several Parthenia in the Doric mood; and that +several Prosodia (or supplications to the Gods), several hymns and +tragical lamentations, and now and then love verses, were composed to +the same melody. But he contented himself with such songs as were made +in honor of Mars or Minerva, or else such as were to be sung at solemn +offerings, called Spondeia. For these he thought sufficient to fortify +and raise the mind of a sober person; not being at all ignorant in the +mean time of the Lydian and Ionian, of which he knew the tragedians +made use. + +18. Moreover, the ancients well understood all the sorts of styles, +although they used but few. For it was not their ignorance that +confined them to such narrow instruments and so few strings; nor was it +out of ignorance that Olympus and Terpander and those that came after +them would not admit of larger instruments and more variety of strings. +This is manifest from the poems of Olympus and Terpander and all those +that were their imitators. For, being plain and without any more than +three strings, these so far excelled those that were more numerously +strung, insomuch that none could imitate Olympus’s play; and they were +all inferior to him when they betook themselves to their polychords. + +19. Then again, that the ancients did not through ignorance abstain +from the third string in the spondaic style, their use of it in play +makes apparent. For had they not known the use of it, they would never +have struck it in harmony with parhypate; but the elegancy and gravity +that attended the spondaic style by omitting the third string induced +them to transfer the music to paranete. The same reason may serve for +nete; for this in play they struck in concord to mese, but in discord +to paranete, although in song it did not seem to them proper to the +slow spondaic motion. And not only did they do this, but they did the +same with nete of the conjunct heptachords; for in play they struck +it in concord to mese and lichanos, and in discord to paranete and +parhypate;[59] but in singing those touches were no way allowable, as +being ungrateful to the ear and shaming the performer. As certain it is +from the Phrygians that Olympus and his followers were not ignorant of +the third string; for they made use of it not only in pulsation, but in +their hymns to the Mother of the Gods and several other Phrygian songs. +Nor is it less apparent, with regard to the ὑπάται, that they never +abstained for want of skill from that tetrachord in the Dorian mood; +indeed in other moods they knowingly made use of it, but removed it +from the Dorian mood to preserve its elegant gravity. + +20. The same thing was done also by the tragedians. For the tragedians +have never to this day used either the chromatic or the enharmonic +scale; while the lyre, many generations older than tragedy, used them +from the very beginning. Now that the chromatic was more ancient than +the enharmonic is plain. For we must necessarily account it of greater +antiquity, according to the custom and use of men themselves; otherwise +it cannot be said that any of the differences and distinctions were +ancienter the one than the other. Therefore, if any one should allege +that Aeschylus or Phrynichus abstained from the chromatic out of +ignorance, would he not be thought to maintain a very great absurdity? +Such a one might as well aver that Pancrates lay under the same +blindness, who avoided it in most, but made use of it in some things; +therefore he forebore not out of ignorance, but judgment, imitating +Pindar and Simonides and that which is at present called the ancient +manner. + +21. The same may be said of Tyrtaeus the Mantinean, Andreas the +Corinthian, Thrasyllus the Phliasian, and several others, who, as we +well know, abstained by choice from the chromatic, from transition, +from the increased number of strings, and many other common forms of +rhythms, tunes, diction, composition, and expression. Telephanes of +Megara was so great an enemy to the pipe made of reed (called syrinx), +that he would not suffer the instrument maker to join it to the flute +(pipe made of wood or horn), and chiefly for that reason forbore to +go to the Pythian games. In short, if a man should be thought to be +ignorant of that which he makes no use of, there would be found a great +number of ignorant persons in this age. For we see that the admirers of +the Dorian composition make no use of the Antiginedian; the followers +of the Antiginedian reject the Dorian; and other musicians refuse to +imitate Timotheus, being almost all bewitched with the trifles and the +idle poems of Polyidus. On the other side, if we dive into the business +of variety and compare antiquity with the present times, we shall find +there was great variety then, and that frequently made use of. For then +the variation of rhythm was more highly esteemed, and the change of +their manner of play more frequent. We are now lovers of fables, they +were then lovers of rhythm. Plain it is therefore, that the ancients +did not refrain from broken measures out of ignorance, but out of +judgment. And yet what wonder is this, when there are so many other +things necessary to human life which are not unknown, though not made +use of by those who have no occasion to use them? But they are refused, +and the use of them is altogether neglected, as not being found proper +on many occasions. + +22. Having already shown that Plato neither for want of skill nor +for ignorance blamed all the other moods and casts of composition, +we now proceed to show that he really was skilled in harmony. For in +his discourse concerning the procreation of the soul, inserted into +Timaeus, he has made known his great knowledge in all the sciences, +and of music among the rest, in this manner: “After this,” saith he, +“he filled up the double and treble intervals, taking parts from +thence, and adding them to the midst between them, so that there were +in every interval two middle terms.”[60] This proem was the effect of +his experience in music, as we shall presently make out. The means +from whence every mean is taken are three, arithmetical, enharmonical, +geometrical. Of these the first exceeds and is exceeded in number, +the second in proportion, the third neither in number nor proportion. +Plato therefore, desirous to show the harmony of the four elements in +the soul, and harmonically also to explain the reason of that mutual +concord arising from discording and jarring principles, undertakes to +make out two middle terms of the soul in every interval, according to +harmonical proportion. Thus in a musical octave there happen to be +two middle distances, whose proportion we shall explain. As for the +octaves, they keep a double proportion between their two extremes. For +example, let the double arithmetical proportion be 6 and 12, this being +the interval between the ὑπάτη μέσων and the νήτη διεζευγμένων; 6 +therefore and 12 being the two extremes, the former note contains the +number 6, and the latter 12. To these are to be added the intermediate +numbers, to which the extremes must hold the proportion, the one of one +and a third, and the other of one and a half. These are the numbers 8 +and 9. For as 8 contains one and a third of 6, so 9 contains one and +a half of 6; thus you have one extreme. The other is 12, containing 9 +and a third part of 9, and 8 and half 8. These then being the numbers +between 6 and 12, and the interval of the octave consisting of a +diatessaron and diapente, it is plain that the number 8 belongs to +mese, and the number 9 to paramese; which being so, it follows that +hypate is to mese as paramese to nete of the disjunct tetrachords; for +it is a fourth from the first term to the second of this proportion, +and the same interval from the third term to the fourth. The same +proportion will be also found in the numbers. For as 6 is to 8, so is 9 +to 12; and as 6 is to 9, so is 8 to 12. For 8 is one and a third part +of 6, and 12 of 9; while 9 is one and a half part of 6, and 12 of 8. +What has been said may suffice to show how great was Plato’s zeal and +learning in the liberal sciences. + +23. Now that there is something of majesty, something great and +divine in music, Aristotle, who was Plato’s scholar, thus labors to +convince the world: “Harmony,” saith he, “descended from heaven, and +is of a divine, noble, and angelic nature; but being fourfold as to +its efficacy, it has two means,—the one arithmetical, the other +enharmonical. As for its members, its dimensions, and its excesses of +intervals, they are best discovered by number and equality of measure, +the whole art being contained in two tetrachords.” These are his +words. The body of it, he saith, consists of discording parts, yet +concording one with another; whose means nevertheless agree according +to arithmetical proportion. For the upper string being fitted to the +lowest in the ratio of two to one produces a perfect diapason. Thus, as +we said before, nete consisting of twelve units, and hypate of six, the +paramese accords with hypate according to the sesquialter proportion, +and has nine units, whilst mese has eight units. So that the chiefest +intervals through the whole scale are the diatessaron (which is the +proportion of 4:3), the diapente (which is the proportion of 3:2), and +the diapason (which is the proportion of 2:1); while the proportion +of 9:8 appears in the interval of a tone. With the same inequalities +of excess or diminution, all the extremes are differenced one from +another, and the means from the means, either according to the quantity +of the numbers or the measure of geometry; which Aristotle thus +explains, observing that nete exceeds mese by a third part of itself, +and hypate is exceeded by paramese in the same proportion, so that the +excesses stand in proportion. For by the same parts of themselves they +exceed and are exceeded; that is, the extremes (nete and hypate) exceed +and are exceeded by mese and paramese in the same proportions, those +of 4:3 and of 3:2. Now these excesses are in what is called harmonic +progression. But the distances of nete from mese and of paramese from +hypate, expressed in numbers, are in the same proportion (12:8 = 9:6); +for paramese exceeds mese by one-eighth of the latter. Again, nete is +to hypate as 2:1; paramese to hypate as 3:2; and mese to hypate as 4:3. +This, according to Aristotle, is the natural constitution of harmony, +as regards its parts and its numbers. + +24. But, according to natural philosophy, both harmony and its parts +consist of even, odd, and also even-odd. Altogether it is even, as +consisting of four terms; but its parts and proportions are even, odd, +and even-odd. So nete is even, as consisting of twelve units; paramese +is odd, of nine; mese even, of eight; and hypate even-odd, of six +(i.e., 2 x 3). Whence it comes to pass, that music—herself and her +parts—being thus constituted as to excesses and proportion, the whole +accords with the whole, and also with each one of the parts. + +25. But now as for the senses that are created within the body, +such as are of celestial and heavenly extraction, and which by +divine assistance affect the understanding of men by means of +harmony,—namely, sight and hearing,—do by the very light and voice +express harmony. And others which are their attendants, so far as they +are senses, likewise exist by harmony; for they perform none of their +effects without harmony; and although they are inferior to the other +two, they are not independent of them. Nay, those two also, since they +enter into human bodies at the very same time with God himself, claim +by reason a vigorous and incomparable nature. + +26. Manifest from hence therefore it is, why the ancient Greeks, with +more reason than others, were so careful to teach their children music. +For they deemed it requisite by the assistance of music to form and +compose the minds of youth to what was decent, sober, and virtuous; +believing the use of music beneficially efficacious to incite to all +serious actions, especially to the adventuring upon warlike dangers. +To which purpose they made use of pipes or flutes when they advanced +in battle array against their enemies; like the Lacedaemonians, who +upon the same occasion caused the Castorean melody to be played before +their battalions. Others inflamed their courage with harps, playing the +same sort of harmony when they went to look danger in the face, as the +Cretans did for a long time. Others, even to our own times, continue +to use the trumpet. The Argives made use of flutes at their wrestling +matches called Stheneia; which sort of sport was first instituted in +honor of Danaus, but afterwards consecrated to Jupiter Sthenius, or +Jupiter the Mighty. And now at this day it is the custom to make use +of flutes at the games called Pentathla, although there is now nothing +exquisite or antique, nothing like what was customary among men of old +time, like the song composed by Hierax for this very game; still, even +though it is sorry stuff and nothing exquisite, it is accompanied by +flute-music. + +27. But among the more ancient Greeks, music in theatres was never +known, for they employed their whole musical skill in the worship of +the Gods and the education of youth; at which time, there being no +theatres erected, music was yet confined within the walls of their +temples, as being that with which they worshipped the supreme Deity +and sang the praises of virtuous men. And it is probable that the word +θέατρον, at a later period, and θεωρεῖν (_to behold_) much earlier, +were derived from θεός (_God_). But in our age is such another face of +new inventions, that there is not the least remembrance or care of that +use of music which related to education; for all our musicians make +it their business to court the theatre Muses, and study nothing but +compositions for the stage. + +28. But some will say, Did the ancients invent nothing themselves? +Yes, say I, they did invent, but their inventions were grave and +decent. For they who have written the history of music attribute to +Terpander the addition of the Dorian nete, which before was not in +use. Even the whole Mixolydian mood is a new invention. Such were +also the Orthian manner of melody with Orthian rhythms, and also the +Trochaeus Semantus.[61] And if we believe Pindar, Terpander was the +inventor of the Scolion (or roundelay). Archilochus also invented the +rhythmic composition of the iambic trimeter, the change to rhythms +of different character, the melo-dramatic delivery,[62] and the +accompaniment proper to each of these. He is also presumed to be the +author of epodes, tetrameters, the Cretic and the prosodiac rhythms, +and the augmentation of the heroic verse. Some make him author also of +the elegiac measure, as likewise of the extending the iambic to the +paeon epibatus, the prolonged and heroic to the prosodiac and Cretic. +And Archilochus is first said to have taught how iambics could be +partly recited to the stroke of the lyre and partly sung; from him the +tragedians learned it, and from them Crexus took it, and made use of +it in dithyrambics. It is thought that he invented also playing on the +lyre at intervals in the song, whereas the ancients played only during +the singing. + +29. Of the Hypolydian mood they make Polymnestus the inventor, and +the first that taught the lowering and raising of the voice (ἔκλυσις +and ἐκβολή). To the same Olympus to whom they also ascribe the first +invention of Grecian and well-regulated nomic music they attribute +likewise the finding out the enharmonic music, the prosodiac measure +to which is composed the hymn to Mars, and the chorean measure which +he used in the hymns to the Mother of the Gods. Some report him to be +the author also of the bacchius. And every one of the ancient songs +show that this is so. But Lasus of Hermione, transferring the rhythms +to suit the dithyrambic time, and making use of an instrument with many +notes, made an absolute innovation upon the ancient music, by the use +of more notes, and those more widely distributed. + +30. In like manner Menalippides the lyric poet, Philoxenus and +Timotheus, all forsook the ancient music. For whereas until the time of +Terpander the Antissaean the harp had only seven strings, he[63] added +a greater number, and gave its notes a wider range. The wind-music +also exchanged its ancient plainness for a more copious variety. For +in ancient times, till Menalippides the dithyrambic came into request, +the wind-music received salaries from the poets, poetry holding +the first rank and the musicians being in the service of the poet. +Afterwards that custom grew out of date; insomuch that Pherecrates the +comedian brings in Music in woman’s habit, all bruised and battered, +and then introduces Justice asking the reason; to which Music thus +replies:— + + MUSIC. ’Tis mine to speak, thy part to hear, + And therefore lend a willing ear; + Much have I suffered, long opprest + By Menalippides, that beast; + He haled me from Parnassus’ springs, + And plagued me with a dozen strings. + His rage howe’er sufficed not yet, + To make my miseries complete. + Cinesias, that cursed Attic, + A mere poetical pragmatic, + Such horrid strophes in mangled verse + Made the unharmonious stage rehearse, + That I, tormented with the pains + Of cruel dithyrambic strains, + Distorted lay, that you would swear + The right side now the left side were. + Nor did my miseries end here; + For Phrynis with his whirlwind brains, + Wringing and racking all my veins, + Ruined me quite, while nine small wires + With harmonies twice six he tires. + Yet might not he so much be blamed, + From all his errors soon reclaimed; + But then Timotheus with his freaks + Furrowed my face, and ploughed my cheeks. + + JUSTICE. Say which of them so vile could be? + + MUSIC. Milesian Pyrrhias, that was he, + Whose fury tortured me much more + Than all that I have named before; + Where’er I walk the streets alone, + If met by him, the angry clown, + With his twelve cat-guts strongly bound, + He leaves me helpless on the ground.[64] + +Aristophanes the comic poet, making mention of Philoxenus, complains of +his introducing lyric verses among the cyclic choruses, where he brings +in Music thus speaking:— + + He filled me with discordant measures airy, + Wicked Hyperbolaei and Niglari; + And to uphold the follies of his play, + Like a lank radish bowed me every way. + +Other comedians have since set forth the absurdity of those who have +been slicers and manglers of music. + +31. Now that the right moulding or ruin of ingenuous manners and civil +conduct lies in a well-grounded musical education, Aristoxenus has made +apparent. For, of those that were contemporary with him, he gives an +account of Telesias the Theban, who in his youth was bred up in the +noblest excellences of music, and moreover studied the works of the +most famous lyrics, Pindar, Dionysius the Theban, Lamprus, Pratinas, +and all the rest who were accounted most eminent; who played also to +perfection upon the flute, and was not a little industrious to furnish +himself with all those other accomplishments of learning; but being +past the prime of his age, he was so bewitched with the theatre’s +new fangles and the innovations of multiplied notes, that despising +those noble precepts and that solid practice to which he had been +educated, he betook himself to Philoxenus and Timotheus, and among +those delighted chiefly in such as were most depraved with diversity +of notes and baneful innovation. And yet, when he made it his business +to make verses and labor both ways, as well in that of Pindar as that +of Philoxenus, he could have no success in the latter. And the reason +proceeded from the truth and exactness of his first education. + +32. Therefore, if it be the aim of any person to practise music with +skill and judgment, let him imitate the ancient manner; let him also +adorn it with those other sciences and make philosophy his tutor, +which is sufficient to judge what is in music decent and useful. For +music being generally divided into three parts, diatonic, chromatic, +and enharmonie, it behooves one who comes to learn music to understand +poetry, which uses these three parts, and to know how to express his +poetical inventions in proper musical form. + +First therefore we are to consider that all musical learning is a sort +of habituation, which does not teach the reason of her precepts at +one and the same time to the learner. Moreover, we are to understand +that to such an education there is not requisite an enumeration of +its several divisions, but every one learns by chance what either +the master or scholar, according to the authority of the one and the +liberty of the other, has most affection for. But the more prudent sort +reject this chance-medley way of learning, as the Lacedaemonians of +old, the Mantineans, and Pallenians, who, making choice either of one +single method or else but very few styles, used only that sort of music +which they deemed most proper to regulate the inclinations of youths. + +33. This will be apparent, if any one shall examine every one of the +parts, and see what is the subject of their several contemplations. For +harmony takes cognizance of intervals, systems, classes of harmonious +sounds, notes, tones, and systematical transmutations. Farther than +this it goes not. And therefore it would be in vain to enquire of +harmony, whether the poet have rightly and (so to speak) musically +chosen the Dorian for the beginning, the mixed Lydian and Dorian for +the end, or the Hypophrygian and Phrygian for the middle. For the +industry of harmony reaches not to these, and it is defective in many +other things, as not understanding the force and extent of elegant +aptness and proper concinnity. Neither did ever the chromatic or +enharmonic species arrive to such force of aptitude as to discover +the nature and genius of the poem; for that is the work of the poet. +It is as plain, that the sound of the system is different from the +sound of the descant sung in the same system; which, however, does not +belong to the consideration of harmonical studies. There is the same +to be said concerning rhythms, for no rhythm can claim to itself the +force of perfect aptitude. For we call a thing apt and proper when +we consider the nature of it. The reason of this, we say, is either +a certain plain and mixed composure, or both; like the enharmonic +species of Olympus, by him set in the Phrygian mood and mixed with +the paeon epibatos, which rendered the beginning of the key naturally +elegant in what is called the nome of Minerva. For having made choice +of his key and measure, he only changed the paeon epibatos for the +trochee, which produced his enharmonic species. However, the enharmonic +species and Phrygian tone remaining together with the whole system, +the elegancy of the character was greatly altered. For that which was +called harmony in the nome of Minerva was quite another thing from that +in the introduction. He then that has both judgment as well as skill +is to be accounted the most accurate musician. For he that understands +the Dorian mood, not being able withal to discern by his judgment what +is proper to it and when it is fit to be made use of, shall never know +what he does; nay, he shall quite mistake the nature and custom of the +key. Indeed it is much questioned among the Dorians themselves, whether +the enharmonic composers be competent judges of the Dorian songs. The +same is to be said concerning the knowledge of rhythm. For he that +understands a paeon may not understand the proper use of it, though +he know the measure of which it consists. Because it is much doubted +among those that make use of paeons, whether the bare knowledge make a +man capable to determine concerning the proper use of those rhythms; +or, as others say, whether it aspire to presume so far. Therefore it +behooves that person to have two sorts of knowledge, who will undertake +to judge of what is proper and what improper; first, of the custom +and manner of elegancy for which such a composition was intended, and +next of those things of which the composition consists. And thus, that +neither the bare knowledge of harmony, nor of rhythm, nor of any other +things that singly by themselves are but a part of the whole body of +music, is sufficient to judge and determine either of the one or the +other, what has been already said may suffice to prove. + +34. [Now then, there being three species into which all harmony is +divided, equal in the magnitude of systems or intervals and force +of notes and tetrachords, we find that the ancients never disputed +about any more than one; for they never troubled themselves with the +chromatic or diatonic, but differed only about the enharmonic; and +there no farther than about the great interval called the diapason. The +further subdivision indeed caused some little variance, but they nearly +all agreed that harmony itself is but one.[65]] Therefore he must never +think to be a true artist in the understanding and practice of music, +who advances no farther than the single knowledge of this or that +particular; but it behooves him to trace through all the particular +members of it, and so to be master of the whole body, by understanding +how to mix and join all the divided members. For he that understands +only harmony is confined to a single manner. Wherefore, in short, it is +requisite that the sense and understanding concur in judging the parts +of music; and that they should neither be too hasty, like those senses +which are rash and forward, nor too slow, like those which are dull +and heavy; though it may happen sometimes, through the inequality of +Nature, that the same senses may be too slow and too quick at the same +time. Which things are to be avoided by a sense and judgment that would +run an equal course. + +35. For there are three things at least that at the same instant strike +the ear,—the note, the time, and the word or syllable. By the note we +judge of the harmony, by the time of the rhythm, and by the word of the +matter or subject of the song. As these proceed forth altogether, it +is requisite the sense should give them entrance at the same moment. +But this is certain, where the sense is not able to separate every one +of these and consider the effects of each apart, there it can never +apprehend what is well or what is amiss in any. First therefore let +us discourse concerning coherence. For it is necessary that coherence +accompany the discerning faculty. For judgment of good or bad is not +to be made from notes disjoined, broken time, and shattered words, but +from coherence. For there is in practice a certain commixture of parts +which commonly are not compounded. So much as to coherence. + +36. We are next to consider whether the masters of music are +sufficiently capable of being judges of it. Now I aver the negative. +For it is impossible to be a perfect musician and a good judge of music +by the knowledge of those things that seem to be but parts of the whole +body, as by excellency of hand upon the instrument, or singing readily +at first sight, or exquisiteness of the ear, so far as this extends to +the understanding of harmony and time. Neither does the knowledge of +time and harmony, pulsation or elocution, or whatever else falls under +the same consideration, perfect their judgment. Now for the reasons why +a musician cannot gain a perfect judgment from any of these, we must +endeavor to make them clear. First then it must be granted that, of +things about which judgment is to be made, some are perfect and others +imperfect. Those things which are perfect are the compositions in +general, whether sung or played, and the expression of those, whether +upon the instruments or by the voice, with the rest of the same nature. +The imperfect are the things to these appertaining, and for whose sake +they are made use of. Such are the parts of expression. A second reason +may be found in poetry, with which the case is the same. For a man that +hears a consort of voices or instruments can judge whether they sing or +play in tune, and whether the language be plain or not. But every one +of these are only parts of instrumental and vocal expression; not the +end itself, but for the sake of the end. For by these and things of the +same nature shall the elegancy of elocution be judged, whether it be +proper to the poem which the performer undertakes to sing. The same is +to be said of the several passions expressed in the poetry. + +37. The ancients now made principal account of the moral impression, +and therefore preferred that fashion of the antique music which was +grave and least affected. Therefore the Argives are said to have +punished deviation from the ancient music, and to have imposed a fine +upon such as first adventured to play with more than seven strings, +and to introduce the Mixolydian mood.[66] Pythagoras, that grave +philosopher, rejected the judging of music by the senses, affirming +that the virtue of music could be appreciated only by the intellect. +And therefore he did not judge of music by the ear, but by the +harmonical proportion, and thought it sufficient to fix the knowledge +of music within the compass of the diapason. + +38. But our musicians nowadays have so utterly exploded the most noble +of all the moods, which the ancients greatly admired for its majesty, +that hardly any among them make the least account of enharmonic +distances. And so negligent and lazy are they grown, as to believe +the enharmonic diesis to be too contemptible to fall under the +apprehension of sense, and they therefore exterminate it out of their +compositions, deeming those to be triflers that have any esteem for +it or make use of the mood itself. For proof of which they think they +bring a most powerful argument, which rather appears to be the dulness +of their own senses; as if whatever fled their apprehensions were to +be rejected as useless and of no value. And then again they urge that +its magnitude cannot be perceived through its concord, like that of +the semitone, tone, and other distances; not understanding, that at +the same time they throw out the third, fifth, and seventh, of which +the one consists of three, the other of five, and the last of seven +dieses. And on the same principle all the intervals that are odd should +be rejected as useless, inasmuch as none of them is perceptible through +concord; and this would include all which by means of even the smallest +diesis are measured by odd numbers. Whence it necessarily follows, that +no division of the tetrachord would be of use but that which is to be +measured by all even intervals, as in the syntonic diatonic, and in the +toniaean chromatic. + +39. But these opinions are not only contrary to appearance, but +repugnant one to another. For they themselves chiefly make use of +those divisions of tetrachords in which most of the intervals are +either unequal or irrational. To which purpose they always soften both +lichanos and paranete, and lower even some of the standing sounds by an +irrational interval, bringing the trite and paranete to approach them. +And especially they applaud the use of those systems in which most of +the intervals are irrational, by relaxing not only those tones which +are by nature movable, but also some which are properly fixed; as it is +plain to those that rightly understand these things. + +40. Now for the advantages that accrue to men from the use of music, +the famous Homer has taught it us, introducing Achilles, in the height +of his fury toward Agamemnon, appeased by the music which he learned +from Chiron, a person of great wisdom. For thus says he:— + + Amused at ease, the god-like man they found, + Pleased with the solemn harp’s harmonious sound. + The well-wrought harp from conquered Thebe came; + Of polished silver was its costly frame. + With this he soothes his angry soul, and sings + The immortal deeds of heroes and of kings.[67] + +Learn, says Homer, from hence the true use of music. For it became +Achilles, the son of Peleus the Just, to sing the famous acts and +achievements of great and valiant men. Also, in teaching the most +proper time to make use of it, he found out a profitable and pleasing +pastime for one’s leisure hours. For Achilles, being both valiant +and active, by reason of the disgust he had taken against Agamemnon +withdrew from the war. Homer therefore thought he could not do better +than by the laudable incitements of music and poetry to inflame the +hero’s courage for those achievements which he afterwards performed. +And this he did, calling to mind the great actions of former ages. +Such was then the ancient music, and such the advantages that made it +profitable. To which end and purpose we read that Hercules, Achilles, +and many others made use of it; whose master, wisest Chiron, is +recorded to have taught not only music, but morality and physic. + +41. In brief therefore, a rational person will not blame the sciences +themselves, if any one make use of them amiss, but will adjudge such a +failing to be the error of those that abuse them. So that whoever he +be that shall give his mind to the study of music in his youth, if he +meet with a musical education, proper for the forming and regulating +his inclinations, he will be sure to applaud and embrace that which is +noble and generous, and to rebuke and blame the contrary, as well in +other things as in what belongs to music. And by that means he will +become clear from all reproachful actions, for now having reaped the +noblest fruit of music, he may be of great use, not only to himself +but to the commonwealth; while music teaches him to abstain from +every thing indecent both in word and deed, and to observe decorum, +temperance, and regularity. + +42. Now that those cities which were governed by the best laws took +care always of a generous education in music, many testimonies may be +produced. But for us it shall suffice to have instanced Terpander, who +appeased a sedition among the Lacedaemonians, and Thaletas the Cretan, +of whom Pratinas writes that, being sent for by the Lacedaemonians by +advice of the oracle, he freed the city from a raging pestilence. Homer +tells that the Grecians stopped the fury of another noisome pestilence +by the power and charms of the same noble science:— + + With sacred hymns and songs that sweetly please, + The Grecian youth all day the Gods appease. + Their lofty paeans bright Apollo hears, + And still the charming sounds delight his ears. + +These verses, most excellent master, I thought requisite to add as +the finishing stone to my musical discourse, which were by you cited +before[68] to show the force of harmony. For indeed the chiefest and +sublimest end of music is the graceful return of our thanks to the +Gods, and the next is to purify and bring our minds to a sober and +harmonious temper. Thus, said Soterichus, most excellent master, I have +given you what may be called an encyclic discourse of music. + +43. Nor was Soterichus a little admired for what he had spoken, as +one that both by his countenance and speech had shown his zeal and +affection for that noble science. After all, said Onesicrates, I must +needs applaud this in both of you, that you have kept within your own +spheres and observed your proper limits. For Lysias, not insisting any +further, undertook only to show us what was necessary to the making a +good hand, as being an excellent performer himself. But Soterichus has +feasted us with a discovery of the benefit, the theory, the force, and +right end of music. But one thing I think they have willingly left for +me to say; for I cannot think them guilty of so much bashfulness that +they should be ashamed to bring music into banquets, where certainly, +if anywhere, it cannot but be very useful, which Homer also confirms to +be true:— + + Song and the merry dance, the joy of feasts.[69] + +Not that I would have any one believe from these words, that Homer +thought music useful only for pleasure and delight, there being a +profounder meaning concealed in the verse. For he brought in music to +be present at the banquets and revels of the ancients, as believing +it then to be of greatest use and advantage to repel and mitigate the +inflaming power of the wine. To which our Aristoxenus agrees, who +alleges that music was introduced at banquets for this reason, that as +wine intemperately drunk weakens both the body and mind, so music by +its harmonious order and symmetry assuages and reduces them to their +former constitution. And therefore it was that Homer reports that the +ancients made use of music at their solemn festivals. + +44. But for all this, my most honored friends, methinks you have +forgot the chiefest thing of all, and that which renders music most +majestic. For Pythagoras, Archytas, Plato, and many others of the +ancient philosophers, were of opinion, that there could be no motion of +the world or rolling of the spheres without the assistance of music, +since the Supreme Deity created all things harmoniously. But it would +be unseasonable now to enter upon such a discourse, especially at this +time, when it would be absurd for Music to transgress her highest and +most musical office, which is to give the laws and limits of time and +measure to all things. Therefore after he had sung a paean, and offered +to Saturn and his offspring, with all the other Gods and the Muses, he +dismissed the company. + + + + +OF THE TRANQUILLITY OF THE MIND. + + +PLUTARCH WISHETH ALL HEALTH TO HIS PACCIUS. + +1. It was late before I received your letter, wherein you make it your +request that I would write something to you concerning the tranquillity +of the mind, and of those things in the Timaeus which require a more +perspicuous interpretation. At the same time a very urgent occasion +called upon our common friend and companion Eros to sail directly to +Rome; that which quickened him to a greater expedition was a dispatch +he received from Fundanus, that best of men, who, as his custom is, +always enjoins the making haste. Therefore, wanting full leisure to +consummate those things justly which you requested, and being on the +other side unwilling to send one from me to your dear self empty +handed, I have transcribed my commonplace book, and hastily put +together those collections which I had by me concerning this subject; +for I thought you a man that did not look after flourishes of style +and the affected elegance of language, but only required what was +instructive in its nature and useful to us in the conduct of our +lives. And I congratulate that bravery of temper in you, that though +you are admitted into the confidence of princes, and have obtained so +great a vogue of eloquence at the bar that no man hath exceeded you, +you have not, like the tragic Merops, suffered yourself to be puffed +up with the applause of the multitude, and transported beyond those +bounds which are prescribed to our passions; but you call to mind +that which you have so often heard, that a rich slipper will not cure +the gout, a diamond ring a whitlow, nor will an imperial diadem ease +the headache. For what advantage is there in honor, riches, or an +interest at court, to remove all perturbations of mind and procure an +equal tenor of life, if we do not use them with decency when they are +present to our enjoyment, and if we are continually afflicted by their +loss when we are deprived of them? And what is this but the province +of reason, when the sensual part of us grows turbulent and makes +excursions, to check its sallies and bring it again within the limits +it hath transgressed, that it may not be carried away and so perverted +with the gay appearances of things. For as Xenophon gives advice, we +ought to remember the Gods and pay them particular devotions when our +affairs are prosperous, that so when an exigency presseth us we may +more confidently invoke them, now we have conciliated their favor and +made them our friends. So wise men always ruminate upon those arguments +which have any efficacy against the troubles of the mind before their +calamities happen, that so the remedies being long prepared, they may +acquire energy, and work with a more powerful operation. For as angry +dogs are exasperated by every one’s rating them, and are flattered +to be quiet only by his voice to which they are accustomed; so it is +not easy to pacify the brutish affections of the soul but by familiar +reasons, and such as are used to be administered in such inward +distempers. + +2. Besides, he that affirmed that whosoever would enjoy tranquillity of +mind must disengage himself from all private and public concerns, would +make us pay dear for our tranquillity by buying it with idleness; as if +he should prescribe thus to a sick man:— + + Lie still, poor wretch, and keep thy bed.[70] + +Now stupefaction is a bad remedy for desperate pain in the body, and +verily he would be no better physician for the soul who should order +idleness, softness, and neglect of friends, kinsfolk, and country, in +order to remove its trouble and grief. It is likewise a false position +that those live most contentedly who have the least to do; for then by +this rule women should be of more sedate dispositions than men, since +they only sit at home and mind their domestic affairs. Whereas in fact, +as Hesiod expresseth it,— + + The virgins’ tender limbs are kept from cold; + Not the least wind to touch them is so bold;[71] + +but nevertheless we see that grief and troubles and discontentments, +arising from jealousy or superstition or vain opinions, flow as it were +with a torrent into the apartments of the females. And though Laertes +lived twenty years in the fields secluded from the world, and + + Only a toothless hag did make his bed, + Draw him his drink, and did his table spread,[72] + +though he forsook his house and country, and fled from a kingdom, yet +grief with his sloth and sadness still kept him company. There are some +to whom idleness hath been an affliction; as for instance,— + + But raging still, amidst his navy sat + The stern Achilles, steadfast in his hate; + Nor mix’d in combat, nor in council join’d; + But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind: + In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll, + And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul.[73] + +And he himself complains of it, being mightily disturbed, after this +manner:— + + I live an idle burden to the ground.[74] + +Hence it is that Epicurus adviseth those who aspire to glory not to +stagnate in their ambition, but be in perpetual motion, and so obey +the dictates of their genius in managing the commonwealth; because they +would be more tormented and would suffer greater damages by idleness, +if they were disappointed of that they were in the eager pursuit of. +But the philosopher is absurd in this, that he doth not excite men who +have abilities to qualify themselves for charges in the government, +but only those who are of a restless and unquiet disposition. For the +tranquillity and perturbation of the mind are not to be measured by the +fewness or multitude of our actions, but by their beauty or turpitude; +since the omission of what is good is no less troublesome than the +commission of evil. + +3. As for those who think there is one positive state of life, which +is always serene,—some fancying it to be of the husbandmen, others of +those which are unmarried, and some of kings,—Menander clearly shows +them their error in these verses:— + + I thought those men, my Phania, always best, + Who take no money up at interest; + Who disengaged from business spend the day, + And in complaints don’t sigh the night away, + Who, troubled, lamentable groans don’t fetch, + Thus breathing out, Ah! miserable wretch! + Those whom despairing thoughts don’t waking keep, + But without startings sweetly take their sleep. + +He goes on and observes to us, that the same lot of misfortune falls to +the rich as well as the poor:— + + These neighbors slender confines do divide,— + Sorrow and human life are still allied. + It the luxurious liver doth infest, + And robs the man of honor of his rest; + In stricter ties doth with the poor engage, + With him grows old to a decrepit age. + +But as timorous and raw sailors in a boat, when they grow sick with the +working of the waves, think they shall overcome their pukings if they +go on board of a ship, but there being equally out of order, go into a +galley, but are therefore never the better, because they carry their +nauseousness and fear along with them; so the several changes of life +do only shift and not wholly extirpate the causes of our trouble. And +these are only our want of experience, the weakness of our judgment, +and a certain impotence of mind which hinders us from making a right +use of what we enjoy. The rich man is subject to this uneasiness of +humor as well as the poor; the bachelor as well as the man in wedlock. +This makes the pleader withdraw from the bar, and then his retirement +is altogether as irksome. And this infuseth a desire into others to be +presented at court; and when they come there, they presently grow weary +of the life. + + Poor men when sick do peevishly complain, + The sense of want doth aggravate their pain.[75] + +For then the wife grows officious in her attendance, the physician +himself is a disease, and the bed is not made easy enough to his mind; +even his friend importunes him with his visits:— + + He doth molest him when he first doth come, + And when he goes away he’s troublesome, + +as Ion expresseth it. But when the heat of the disease is over and the +former temperature of the body is restored, then health returns, and +brings with it all those pleasant images which sickness chased away; so +that he that yesterday refused eggs and delicate cakes and the finest +manchets will now snap eagerly at a piece of household bread, with an +olive and a few water-cresses. + +4. So reason makes all sorts of life easy, and every change pleasant. +Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite +number of worlds, and his friends asking him if any accident had +befallen him, he returns this answer: Do not you think it a matter +worthy of lamentation, that, when there is such a vast multitude of +them, we have not yet conquered one? But Crates with only his scrip +and tattered cloak laughed out his life jocosely, as if he had been +always at a festival. The great power and command of Agamemnon gave him +an equal disturbance:— + + Look upon Agamemnon, Atreus’s son, + What mighty loads of trouble he hath on. + He is distracted with perpetual care; + Jove that inflicts it gives him strength to bear.[76] + +Diogenes, when he was exposed to sale in the market and was commanded +to stand up, not only refused to do it, but ridiculed the auctioneer, +with this piece of raillery: What! if you were selling a fish, would +you bid it rise up? Socrates was a philosopher in the prison, and +discoursed with his friends, though he was fettered. But Phaeton, when +he climbed up into heaven, thought himself unhappy there, because +nobody would give him his father’s chariot and the horses of the sun. +As therefore the shoe is twisted to the shape of the foot and not in +the opposite way, so do the affections of the mind render the life +conformable to themselves. For it is not custom, as one observed, which +makes even the best life pleasant to those who choose it, but it must +be prudence in conjunction with it, which makes it not only the best +for its kind, but sweetest in its enjoyment. The fountain therefore of +tranquillity being in ourselves, let us cleanse it from all impurity +and make its streams limpid, that all external accidents, by being made +familiar, may be no longer grievous to us, since we shall know how to +use them well. + + Let not these things thy least concern engage; + For though thou fret, they will not mind thy rage. + Him only good and happy we may call + Who rightly useth what doth him befall.[77] + +5. For Plato compared our life to a game at dice, where we ought to +throw for what is most commodious for us, but when we have thrown, to +make the best of our casts. We cannot make what chances we please turn +up, if we play fair; this lies out of our power. That which is within +our power, and is our duty if we are wise, is to accept patiently what +Fortune shall allot us, and so to adjust things in their proper places, +that what is our own may be disposed of to the best advantage, and what +hath happened against our will may offend us as little as possible. +But as to men who live without measures and with no prudence, like +those whose constitution is so sickly and infirm that they are equally +impatient both of heats and colds, prosperity exalts them above their +temper, and adversity dejects them beneath it; indeed each fortune +disturbs them, or rather they raise up storms to themselves in either, +and they are especially querulous under good circumstances. Theodorus, +who was called the Atheist, was used to say, that he reached out his +instructions with the right hand, and his auditors received them with +their left hands. So men of no education, when Fortune would even be +complaisant to them, are yet so awkward in their observance, that they +take her addresses on the wrong side. On the contrary, men that are +wise, as the bees draw honey from the thyme, which is a most unsavory +and dry herb, extract something that is convenient and useful even from +the most bitter afflictions. + +6. This therefore let us learn and have inculcated upon us; like the +man who threw a stone at a bitch, but hit his step-mother, on which +he exclaimed, Not so bad. So we may often turn the direction of what +Fortune obtrudes upon us contrary to our desires. Diogenes was driven +into banishment, but it was “not so bad” for him; for of an exile he +became a philosopher. Zeno of Citium, when he heard that the only ship +he had left was sunk by an unmerciful tempest, with all the rich cargo +that was in her, brake out into this exclamation: Fortune, I applaud +thy contrivance, who by this means hast reduced me to a threadbare +cloak and the piazza of the Stoics. What hinders then but that +these examples should be the patterns of our imitation? Thou stoodst +candidate for a place in the government, and wast baulked in thy hopes; +consider that thou wilt live at ease in thy own country, following thy +own affairs. Thou wast ambitious to be the confidant of some great +person, and sufferedst a repulse; thou wilt gain thus much by it, that +thou wilt be free from danger and disembarrassed from business. Again, +hast thou managed any affairs full of intricacy and trouble? Hot water +doth not so much cherish the soft members of the body, as Pindar[78] +expresseth it, as glory and honor joined with power sweeten all our +toils and make labor easy. Hast thou met with any unfortunate success? +Hath calumny bit, or envy hissed at thee? There is yet a prosperous +gale, which sits fair to convey thee to the port of the Muses and +land thee at the Academy. This Plato did, after he made shipwreck of +the friendship of Diogenes. And indeed it highly conduceth to the +tranquillity of the mind, to look back upon illustrious men and see +with what temper they have borne their calamities. For instance, doth +it trouble thee that thou wantest children? Consider that kings of the +Romans have died without them,—had kingdoms to leave, but no heirs. +Doth poverty and low condition afflict thee? It is put to thy option, +wouldst thou not rather of all the Boeotians be Epaminondas, and of +all the Romans Fabricius? But thy bed is violated, and thy wife is an +adulteress. Didst thou never read this inscription at Delphi?— + + Here am I set by Agis’ royal hand, + Who both the earth and ocean did command. + +And yet did the report never arrive thee that Alcibiades debauched this +king’s wife, Timaea?—and that she herself whispered archly to her +maids, that the child was not the genuine offspring of her husband, +but a young Alcibiades? Yet this did not obstruct the glory of the +man; for, notwithstanding his being a cuckold, he was the greatest and +most famous among the Greeks. Nor did the dissolute manners of his +daughter hinder Stilpo from enlivening his humor and being the jolliest +philosopher of his time; for when Metrocles upbraided him with it, he +asked him whether he was the offender or his mad girl. He answered, +that it was her sin but his misfortune. To which Stilpo replied: But +are not sins lapses? No doubt of it, saith Metrocles. And is not that +properly called lapse, when we fall off from the attainment of those +things we were in the pursuit of? He could not deny it. He pursued +him further with this question: And are not these unlucky traverses +misfortunes to them who are thus disappointed? Thus by a pleasant and +philosophical reasoning he turned the discourse, and showed the Cynic +that his calumny was idle and he barked in vain. + +7. But there are some whom not only the evil dispositions of their +friends and domestics, but those of their enemies, give disturbance to. +For a proneness to speak evil of another, anger, envy, ill-nature, a +jealous and perverse temper, are the pests of those who are infected +with them. And these serve only to trouble and exasperate fools, like +the brawls of scolding neighbors, the peevishness of our acquaintance, +and the iniquity or want of qualifications in those who administer +the government. But thou seemest to me to be especially concerned +with affairs of this nature; for, like the physicians mentioned by +Sophocles,— + + Who bitter choler cleanse and scour + With drugs as bitter and as sour,— + +thou dost let other men’s enormities sour thy blood; which is highly +irrational. For, even in matters of private management, thou dost +not always employ men of wit and address, which are the most proper +for such an execution, but sometimes those of rough and crooked +dispositions; and to animadvert upon them for every peccadillo thou +must not think belongs to thee, nor is it easy in the performance. +But if thou makest that use of them, as chirurgeons do of forceps to +pull out teeth or ligatures to bind wounds, and so appear cheerful +whatever falls out, the satisfaction of thy mind will delight thee +more than the concern at other men’s pravity and malicious humor will +disturb thee. Otherwise, as dogs bark at all persons indifferently, +so, if thou persecutest everybody that offends thee, thou wilt bring +the matter to this pass by thy imprudence, that all things will flow +down into this imbecility of thy mind, as a place void and capable of +receiving them, and at last thou wilt be filled with nothing but other +men’s miscarriages. For if some of the philosophers inveigh against +compassion which others’ calamities affect us with, as a soft affection +(saying, that we ought to give real assistance to those in distress, +and not to be dejected or sympathize with them), and if—which is a +thing of higher moment—they discard all sadness and uneasiness when +the sense of a vice or a disease is upon us, saying that we ought +to cure the indisposition without being grieved; is it not highly +consonant to reason, that we should not storm or fret, if those we +have to do with are not so wise and honest as they should be? Let us +consider the thing truly, my Paccius, lest, whilst we find fault with +others, we prove partial in our own respect through inadvertency, +and lest our censuring their failings may proceed not so much from a +hatred of their vices as from love of ourselves. We should not have +our passions moved at every provocation, nor let our desires grow +exorbitant beyond what is just; for these little aversions of our +temper engender suspicions, and infuse moroseness into us, which makes +us surly to those who precluded the way to our ambition, or who made us +fall into those disastrous events we would willingly have shunned. But +he that hath a smoothness in his nature and a talent of moderation can +transact and converse with mankind easily and with mildness. + +8. Let us recapitulate therefore what we have said. When we are in +a fever, every thing that we taste is not only unsavory but bitter; +but when we see others relish it without any disgust, we do not then +lay the blame either upon the meat or drink, but conclude that only +ourselves and the disease are in fault. In like manner we shall cease +to bear things impatiently, if we see others enjoy them with alacrity +and humor. And this likewise is a great promoter of the tranquillity +of the mind, if, amongst those ill successes which carry a dismal +appearance, we look upon other events which have a more beautiful +aspect, and so blend them together that we may overcome the bad by the +mixture of the good. But although, when our eyes are dazzled with too +intense a splendor, we refresh our sight by viewing something that +is green and florid, yet we fix the optics of our minds upon doleful +objects, and compel them to dwell upon the recital of our miseries, +plucking them perforce, as it were, from the consideration of what is +better. And here we may insert that which was said to a pragmatical +fellow, handsomely enough:— + + Why so quick sighted others’ faults to find, + But to thy own so partially art blind? + ’Tis malice that exasperates thy mind. + +But why, my friend, art thou so acute to discern even thy own +misfortunes, and so industrious to renew them and set them in thy +sight, that they may be the more conspicuous, while thou never turnest +thy consideration to those good things which are present with thee and +thou dost enjoy? But as cupping-glasses draw the impurest blood out +of the body, so thou dost extract the quintessence of infelicity to +afflict thyself. In this thou art no better than the Chian merchant, +who, while he sold abundance of his best and most generous wine to +others, called for some that was pricked and vapid to taste at supper; +and one of his servants asking another what he left his master doing, +he made this answer, that he was calling for bad when the good was +by him. For most men leave the pleasant and delectable things behind +them, and run with haste to embrace those which are not only difficult +but intolerable. Aristippus was not of this number, for he knew, even +to the niceness of a grain, to put prosperous against adverse fortune +into the scale, that the one might outweigh the other. Therefore when +he lost a noble farm, he asked one of his dissembled friends, who +pretended to be sorry, not only with regret but impatience, for his +mishap: Thou hast but one piece of land, but have I not three farms yet +remaining? He assenting to the truth of it: Why then, saith he, should +I not rather lament your misfortune, since it is the raving only of a +mad man to be concerned at what is lost, and not rather rejoice in what +is left? Thus, as children, if you rob them of one of their play-games, +will throw away the rest, and cry and scream; so, if Fortune infest us +only in one part, we grow fearful and abandon ourselves wholly to her +attacks. + +9. But somebody will object to me, What is it that we have? Rather, +What is it that we have not? One is honorable, the other is master +of a family; this man hath a good wife, the other a faithful friend. +Antipater of Tarsus, when he was upon his death-bed and reckoning up +all the good events which had befallen him, would not omit a prosperous +voyage which he had when he sailed from Cilicia to Athens. Even the +trite and common blessings are not to be despised, but ought to take up +a room in our deliberations. We should rejoice that we live, and are +in health, and see the sun; that there are no wars nor seditions in +our country; that the earth yields to cultivation, and that the sea is +open to our traffic; that we can talk, be silent, do business, and be +at leisure, when we please. They will afford us greater tranquillity +of mind present, if we form some just ideas of them when they are +absent; if we often call to our remembrance how solicitous the sick man +is after health, how acceptable peace is to put out a war, and what a +courtesy it will do us to gain credit and acquire friends in a city of +note, where we are strangers and unknown; and contrariwise, how great a +grief it is to forego these things when we once have them. For surely +a thing does not become great and precious when we have lost it, while +it is of no account so long as we possess it; for the value of a thing +cannot be increased by its loss. But we ought not to take pains to +acquire things as being of great value, and to be in fear and trembling +lest we may lose them, as if they were precious, and then all the time +they are safe in our possession, to neglect them as if they were of no +importance. But we are so to use them that we may reap satisfaction +and gain a solid pleasure from them, that so we may be the better +enabled to endure their loss with evenness of temper. But most men, as +Arcesilaus observed, think they must be critics upon other men’s poems, +survey their pictures with a curious eye, and examine their statues +with all the delicacy of sculpture, but in the meanwhile transiently +pass over their own lives, though there be some things in them which +will not only detain but please their consideration. But they will +not restrain the prospect to themselves, but are perpetually looking +abroad, and so become servile admirers of other men’s fortune and +reputation; as adulterers are always gloating upon other men’s wives +and contemning their own. + +10. Besides, this is a thing highly conducing to the tranquillity of +the mind, for a man chiefly to consider himself and his own affairs. +But if this always cannot take place, he should not make comparisons +with men of a superior condition to himself; though this is the +epidemical frenzy of the vulgar. As for instance, slaves who lie in +fetters applaud their good fortune whose shackles are off; those who +are loosed from their bonds would be free men by manumission; these +again aspire to be citizens; the citizen would be rich; the wealthy +man would be a governor of a province; the haughty governor would be +a king, and the king a God, hardly resting content unless he can hurl +thunderbolts and dart lightning. So all are eager for what is above +them, and are never content with what they have. + + The wealth of golden Gyges has no delight for me. + +Likewise,— + + No emulation doth my spirits fire, + The actions of the Gods I don’t admire. + I would not, to be great, a tyrant be; + The least appearances I would not see. + +But one of Thasis, another of Chios, one of Galatia, and a fourth of +Bithynia, not contenting themselves with the rank they enjoyed amongst +their fellow-citizens, where they had honor and commands, complain +that they have not foreign characters and are not made patricians of +Rome; and if they attain that dignity, that they are not praetors; and +if they arrive even to that degree, they still think themselves ill +dealt with that they are not consuls; and when promoted to the fasces, +that they were declared the second, and not the first. And what is all +this but ungratefully accusing Fortune, and industriously picking out +occasions to punish and torment ourselves? But he that is in his right +senses and wise for his own advantage, out of those many millions which +the sun looks upon, + + Who of the products of the earth do eat,[79] + +if he sees any one in the mighty throng who is more rich and honorable +than himself, he is neither dejected in his mind nor countenance, nor +doth he pensively sit down deploring his unhappiness, but he walks +abroad publicly with an honest assurance. He celebrates his own good +genius, and boasts of his good fortune in that it is happier than a +thousand other men’s which are in the world. In the Olympic games you +cannot gain the victory choosing your antagonist. But in human life +affairs allow thee to excel many and to bear thyself aloft, and to +be envied rather than envious; unless indeed thou dost match thyself +unequally with a Briareus or a Hercules. Therefore, when thou art +surprised into a false admiration of him who is carried in his sedan, +cast thy eyes downward upon the slaves who support his luxury. When +thou art wondering at the greatness of Xerxes crossing the Hellespont, +consider those wretches who are digging through Mount Athos, who are +urged to their labor with blows, blood being mixed with their sweat; +call to mind that they had their ears and noses cut off, because the +bridge was broken by the violence of the waves; think upon that secret +reflection they have, and how happy they would esteem thy life and +condition. Socrates hearing one of his friends crying out, How dear +things are sold in this city! the wine of Chios costs a mina, the +purple fish three, and a half pint of honey five drachms,—he brought +him to the meal-shop, and showed him that half a peck of flour was +sold for a penny. ’Tis a cheap city, said he. Then he brought him to +the oil-man’s, and told him he might have a quart of olives for two +farthings. At last he went to the salesman’s, and convinced him that +the purchase of a sleeveless jerkin was only ten drachms. ’Tis a cheap +city, he repeated. So, when we hear others declare that our condition +is afflicted because we are not consuls and in eminent command, let +us then look upon ourselves as living not only in a bare happiness +but splendor, in that we do not beg our bread, and are not forced to +subsist by carrying of burthens or by flattery. + +11. But such is our folly, that we accustom ourselves rather to live +for other men’s sakes than our own; and our dispositions are so prone +to upbraidings and to be tainted with envy, that the grief we conceive +at others’ prosperity lessens the joy we ought to take in our own. But +to cure thee of this extravagant emulation, look not upon the outside +of these applauded men, which is so gay and brilliant, but draw the +gaudy curtain and carry thy eyes inward, and thou shalt find most +gnawing disquiets to be dissembled under these false appearances. When +the renowned Pittacus, who got him so great a name for his fortitude, +wisdom, and justice, was entertaining his friends at a noble banquet, +and his spouse in an angry humor came and overturned the table; his +guests being extremely disturbed at it, he told them: Every one of you +hath his particular plague, and my wife is mine; and he is very happy +who hath this only. + + The pleading lawyer’s happy at the bar; + But the scene opening shows a civil war. + For the good man hath a domestic strife, + He’s slave to that imperious creature, wife. + Scolding without doors doth to him belong, + But she within them doth claim all the tongue. + Pecked by his female tyrant him I see, + Whilst from this grievance I myself am free. + +These are the secret stings which are inseparable from honor, +riches, and dominion, and which are unknown to the vulgar, because a +counterfeit lustre dazzleth their sight. + + All pleasant things Atrides doth adorn; + The merry genius smiled when he was born.[80] + +And they compute this happiness from his great stores of ammunition, +his variety of managed horses, and his battalions of disciplined men. +But an inward voice of sorrow seems to silence all this ostentation +with mournful accents:— + + Jove in a deep affliction did him plunge.[81] + +Observe this likewise:— + + Old man, I reverence thy aged head, + Who to a mighty length hast spun thy thread; + Safe from all dangers, to the grave goest down + Ingloriously, because thou art unknown.[82] + +Such expostulations as these with thyself will serve to dispel this +querulous humor, which makes thee fondly applaud other people’s +conditions and depreciate thy own. + +12. This likewise greatly obstructs the tranquillity of the mind, +that our desires are immoderate and not suited to our abilities of +attainment, which, like sails beyond the proportion of the vessel, +help only to overset it; so that, being blown up with extravagant +expectations, if ill success frustrates our attempts, we presently +curse our stars and accuse Fortune, when we ought rather to lay the +blame upon our enterprising folly. For we do not reckon him unfortunate +who will shoot with a ploughshare, and let slip an ox at a hare. Nor +is he born under an unlucky influence who cannot catch a buck with a +sling or drag-net; for it was the weakness and perverseness of his mind +which inflamed him on to impossible things. The partial love of himself +is chiefly in fault, which infuseth a vicious inclination to arrogate, +and an insatiable ambition to attempt every thing. For they are not +content with the affluence of riches and the accomplishments of the +mind, that they are robust, have a complaisance of humor and strength +of brain for company, that they are privadoes to princes and governors +of cities, unless they have dogs of great sagacity and swiftness, +horses of a generous strain, nay, unless their quails and cocks are +better than other men’s. Old Dionysius, not being satisfied that he +was the greatest potentate of his time, grew angry, even to a frenzy, +that Philoxenus the poet exceeded him in the sweetness of his voice, +and Plato in the subtleties of disputation; therefore he condemned one +to the quarries, and sold the other into Aegina. But Alexander was of +another temper; for when Criso the famous runner contended with him +for swiftness, and seemed to be designedly lagging behind and yielding +the race, he was in a great rage with him. And Achilles in Homer spake +very well, when he said:— + + None of the Greeks for courage me excel; + Let others have the praise of speaking well.[83] + +When Megabyzus the Persian came into the shop of Apelles, and began +to ask some impertinent questions concerning his art, the famous +painter checked him into silence with this reprimand: As long as thou +didst hold thy peace, thou didst appear to be a man of condition, and +I paid a deference to the eclat of thy purple and the lustre of thy +gold; but now, since thou art frivolous, thou exposest thyself to the +laughter even of my boys that mix the colors. Some think the Stoics +very childish, when they hear them affirm that the wise man must not +only deserve that appellation for his prudence, be of exact justice +and great fortitude, but must likewise have all the flowers of a +rhetorician and the conduct of a general, must have the elegancies of +a poet, be very wealthy, and called a king; but these good men claim +all these titles for themselves, and if they do not receive them, they +grow peevish and are presently out of temper. But the qualifications of +the Gods themselves are different; for the one is styled the deity of +war, another of the oracle, a third of traffic; and Jupiter makes Venus +preside over marriages and be goddess of the nuptial bed, the delicacy +of her sex being unapt for martial affairs. + +13. And there are some things which carry a contrariety in their +nature, and cannot be consistent. As for instance, the study of the +mathematics and practice in oratory are exercises which require a +great leisure and freedom from other concerns; but the intrigues of +politics cannot be managed, and the favor of princes cannot be attained +or cultivated, without severe application and being involved in +affairs of high moment. Then the indulging ourselves to drink wine +and eat flesh makes the body strong, but it effeminates the mind. +Industry to acquire and care to preserve our wealth do infinitely +increase it; but the contempt of riches is the best refreshment in our +philosophic journey. Hence it is very manifest that there is a wide +difference in things, and that we ought to obey the inscription of the +Pythian oracle, that every man should know himself, that he should not +constrain his genius but leave it to its own propensions, and then that +he should apply himself to that to which he is most adapted, and not do +violence to Nature by dragging her perforce to this or that course of +life. + + With generous provender they the horse do feed, + That he may win the race with strength and speed. + The mighty ox is fitted to the yoke, + And by his toil the fertile clods are broke. + The dolphin, when a ship he doth espy, + Straight the good-natured fish his fins doth ply; + By the ship’s motion he his own doth guide, + And lovingly swims constant to her side. + And if you’d apprehend the foaming boar, + The monster by a mastiff must be tore.[84] + +But he is stupid in his wishes who takes it amiss that he is not a lion, + + Who with a proud insulting air doth tread, + Rough as the mountains where he first was bred;[85] + +or that he is not a Malta-shock, delicately brought up in the lap of a +fond widow. He is not a jot more rational who would be an Empedocles, +a Plato, or a Democritus, and write about the universe and the reality +of things therein, and at the same time would sleep by the dry side of +an old woman, because she is rich, as Euphorion did; or be admitted to +debauch with Alexander amongst his club of drunkards, as Medius was; +or be concerned that he is not in as high a vogue of admiration as +Ismenias was for his riches and Epaminondas for his virtue. For those +who run races do not think they have injury done them if they are +not crowned with those garlands which are due to the wrestlers, but +they are rather transported with joy at their own rewards. “Sparta has +fallen to thy lot; honor and adorn her.” Solon hath expressed himself +to this purpose:— + + Virtue for sordid wealth shall not be sold; + It’s beauty far outshines the miser’s gold. + This without Fortune’s shocks doth still endure; + But that’s possession is insecure.[86] + +And Strato, who wrote of physics, when he heard that Menedemus had +a great number of scholars, asked: What wonder is it, if more come +to wash than to be anointed? And Aristotle, writing to Antipater, +declared, that Alexander was not the only one who ought to think +highly of himself because his dominion extended over many subjects, +since they had a right to think as well of themselves who entertained +becoming sentiments of the Gods. So that, by having a just opinion of +our own excellences, we shall be disturbed with the less envy against +those of other men. But now, although in other cases we do not expect +figs from the vine nor grapes from the olive-tree, yet, if we have not +the complicated titles of being rich and learned, philosophers in the +schools and commanders in the field, if we cannot flatter, and have the +facetious liberty to speak what we please, nay, if we are not counted +parsimonious and splendid in our expenses at the same time, we grow +uneasy to ourselves, and despise our life as maimed and imperfect. +Besides, Nature seems to instruct us herself; for, as she ministers +different sorts of food to her animals, and hath endowed them with +diversity of appetites,—some to eat flesh, others to pick up seed, and +others to dig up roots for their nourishment,—so she hath bestowed +upon her rational creatures various sorts of accommodations to sustain +their being. The shepherd hath one distinct from the ploughman; the +fowler hath another peculiar to himself; and the fourth lives by the +sea. So that in common equity we ought to labor in that vocation which +is appointed and most commodious for us, and let alone the rest; and so +not to prove that Hesiod fell short of the truth when he spake after +this manner:— + + The potter hates another of the trade, + If by his hands a finer dish is made; + The smith his brother smudge with scorn doth treat, + If he his iron strikes with brisker heat.[87] + +And this emulation is not confined to mechanics and those who follow +the same occupations; but the rich man envies the learned. He that hath +a bright reputation envies the miser’s guineas, and the pettifogger +thinks he is outdone in talking by the sophister. Nay, by Heaven, he +that is born free sottishly admires the servile attendance of him who +is of the household to a king; and the man that hath patrician blood +in his veins calls the comedian happy who acts his part gracefully +and with humor, and applauds even the mimic who pleaseth with farce +and scaramouchy gestures; thus by a false estimate of happiness they +disturb and perplex themselves. + +14. Now that every man hath a storehouse of trouble and contentment +in his own bosom, and that the vessels which contain good and evil +are not placed at Jupiter’s threshold,[88] but in the recesses of the +mind, the variety of our passions is an abundant demonstration. The +fool doth not discern, and consequently cannot mind, the good that is +obvious to him, for his thoughts are still intent upon the future; but +the prudent man retrieves things that were lost out of their oblivion, +by strength of recollection renders them perspicuous, and enjoys them +as if they were present. Happiness having only a few coy minutes to be +courted in, the man that hath no intellect neglects this opportunity, +and so it slides away from his sense and no more belongs to him. But +like him that is painted in hell twisting a rope, and who lets the ass +that is by him devour all the laborious textures as fast as he makes +them, so most men have such a lethargy of forgetfulness upon them, +that they lose the remembrance of all great actions, and no more call +to mind their pleasant intervals of leisure and repose. The relish +of their former banquets is grown insipid, and delight hath left no +piquant impression upon their palates; by this means they break as it +were the continuity of life, and destroy the union of present things to +the past; and dividing yesterday from to-day and to-day from to-morrow, +they utterly efface all events, as if they had never been. For, as +those who are dogmatical in the schools, and deny the augmentation of +bodies by reason of the perpetual flux of all substance, do strip us +out of ourselves and make no man to be the same to-day that he was +yesterday; so those who bury all things that have preceded them in +oblivion, who lose all the notices of former times and let them all be +shattered carelessly out of their minds, do every day make themselves +void and empty; and they become utterly dependent on the morrow, as if +those things which happened last year and yesterday and the day before +were not to affect their cognizance and be occurrences worthy their +observation. + +15. This is a great impediment to the tranquillity of the mind. But +that which is its more sensible disturbance is this, that as flies +upon a mirror easily slide down the smooth and polished parts of it, +but stick to those which are rugged and uneven and fall into its +flaws, so men let what is cheerful and pleasant flow from them, and +dwell only upon sad melancholy remembrances. Nay, as those of Olynthus +carry beetles into a certain place, which from the destruction of them +is called their slaughter-house, where, all passages being stopped +against their escape, they are killed by the weariness of perpetual +flying about; so when men have once fallen upon the memory of their +former sorrows, no consolation can take them off from the mournful +theme. But as in a landscape we draw the most beautiful colors, so +we ought to fill the prospect of our minds with the most agreeable +and sprightly images; that, if we cannot utterly abolish those which +are dark and unpleasant, we may at least obscure them by more gay and +lively representations. For as the strings of a lute or bow, so is the +harmony of the world alternately tightened and relaxed by vicissitude +and change; and in human affairs there is nothing that is unmixed, +nothing that is unallied. But as in music there are some sounds which +are flat and some sharp, and in grammar some letters that are vocal and +some mute, but neither the man of concord nor syntax doth industriously +decline one sort, but with the fineness of his art mixeth them +together; so in things in this world which carry a direct opposition in +their nature one to another,—when, as Euripides expresseth it, + + The good things with the evil still are joined, + And in strict union mutually combined; + The chequered work doth beautiful appear, + For what is sweet allays the more severe;— + +yet we ought not to be discouraged or have any despondencies. But in +this case let us imitate the musicians, who drown the harsh cadences +with others that more caress the ear; so, by tempering our adverse +fortune with what is more prosperous, let us render our lives pleasant +and of an equal tone. For that is not true which Menander tells us:— + + Soon as an infant doth salute the day, + A genius his first cryings doth obey, + And to his charge comes hastily away; + The daemon doth assist the tender lad, + Shows him what’s good, and saves him from the bad. + +But the opinion of Empedocles deserves more our approbation, who +saith that, as soon as any one is born, he is carefully taken up and +governed by two guardian spirits. “There were Chthonia and far-seeing +Heliope, and bloody Deris and grave-faced Harmonia, Kallisto and +Aeschra, Thoösa and Denaea, with lovely Nemertes and black-fruited +Asaphaea.” + +16. By this diversity of characters is expressed only the variety of +our passions; and these are the seeds of discontent we brought into +the world with us. Since now these disorder our lives and make them +unequal, he that is master of himself wishes for the better, but +expects the worse; but he useth them both with a moderation suitable +to that injunction, Do not any thing too much. For, as Epicurus said, +not only does he that is least impatient after to-morrow enjoy it most +when it comes; but honor, riches, and power give those the greatest +complacency who are not tormented with any apprehensions that the +contrary will befall them. For an immoderate craving after things +of this nature infuseth a fear of losing them, equal to the first +intemperate desire. This deadens the fruition, and makes the pleasure +as weak and unstable as flame driven by the wind. But he to whom his +reason hath given the assurance that he can boldly say to Fortune, + + Welcome to me, if good thou bringest aught. + And if thou fail, I will take little thought,— + +this is the man who can confidently enjoy what is present with him, +and who is not afflicted with such cowardice of thoughts as to be in +constant alarms lest he should lose his possessions, which would be +an intolerable grievance. But let us not only admire but imitate that +temper of mind in Anaxagoras, which made him express himself in these +words upon the death of his son:— + + I knew that I had begotten a mortal. + +And let us apply it to all the casualties of our life after this +manner. I know my riches have only the duration of a day; I know +that the same hand which bestowed authority upon me could spoil me of +those ornaments and take it away again; I know my wife to be the best +of women, but still a woman; my friend to be faithful, yet the cement +might be broken, for he was a man,—which, as Plato saith, is a very +inconstant creature. These previous expostulations and preparations, +if any thing fall out which is against our mind but not contrary to +our expectation, will cure the palpitation of our hearts, make our +disturbances settle and go down, and bring our minds to a consistence; +not indulging us in these lazy exclamations, Who would have thought +it?—I looked for better, and did not expect this. Carneades gives us +a short memoir concerning great things, that the cause from whence all +our troubles proceed is that they befall unexpectedly. The kingdom of +Macedon compared with the Roman empire sank in the competition, for +it was only an inconsiderable part of it; yet when Perseus lost it, +he not only deplored his own misfortune, but he was thought by all +the most abject and miserable of mankind. Yet Aemilius that conquered +him, when he delivered up the command of sea and land into the hands +of a successor, was crowned and did sacrifice, and was esteemed happy. +For he knew, when he received his honor, that it was but temporary, +and that he must lay down the authority he had taken up. But Perseus +was stripped of his dominions by surprise. The poet hath prettily +illustrated what it is for a thing to fall out unexpectedly. For +Ulysses, when his dog died, could not forbear crying, yet would not +suffer himself to weep when his wife sate by him crying, but stopped +his tears; for here he came strengthened with reason and beforehand +acquainted with the accident, but before it was the suddenness of the +disaster which raised his sorrow and threw him into complaints. + +17. Generally speaking, those things which happen to us against our +will afflict us partly by a pungency that is in their nature, and +partly custom and opinion so effeminate us that we are impatient under +them. But against all contingencies we should have that of Menander in +readiness:— + + Afflictions to thyself thou dost create, + Thy fancy only is unfortunate. + +For what are afflictions to thee, if they touch neither thy body +nor thy soul? Of this sort is the low extraction of thy father, the +adultery of thy wife, the loss of a garland, or being deprived of the +upper seat in an assembly. And with all these crosses thou mayest have +ease of mind and strength of body. But to those things which in their +own nature excite our grief,—such as sickness, pains of the body, +and the death of our friends and children,—we ought to apply that of +Euripides:— + + Alas! alas! and well-a-day! + But why _alas_ and _well away_? + Naught else to us hath yet been dealt, + But that which daily men have felt. + +There is no reasoning more effectual to restrain our passions and +hinder our minds from falling into despair, than that which sets before +us a physical necessity and the common lot of nature. And it is our +bodies only that lie exposed to this destiny, and which we offer (as +it were) as a handle to Fortune; but the fort-royal is still secure, +where our strength lies and our most precious things are treasured up. +When Demetrius took Megara, he asked Stilpo whether he had not suffered +particular damage in the plundering; to which he made this answer, +that he saw nobody that could rob him. So when Fate hath made all the +depredations upon us it possibly can and hath left us naked, yet there +is something still within us which is out of the reach of the pirate,— + + Which conquering Greece could never force away.[89] + +Therefore we ought not so to vilify and depress our nature as if it +could not get the ascendant over Fortune, and had nothing of firmness +and stability in it. But we ought rather to consider that, if any part +of us is obnoxious to this, it is only that which is the smallest, and +the most impure and sickly too; whilst the better and more generous +we have the most absolute dominion of, and our chiefest goods are +placed in it, such as true discipline, a right notion of things, and +reasonings which in their last results bring us unto virtue; which are +so far from being abolished, that they cannot be corrupted. We ought +likewise, with an invincible spirit and a bold security as regards +futurity, to answer Fortune in those words which Socrates retorted upon +his judges: Anytus and Meletus may kill, but they cannot hurt me. So +she can afflict me with a disease, can spoil me of my riches, disgrace +me with my prince, and bring me under a popular odium; but she cannot +make a good man wicked, or the brave man a mean and degenerate coward; +she cannot cast envy upon a generous temper, or destroy any of those +habits of the mind which are more useful to us in the conduct of our +lives, when they are within the command of our wills, than the skill of +a pilot in a storm. For the pilot cannot mitigate the billows or calm +the winds; he cannot sail into the haven as often as he has occasion, +or without fear and trembling abide any danger that may befall him; +but after having used all his efforts, he at last recommits himself to +the fury of the storm, pulls down all his sails by the board, whilst +the lower mast is within an inch of the abyss, and sits trembling at +the approaching ruin. But the affections of the mind in a wise man +procure tranquillity even to the body. For he prevents the beginnings +of disease by temperance, a spare diet, and moderate exercise; but if +an evil begin more visibly to show itself, as we sometimes steer our +ship by rocks which lie in the water, he must then furl in his sails +and pass by it, as Asclepiades expresseth it; but if the waves grow +turbulent and the sea rougher, the port is at hand, and he may leave +this body, as he would a leaky vessel, and swim ashore. + +18. For it is not so much the desire of life as the fear of death, +which makes the fool have such a dependence upon the body, and stick so +fast to its embraces. So Ulysses held fast by the fig-tree, dreading +Charybdis that lay under him,— + + Where the wind would not suffer him to stay. + Nor would it serve to carry him away,[90] + +so that on this side was but a slender support, and there was +inevitable danger on the other. But he who considers the nature of the +soul, and that death will transport it to a condition either far better +or not much worse than what he now enjoys, hath contempt of death to +sustain him as he travelleth on in this pilgrimage of his life, no +small _viaticum_ towards tranquillity of mind. For as to one that can +live pleasantly so long as virtue and the better part of mankind are +predominant, and can depart fearlessly so soon as hostile and unnatural +principles prevail, saying to himself,— + + Fate shall release me when I please myself;[91] + +what in the whole scope of the creation can be thought of that can +raise a tumult in such a man, or give him the least molestation? +Certainly, he that threw out that brave defiance to Fortune in these +words, “I have prevented thee, O Fortune, and have shut up all thy +avenues to me,” did not speak it confiding in the strength of walls or +bars, or the security of keys; but it was an effect of his learning, +and the challenge was a dictate of his reason. And these heights of +resolution any men may attain to if they are willing; and we ought +not to distrust, or despair of arriving to the courage of saying +the same things. Therefore we should not only admire, but be kindled +with emulation, and think ourselves touched with the impulse of a +divine instinct, which piques us on to the trial of ourselves in +matters of less importance; that thereby we may find how our tempers +bear to be qualified for greater, and so may not incuriously decline +that inspection we ought to have over ourselves, or take refuge in +the saying, Perchance nothing will be more difficult than this. For +the luxurious thinker, who withdraws himself from severe reflections +and is conversant about no objects but what are easy and delectable, +emasculates his understanding and contracts a softness of spirit; but +he that makes grief, sickness, and banishment the subjects of his +meditation, who composeth his mind sedately, and poiseth himself with +reason to sustain the burthen, will find that those things are vain, +empty, and false which appear so grievous and terrible to the vulgar, +as his own reasonings will make out to him in every particular. + +19. But many are shocked at this saying of Menander,— + + No man can tell what will himself befall,— + +in the mean while being monstrously ignorant what a noble expedient +this is to disperse our sorrows, to contemplate upon and to be able +to look Fortune steadily in the face; and not to cherish delicate and +effeminate apprehensions of things, like those bred up in the shade, +under false and extravagant hopes which have not strength to resist +the first adversity. But to the saying of Menander we may make this +just and serious reply: It is true that a man while he lives can never +say, This will never befall me; but he can say this, I will not do this +or that; I will scorn to lie; I will not be treacherous or do a thing +ungenerously; I will not defraud or circumvent any one. And to do this +lies within the sphere of our performance, and conduceth extremely +to the tranquillity of the mind. Whereas, on the contrary, the being +conscious of having done a wicked action[92] leaves stings of remorse +behind it, which, like an ulcer in the flesh, makes the mind smart +with perpetual wounds; for reason, which chaseth away all other pains, +creates repentance, shames the soul with confusion, and punisheth it +with torment. But as those who are chilled with an ague or that burn +with a fever feel acuter griefs than those who are scorched with the +sun or frozen up with the severity of the weather, so those things +which are casual and fortuitous give us the least disturbance, because +they are external accidents. But the man whom the truth of this makes +uneasy,— + + Another did not run me on this shelf; + I was the cause of all the ills myself,[93] + +who laments not only his misfortunes but his crimes, finds his agonies +sharpened by the turpitude of the fact. Hence it comes to pass, that +neither rich furniture nor abundance of gold, not a descent from an +illustrious family or greatness of authority, not eloquence and all +the charms of speaking can procure so great a serenity of life as a +mind free from guilt, kept untainted not only from actions but purposes +that are wicked. By this means the soul will be not only unpolluted +but undisturbed; the fountain will run clear and unsullied; and the +streams that flow from it will be just and honest deeds, ecstasies of +satisfaction, a brisk energy of spirit which makes a man an enthusiast +in his joy, and a tenacious memory sweeter than hope, which (as Pindar +saith) with a virgin warmth cherisheth old age.[94] For as censers, +even after they are empty, do for a long time after retain their +fragrancy, as Carneades expresseth it, so the good actions of a wise +man perfume his mind, and leave a rich scent behind them; so that joy +is, as it were, watered with these essences, and owes its flourishing +to them. This makes him pity those who not only bewail but accuse +human life, as if it were only a region of calamities and a place of +banishment appointed for their souls. + +20. That saying of Diogenes extremely pleaseth me, who, seeing one +sprucing himself up very neatly to go to a great entertainment, asked +him whether every day was not a festival to a good man. And certainly, +that which makes it the more splendid festival is sobriety. For the +world is a spacious and beautiful temple; this a man is brought into as +soon as he is born, where he is not to be a dull spectator of immovable +and lifeless images made by human hands, but is to contemplate sublime +things, which (as Plato tells us) the divine mind has exhibited to +our senses as likenesses of things in the ideal world, having the +principles of life and motion in themselves; such as are the sun, +moon, and stars; rivers which are still supplied with fresh accessions +of water; and the earth, which with a motherly indulgence suckles +the plants and feeds her sensitive creatures. Now since life is the +introduction and the most perfect initiation into these mysteries, it +is but just that it should be full of cheerfulness and tranquillity. +For we are not to imitate the little vulgar, who wait impatiently for +the jolly days which are consecrated to Saturn, Bacchus, and Minerva, +that they may be merry with hired laughter, and pay such a price to +the mimic and stage-dancer for their diversions. At all these games +and ceremonies we sit silent and composed; for no man laments when he +is initiated in the rites, when he beholds the games of Apollo, or +drinks in the Saturnalia. But when the Gods order the scenes at their +own festivals, or initiate us into their own mysteries, the enjoyment +becomes sordid to us; and we wear out our wretched lives in care, +heaviness of spirit, and bitter complaints. + +Men are delighted with the harmonious touches of an instrument; they +are pleased likewise with the melody of the birds; and it is not +without some recreation that they behold the beasts frolicsome and +sporting; but when the frisk is over and they begin to bellow and curl +their brows, the ungrateful noise and their angry looks offend them. +But as for their own lives, they suffer them to pass away without a +smile, to boil with passions, be involved in business, and eaten out +with endless cares. And to ease them of their solicitudes, they will +not seek out for remedies themselves, nor will they even hearken to the +reasons or admit the consolations of their friends. But if they would +only give ear to these, they might bear their present condition without +fault-finding, remember the past with joy and gratitude, and live +without fear or distrust, looking forward to the future with a joyful +and lightsome hope. + + + + +OF SUPERSTITION OR INDISCREET DEVOTION. + + +1. Our great ignorance of the Divine Beings most naturally runs in two +streams; whereof the one in harsh and coarse tempers, as in dry and +stubborn soils, produces atheism, and the other in the more tender and +flexible, as in moist and yielding grounds, produces superstition. +Indeed, every wrong judgment, in matters of this nature especially, is +a great unhappiness to us; but it is here attended with a passion, or +disorder of the mind, of a worse consequence than itself. For every +such passion is, as it were, an error inflamed. And as a dislocation +is the more painful when it is attended with a bruise, so are the +perversions of our understandings, when attended with passion. Is a +man of opinion that atoms and a void were the first origins of things? +It is indeed a mistaken conceit, but makes no ulcer, no shooting, no +searching pain. But is a man of opinion that wealth is his last good? +This error contains in it a canker; it preys upon a man’s spirits, it +transports him, it suffers him not to sleep, it makes him horn-mad, +it carries him over headlong precipices, strangles him, and makes him +unable to speak his mind. Are there some again, that take virtue and +vice for substantial bodies? This may be sottish conceit indeed, but +yet it bespeaks neither lamentations nor groans. But such opinions and +conceits as these,— + + Poor virtue! thou wast but a name, and mere jest, + And I, choust fool, did practise thee in earnest, + +and for thee have I quitted injustice, the way to wealth, and excess, +the parent of all true pleasure,—these are the thoughts that call at +once for our pity and indignation; for they will engender swarms of +diseases, like fly-blows and vermin, in our minds. + +2. To return then to our subject, atheism, which is a false persuasion +that there are no blessed and incorruptible beings, tends yet, by its +disbelief of a Divinity, to bring men to a sort of unconcernedness +and indifferency of temper; for the design of those that deny a God +is to ease themselves of his fear. But superstition appears by its +appellation to be a distempered opinion and conceit, productive +of such mean and abject apprehensions as debase and break a man’s +spirit, while he thinks there are divine powers indeed, but withal +sour and vindictive ones. So that the atheist is not at all, and +the superstitious is perversely, affected with the thoughts of +God; ignorance depriving the one of the sense of his goodness, and +superadding to the other a persuasion of his cruelty. Atheism then is +but false reasoning single, but superstition is a disorder of the mind +produced by this false reasoning. + +3. Every distemper of our minds is truly base and ignoble; yet some +passions are accompanied with a sort of levity, that makes men appear +gay, prompt, and erect; but none, we may say, are wholly destitute of +force for action. But the common charge upon all sorts of passions +is, that they excite and urge the reason, forcing it by their +violent stings. Fear alone, being equally destitute of reason and +audacity, renders our whole irrational part stupid, distracted, and +unserviceable. Therefore it is called δεῖμα because it _binds_, and +τάρβος because it _distracts_ the mind.[95] But of all fears, none +so dozes and confounds as that of superstition. He fears not the sea +that never goes to sea; nor a battle, that follows not the camp; nor +robbers, that stirs not abroad; nor malicious informers, that is a poor +man; nor emulation, that leads a private life; nor earthquakes, that +dwells in Gaul; nor thunderbolts, that dwells in Ethiopia: but he that +dreads divine powers dreads every thing, the land, the sea, the air, +the sky, the dark, the light, a sound, a silence, a dream. Even slaves +forget their masters in their sleep; sleep lightens the irons of the +fettered; their angry sores, mortified gangrenes, and pinching pains +allow them some intermission at night. + + Dear sleep, sweet easer of my irksome grief, + Pleasant thou art! how welcome thy relief![96] + +Superstition will not permit a man to say this. That alone will give +no truce at night, nor suffer the poor soul so much as to breathe or +look up, or respite her sour and dismal thoughts of God a moment; +but raises in the sleep of the superstitious, as in the place of the +damned, certain prodigious forms and ghastly spectres, and perpetually +tortures the unhappy soul, chasing her out of sleep into dreams, +lashed and tormented by her own self, as by some other, and charged by +herself with dire and portentous injunctions. Neither have they, when +awake, enough sense to slight and smile at all this, or to be pleased +with the thought that nothing of all that terrified them was real; but +they still fear an empty shadow, that could never mean them any ill, +and cheat themselves afresh at noonday, and keep a bustle, and are at +expense upon the next fortune-teller or vagrant that shall but tell +them:— + + If in a dream hobgoblin thou hast seen, + Or felt’st the rambling guards o’ th’ Fairy Queen, + +send for some old witch who can purify thee, go dip thyself in the sea, +and then sit down upon the bare ground the rest of the day. + + O that our Greeks should found such barbarous rites,[97] + +as tumbling in mire, rolling themselves in dunghills, keeping of +Sabbaths, monstrous prostrations, long and obstinate sittings in a +place, and vile and abject adorations, and all for vain superstition! +They that were careful to preserve good singing used to direct the +practisers of that science to sing with their mouths in their true and +proper postures. Should not we then admonish those that would address +themselves to the heavenly powers to do that also with a true and +natural mouth, lest, while we are so solicitous that the tongue of a +sacrifice be pure and right, we distort and abuse our own with silly +and canting language, and thereby expose the dignity of our divine +and ancient piety to contempt and raillery? It was not unpleasantly +said somewhere by the comedian to those that adorned their beds with +the needless ornaments of silver and gold: Since the Gods have given +us nothing gratis except sleep, why will you make that so costly? It +might as well be said to the superstitious bigot: Since the Gods have +bestowed sleep on us, to the intent we may take some rest and forget +our sorrows, why will you needs make it a continual irksome tormentor, +when you know your poor soul hath ne’er another sleep to betake herself +to? Heraclitus saith: They who are awake have a world in common amongst +them; but they that are asleep are retired each to his own private +world. But the frightful visionary hath ne’er a world at all, either +in common with others or in private to himself; for neither can he use +his reason when awake, nor be free from his fears when asleep; but he +hath his reason always asleep, and his fears always awake; nor hath he +either an hiding-place or refuge. + +4. Polycrates was formidable at Samos, and so was Periander at Corinth; +but no man ever feared either of them that had made his escape to an +equal and free government. But he that dreads the divine government, as +a sort of inexorable and implacable tyranny, whither can he remove? +Whither can he fly? What land, what sea can he find where God is not? +Wretched and miserable man! in what corner of the world canst thou so +hide thyself, as to think thou hast now escaped him? Slaves are allowed +by the laws, when they despair of obtaining their freedom, to demand +a second sale, in hopes of kinder masters. But superstition allows of +no change of Gods; nor could he indeed find a God he would not fear, +that dreads his own and his ancestors’ guardians, that quivers at his +preservers and benign patrons, and that trembles and shakes at those of +whom we ask wealth, plenty, concord, peace, and direction to the best +words and actions. Slaves again account it their misfortune to become +such, and can say,— + + Both man and wife in direful slavery, + And with ill masters too! Fate’s worst decree! + +But how much less tolerable, think you, is their condition, that can +never possibly run away, escape, or desert? A slave may fly to an +altar, and many temples afford sanctuary to thieves; and they that are +pursued by an enemy think themselves safe if they can catch hold on a +statue or a shrine. But the superstitious fears, quivers, and dreads +most of all there, where others when fearfullest take greatest courage. +Never hale a superstitious man from the altar. It is his place of +torment; he is there chastised. In one word, death itself, the end of +life, puts no period to this vain and foolish dread; but it transcends +those limits, and extends its fears beyond the grave, adding to it the +imagination of immortal ills; and after respite from past sorrows, it +fancies it shall next enter upon never-ending ones. I know not what +gates of hell open themselves from beneath, rivers of fire together +with Stygian torrents present themselves to view; a gloomy darkness +appears full of ghastly spectres and horrid shapes, with dreadful +aspects and doleful groans, together with judges and tormentors, pits +and caverns, full of millions of miseries and woes. Thus does wretched +superstition bring inevitably upon itself by its fancies even those +calamities which it has once escaped. + +5. Atheism is attended with none of this. True indeed, the ignorance +is very lamentable and sad. For to be blind or to see amiss in matters +of this consequence cannot but be a fatal unhappiness to the mind, it +being then deprived of the fairest and brightest of its many eyes, +the knowledge of God. Yet this opinion (as hath been said) is not +necessarily accompanied with any disordering, ulcerous, frightful, +or slavish passion. Plato thinks the Gods never gave men music, the +science of melody and harmony, for mere delectation or to tickle the +ear, but in order that the confusion and disorder in the periods and +harmonies of the soul, which often for want of the Muses and of grace +break forth into extravagance through intemperance and license, might +be sweetly recalled, and artfully wound up to their former consent and +agreement. + + No animal accurst by Jove + Music’s sweet charms can ever love,[98] + +saith Pindar. For all such will rave and grow outrageous straight. Of +this we have an instance in tigers, which (as they say), if they hear +but a tabor beat near them, will rage immediately and run stark mad, +and in fine tear themselves in pieces. They certainly suffer the less +inconvenience of the two, who either through defect of hearing or utter +deafness are wholly insensible of music, and therefore unmoved by it. +It was a great misfortune indeed to Tiresias, that he wanted sight to +see his friends and children; but a far greater to Athamas and Agave, +to see them in the shape of lions and bucks. And it had been happier +for Hercules, when he was distracted, if he could have neither seen nor +known his children, than to have used like the worst of enemies those +he so tenderly loved. + +6. Well then, is not this the very case of the atheist, compared with +the superstitious? The former sees not the Gods at all, the latter +believes that he really sees them; the former wholly overlooks them, +but the latter mistakes their benignity for terror, their paternal +affection for tyranny, their providence for cruelty, and their frank +simplicity for savageness and brutality. + +Again, the workman in copper, stone, and wax can persuade such that +the Gods are in human shape; for so they make them, so they draw them, +and so they worship them. But they will not hear either philosophers +or statesmen that describe the majesty of the Divinity as accompanied +by goodness, magnanimity, benignity, and beneficence. The one +therefore hath neither a sense nor belief of that divine good he might +participate of; and the other dreads and fears it. In a word, atheism +is an absolute insensibility to God (or _want of passion_), which does +not recognize goodness; while superstition is a blind heap of passions, +which imagine the good to be evil. They are afraid of their Gods, and +yet run to them; they fawn upon them, and reproach them; they invoke +them, and accuse them. It is the common destiny of humanity not to +enjoy uninterrupted felicity. + + Nor pains, nor age, nor labor they e’er bore, + Nor visited rough Acheron’s hoarse shore, + +saith Pindar of the Gods; but human passions and affairs are liable to +a strange multiplicity of uncertain accidents and contingencies. + +7. Consider well the atheist, and observe his behavior first in things +not under the disposal of his will. If he be otherwise a man of good +temper, he is silent under his present circumstances, and is providing +himself with either remedies or palliatives for his misfortunes. +But if he be a fretful and impatient man, his whole complaint is +against Fortune. He cries out, that nothing is managed here below +either after the rules of a strict justice or the orderly course of a +providence, and that all human affairs are hurried and driven without +either premeditation or distinction. This is not the demeanor of the +superstitious; if the least thing do but happen amiss to him, he +sits him down plunged in sorrow, and raises himself a vast tempest +of intolerable and incurable passions, and presents his fancy with +nothing but terrors, fears, surmises, and distractions, until he hath +overwhelmed himself with groans and fears. He blames neither man, nor +Fortune, nor the times, nor himself; but charges all upon God, from +whom he fancies a whole deluge of vengeance to be pouring down upon +him; and, as if he were not only unfortunate but in open hostility +with Heaven, he imagines that he is punished by God and is now making +satisfaction for his past crimes, and saith that his sufferings are +all just and owing to himself. Again, when the atheist falls sick, +he reckons up and calls to his remembrance his several surfeits and +debauches, his irregular course of living, excessive labors, or +unaccustomed changes of air or climate. Likewise, when he miscarries in +any public administration, and either falls into popular disgrace or +comes to be ill presented to his prince, he searches for the causes in +himself and those about him, and asks, + + Where have I erred? What have I done amiss? + What should be done by me that undone is?[99] + +But the fanciful superstitionist accounts every little distemper +in his body or decay in his estate, the death of his children, and +crosses and disappointments in matters relating to the public, as +the immediate strokes of God and the incursions of some vindictive +daemon. And therefore he dares not attempt to remove or relieve his +disasters, or to use the least remedy or to oppose himself to them, +for fear he should seem to struggle with God and to make resistance +under correction. If he be sick, he thrusts away the physician; if he +be in any grief, he shuts out the philosopher that would comfort and +advise him. Let me alone, saith he, to pay for my sins: I am a cursed +and vile offender, and detestable both to God and angels. Now suppose +a man unpersuaded of a Divinity in never so great sorrow and trouble, +you may yet possibly wipe away his tears, cut his hair, and force away +his mourning; but how will you come at this superstitious penitentiary, +either to speak to him or to bring him any relief? He sits him down +without doors in sackcloth, or wrapped up in foul and nasty rags; yea, +many times rolls himself naked in mire, repeating over I know not what +sins and transgressions of his own; as, how he did eat this thing and +drink the other thing, or went some way prohibited by his Genius. But +suppose he be now at his best, and laboring under only a mild attack of +superstition; you shall even then find him sitting down in the midst of +his house all becharmed and bespelled, with a parcel of old women about +him, tugging all they can light on, and hanging it upon him as (to use +an expression of Bion’s) upon some nail or peg. + +8. It is reported of Teribazus that, being seized by the Persians, he +drew out his scimitar, and being a very stout person, defended himself +bravely; but when they cried out and told him he was apprehended by +the king’s order, he immediately put up his sword, and presented his +hands to be bound. Is not this the very case of the superstitious? +Others can oppose their misfortunes, repel their troubles, and furnish +themselves with retreats, or means of avoiding the stroke of things +not under the disposal of their wills; but the superstitious person, +without anybody’s speaking to him,—but merely upon his own saying +to himself, This thou undergoest, vile wretch, by the direction of +Providence, and by Heaven’s just appointment,—immediately casts away +all hope, surrenders himself up, and shuns and affronts his friends +that would relieve him. Thus do these sottish fears oftentimes convert +tolerable evils into fatal and insupportable ones. The ancient Midas +(as the story goes of him), being much troubled and disquieted by +certain dreams, grew so melancholy thereupon, that he made himself away +by drinking bull’s blood. Aristodemus, king of Messenia, when a war +broke out betwixt the Lacedaemonians and the Messenians, upon some dogs +howling like wolves, and grass coming up about his ancestors’ domestic +altar, and his divines presaging ill upon it, fell into such a fit of +sullenness and despair that he slew himself. And perhaps it had been +better if the Athenian general, Nicias, had been eased of his folly the +same way that Midas and Aristodemus were, than for him to sit still +for fear of a lunar eclipse, while he was invested by an enemy, and so +be himself made a prisoner, together with an army of forty thousand +men (that were all either slain or taken), and die ingloriously. There +was nothing formidable in the inter-position of the earth betwixt the +sun and the moon, neither was there any thing dreadful in the shadow’s +meeting the moon at the proper time: no, the dreadfulness lay here, +that the darkness of ignorance should blind and befool a man’s reason +at a time when he had most occasion to use it. + + Glaucus, behold! + The sea with billows deep begins to roll; + The seas begin in azure rods to lie; + A teeming cloud of pitch hangs on the sky + Right o’er Gyre rocks; there is a tempest nigh;[100] + +which as soon as the pilot sees, he falls to his prayers and invokes +his tutelar daemons, but neglects not in the mean time to hold to the +rudder and let down the mainyard; and so, + + By gathering in his sails, with mighty pain, + Escapes the hell-pits of the raging main. + +Hesiod[101] directs his husbandman, before he either plough or sow, to +pray to the infernal Jove and the venerable Ceres, but with his hand +upon the plough-tail. Homer acquaints us how Ajax, being to engage in +a single combat with Hector, bade the Grecians pray to the Gods for +him; and while they were at their devotions, he was putting on his +armor. Likewise, after Agamemnon had thus prepared his soldiers for the +fight,— + + Each make his spear to glitter as the sun, + Each see his warlike target well hung on,— + +he then prayed,— + + Grant me, great Jove, to throw down Priam’s roof.[102] + +For God is the brave man’s hope, and not the coward’s excuse. The +Jews indeed once sat on their tails,—it being forsooth their Sabbath +day,—and suffered their enemies to rear their scaling-ladders and +make themselves masters of their walls, and so lay still until +they were caught like so many trout in the drag-net of their own +superstition.[103] + +9. Such then is the behavior of superstition in times of adversity, +and in things out of the power of man’s will. Nor doth it a jot excel +atheism in the more agreeable and pleasurable part of our lives. +Now what we esteem the most agreeable things in human life are our +holidays, temple-feasts, initiatings, processionings, with our public +prayers and solemn devotions. Mark we now the atheist’s behavior here. +’Tis true, he laughs at all that is done, with a frantic and sardonic +laughter, and now and then whispers to a confidant of his, The devil +is in these people sure, that can imagine God can be taken with these +fooleries, but this is the worst of his disasters. But now the +superstitious man would fain be pleasant and gay, but cannot for his +heart. The whole town is filled with odors of incense and perfumes, and +at the same time a mixture of hymns and sighs fills his poor soul.[104] +He looks pale with a garland on his head, he sacrifices and fears, +prays with a faltering tongue, and offers incense with a trembling +hand. In a word, he utterly baffles that saying of Pythagoras, that we +are then best when we come near the Gods. For the superstitious person +is then in his worst and most pitiful condition, when he approaches the +shrines and temples of the Gods. + +10. So that I cannot but wonder at those that charge atheism with +impiety, and in the mean time acquit superstition. Anaxagoras was +indicted of blasphemy for having affirmed the sun to be a red-hot +stone; yet the Cimmerians were never much blamed for denying his being. +What? Is he that holds there is no God guilty of impiety, and is not he +that describes him as the superstitious do much more guilty? I, for my +own part, had much rather people should say of me, that there neither +is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than they should say: “Plutarch +is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow; if +you invite others to sup with you, and chance to leave out Plutarch, +or if some business falls out that you cannot wait at his door with +the morning salute, or if when you meet with him you don’t speak to +him, he’ll fasten upon you somewhere with his teeth and bite the part +through, or catch one of your children and cane him, or turn his beast +into your corn and spoil your crop.” When Timotheus the musician was +one day singing at Athens an hymn to Diana, in which among other things +was this,— + + Mad, raving, tearing, foaming Deity,— + +Cinesias, the lyric poet, stood up from the midst of the spectators, +and spoke aloud: I wish thee with all my heart such a Goddess to thy +daughter, Timotheus. Such like, nay worse, are the conceits of the +superstitious about this Goddess Diana:— + + Thou dost on the bed-clothes jump, + And there liest like a lump. + Thou dost tantalize the bride, + When love’s charms by thee are tied. + Thou look’st grim and full of dread, + When thou walk’st to find the dead. + Thou down chairs and tables rumbl’st, + When with Oberon thou tumbl’st.[105] + +Nor have they any milder sentiments of Apollo, Juno, or Venus; for they +are equally scared with them all. Alas! what could poor Niobe ever say +that could be so reflecting upon the honor of Latona, as that which +superstition makes fools believe of her? Niobe, it seems, had given her +some hard words, for which she fairly shot her + + Six daughters, and six sons full in their prime;[106] + +so impatient was she, and insatiate with the calamities of another. +Now if the Goddess was really thus choleric and vindictive and so +highly incensed with bad language, and if she had not the wisdom to +smile at human frailty and ignorance, but suffered herself to be thus +transported with passion, I much marvel she did not shoot them too +that told this cruel story of her, and charged her both in speech and +writing with so much spleen and rancor. We oft accuse Queen Hecuba of +barbarous and savage bitterness, for having once said in Homer,— + + Would God I had his liver ’twixt my teeth;[107] + +yet the superstitious believe, if a man taste of a minnow or bleak, +the Syrian Goddess will eat his shins through, fill his body with +sores, and dissolve his liver. + +11. Is it a sin then to speak amiss of the Gods, and is it not to +think amiss of them? And is not thinking the cause of speaking ill? +For the only reason of our dislike to detraction is that we look upon +it as a token of ill-will to us; and we therefore take those for our +enemies that misrepresent us, because we look upon them as untrusty +and disaffected. You see then what the superstitious think of the +divinity, while they fancy the Gods such heady, faithless, fickle, +revengeful, cruel, and fretful things. The consequence of which is +that the superstitious person must needs both fear and hate them at +once. And indeed, how can he otherwise choose, while he thinks the +greatest calamities he either doth now or must hereafter undergo are +wholly owing to them? Now he that both hates and fears the Gods must +of necessity be their enemy. And if he trembles, fears, prostrates, +sacrifices, and sits perpetually in their temples, that is no marvel at +all. For the very worst of tyrants are complimented and attended, yea, +have statues of gold erected to them, by those who in private hate them +and wag their heads. Hermolaus waited on Alexander, and Pausanias was +of Philip’s guard, and so was Chaerea of Caligula’s; yet every one of +these said, I warrant you, in his heart as he went along,— + + Had I a power as my will is good, + Know this, bold tyrant, I would have thy blood.[108] + +The atheist believes there are no Gods; the superstitious would have +none, but is a believer against his will, and would be an infidel if +he durst. He would be as glad to ease himself of the burthen of his +fear, as Tantalus would be to slip his head from under the great stone +that hangs over him, and would bless the condition of the atheist as +absolute freedom, compared with his own. The atheist now has nothing +to do with superstition; while the superstitious is an atheist in his +heart, but is too much a coward to think as he is inclined. + +12. Moreover, atheism hath no hand at all in causing superstition; +but superstition not only gave atheism its first birth, but serves it +ever since by giving it its best apology for existing, which, although +it be neither a good nor a fair one, is yet the most specious and +colorable. For men were not at first made atheists by any fault they +found in the heavens or stars, or in the seasons of the year, or in +those revolutions or motions of the sun about the earth that make the +day and night; nor yet by observing any mistake or disorder either in +the breeding of animals or the production of fruits. No, it was the +uncouth actions and ridiculous and senseless passions of superstition, +her canting words, her foolish gestures, her charms, her magic, her +freakish processions, her taborings, her foul expiations, her vile +methods of purgation, and her barbarous and inhuman penances, and +bemirings at the temples,—it was these, I say, that gave occasion to +many to affirm, it would be far happier there were no Gods at all than +for them to be pleased and delighted with such fantastic toys, and to +thus abuse their votaries, and to be incensed and pacified with trifles. + +13. Had it not been much better for the so much famed Gauls and +Scythians to have neither thought nor imagined nor heard any thing of +their Gods, than to have believed them such as would be pleased with +the blood of human sacrifices, and would account such for the most +complete and meritorious of expiations? How much better had it been +for the Carthaginians to have had either a Critias or a Diagoras for +their first lawmaker, that so they might have believed in neither God +nor spirits, than to make such offerings to Saturn as they made?—not +such as Empedocles speaks of, where he thus touches the sacrifices of +beasts:— + + The sire lifts up his dear beloved son, + Who first some other form and shape did take; + He doth him slay and sacrifice anon, + And therewith vows and foolish prayers doth make. + +But they knowingly and wittingly themselves devoted their own children; +and they that had none of their own bought of some poor people, and +then sacrificed them like lambs or pigeons, the poor mother standing by +the while without either a sigh or tear; and if by chance she fetched +a sigh or let fall a tear, she lost the price of her child, but it was +nevertheless sacrificed. All the places round the image were in the +mean time filled with the noise of hautboys and tabors, to drown the +poor infants’ crying. Suppose we now the Typhons and Giants should +depose the Gods and make themselves masters of mankind, what sort of +sacrifices, think you, would they expect? Or what other expiations +would they require? The queen of King Xerxes, Amestris, buried twelve +men alive, as a sacrifice to Pluto to prolong her own life; and yet +Plato saith, This God is called in Greek Hades, because he is placid, +wise, and wealthy, and retains the souls of men by persuasion and +oratory. That great naturalist Xenophanes, seeing the Egyptians beating +their breasts and lamenting at the solemn times of their devotions, +gave them this pertinent and seasonable admonition: If they are Gods +(said he), don’t cry for them; and if they are men, don’t sacrifice to +them. + +14. There is certainly no infirmity belonging to us that contains +such a multiplicity of errors and fond passions, or that consists of +such incongruous and incoherent opinions, as this of superstition +doth. It behooves us therefore to do our utmost to escape it; but +withal, we must see we do it safely and prudently, and not rashly and +inconsiderately, as people run from the incursions of robbers or from +fire, and fall into bewildered and untrodden paths full of pits and +precipices. For so some, while they would avoid superstition, leap over +the golden mean of true piety into the harsh and coarse extreme of +atheism. + + + + +THE APOPHTHEGMS OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF KINGS AND GREAT COMMANDERS. + + +PLUTARCH TO TRAJAN THE EMPEROR WISHETH PROSPERITY. + +Artaxerxes, King of Persia, O Caesar Trajan, greatest of princes, +esteemed it no less royal and bountiful kindly and cheerfully to accept +small, than to make great presents; and when he was in a progress, +and a common country laborer, having nothing else, took up water with +both his hands out of the river and presented it to him, he smiled +and received it pleasantly, measuring the kindness not by the value +of the gift, but by the affection of the giver. And Lycurgus ordained +in Sparta very cheap sacrifices, that they might always worship the +Gods readily and easily with such things as were at hand. Upon the +same account, when I bring a mean and slender present of the common +first-fruits of philosophy, accept also (I beseech you) with my good +affection these short memorials, if they may contribute any thing to +the knowledge of the manners and dispositions of great men, which +are more apparent in their words than in their actions. My former +treatise contains the lives of the most eminent princes, lawgivers, +and generals, both Romans and Grecians; but most of their actions +admit a mixture of fortune, whereas such speeches and answers as +happened amidst their employments, passions, and events afford us (as +in a looking-glass) a clear discovery of each particular temper and +disposition. Accordingly Siramnes the Persian, to such as wondered +that he usually spoke like a wise man and yet was unsuccessful in his +designs, replied: I myself am master of my words, but the king and +fortune have power over my actions. In the former treatise speeches +and actions are mingled together, and require a reader that is at +leisure; but in this the speeches, being as it were the seeds and the +illustrations of those lives, are placed by themselves, and will not +(I think) be tedious to you, since they will give you in a few words a +review of many memorable persons. + +CYRUS. The Persians affect such as are hawk-nosed and think them most +beautiful, because Cyrus, the most beloved of their kings, had a +nose of that shape. Cyrus said that those that would not do good for +themselves ought to be compelled to do good for others; and that nobody +ought to govern, unless he was better than those he governed. When the +Persians were desirous to exchange their hills and rocks for a plain +and soft country, he would not suffer them, saying that both the seeds +of plants and the lives of men resemble the soil they inhabit. + +DARIUS. Darius the father of Xerxes used to praise himself, saying +that he became even wiser in battles and dangers. When he laid a tax +upon his subjects, he summoned his lieutenants, and asked them whether +the tax was burthensome or not? When they told him it was moderate, +he commanded them to pay half as much as was at first demanded. As he +was opening a pomegranate, one asked him what it was of which he would +wish for a number equal to the seeds thereof. He said, Of men like +Zopyrus,—who was a loyal person and his friend. This Zopyrus, after +he had maimed himself by cutting off his nose and ears, beguiled the +Babylonians; and being trusted by them, he betrayed the city to Darius, +who often said that he would not have had Zopyrus maimed to gain a +hundred Babylons. + +SEMIRAMIS. Semiramis built a monument for herself, with this +inscription: Whatever king wants treasure, if he open this tomb, he +may be satisfied. Darius therefore opening it found no treasure, but +another inscription of this import: If thou wert not a wicked person +and of insatiable covetousness, thou wouldst not disturb the mansions +of the dead. + +XERXES. Arimenes came out of Bactria as a rival for the kingdom with +his brother Xerxes, the son of Darius. Xerxes sent presents to him, +commanding those that brought them to say: With these your brother +Xerxes now honors you; and if he chance to be proclaimed king, you +shall be the next person to himself in the kingdom. When Xerxes was +declared king, Arimenes immediately did him homage and placed the crown +upon his head; and Xerxes gave him the next place to himself. Being +offended with the Babylonians, who rebelled, and having overcome them, +he forbade them weapons, but commanded they should practise singing and +playing on the flute, keep brothel-houses and taverns, and wear loose +coats. He refused to eat Attic figs that were brought to be sold, until +he had conquered the country that produced them. When he caught some +Grecian scouts in his camp, he did them no harm, but having allowed +them to view his army as much as they pleased, he let them go. + +ARTAXERXES. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, surnamed Longimanus (or +_Long-hand_) because he had one hand longer than the other, said, it +was more princely to add than to take away. He first gave leave to +those that hunted with him, if they would and saw occasion, to throw +their darts before him. He also first ordained that punishment for +his nobles who had offended, that they should be stripped and their +garments scourged instead of their bodies; and whereas their hair +should have been plucked out, that the same should be done to their +turbans. When Satibarzanes, his chamberlain, petitioned him in an +unjust matter, and he understood he did it to gain thirty thousand +pieces of money, he ordered his treasurer to bring the said sum, and +gave them to him, saying: O Satibarzanes! take it; for when I have +given you this, I shall not be poorer, but I had been more unjust if I +had granted your petition. + +CYRUS THE YOUNGER. Cyrus the Younger, when he was exhorting the +Lacedaemonians to side with him in the war, said that he had a stronger +heart than his brother, and could drink more wine unmixed than he, and +bear it better; that his brother, when he hunted, could scarce sit +his horse, or when ill news arrived, his throne. He exhorted them to +send him men, promising he would give horses to footmen, chariots to +horsemen, villages to those that had farms, and those that possessed +villages he would make lords of cities; and that he would give them +gold and silver, not by tale but by weight. + +ARTAXERXES MNEMON. Artaxerxes, the brother of Cyrus the Younger, called +Mnemon, did not only give very free and patient access to any that +would speak with him, but commanded the queen his wife to draw the +curtains of her chariot, that petitioners might have the same access +to her also. When a poor man presented him with a very fair and great +apple, By the Sun, said he, ’tis my opinion, if this person were +entrusted with a small city, he would make it great. In his flight, +when his carriages were plundered, and he was forced to eat dry figs +and barley-bread, Of how great pleasure, said he, have I hitherto lived +ignorant! + +PARYSATIS. Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, advised him +that would discourse freely with the king, to use words of fine linen. + +ORONTES. Orontes, the son-in-law of King Artaxerxes, falling into +disgrace and being condemned, said: As arithmeticians count sometimes +myriads on their fingers, sometimes units only; in like manner the +favorites of kings sometimes can do every thing with them, sometimes +little or nothing. + +MEMNON. Memnon, one of King Darius’s generals against Alexander, when a +mercenary soldier excessively and impudently reviled Alexander, struck +him with his spear, adding, I pay you to fight against Alexander, not +to reproach him. + +EGYPTIAN KINGS. The Egyptian kings, according unto their law, used to +swear their judges that they should not obey the king when he commanded +them to give an unjust sentence. + +POLTYS. Poltys king of Thrace, in the Trojan war, being solicited both +by the Trojan and Grecian ambassadors, advised Alexander to restore +Helen, promising to give him two beautiful women for her. + +TERES. Teres, the father of Sitalces, said, when he was out of the army +and had nothing to do, he thought there was no difference between him +and his grooms. + +COTYS. Cotys, when one gave him a leopard, gave him a lion for it. He +was naturally prone to anger, and severely punished the miscarriages +of his servants. When a stranger brought him some earthen vessels, +thin and brittle, but delicately shaped and admirably adorned with +sculptures, he requited the stranger for them, and then brake them +all in pieces, Lest (said he) my passion should provoke me to punish +excessively those that brake them. + +IDATHYRSUS. Idathyrsus, King of Scythia, when Darius invaded him, +solicited the Ionian tyrants that they would assert their liberty by +breaking down the bridge that was made over the Danube: which they +refusing to do because they had sworn fealty to Darius, he called them +good, honest, lazy slaves. + +ATEAS. Ateas wrote to Philip: You reign over the Macedonians, men +that have learned fighting; and I over the Scythians, which can fight +with hunger and thirst. As he was rubbing his horse, turning to the +ambassadors of Philip, he asked whether Philip did so or not. He took +prisoner Ismenias, an excellent piper, and commanded him to play; and +when others admired him, he swore it was more pleasant to hear a horse +neigh. + +SCILURUS. Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave fourscore +sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade +them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily +broke them; thus teaching them that, if they held together, they would +continue strong, but if they fell out and were divided, they would +become weak. + +GELO. Gelo the tyrant, after he had overcome the Carthaginians at +Himera, made peace with them, and among other articles compelled +them to subscribe this,—that they should no more sacrifice their +children to Saturn. He often marched the Syracusans out to plant their +fields, as if it had been to war, that the country might be improved +by husbandry, and they might not be corrupted by idleness. When he +demanded a sum of money of the citizens, and thereupon a tumult was +raised, he told them he would but borrow it; and after the war was +ended, he restored it to them again. At a feast, when a harp was +offered, and others one after another tuned it and played upon it, he +sent for his horse, and with an easy agility leaped upon him. + +HIERO. Hiero, who succeeded Gelo in the tyranny, said he was not +disturbed by any that freely spoke against him. He judged that those +that revealed a secret did an injury to those to whom they revealed it; +for we hate not only those who tell, but them also that hear what we +would not have disclosed. One upbraided him with his stinking breath, +and he blamed his wife that never told him of it; but she said, I +thought all men smelt so. To Xenophanes the Colophonian, who said he +had much ado to maintain two servants, he replied: But Homer, whom you +disparage, maintains above ten thousand, although he is dead. He fined +Epicharmus the comedian, for speaking unseemly when his wife was by. + +DIONYSIUS. Dionysius the Elder, when the public orators cast lots to +know in what order they should speak, drew as his lot the letter M. And +when one said to him, Μωρολογεῖς, You will make a foolish speech, O +Dionysius, You are mistaken, said he, Μοναρχήσω, I shall be a monarch. +And as soon as his speech was ended, the Syracusans chose him general. +In the beginning of his tyranny, the citizens rebelled and besieged +him; and his friends advised him to resign the government, rather +than to be taken and slain by them. But he, seeing a cook butcher an +ox and the ox immediately fall down dead, said to his friends: Is +it not a hateful thing, that for fear of so short a death we should +resign so great a government? When his son, whom he intended to make +his successor in the government, had been detected in debauching a +freeman’s wife, he asked him in anger, When did you ever know me guilty +of such a crime? But you, sir, replied the son, had not a tyrant for +your father. Nor will you, said he, have a tyrant for your son, unless +you mend your manners. And another time, going into his son’s house and +seeing there abundance of silver and gold plate, he cried out: Thou art +not capable of being a tyrant, who hast made never a friend with all +the plate I have given thee. When he exacted money of the Syracusans, +and they lamenting and beseeching him pretended they had none, he still +exacted more, twice or thrice renewing his demands, until he heard them +laugh and jeer at him as they went to and fro in the market-place, +and then he gave over. Now, said he, since they contemn me, it is a +sign they have nothing left. When his mother, being ancient, requested +him to find a husband for her, I can, said he, overpower the laws of +the city, but I cannot force the laws of Nature. Although he punished +other malefactors severely, he favored such as stole clothes, that +the Syracusans might forbear feasting and drunken clubs. A certain +person told him privately, he could show him a way how he might know +beforehand such as conspired against him. Let us know, said he, going +aside. Give me, said the person, a talent, that everybody may believe +that I have taught you the signs and tokens of plotters; and he gave it +him, pretending he had learned them, much admiring the subtilty of the +man. Being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied: God forbid that +it should ever befall me. Hearing that two young men very much reviled +him and his tyranny in their cups, he invited both of them to supper; +and perceiving that one of them prattled freely and foolishly, but the +other drank warily and sparing, he dismissed the first as a drunken +fellow whose treason lay no deeper than his wine, and put the other +to death as a disaffected and resolved traitor. Some blaming him for +rewarding and preferring a wicked man, and one hated by the citizens; +I would have, said he, somebody hated more than myself. When he gave +presents to the ambassadors of Corinth, and they refused them because +their law forbade them to receive gifts from a prince to whom they +were sent in embassy, he said they did very ill to destroy the only +advantage of tyranny, and to declare that it was dangerous to receive +a kindness from a tyrant. Hearing that a citizen had buried a quantity +of gold in his house, he sent for it; and when the party removed to +another city, and bought a farm with part of his treasure which he had +concealed, Dionysius sent for him and bade him take back the rest, +since he had now begun to use his money, and was no longer making a +useful thing useless. + +DIONYSIUS THE YOUNGER said that he maintained many Sophists; not that +he admired them, but that he might be admired for their sake. When +Polyxenus the logician told him he had baffled him; Yes, said he, +in words, but I have caught you in deeds; for you, leaving your own +fortune, attend me and mine. When he was deposed from his government, +and one asked him what he got by Plato and philosophy, he answered, +That I may bear so great a change of fortune patiently. Being asked how +it came to pass that his father, a private and poor man, obtained the +government of Syracuse, and he already possessed of it, and the son of +a tyrant, lost it,—My father, said he, entered upon affairs when the +democracy was hated, but I, when tyranny was become odious. To another +that asked him the same question, he replied: My father bequeathed to +me his government, but not his fortune. + +AGATHOCLES was the son of a potter. When he became lord and was +proclaimed king of Sicily, he was wont to place earthen and golden +vessels together, and show them to young men, telling them, Those I +made first, but now I make these by my valor and industry. As he was +besieging a city, some from the walls reviling him, saying, Do you +hear, potter, where will you have money to pay your soldiers?—he +gently answered, I’ll tell you, if I take this city. And having taken +it by storm, he sold the prisoners, telling them, If you reproach me +again, I will complain to your masters. Some inhabitants of Ithaca +complained of his mariners, that making a descent on the island they +had taken away some cattle; But your king, said he, came to Sicily, and +did not only take away sheep, but put out the shepherd’s eyes, and went +his way. + +DION. Dion, that deposed Dionysius from the tyranny, when he heard +Callippus, whom of all his friends and attendants he trusted most, +conspired against him, refused to question him for it, saying: It is +better for him to die than to live, who must be weary not only of his +enemies, but of his friends too. + +ARCHELAUS. Archelaus, when one of his companions (and none of the +best) begged a golden cup of him, bade the boy give it Euripides; and +when the man wondered at him, You, said he, are worthy to ask, but +he is worthy to receive it without asking. A prating barber asked him +how he would be trimmed. He answered, In silence. When Euripides at a +banquet embraced fair Agatho and kissed him, although he was no longer +beardless, he said, turning to his friends: Do not wonder at it, for +the beauty of such as are handsome lasts after autumn. + +Timotheus the harper, receiving of him a reward less than his +expectation, twitted him for it not obscurely; and once singing the +short verse of the chorus, You commend earth-born silver, directed it +to him. And Archelaus answered him again singing, But you beg it. When +one sprinkled water upon him, and his friends would have had him punish +the man, You are mistaken, said he, he did not sprinkle me, but some +other person whom he took me to be. + +PHILIP. Theophrastus tells us that Philip, the father of Alexander, +was not only greater in his port and success, but also freer from +luxury than other kings of his time. He said the Athenians were happy, +if they could find every year ten fit to be chosen generals, since in +many years he could find but one fit to be a general, and that was +Parmenio. When he had news brought him of divers and eminent successes +in one day, O Fortune, said he, for all these so great kindnesses do me +some small mischief. After he had conquered Greece, some advised him +to place garrisons in the cities. No, said he, I had rather be called +merciful a great while, than lord a little while. His friends advised +him to banish a railer his court. I will not do it, said he, lest he +should go about and rail in many places. Smicythus accused Nicanor for +one that commonly spoke evil of King Philip; and his friends advised +him to send for him and punish him. Truly, said he, Nicanor is not the +worst of the Macedonians; we ought therefore to consider whether we +have given him any cause or not. When he understood therefore that +Nicanor, being slighted by the king, was much afflicted with poverty, +he ordered a boon should be given him. And when Smicythus reported +that Nicanor was continually abounding in the king’s praises, You see +then, said he, that whether we will be well or ill spoken of is in +our own power. He said he was beholden to the Athenian orators, who +by reproaching him made him better both in speech and behavior; for +I will endeavor, said he, both by my words and actions to prove them +liars. Such Athenians as he took prisoners in the fight at Chaeronea he +dismissed without ransom. When they also demanded their garments and +quilts, and on that account accused the Macedonians, Philip laughed and +said, Do ye not think these Athenians imagine we beat them at cockal? +In a fight he broke his collar-bone, and the surgeon that had him in +cure requested him daily for his reward. Take what you will, said he, +for you have the key.[109] There were two brothers called Both and +Either; perceiving Either was a good understanding busy fellow and +Both a silly fellow and good for little, he said: Either is Both, and +Both is Neither. To some that advised him to deal severely with the +Athenians he said: You talk absurdly, who would persuade a man that +suffers all things for the sake of glory, to overthrow the theatre of +glory. Being arbitrator betwixt two wicked persons, he commanded one to +fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him. Being about to pitch +his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for +the cattle, What a life, said he, is ours, since we must live according +to the convenience of asses! Designing to take a strong fort, which +the scouts told him was exceeding difficult and impregnable, he asked +whether it was so difficult that an ass could not come at it laden with +gold. Lasthenes the Olynthian and his friends being aggrieved, and +complaining that some of Philip’s retinue called them traitors, These +Macedonians, said he, are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade +a spade. He exhorted his son to behave himself courteously toward the +Macedonians, and to acquire influence with the people, while he could +be affable and gracious during the reign of another. He advised him +also to make friends of men of interest in the cities, both good and +bad, that afterwards he might make use of these, and suppress those. +To Philo the Theban, who had been his host and given him entertainment +while he remained an hostage at Thebes, and afterwards refused to +accept any present from him, he said: Do not take from me the title of +invincible, by making me inferior to you in kindness and bounty. Having +taken many prisoners, he was selling them, sitting in an unseemly +posture, with his tunic tucked up; when one of the captives to be sold +cried out, Spare me, Philip, for our fathers were friends. When Philip +asked him, Prithee, how or from whence? Let me come nearer, said he, +and I’ll tell you. When he was come up to him, he said: Let down your +cloak a little lower, for you sit indecently. Whereupon said Philip: +Let him go, in truth he wisheth me well and is my friend, though I +did not know him. Being invited to supper, he carried many he took up +by the way along with him; and perceiving his host troubled (for his +provision was not sufficient), he sent to each of his friends, and +bade them reserve a place for the cake. They, believing and expecting +it, ate little, and so the supper was enough for all. It appeared he +grieved much at the death of Hipparchus the Euboean. For when somebody +said it was time for him to die,—For himself, said he, but he died +too soon for me, preventing me by his death from returning him the +kindness his friendship deserved. Hearing that Alexander blamed him +for having children by several women, Therefore, saith he to him, +since you have many rivals with you for the kingdom, be just and +honorable, that you may not receive the kingdom as my gift, but by +your own merit. He charged him to be observant of Aristotle, and study +philosophy, That you may not, said he, do many things which I now +repent of doing. He made one of Antipater’s recommendation a judge; +and perceiving afterwards that his hair and beard were colored, he +removed him, saying, I could not think one that was faithless in his +hair could be trusty in his deeds. As he sate judge in the cause of one +Machaetas, he fell asleep, and for want of minding his arguments, gave +judgment against him. And when being enraged he cried out, I appeal; +To whom, said he, wilt thou appeal? To you yourself, O king, said he, +when you are awake to hear me with attention. Then Philip rousing and +coming to himself, and perceiving Machaetas was injured, although he +did not reverse the sentence, he paid the fine himself. When Harpalus, +in behalf of Crates his kinsman and intimate friend, who was charged +with disgraceful crimes, begged that Crates might pay the fine and so +cause the action to be withdrawn and avoid public disgrace;—It is +better, said he, that he should be reproached upon his own account, +than we for him. His friends being enraged because the Peloponnesians, +to whom he had shown favor, hissed at him in the Olympic games, What +then, said he, would they do if we should abuse them? Awaking after +he had overslept himself in the army; I slept, said he, securely, for +Antipater watched. Another time, being asleep in the day-time, while +the Grecians fretting with impatience thronged at the gates; Do not +wonder, said Parmenio to them, if Philip be now asleep, for while you +slept he was awake. When he corrected a musician at a banquet, and +discoursed with him concerning notes and instruments, the musician +replied: Far be that dishonor from your majesty, that you should +understand these things better than I do. While he was at variance with +his wife Olympia and his son, Demaratus the Corinthian came to him, and +Philip asked him how the Grecians held together. Demaratus replied: +You had need to enquire how the Grecians agree, who agree so well +with your nearest relations. Whereupon he let fall his anger, and was +reconciled to them. A poor old woman petitioned and dunned him often +to hear her cause; and he answered, I am not at leisure; the old woman +bawled out, Do not reign then. He admired the speech, and immediately +heard her and others. + +ALEXANDER. While Alexander was a boy, Philip had great success in +his affairs, at which he did not rejoice, but told the children that +were brought up with him, My father will leave me nothing to do. The +children answered, Your father gets all this for you. But what good, +saith he, will it do me, if I possess much and do nothing? Being +nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the +Olympic race; Yes, said he, if there were any kings there to run with +me. A wench being brought to lie with him late in the evening, he +asked why she tarried so long. She answered, I staid until my husband +was abed; and he sharply reproved his pages, because through their +carelessness he had almost committed adultery. As he was sacrificing +to the Gods liberally, and often offered frankincense, Leonidas his +tutor standing by said, O son, thus generously will you sacrifice, when +you have conquered the country that bears frankincense. And when he +had conquered it, he sent him this letter: I have sent you an hundred +talents of frankincense and cassia, that hereafter you may not be +niggardly towards the Gods, when you understand I have conquered the +country in which perfumes grow. The night before he fought at the river +Granicus, he exhorted the Macedonians to sup plentifully and to bring +out all they had, as they were to sup the next day at the charge of +their enemies. Perillus, one of his friends, begged of him portions for +his daughters; and he ordered him to receive fifty talents. And when he +said, Ten were enough, Alexander replied: Enough for you to receive, +but not for me to give. He commanded his steward to give Anaxarchus +the philosopher as much as he should ask for. He asketh, said the +steward, for an hundred talents. He doth well, said he, knowing he +hath a friend that both can and will bestow so much on him. Seeing at +Miletus many statues of wrestlers that had overcome in the Olympic and +Pythian games, And where, said he, were these lusty fellows when the +barbarians assaulted your city? When Ada queen of Caria was ambitious +often to send him sauces and sweetmeats delicately prepared by the best +cooks and artists, he said, I have better confectioners of my own, +viz., my night-travelling for my breakfast, and my spare breakfast for +my dinner. All things being prepared for a fight, his captains asked +him whether he had any thing else to command them. Nothing, said he, +but that the Macedonians should shave their beards. Parmenio wondering +at it, Do you not know, said he, there is no better hold in a fight +than the beard? When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to +divide Asia equally with him; I would accept it, said Parmenio, were I +Alexander. And so truly would I, said Alexander, if I were Parmenio. +But he answered Darius, that the earth could not bear two suns, nor +Asia two kings. When he was going to fight for the world at Arbela, +against ten hundred thousand enemies set in array against him, some of +his friends came to him, and told him the discourse of the soldiers +in their tents, who had agreed that nothing of the spoils should be +brought into the treasury, but they would have all themselves. You tell +me good news, said he, for I hear the discourse of men that intend to +fight, and not to run away. Several of his soldiers came to him and +said: O King! be of good courage, and fear not the multitude of your +enemies, for they will not be able to endure the very stink of our +sweat. The army being marshalled, he saw a soldier fitting his thong +to his javelin, and dismissed him as a useless fellow, for fitting his +weapons when he should use them. As he was reading a letter from his +mother, containing secrets and accusations of Antipater, Hephaestion +also (as he was wont) read it along with him. Alexander did not hinder +him; but when the letter was read, he took his ring off his finger, and +laid the seal of it upon Hephaestion’s mouth. Being saluted as the son +of Jupiter in the temple of Ammon by the chief priest; It is no wonder, +said he, for Jupiter is by nature the father of all, and calls the best +men his sons. When he was wounded with an arrow in the ankle, and many +ran to him that were wont to call him a God, he said smiling: That is +blood, as you see, and not, as Homer saith,— + + Such humor as distils from blessed Gods.[110] + +To some that commended the frugality of Antipater, whose diet was sober +and without luxury; Outwardly, said he, Antipater wears white clothes, +but within he is all purple. In a cold winter day one of his friends +invited him to a banquet, and there being a little fire on a small +hearth, he bid him fetch either wood or frankincense. Antipatridas +brought a beautiful singing woman to supper with him; Alexander, being +taken with her visage, asked Antipatridas whether she was his miss +or not. And when he confessed she was; O villain, said he, turn her +immediately out from the banquet. Again, when Cassander forced a kiss +from Pytho, a boy beloved by Evius the piper, and Alexander perceived +that Evius was concerned at it, he was extremely enraged at Cassander, +and said with a loud voice, It seems nobody must be loved if you can +help it. When he sent such of the Macedonians as were sick and maimed +to the sea, they showed him one that was in health and yet subscribed +his name among the sick; being brought into the presence and examined, +he confessed he used that pretence for the love of Telesippa, who was +going to the sea. Alexander asked, of whom he could make inquiries +about this Telesippa, and hearing she was a free woman, he said. +Therefore, my Antigenes, let us persuade her to stay with us, for to +force her to do so when she is a free woman is not according to my +custom. Of the mercenary Grecians that fought against him he took many +prisoners. He commanded the Athenians should be kept in chains, because +they served for wages when they were allowed a public maintenance; and +the Thessalians, because when they had a fruitful country they did not +till it; but he set the Thebans free, saying, To them only I have left +neither city nor country. He took captive an excellent Indian archer +that said he could shoot an arrow through a ring, and commanded him +to show his skill; and when the man refused to do this, he commanded +him in a rage to be put to death. The man told them that led him to +execution that, not having practised for many days, he was afraid he +should miss. Alexander, hearing this, wondered at him and dismissed +him with rewards, because he chose rather to die than show himself +unworthy of his reputation. Taxiles, one of the Indian kings, met +Alexander, and advised him not to make war nor fight with him, but if +he were a meaner person than himself, to receive kindness from him, or +if he were a better man, to show kindness to him. He answered, that +was the very thing they must fight for, who should exceed the other +in bounty. When he heard the rock called Aornus in India was by its +situation impregnable, but the commander of it was a coward; Then, said +he, the place is easy to be taken. Another, commanding a rock thought +to be invincible, surrendered himself and the rock to Alexander, who +committed the said rock and the adjacent country to his government, +saying: I take this for a wise man, who chose rather to commit himself +to a good man than to a strong place. When the rock was taken, his +friends said that it exceeded the deeds of Hercules. But I, said he, do +not think my actions and all my empire to be compared with one word of +Hercules. He fined some of his friends whom he caught playing at dice +in earnest. Of his chief and most powerful friends, he seemed most to +respect Craterus, and to love Hephaestion. Craterus, said he, is the +friend of the king; but Hephaestion is the friend of Alexander. He sent +fifty talents to Xenocrates the philosopher, who would not receive +them, saying he was not in want. And he asked whether Xenocrates had +no friend either; For as to myself, said he, the treasure of Darius +is hardly sufficient for me to bestow among my friends. He demanded +of Porus, after the fight, how he should treat him. Royally, said he, +like a king. And being again asked, what farther he had to request; +All things, said he, are in that word _royally_. Admiring his wisdom +and valor, he gave him a greater government than he had before. Being +told a certain person reviled him, To do good, said he, and to be evil +spoken of is kingly. As he was dying, looking upon his friends, I +see, said he, my funeral tournament will be great. When he was dead, +Demades the rhetorician likened the Macedonian army without a general +to Polyphemus the Cyclops when his eye was put out. + +PTOLEMY. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, frequently supped with his friends +and lay at their houses; and if at any time he invited them to supper, +he made use of their furniture, sending for vessels, carpets, and +tables; for he himself had only things that were of constant use about +him, saying it was more becoming a king to make others rich than to be +rich himself. + +ANTIGONUS. Antigonus exacted money severely. When one told him that +Alexander did not do so, It may be so, said he; Alexander reaped Asia, +and I but glean after him. Seeing some soldiers playing at ball in +head-pieces and breast-plates, he was pleased, and sent for their +officers, intending to commend them; but when he heard the officers +were drinking, he bestowed their commands on the soldiers. When all +men wondered that in his old age his government was mild and easy; +Formerly, said he, I sought for power, but now for glory and good-will. +To Philip his son, who asked him in the presence of many when the +army would march, What, said he, are you afraid that you only should +not hear the trumpet? The same young man being desirous to quarter at +a widow’s house that had three handsome daughters, Antigonus called +the quartermaster to him: Prithee, said he, help my son out of these +straits. Recovering from a slight disease, he said: No harm; this +distemper puts me in mind not to aim at great things, since we are +mortal. Hermodotus in his poems called him Son of the Sun. He that +attends my close-stool, said he, sings me no such song. When one said, +All things in kings are just and honorable,—Indeed, said he, for +barbarian kings; but for us only honorable things are honorable, and +only just things are just. Marsyas his brother had a cause depending, +and requested him it might be examined at his house. Nay, said he, it +shall be heard in the judgment-hall, that all may hear whether we do +exact justice or not. In the winter being forced to pitch his camp +where necessaries were scarce, some of his soldiers reproached him, not +knowing he was near. He opened the tent with his cane, saying: Woe be +to you, unless you get you farther off when you revile me. Aristodemus, +one of his friends, supposed to be a cook’s son, advised him to +moderate his gifts and expenses. Thy words, said he, Aristodemus, smell +of the apron. The Athenians, out of a respect to him, gave one of his +servants the freedom of their city. And I would not, said he, have any +Athenian whipped by my command. A youth, scholar to Anaximenes the +rhetorician, spoke in his presence a prepared and studied speech; and +he asking something which he desired to learn, the youth was silent. +What do you say, said he, is all that you have said written in your +table-book? When he heard another rhetorician say, The snow-spread +season makes the country fodder spent; Will you not stop, said he, +prating to me as you do to the rabble? Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a +drachm of him. That, said he, is too little for a king to give. Why +then, said the other, give me a talent. And that, said he, is too much +for a Cynic (or for a _dog_) to receive. Sending his son Demetrius with +ships and land-forces to make Greece free; Glory, said he, from Greece, +as from a watch-tower, will shine throughout the world. Antagoras the +poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was +stirring his skillet, said: Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled +congers, when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon? Antagoras replied: Do +you think, O King, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a +peeping in his army to see who boiled congers? After he had seen in a +dream Mithridates mowing a golden harvest, he designed to kill him, +and acquainted Demetrius his son with his design, making him swear to +conceal it. But Demetrius, taking Mithridates aside and walking with +him by the seaside, with the pick of his spear wrote on the shore, +“Fly, Mithridates;” which he understanding, fled into Pontus, and there +reigned until his death. + +DEMETRIUS. Demetrius, while he was besieging Rhodes, found in one of +the suburbs the picture of Ialysus made by Protogenes the painter. +The Rhodians sent a herald to him, beseeching him not to deface the +picture. I will sooner, said he, deface my father’s statues, than such +a picture. When he made a league with the Rhodians, he left behind him +an engine, called the City Taker, that it might be a memorial of his +magnificence and of their courage. When the Athenians rebelled, and +he took the city, which had been distressed for want of provision, he +called an assembly and gave them corn. And while he made a speech to +them concerning that affair, he spoke improperly; and when one that +sat by told him how the word ought to be spoken, he said: For this +correction I bestow upon you five thousand bushels more. + +ANTIGONUS THE SECOND. Antigonus the Second—when his father was a +prisoner, and sent one of his friends to admonish him to pay no regard +to any thing that he might write at the constraint of Seleucus, and to +enter into no obligation to surrender up the cities—wrote to Seleucus +that he would give up his whole kingdom, and himself for an hostage, +that his father might be set free. Being about to fight by sea with the +lieutenants of Ptolemy, and the pilot telling him the enemy outnumbered +him in ships, he said: But how many ships do you reckon my presence to +be worth? Once when he gave ground, his enemies pressing upon him, he +denied that he fled; but he betook himself (as he said) to an advantage +that lay behind him. To a youth, son of a valiant father, but himself +no very great soldier, petitioning he might receive his father’s +pay; Young man, said he, I pay and reward men for their own, not for +their fathers’ valor. When Zeno of Citium, whom he admired beyond all +philosophers, died, he said, The theatre of my actions is fallen. + +LYSIMACHUS. Lysimachus, when he was overcome by Dromichaetas in Thrace +and constrained by thirst, surrendered himself and his army. When +he was a prisoner, and had drunk; O Gods, said he, for how small a +satisfaction have I made myself a slave from a king! To Philippides the +comedian, his friend and companion, he said. What have I that I may +impart to you? He answered, What you please, except your secrets. + +ANTIPATER. Antipater, hearing that Parmenio was slain by Alexander, +said: If Parmenio conspired against Alexander, whom may we trust? but +if he did not, what is to be done? Of Demades the rhetorician, now +grown old, he said: As of sacrifices when finished, so there is nothing +left of him but his belly and tongue. + +ANTIOCHUS THE THIRD. Antiochus the Third wrote to the cities, that if +he should at any time write for any thing to be done contrary to the +law, they should not obey, but suppose it to be done out of ignorance. +When he saw the Priestess of Diana, that she was exceeding beautiful, +he presently removed from Ephesus, lest he should be swayed, contrary +to his judgment, to commit some unholy act. + +ANTIOCHUS HIERAX. Antiochus, surnamed the Hawk, warred with his brother +Seleucus for the kingdom. After Seleucus was overcome by the Galatians, +and was not to be heard of, but supposed to be slain in the fight, he +laid aside his purple and went into mourning. A while after, hearing +his brother was safe, he sacrificed to the Gods for the good news, and +caused the cities under his dominion to put on garlands. + +EUMENES. Eumenes was thought to be slain by a conspiracy of Perseus. +That report being brought to Pergamus, Attalus his brother put on +the crown, married his wife, and took upon him the kingdom. Hearing +afterwards his brother was alive and upon the way, he met him, as he +used to do, with his life-guard, and a spear in his hand. Eumenes +embraced him kindly, and whispered in his ear:— + + If a widow you will wed, + Wait till you’re sure her husband’s dead.[111] + +But he never afterwards did or spake any thing that showed any +suspicion all his lifetime; but when he died, he bequeathed to him his +queen and kingdom. In requital of which, his brother bred up none of +his own children, although he had many; but when the son of Eumenes was +grown up, he bestowed the kingdom on him in his own lifetime. + +PYRRHUS THE EPIROT. Pyrrhus was asked by his sons, when they were boys, +to whom he would leave the kingdom. To him of you, saith he, that hath +the sharpest sword. Being asked whether Pytho or Caphisius was the +better piper, Polysperchon, said he, is the best general. He joined in +battle with the Romans, and twice overcame them, but with the loss of +many friends and captains. If I should overcome the Romans, said he, +in another fight, I were undone. Not being able to keep Sicily (as he +said) from them, turning to his friends he said: What a fine wrestling +ring do we leave to the Romans and Carthaginians! His soldiers called +him Eagle; And I may deserve the title, said he, while I am borne +upon the wings of your arms. Hearing some young men had spoken many +reproachful words of him in their drink, he summoned them all to appear +before him next day; when they appeared, he asked the foremost whether +they spake such things of him or not. The young man answered: Such +words were spoken, O King, and more we had spoken, if we had had more +wine. + +ANTIOCHUS. Antiochus, who twice made an inroad into Parthia, as he +was once a hunting, lost his friends and servants in the pursuit, and +went into a cottage of poor people who did not know him. As they were +at supper, he threw out discourse concerning the king; they said for +the most part he was a good prince, but overlooked many things he left +to the management of debauched courtiers, and out of love of hunting +often neglected his necessary affairs; and there they stopped. At break +of day the guard arrived at the cottage, and the king was recognized +when the crown and purple robes were brought. From the day, said he, +on which I first received these, I never heard truth concerning myself +till yesterday. When he besieged Jerusalem, the Jews, in respect of +their great festival, begged of him seven days’ truce; which he not +only granted, but preparing oxen with gilded horns, with a great +quantity of incense and perfumes, he went before them to the very +gates, and having delivered them as a sacrifice to their priests, he +returned back to his army. The Jews wondered at him, and as soon as +their festival was finished, surrendered themselves to him. + +THEMISTOCLES. Themistocles in his youth was much given to wine and +women. But after Miltiades the general overcame the Persian at +Marathon, Themistocles utterly forsook his former disorders; and to +such as wondered at the change, he said, The trophy of Miltiades will +neither suffer me to sleep nor to be idle. Being asked whether he would +rather be Achilles or Homer,—And pray, said he, which would you rather +be, a conqueror in the Olympic games, or the crier that proclaims who +are conquerors? When Xerxes with that great navy made a descent upon +Greece, he fearing, if Epicydes (a popular, but a covetous, corrupt, +and cowardly person) were made general, the city might be lost, bribed +him with a sum of money to desist from that pretence. Adimantus was +afraid to hazard a sea-fight, whereunto Themistocles persuaded and +encouraged the Grecians. O Themistocles, said he, those that start +before their time in the Olympic games are always scourged. Aye; but, +Adimantus, said the other, they that are left behind are not crowned. +Eurybiades lifted up his cane at him, as if he would strike him. +Strike, said he, but hear me. When he could not persuade Eurybiades to +fight in the straits of the sea, he sent privately to Xerxes, advising +him that he need not fear the Grecians, for they were running away. +Xerxes upon this persuasion, fighting in a place advantageous for the +Grecians, was worsted; and then he sent him another message, and bade +him fly with all speed over the Hellespont, for the Grecians designed +to break down his bridge; that under pretence of saving him he might +secure the Grecians. A man from the little island Seriphus told him, +he was famous not upon his own account but through the city where he +lived. You say true, said he, for if I had been a Seriphian, I had not +been famous; nor would you, if you had been an Athenian. To Antiphatus, +a beautiful person that avoided and despised Themistocles when he +formerly loved him, but came to him and flattered him when he was in +great power and esteem; Hark you, lad, said he, though late, yet both +of us are wise at last. To Simonides desiring him to give an unjust +sentence, You would not be a good poet, said he, if you should sing +out of tune; nor I a good governor, if I should give judgment contrary +to law. When his son was a little saucy towards his mother, he said +that this boy had more power than all the Grecians, for the Athenians +governed Greece, he the Athenians, his wife him, and his son his wife. +He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. +I would rather, said he, have a man that wants money, than money that +wants a man. Having a farm to sell, he bid the crier proclaim also +that it had a good neighbor. When the Athenians reviled him; Why do +you complain, said he, that the same persons so often befriend you? +And he compared himself to a row of plane-trees, under which in a +storm passengers run for shelter, but in fair weather they pluck the +leaves off and abuse them. Scoffing at the Eretrians, he said, Like +the sword-fish, they have a sword indeed, but no heart. Being banished +first out of Athens and afterwards out of Greece, he betook himself +to the king of Persia, who bade him speak his mind. Speech, he said, +was like to tapestry; and like it, when it was spread, it showed +its figures, but when it was folded up, hid and spoiled them. And +therefore he requested time until he might learn the Persian tongue, +and could explain himself without an interpreter. Having there received +great presents, and being enriched of a sudden; O lads, said he to his +sons, we had been undone if we had not been undone. + +MYRONIDES. Myronides summoned the Athenians to fight against the +Boeotians. When the time was almost come, and the captains told him +they were not near all come out; They are come, said he, all that +intend to fight. And marching while their spirits were up, he overcame +his enemies. + +ARISTIDES. Aristides the Just always managed his offices himself, and +avoided all political clubs, because power gotten by the assistance of +friends was an encouragement to the unjust. When the Athenians were +fully bent to banish him by an ostracism, an illiterate country fellow +came to him with his shell, and asked him to write in it the name of +Aristides. Friend, said he, do you know Aristides? Not I, said the +fellow, but I do not like his surname of Just. He said no more, but +wrote his name in the shell and gave it him. He was at variance with +Themistocles, who was sent on an embassy with him. Are you content, +said he, Themistocles, to leave our enmity at the borders? and if you +please, we will take it up again at our return. When he levied an +assessment upon the Greeks, he returned poorer by so much as he spent +in the journey. + +Aeschylus wrote these verses on Amphiaraus:— + + His shield no emblem bears; his generous soul + Wishes to be, not to appear, the best; + While the deep furrows of his noble mind + Harvests of wise and prudent counsel bear.[112] + +And when they were pronounced in the theatre, all turned their eyes +upon Aristides. + +PERICLES. Whenever he entered on his command as general, while he was +putting on his war-cloak, he used thus to bespeak himself: Remember, +Pericles, you govern freemen, Grecians, Athenians. He advised the +Athenians to demolish Aegina, as a dangerous eyesore to the haven of +Piraeus. To a friend that wanted him to bear false witness and to bind +the same with an oath, he said: I am a friend only as far as the altar. +When he lay on his death-bed, he blessed himself that no Athenian ever +went into mourning upon his account. + +ALCIBIADES. Alcibiades while he was a boy, wrestling in a ring, seeing +he could not break his adversary’s hold, bit him by the hand; who cried +out, You bite like a woman. Not so, said he, but like a lion. He had a +very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut +off his tail, that, said he, the Athenians may have this story to tell +of me, and may concern themselves no farther with me. Coming into a +school, he called for Homer’s Iliads; and when the master told him he +had none of Homer’s works, he gave him a box on the ear, and went his +way. He came to Pericles’s gate, and being told he was busy a preparing +his accounts to be given to the people of Athens, Had he not better, +said he, contrive how he might give no account at all? Being summoned +by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, he absconded, +saying, that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might +fly for it. But, said one, will you not trust your country with your +cause? No, said he, nor my mother either, lest she mistake and cast a +black pebble instead of a white one. When he heard death was decreed +to him and his associates, Let us convince them, said he, that we are +alive. And passing over to Lacedaemon, he stirred up the Decelean war +against the Athenians. + +LAMACHUS. Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he +would do so no more, Sir, said he, in war there is no room for a second +miscarriage. + +IPHICRATES. Iphicrates was despised because he was thought to be a +shoemaker’s son. The exploit that first brought him into repute was +this: when he was wounded himself, he caught up one of the enemies and +carried him alive and in his armor to his own ship. He once pitched his +camp in a country belonging to his allies and confederates, and yet he +fortified it exactly with a trench and bulwark. Said one to him, What +are ye afraid of? Of all speeches, said he, none is so dishonorable +for a general, as I should not have thought it. As he marshalled his +army to fight with barbarians, I am afraid, said he, they do not +know Iphicrates, for his very name used to strike terror into other +enemies. Being accused of a capital crime, he said to the informer: +O fellow! what art thou doing, who, when war is at hand, dost advise +the city to consult concerning me, and not with me? To Harmodius, +descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled him for his mean +birth, My nobility, said he, begins in me, but yours ends in you. A +rhetorician asked him in an assembly, who he was that he took so much +upon him,—horseman, or footman, or archer, or shield-bearer. Neither +of them, said he, but one that understands how to command all those. + +TIMOTHEUS. Timotheus was reputed a successful general, and some that +envied him painted cities falling under his net of their own accord, +while he was asleep. Said Timotheus, If I take such cities when I am +asleep, what do you think I shall do when I am awake? A confident +commander showed the Athenians a wound he had received. But I, said +he, when I was your general in Samos, was ashamed that a dart from an +engine fell near me. The orators set up Chares as one they thought fit +to be general of the Athenians. Not to be general, said Timotheus, but +to carry the general’s baggage. + +CHABRIAS. Chabrias said, they were the best commanders who best +understood the affairs of their enemies. He was once indicted for +treason with Iphicrates, who blamed him for exposing himself to danger, +by going to the place of exercise, and dining at his usual hour. If +the Athenians, said he, deal severely with us, you will die all foul +and gut-foundered; I’ll die clean and anointed, with my dinner in my +belly. He was wont to say, that an army of stags, with a lion for their +commander, was more formidable than an army of lions led by a stag. + +HEGESIPPUS. When Hegesippus, surnamed Crobylus (i.e. _Top-knot_), +instigated the Athenians against Philip, one of the assembly cried +out, You would not persuade us to a war? Yes, indeed, would I, said +he, and to mourning clothes and to public funerals and to funeral +speeches, if we intend to live free and not submit to the pleasure of +the Macedonians. + +PYTHEAS. Pytheas, when he was a young man, stood forth to oppose the +decrees made concerning Alexander. One said: Have you, young man, the +confidence to speak in such weighty affairs? And why not? said he: +Alexander, whom you voted a God, is younger than I am. + +PHOCION. Phocion the Athenian was never seen to laugh or cry. In an +assembly one told him, You seem to be thoughtful, Phocion. You guess +right, said he, for I am contriving how to contract what I have to +say to the people of Athens. The Oracle told the Athenians, there was +one man in the city of a contrary judgment to all the rest; and the +Athenians in a hubbub ordered search to be made, who this should be. +I, said Phocion, am the man; I alone am pleased with nothing the common +people say or do. Once when he had delivered an opinion which pleased +the people, and perceived it was entertained by a general consent, +he turned to his friend, and said: Have I not unawares spoken some +mischievous thing or other? The Athenians gathered a benevolence for a +certain sacrifice; and when others contributed to it, he being often +spoken to said: I should be ashamed to give to you, and not to pay this +man,—pointing to one of his creditors. Demosthenes the orator told +him, If the Athenians should be mad, they would kill you. Like enough, +said he, me if they were mad, but you if they were wise. Aristogiton +the informer, being condemned and ready to be executed in prison, +entreated that Phocion would come to him. And when his friends would +not suffer him to go to so vile a person; And where, said he, would you +discourse with Aristogiton more pleasantly? The Athenians were offended +with the Byzantines, for refusing to receive Chares into their city, +who was sent with forces to assist them against Philip. Said Phocion, +You ought not to be displeased with the distrust of your confederates, +but with your commanders that are not to be trusted. Whereupon he was +chosen general, and being trusted by the Byzantines, he forced Philip +to return without his errand. King Alexander sent him a present of a +hundred talents; and he asked those that brought it, what it should +mean that, of all the Athenians, Alexander should be thus kind to him. +They answered, because he esteemed him alone to be a worthy and upright +person. Pray therefore, said he, let him suffer me to seem as well as +to be so. Alexander sent to them for some ships, and the people calling +for Phocion by name, bade him speak his opinion. He stood up and told +them: I advise you either to conquer yourselves, or else to side with +the conqueror. An uncertain rumor happened, that Alexander was dead. +Immediately the orators leaped into the pulpit, and advised them to +make war without delay; but Phocion entreated them to tarry awhile +and know the certainty: For, said he, if he is dead to-day, he will +be dead to-morrow, and so forwards. Leosthenes hurried the city into +a war, with fond hopes conceited at the name of liberty and command. +Phocion compared his speeches to cypress-trees; They are tall, said +he, and comely, but bear no fruit. However, the first attempts were +successful; and when the city was sacrificing for the good news, he was +asked whether he did not wish he had done this himself. I would, said +he, have done what has been done, but have advised what I did. When the +Macedonians invaded Attica and plundered the seacoasts, he drew out +the youth. When many came to him and generally persuaded him by all +means to possess himself of such an ascent, and thereon to marshal his +army, O Hercules! said he, how many commanders do I see, and how few +soldiers? Yet he fought and overcame, and slew Nicion, the commander +of the Macedonians. But in a short time the Athenians were overcome, +and admitted a garrison sent by Antipater. Menyllus, the governor of +that garrison, offered money to Phocion, who was enraged thereby and +said: This man is no better than Alexander; and what I refused then I +can with less honor receive now. Antipater said, of the two friends he +had at Athens, he could never persuade Phocion to accept a present, nor +could he ever satisfy Demades with presents. When Antipater requested +him to do some indirect thing or other, Antipater, said he, you cannot +have Phocion for your friend and flatterer too. After the death of +Antipater, democracy was established in Athens, and the assembly +decreed the death of Phocion and his friends. The rest were led weeping +to execution; but as Phocion passed silently, one of his enemies met +him and spat in his face. But he turned himself to the magistrates, +and said, Will nobody restrain this insolent fellow? One of those that +were to suffer with him lamented and took on: Why, Euippus, said he, +are you not pleased that you die with Phocion? When the cup of hemlock +was brought to him, being asked whether he had any thing to say to +his son; I command you, said he, and entreat you not to think of any +revenge upon the Athenians. + +PISISTRATUS. Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, when some of his party +revolted from him and possessed themselves of Phyle, came to them +bearing his baggage on his back. They asked him what he meant by it. +Either, said he, to persuade you to return with me, or if I cannot +persuade you, to tarry with you; and therefore I come prepared +accordingly. An accusation was brought to him against his mother, that +she was in love and used secret familiarity with a young man, who +out of fear for the most part refused her. This young man he invited +to supper, and as they were at supper asked him how he liked his +entertainment. He answered, Very well. Thus, said he, you shall be +treated daily, if you please my mother. Thrasybulus was in love with +his daughter, and as he met her, kissed her; whereupon his wife would +have incensed him against Thrasybulus. If, said he, we hate those that +love us, what shall we do to them that hate us?—and he gave the maid +in marriage to Thrasybulus. Some lascivious drunken persons by chance +met his wife, and used unseemly speech and behavior to her; but the +next day they begged his pardon with tears. As for you, said he, learn +to be sober for the future; but as for my wife, yesterday she was not +abroad at all. He designed to marry another wife, and his children +asked him whether he could blame them for any thing. By no means, said +he, but I commend you, and desire to have more such children as you +are. + +DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS. Demetrius Phalereus persuaded King Ptolemy to get +and study such books as treated of government and conduct; for those +things are written in books which the friends of kings dare not advise. + +LYCURGUS. Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian brought long hair into fashion +among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome +more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one +that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, Pray, said he, do +you first set up a democracy in your own house. He ordained that +houses should be built with saws and axes only, thinking they would be +ashamed to bring plate, tapestry, and costly tables into such pitiful +houses. He forbade them to contend at boxing or in the double contest +of boxing and wrestling, that they might not accustom themselves to +be conquered, no, not so much as in jest. He forbade them also to war +often against the same people, lest they should make them the more +warlike. Accordingly, many years after, when Agesilaus was wounded, +Antalcidas told him the Thebans had rewarded him worthily for teaching +and accustoming them to war, whether they would or no. + +CHARILLUS. King Charillus, being asked why Lycurgus made so few laws, +answered, They who use few words do not need many laws. When one of the +Helots behaved rather too insolently towards him, By Castor and Pollux, +said he, I would kill you, were I not angry. To one that asked him why +the Spartans wore long hair, Because, said he, of all ornaments that is +the cheapest. + +TELECLUS. King Teleclus, when his brother inveighed against the +citizens for not giving him that respect which they did to the king, +said to him, No wonder, you do not know how to bear injury. + +THEOPOMPUS. Theopompus, to one that showed him the walls of a city and +asked him if they were not high and beautiful, answered, No, not even +if they are built for women. + +ARCHIDAMUS. Archidamus, in the Peloponnesian war, when his allies +requested him to appoint them their quota of tributes, replied, War has +a very irregular appetite. + +BRASIDAS. Brasidas caught a mouse among his dried figs, which bit him, +and he let it go. Whereupon, turning to the company, Nothing, said +he, is so small which may not save itself, if it have the valor to +defend itself against its aggressors. In a fight he was shot through +his shield, and plucking the spear out of his wound, with the same he +slew his adversary. When he was asked how he came to be wounded, My +shield, said he, betrayed me. It was his fortune to be slain in battle, +as he endeavored to liberate the Grecians that were in Thrace. These +sent an embassy to Lacedaemon, which made a visit to his mother, who +first asked them whether Brasidas died honorably. When the Thracians +praised him, and affirmed that there would never be such another man, +My friends, said she, you are mistaken; Brasidas indeed was a valiant +man, but Lacedaemon hath many more valiant men than he. + +AGIS. King Agis said, The Lacedaemonians are not wont to ask how many, +but where the enemy are. At Mantinea he was advised not to fight the +enemy that exceeded him in number. It is necessary, said he, for him to +fight with many, who would rule over many. The Eleans were commended +for managing the Olympic games honorably. What wonder, said he, do they +do, if one day in four years they do justice? When the same persons +enlarged in their commendation, What wonder is it, said he, if they use +justice honorably, which is an honorable thing? To a lewd person, that +often asked who was the best man among the Spartans, he answered, He +that is most unlike you. When another asked what was the number of the +Lacedaemonians,—Sufficient, said he, to defend themselves from wicked +men. To another that asked him the same question, If you should see +them fight, said he, you would think them to be many. + +LYSANDER. Dionysius the Tyrant presented Lysander’s daughters with rich +garments, which he refused to accept, saying he feared they would seem +more deformed in them. To such as blamed him for managing much of his +affairs by stratagems, which was unworthy of Hercules from whom he was +descended, he answered, Where the lion’s skin will not reach, it must +be pieced with the fox’s. When the citizens of Argos seemed to make out +a better title than the Lacedaemonians to a country that was in dispute +between them, drawing his sword, He that is master of this, said he, +can best dispute about bounds of countries. When the Lacedaemonians +delayed to assault the walls of Corinth, and he saw a hare leap out of +the trench; Do you fear, said he, such enemies as these, whose laziness +suffers hares to sleep on their walls? To an inhabitant of Megara, that +in a parley spoke confidently unto him, Your words, said he, want the +breeding of the city. + +AGESILAUS. Agesilaus said that the inhabitants of Asia were bad freemen +and good servants. When they were wont to call the king of Persia +the Great King, Wherein, said he, is he greater than I, if he is not +more just and wise than I am? Being asked which was better, valor or +justice, he answered, We should have no need of valor, if we were +all just. When he broke up his camp suddenly by night in the enemy’s +country, and saw a lad he loved left behind by reason of sickness, +and weeping, It is a hard thing, said he, to be pitiful and wise at +the same time. Menecrates the physician, surnamed Jupiter, inscribed +a letter to him thus: Menecrates Jupiter to King Agesilaus wisheth +joy. And he returned in answer: King Agesilaus to Menecrates wisheth +his wits. When the Lacedaemonians overcame the Athenians and their +confederates at Corinth, and he heard the number of the enemies that +were slain; Alas, said he, for Greece, who hath destroyed so many of +her men as were enough to have conquered all the barbarians together. +He had received an answer from the Oracle of Jupiter in Olympia, which +was to his satisfaction. Afterwards the Ephori bade him consult Apollo +in the same case; and to Delphi he went, and asked that God whether +he was of the same mind with his father. He interceded for one of his +friends with Idrieus of Caria, and wrote to him thus: If Nicias has not +offended, set him free; but if he is guilty, set him free for my sake; +by all means set him free. Being exhorted to hear one that imitated +the voice of a nightingale, I have often, said he, heard nightingales +themselves. The law ordained that such as ran away should be disgraced. +After the fight at Leuctra, the Ephori, seeing the city void of men, +were willing to dispense with that disgrace, and empowered Agesilaus to +make a law to that purpose. But he standing in the midst commanded that +after the next day the laws should remain in force as before. He was +sent to assist the king of Egypt, with whom he was besieged by enemies +that outnumbered his own forces; and when they had entrenched their +camp, the king commanded him to go out and fight them. Since, said he, +they intend to make themselves equal to us, I will not hinder them. +When the trench was almost finished, he drew up his men in the void +space, and so fighting with equal advantage he overcame them. When he +was dying, he charged his friends that no fiction or counterfeit (so he +called statues) should be made for him; For if, said he, I have done +any honorable exploit, that is my monument; but if I have done none, +all your statues will signify nothing. + +ARCHIDAMUS. When Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, beheld a dart to +be shot from an engine newly brought out of Sicily, he cried out, O +Hercules! the valor of man is at an end. + +AGIS THE YOUNGER. Demades said, the Laconians’ swords were so small, +that jugglers might swallow them. That may be, said Agis, but the +Lacedaemonians can reach their enemies very well with them. The Ephori +ordered him to deliver his soldiers to a traitor. I will not, said he, +entrust him with strangers, who betrayed his own men. + +CLEOMENES. To one that promised to give him hardy cocks, that would die +fighting, Prithee, said he, give me cocks that will kill fighting. + +PAEDARETUS. Paedaretus, when he was not chosen among the Three Hundred +(which was the highest office and honor in the city), went away +cheerfully and smiling, saying, he was glad if the city had three +hundred better citizens than himself. + +DAMONIDAS. Damonidas, being placed by him that ordered the chorus in +the last rank of it, said: Well done, you have found a way to make this +place also honorable. + +NICOSTRATUS. Archidamus, general of the Argives, enticed Nicostratus +to betray a fort, by promises of a great sum, and the marriage of what +Lacedaemonian lady he pleased except the king’s daughters. He answered, +that Archidamus was none of the offspring of Hercules, for he went +about to punish wicked men, but Archidamus to corrupt honest men. + +EUDAEMONIDAS. Eudaemonidas beholding Xenocrates, when he was old, in +the Academy reading philosophy to his scholars, and being told he was +in quest of virtue, asked: And when does he intend to practise it? +Another time, when he heard a philosopher arguing that only the wise +man can be a good general, This is a wonderful speech, said he, but he +that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets. + +ANTIOCHUS. Antiochus being Ephor, when he heard Philip had given the +Messenians a country, asked whether he had granted them that they +should be victorious when they fought for that country. + +ANTALCIDAS. To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians unlearned, +Therefore we alone, said Antalcidas, have learned no mischief of +you. To another Athenian that told him, Indeed, we have often driven +you from the Cephissus, he replied, But we never drove you from the +Eurotas. When a Sophist was beginning to recite the praise of Hercules; +And who, said he, ever spoke against him? + +EPAMINONDAS. No panic fear ever surprised the army of the Thebans while +Epaminondas was their general. He said, to die in war was the most +honorable death, and the bodies of armed men ought to be exercised, +not as wrestlers, but in a warlike manner. Wherefore he hated fat +men, and dismissed one of them, saying, that three or four shields +would scarce serve to secure his belly, which would not suffer him +to see his members. He was so frugal in his diet that, being invited +by a neighbor to supper, and finding there dishes, ointments, and +junkets in abundance, he departed immediately, saying: I thought you +were sacrificing, and not displaying your luxury. When his cook gave +an account to his colleagues of the charges for several days, he was +offended only at the quantity of oil; and when his colleagues wondered +at him, I am not, said he, troubled at the charge, but that so much +oil should be received into my body. When the city kept a festival, +and all gave themselves to banquets and drinking, he was met by one of +his acquaintance unadorned and in a thoughtful posture. He wondering +asked him why he of all men should walk about in that manner. That all +of you, said he, may be drunk and revel securely. An ill man, that +had committed no great fault, he refused to discharge at the request +of Pelopidas; when his miss entreated for him, he dismissed him, +saying: Whores are fitting to receive such presents, and not generals. +The Lacedaemonians invaded the Thebans, and oracles were brought to +Thebes, some that promised victory, others that foretold an overthrow. +He ordered those to be placed on the right hand of the judgment seat, +and these on the left. When they were placed accordingly, he rose up +and said: If you will obey your commanders and unanimously resist your +enemies, these are your oracles,—pointing to the better; but if you +play the cowards, those,—pointing to the worser. Another time, as he +drew nigh to the enemy, it thundered, and some that were about him +asked him what he thought the Gods would signify by it. They signify, +said he, that the enemy is thunderstruck and demented, since he pitches +his camp in a bad place, when he was nigh to a better. Of all the +happy and prosperous events that befell him, he said that in this he +took most satisfaction, that he overcame the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra +while his father and mother, that begot him, were living. Whereas he +was wont to appear with his body anointed and a cheerful countenance, +the day after that fight he came abroad meanly habited and dejected; +and when his friends asked him whether any misfortune had befallen +him, No, said he, but yesterday I was pleased more than became a wise +man, and therefore to-day I chastise that immoderate joy. Perceiving +the Spartans concealed their disasters, and desiring to discover the +greatness of their loss, he did not give them leave to take away +their dead altogether, but allowed each city to bury its own; whereby +it appeared that above a thousand Lacedaemonians were slain. Jason, +monarch of Thessaly, was at Thebes as their confederate, and sent two +thousand pieces of gold to Epaminondas, then in great want; but he +refused the gold, and when he saw Jason, he said: You are the first to +commit violence. And borrowing fifty drachms of a citizen, with that +money to supply his army he invaded Peloponnesus. Another time, when +the Persian king sent him thirty thousand darics, he chid Diomedon +severely, asking him whether he sailed so far to bribe Epaminondas; +and bade him tell the king, as long as he wished the prosperity of +the Thebans, Epaminondas would be his friend gratis, but when he was +otherwise minded, his enemy. When the Argives were confederates with +the Thebans, the Athenian ambassadors then in Arcadia complained of +both, and Callistratus the orator reproached the cities with Orestes +and Oedipus. But Epaminondas stood up and said: We confess there hath +been one amongst us that killed his father, and among the Argives one +that killed his mother; but we banished those that did such things, +and the Athenians entertained them. To some Spartans that accused the +Thebans of many and great crimes, These indeed, said he, are they that +have put an end to your short dialect. The Athenians made friendship +and alliance with Alexander the tyrant of Pherae, who was an enemy to +the Thebans, and who had promised to furnish them with flesh at half +an obol a pound. And we, said Epaminondas, will supply them with wood +to that flesh gratis; for if they grow meddlesome, we will make bold +to cut all the wood in their country for them. Being desirous to keep +the Boeotians, that were grown rusty by idleness, always in arms, when +he was chosen their chief magistrate, he used to exhort them, saying: +Yet consider what you do, my friends; for if I am your general, you +must be my soldiers. He called their country, which was plain and open, +the stage of war, which they could keep no longer than their hands +were upon their shields. Chabrias, having slain a few Thebans near +Corinth, that engaged too hotly near the walls, erected a trophy, which +Epaminondas laughed at, saying, it was not a trophy, but a statue of +Trivia, which they usually placed in the highway before the gates. One +told him that the Athenians had sent an army into Peloponnesus adorned +with new armor. What then? said he, doth Antigenidas sigh because +Telles hath got new pipes? (Now Antigenidas was an excellent piper, but +Telles a vile one.) Understanding his shield-bearer had taken a great +deal of money from a prisoner, Come, said he, give me the shield, and +buy you a victualling-house to live in; for now you are grown rich +and wealthy, you will not hazard your life as you did formerly. Being +asked whether he thought himself or Chabrias or Iphicrates the better +general, It is hard, said he, to judge while we live. After he returned +out of Laconia, he was tried for his life, with his fellow-commanders, +for continuing Boeotarch four months longer than the law allowed. He +bade the other commanders lay the blame upon him, as if he had forced +them, and for himself, he said, his actions were his best speech; but +if any thing at all were to be answered to the judges, he entreated +them, if they put him to death, to write his fault upon his monument, +that the Grecians might know that Epaminondas compelled the Thebans +against their will to plunder and fire Laconia,—which in five hundred +years before had never suffered the like,—to build Messene two +hundred and thirty years after it was sacked, to unite the Arcadians, +and to restore liberty to Greece; for those things were done in that +expedition. Whereupon the judges arose with great laughter, and refused +even to receive the votes against him. In his last fight, being wounded +and carried into his tent, he called for Diaphantes and after him for +Iollidas; and when he heard they were slain, he advised the Thebans +to make their peace with the enemy, since they had never a general +left them; as by the event proved true. So well did he understand his +countrymen. + +PELOPIDAS. Pelopidas, Epaminondas’s colleague, when his friends told +him that he neglected a necessary business, that was the gathering of +money, replied: In good deed money is necessary for this Nicomedas, +pointing to a lame man that could not go. As he was going out to fight, +his wife beseeched him to have a care of himself. To others you may +give this advice, said he; but a commander and general you must advise +that he should save his countrymen. A soldier told him, We are fallen +among the enemies. Said he, How are we fallen among them, more than +they among us? When Alexander, the tyrant of Pherae, broke his faith +and cast him into prison, he reviled him; and when the other told him +he did but hasten his death, That is my design, said he, that the +Thebans may be exasperated against you, and be revenged on you the +sooner. Thebe, the wife of the tyrant, came to him, and told him she +wondered to see him so merry in chains. He answered, he wondered more +at her, that she could endure Alexander without being chained. When +Epaminondas caused him to be released, he said: I thank Alexander, for +I have now found by trial that I have not only courage to fight, but to +die. + + + + +ROMAN APOPHTHEGMS. + + +M.’ CURIUS. When some blamed M.’ Curius for distributing but a small +part of a country he took from the enemy, and preserving the greater +part for the commonwealth, he prayed there might be no Roman who would +think that estate little which was enough to maintain him. The Samnites +after an overthrow came to him to offer him gold, and found him boiling +rape-roots. He answered the Samnites that he that could sup so wanted +no gold, and that he had rather rule over those who had gold than have +it himself. + +C. FABRICIUS. C. Fabricius, hearing Pyrrhus had overthrown the +Romans, told Labienus, it was Pyrrhus, not the Epirots, that beat the +Romans. He went to treat about exchange of prisoners with Pyrrhus, +who offered him a great sum of gold, which he refused. The next day +Pyrrhus commanded a very large elephant should secretly be placed +behind Fabricius, and discover himself by roaring; whereupon Fabricius +turned and smiled, saying, I was not astonished either at your gold +yesterday or at your beast to-day. Pyrrhus invited him to tarry with +him, and to accept of the next command under him: That, said he, will +be inconvenient for you; for, when the Epirots know us both, they will +rather have me for their king than you. When Fabricius was consul, +Pyrrhus’s physician sent him a letter, wherein he promised him that, if +he commanded him, he would poison Pyrrhus. Fabricius sent the letter +to Pyrrhus, and bade him conclude that he was a very bad judge both +of friends and enemies. The plot was discovered; Pyrrhus hanged his +physician, and sent the Roman prisoners he had taken without ransom +as a present to Fabricius. He, however, refused to accept them, but +returned the like number, lest he might seem to receive a reward. +Neither did he disclose the conspiracy out of kindness to Pyrrhus, but +that the Romans might not seem to kill him by treachery, as if they +despaired to conquer him in open war. + +FABIUS MAXIMUS. Fabius Maximus would not fight, but chose to spin away +the time with Hannibal,—who wanted both money and provision for his +army,—by pursuing and facing him in rocky and mountainous places. +When many laughed at him and called him Hannibal’s schoolmaster, he +took little notice of them, but pursued his own design, and told his +friends: He that is afraid of scoffs and reproaches is more a coward +than he that flies from the enemy. When Minucius, his fellow-consul, +upon routing a party of the enemy, was highly extolled as a man worthy +of Rome; I am more afraid, said he, of Minucius’s success than of +his misfortune. And not long after he fell into an ambush, and was +in danger of perishing with his forces, until Fabius succored him, +slew many of the enemy, and brought him off. Whereupon Hannibal told +his friends: Did I not often presage that cloud on the hills would +some time or other break upon us? After the city received the great +overthrow at Cannae, he was chosen consul with Marcellus, a daring +person and much desirous to fight Hannibal, whose forces, if nobody +fought him, he hoped would shortly disperse and be dissolved. Therefore +Hannibal said, he feared fighting Marcellus less than Fabius who would +not fight. He was informed of a Lucanian soldier that frequently +wandered out of the camp by night after a woman he loved, but otherwise +an admirable soldier; he caused his mistress to be seized privately and +brought to him. When she came, he sent for the soldier and told him: +It is known you lie out a nights, contrary to the law; but your former +good behavior is not forgotten, therefore your faults are forgiven to +your merits. Henceforwards you shall tarry with me, for I have your +surety. And he brought out the woman to him. Hannibal kept Tarentum +with a garrison, all but the castle; and Fabius drew the enemy far +from it, and by a stratagem took the town and plundered it. When his +secretary asked what was his pleasure as to the holy images, Let us +leave, said he, the Tarentines their offended Gods. When M. Livius, who +kept a garrison in the castle, said he took Tarentum by his assistance, +others laughed at him; but said Fabius, You say true, for if you had +not lost the city, I had not re-took it. When he was ancient, his son +was consul, and as he was discharging his office publicly with many +attendants, he met him on horseback. The young man sent a sergeant to +command him to alight; when others were at a stand, Fabius presently +alighted, and running faster than for his age might be expected, +embraced his son. Well done, son, said he, I see you are wise, and know +whom you govern, and the grandeur of the office you have undertaken. + +SCIPIO THE ELDER. Scipio the Elder spent on his studies what leisure +the campaign and government would allow him, saying, that he did most +when he was idle. When he took Carthage by storm, some soldiers took +prisoner a very beautiful virgin, and came and presented her to him. I +would receive her, said he, with all my heart, if I were a private man +and not a governor. While he was besieging the city of Badia, wherein +appeared above all a temple of Venus, he ordered appearances to be +given for actions to be tried before him within three days in that +temple of Venus; and he took the city, and was as good as his word. +One asked him in Sicily, on what confidence he presumed to pass with +his navy against Carthage. He showed him three hundred disciplined men +in armor, and pointed to a high tower on the shore; There is not one +of these, said he, that would not at my command go to the top of that +tower, and cast himself down headlong. Over he went, landed, and burnt +the enemy’s camp, and the Carthaginians sent to him, and covenanted to +surrender their elephants, ships, and a sum of money. But when Hannibal +was sailed back from Italy, their reliance on him made them repent of +those conditions. This coming to Scipio’s ear, Nor will I, said he, +stand to the agreement if they will, unless they pay me five thousand +talents more for sending for Hannibal. The Carthaginians, when they +were utterly overthrown, sent ambassadors to make peace and league +with him; he bade those that came return immediately, as refusing to +hear them before they brought L. Terentius with them, a good man, +whom the Carthaginians had taken prisoner. When they brought him, he +placed him in the council next himself, on the judgment-seat, and then +he transacted with the Carthaginians and put an end to the war. And +Terentius followed him when he triumphed, wearing the cap of one that +was made free; and when he died, Scipio gave wine mingled with honey +to those that were at the funeral, and performed other funeral rites +in his honor. But these things were done afterwards. King Antiochus, +after the Romans invaded him, sent to Scipio in Asia for peace; That +should have been done before, said he, not now when you have received +a bridle and a rider. The senate decreed him a sum of money out of the +treasury, but the treasurers refused to open it on that day. Then, said +he, I will open it myself, for the moneys with which I filled it caused +it to be shut. When Paetilius and Quintus accused him of many crimes +before the people,—On this very day, said he, I conquered Hannibal and +Carthage; I for my part am going with my crown on to the Capitol to +sacrifice; and let him that pleaseth stay and pass his vote upon me. +Having thus said, he went his way; and the people followed him, leaving +his accusers declaiming to themselves. + +T. QUINCTIUS. T. Quinctius was eminent so early, that before he had +been tribune, praetor, or aedile, he was chosen consul. Being sent +as general against Philip, he was persuaded to come to a conference +with him. And when Philip demanded hostages of him, because he was +accompanied with many Romans while the Macedonians had none but +himself; You, said Quinctius, have created this solitude for yourself, +by killing your friends and kindred. Having overcome Philip in battle, +he proclaimed in the Isthmian games that the Grecians were free and to +be governed by their own laws. And the Grecians redeemed all the Roman +prisoners that in Hannibal’s days were sold for slaves in Greece, each +of them with two hundred drachms, and made him a present of them; and +they followed him in Rome in his triumph, wearing caps on their heads +such as they use to wear who are made free. He advised the Achaeans, +who designed to make war upon the Island Zacynthus, to take heed lest, +like a tortoise, they should endanger their head by thrusting it out +of Peloponnesus. When King Antiochus was coming upon Greece with great +forces, and all men trembled at the report of his numbers and equipage, +he told the Achaeans this story: Once I dined with a friend at Chalcis, +and when I wondered at the variety of dishes, said my host, “All these +are pork, only in dressing and sauces they differ.” And therefore be +not you amazed at the king’s forces, when you hear talk of spearmen and +men-at-arms and choice footmen and horse-archers, for all these are but +Syrians, with some little difference in their weapons. Philopoemen, +general of the Achaeans, had good store of horses and men-at-arms, but +could not tell what to do for money; and Quinctius played upon him, +saying, Philopoemen had arms and legs, but no belly; and it happened +his body was much after that shape. + +CNEUS DOMITIUS. Cneus Domitius,—whom Scipio the Great sent in his +stead to attend his brother Lucius in the war against Antiochus,—when +he had viewed the enemy’s army, and the commanders that were with him +advised him to set upon them presently, said to them: We shall scarce +have time enough now to kill so many thousands, plunder their baggage, +return to our camp, and refresh ourselves too; but we shall have time +enough to do all this to-morrow. The next day he engaged them, and slew +fifty thousand of the enemy. + +PUBLIUS LICINIUS. Publius Licinius, consul and general being worsted +in a horse engagement by Perseus king of Macedon, with what were slain +and what were took prisoners, lost two thousand eight hundred men. +Presently after the fight, Perseus sent ambassadors to make peace and +league with him; and although he was overcome, yet he advised the +conqueror to submit himself and his affairs to the pleasure of the +Romans. + +PAULUS AEMILIUS. Paulus Aemilius, when he stood for his second +consulship, was rejected. Afterwards, the war with Perseus and the +Macedonians being prolonged by the ignorance and effeminacy of the +commanders, they chose him consul. I thank, said he, the people for +nothing; they choose me general, not because I want the office, but +because they want an officer. As he returned from the hall to his own +house, and found his little daughter Tertia weeping, he asked her what +she cried for? Perseus, said she (so her little dog was called), is +dead. Luckily hast thou spoken, girl, said he, and I accept the omen. +When he found in the camp much confident prating among the soldiers, +who pretended to advise him and busy themselves as if they had been all +officers, he bade them be quiet and only whet their swords, and leave +other things to his care. + +He ordered night-guards should be kept without swords or spears, that +they might resist sleep, when they had nothing wherewith to resist the +enemy. He invaded Macedonia by the way of the mountains; and seeing the +enemy drawn up, when Nasica advised him to set upon them presently, +he replied: So I should, if I were of your age; but long experience +forbids me, after a march, to fight an army marshalled regularly. +Having overcome Perseus, he feasted his friends for joy of the victory, +saying, it required the same skill to make an army very terrible to the +enemy, and a banquet very acceptable to our friends. When Perseus was +taken prisoner, he told Paulus that he would not be led in triumph. +That, said he, is as you please,—meaning he might kill himself. He +found an infinite quantity of money, but kept none for himself; only +to his son-in-law Tubero he gave a silver bowl that weighed five +pounds, as a reward of his valor; and that, they say, was the first +piece of plate that belonged to the Aemilian family. Of the four sons +he had, he parted with two that were adopted into other families; +and of the two that lived with him, one of them died at the age of +fourteen years, but five days before his triumph; and five days after +the triumph, at the age of twelve years died the other. When the people +that met him bemoaned and compassionated his calamities, Now, said he, +my fears and jealousies for my country are over, since Fortune hath +discharged her revenge for our success on my house, and I have paid for +all. + +CATO THE ELDER. Cato the Elder, in a speech to the people, inveighed +against luxury and intemperance. How hard, said he, is it to persuade +the belly, that hath no ears? And he wondered how that city was +preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox! Once he scoffed +at the prevailing imperiousness of women: All other men, said he, +govern their wives; but we command all other men, and our wives us. +He said he had rather not be rewarded for his good deeds than not +punished for his evil deeds; and at any time he could pardon all other +offenders besides himself. He instigated the magistrates to punish all +offenders, saying, that they that did not prevent crimes when they +might encouraged them. Of young men, he liked them that blushed better +than those who looked pale; and hated a soldier that moved his hands +as he walked and his feet as he fought, and whose sneeze was louder +than his outcry when he charged. He said, he was the worst governor +who could not govern himself. It was his opinion that every one ought +especially to reverence himself; for every one was always in his own +presence. When he saw many had their statues set up, I had rather, says +he, men should ask why Cato had no statue, than why he had one. He +exhorted those in power to be sparing of exercising their power, that +they might continue in power. They that separate honor from virtue, +said he, separate virtue from youth. A governor, said he, or judge +ought to do justice without entreaty, not injustice upon entreaty. He +said, that injustice, if it did not endanger the authors, endangered +all besides. He requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness +to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils. He thought +an angry man differed from a madman only in the shorter time which +his passion endured. He thought that they who enjoyed their fortunes +decently and moderately, were far from being envied; For men do not +envy us, said he, but our estates. He said, they that were serious in +ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs. Honorable +actions ought to succeed honorable sayings; Lest, said he, they lose +their reputation. He blamed the people for always choosing the same men +officers; For either you think, said he, the government little worth, +or very few fit to govern. He pretended to wonder at one that sold an +estate by the seaside, as if he were more powerful than the sea; for he +had drunk up that which the sea could hardly drown. When he stood for +the consulship, and saw others begging and flattering the people for +votes, he cried out aloud: The people have need of a sharp physician +and a great purge; therefore not the mildest but the most inexorable +person is to be chosen. For which word he was chosen before all others. +Encouraging young men to fight boldly, he oftentimes said, The speech +and voice terrify and put to flight the enemy more than the hand and +sword. As he warred against Baetica, he was outnumbered by the enemy, +and in danger. The Celtiberians offered for two hundred talents to send +him a supply, and the Romans would not suffer him to engage to pay +wages to barbarians. You are out, said he; for if we overcome, not we +but the enemy must pay them; if we are routed, there will be nobody to +demand nor to pay either. Having taken more cities, as he saith, than +he stayed days in the enemies’ country, he reserved no more of the prey +for himself than what he ate or drank. He distributed to every soldier +a round of silver, saying, It was better many should return out of the +campaign with silver than a few with gold; for governors ought to gain +nothing by their governments but honor. Five servants waited on him in +the army, whereof one had bought three prisoners; and understanding +Cato knew it, before he came into his presence he hanged himself. Being +requested by Scipio Africanus to befriend the banished Achaeans, that +they might return to their own country, he made as if he would not be +concerned in that business; but when the matter was disputed in the +senate, rising up, he said: We sit here, as if we had nothing else to +do but to argue about a few old Grecians, whether they shall be carried +to their graves by our bearers or by those of their own country. +Posthumus Albinus wrote a history in Greek, and in it begs the pardon +of his readers. Said Cato, jeering him, If the Amphictyonic Council +commanded him to write it, he ought to be pardoned. + +SCIPIO JUNIOR. It is reported that Scipio Junior never bought nor sold +nor built any thing for the space of fifty-four years, and so long as +he lived; and that of so great an estate, he left but thirty-three +pounds of silver, and two of gold behind him, although he was lord +of Carthage, and enriched his soldiers more than other generals. He +observed the precept of Polybius, and endeavored never to return from +the forum, until by some means or other he had engaged some one he +lighted on to be his friend or companion. While he was yet young, he +had such a repute for valor and knowledge, that Cato the Elder, being +asked his opinion of the commanders in Africa, of whom Scipio was one, +answered in that Greek verse,— + + Others like shadows fly; + He only is wise.[113] + +When he came from the army to Rome, the people preferred him, not +to gratify him, but because they hoped by his assistance to conquer +Carthage with more ease and speed. After he was entered the walls, +the Carthaginians defended themselves in the castle, separated by the +sea, not very deep. Polybius advised him to scatter caltrops in the +water, or planks with iron spikes, that the enemy might not pass over +to assault their bulwark. He answered, that it was ridiculous for those +who had taken the walls and were within the city to contrive how they +might not fight with the enemy. He found the city full of Greek statues +and presents brought thither from Sicily, and made proclamation that +such as were present from those cities might claim and carry away what +belonged to them. When others plundered and carried away the spoil, he +would not suffer any that belonged to him, either slave or freeman, to +take, nor so much as to buy any of it. He assisted C. Laelius, his most +beloved friend, when he stood to be consul, and asked Pompey (who was +thought to be a piper’s son) whether he stood or not. He replied, No; +and besides promised to join with them in going about and procuring +votes, which they believed and expected, but were deceived; for news +was brought that Pompey was in the forum, fawning on and soliciting the +citizens for himself; whereat others being enraged, Scipio laughed. +We may thank our own folly for this, said he, that, as if we were not +to request men but the Gods, we lose our time in waiting for a piper. +When he stood to be censor, Appius Claudius, his rival, told him that +he could salute all the Romans by their names, whereas Scipio scarce +knew any of them. You say true, said he, for it hath been my care not +to know many, but that all might know me. He advised the city, which +then had an army in Celtiberia, to send them both to the army, either +as tribunes or lieutenants, that thus the soldiers might be witnesses +and judges of the valor of each of them. When he was made censor, he +took away his horse from a young man, who, in the time while Carthage +was besieged, made a costly supper, in which was a honey-cake, made +after the shape of that city, which he named Carthage and set before +his guests to be plundered by them; and when the young man asked the +reason why he took his horse from him, he said, Because you plundered +Carthage before me. As he saw C. Licinius coming towards him, I +know, said he, that man is perjured; but since nobody accuses him, I +cannot be his accuser and judge too. The senate sent him thrice, as +Clitomachus saith, to take cognizance of men, cities, and manners, as +an overseer of cities, kings, and countries. As he came to Alexandria +and landed, he went with his head covered, and the Alexandrians running +about him entreated he would gratify them by uncovering and showing +them his desirable face. When he uncovered his head, they clapped +their hands with a loud acclamation. The king, by reason of his +laziness and corpulency, making a hard shift to keep pace with them, +Scipio whispered softly to Panaetius: The Alexandrians have already +received some benefit of our visit, for upon our account they have +seen their king walk. There travelled with him one friend, Panaetius +the philosopher, and five servants, whereof one dying in the journey, +he would not buy another, but sent for one to Rome. The Numantines +seemed invincible, and having overcome several generals, the people +the second time chose Scipio general in that war. When great numbers +strived to list them in his army, even that the senate forbade, as if +Italy thereby would be left destitute. Nor did they allow him money +that was in bank, but ordered him to receive the revenues of tributes +that were not yet payable. As to money, Scipio said he wanted none, +for of his own and by his friends he could be supplied; but of the +decree concerning the soldiers he complained, for the war (he said) was +a hard and difficult one, whether their defeat had been caused by the +valor of the enemy or by the cowardice of their own men. When he came +to the army, he found there much disorder, intemperance, superstition, +and luxury. Immediately he drove away the soothsayers, priests, and +panders. He ordered them to send away their household stuff, all except +kettles, a spit, and an earthen cup. He allowed a silver cup, weighing +not more than two pounds, to such as desired it. He forbade them to +bathe; and those that anointed themselves were to rub themselves too; +for horses wanted another to rub them, he said, only because they had +no hand of their own. He ordered them to eat their dinner standing, and +to have only such food as was dressed without fire; but they might sit +down at supper, to bread, plain porridge, and flesh boiled or roasted. +He himself walked about clothed in a black cassock, saying, he mourned +for the disgrace of the army. He met by chance with the pack-horses of +Memmius, a tribune that carried wine-coolers set with precious stones, +and the best Corinthian vessels. Since you are such a one, said he, you +have made yourself useless to me and to your country for thirty days, +but to yourself all your life long. Another showed him a shield well +adorned. The shield, said he, young man, is a fine one, but it becomes +a Roman to have his confidence placed rather in his right hand than +in his left. To one that was building the rampart, saying his burthen +was very heavy, And deservedly, said he, for you trust more to this +wood than to your sword. When he saw the rash confidence of the enemy, +he said that he bought security with time; for a good general, like a +good physician, useth iron as his last remedy. And yet he fought when +he saw it convenient, and routed the enemy. When they were worsted, +the elder men chid them, and asked why they fled from those they had +pursued so often. It is said a Numantine answered, The sheep are the +same still, but they have another shepherd. After he had taken Numantia +and triumphed a second time, he had a controversy with C. Gracchus +concerning the senate and the allies; and the abusive people made a +tumult about him as he spake from the pulpit; The outcry of the army, +said he, when they charge, never disturbed me, much less the clamor +of a rabble of new-comers, to whom Italy is a step-mother (I am well +assured) and not a mother. And when they of Gracchus’s party cried out, +Kill the Tyrant,—No wonder, said he, that they who make war upon their +country would kill me first; for Rome cannot fall while Scipio stands, +nor can Scipio live when Rome is fallen. + +CAECILIUS METELLUS. Caecilius Metellus designing to reduce a strong +fort, a captain told him he would undertake to take it with the loss +only of ten men; and he asked him, whether he himself would be one of +those ten. A young colonel asked him what design he had in the wheel. +If I thought my shirt knew, said he, I would pluck it off and burn it. +He was at variance with Scipio in his lifetime, but he lamented at his +death, and commanded his sons to assist at the hearse; and said, he +gave the Gods thanks in the behalf of Rome, that Scipio was born in no +other country. + +C. MARIUS. C. Marius was of obscure parentage, pursuing offices by his +valor. He pretended to the chief aedileship, and perceiving he could +not reach it, the same day he stood for the lesser, and missing of that +also, yet for all that he did not despair of being consul. Having a wen +on each leg, he suffered one to be cut, and endured the surgeon without +binding, not so much as sighing or once contracting his eyebrows; but +when the surgeon would cut the other, he did not suffer him, saying +the cure was not worth the pain. In his second consulship, Lucius his +sister’s son offered unchaste force to Trebonius, a soldier, who slew +him; when many pleaded against him, he did not deny but confessed he +killed the colonel, and told the reason why. Hereupon Marius called for +a crown, the reward of extraordinary valor, and put it upon Trebonius’s +head. He had pitched his camp, when he fought against the Teutons, in +a place where water was wanting; when the soldiers told him they were +thirsty, he showed them a river running by the enemy’s trench. Look +you, said he, there is water for you, to be bought for blood; and they +desired him to conduct them to fight, while their blood was fluent and +not all dried up with thirst. In the Cimbrian war, he gave a thousand +valiant Camertines the freedom of Rome, which no law did allow; and +to such as blamed him for it he said, I could not hear the laws for +the clash of arrows. In the civil war, he lay patiently entrenched and +besieged, waiting for a fit opportunity; when Popedius Silon called to +him, Marius, if you are so great a general come down and fight. And +do you, said he, if you are so great a commander, force me to fight +against my will, if you can. + +LUTATIUS CATULUS. Lutatius Catulus in the Cimbrian war lay encamped by +the side of the river Athesis, and his soldiers, seeing the barbarians +attempting to pass the river, gave back; when he could not make them +stand, he hastened to the front of them that fled, that they might not +seem to fly from their enemies but to follow their commander. + +SYLLA. Sylla, surnamed the Fortunate, reckoned these two things as the +chiefest of his felicities,—the friendship of Metellus Pius, and that +he had spared and not destroyed the city of Athens. + +C. POPILIUS. C. Popilius was sent to Antiochus with a letter from +the senate, commanding him to withdraw his army out of Egypt, and +to renounce the protection of that kingdom during the minority of +Ptolemy’s children. When he came towards him in his camp, Antiochus +kindly saluted him at a distance, but without returning his salutation +he delivered his letter; which being read, the king answered, that he +would consider, and give his answer. Whereupon Popilius with his wand +made a circle round him, saying, Consider and answer before you go +out of this place; and when Antiochus answered that he would give the +Romans satisfaction, then at length Popilius saluted and embraced him. + +LUCULLUS. Lucullus in Armenia, with ten thousand foot in armor and a +thousand horse, was to fight Tigranes and his army of a hundred and +fifty thousand, the day before the nones of October, the same day on +which formerly Scipio’s army was destroyed by the Cimbrians. When one +told him, The Romans dread and abominate that day; Therefore, said +he, let us fight to-day valiantly, that we may change this day from a +black and unlucky one to a joyful and festival day for the Romans. His +soldiers were most afraid of their men-at-arms; but he bade them be of +good courage, for it was more labor to strip than to overcome them. He +first came up to their counterscarp, and perceiving the confusion of +the barbarians, cried out, Fellow-soldiers, the day’s our own! And when +nobody stood him, he pursued, and, with the loss of five Romans, slew +above a hundred thousand of them. + +CN. POMPEIUS. Cn. Pompeius was as much beloved by the Romans as his +father was hated. When he was young, he wholly sided with Sylla, and +before he had borne many offices or was chosen into the senate, he +enlisted many soldiers in Italy. When Sylla sent for him, he returned +answer, that he would not muster his forces in the presence of his +general, unfleshed and without spoils; nor did he come before that +in several fights he had overcome the captains of the enemy. He was +sent by Sylla lieutenant-general into Sicily, and being told that the +soldiers turned out of the way and forced and plundered the country, +he sealed the swords of such as he sent abroad, and punished all other +stragglers and wanderers. He had resolved to put the Mamertines, that +were of the other side, all to the sword; but Sthenius the orator told +him, He would do injustice if he should punish many that were innocent +for the sake of one that was guilty; and that he himself was the person +that persuaded his friends and forced his enemies to side with Marius. +Pompey admired the man, and said, he could not blame the Mamertines +for being inveigled by a person who preferred his country beyond his +own life; and forgave both the city and Sthenius too. When he passed +into Africa against Domitius and overcame him in a great battle, the +soldiers saluted him Imperator. He answered, he could not receive +that honor, so long as the fortification of the enemy’s camp stood +undemolished; upon this, although it rained hard, they rushed on and +plundered the camp. At his return, among other courtesies and honors +wherewith Sylla entertained him, he styled him The Great; yet when he +was desirous to triumph, Sylla would not consent, because he was not +yet chosen into the senate. But when Pompey said to those that were +about him, Sylla doth not know that more worship the rising than the +setting sun, Sylla cried aloud, Let him triumph. Hereat Servilius, one +of the nobles, was displeased; the soldiers also withstood his triumph, +until he had bestowed a largess among them. But when Pompey replied, I +would rather forego my triumph than flatter them,—Now, said Servilius, +I see Pompey is truly great and worthy of a triumph. It was a custom +in Rome, that knights who had served in the wars the time appointed by +the laws should bring their horse into the forum before the censors, +and there give an account of their warfare and the commanders under +whom they had served. Pompey, then consul, brought also his horse +before the censors, Gellius and Lentulus; and when they asked him, as +the manner is, whether he had served all his campaigns, All, said he, +and under myself as general. Having gotten into his hands the writings +of Sertorius in Spain, among which were letters from several leading +men in Rome, inviting Sertorius to Rome to innovate and change the +government, he burnt them all, by that means giving opportunity to +ill-affected persons to repent and mend their manners. Phraates, king +of Parthia, sent to him requesting that the river Euphrates might be +his bounds. He answered, the Romans had rather the right should be +their bounds towards Parthia. L. Lucullus, after he left the army, +gave himself up to pleasure and luxury, jeering at Pompey for busying +himself in affairs unsuitable to his age. He answered, that government +became old age better than luxury. In a fit of sickness, his physician +prescribed him to eat a thrush; but when none could be gotten, because +they were out of season, one said, that Lucullus had some, for he kept +them all the year. It seems then, said he, Pompey must not live, unless +Lucullus play the glutton; and dismissing the physician, he ate such +things as were easy to be gotten. In a great dearth at Rome, he was +chosen by title overseer of the market, but in reality lord of sea and +land, and sailed to Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily. Having procured great +quantities of wheat, he hastened back to Rome; and when by reason of a +great tempest the pilots were loath to hoist sail, he went first aboard +himself, and commanding the anchor to be weighed, cried out aloud, +There is a necessity of sailing, but there is no necessity of living. +When the difference betwixt him and Caesar broke out, and Marcellinus, +one of those whom he had preferred, revolted to Caesar and inveighed +much against Pompey in the senate; Art thou not ashamed, said he, +Marcellinus, to reproach me, who taught you to speak when you were +dumb, and fed you full even to vomiting when you were starved? To Cato, +who severely blamed him because, when he had often informed him of the +growing power of Caesar, such as was dangerous to a democracy, he took +little notice of it, he answered, Your counsels were more presaging, +but mine more friendly. Concerning himself he freely professed, that +he entered all his offices sooner than he expected, and resigned them +sooner than was expected by others. After the fight at Pharsalia, in +his flight towards Egypt, as he was going out of the ship into the +fisher-boat the king sent to attend him, turning to his wife and son, +he said nothing to them beside those two verses of Sophocles: + + Whoever comes within a tyrant’s door + Becomes his slave, though he were free before. + +As he came out of the boat, when he was struck with a sword, he said +nothing; but gave one groan, and covering his head submitted to the +murderers. + +CICERO. Cicero the orator, when his name was played upon and his +friends advised him to change it, answered, that he would make the name +of Cicero more honorable than the name of the Catos, the Catuli, or the +Scauri. He dedicated to the Gods a silver cup with a cover, with the +first letters of his other names, and instead of Cicero a chick-pea +(_cicer_) engraven. Loud bawling orators, he said, were driven by their +weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse. Verres had a son that +in his youth had not well secured his chastity; yet he reviled Cicero +for his effeminacy, and called him catamite. Do you not know, said he, +that children are to be rebuked at home within doors? Metellus Nepos +told him he had slain more by his testimony than he had saved by his +pleadings. You say true, said he, my honesty exceeds my eloquence. +When Metellus asked him who his father was, Your mother, said he, +hath made that question a harder one for you to answer than for me. +For she was unchaste, while Metellus himself was a light, inconstant, +and passionate man. The same Metellus, when Diodotus his master in +rhetoric died, caused a marble crow to be placed on his monument; and +Cicero said, he returned his master a very suitable gratuity, who had +taught him to fly but not to declaim. Hearing that Vatinius, his enemy +and otherwise a lewd person, was dead, and the next day that he was +alive, A mischief on him, said he, for lying. To one that seemed to be +an African, who said he could not hear him when he pleaded, And yet, +said he, your ears are of full bore. He had summoned Popilius Cotta, +an ignorant blockhead that pretended to the law, as a witness in a +cause; and when he told the court he knew nothing of the business, On +my conscience, I’ll warrant you, said Cicero, he thinks you ask him +a question in the law. Verres sent a golden sphinx as a present to +Hortensius the orator, who told Cicero, when he spoke obscurely, that +he was not skilled in riddles. That’s strange, said he, since you have +a sphinx in your house. Meeting Voconius with his three daughters that +were hard favored, he told his friends softly that verse,— + + Children he hath got, + Though Apollo favored not. + +When Faustus the son of Sylla, being very much in debt, set up a +writing that he would sell his goods by auction, he said, I like this +proscription better than his father’s. When Pompey and Caesar fell +out, he said, I know whom to fly from, but I know not whom to fly to. +He blamed Pompey for leaving the city, and for imitating Themistocles +rather than Pericles, when his affairs did not resemble the former’s +but the latter’s. He changed his mind and went over to Pompey, who +asked him where he left his son-in-law Piso. He answered, With your +father-in-law Caesar. To one that went over from Caesar to Pompey, +saying that in his haste and eagerness he had left his horse behind +him, he said, You have taken better care of your horse than of +yourself. To one that brought news that the friends of Caesar looked +sourly, You do as good as call them, said he, Caesar’s enemies. After +the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had +seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. Your +advice, said he, were good, if we were to fight with jackdaws. Caesar, +now conqueror, honorably restored the statues of Pompey that were +thrown down; whereupon Cicero said, that Caesar by erecting Pompey’s +statues had secured his own. He set so high a value on oratory, and +did so lay out himself especially that way, that having a cause to +plead before the centumviri, when the day approached and his slave Eros +brought him word it was deferred until the day following, he presently +made him free. + +C. CAESAR. Caius Caesar, when he was a young man, fled from Sylla, and +fell into the hands of pirates, who first demanded of him a sum of +money; and he laughed at the rogues for not understanding his quality, +and promised them twice as much as they asked him. Afterwards, when he +was put into custody until he raised the money, he commanded them to +be quiet and silent while he slept. While he was in prison, he made +speeches and verses which he read to them, and when they commended them +but coldly, he called them barbarians and blockheads, and threatened +them in jest that he would hang them. But after a while he was as +good as his word; for when the money for his ransom was brought and +he discharged, he gathered men and ships out of Asia, seized the +pirates and crucified them. At Rome he stood to be chief priest against +Catulus, a man of great interest among the Romans. To his mother, who +brought him to the gate, he said, To-day, mother, you will have your +son high priest or banished. He divorced his wife Pompeia, because she +was reported to be over familiar with Clodius; yet when Clodius was +brought to trial upon that account, and he was cited as a witness, +he spake no evil against his wife; and when the accuser asked him, +Why then did you divorce her?—Because, said he, Caesar’s wife ought +to be free even from suspicion. As he was reading the exploits of +Alexander, he wept and told his friends, He was of my age when he +conquered Darius, and I hitherto have done nothing. He passed by a +little inconsiderable town in the Alps, and his friends said, they +wondered whether there were any contentions and tumults for offices in +that place. He stood, and after a little pause answered, I had rather +be the first in this town than second in Rome. He said, great and +surprising enterprises were not to be consulted upon, but done. And +coming against Pompey out of his province of Gaul, he passed the river +Rubicon, saying, Let every die be thrown. After Pompey fled to sea +from Rome, he went to take money out of the treasury: when Metellus, +who had the charge of it, forbade him and shut it against him, he +threatened to kill him; whereupon Metellus being astonished, he said +to him, This, young man, is harder for me to say than to do. When his +soldiers were having a tedious passage from Brundisium to Dyrrachium, +unknown to all he went aboard a small vessel, and attempted to pass the +sea; and when the vessel was in danger of being overset, he discovers +himself to the pilot, crying out, Trust Fortune, and know that you +carry Caesar. But the tempest being vehement, his soldiers coming +about him and expostulating passionately with him, asking whether he +distrusted them and was looking for another army, would not suffer him +to pass at that time. They fought, and Pompey had the better of it; +but instead of following his blow he retreated to his camp. To-day, +said Caesar, the enemy had the victory, but none of them know how to +conquer. Pompey commanded his army to stand in array at Pharsalia in +their place, and to receive the charge from the enemy. In this Caesar +said he was out, thereby suffering the eagerness of his soldiers’ +spirits, when they were up and inspired with rage and success, in the +midst of their career to languish and expire. After he routed Pharnaces +Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends, I came, I +saw, I conquered.[114] After Scipio was worsted in Africa and fled, and +Cato had killed himself, he said: I envy thee thy death, O Cato! since +thou didst envy me the honor of saving thee. Antonius and Dolabella +were suspected by his friends, who advised him to secure them; he +answered, I fear none of those fat and lazy fellows, but those pale +and lean ones,—meaning Brutus and Cassius. As he was at supper, the +discourse was of death, which sort was the best. That, said he, which +is unexpected. + +CAESAR AUGUSTUS. Caesar, who was the first surnamed Augustus, being +yet young, demanded of Antony the twenty-five millions of money[115] +which he had taken out of the house of Julius Caesar when he was slain, +that he might pay the Romans the legacies he had left them, every man +seventy-five drachms. But when Antony detained the money, and bade him, +if he were wise, let fall his demand, he sent the crier to offer his +own paternal estate for sale, and therewith discharged the legacies; +by which means he procured a general respect to himself, and to Antony +the hatred of the Romans. Rymetalces, king of Thrace, forsook Antony +and went over to Caesar; but bragging immoderately in his drink, and +nauseously reproaching his new confederates, Caesar drank to one of the +other kings, and told him, I love treason but do not commend traitors. +The Alexandrians, when he had taken their city, expected great severity +from him; but when he came upon the judgment-seat, he placed Arius the +Alexandrian by him, and told them: I spare this city, first because +it is great and beautiful, secondly for the sake of its founder, +Alexander, and thirdly for the sake of Arius my friend. When it was +told him that Eros, his steward in Egypt, having bought a quail that +beat all he came near and was never worsted by any, had roasted and +eaten it, he sent for him; and when upon examination he confessed the +fact, he ordered him to be nailed on the mast of the ship. He removed +Theodorus, and in his stead made Arius his factor in Sicily, whereupon +a petition was presented to him, in which was written, Theodorus of +Tarsus is either a baldpate or a thief, what is your opinion? Caesar +read it, and subscribed, I think so. Mecaenas, his intimate companion, +presented him yearly on his birthday with a piece of plate. Athenodorus +the philosopher, by reason of his old age, begged leave that he might +retire from court, which Caesar granted; and as Athenodorus was taking +his leave of him, Remember, said he, Caesar, whenever you are angry, to +say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters +to yourself. Whereupon Caesar caught him by the hand and said, I have +need of your presence still; and he kept him a year longer, saying, The +reward of silence is a secure reward. He heard Alexander at the age of +thirty-two years had subdued the greatest part of the world and was at +a loss what he should do with the rest of his time. But he wondered +Alexander should not think it a lesser labor to gain a great empire +than to set in order what he had gotten. He made a law concerning +adulterers, wherein was determined how the accused were to be tried and +how the guilty were to be punished. Afterwards, meeting with a young +man that was reported to have been familiar with his daughter Julia, +being enraged he struck him with his hands; but when the young man +cried out, O Caesar! you have made a law, he was so troubled at it that +he refrained from supper that day. When he sent Caius his daughter’s +son into Armenia, he begged of the Gods that the favor of Pompey, the +valor of Alexander, and his own fortune might attend him. He told +the Romans he would leave them one to succeed him in the government +that never consulted twice in the same affair, meaning Tiberius. He +endeavored to pacify some young men that were imperious in their +offices; and when they gave little heed to him, but still kept a stir, +Young men, said he, hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when +he was young. Once, when the Athenians had offended him, he wrote to +them from Aegina: I suppose you know I am angry with you, otherwise I +had not wintered at Aegina. Besides this, he neither said nor did any +thing to them. One of the accusers of Eurycles prated lavishly and +unreasonably, proceeding so far as to say, If these crimes, O Caesar, +do not seem great to you, command him to repeat to me the seventh book +of Thucydides; wherefore Caesar being enraged commanded him to prison. +But afterwards, when he heard he was descended from Brasidas, he sent +for him again, and dismissed him with a moderate rebuke. When Piso +built his house from top to bottom with great exactness, You cheer my +heart, said he, who build as if Rome would be eternal. + + + + +PLUTARCH’S RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. + +A DIALOGUE. + + +MOSCHIO, ZEUXIPPUS. + +1. MOSCHIO. And you, Zeuxippus, diverted Glaucus the physician from +entering into a philosophical discourse with you yesterday. + +ZEUXIPPUS. I did not hinder him in the least, friend Moschio, it was he +that would not discourse in philosophy. But I feared and avoided giving +so contentious a man any opportunity of discourse; for though in physic +the man has (as Homer[116] expresses it) an excellency before most of +his profession, yet in philosophy he is not altogether so candid, but +indeed so rude in all his disputations, that he is hardly to be borne +with, flying (as it were) at us open mouthed. So that it is neither an +easy nor indeed a just thing, that we should bear those confusions in +terms he makes, when we are disputing about a wholesome diet. Besides, +he maintains that the bounds of philosophy and medicine are as distinct +as those of the Mysians and Phrygians. And taking hold of some of those +things we were discoursing of, perhaps not with all exactness, yet not +without some profit, he made scurrilous reflections on them. + +MOSCHIO. But I am ready, Zeuxippus, to hear those and the other things +you shall discourse of, with a great deal of pleasure. + +ZEUXIPPUS. You have naturally a philosophical genius, Moschio, and +are troubled to see a philosopher have no kindness for the study of +medicine. You are uneasy that he should think it concerns him more to +study geometry, logic, and music, than to be desirous to understand + + What in his house is well or ill-designed,[117] + +his house being his own body. You shall see many spectators at that +play where their charges are defrayed out of the public stock, as +they do at Athens. Now among all the liberal arts, medicine not only +contains so neat and large a field of pleasure as to give place to +none, but she pays plentifully the charges of those who delight in the +study of her by giving them health and safety; so that it ought not to +be called transgressing the bounds of a philosopher to dispute about +those things which relate to health, but rather, all bounds being laid +aside, we ought to pursue our studies in the same common field, and so +enjoy both the pleasure and the profit of them. + +MOSCHIO. But to pass by Glaucus, who with his pretended gravity would +be thought to be so perfect as not to stand in need of philosophy,—do +you, if you please, run through the whole discourse, and first, those +things which you say were not so exactly handled and which Glaucus +carped at. + +2. ZEUXIPPUS. A friend of ours then heard one alleging that to keep +one’s hands always warm and never suffer them to be cold did not a +little conduce to health; and, on the contrary, keeping the extreme +parts of the body cold drives the heat inward, so that you are always +in a fever or the fear of one. But those things which force the heat +outwards do distribute and draw the matter to all parts, with advantage +to our health. If in any work we employ our hands, we are able to keep +in them that heat which is induced by their motion. But when we do not +work with our hands, we should take all care to keep our extreme parts +from cold. + +3. This was one of those things he ridiculed. The second, as I +remember, was touching the food allowed the sick, which he advises us +sometimes both to touch and taste when we are in good health, that so +we may be used to it, and not be shy of it, like little children, or +hate such a diet, but by degrees make it natural and familiar to our +appetite; that in our sickness we may not nauseate wholesome diet, as +if it were physic, nor be uneasy when we are prescribed any insipid +thing, that lacks both the smell and taste of a kitchen. Wherefore we +need not squeamishly refuse to eat before we wash, or to drink water +when we may have wine, or to take warm drink in summer when there is +snow at hand. We must, however, lay aside all foppish ostentation and +sophistry as well as vain-glory in this abstinence, and quietly by +ourselves accustom our appetite to obey reason with willingness, that +thus we may wean our minds long beforehand from that dainty contempt of +such food which we feel in time of sickness, and that we may not then +effeminately bewail our condition, as if we were fallen from great and +beloved pleasures into a low and sordid diet. It was well said, Choose +out the best condition you can, and custom will make it pleasant to +you. And this will be beneficial in most things we undertake, but more +especially as to diet; if, in the height of our health, we introduce +a custom whereby those things may be rendered easy, familiar, and, +as it were, domestics of our bodies, remembering what some suffer +and do in sickness, who fret, and are not able to endure warm water +or gruel or bread when it is brought to them, calling them dirty and +unseemly things, and the persons who would urge them to them base +and troublesome. The bath hath destroyed many whose distemper at the +beginning was not very bad, only because they could not endure to +eat before they washed; among whom Titus the emperor was one, as his +physicians affirm. + +4. This also was said, that a thin diet is the healthfulest to the +body. But we ought chiefly to avoid all excess in meat or drink or +pleasure, when there is any feast or entertainment at hand, or when +we expect any royal or princely banquet, or solemnity which we cannot +possibly avoid; then ought the body to be light and in readiness to +receive the winds and waves it is to meet with. It is a hard matter +for a man at a feast or collation to keep that mediocrity or bounds +he has been used to, so as not to seem rude, precise, or troublesome +to the rest of the company. Lest we should add fire to fire, as the +proverb is, or one debauch or excess to another, we should take care to +imitate that ingenious droll of Philip, which was this. He was invited +to supper by a countryman, who supposed he would bring but few friends +with him; but when he saw him bring a great many, there not being much +provided, he was much concerned at it: which when Philip perceived, +he sent privately to every one of his friends, that they should leave +a corner for cake; they believing this and still expecting, ate so +sparingly that there was supper enough for them all. So we ought +beforehand to prepare ourselves against all unavoidable invitations, +that there may be room left in our body, not only for the meal and +the dessert, but for drunkenness itself, by bringing in a fresh and a +willing appetite along with us. + +5. But if such a necessity should surprise you when you are already +loaded or indisposed, in the presence either of persons of quality +or of strangers that come in upon you unawares, and you cannot for +shame but go and drink with them that are ready for that purpose, +then you ought to arm yourself against that modesty and prejudicial +shame-facedness with that of Creon in the tragedy, who says,— + + ’Tis better, sirs, I should you now displease, + Than by complying next day lose my ease.[118] + +He who throws himself into a pleurisy or frenzy, to avoid being +censured as an uncivil person, is certainly no well-bred man, nor has +he sense of understanding enough to converse with men, unless in a +tavern or a cook-shop. Whereas an excuse ingeniously and dexterously +made is no less acceptable than compliance. He that makes a feast, +though he be as unwilling to taste of it himself as if it was a +sacrifice, yet if he be merry and jocund over his glass at table, +jesting and drolling upon himself, seems better company than they +who are drunk and gluttonized together. Among the ancients, he made +mention of Alexander, who after hard drinking was ashamed to resist +the importunity of Medius, who invited him afresh to the drinking of +wine, of which he died; and of our time, of Regulus the wrestler, who, +being called by break of day by Titus Caesar to the bath, went and +washed with him, and drinking but once (as they say) was seized with +an apoplexy, and died immediately. These things Glaucus in laughter +objected to as pedantic. He was not over-fond of hearing farther, nor +indeed were we of discoursing more. But do you give heed to every thing +that was said. + +6. First, Socrates advises us to beware of such meats as persuade a man +to eat them though he be not hungry, and of those drinks that would +prevail with a man to drink them when he is not thirsty. Not that he +absolutely forbade us the use of them; but he taught that we might use +them where there was occasion for it, suiting the pleasure of them to +our necessity, as cities converted the money which was designed for the +festivals into a supply for war. For that which is agreeable by nature, +so long as it is a part of our nourishment, is proper for us. He that +is hungry should eat necessary food and find it pleasant; but when he +is freed from his common appetite, he ought not to raise up a fresh +one. For, as dancing was no unpleasant exercise to Socrates himself, +so he that can make his meal of sweetmeats or a second course receives +the less damage. But he that has taken already what may sufficiently +satisfy his nature ought by all means to avoid them. And concerning +these things, indecorum and ambition are no less to be avoided than +the love of pleasure or gluttony. For these often persuade men to eat +without hunger or drink without thirst, possessing them with base and +troublesome fancies, as if it were indecent not to taste of every +thing which is either a rarity or of great price, as udder, Italian +mushrooms, Samian cakes, or snow in Egypt. Again, these often incite +men to eat things rare and much talked of, they being led to it, as it +were, by the scent of vain-glory, and making their bodies to partake of +them without any necessity of it, that they may have something to tell +others, who shall admire their having eaten such rare and superfluous +things. And thus it is with them in relation to fine women; when they +are in bed with their own wives, however beautiful and loving they +may be, they are no way concerned; but on Phryne or Lais they bestow +their money, inciting an infirm and unfit body, and provoking it to +intemperate pleasures, and all this out of a vain-glorious humor. +Phryne herself said in her old age, that she sold her lees and dregs +the dearer because she had been in such repute when she was young. + +7. It is indeed a great and miraculous thing that, if we allow the +body all the pleasures which nature needs and can bear,—or rather, if +we struggle against its appetites on most occasions and put it off, +and are at last brought with difficulty to yield to its necessities, +or (as Plato saith) give way when it bites and strains itself,—after +all we should come off without harm. But, on the other hand, those +desires which descend from the mind into the body, and urge and force +it to obey and accompany them in all their motions and affections, +must of necessity leave behind them the greatest and severest ills, as +the effects of such infirm and dark delights. The desire of our mind +ought no ways to incite our bodies to any pleasure, for the beginning +of this is against nature. And as the tickling of one’s armpits forces +a laughter, which is neither moderate nor merry, nor indeed properly +a laughter, but rather troublesome and like convulsions; so those +pleasures which the molested and disturbed body receives from the mind +are furious, troublesome, and wholly strangers to nature. Therefore +when any rare or noble dish is before you, you will get more honor +by refraining from it than partaking of it. Remember what Simonides +said, that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often +that he had spoken; so we shall not repent that we have refused a good +dish or drunk water instead of Falernian, but the contrary. We are not +only to commit no violence on Nature; but when any of those things are +offered to her, even if she has a desire for them, we ought oftentimes +to direct the appetite to a more innocent and accustomed diet, that +she may be used to it and acquainted with it; for as the Theban said +(though not over honestly), If the law must be violated, it looks best +when it is done for an empire.[119] But we say better, if we are to +take pride in any such thing, it is best when it is in that moderation +which conduces to our health. But a narrowness of soul and a stingy +humor compel some men to keep under and defraud their genius at home, +who, when they enjoy the costly fare of another man’s table, do cram +themselves as eagerly as if it were all plunder; then they are taken +ill, go home, and the next day find the crudity of their stomachs +the reward of their unsatiableness. Wherefore Crates, supposing +that luxury and prodigality were the chief cause of seditions and +insurrections in a city, in a droll advises that we should never go +beyond a lentil in our meals, lest we bring ourselves into sedition. +But let every one exhort himself not to increase his meal beyond a +lentil, and not to pass by cresses and olives and fall upon pudding and +fish, that he may not by his over-eating bring his body into tumults, +disturbances, and diarrhoeas; for a mean diet keeps the appetite within +its natural bounds, but the arts of cooks and confectioners, with their +elaborate dishes and aromatic sauces, do (according to the comedian) +push forward and enlarge the bounds of pleasure, and entrench upon +those of our profit. I know not how it comes to pass that we should +abominate and hate those women that either bewitch or give philters +to their husbands, and yet give our meat and drink to our slaves and +hirelings, to all but corrupt and poison them. For though that may +seem too severe which was said by Arcesilaus against lascivious and +adulterous persons, that it signifies little which way one goes about +such beastly work;[120] yet it is not much from our purpose. For what +difference is there (to speak ingenuously) whether satyrion moves and +whets my lust, or my taste is irritated by the scent of the meat or the +sauce, so that, like a part infected with itch, it shall always need +scratching and tickling? + +8. But we shall perhaps discourse against pleasures in another place, +and show the beauty and dignity that temperance has within itself; +but our present discourse is in praise of many and great pleasures. +For diseases do not either rob or spoil us of so much business, hope, +journeys, or exercise, as they do of pleasure; so that it is no way +convenient for those who would follow their pleasure to neglect their +health. There are diseases which will permit a man to study philosophy +and to exercise any military office, nay, to act the kingly part. But +the pleasures and enjoyments of the body are such as cannot be born +alive in the midst of a distemper; or if they are, the pleasures they +afford are not only short and impure, but mixed with much alloy, and +they bear the marks of that storm and tempest out of which they rise. +Venus herself delights not in a gorged, but in a calm and serene body; +and pleasure is the end of that, as well as it is of meat and drink. +Health is to pleasure as still weather to the halcyon, giving it a +safe and commodious birth and nest. Prodicus seems elegantly enough to +have said, that of all sauces fire was the best; but most true it is +to say, that health gives things the most divine and grateful relish. +For meat, whether it be boiled, roasted, or stewed, has no pleasure +or gusto in it to a sick, surfeited, or nauseous stomach. But a clean +and undebauched appetite renders every thing sweet and delightful to a +sound body, and (as Homer expresses it) devourable. + +9. As Demades told the Athenians, who unseasonably made war, that +they never treated of peace but in mourning, so we never think of +a moderate and slender diet but when we are in a fever or under a +course of physic. But when we are in these extremities, we diligently +conceal our enormities, though we remember them well enough; yet as +many do, we lay the blame of our illness now upon the air, now upon +the unhealthfulness of the place or the length of a journey, to take +it off from that intemperance and luxury which was the cause of it. +As Lysimachus, when he was among the Scythians and constrained by +his thirst, delivered up himself and his army into captivity, but +afterwards, drinking cold water, cried out, O ye Gods! for how short +a pleasure have I thrown away a great felicity!—so in our sickness, +we ought to consider with ourselves that, for the sake of a draught of +cold water, an unseasonable bath, or good company, we spoil many of our +delights as well as our honorable business, and lose many pleasant +diversions. The remorse that arises from these considerations wounds +the conscience, and sticks to us in our health like a scar, to make +us more cautious as to our diet. For a healthful body does not breed +any enormous appetite, or such as we cannot prevail with or overcome. +But we ought to put on resolution against our extravagant desires or +efforts towards enjoyment, esteeming it a low and childish thing to +give ear to their complaints and murmurings; for they cease as soon as +the cloth is taken away, and will neither accuse you of injustice, nor +think you have done them wrong; but on the contrary, you will find them +the next day pure and brisk, no way clogged or nauseating. As Timotheus +said, when he had had a light philosophic dinner the other day with +Plato in the Academy, They who dine with Plato never complain the next +morning. It is reported that Alexander said, when he had turned off his +usual cooks, that he carried always better with him; for his journeys +by night recommended his dinner to him, and the slenderness of his +dinner recommended his supper. + +10. I am not ignorant that fevers seize men upon a fatigue or excess +of heat or cold. But as the scent of flowers, which in itself is but +faint, if mixed with oil is more strong and fragrant; so an inward +fulness gives, as it were, a body and substance to external causes and +beginnings of sickness. For without this they could do no hurt, but +would vanish and fade away if there were lowness of blood and pureness +of spirit to receive the motion, which in fulness and superabundance, +as in disturbed mud, makes all things polluted, troublesome, and hardly +recoverable. We ought not to imitate the good mariner who out of +covetousness loads his ship hard and afterwards labors hard to throw +out the salt water, by first clogging and overcharging our bodies and +endeavoring afterwards to clear them by purges and clysters; but we +ought to keep our bodies in right order, that if at any time they +should be oppressed, their lightness may keep them up like a cork. + +11. We ought chiefly to be careful in all predispositions and +forewarnings of sickness. For all distempers do not invade us, as +Hesiod expresses it,— + + In silence,—for the Gods have struck them dumb;[121] + +but the most of them have ill digestion and a kind of a laziness, +which are the forerunners and harbingers that give us warning. Sudden +heaviness and weariness tell us a distemper is not far off, as +Hippocrates affirms, by reason (it seems) of that fulness which doth +oppress and load the spirit in the nerves. Some men, when their bodies +all but contradict them and invite them to a couch and repose, through +gluttony and love of pleasure throw themselves into a bath or make +haste to some drinking meeting, as if they were laying in for a siege; +being mightily in fear lest the fever should seize them before they +have dined. Those who pretend to more elegance are not caught in this +manner, but foolishly enough; for, being ashamed to own their qualms +and debauch or to keep house all day, when others call them to go with +them to the gymnasium, they arise and pull off their clothes with them, +doing the same things which they do that are in health. Intemperance +and effeminacy make many fly for patronage to the proverb, Wine is +best after wine, and one debauch is the way to drive out another. This +excites their hopes, and persuades and urges them to rise from their +beds and rashly to fall to their wonted excesses. Against which hope +he ought to set that prudent advice of Cato, when he says that great +things ought to be made less, and the lesser to be quite left off; +and that it is better to abstain to no purpose and be at quiet, than +to run ourselves into hazard by forcing ourselves either to bath or +dinner. For if there be any ill in it, it is an injury to us that we +did not watch over ourselves and refrain; but if there be none, it is +no inconvenience to your body to have abstained and be made more pure +by it. He is but a child who is afraid lest his friends and servants +should perceive that he is sick either of a surfeit or a debauch. He +that is ashamed to confess the crudity of his stomach to-day will +to-morrow with shame confess that he has either a diarrhoea, a fever, +or the griping in the guts. You think it is a disgrace to want, but it +is a greater disgrace to bear the crudity, heaviness, and fulness of +your body, when it has to be carried into the bath, like a rotten and +leaky boat into the sea. As some seamen are ashamed to live on shore +when there is a storm at sea, yet when they are at sea lie shamefully +crying and retching to vomit; so in any suspicion or tendency of the +body to any disease, they think it an indecorum to keep their bed one +day and not to have their table spread, yet most shamefully for many +days together are forced to be purged and plastered, flattering and +obeying their physicians, asking for wine or cold water, being forced +to do and say many unseasonable and absurd things, by reason of the +pain and fear they are in. Those therefore who cannot govern themselves +on account of pleasures, but yield to their lusts and are carried away +by them, may opportunely be taught and put in mind that they receive +the greatest share of their pleasures from their bodies. + +12. And as the Spartans gave the cook vinegar and salt, and bade him +look for the rest in the victim, so in our bodies, the best sauce to +whatsoever is brought before us is that our bodies are pure and in +health. For any thing that is sweet or costly is so in its own nature +and apart from any thing else; but it becomes sweet to the taste only +when it is in a body which is delighted with it and which is disposed +as nature doth require. But in those bodies which are foul, surfeited, +and not pleased with it, it loses its beauty and convenience. +Wherefore we need not be concerned whether fish be fresh or bread fine, +or whether the bath be warm or your she-friend a beauty; but whether +you are not squeamish and foul, whether you are not disturbed and do +not feel the dregs of yesterday’s debauch. Otherwise it will be as when +some drunken revellers break into a house where they are mourning, +bringing neither mirth nor pleasure with them, but increasing the +lamentation. So Venus, meats, baths, and wines, in a body that is crazy +and out of order, mingled with what is vitiated and corrupted, stir +up phlegm and choler, and create great trouble; neither do they bring +any pleasure that is answerable to their expectations, or worth either +enjoying or speaking of. + +13. A diet which is very exact and precisely according to rule puts +one’s body both in fear and danger; it hinders the gallantry of our +soul itself, makes it suspicious of every thing or of having to do +with any thing, no less in pleasures than in labors; so that it dares +not undertake any thing boldly and courageously. We ought to do by our +body as by the sail of a ship in fair and clear weather:—we must not +contract it and draw it in too much, nor be too remiss or negligent +about it when we have any suspicion upon us, but give it some allowance +and make it pliable (as we have said), and not wait for crudities and +diarrhoeas, or heat or drowsiness, by which some, as by messengers and +apparitors, are frighted and moderate themselves when a fever is at +hand; but we must long beforehand guard against the storm, as if the +north wind blew at sea. + +14. It is absurd, as Democritus says, by the croaking of ravens, the +crowing of a cock, or the wallowing of a sow in the mire, carefully to +observe the signs of windy or rainy weather, and not to prevent and +guard ourselves against the motions and fluctuations of our bodies or +the indication of a distemper, nor to understand the signs of a storm +which is just ready to break forth within ourselves. So that we are +not only to observe our bodies as to meat and exercise, whether they +use them more sluggishly or unwillingly than they were wont; or whether +we be more thirsty and hungry than we use to be; but we are also to +take care as to our sleep, whether it be continued and easy, or whether +it be irregular and convulsive. For absurd dreams and irregular and +unusual fantasies show either abundance or thickness of humors, or +else a disturbance of the spirits within. For the motions of the soul +show that the body is nigh a distemper. For there are despondencies of +mind and fears that are without reason or any apparent cause, which +extinguish our hopes on a sudden. Some there are that are sharp and +prone to anger, whom a little thing makes sad; and these cry and are +in great trouble when ill vapors and fumes meet together and (as Plato +says) are intermingled in the ways and passages of the soul. Wherefore +those to whom such things happen must consider and remember, that even +if there be nothing spiritual, there is some bodily cause which needs +to be brought away and purged. + +15. Besides, it is profitable for him who visits his friends in their +sickness to enquire after the causes of it. Let us not sophistically +or impertinently discourse about lodgements, irruptions of blood, +and commonplaces, merely to show our skill in the terms of art which +are used in medicine. But when we have with diligence heard such +trivial and common things discoursed of as fulness or emptiness, +weariness, lack of sleep, and (above all) the diet which the patient +kept before he fell sick, then,—as Plato used to ask himself, after +the miscarriage of other men he had been with, Am not I also such a +one?—so ought we to take care by our neighbor’s misfortunes, and +diligently to beware that we do not fall into them, and afterwards cry +out upon our sick-bed, How precious above all other things is health! +When another is in sickness, let it teach us how valuable a treasure +health is, which we ought to keep and preserve with all possible care. +Neither will it be amiss for every man to look into his own diet. If +therefore we have been eating, drinking, laboring, or doing any thing +to excess, and our bodies give us no suspicion or hint of a distemper, +yet ought we nevertheless to stand upon our guard and take care of +ourselves,—if it be after venery and labor, by giving of ourselves +rest and quiet; if after drinking of wine and feasting, by drinking of +water; but especially, after we have fed on flesh or solid meats or +eaten divers things, by abstinence, that we may leave no superfluity +in our bodies; for these very things, as they are the cause of many +diseases, likewise administer matter and force to other causes. +Wherefore it was very well said, that to eat—but not to satiety, to +labor—but not to weariness, and to keep in nature, are of all things +the most healthful. For intemperance in venery takes away that by which +vigor our nourishment is elaborated, and causes more superfluity and +redundance. + +16. But we shall begin and treat of each of these, and first we shall +discourse of those exercises which are proper for a scholar. And as +he that said he should prescribe nothing for the teeth to them that +dwelt by the seaside taught them the benefit of the sea-water, so one +would think that there was no need of writing to scholars concerning +exercise. For it is wonderful what an exercise the daily use of speech +is, not only as to health but even to strength. I mean not fleshly and +athletic health, or such as makes one’s external parts firm, like the +outside of a house, but such as gives a right tone and inward vigor to +the vital and noble parts. And that the vital spirit increases strength +is made plain by them who anointed the wrestlers, who commanded them, +when their limbs were rubbed, to withstand such frictions in some sort, +in holding their wind, observing carefully those parts of the body +which were smeared and rubbed.[122] Now the voice, being a motion of +the spirit, not superficially but firmly seated in the bowels, as it +were in a fountain, increases the heat, thins the blood, purges every +vein, opens all the arteries, neither does it permit the coagulation or +condensation of any superfluous humor, which would settle like dregs +in those vessels which receive and work our nourishment. Wherefore we +ought by much speaking to accustom ourselves to this exercise, and +make it familiar to us; and if we suspect that our bodies are weaker +or more tired than ordinary, by reading or reciting. For what riding +in a coach is compared with bodily exercise, that is reading compared +with disputing, if you carry your voice softly and low, as it were +in the chariot of another man’s words. For disputes bring with them +a vehemence and contention, adding the labor of the mind to that of +the body. All passionate noise, and such as would force our lungs, +ought to be avoided; for irregular and violent strains of our voice +may break something within us, or bring us into convulsions. But when +a student has either read or disputed, before he walks abroad, he +ought to make use of a gentle and tepid friction, to open the pores +of his body, as much as is possible, even to his very bowels, that so +his spirits may gently and quietly diffuse themselves to the extreme +parts of his body. The bounds that this friction ought not to exceed +are, that it be done no longer than it is pleasant to our sense and +without pain. For he that so allays the disturbance which is within +himself and the agitation of his spirits will not be troubled by that +superfluity which remains in him; and if it be unseasonable for to +walk, or if his business hinder him, it is no great matter; for nature +has already received satisfaction. Whether one be at sea or in a public +inn, it is not necessary that he should be silent, though all the +company laugh at him. For where it is no shame to eat, it is certainly +no shame to exercise yourself; but it is worse to stand in awe of and +be troubled with seamen, carriers, and innkeepers, that laugh at you +not because you play at ball or fight a shadow, but because in your +discourse you exercise yourself by teaching others, or by enquiring +and learning something yourself, or else by calling to mind something. +For Socrates said, he that uses the exercise of dancing had need +have a room big enough to hold seven beds; but he that makes either +singing or discourse his exercise may do it either standing or lying +in any place. But this one thing we must observe, that when we are +conscious to ourselves that we are too full, or have been concerned +with Venus, or labored hard, we do not too much strain our voice, as +so many rhetoricians and readers in philosophy do, some of whom out +of glory and ambition, some for reward or private contentions, have +forced themselves beyond what has been convenient. Our Niger, when he +was teaching philosophy in Galatia, by chance swallowed the bone of +a fish; but a stranger coming to teach in his place, Niger, fearing +he might run away with his repute, continued to read his lectures, +though the bone still stuck in his throat; from whence a great and hard +inflammation arising, he, being unable to undergo the pain, permitted +a deep incision to be made, by which wound the bone was taken out; but +the wound growing worse, and rheum falling upon it, it killed him. But +this may be mentioned hereafter in its proper place. + +17. After exercise to use a cold bath is boyish, and has more +ostentation in it than health; for though it may seem to harden our +bodies and make them not so subject to outward accidents, yet it +does more prejudice to the inward parts, by hindering transpiration, +fixing the humors, and condensing those vapors which love freedom and +transpiration. Besides, necessity will force those who use cold baths +into that exact and accurate way of diet they would so much avoid, and +make them take care they be not in the least extravagant, for every +such error is sure to receive a bitter reproof. But a warm bath is much +more pardonable, for it does not so much destroy our natural vigor +and strength as it does conduce to our health, laying a soft and easy +foundation for concoction, preparing those things for digestion which +are not easily digested without any pain (if they be not very crude +and deep lodged), and freeing us from all inward weariness. But when +we do sensibly perceive our bodies to be indifferent well, or as they +ought to be, we should omit bathing, and anoint ourselves by the fire; +which is better if the body stand in need of heat, for it dispenses a +warmth throughout. But we should make use of the sun more or less, as +the temper of the air permits. So much may suffice to have been said +concerning exercises. + +18. As for what has been said of diet before, if any part of it be +profitable in instructing us how we should allay and bring down our +appetites, there yet remains one thing more to be advised: that if +it be troublesome to treat one’s belly like one broke loose, and to +contend with it though it has no ears (as Cato said), then ought we +to take care that the quality of what we eat may make the quantity +more light; and we should eat cautiously of such food as is solid and +most nourishing (for it is hard always to refuse it), such as flesh, +cheese, dried figs, and boiled eggs; but more freely of those things +which are thin and light, such as moist herbs, fowl, and fish if it +be not too fat; for he that eats such things as these may gratify his +appetite, and yet not oppress his body. But ill digestion is chiefly to +be feared after flesh, for it presently very much clogs us and leaves +ill relics behind it. It would be best to accustom one’s self to eat +no flesh at all, for the earth affords plenty enough of things fit not +only for nourishment, but for delight and enjoyment; some of which you +may eat without much preparation, and others you may make pleasant by +adding divers other things to them. But since custom is almost a second +nature, we may eat flesh, but not to the cloying of our appetites, like +wolves or lions, but only to lay as it were a foundation and bulwark +for our nourishment,—and then come to other meats and sauces which +are more agreeable to the nature of our bodies and do less dull our +rational soul, which seems to be enlivened by a light and brisk diet. + +19. As for liquids, we should never make milk our drink, but rather +take it as food, it yielding much solid nourishment. As for wine, we +must say to it what Euripides said to Venus:— + + Thy joys with moderation I would have, + And that I ne’er may want them humbly crave. + +For wine is the most beneficial of all drinks, the pleasantest +medicine in the world, and of all dainties the least cloying to the +appetite, provided more regard be given to the opportunity of the +time of drinking it than even to its being properly mixed with water. +Water, not only when it is mixed with wine, but also if it be drunk by +itself between mixed wine and water, makes the mingled wine the less +hurtful. We should accustom ourselves therefore in our daily diet to +drink two or three glasses of water, which will allay the strength of +the wine, and make drinking of water familiar to our body, that so +in a case of necessity it may not be looked on as a stranger, and we +be offended at it. It so falls out, that some have then the greatest +inclination for wine when there is most need they should drink water; +for such men, when they have been exposed to great heat of the sun, or +have fallen into a chill, or have been speaking vehemently, or have +been more than ordinarily thoughtful about any thing, or after any +fatigue or labor, are of the opinion that they ought to drink wine, +as if nature required some repose for the body and some diversion +after its labors. But nature requires no such repose (if you will +call pleasure repose), but desires only such an alteration as shall +be between pleasure and pain; in which case we ought to abate of our +diet, and either wholly abstain from wine, or drink it allayed with +very much mixture of water. For wine, being sharp and fiery, increases +the disturbances of the body, exasperates them, and wounds the parts +affected; which stand more in need of being comforted and smoothed, +which water does the best of any thing. If, when we are not thirsty, +we drink warm water after labor, exercise, or heat, we find our inward +parts loosened and smoothed by it; for the moisture of water is gentle +and not violent, but that of wine carries a great force in it, which is +no ways agreeable in the fore-mentioned cases. And if any one should +be afraid that abstinence would bring upon the body that acrimony and +bitterness which some say it will, he is like those children who think +themselves much wronged because they may not eat just before the fit +of a fever. The best mean between both these is drinking of water. We +oftentimes sacrifice to Bacchus himself without wine, doing very well +in accustoming ourselves not to be always desirous of wine. Minos made +the pipe and the crown be laid aside at the sacrifice when there was +mourning. And yet we know an afflicted mind is not at all affected by +either the pipe or crown; but there is no body so strong, to which, in +commotion or a fever, wine does not do a great deal of injury. + +20. The Lydians are reported in a famine to have spent one day in +eating, and the next in sports and drollery. But a lover of learning +and a friend to the Muses, when at any time he is forced to sup later +than ordinary, will not be so much a slave to his belly as to lay +aside a geographical scheme when it is before him, or his book, or his +lyre; but strenuously turning himself, and taking his mind off from +eating, he will in the Muses’ name drive away all such desires, as so +many Harpies, from his table. Will not the Scythian in the midst of his +cups oftentimes handle his bow and twang the string, thereby rousing up +himself from that drunkenness in which he was immersed? Will a Greek be +afraid, because he is laughed at, by books and letters gently to loosen +and unbend any blind and obstinate desire? The young men in Menander, +when they were drinking, were trepanned by a bawd, which brought in to +them a company of handsome and richly attired women; but every one, as +he said, + + Cast down his eyes and fell to junketing,— + +not one daring to look upon them. Lovers of learning have many fair +and pleasant diversions, if they can no other way keep in their canine +and brutish appetites when they see the table spread. The bawling of +such fellows as anoint wrestlers, and the opinion of pedagogues that it +hinders our nourishment and dulls one’s head to discourse of learning +at table, are indeed of some force then, when we are called upon to +solve a fallacy like the _Indus_ or to dispute about the _Kyrieuon_ +at a feast. For though the pith of the palm-tree is very sweet, yet +they say it will cause the headache. To discourse of logic at meals is +not indeed a very delicious banquet, is rather troublesome, and pains +one’s head; but if there be any who will not give us leave to discourse +philosophically or ask any question or read any thing at table, though +it be of those things which are not only decent and profitable but +also pleasantly merry, we will desire them not to trouble us, but to +talk in this style to the athletes in the Xystum and the Palaestra, +who have laid aside their books and are wont to spend their whole time +in jeers and scurrilous jests, being, as Aristo wittily expresses it, +smooth and hard, like the pillars in the gymnasium. But we must obey +our physicians, who advise us to keep some interval between supper and +sleep, and not to heap up together a great deal of victuals in our +stomachs and so shorten our breath (lest we presently by crude and +fermenting aliment overcharge our digestion), but rather to take some +space and breathing-time before we sleep. As those who have a mind to +exercise themselves after supper do not do it by running or wrestling, +but rather by gentle exercise, such as walking or dancing; so when we +intend to exercise our minds after supper, we are not to do it with any +thing of business or care, or with those sophistical disputes which +bring us into a vain-glorious and violent contention. But there are +many questions in natural philosophy which are easy to discuss and to +decide; there are many disquisitions which relate to manners, which +please the mind (as Homer expresses it) and do no way discompose it. +Questions in history and poetry have been by some ingeniously called +a second course to a learned man and a scholar. There are discourses +which are no way troublesome; and, besides, fables may be told. Nay, it +is easier to discourse of the pipe and lyre, or hear them discoursed +of, than it is to hear either of them played on. The quantity of time +allowed for this exercise is till our meat be gently settled within us, +so that our digestion may have power enough to master it. + +21. Aristotle is of opinion that to walk after supper stirs up our +natural heat; but to sleep, if it be soon after, chokes it. Others +again say that rest aids digestion, and that motion disturbs it. Hence +some walk immediately after supper; others choose rather to keep +themselves still. But that man seems to obtain the design of both, who +cherishes and keeps his body quiet, not immediately suffering his mind +to become heavy and idle, but (as has been said) gently distributing +and lightening his spirits by either hearing or speaking some pleasant +thing, such as will neither molest nor oppress him. + +22. Medicinal vomits and purges, which are the bitter reliefs of +gluttony, are not to be attempted without great necessity. The manner +of many is to fill themselves because they are empty, and again, +because they are full, to empty themselves contrary to nature, being +no less tormented with being full than being empty; or rather, they +are troubled at their fulness, as being a hindrance of their appetite, +and are always emptying themselves, that they may make room for new +enjoyment. The damage in these cases is evident; for the body is +disordered and torn by both these. It is an inconvenience that always +attends a vomit, that it increases and gives nourishment to this +insatiable humor. For it engenders hunger, as violent and turbulent +as a roaring torrent, which continually annoys a man, and forces him +to his meat, not like a natural appetite that calls for food, but +rather like inflammation that calls for plasters and physic. Wherefore +his pleasures are short and imperfect, and in the enjoyment are very +furious and unquiet; upon which there come distentions, and affections +of the pores, and retentions of the spirits, which will not wait for +the natural evacuations, but run over the surface of the body, so that +it is like an overloaded ship, where it is more necessary to throw +something overboard than to take any thing more in. Those disturbances +in our bellies which are caused by physic corrupt and consume our +inward parts, and do rather increase our superfluous humors than bring +them away; which is as if one that was troubled at the number of Greeks +that inhabited the city, should call in the Arabians and Scythians. + +Some are so much mistaken that, in order that they may void their +customary and natural superfluities, they take Cnidian-berries or +scammony, or some other harsh and incongruous physic, which is more fit +to be carried away by purge than it is able to purge us. It is best +therefore by a moderate and regular diet to keep our body in order, +so that it may command itself as to fulness or emptiness. If at any +time there be a necessity, we may take a vomit, but without physic or +much tampering, and such a one as will not cause any great disturbance, +only enough to save us from indigestion by casting up gently what is +superfluous. For as linen cloths, when they are washed with soap and +nitre, are more worn out than when they are washed with water only, so +physical vomits corrupt and destroy the body. If at any time we are +costive, there is no medicine better than some sort of food which will +purge you gently and with ease, the trial of which is familiar to all, +and the use without any pain. But if it will not yield to those, we may +drink water for some days, or fast, or take a clyster, rather than take +any troublesome purging physic; which most men are inclined to do, like +that sort of women which take things on purpose to miscarry, that they +may be empty and begin afresh. + +23. But to be done with these, there are some on the other side who are +too exact in enjoining themselves to periodical and set fasts, doing +amiss in teaching nature to want coercion when there is no occasion +for it, and making that abstinence necessary which is not so, and +all this at times when nature requires her accustomed way of living. +It is better to use those injunctions we lay upon our bodies with +more freedom, even when we have no ill symptom or suspicion upon us; +and so to order our diet (as has been said), that our bodies may be +always obedient to any change, and not be enslaved or tied up to one +manner of living, nor so exact in regarding the times, numbers, and +periods of our actions. For it is a life neither safe, easy, politic, +nor like a man, but more like the life of an oyster or the trunk of a +tree, to live so without any variety, and in restraint as to our meat, +abstinence, motion, and rest; casting ourselves into a gloomy, idle, +solitary, unsociable, and inglorious way of living, far remote from the +administration of the state,—at least (I may say) in my opinion. + +24. For health is not to be purchased by sloth and idleness, for those +are chief inconveniences of sickness; and there is no difference +between him who thinks to enjoy his health by idleness and quiet, and +him who thinks to preserve his eyes by not using them, and his voice +by not speaking. For such a man’s health will not be any advantage +to him in the performance of many things he is obliged to do as a +man. Idleness can never be said to conduce to health, for it destroys +the very end of it. Nor is it true that they are the most healthful +that do least. For Xenocrates was not more healthful than Phocion, or +Theophrastus than Demetrius. It signified nothing to Epicurus or his +followers, as to that so much talked of good habit of body, that they +declined all business, though it were never so honorable. We ought to +preserve the natural constitution of our bodies by other means, knowing +every part of our life is capable of sickness and health. + +The contrary advice to that which Plato gave his scholars is to be +given to those who are concerned in public business. For he was wont to +say, whenever he left his school; Go to, my boys, see that you employ +your leisure in some honest sport and pastime. Now to those that are in +public office our advice is, that they bestow their labor on honest and +necessary things, not tiring their bodies with small or inconsiderable +things. For most men upon accident torment themselves with watchings, +journeyings, and running up and down, for no advantage and with no good +design, but only that they may do others an injury, or because they +envy them or are competitors with them, or because they hunt after +unprofitable and empty glory. To such as these I think Democritus +chiefly spoke, when he said, that if the body should summon the soul +before a court on an action for ill-treatment, the soul would lose +the case. And perhaps on the other hand Theophrastus spoke well, when +he said metaphorically, that the soul pays a dear house-rent to its +landlord the body. But still the body is very much more inconvenienced +by the soul, when it is used beyond reason and there is not care enough +taken of it. For when it is in passion, action, or any concern, it does +not at all consider the body. Jason, being some-what out of humor, +said, that in little things we ought not to stand upon justice, so that +in greater things we may be sure to do it. We, and that in reason, +advise any public man to trifle and play with little things, and in +such cases to indulge himself, so that in worthy and great concerns he +may not bring a dull, tired, and weary body, but one that is the better +for having lain still, like a ship in the dock, that when the soul has +occasion again to call it into business, “it may run with her, like a +sucking colt with the mare.” + +25. Upon which account, when business gives us leave, we ought to +refresh our bodies, grudging them neither sleep nor dinner nor that +ease which is the medium between pain and pleasure; not taking that +course which most men do, who thereby wear out their bodies by the many +changes they expose them to, making them like hot iron thrown into cold +water, by softening and troubling them with pleasures, after they have +been very much strained and oppressed with labor. And on the other +side, after they have opened their bodies and made them tender either +by wine or venery, they exercise them either at the bar or at court, +or enter upon some other business which requires earnest and vigorous +action. Heraclitus, when he was in a dropsy, desired his physician to +bring a drought upon his body, for it had a glut of rain. Most men are +very much in the wrong who, after being tired or having labored or +fasted, moisten (as it were) and dissolve their bodies in pleasure, +and again force and distend them after those pleasures. Nature does +not require that we should make the body amends at that rate. But an +intemperate and slavish mind, so soon as it is free from labor, like a +sailor, runs insolently into pleasures and delights, and again falls +upon business, so that nature can have no rest or leave to enjoy that +temper and calmness which it does desire, but is troubled and tormented +by all this irregularity. Those that have any discretion never so +much as offer pleasure to the body when it is laboring,—for at such +times they do not require it at all,—nor do they so much as think of +it, their minds being intent upon that employ they are in, either the +delight or diligence of the soul getting the mastery over all other +desires. Epaminondas is reported wittily to have said of a good man +that died about the time of the battle of Leuctra, How came he to have +so much leisure as to die, when there was so much business stirring? +It may truly be asked concerning a man that is either of public employ +or a scholar, What time can such a man spare, either to debauch his +stomach or be drunk or lascivious? For such men, after they have done +their business, allow quiet and repose to their bodies, reckoning not +only unprofitable pains but unnecessary pleasures to be enemies to +nature, and avoiding them as such. + +26. I have heard that Tiberius Caesar was wont to say, that he was a +ridiculous man that held forth his hand to a physician after sixty. But +it seems to me to be a little too severely said. But this is certain, +that every man ought to have skill in his own pulse, for it is very +different in every man; neither ought he to be ignorant of the temper +of his own body, as to heat and cold, or what things do him good, and +what hurt. For he has no sense, and is both a blind and lame inhabitant +of his body, that must learn these things from another, and must ask +his physicians whether it is better with him in winter or summer; +or whether moist or dry things agree best with him, or whether his +pulse be frequent or slow. For it is necessary and easy to know such +things by custom and experience. It is convenient to understand more +what meats and drinks are wholesome than what are pleasant, and to +have more skill in what is good for the stomach than in what seems +good to the mouth, and in those things that are easy of digestion than +in those that gratify our palate. For it is no less scandalous to +ask a physician what is easy and what is hard of digestion, and what +will agree with your stomach and what not, than it is to ask what is +sweet, and what bitter, and what sour. They nowadays correct their +cooks, being able well enough to tell what is too sweet, too salt, or +too sour, but themselves do not know what will be light or easy of +digestion, and agreeable to them. Therefore in the seasoning of broth +they seldom err, but they do so scurvily pickle themselves every day +as to afford work enough for the physician. For that pottage is not +accounted best that is the sweetest, but they mingle bitter and sweet +together. But they force the body to partake of many, and those cloying +pleasures, either not knowing, or not remembering, that to things that +are good and wholesome nature adds a pleasure unmingled with any regret +or repentance afterward. We ought also to know what things are cognate +and convenient to our bodies, and be able to direct a proper diet to +any one upon any change of weather or other circumstance. + +27. As for those inconveniences which sordidness and poverty bring upon +many, as gathering of fruit, continual labor, and running about, and +want of rest, which fall heavy upon the weaker parts of the body and +such as are inwardly infirm, we need not fear that any man of employ or +scholar—to whom our present discourse belongs—should be troubled with +them. But there is a severe sort of sordidness as to their studies, +which they ought to avoid, by which they are forced many times to +neglect their body, oftentimes denying it a supply when it has done +its work, making the mortal part of us do its share in work as well as +the immortal, and the earthly part as much as the heavenly. But, as +the ox said to his fellow-servant the camel, when he refused to ease +him of his burthen, It won’t be long before you carry my burthen and +me too: which fell out to be true, when the ox died. So it happens to +the mind, when it refuses that little relaxation and comfort which it +needs in its labor; for a little while after a fever or vertigo seizes +us, and then reading, discoursing, and disputing must be laid aside, +and it is forced to partake of the body’s distemper. Plato therefore +rightly exhorts us not to employ the mind without the body, nor the +body without the mind, but to drive them equally like a pair of horses; +and when at any time the body toils and labors with the mind, then to +be the more careful of it, and thus to gain its well-beloved health, +believing that it obliges us with the best of things when it is no +impediment to our knowledge and enjoyment of virtue, either in business +or discourse. + + + + +HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT FROM HIS ENEMIES. + + +1. Not to mention, Cornelius Pulcher, your gentle as well as skilful +administration of public affairs, for which goodness and humanity +you have gotten an interest in mankind, we clearly perceive that in +your private conversation you have made a quiet and peaceable way +of living your choice and continual practice. By this means you are +justly esteemed a useful member of the commonwealth in general, and +also a friendly affable companion to those who familiarly converse +with you, as being a person free from all sour, rough, and peevish +humors. For, as it is said of Crete, we may by great chance discover +one single region of the world that never afforded any dens or coverts +for wild beasts. But through the long succession of ages, even to this +time, there scarce ever was a state or kingdom that hath not suffered +under envy, hatred, emulation, the love of strife, fierce and unruly +passions, of all others the most productive of enmity and ill-will +among men. Nay, if nothing else will bring it to pass, familiarity will +at last breed contempt, and the very friendship of men doth frequently +draw them into quarrels, that prove sharp and sometimes implacable. +Which that wise man Chilo did well understand, who, when he heard +another assert that he had no enemy, asked him very pertinently whether +he had no friend. In my judgment therefore it is absolutely necessary +that a man, especially if he sit at the helm and be engaged to steer +the government, should watchfully observe every posture and motion of +his enemy, and subscribe to Xenophon’s opinion in this case; who hath +set it down as a maxim of the greatest wisdom, that a man should make +the best advantage he can of him that is his adversary. + +Wherefore, having lately determined to write somewhat on this argument, +I have now gathered together all my scattered thoughts and meditations +upon it, which I have sent to you, digested into as plain a method as +I could; forbearing all along to mention those observations I have +heretofore made and written in my Political Precepts, because I know +you have that treatise at your hand, and often under your eye. + +2. Our ancestors were well satisfied and content if they could safely +guard themselves from the violent incursions of wild beasts, and this +was the end and object of all their contests with these creatures. +But their posterity have laid down their weapons of defence, and have +invented a quite contrary use of them, making them serviceable to some +of the chief ends of human life. For their flesh serves for food, and +their hair for clothing; medicines and antidotes are devised out of +their entrails; and their skins are converted into armor. So that we +may upon good grounds fear that, if these supplies should fail, their +manner of life would appear savage, destitute of convenient food and +raiment, barbarous and naked. + +Although we receive these benefits and comforts from the very beasts, +yet some men suppose themselves happy and secure enough, provided they +escape all harm from enemies, not regarding Xenophon’s judgment, whom +they ought to credit in this matter, that every man endowed with common +sense and understanding may, if he please, make his opposites very +useful and profitable to him. + +Because then we cannot live in this world out of the neighborhood of +such as will continually labor to do us injury or oppose us, let us +search out some way whereby this advantage and profit from enemies may +be acquired. + +The best experienced gardener cannot so change the nature of every +tree, that it shall yield pleasant and well-tasted fruit; neither +can the craftiest huntsman tame every beast. One therefore makes the +best use he can of his trees, the other of his beast; although the +first perhaps are barren and dry, the latter wild and ungovernable. +So seawater is unwholesome and not to be drunk; yet it affords +nourishment to all sorts of fish, and serves as it were for a chariot +to convey those who visit foreign countries. The Satyr would have +kissed and embraced the fire the first time he saw it; but Prometheus +bids him take heed, else he might have cause to lament the loss of +his beard,[123] if he came too near that which burns all it touches. +Yet this very fire is a most beneficial thing to mankind; it bestows +upon us the blessings both of light and heat, and serves those who +know how to use it for the most excellent instrument of mechanic arts. +Directed by these examples, we may be able to take right measures of +our enemies, considering that by one handle or other we may lay hold of +them for the use and benefit of our lives; though otherwise they may +appear very untractable and hurtful to us. + +There are many things which, when we have obtained them by much labor +and sweat, become nauseous, ungrateful, and directly contrary to our +inclinations; but there are some (you know) who can turn the very +indispositions of their bodies into an occasion of rest and freedom +from business. And hard pains that have fallen upon many men have +rendered them only the more robust through vigorous exercise. There +are others who, as Diogenes and Crates did, have made banishment from +their native country and loss of all their goods a means to pass out +of a troublesome world into the quiet and serene state of philosophy +and mental contemplation. So the Stoic Zeno welcomed the good fortune, +when he heard the ship was broken wherein his adventures were, because +she had reduced him to a torn coat, to the safety and innocence of a +mean and low condition. For as some creatures of strong constitutions +eat serpents and digest them well,—nay, there are some whose stomachs +can by a strange powerful heat concoct shells or stones,—while on +the contrary, there are the weak and diseased, who loathe even bread +and wine, the most agreeable and best supports of human life; so the +foolish and inconsiderate spoil the very friendships they are engaged +in, but the wise and prudent make good use of the hatred and enmity of +men. + +3. To those then who are discreet and cautious, the most malignant +and worst part of enmity becomes advantageous and useful. But what +is this you talk of all this while? An enemy is ever diligent and +watchful to contrive stratagems and lay snares for us, not omitting any +opportunity whereby he may carry on his malicious purposes. He lays +siege to our whole life, and turns spy into the most minute action +of it; not as Lynceus is said to look into oaks and stones, but by +arts of insinuation he gets to the knowledge of our secrets, by our +bosom friend, domestic servant, and intimate acquaintance. As much as +possibly he can, he enquires what we have done, and labors to dive into +the most hidden counsels of our minds. Nay, our friends do often escape +our notice, either when they die or are sick, because we are careless +and neglect them; but we are apt to examine and pry curiously almost +into the very dreams of our enemies. + +Now our enemy (to gratify his ill-will towards us) doth acquaint +himself with the infirmities both of our bodies and mind, with the +debts we have contracted, and with all the differences that arise +in our families, all which he knows as well, if not better, than +ourselves. He sticks fast to our faults, and chiefly makes his +invidious remarks upon them. Nay, our most depraved affections, that +are the worst distempers of our minds, are always the subjects of his +inquiry; just as vultures pursue putrid flesh, noisome and corrupted +carcasses, because they have no perception of those that are sound and +in health. So our enemies catch at our failings, and then they spread +them abroad by uncharitable and ill-natured reports. + +Hence we are taught this useful lesson for the direction and management +of our conversations in the world, that we be circumspect and wary in +every thing we speak or do, as if our enemy always stood at our elbow +and overlooked every action. Hence we learn to lead blameless and +inoffensive lives. This will beget in us vehement desires and earnest +endeavors of restraining disorderly passions. This will fill our minds +with good thoughts and meditations, and with strong resolutions to +proceed in a virtuous and harmless course of life. + +For as those commonwealths and cities know best how to value the +happiness of having good and wholesome laws, and most admire and love +the safety of a quiet and peaceable constitution of things, which have +been harassed by wars with their neighbors or by long expeditions; +so those persons who have been brought to live soberly by the fear +and awe of enemies, who have learned to guard against negligence and +idleness, and to do every thing with a view to some profitable end, +are by degrees (they know not how) drawn into a habit of living so as +to offend nobody, and their manners are composed and fixed in their +obedience to virtue by custom and use, with very little help from the +reason. For they always carry in their minds that saying of Homer, if +we act any thing amiss, + + Priam will laugh at us, and all his brood; + +our enemies will please themselves and scoff at our defects; therefore +we will do nothing that is ridiculous, sinful, base, or ignoble, lest +we become a laughing-stock to such as do not love us. + +In the theatre we often see great artists in music and singing very +supine and remiss, doing nothing as they should, whilst they play or +sing alone; but whenever they challenge one another and contend for +mastery, they do not only rouse up themselves, but they tune their +instruments more carefully, they are more curious in the choice of +their strings, and they try their notes in frequent and more harmonious +consorts. Just so a man who hath an adversary perpetually to rival +him in the well ordering of his life and reputation is thereby +rendered more prudent in what he does, looks after his actions more +circumspectly, and takes as much care of the accurateness of them as +the musician does of his lute or organ. For evil hath this peculiar +quality in it, that it dreads an enemy more than a friend. For this +cause Nasica, when some thought the Roman affairs were established for +ever in peace and safety, after they had razed Carthage and enslaved +Greece, declared that even then they were in the greatest danger of all +and most likely to be undone, because there were none left whom they +might still fear and stand in some awe of. + +4. And here may be inserted that wise and facetious answer of Diogenes +to one that asked him how he might be revenged of his enemy: The only +way, says he, to gall and fret him effectually is for yourself to +appear a good and honest man. The common people are generally envious +and vexed in their minds, as oft as they see the cattle of those they +have no kindness for, their dogs, or their horses, in a thriving +condition; they sigh, fret, set their teeth, and show all the tokens +of a malicious temper, when they behold their fields well tilled, or +their gardens adorned and beset with flowers. If these things make +them so restless and uneasy, what dost thou think they would do, what +a torment would it be to them, if thou shouldst demonstrate thyself +in the face of the world to be in all thy carriage a man of impartial +justice, a sound understanding, unblamable integrity, of a ready and +eloquent speech, sincere and upright in all your dealings, sober and +temperate in all that you eat or drink; + + While from the culture of a prudent mind, + Harvests of wise and noble thought you reap.[124] + +Those that are conquered, saith Pindar, must seal up their lips; they +dare not open their mouths, no, not even to mutter.[125] But all men +in these circumstances are not so restrained; but such chiefly as come +behind their opposites in the practice of diligence, honesty, greatness +of mind, humanity, and beneficence. These are beautiful and glorious +virtues, as Demosthenes[126] says, that are too pure and great to be +touched by an ill tongue, that stop the mouths of backbiters, choke +them and command them to be silent. Make it thy business therefore to +surpass the base; for this surely thou canst do.[127] If we would vex +them that hate us, we must not reproach our adversary for an effeminate +and debauched person, or one of a boorish and filthy conversation; +but instead of throwing this dirt, we ourselves must be remarkable +for a steady virtue and a well-governed behavior; we must speak the +truth, and carry ourselves civilly and justly towards all who hold any +correspondence or maintain any commerce with us. But if at any time a +man is so transported by passion as to utter any bitter words, he must +take heed that he himself be not chargeable for those crimes for which +he upbraids others; he must descend into himself, examine and cleanse +his own breast, that no putrefaction nor rottenness be lodged there; +otherwise he will be condemned as the physician is by the tragedian:— + + Wilt thou heal others, thou thyself being full of sores?[128] + +If a man should jeer you and say that you are a dunce and illiterate, +upon this motive you ought to apply your mind to the taking of pains +in the study of philosophy and all kinds of learning. If he abuses you +for a coward, then raise up your mind to a courageous manliness and +an undaunted boldness of spirit. If he tells you you are lascivious +and wanton, this scandal may be wiped off by having your mind barred +up against all impressions of lust, and your discourse free from the +least obscenity. These are allowable returns, and the most cutting +strokes you can give your enemy; there being nothing that carries in it +more vexation and disgrace, than that scandalous censures should fall +back upon the head of him who was the first author of them. For as the +beams of the sun reverberated do most severely affect and punish weak +eyes, so those calumnies are most vexatious and intolerable which truth +retorts back upon their first broachers. For as the north-east wind +gathers clouds, so does a vicious life gather unto itself opprobrious +speeches. + +5. Insomuch that Plato, when he was in company with any persons that +were guilty of unhandsome actions, was wont thus to reflect upon +himself and ask this question, Am I of the like temper and disposition +with these men? In like manner, whosoever passes a hard censure upon +another man’s life should presently make use of self-examination, and +enquire what his own is; by which means he will come to know what +his failings are, and how to amend them. Thus the very censures and +backbitings of his enemy will redound to his advantage, although in +itself this censorious humor is a very vain, empty, and useless thing. +For every one will laugh at and deride that man who is humpbacked and +baldpated, while at the same time he makes sport with the natural +deformities of his brethren; it being a very ridiculous unaccountable +thing to scoff at another for those very imperfections for which you +yourself may be abused. As Leo Byzantinus replied upon the humpbacked +man, who in drollery reflected on the weakness of his eyes, You mock me +for a human infirmity, but you bear the marks of divine vengeance on +your own back. + +Wherefore no man should arraign another of adultery, when he himself +is addicted to a more bestial vice. Neither may one man justly accuse +another of extravagance or looseness, when he himself is stingy and +covetous. Alcmaeon told Adrastus, that he was near akin to a woman +that killed her husband; to which Adrastus gave a very pat and sharp +answer,—Thou with thy own hands didst murder thy mother.[129] After +the same sarcastical way of jesting did Domitius ask Crassus whether +he did not weep for the death of the lamprey that was bred in his +fish-pond; to which Crassus makes this present reply,—But have I not +heard that you did not weep when you carried out three wives to their +burial. + +Whence we may infer that it behooves every man who takes upon him to +correct or censure another not to be too clamorous or merry upon his +faults, but to be guilty of no such crime as may expose him to the +chastisement and reproach of others. For the great God seems to have +given that commandment of _Know thyself_ to those men more especially +who are apt to make remarks upon other men’s actions and forget +themselves. So, as Sophocles hath well observed, They often hear that +which they would not, because they allow themselves the liberty of +talking what they please. + +6. This is the use that may be lawfully made of censuring and judging +our enemies; that we may be sure we are not culpable for the same +misdemeanors which we condemn in them. On the contrary, we may reap +no less advantage from our being judged and censured by our enemies. +In this case Antisthenes spake incomparably well, that if a man +would lead a secure and blameless life, it was necessary that he +should have either very ingenuous and honest friends, or very furious +enemies, because the first would keep him from sinning by their kind +admonitions, the latter by their evil words and vehement invectives. + +But for as much as in these times friendship is grown almost +speechless, and hath left off that freedom it did once use, since it is +loquacious in flattery and dumb in admonition, therefore we must expect +to hear truth only from the mouths of enemies. As Telephus, when he +could find no physician that he could confide in as his friend, thought +his adversary’s lance would most probably heal his wound; so he that +hath no friend to give him advice and to reprove him in what he acts +amiss must bear patiently the rebukes of an enemy, and thereby learn to +amend the errors of his ways; considering seriously the object which +these severe censures aim at, and not what the person is who makes +them. For as he who designed the death of Prometheus the Thessalian, +instead of giving the fatal blow, only lanced a swelling that he had, +which did really preserve his life and free him from the hazard of +approaching death; just so may the harsh reprehensions of enemies +cure some distempers of the mind that were before either unknown or +neglected, though these angry speeches do originally proceed from +malice and ill-will. But many, when they are accused of a crime, do not +consider whether they are guilty of the matter alleged against them, +but are rather solicitous whether the accuser hath nothing that may be +laid to his charge; like the combatants in a match at wrestling, they +take no care to wipe off the dirt that sticks upon them, but they go on +to besmear one another, and in their mutual strugglings they wallow and +tumble into more dirt and filthiness. + +It is a matter of greater importance and concern to a man when he is +lashed by the slanders of an enemy, by living virtuously to prevent +and avert all objections that may be made against his life, than it +is to scour the spots out of his clothes when they are shown him. And +even if any man with opprobrious language object to you crimes you +know nothing of, you ought to enquire into the causes and reasons +of such false accusations, that you may learn to take heed for the +future and be very wary, lest unwittingly you should commit those +offences that are unjustly attributed to you, or something that comes +near them. Lacydes, king of the Argives, was abused as an effeminate +person, because he wore his hair long, used to dress himself neatly, +and his mien was finical. So Pompey, though he was very far from any +effeminate softness, yet was reflected upon and jeered for being used +to scratch his head with one of his fingers. Crassus also suffered +much in the like kind, because sometimes he visited a vestal virgin +and showed great attention to her, having a design to purchase of her +a little farm that lay conveniently for him. So Postumia was suspected +of unchaste actions, and was even brought to trial, because she would +often be very cheerful and discourse freely in men’s company. But she +was found clear of all manner of guilt in that nature. Nevertheless at +her dismission, Spurius Minucius the Pontifex Maximus gave her this +good admonition, that her words should be always as pure, chaste, +and modest as her life was. Themistocles, though he had offended in +nothing, yet was suspected of treachery with Pausanias, because he +corresponded familiarly with him, and used every day to send him +letters and messengers. + +7. Whenever then any thing is spoken against you that is not true, do +not pass it by or despise it because it is false, but forthwith examine +yourself, and consider what you have said or done, what you have ever +undertaken, or what converse you have ever had that may have given +likelihood to the slander; and when this is discovered, decline for the +future all things that may provoke any reproachful or foul language +from others. + +For if troubles and difficulties, into which some men fall either by +chance or through their own inadvertency and rashness, may teach others +what is fit and safe for them to do,—as Merope says. + + Fortune hath taken for her salary + My dearest goods, but wisdom she hath given;[130] + +why should not we take an enemy for our tutor, who will instruct us +gratis in those things we knew not before? For an enemy sees and +understands more in matters relating to us than our friends do; because +love is blind, as Plato[131] says, in discerning the imperfections of +the thing beloved. But spite, malice, ill-will, wrath, and contempt +talk much, are very inquisitive and quick-sighted. When Hiero was +upbraided by his enemy for having a stinking breath, he returned home +and demanded of his wife why she had not acquainted him with it. The +innocent good woman makes this answer: I thought all men’s breath had +that smell. For those things in men that are conspicuous to all are +sooner understood from the information of enemies than from that of +friends and acquaintance. + +8. Furthermore, an exact government of the tongue is a strong evidence +of a good mind, and no inconsiderable part of virtue. But since every +man naturally is desirous to propagate his conceits, and without a +painful force can not smother his resentments, it is no easy task to +keep this unruly member in due subjection, unless such an impetuous +affection as anger be thoroughly subdued by much exercise, care, and +study. For such things as “saying let fall against our will,” or “a +word flying by the range of our teeth,”[132] or “a speech escaping us +by accident,” are all likely to happen to those whose ill-exercised +minds (as it were) fall and waste away, and whose course of life +is licentious; and we may attribute this to hasty passion or to +unsettled judgment. For divine Plato tells us that for a word, which +is the lightest of all things, both Gods and men inflict the heaviest +penalties.[133] But silence, which can never be called to account, +doth not only, as Hippocrates hath observed, extinguish thirst, but it +bears up against all manner of slanders with the constancy of Socrates +and the courage of Hercules, who was no more concerned than a fly at +what others said or did. Now it is certainly not grander or better than +this for a man to bear silently and quietly the revilings of an enemy, +taking care not to provoke him, as if he were swimming by a dangerous +rock; but the practice is better. For whosoever is thus accustomed to +endure patiently the scoffs of an enemy will, without any disturbance +or trouble, bear with the chidings of a wife, the rebukes of a friend, +or the sharper reproofs of a brother. When a father or mother corrects +you, you will not be refractory or stubborn under the rod. Xanthippe, +though she was a woman of a very angry and troublesome spirit, could +never move Socrates to a passion. By being used to bear patiently this +heavy sufferance at home, he was ever unconcerned, and not in the least +moved by the most scurrilous and abusive tongues he met withal abroad. +For it is much better to overcome boisterous passions and to bring the +mind into a calm and even frame of spirit, by contentedly undergoing +the scoffs, outrages, and affronts of enemies, than to be stirred up to +choler or revenge by the worst they can say or do. + +9. Thus we may show a meek and gentle temper and a submissive bearing +of evil in our enmities; and even integrity, magnanimity, and goodness +of disposition are also more conspicuous here than in friendship. For +it is not so honorable and virtuous to do a friend a kindness, as it is +unworthy and base to omit this good office when he stands in need; but +it is an eminent piece of humanity, and a manifest token of a nature +truly generous, to put up with the affronts of an enemy when you have a +fair opportunity to revenge them. For if any one sympathizes with his +enemy in his affliction, relieves him in his necessities, and is ready +to assist his sons and family if they desire it, any one that will +not love this man for his compassion, and highly commend him for his +charity, “must have a black heart made of adamant or iron,” as Pindar +says. + +When Caesar made an edict that the statues of Pompey which were +tumbled down should be rebuilt and restored to their former beauty and +magnificence, Tully tells him that by setting up again Pompey’s statues +he has erected one for himself, an everlasting monument of praise and +honor to after ages. So that we must give to every one his due, to an +enemy such respect and honor as he truly deserves. Thus a man that +praises his enemy for his real deserts shall himself obtain the more +honor by it; and whenever he shall correct or censure him, he will be +credited in what he does, because every one will believe that he does +it out of a dislike and just abhorrence of his vice and not of his +person. + +By this practice we shall be brought at length to perform the most +honorable and worthy actions; for he who is wont to praise and speak +the best things of his enemies will never repine at the prosperity or +success of his friends and acquaintance; he is never troubled, but +rather rejoices, when they thrive and are happy. And what virtue can +any man exercise that will be more profitable and delightful to him +than this, which takes away from him the bitterness of malice, and doth +not only break the teeth of envy, but, by teaching him to rejoice at +another man’s felicity, doth double his own enjoyment and satisfaction. +As in war many things, although they are bad and evil in themselves, +yet have become necessary, and by long custom and prescription have +obtained the validity of a law, so that it is not easy to root them +out, even by those who thereby suffer much harm; just so doth enmity +usher in the mind a long train of vices, meagre envy coupled with +grim hatred, restless jealousy and suspicion, unnatural joy at other +men’s miseries, and a long remembrance of injuries. Fraud, deceit, +and snares, joined to these forces of wickedness, work infinite +mischief in the world, yet they appear as no evils at all when they +are exerted against an enemy. By this means they make a deep entrance +into the mind; they get fast hold of it, and are hardly shaken off. So +that, unless we forbear the practice of these ill qualities towards +our enemies, they will by frequent acts become so habitual to us, +that we shall be apt to make use of them to the manifest wrong and +injury of our friends. Wherefore, if Pythagoras was highly esteemed +for instructing his disciples to avoid all manner of cruelty against +beasts themselves,—so that he himself would redeem them out of their +captivity in either the fowler’s or the fisherman’s net, and forbade +his followers to kill any creature,—it is surely much better and more +manly in our differences with men to show ourselves generous, just, +and detesters of all falsehood, and to moderate and correct all base, +unworthy, and hurtful passions; that in all our conversation with our +friends we may be open-hearted, and that we may not seek to overreach +or deceive others in any of our dealings. + +For Scaurus was a professed enemy and an open accuser of Domitius; +whereupon a treacherous servant of Domitius comes to Scaurus before +the cause was to be heard, and tells him that he has a secret to +communicate to him in relation to the present suit, which he knows +not of, and which may be very advantageous on his side. Yet Scaurus +would not permit him to speak a word, but apprehended him, and sent +him back to his master. And when Cato was prosecuting Murena for +bribery, and was collecting evidence to support his charge, he was +accompanied (according to custom) by certain persons in the interest +of the defendant, who watched his transactions. These often asked him +in the morning, whether he intended on that day to collect evidence or +make other preparation for the trial; and so soon as he told them he +should not, they put such trust in him that they went their way. This +was a plain demonstration of the extraordinary deference and honor they +paid to Cato; but a far greater testimony, and one surpassing all the +rest, is it to prove that, if we accustom ourselves to deal justly and +uprightly with our enemies, then we shall not fail to behave ourselves +so towards our friends. + +10. Simonides was wont to say that there was no lark without its +crest; so the disposition of men is naturally pregnant with strife, +suspicion, and envy, which last (as Pindar observes) is “the companion +of empty-brained men.” Therefore no man can do any thing that will tend +more to his own profit and the preservation of his peace than utterly +to purge out of his mind these corrupt affections, and cast them off as +the very sink of all iniquity, that they may create no more mischief +between him and his friends. This Onomademus, a judicious and wise +man, understood well, who, when he was of the prevailing side in a +civil commotion at Chios, gave this counsel to his friends, that they +should not quite destroy or drive away those of the adverse party, +but let some abide there, for fear they should begin to fall out among +themselves as soon as their enemies were all out of the way. Therefore, +if these uneasy dispositions of the mind be spent and consumed upon +enemies, they would never molest or disquiet our friends. Neither doth +Hesiod approve of one potter or one singer’s envying another, or that +a neighbor or relation or brother should resent it ill that another +prospers and is successful in the world.[134] But if there be no other +way whereby we may be delivered from emulation, envy, or contention, +we may suffer our minds to vent these passions upon the prosperity of +our enemies, and whet the edge and sharpen the point of our anger upon +them. For as gardeners that have knowledge and experience in plants +expect their roses and violets should grow the better by being set +near leeks and onions,—because all the sour juices of the earth are +conveyed into these,—so an enemy by attracting to himself our vicious +and peevish qualities, may render us less humorsome and more candid and +ingenuous to our friends that are in a better or more happy state than +ourselves. + +Wherefore let us enter the lists with our enemies, and contend with +them for true glory, lawful empire, and just gain. Let us not so much +debase ourselves as to be troubled and fret at any possessions they +enjoy more than we have. Let us rather carefully observe those good +qualities wherein our enemies excel us, so that by these motives we may +be excited to outdo them in honest diligence, indefatigable industry, +prudent caution, and exemplary sobriety; as Themistocles complained +that the victory Miltiades got at Marathon would not let him sleep. +But whosoever views his adversary exalted far above him in dignities, +in pleading of great causes, in administration of state affairs, or +in favor and friendship with princes, and doth not put forth all +his strength and power to get before him in these things,—this man +commonly pines away, and by degrees sinks into the sloth and misery +of an envious and inactive life. And we may observe, that envy and +hatred do raise such clouds in the understanding, that a man shall not +be able to pass a right judgment concerning things which he hates; +but whosoever with an impartial eye beholds, and with a sincere mind +judges, the life and manners, discourses, and actions of his enemy, +will soon understand that many of those things that raise his envy were +gotten by honest care, a discreet providence, and virtuous deeds. Thus +the love of honorable and brave actions may be kindled and advanced in +him, and an idle and lazy course of life may be contemned and forsaken. + +11. But if our enemies arrive at high places in the courts of princes +by flattery or frauds, by bribery or gifts, we should not be troubled +at it, but should rather be pleased in comparing our undisguised and +honest way of living with theirs which is quite contrary. For Plato, +who was a competent judge, was of opinion that virtue was a more +valuable treasure than all the riches above the earth or all the mines +beneath it. And we ought evermore to have in readiness this saying of +Solon:[135] But we will not give up our virtue in exchange for their +wealth. So will we never give up our virtue for the applause of crowded +theatres, which may be won by a feast, nor for the loftiest seats among +eunuchs, concubines, and royal satraps. For nothing that is worth any +one’s appetite, nothing that is handsome or becoming a man, can proceed +from that which is in itself evil and base. But, as Plato repeats once +and again, the lover cannot see the faults of the thing or person that +he loves, and we apprehend soonest what our enemies do amiss; therefore +we must let neither our joy at their miscarriages nor our sorrow at +their successes be idle and useless to ourselves, but we are bound to +consider in both respects, how we may render ourselves better than they +are, by avoiding what is faulty and vicious in them, and how we may not +prove worse than they, if we imitate them in what they do excel. + + + + +CONSOLATION TO APOLLONIUS. + + +1. As soon, Apollonius, as I heard the news of the untimely death +of your son, who was very dear to us all, I fell sick of the same +grief with you, and shared your misfortune with all the tenderness of +sympathy. For he was a sweet and modest young man, devout towards the +Gods, obedient to his parents, and obliging to his friends; indeed +doing all things that were just. But when the tears of his funeral were +scarcely dry, I thought it a time very improper to call upon you and +put you in mind that you should bear this accident like a man; for when +this unexpected affliction made you languish both in body and mind, +I considered then that compassion was more seasonable than advice. +For the most skilful physicians do not put a sudden stop to a flux of +humors, but give them time to settle, and then foment the swelling by +softening and bringing it to a head with medicines outwardly applied. + +2. So now that a competent time is past—time which brings all things +to maturity—since the first surprise of your calamity, I believed I +should do an acceptable piece of friendship, if I should now comfort +you with those reasons which may lessen your grief and silence your +complaints. + + Soft words alleviate a wounded heart, + If you in time will mitigate the smart.[136] + +Euripides hath said wisely to this purpose:— + + Our applications should suited be + Unto the nature of the malady; + Of sorrow we should wipe the tender eyes, + But the immoderate weeper should chastise. + +For of all the passions which move and afflict the mind of man, sorrow +in its nature is the most grievous; in some they say it hath produced +madness, others have contracted incurable diseases, and some out of the +vehemence of it have laid violent hands upon themselves. + +3. Therefore to be sad, even to an indisposition, for the death of a +son proceeds from a principle of nature, and it is out of our power to +prevent it. I dislike those who boast so much of hard and inflexible +temper which they call apathy, it being a disposition which never +happens and never could be of use to us; for it would extinguish that +sociable love we ought to have for one another, and which it is so +necessary above all things to preserve. But to mourn excessively and +to accumulate grief I do affirm to be altogether unnatural, and to +result from a depraved opinion we have of things; therefore we ought +to shun it as destructive in itself, and unworthy of a virtuous man; +but to be moderately affected by grief we cannot condemn. It were to be +wished, saith Crantor the Academic, that we could not be sick at all; +but when a distemper seizeth us, it is requisite we should have sense +and feeling in case any of our members be plucked or cut off. For that +talked-of apathy can never happen to a man without great detriment; for +as now the body, so soon the very mind would be wild and savage. + +4. Therefore in such accidents, it is but reasonable that they who are +in their right senses should avoid both extremes, of being without +any passion at all and of having too much; for as the one argues a +mind that is obstinate and fierce, so the other doth one that is +soft and effeminate. He therefore hath cast up his accounts the +best, who, confining himself within due bounds, hath such ascendant +over his temper, as to bear prosperous and adverse fortune with the +same equality, whichsoever it is that happens to him in this life. +He puts on those resolutions as if he were in a popular government +where magistracy is decided by lot; if it luckily falls to his share, +he obeys his fortune, but if it passeth him, he doth not repine at +it. So we must submit to the dispensation of human affairs, without +being uneasy and querulous. Those who cannot do this want prudence +and steadiness of mind to bear more happy circumstances; for amongst +other things which are prettily said, this is one remarkable precept of +Euripides:— + + If Fortune prove extravagantly kind, + Above its temper do not raise thy mind; + If she disclaims thee like a jilting dame, + Be not dejected, but be still the same, + Like gold unchanged amidst the hottest flame. + +For it is the part of a wise and well-educated man, not to be +transported beyond himself with any prosperous events, and so, when the +scene of fortune changeth, to observe still the comeliness and decency +of his morals. For it is the business of a man that lives by rule, +either to prevent an evil that threatens him, or, when it is come, to +qualify its malignity and make it as little as he can, or put on a +masculine brave spirit and so resolve to endure it. For there are four +ways that prudence concerns herself about any thing that is good; she +is either industrious to acquire or careful to preserve, she either +augments or useth it well. These are the measures of prudence, and +consequently those of all other virtues, by which we ought to square +ourselves in either fortune. + + For no man lives who always happy is.[137] + +And, by Jove, you should not hinder what ought to be done,— + + Those things which in their nature ought to be.[138] + +5. For, as amongst trees some are very thick with fruit, and some bear +none at all; amongst living creatures some are very prolific, and some +barren; and as in the sea there is alternate vicissitude of calms and +tempests, so in human life there are many and various circumstances +which distract a man into divers changes of fortune. One considering +this matter hath not said much from the purpose:— + + Think not thyself, O Atreus’ son, forlorn; + Thou always to be happy wast not born. + Even Agamemnon’s self must be a shade, + For thou of frail materials art made. + Sorrow and joy alternately succeed; + ’Spite of thy teeth, the Gods have so decreed.[139] + +These verses are Menander’s. + + If thou, O Trophimus, of all mankind, + Uninterrupted happiness couldst find; + If when thy mother brought thee forth with pain, + Didst this condition of thy life obtain, + That only prosperous gales thy sails should fill, + And all things happen ’cording to thy will; + If any of the Gods did so engage, + Such usage justly might provoke thy rage, + Matter for smart resentment might afford, + For the false Deity did break his word. + But if thou unexcepted saw’st the light, + Without a promise of the least delight, + I say to thee (gravely in tragic style) + Thou ought to be more patient all the while. + In short,—and to say more there’s no one can,— + Which is a name of frailty, thou’rt a man; + A creature more rejoicing is not found, + None more dejected creeps upon the ground. + Though weak, yet he in politics refines, + Involves himself in intricate designs; + With nauseous business he himself doth cloy, + And so the pleasure of his life destroy. + In great pursuits thou never hast been cross’d + No disappointments have thy projects lost; + Nay, such hath been the mildness of thy fate, + Hast no misfortune had of any rate; + If Fortune is at any time severe, + Serene and undisturbed thou must appear. + +But though this be the state of all sublunary things, yet such is the +extravagant pride and folly of some men, that if they are raised above +the common by the greatness of their riches or functions of magistracy, +or if they arrive to any eminent charge in the commonwealth, they +presently swell with the titles of their honor, and threaten and +insult over their inferiors; never considering what a treacherous +Goddess Fortune is, and how easy a revolution it is for things that are +uppermost to be thrown down from their height and for humble things to +be exalted, and that these changes of Fortune are performed quickly and +in the swiftest moments of time. To seek for any certainty therefore in +that which is uncertain is the part of those who judge not aright of +things:— + + Like to a wheel that constantly goes round, + One part is up whilst t’other’s on the ground. + +6. But the most sovereign remedy against sorrow is our reason, and +out of this arsenal we may arm ourselves with defence against all the +casualties of life; for every one ought to lay down this as a maxim, +that not only is he himself mortal in his nature, but life itself +decays, and things are easily changed into quite the contrary to what +they are; for our bodies are made up of perishing ingredients. Our +fortunes and our passions too are subject to the same mortality; indeed +all things in this world are in perpetual flux,— + + Which no man can avoid with all his care.[140] + +It is an expression of Pindar, that we are held to the dark bottom of +hell by necessities as hard as iron. And Euripides says:— + + No worldly wealth is firm and sure; + But for a day it doth endure.[141] + +And also:— + + From small beginnings our misfortunes grow, + And little rubs our feet do overthrow; + A single day is able down to cast + Some things from height, and others raise as fast.[142] + +Demetrius Phalereus affirms that this was truly said, but that the poet +had been more in the right if for a single day he had put only a moment +of time. + + For earthly fruits and mortal men’s estate + Turn round about in one and selfsame rate; + Some live, wax strong, and prosper day by day, + While others are cast down and fade away.[143] + +And Pindar hath it in another place, + + What are we, what are we not? + Man is but a shadow’s dream.[144] + +He used an artificial and very perspicuous hyperbole to draw human life +in its genuine colors; for what is weaker than a shadow? Or what words +can be found out whereby to express a shadow’s dream? Crantor hath +something consonant to this, when, condoling Hippocles upon the loss of +his children, he speaks after this manner:— + +“These are the things which all the old philosophers talk of and have +instructed us in; which though we do not agree to in every particular, +yet this hath too sharp a truth in it, that our life is painful and +full of difficulties; and if it doth not labor with them in its own +nature, yet we ourselves have infected it with that corruption. For the +inconstancy of Fortune joined us at the beginning of our journey, and +hath accompanied us ever since; so that it can produce nothing that is +sound or comfortable unto us; and the bitter potion was mingled for us +as soon as we were born. For the principles of our nature being mortal +is the cause that our judgment is depraved, that diseases, cares, and +all those fatal inconveniences afflict mankind.” + +But what need of this digression? Only that we may be made sensible +that it is no unusual thing if a man be unfortunate; but we are all +subject to the same calamity. For as Theophrastus saith, Fortune +surpriseth us unawares, robs us of those things we have got by the +sweat of our industry, and spoils the gaudy appearance of a prosperous +condition; and this she doth when she pleaseth, not being stinted to +any periods of time. These and things of the like nature it is easy for +a man to ponder with himself, and to hearken to the sayings of ancient +and wise men; among whom divine Homer is the chief, who sung after this +manner:— + + Of all that breathes or grovelling creeps on earth, + Most man is vain! calamitous by birth: + To-day, with power elate, in strength he blooms; + The haughty creature on that power presumes: + Anon from Heaven a sad reverse he feels; + Untaught to bear, ’gainst Heaven the wretch rebels. + For man is changeful, as his bliss or woe; + Too high when prosperous, when distress’d too low.[145] + +And in another place:— + + What or from whence I am, or who my sire + (Replied the chief), can Tydeus’ son enquire? + Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, + Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; + Another race the following spring supplies; + They fall successive, and successive rise. + So generations in their course decay; + So flourish these, when those are past away.[146] + +How prettily he managed this image of human life appears from what he +hath said in another place:— + + For what is man? Calamitous by birth, + They owe their life and nourishment to earth; + Like yearly leaves, that now with beauty crown’d, + Smile on the sun, now wither on the ground.[147] + +When Pausanias the king of Sparta was frequently bragging of his +performances, and bidding Simonides the lyric poet in raillery to +give him some wise precept, he, knowing the vain-glory of him that +spoke, admonished him to remember that he was a man. Philip the +king of Macedon, when he had received three despatches of good news +at the same time, of which the first was that his chariots had +won the victory in the Olympic games, the second, that his general +Parmenio had overcome the Dardanians in fight, and the third, that +his wife Olympias had brought him forth an heir,—lifting up his eyes +to heaven, he passionately cried out, Propitious Daemon! let the +affliction be moderate by which thou intendest to be even with me for +this complicated happiness. Theramenes, one of the thirty tyrants of +Athens, when he alone was preserved from the ruins of a house that +fell upon the rest of his friends as they were sitting at supper, and +all came about him to congratulate him on his escape,—broke out in an +emphatical accent, Fortune! for what calamity dost thou reserve me? And +not long after, by the command of his fellow-tyrants, he was tormented +to death. + +7. But Homer seems to indicate a particular praise to himself, when he +brings in Achilles speaking thus to Priam, who was come forth to ransom +the body of Hector:— + + Rise then; let reason mitigate our care: + To mourn avails not: man is born to bear. + Such is, alas! the Gods’ severe decree: + They, only they, are blest, and only free. + Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood, + The source of evil one, and one of good; + From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, + Blessings to these, to these distributes ills; + To most he mingles both; the wretch decreed + To taste the bad unmix’d is cursed indeed; + Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven, + He wanders, outcast both of earth and heaven.[148] + +Hesiod, who was the next to Homer both in respect of time and +reputation, and who professed to be a disciple of the Muses, fancied +that all evils were shut up in a box, and that Pandora opening it +scattered all sorts of mischiefs through both the earth and seas:— + + The cover of the box she did remove, + And to fly out the crowding mischief strove; + But slender hope upon the brims did stay, + Ready to vanish into air away; + She with retrieve the haggard in did put, + And on the prisoner close the box did shut; + But plagues innumerable abroad did fly, + Infecting all the earth, the seas, and sky. + Diseases now with silent feet do creep, + Torment us waking, and afflict our sleep. + These midnight evils steal without a noise, + For Jupiter deprived them of their voice.[149] + +8. After these the comedian, talking of those who bear afflictions +uneasily, speaks consonantly to this purpose:— + + If we in wet complaints could quench our grief, + At any rate we’d purchase our relief; + With proffered gold would bribe off all our fears, + And make our eyes distil in precious tears. + But the Gods mind not mortals here below, + Nor the least thought on our affairs bestow; + But with an unregarding air pass by, + Whether our cheeks be moist, or whether dry. + Unhappiness is always sorrow’s root, + And tears do hang from them like crystal fruit. + +And Dictys comforts Danae, who was bitterly taking on, after this +manner:— + + Dost think that thy repinings move the grave, + Or from its jaws thy dying son can save? + If thou would’st lessen it, thy grief compare;— + Consider how unhappy others are; + How many bonds of slavery do hold; + How many of their children robbed grow old; + How sudden Fate throws off th’ usurped crown, + And in the dirt doth tread the tyrant down. + Let this with deep impression in thee sink, + And on these revolutions often think.[150] + +He bids her consider the condition of those who have suffered equal +or greater afflictions, and by such a parallel to comfort up her own +distempered mind. + +9. And here that opinion of Socrates comes in very pertinently, who +thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, +whence every one must take an equal portion, most people would be +contented to take their own and depart. After this manner Antimachus +the poet allayed his grief when he lost his wife Lyde, whom he +tenderly loved; for he writ an elegy upon her, which he called by +her own name, and in it he numbered up all the calamities which have +befallen great men; and so by the remembrance of other men’s sorrows he +assuaged his own. By this it may appear, that he who comforts another +who is macerating himself with grief, and demonstrates to him, by +reckoning up their several misfortunes, that he suffers nothing but +what is common to him with other men, takes the surest way to lessen +the opinion he had of his condition, and brings him to believe that it +is not altogether so bad as he took it to be. + +10. Aeschylus also doth justly reprimand those who think death to be an +evil, declaring after this manner:— + + Some as a thing injurious death do fly; + But of all mischiefs ’tis the remedy. + +And he who spoke thus very nicely imitated him:— + + Come, with impatience I expect thee, Death; + And stop with thy obliging hand my breath: + To thee as a physician all resort, + And we through tempests sail into thy port. + +And it is great to speak this sentence with courage:— + + Where is the slave who never fears to die?[151] + +Or this:— + + And shadows never scare me, thanks to hell. + +But what is it at length in death, that is so grievous and troublesome? +For I know not how it comes to pass that, when it is so familiar and +as it were related to us, it should seem so terrible. How can it be +rational to wonder, if that cleaves asunder which is divisible, if that +melts whose nature is liquefaction, if that burns which is combustible, +and so, by a parity of reason, if that perisheth which by nature is +perishable? For when is it that death is not in us? For, as Heraclitus +saith, it is the same thing to be dead and alive, asleep and awake, +a young man and decrepit; for these alternately are changed one into +another. For as a potter can form the shape of an animal out of his +clay and then as easily deface it, and can repeat this backwards +and forwards as often as he pleaseth, so Nature too out of the same +materials fashioned first our grandfathers, next our fathers, then +us, and in process of time will engender others, and again others +upon these. For as the flood of our generation glides on without any +intermission and will never stop, so in the other direction the stream +of our corruption flows eternally on, whether it be called Acheron or +Cocytus by the poets. So that the same cause which first showed us the +light of the sun carries us down to infernal darkness. And in my mind, +the air which encompasseth us seems to be a lively image of the thing; +for it brings on the vicissitudes of night and day, life and death, +sleeping and waking. For this cause it is that life is called a fatal +debt, which our fathers contracted and we are bound to pay; which is to +be done calmly and without any complaint, when the creditor demands it; +and by this means we shall show ourselves men of sedate passions. + +11. And I believe Nature, knowing the confusion and shortness of our +life, hath industriously concealed the end of it from us, this making +for our advantage. For if we were sensible of it beforehand, some would +pine away with untimely sorrow, and would die before their death came. +For she saw the woes of this life, and with what a torrent of cares it +is overflowed,—which if thou didst undertake to number, thou wouldst +grow angry with it, and confirm that opinion which hath a vogue amongst +some, that death is more desirable than life. Simonides hath glossed +upon it after this manner:— + + Our time is of a short and tender length, + Cares we have many, and but little strength; + Labors in crowds push one another on, + And cruel destiny we cannot shun. + The casting of these lots is very just, + For good and bad lie in one common dust. + +Pindar hath it so:— + + The Gods unequal have us mortals vexed, + For to one good, two evils are annexed: + They pay a single joy with double care, + And fools such dispensations cannot bear.[152] + +Sophocles so:— + + Why at a mortal’s death dost thou complain? + Thou know’st not what may be his future gain. + +And Euripides so:— + + Dost thou not know the state of human things? + A faithful monitor thy instruction brings. + Inevitable death hangs o’er our head, + And threatens falling by a doubtful thread. + There’s no man can be certain over night, + If he shall live to see to-morrow’s light. + Life without any interruption flows, + And the results of fate there’s no man knows.[153] + +If then the condition of human life is such as they speak of, why do we +not rather applaud their good fortunes who are freed from the drudgery +of it, than pity and deplore them, as some men’s folly prompts them to +do? + +12. Socrates said that death was like either to a very deep sleep, or +to a journey taken a great way and for a long time, or else to the +utter extinction of soul and body; and if we examine each of these +comparisons, he said, we shall find that death is not an evil upon any +account. For if death is sleep, and no hurt happens to those who are in +that innocent condition, it is manifest that neither are the dead ill +dealt with. To what purpose should I talk of that which is so tritely +known amongst all, that the most profound sleep is always the sweetest? +Homer[154] particularly attests it:— + + His senses all becalmed, he drew his breath, + His sleep was sound, and quiet like to death. + +And in many places he saith thus,— + + She met Death’s brother, Sleep.— + +And again,— + + Twin brothers, Sleep and Death,— + +thereby representing the similitude (as it were) to the sight, for +twins especially indicate similarity. And in another place he saith, +Death is brazen sleep, thereby intimating to us that it is insensible. +Neither hath he spoken much amiss who calls sleep the lesser mysteries +of death; for sleep is really the first initiation into the mysteries +of death. + +Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death he fell into a +slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether +any thing ailed him, wisely answered, Nothing, sir, only one brother +anticipates another,—Sleep before Death. + +13. If death be like a journey, neither upon this account is it an +evil, but rather the contrary; for certainly it is the emphasis of +happiness to be freed from the incumbrances of the flesh and all those +troublesome passions which attend it, which serve only to darken the +understanding, and over-spread it with all the folly that is incident +to human nature. + +“The very body,” saith Plato, “procures us infinite disquiet only +to supply its daily necessities with food; but if any diseases are +coincident, they hinder our contemplations, and stop us in our +researches after truth. Besides, it distracts us with irregular +desires, fears, and vain amours, setting before us so many fantastic +images of things, that the common saying is here most true, that +on account of the body we can never become wise. For wars, popular +seditions, and shedding of blood by the sword are owing to no other +original than this care of the body and gratifying its licentious +appetites; for we fight only to get riches, and these we acquire +only to please the body; so that those who are thus employed have not +leisure to be philosophers. And after all, when we have retrieved an +interval of time to seek after truth, the body officiously interrupts +us, is so troublesome and importune, that we can by no means discern +its nature. Therefore it is evident that, if we will clearly know any +thing, we must divest ourselves of the body, and behold things as they +are in themselves with the mind itself, that at last we may attain what +we so much desire, and what we do profess ourselves the most partial +admirers of, which is wisdom. And this we cannot consummately enjoy +till after death, as reason teacheth us. For if so be that we can +understand nothing clearly as long as we are clogged with flesh, one of +these things must needs be, either that we shall never arrive at that +knowledge at all, or only when we die; for then the soul will exist +by itself, separate from the body; and whilst we are in this life, we +shall make the nearest advances towards it, if we have no more to do +with the body than what decency and necessity require, if we break off +all commerce with it, and keep ourselves pure from its contagion, till +God shall give us a final release, and then being pure and freed from +all its follies, we shall converse (it is likely) with intelligences +as pure as ourselves, with our unaided vision beholding perfect +purity,—and this is truth itself. For it is not fit that what is pure +should be apprehended by what is impure.”[155] + +Therefore, if death only transports us to another place, it is not to +be looked upon as an evil, but rather as an exceeding good, as Plato +hath demonstrated. The words of Socrates to his judges seem to me to +be spoken even with inspiration: “To fear death, gentlemen, is nothing +else than to counterfeit the being wise, when we are not so. For he +that fears death pretends to know what he is ignorant of; for no man +is certain whether death be not the greatest good that can befall a +man, but they positively dread it as if they were sure it was the +greatest of evils.” Agreeably to this said one after this manner:— + + Let no man fear what doth his labors end;— + +and death sets us free even from the greatest evils. + +14. The Gods themselves bear witness to the truth of this, for many +have obtained death as a gratuity from them. The less famous instances +I will pass by, that I may not be prolix, and only mention those who +are the most celebrated and in all men’s mouths. And in the first +place, I will relate what befell Biton and Cleobis, two young men of +Argos. They report that their mother being the priestess of Juno, and +the time being come that she was to go up to the temple to perform +the rites of the Goddess, and those whose office it was to draw her +chariot tarrying longer than usual, these two young men harnessed +themselves and took it up, and so carried their mother to the temple. +She, being extremely taken with the piety of her sons, petitioned the +Goddess that she would bestow upon them the best present that could +be given to men; accordingly she cast them into that deep sleep out +of which they never awoke, taking this way to recompense their filial +zeal with death. Pindar writes of Agamedes and Trophonius, that after +they had built a temple at Delphi, they requested of Apollo a reward +for their work. It was answered them that they should have it within +seven days, but in the mean while they were commanded to live freely +and indulge their genius; accordingly they obeyed the dictate, and the +seventh night they died in their beds. It is said also of Pindar, that +when the deputies of the Boeotians were sent to consult the oracle, he +desired them to enquire of it which was the best thing amongst men, +and that the Priestess of the tripod gave them this answer,—that he +could not be ignorant of it, if he was the author of those writings +concerning Agamedes and Trophonius; but if he desired personally to +know, it should in a little time be made manifest to him; and that +Pindar hearing this prepared himself for the stroke of Fate, and died +in a short time after. Of Euthynous the Italian there is this memorable +story, that he died suddenly, without anybody’s knowing the cause of +his death. His father was Elysius the Terinean, who was a man of the +first condition for his estate and virtue, being rich and honorable, +and this being his only son and heir to all his fortune, which was very +great, he had a strong jealousy upon him that he was poisoned, and not +knowing how he should come to the information of it, he went into the +vault where they invoke the dead, and after having offered sacrifice, +as it is enjoined by the law, he slept in the place; when all things +were in a midnight silence, he had this vision. His father appeared +to him, to whom after having related his lamentable misfortune, he +earnestly desired the ghost that he would assist him in finding out the +cause. He answered that he was come on purpose to do it. But first, +saith he, receive from this one what he hath brought thee, and thereby +thou wilt understand the reason of all thy sorrow. The person that the +father meant was very like to Euthynous both for years and stature; and +the question being put to him who he was, he answered, I am the genius +of thy son; and at the same time he reached out a book to him, which he +opened and found these verses written therein:— + + ’Tis ignorance makes wretched men to err; + Fate did to happiness thy son prefer. + By destined death Euthynous seized we see; + So ’twas the better both for him and thee. + +These are the stories which the ancients tell us. + +15. But lastly, if death be the entire dissipation of soul and body +(which was the third part of Socrates’s comparison), even then it +cannot be an evil. For this would produce a privation of sense, and +consequently a complete freedom from all solicitude and care; and if +no good, so no evil would befall us. For good and evil alike must by +nature inhere in that which has existence and essence; but to that +which is nothing, and wholly abolished out of the nature of things, +neither of the two can belong. Therefore, when men die, they return to +the same condition they were in before they were born. For as, before +we came into the world, we were neither sensible of good nor afflicted +with evil, so it will be when we leave it; and as those things which +preceded our birth did not concern us, so neither will those things +which are subsequent to our death:— + + The dead secure from sorrow safe do lie, + ’Tis the same thing not to be born and die.[156] + +For it is the same state of existence after death as it was before we +were born. Unless perhaps you will make a difference between having +no being at all and the utter extinction of it, after the same manner +that you make a distinction between an house and a garment after they +are ruined and worn out, and at the time before the one was built and +the other made. And if in this case there is no difference, it is plain +that there is none between the state before we were born and that after +we are dead. It is elegantly said by Arcesilaus, that death, which is +called an evil, hath this peculiarly distinct from all that are thought +so, that when it is present it gives us no disturbance, but when remote +and in expectation only, it is then that it afflicts us. And indeed +many out of the poorness of their spirit, having entertained most +injurious opinions of it, have died even to prevent death. Epicharmus +hath said excellently to this purpose: “It was united, it is now +dissolved; it returns back whence it came,—earth to earth, the spirit +to regions above. What in all this is grievous? Nothing at all.” But +that which Cresphontes in Euripides saith of Hercules,— + + For if he dwells below, beneath the earth, + With those whose life is gone, his strength is nought, + +I would have changed into these words,— + + For if he dwells below, beneath the earth, + With those whose life is gone, his woes are o’er. + +This Laconic too is very noble:— + + Others before and after us will be, + Whose age we’re not permitted e’er to see. + +And again:— + + These neither did live handsomely nor die, + Though both should have been done with decency. + +But Euripides hath spoken incomparably well of those who labor under +daily indispositions:— + + I hate the man who studies to defeat + The power of death with artificial meat, + To baffle and prevent his fate does think, + And lengthens out his life with magic drink. + Whereas, when he a burden doth become, + Then he should die, because he’s troublesome. + Old age in modesty should then give place, + And so make way unto a brisker race.[157] + +But Merope moved the passion of the theatre with these masculine +expressions:— + + My sons by death are ravished from my side, + And I’m a widow, who was once a bride. + I am not thus selected to be crossed, + Others their sons and husbands too have lost.[158] + +And we may not incongruously add these:— + + What is become of that magnificence? + Where is King Croesus with his opulence? + Or where is Xerxes with his mighty pride, + Who with a bridge did curb the raging tide? + Inhabitants of darkness they became, + And now are living only in their fame. + +Their riches have perished with their bodies. + +16. Yes, we may say, but an untimely death from many doth extort groans +and passionate complaints. But the way to dry up these sorrows is so +expedite and easy, that every vulgar poet hath prescribed it. Consider +what consolation a comedian puts in the mouth of one who comforts +another upon so sad an occasion:— + + If this with certainty thou could’st have known, + That Fortune always would have kindness shown, + That nothing but what’s good would him befall, + His death thou justly might’st untimely call. + But if calamities were imminent, + And Death the fatal mischief did prevent, + To give to things the character that’s due, + Death was the most obliging of the two. + +It therefore being uncertain whether it was for his advantage that he +departed this life and was freed from all the miseries that attend it, +we had thereby lost all that we fancied we could enjoy in him whilst +he was living. And Amphiaraus in the poet doth not do amiss when he +consoles the mother of Archemorus, who was even sick with grief for the +untimely death of her infant son. He speaks:— + + There is no man whom sorrow doth not seize; + Our children die while others we beget. + At last we die ourselves, and mortals grieve + As they give dust to dust; but human life + Must needs be reaped like a full crop of corn. + One man must live, another die: why weep + For this, which by necessity must be? + There is no hardship in necessity.[159] + +17. In general, every one should meditate seriously with himself, +and have the concurrence of other men’s opinions with his own, that +it is not the longest life which is the best, but that which is the +most virtuous. For that musician is not to be commended who plays +upon variety of instruments, nor that orator that makes multiplicity +of speeches, nor the pilot that conducts many ships, but he of each +faculty that doth one of them well; for the beauty of a thing doth not +consist in length of time, but in the virtue and seasonable moderation +wherewith it is transacted. This is that which is called happy and +grateful to the Gods. And for this reason it is that poets celebrate +those who have died before they have become old, and propose them for +examples, as the most excellent men and of divine extraction, as him +for instance, + + Beloved by Jove and him who gilds the skies, + Yet short his date of life.[160] + +And we see in every thing that preference is not given so much to age +as to maturity. For amongst trees and plants, those are accounted +the most generous which bring forth abundance of fruit, and that +early ripe. And amongst living creatures too, those are the most +valued which supply us with the accommodations of life in a short +time, besides, if we compare the space of our life with eternity, we +shall find no difference betwixt long and short; for according to +Simonides, thousands and millions of years are but as a point to what +is infinite, or rather the smallest part of that point. They report +that about Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being +that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a +day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of +their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die. Dost thou not +think that if these had the soul and reason of a man, they would be so +affected, and that things would happen to them after the same manner as +to us?—that those who died before the meridian would be lamented with +tears and groans?—and that we should call them happy who lived their +day out? For the measure of a man’s life is the well spending of it, +and not the length. + +18. But such exclamations as this, “the young man ought not to be taken +off so abruptly in the vigor of his years,” are very frivolous, and +proceed from a great weakness of mind; for who is it that can say what +a thing ought to be? But things have been, are, and will be done, +which somebody or other will say ought not to be done. But we do not +come into this life to be dogmatical and prescribe to it; but we must +obey the dictates of the Gods who govern the world, and submit to the +establishments of Fate and Providence. + +19. But when they mourn over those who die so untimely, do they do it +upon their own account, or upon that of the deceased? If upon their +own, because they have lost that pleasure they thought they should +have enjoyed in them, or are deprived of that profit they expected or +that relief they flattered themselves they should receive from them +in their old age, then self-love and personal interest prescribe the +measures of their sorrow; so that upon the result they do not love +the dead so much as themselves and their own interest. But if they +lament upon the account of the deceased, that is a grief easily to be +shaken off, if they only consider that by their very death they will +be out of the sphere of any evil that can reach them, and believe +the wise and ancient saying, that we should always augment what is +good, and extenuate the evil. Therefore if grief is a good thing, +let us enlarge and make it as great as we can; but if it is numbered +amongst the evils, as in truth it ought to be, let us endeavor all we +can to suppress it, make it as inconsiderable as we can, and at last +utterly efface it. How easy this is to be done, I will make appear +by an illustrious example of consolation. They say that an ancient +philosopher came to the Queen Arsinoe, who was then sorrowful for the +death of her son, and discoursed her after this manner: “At the time +that Jupiter distributed honors amongst his under-deities, it happened +that Grief was absent; but he came at last when all the dignities were +disposed of, and then desired that he might have some share in the +promotions. Jupiter, having no better vacancies left, bestowed upon +him sorrow and funeral tears.” He made this inference from the story: +“Therefore,” saith he, “as other daemons love and frequent those who +give them hospitable reception, so sadness will never come near you, +if you do not give it encouragement; but if you caress it with those +particular honors which it challengeth as its due, which are sighs +and tears, it will have an unlucky affection for you, and will always +supply you with fresh occasion that the observance may be continued.” +By this plausible speech he seems in a wonderful manner to have buoyed +this great woman out of her tears, and to have made her cast off her +veil. + +20. In short, I would ask the mourner whether he designs to put an end +to his grief, or to allow the anguish to have the same duration with +his life. If this thou hast resolved, I must say thou hast cut out +for thyself the most bitter infelicity in the world, and all through +the stupidity and softness of thy mind; but if thou wilt ever make a +change, why dost thou not make it now, and so free thyself from misery? +Apply now the same reasons thou must use a great while hence, to +unburden thy mind and ease thy afflictions; and as in bodily distempers +the quickest remedy is the best, so bestow the advantage thou must +otherwise allow to time upon reason and instruction, and so cease to be +unhappy. + +21. But it is objected, the calamity was sudden, and I did not expect +it. But thou oughtest to have done it, and considered the vanity and +uncertainty of human affairs, that thy enemies might not have come +suddenly upon thee and taken thee unawares. Theseus in Euripides seems +to be excellently well prepared for events of this nature, for he saith +thus— + + This wholesome precept from the wise I learn, + To think of misery without concern. + My meditating thoughts are always spent + Either on death or else on banishment. + Foresight of evils doth employ my mind, + That me without defence they may not find; + And though in ambuscade the mischief lies, + Kill me it may, but shall not me surprise.[161] + +But those who are of a degenerate and thoughtless spirit never apply +their mind to any thing that is either useful or becoming; but they +grow exorbitant in their sorrows, and afflict the innocent body, making +it sick for company, as Achaeus expresseth it. + +22. Therefore Plato[162] doth rightly instruct us to acquiesce in +cases of this nature, when it is not manifest whether they be good or +evil, and when we get nothing by being uneasy under them; for grief is +the greatest obstacle to deliberation as to what is best to be done. +Therefore he commands us, as in the casting of dice, to accommodate +ourselves to what befalls us, in the way which reason shows us to +be best; and when any thing ails us, not to imitate the folly of +children, who presently cry out and clap their hands to the place +affected, but to accustom our minds to seek at once for remedies which +may restore the part that is diseased to its first tone of health, +making lamentation give place to the healing art. He that instituted +laws for the Lycians commanded the citizens that when they mourned +they should put on women’s apparel, intimating thereby that sorrow was +an effeminate thing, and therefore was not fit for men of temper and +liberal education. For it is indeed a weak and unmanly passion, and +women are more subject to it than men, the barbarians more than the +Greeks, and the dregs of mankind more than the refined part of them; +and even amongst the barbarians, the brave-spirited Celts and Gauls +have not a propensity to it, or any that have generous sentiments; but +the Egyptians, the Syrians, and the Lydians, and those who resemble +them in the softness of their disposition. They report that some of +these will hide themselves in retirements under ground, and refuse +to behold that sun of which their lamented friend is deprived. Ion, +the tragedian, who heard something of this extravagance, introduceth a +person speaking after this manner:— + + Your blooming children’s nurse, I have come forth + A suppliant from the caves where I have mourned. + +Some of these barbarians have deformed their bodies by cutting +off their noses, ears, and other parts of themselves, thinking to +gratify the dead by these mutilations, when in doing so they deviated +excessively from that moderation which Nature prescribes us. + +23. And, by Jove, we meet with some persons who affirm that the death +of every one is not to be lamented, but only of those who die untimely; +for they have not tasted of those things which we call enjoyments in +the world, as a nuptial bed, proficiency in learning, the coming up +to an height in any thing, the honor of magistracy and charges in the +government. It is for the sake of these things that we condole with +those who lose friends by untimely death, because they were frustrated +of their hopes; but in the meanwhile we are ignorant that a sudden +death doth not at all differ from any other, considering the condition +of human nature. For as when a journey is enjoined into a remote +country, and there is a necessity for every one to undertake it, and +none hath liberty to refuse, though some go before and others follow, +yet all must arrive at the same stage at last; so when we all lie under +an obligation of discharging the same debt, it is not material whether +we pay sooner or later. But if any one’s death may be called untimely, +and consequently an evil, that appellation suits only with that of +children and infants, and especially of those who are newly born. But +this we bear steadfastly and with patience; but when those that are +grown up die, we take on heavily, because we fondly hoped that when +their years were full blown they would then have an uninterrupted +state of health. Now if the age of man were limited to the space of +twenty years, we should not think that he who had arrived to fifteen +died an untimely death, but that he had filled up a just measure of +living; but one that had attained twenty, or at least had approached +very near it, we should applaud for his good fortune, as if he had +enjoyed the most happy and perfect life in the world. So if life were +prolonged to two hundred years as its fixed period, and any one died at +a hundred, we should howl over him as if he had been hastily cut off. + +24. It is manifest then, by what hath been said now and what hath +been mentioned before, that the death we call untimely is capable of +consolation; and the saying is true, that “Troilus wept less than +Priam,”[163] perishing as he did in his youth, while his father’s +kingdom flourished and his riches abounded, which Priam afterwards +laments as most deplorably lost. For observe what he saith to his son +Hector, when he entreats him to decline the battle he was going to +fight against Achilles:— + + Yet shun Achilles! enter yet the wall; + And spare thyself, thy father, spare us all! + Save thy dear life; or, if a soul so brave + Neglect that thought, thy dearer glory save. + Pity, while yet I live, these silver hairs; + While yet thy father feels the woes he bears, + Yet curst with sense! a wretch whom in his rage + All trembling on the verge of helpless age + Great Jove has placed, sad spectacle of pain! + The bitter dregs of Fortune’s cup to drain: + To fill with scenes of death his closing eyes + And number all his days by miseries! + My heroes slain, my bridal bed o’erturn’d, + My daughters ravish’d, and my city burn’d, + My bleeding infants dash’d against the floor; + These I have yet to see, perhaps yet more! + Perhaps even I, reserv’d by angry Fate, + The last sad relic of my ruin’d state, + (Dire pomp of sovereign wretchedness!) must fall, + And stain the pavement of my regal hall; + Where famish’d dogs, late guardians of my door, + Shall lick their mangled master’s spatter’d gore. + But when the Fates, in fulness of their rage, + Spurn the hoar head of unresisting age, + In dust the reverend lineaments deform, + And pour to dogs the life-blood scarcely warm: + This, this is misery! the last, the worst, + That man can feel,—man, fated to be cursed! + He said, and acting what no words can say, + Rent from his head the silver locks away. + With him the mournful mother bears a part; + Yet all her sorrows turn not Hector’s heart.[164] + +Having then so many examples of this kind before thine eyes, thou +oughtest to make thyself sensible that not a few have been saved by +death from those calamities they would certainly have fallen into had +they lived longer. Contenting myself with those I have related already, +I will omit the rest, that I may not seem tedious; and these are +sufficient to show that we ought not to abandon ourselves to violent +sorrow, beyond temper and the bounds of nature. + +25. Crantor saith, To be innocent is the greatest comfort in +afflictions. I assent to him, and affirm that it is the noblest +remedy. Besides, the indication of our love to the deceased consists +not in grieving ourselves for him, but in paying respect to his fame +by honorable remembrance. For no good man deserves elegies, but +panegyrics; and we should rather celebrate his loss by an honorable +remembrance, than lament it; and offer up rather first-fruits of joy +to the Gods, and not tears which sorrow extorts from us. For he who +ceaseth to be amongst men becomes partaker of a divine life, is free +from the servitude of the body, and all those solicitous cares which +they who are embarrassed with a mortal life of necessity must undergo +till they have finished the course which Providence hath marked out for +them; and this life Nature hath not given us as a perpetual possession, +but hath clogged it with restrictions and conditions of fate. + +26. Those therefore who are the masters of their reason ought not to be +transported by the death of friends beyond the limits of nature and a +just moderation unto unprofitable and barbarous complaints, and so wait +till that comes upon them which hath happened to many, to have their +vital moisture exhausted before their tears, and to be carried to their +own graves in those mourning weeds they put on for others, where their +sorrow must lie buried with those evils they provoked upon themselves +by their own imprudence. To whom that of Homer may be appositely +applied:— + + Whilst others they lament with weeping eyes, + The darkness of the night doth them surprise.[165] + +Wherefore in this case we should often thus reason with ourselves: +Shall we put an end to our sorrow, or shall we grieve all the days of +our life? To make it infinite is the last degree of infatuation; for we +have seen those who have been in the deepest circumstances of dejection +to be so mitigated by time, that they have banqueted upon those tombs +which before they could not endure the sight of without screeching out +and beating their breasts, but which they can now dance round with +music and all the postures of jollity. Therefore to be obstinate in our +grief is the resolution of madness. If then thou hast purposed within +thyself that it shall have an end, join this consideration with it, +that time will assuage it too; for what is once done even the Deity +himself cannot unravel; therefore that which hath happened to us beyond +our hope and contrary to our opinion hath palpably shown us what is +wont from the same causes to befall others. What’s the result then? +Cannot any discipline teach us, nor cannot we reason with ourselves, +that— + + The earth with evils doth abound; + As many in the sea are found?[166] + +And thus likewise:— + + The Fates have so encompassed men with ills, + That even the wind can find no entrance? + +27. For many, as Crantor tells us, and those very wise men, not now +but long ago have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming +life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; +this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive +to Midas. I think it best to quote the expressions of the philosopher +himself, in his book entitled Eudemus, or Of the Soul, wherein he +speaks after this manner:— + +“Wherefore, thou best and happiest of mankind, if we think those +blessed and happy who have departed this life, then it is not only +unlawful but even blasphemy to speak any thing that is false or +contumelious of them, since they are now changed into a better and +more refined nature. And this my opinion is so old, that the original +and author of it is utterly unknown; but it hath been derived down to +us even from eternity, so established is the truth of it. Besides, +thou seest what is so familiar in men’s mouths, and hath been for many +years a trite expression. What is that, saith he? He answered him: It +is best not to be born at all; and next to that, it is more eligible +to die than to live; and this is confirmed even by divine testimony. +Pertinently to this they say that Midas, after hunting, asked his +captive Silenus somewhat urgently, what was the most desirable thing +amongst men. At first he would return no answer, but was obstinately +silent. At last, when Midas would not give over importuning him, he +broke out into these words, though very unwillingly: ‘Thou seed of an +evil genius and precarious offspring of hard fortune, whose life is +but for a day, why dost thou compel me to tell thee those things it is +better thou wert ignorant of? For those live the least disturbed who +know not their misfortunes; but for men, the best for them is not to +be born at all, nor to be made partakers of the most excellent nature; +not to be is best for both sexes. This should have the first place in +our choice; and the next to this is, when we are born, to die as soon +as we can.’ It is plain therefore, that he declared the condition of +the dead to be better than that of the living.” + +I could bring millions of examples to justify this topic, but I will +not be long. + +28. We are not therefore to lament those who die in the bloom of their +years, as if they were spoiled of things which we call enjoyments in a +longer life; for it is uncertain, as we have often said, whether they +are deprived of good or evil, for the evil in the world far exceeds +the good. The good we obtain hardly and with anxious endeavor, but +the evil easily befalls us; for they say evils are linked together, +and by a mutual dependence of causes follow one another, but the good +lie scattered and disjoined, and with great difficulty are brought +within the compass of our life. Therefore we seem to have forgot our +condition; for not only is it true, as Euripides hath it, that + + The things we do possess are not our own;[167] + +but in general no man can claim a strict propriety in any thing he +hath:— + + When Gods do riches lend, it is but just + That when they please we should resign our trust. + +We ought not therefore to take it amiss if they demand those things +which they lent us only for a small time; for even your common brokers, +unless they are unjust, will not be displeased if they are called upon +to refund their pawns, and if one of them is not altogether so ready +to deliver them, thou mayst say to him without any injury, Hast thou +forgot that thou receivedst them upon the condition to restore them? +The same parity of reason holds amongst all men. The Gods have put life +into our hands by a fatal necessity, and there is no prefixed time +when what is so deposited will be required of us, as the brokers know +not when their pawns will be demanded. If therefore any one is angry +when he is dying himself, or resents the death of his children, is it +not very plain, that he hath forgot that he himself is a man and that +he hath begotten children as frail as himself? For a man that is in his +wits cannot be ignorant that he is a mortal creature, and born to this +very end that he must die. If Niobe, as it is in the fable, had had +this sentence always at hand, that she must at length die, and could not + + In the ever-flowering bloom of youth remain, + Nor loaded with children, like a fruitful tree, + Behold the sun’s sweet light,— + +she would never have sunk to such a degree of desperation as to desire +to throw off her life to ease the burthen of her sorrow, and call +upon the Gods to hurry her into the utmost destruction. There are +two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated +to the usages of man’s life, KNOW THYSELF, and NOTHING TOO MUCH; and +upon these all other precepts depend. And they themselves accord and +harmonize with each other, and each seems to illustrate the energy of +the other; for in _Know thyself_ is included _Nothing too much_; and so +again in the latter is comprised _Know thyself_. And Ion hath spoken of +it thus:— + + This sentence, _Know thyself_, is but a word; + But only Jove himself could do the thing. + +And thus Pindar:— + + This sentence brief, Do nothing to excess, + Wise men have always praised exceedingly. + +29. He therefore that hath these impressed upon his mind as the +precepts of the Pythian oracle, can easily conform himself to all the +affairs of life, and bear them handsomely; considering his nature, so +that he is neither lifted up to arrogance upon a prosperous event, +nor when an adverse happens, is dejected into complaint through +pusillanimity and that fear of death which is so congenial to us; +both which proceed from the ignorance of those things which fall out +in human life by necessity and fatal decree. The Pythagoreans speak +handsomely to this purpose:— + + Against those evils thou shouldest not repine, + Which are inflicted by the powers divine. + +Thus the tragedian Aeschylus:— + + He store of wisdom and of virtue hath, + Whom nothing from the Gods provokes to wrath. + +Euripides thus:— + + He that is passive when the Fates command + Is wise, and all the Gods doth understand. + +In another place so:— + + He that can bear those things which men befall, + Him wise and modest we may justly call. + +30. But many there are who blame all things; and whatsoever +unexpectedly happens to them, they think is procured them by the +malignity of Fortune and the spite of some evil genius. Wherefore they +are querulous and cry out upon every occasion, inveighing against +the bitterness of their mishaps. Their complaints we may not unfitly +obviate with this expression,— + + The Gods do hurt thee not, but thou thyself,— + +even thou thyself through perverseness and want of good instruction. +And by reason of this false and deceiving opinion they accuse any kind +of death; for if one die upon his travel, they exclaim after this +manner:— + + The wretch, his father being absent, dies; + Nor did his aged mother close his eyes.[168] + +If he die in his own country, with his parents about him, they lament +that he is ravished out of their hands, and hath left them nothing but +regret for his loss. If he die silent, giving them no instructions at +parting, they complain thus:— + + His tender dying words I did not hear, + Which I in my remembrance still should bear.[169] + +If he spoke any thing before he breathed out his soul, they keep those +last accents as fuel to maintain their sorrow still kindled. If he die +a sudden death, they cry out that he is snatched away; if chronical +pains waste him, they will tell you that the slow distemper hath +emaciated him to death. Thus every appearance, take it which way you +will, is sufficient to stir up your complaints. These things the poets +have introduced, and the chiefest among them, Homer, who sung after +this manner:— + + As a poor father, helpless and undone, + Mourns o’er the ashes of an only son, + Takes a sad pleasure the last bones to burn, + And pours in tears ere yet they close the urn.[170] + +And whether these things are justly lamented doth not yet appear. But +see what he elsewhere sings:— + + Born in his elder years, his only boy, + Who was designed his riches to enjoy.[171] + +31. Who knows but that the Deity, with a fatherly providence and out of +tenderness to mankind, foreseeing what would happen, hath taken some +purposely out of this life by an untimely death? So we should think +that nothing has befallen them which they should have sought to shun,— + + For nought that cometh by necessity is hard,[172] + +neither of those things which fall out by a precedent ratiocination +or a subsequent. And many by a timely death have been withdrawn from +greater calamities; so that it hath been good for some never to have +been born at all; for others, that as soon as life hath been blown in +it should be extinguished; for some, that they should live a little +longer; and for others again, that they should be cropped in the +prime of their youth. These several sorts of deaths should be taken +in good part, since Fate is inevitable. Therefore it becomes men well +educated to consider that those who have paid their debt to mortality +have only gone before us a little time; that the longest life is but +as a point in respect of eternity, and that many who have indulged +their sorrow to excess have themselves followed in a small while +those that they have lamented, having reaped no profit out of their +complaints, but macerated themselves with voluntary afflictions. Since +then the time of our pilgrimage in this life is but short, we ought +not to consume ourselves with sordid grief, and so render ourselves +unhappy by afflicting our minds and tormenting our bodies; but we +should endeavor after a more manly and rational sort of life, and not +associate ourselves with those who will be companions in grief and by +flattering our tears will only excite them the more, but rather with +those who will diminish our grief by solemn and generous consolation. +And we ought to hear and keep in our remembrance those words of Homer +wherewith Hector answers Andromache, comforting her after this manner:— + + Andromache, my soul’s far better part, + Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart? + No hostile hand can antedate my doom, + Till Fate condemns me to the silent tomb. + Fix’d is the term to all the race of earth, + And such the hard condition of our birth: + No force can then resist, no flight can save, + All sink alike, the fearful and the brave.[173] + +Which the poet expresseth in another place thus. + + The thread which at his birth for him was spun.[174] + +32. Having these things fixed in our minds, all vain and fruitless +sorrow will be superseded; the time that we have all to live being but +very short, we ought to spare and husband it, and not lay it out too +prodigally upon sorrow, but rather spend it in tranquillity, deserting +the mournful colors, and so take care of our own bodies, and consult +the safety of those who live with us. It is requisite that we should +call to mind what reasons we urged to our kinsmen and friends when +they were in the like calamities, when we exhorted them to suffer +these usual accidents of life with a common patience, and bear mortal +things with humanity; lest being prepared with instructions for other +men’s misfortunes, we reap no benefit ourselves out of the remembrance +of those consolations, and so do not cure our minds by the sovereign +application of reason. For in any thing a delay is less dangerous than +in sorrow; and when by every one it is so tritely said, that he that +procrastinates in an affair contests with destruction, I think the +character will more fitly sit upon him who defers the removing his +troubles and the perturbations of his mind. + +33. We ought also to cast our eyes upon those conspicuous examples +who have borne the deaths of their sons generously and with a great +spirit; such as were Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, Demosthenes of Athens, +Dion of Syracuse, King Antigonus, and many others who have lived +either in our times or in the memory of our fathers. They report of +Anaxagoras that, when he was reading natural philosophy to his pupils +and reasoning with them, sudden news was brought him of the death of +his son. He presently stopped short in his lecture, and said this to +his auditors, I knew that I begot my son mortal. And of Pericles, who +was surnamed Olympius for his wisdom and the strength of his eloquence, +when he heard that both his sons were dead, Paralus and Xanthippus, +how he behaved himself upon this accident Protagoras tells us in these +words. “When his sons,” saith he, “being in the first verdure of their +youth and handsome lads, died within eight days, he bore the calamity +without any repining; for he was of a pacific temper, from whence +there was every day an accession of advantages towards the making +him happy, the being free from grief, and thereby acquiring a great +reputation amongst his fellow-citizens. For every one that saw him bear +this calamity with so brave a resolution thought him magnanimous, and +indeed entertained an higher opinion of him than he strictly deserved; +for he was conscious to himself of some weakness and defects in cases +of this nature.” Now after he had received the news of the death of +his sons, he put on a garland according to the custom of his country, +and being clothed in white, he made an harangue to the people, was the +author of safe and rational counsels, and stirred up the courage of +his Athenians to warlike expeditions. Chronicles tell us, that when +an express came out of the field to Xenophon the Socratic as he was +sacrificing, which acquainted him that his son perished in the fight, +he pulled the garland from his head, and enquired after what manner +he fell; and it being told him that he died gallantly, making a great +slaughter of his enemies, after he had paused awhile to recollect +his thoughts and quiet his first emotion of concern with reason, he +adorned his head again, finished the sacrifice, and spoke thus to the +messengers: I did not make it my request to the Gods, that my son +might be immortal or long-lived, for it is not manifest whether this +was convenient for him or not, but that he might have integrity in his +principles and be a lover of his country; and now I have my desire. +Dion of Syracuse, as he was consulting with his friends concerning some +affairs, heard a great noise; and crying out and asking what was the +matter, he was told the accident, that his son was killed with a fall +from the top of the house. He was not at all surprised or astonished +at the disaster, but commanded the dead body to be delivered to the +women, that they might bury it according to custom. But he went on with +his first deliberations, and re-assumed his discourse in that part +where this accident had broken it off. It is said that Demosthenes the +orator imitated him upon the loss of his only and dearest daughter; +about which Aeschines, thinking to upbraid him, spoke after this +manner: Within seven days after the death of his daughter, before he +had performed the decencies of sorrow, and paid those common rites to +the memory of the deceased, he put on a garland, clothed himself in +white, and sacrificed, thereby outraging decency, though he had lost +his only daughter, the one which had first called him father.[175] +Thus did Aeschines with the strokes of his oratory accuse Demosthenes, +not knowing that he rather deserved a panegyric upon this occasion, +when he rejected his sorrow and preferred the love of his country to +the tenderness and compassion he ought to have for his relations. King +Antigonus, when he heard the death of his son Alcyoneus who was slain +in battle, looking steadily upon the messengers of these sad tidings, +after a little interval of silence and with a modest countenance, +spoke thus: O Alcyoneus, thou hast fallen later than I thought thou +wouldst, so brisk wast thou to run upon the thickest of thy enemies, +having no regard either to thy own safety or to my admonitions. Every +one praiseth these men for the bravery of their spirit, but none can +imitate what they have done, through the weakness of their minds which +proceeds from want of good instruction. But although there are many +examples extant, both in the Greek and Roman stories, of those who have +borne the death of their relations not only with decency but courage, +I think these that I have related to be a sufficient motive to thee to +keep tormenting grief at a distance, and so ease thyself of that labor +which hath no profit in it and is all in vain. + +34. For that virtuous men die in the prime of their years by the +kindness of the Gods, to whom they are peculiarly dear, I have already +told thee in the former part of my discourse, and will give a short +hint of it now, bearing witness to that which is so prettily said by +Menander:— + + He whom the Gods do love dies young. + +But perhaps, my dear Apollonius, thou wilt thus object to me: My young +Apollonius was blessed by fortune in his life, and I ought first to +have died that he might bury me; for this is according to nature. +According to our human nature, I confess; but Providence hath other +measures, and that supreme order which governs the world is very +different; for thy son being now made happy, it was not requisite +according to nature that he should tarry in this life longer than +the time prefixed him, but that, having consummated the term of his +duration, he should perform his fatal journey, Nature recalling him to +herself. But he died untimely, you may say. Upon that account he is the +happier, not having been sensible of those evils which are incident to +life. For Euripides said truly:— + + The time of being here we style amiss; + We call it life, but truly labor ’tis. + +Thy Apollonius died in the beautiful flower of his years, a youth in +all points perfect, who gained the love, and provoked the emulation +of all his contemporaries. He was dutiful to his father and mother, +obliging to his domestics, was a scholar, and (to comprehend all in +a word) he was a lover of mankind. He had a veneration for the old +men that were his friends, as if they had been his parents, had an +affection for his companions and equals, reverenced his instructors, +was hospitable and mild to his guests and strangers, gracious to all, +and beloved by all, as well for his attractive countenance as for his +lovely affability. Therefore, being accompanied with the applauses of +thy piety and his own, he hath only made a digression from this mortal +life to eternity, as if he had withdrawn from the entertainment before +he grew absurd, and before the staggerings of drunkenness came upon +him, which are incident to a long old age. Now if the sayings of the +old philosophers and poets are true, as there is probability to think, +that honors and high seats of dignity are conferred upon the righteous +after they are departed this life, and if, as it is said, a particular +region is appointed for their souls to dwell in, you ought to cherish +very fair hopes that your son stands numbered amongst those blest +inhabitants. + +35. Of the state of the pious after death, Pindar discourseth after +this manner:— + + There the sun shines with an unsullied light, + When all the world below is thick with night. + There all the richly scented plants do grow, + And there the crimson-colored roses blow; + Each flower blooming on its tender stalk, + And all these meadows are their evening walk. + There trees peculiarly delight the sense, + With their exhaled perfumes of frankincense. + The boughs their noble burdens cannot hold, + The weight must sink them when the fruit is gold. + Some do the horse unto the manege bring, + Others unto the tuneful lute do sing; + There’s plenty to excess of every thing. + The region always doth serene appear, + The sun and pious flames do make it clear, + Where fragrant gums do from the altars rise, + When to the Gods they offer sacrifice. + +And proceeding farther, in another lamentation he spake thus concerning +the soul:— + + Just we that distribution may call, + Which to each man impartially doth fall. + It doth decide the dull contentious strife, + And easeth the calamities of life. + Death doth its efforts on the body spend; + But the aspiring soul doth upwards tend. + Nothing can damp that bright and subtile flame, + Immortal as the Gods from whence it came. + But this sometimes a drowsy nap will take, + When all the other members are awake. + Fancy in various dreams doth to it show, + What punishments unto each crime is due; + What pleasures are reserved for pious deeds, + And with what scourges the incestuous bleeds. + +36. Divine Plato hath spoken many things of the immortality of the soul +in that book which he calls his Phaedo; not a few in his Republic, +his Menon, and his Gorgias; and hath some scattered expressions in +the rest of his dialogues. The things which are written by him in his +Dialogue concerning the Soul I will send you by themselves, illustrated +with my commentaries upon them, according to your request. I will now +only quote those which are opportune and to the present purpose, and +they are the words of Socrates to Callicles the Athenian, who was the +companion and scholar of Gorgias the rhetorician. For so saith Socrates +in Plato:— + +“Hear then,” saith he, “a most elegant story, which you, I fancy, will +think to be a fable, but I take it to be a truth, for the things which +I shall tell you have nothing but reality in them. Jupiter, Neptune, +and Pluto, as Homer tells us, divided amongst themselves the kingdom +which they received by inheritance from their father; but there was a +law established concerning men in the reign of Saturn, which was then +valid and still remains in force amongst the Gods, that that mortal +which had led a just and pious life should go, when he died, into the +fortunate islands of the blest, and there dwell in happiness, free from +all misery; but he that had lived impiously and in contempt of the Gods +should be shackled with vengeance, and be thrust into that prison which +they call Tartarus. In the time of Saturn, and in the first beginning +of Jove’s empire, the living judged the living, and that the same day +that they were to die; whereupon the decisions of the bench were not +rightly managed. Therefore Pluto and his curators under him came out of +these fortunate islands, and complained to Jupiter that men were sent +to both places who were not worthy. I, saith Jupiter, will take care +that this thing be not practised for the future; for the reason that +the sentences are now unjustly passed is that the guilty come clothed +to the tribunal, and whilst they are yet alive. For some of profligate +dispositions are yet palliated with a beautiful outside, with riches, +and titles of nobility; and so when they come to be arraigned, many +will offer themselves as witnesses to swear that they have lived very +pious lives. The judges are dazzled with these appearances, and they +sit upon them too in their robes; so that their minds are (as it +were) covered and obscured with eyes and ears, and indeed with the +encumbrance of the whole body. The judges and the prisoners being +clothed is thus a very great impediment. Therefore in the first place +the foreknowledge of death is to be taken away; for now they see the +end of their line, and Prometheus has been commanded to see that this +be no longer allowed. Next they ought to be divested of all dress +and ornament, and come dead to the tribunal. The judge himself is to +be naked and dead too, that with his own soul he may view the naked +soul of each one so soon as he is dead, when he is now forsaken of +his relations, and has left behind him all his gayeties in the other +world; and so justice will be impartially pronounced. Deliberating on +this with myself before I received your advice, I have constituted my +sons judges, Minos and Rhadamanthus from Asia, and Aeacus from Europe; +these therefore, after they have departed this life, shall assume their +character, and exercise it in the field, and in the road where two +ways divide themselves, the one leading to the fortunate islands, and +the other to the deep abyss; so Rhadamanthus shall judge the Asians, +and Aeacus the Europeans. But to Minos I will grant the authority of a +final appeal, that if any thing hath escaped the notice of the others, +it shall be subjected to his cognizance, as to the last resort of a +supreme judge; that so it may be rightly decided what journey every one +ought to take. These are the things, Callicles, which I have heard and +think to be true; and I draw this rational inference from them, that +death in my opinion is nothing else but the separation of two things +nearly united, which are soul and body.”[176] + +37. These collections, my dear Apollonius, I have joined together with +all the accuracy I could, and out of them composed this consolatory +letter I now send thee, which is very necessary to dispel thy +melancholy humor and put a period to thy sighs. I have paid likewise +that deference which became me to the ashes of thy son, who is the +darling of the Gods, such an honor being most acceptable to those whom +fame hath consecrated to immortality. Thou wilt therefore do handsomely +to believe the reasons I have urged to thee, and gratify thy deceased +son, by shaking off this unprofitable sorrow, which eats into thy mind +and afflicts thy body, and again returning to that course of humor +which nature hath chalked out and the former customs of thy life have +made familiar to thee. For as, when thy son lived amongst us, he could +not without the deepest regret see thee or his mother sad, so now that +he is amongst the Gods enjoying the intimacy of their conversation, +such a prospect from thence must be much more displeasing. Therefore +take up the resolutions of a good and generous man and of one who loved +his son, and so extricate thyself, the mother of the lad, thy kinsmen +and friends at once from this great infelicity. Betake thyself to a +more tranquil sort of life; which, as it will be acceptable to thy son, +will also be extremely pleasing to all of us who have that concern for +thee that we ought to have. + + + + +CONCERNING THE VIRTUES OF WOMEN. + + +Concerning the virtues of women, O Clea, I am not of the same mind with +Thucydides. For he would prove that she is the best woman concerning +whom there is the least discourse made by people abroad, either to her +praise or dispraise; judging that, as the person, so the very name of +a good woman ought to be retired and not gad abroad. But to us Gorgias +seems more accurate, who requires that not only the face but the fame +of a woman should be known to many. For the Roman law seems exceeding +good, which permits due praises to be given publicly both to men and +women after death. Wherefore when Leontis, a most excellent woman, +departed this life, immediately we made a long oration to thee about +her, and truly not devoid of philosophical consolation; and now (as +thou didst desire) I send thee in writing the rest of my speech and +conversation, carrying with it an historical demonstration that the +virtue of a man and woman is one and the same. And although it be +not composed for the tickling of the ear, yet if there be jucundity +in the nature of an example to him that is persuaded of the truth +of it, my narration fails not of that grace which works conviction; +neither is it ashamed of commixing the Graces with the Muses in the +sweetest harmony (as Euripides saith), while it engageth confidence +especially through that part of the soul which is studious of grace +and beauty. For surely, if, whilst we asserted the art of painting to +be the same, whether performed by men or women, we produced the same +sort of draughts wrought by women which Apelles, Zeuxis, or Nicomachus +hath left, is there any one who would reprehend us as attempting +rather to humor and cajole men than to convince them? Verily I do not +think it. Moreover, if, whilst we go to make appear that the poetic +or comic art is not one thing in men and another in women, we compare +Sappho’s verses with Anacreon’s, or the Sibylline oracles with those of +Bacis, can any one justly blame this way of argumentation, because it +insinuates a credence into the pleased and delighted hearers? No one +surely would say this. Neither can a man truly any way better learn the +resemblance and the difference between feminine and virile virtue than +by comparing together lives with lives, exploits with exploits, as the +products of some great art; duly considering whether the magnanimity +of Semiramis carries with it the same character and impression with +that of Sesostris, or the cunning of Tanaquil the same with that of +King Servius, or the discretion of Porcia the same with that of Brutus, +or that of Pelopidas with Timoclea,—regarding that quality of these +virtues wherein lie their chiefest point and force. Moreover, virtues +do admit some other differences, like peculiar colors, by reason of +men’s dispositions, and are assimilated to the manners and temperaments +of the bodies wherein they are, yea, to the education and manner of +diet. Achilles was courageous in one manner, Ajax in another; the +subtlety of Ulysses was not like that of Nestor, neither were Cato and +Agesilaus just after the same manner; neither was Eirene a lover of her +husband as Alcestis was; neither was Cornelia magnanimous in the same +way with Olympias. But, for all this, we do not say that there are many +kinds of fortitude, prudence, and justice specifically distinct, so +long as their individual dissimilitudes exclude none of them from the +specific definitions. + +Those things now which are very commonly discoursed of, and of which I +know thou hast had the exact history and knowledge from solid books, I +will at present omit, unless there be some public and recorded matters +worth your hearing, which have escaped the historians of former times. + +And seeing that many worthy things, both public and private, have been +done by women, it is not amiss to give a brief historical account of +those that are public, in the first place. + + +EXAMPLE 1. _Of the Trojan Women._ + +Of those that escaped at the taking of Troy the most part were +exercised with much tempestuous weather, and being inexperienced in +navigation and unacquainted with the sea, they were wafted over into +Italy; and about the river Tiber they made a very narrow escape by +putting into such ports and havens as they could meet with. Whilst +the men went about the country to enquire after pilots, there fell +out a discourse among the women, that for a people as fortunate and +happy as they had been, any fixed habitation on the land was better +than perpetual wandering over the sea; and that they must make a new +country for themselves, seeing it was impossible to recover that which +they had lost. Upon this, complotting together, they set fire on the +ships, Roma (as they say) being one of the first in the attempt. But +having done these things, they went to meet their husbands, who were +running towards the sea to the relief of the ships; and fearing their +indignation, they laid hold some of them on their husbands, and some on +their kinsfolk, and fell a kissing them soundly; by which carriage they +obtained their charitable reception. Wherefore it hath been formerly, +and now remains to be a custom among the Romans, for the women to +salute their kinsfolk that come unto them by kissing. + +The Trojans as it seems, being sensible of the strait they were in, and +having also made some experience of the natives entertaining them with +much bounty and humanity, applauded the exploit of the women, and sat +down by the Latins. + + +EXAMPLE 2. _Of the Phocian Women._ + +The action of the women of Phocis hath not fallen under the cognizance +of any noted writer of that age, and yet there was never a more +memorable deed of virtue wrought by women,—the which is attested by +those famous sacred rites performed by the Phocians at Hyampolis, +and by ancient decrees. The total history of the transaction is +particularly recorded in the Life of Daiphantus. + +The story of those women is this. There was an implacable war between +the Thessalians and the Phocians. For these (the Phocians) slew all +the Thessalian governors and magistrates in the cities of Phocis in +one day. Whereupon they (the Thessalians) slew two hundred and fifty +Phocian hostages, and with their whole host marched up against them +through Locris, publishing their resolution to spare no men that were +of age, and to sell the women and children for slaves. Daiphantus +therefore, the son of Bathyllius, a triumvir, governor of Phocis, +persuaded the Phocian men themselves to go to meet the Thessalians in +battle; but as for the women, together with their children, that they +should assemble them from all the parts of Phocis into one place, which +they should pile round with combustible matter, and should leave a +watch, to whom they should give in charge, that if he perceived that +the men were conquered, he should immediately set fire to the pile and +burn all the bodies to ashes. The counsels were agreed to by some, but +one stands up and saith: It is just that these things be consented to +by the women also, and if they do not cheerfully submit to it, they +should have no force offered to them. The account of this discourse +being come to the women, they assembled together by themselves, and +carried it by vote, and applauded Daiphantus as a man that best +consulted the affairs of Phocis; they say also, that the children +meeting together privately voted the same things. These matters being +thus settled, the Phocians joining battle at Cleonae, a town of +Hyampolis, got the victory. Hence the Grecians call this vote of the +Phocian women Aponoia (the desperate resolve). And of all the festivals +this of the Elaphebolia is the greatest, which they observe to Diana in +Hyampolis to this day, in remembrance of this victory. + + +EXAMPLE 3. _Of the Women of Chios._ + +The people of Chios possessed themselves of Leuconia upon this +occasion following. A certain famous man of the nobles of Chios was +married; whilst the bride was drawn in her chariot, King Hippoclus, +an intimate friend of the bridegroom’s, being present with the rest, +and also fuddled and merry, leaped into the chariot, not designing any +incivility, but only to keep up the usual custom and to make sport. +However, the bridegroom’s friends slew him. The effects of divine +displeasure appearing against the people of Chios, and the oracle +commanding them to slay the slayers of Hippoclus, they replied, We have +all of us slain Hippoclus. The oracle commanded them all therefore +to depart the city, if all did partake of the guilt. So that at +length the principals, accessories, and abettors of the murder by any +means whatsoever, being not a few in number nor feeble for strength, +transplanted themselves into Leuconia, which the Chians had once +taken from the Coroneans by the aid of the Erythraeans. Afterward a +war arising between them and the Erythraeans, by far the most potent +people among the Ionians, when the latter invaded Leuconia, the men of +Chios were not able to defend themselves, and came to an agreement to +depart upon these terms, that every one should take with him only one +cloak and one coat, and nothing else. But the women of Chios upbraided +them as mean-spirited men, that they would lay down their weapons and +go naked men through their enemies. And when they made answer that +they were sworn so to do, they charged them not to leave their weapons +behind them, but to say to their adversaries, that the spear is a cloak +and the buckler a coat to every man of courage. The men of Chios being +persuaded to these things, and emboldening themselves courageously +against the Erythraeans, and showing their weapons, the Erythraeans +were amazed at their audacity, and none opposed or hindered them, but +were glad of their departure. These men therefore, being taught courage +by the women in this manner, made a safe escape. + +Many years after this there was another exploit, nothing inferior +to this in fortitude, performed by the women of Chios. When Philip, +the son of Demetrius, besieged the city, he set forth a barbarous +and insolent proclamation, inviting the servants to a defection upon +promise of liberty and marriage of their mistresses, saying that he +would give them their masters’ wives into their possession. At this the +women were dreadfully and outrageously incensed; and also the servants +were no less provoked to indignation, and were ready to assist. +Therefore they rushed forth furiously and ascended the wall, bringing +stones and darts, encouraging and animating the soldiers; so that in +the end these women discomfited and repulsed the enemy, and caused +Philip to raise his siege, while not so much as one servant fell off to +him. + + +EXAMPLE 4. _Of the Argive Women._ + +Of all the renowned actions performed by women, none was more famous +than the fight with Cleomenes in the country of Argos, whom Telesilla +the poetess by her influence defeated. This woman they say was of an +honorable family, but had a sickly body; she therefore sent to consult +the oracle concerning her health. Answer was made, that she must be a +servant to the Muses. Accordingly she becomes obedient to the Goddess, +applying herself to poetry and music; her distempers left her, and she +became the mirror of women in the art of poetry. Now when Cleomenes, +king of the Spartans, having slain many Argives (but not so many as +some fabulously reported, to wit, 7,777), marched up against the city, +the youthful women were (as it were) divinely inspired with desperate +resolution and courage to repulse the enemies out of their native +country. + +They take arms under the conduct of Telesilla, they place themselves +upon the battlements, they crown the walls, even to the admiration of +the enemy; they by a sally beat off Cleomenes, with the slaughter of +many of his men; and as for the other king, Demaratus (as Socrates +saith), he having entered the city and possessed him of the so-called +Pamphyliacum, they beat him out. In this manner the city being +preserved, those women that were slain in the engagement they buried by +the Argive road; to them that escaped they gave the honor of erecting +the statue of Mars, in perpetual memorial of their bravery. Some say +this fight was on the seventh day of the month; others say it was on +the first day of the month, which is now called the fourth and was +anciently called Hermaeus by the Argives; upon which day, even to +this time, they perform their Hybristica (i.e., their sacred rites of +incivility), clothing the women with men’s coats and cloaks, but the +men with women’s veils and petticoats. To repair the scarcity of men, +they admitted not slaves, as Herodotus saith, but the best sort of the +adjacent inhabitants to be citizens, and married them to the widows; +and these the women thought meet to reproach and undervalue at bed and +board, as worse than themselves; whence there was a law made, that +married women should wear beards when they lay with their husbands. + + +EXAMPLE 5. _Of the Persian Women._ + +Cyrus, causing the Persians to revolt from King Astyages and the +Medes, was overcome in battle; and the Persians retreating by flight +into the city, the enemy pursued so close that they had almost fallen +into the city with them. The women ran out to meet them before the +city, plucking up their petticoats to their middle, saying, Ye vilest +varlets among men, whither so fast? Ye surely cannot find a refuge in +these parts, from whence ye came forth. The Persians blushing for shame +at the sight and speech, and rebuking themselves, faced about, and +renewing the fight routed their enemies. Hence a law was enacted, that +when the king enters the city, every woman should receive a piece of +gold; and this law Cyrus made. And they say that Ochus, being in other +kinds a naughty and covetous king, would always, when he came, compass +the city and not enter it, and so deprive the women of their largess; +but Alexander entered twice, and gave all the women with child a double +benevolence. + + +EXAMPLE 6. _Of the Celtic Women._ + +There arose a very grievous and irreconcilable contention among the +Celts, before they passed over the Alps to inhabit that tract of Italy +which now they inhabit, which proceeded to a civil war. The women +placing themselves between the armies, took up the controversies, +argued them so accurately, and determined them so impartially, that an +admirable friendly correspondence and general amity ensued, both civil +and domestic. Hence the Celts made it their practice to take women into +consultation about peace or war, and to use them as mediators in any +controversies that arose between them and their allies. In the league +therefore made with Hannibal, the writing runs thus: If the Celts take +occasion of quarrelling with the Carthaginians, the governors and +generals of the Carthaginians in Spain shall decide the controversy; +but if the Carthaginians accuse the Celts, the Celtic women shall be +judges. + + +EXAMPLE 7. _Of the Melian Women._ + +The Melians standing in need of a larger country constituted +Nymphaeus, a handsome man and marvellously comely, the commander for +the transplanting of the colony. The oracle enjoined them to continue +sailing till they cast away their ships, and there to pitch their +colony. It happened that, when they arrived at Caria and went ashore, +their ships were broken to pieces by a storm. Some of the Carians which +dwelt at Cryassus, whether commiserating their distressed condition or +dreading their resolution, invited them to dwell in their neighborhood, +and bestowed upon them a part of their country; but then observing +their marvellous increase in a little time, they conspired to cut them +off by treachery, and provided a feast and great entertainment for that +end and purpose. But it came to pass that a certain virgin in Caria, +whose name was Caphene, fell in love with Nymphaeus. While these things +were in agitation, she could not endure to connive at the destruction +of her beloved Nymphaeus, and therefore acquainted him privately with +the conspiracy of the citizens against him. When the Cryassians came +to invite them, Nymphaeus made this answer: It is not the custom of +the Greeks to go to a feast without their wives. The Carians hearing +this requested them also to bring their wives; and so explaining the +whole transaction to the Melians, he charged the men to go without +armor in plain apparel, but that every one of the women should carry +a dagger stuck in her bosom, and that each should take her place by +her husband. About the middle of supper, their signal token was given +to the Carians; the point of time also the Grecians were sensible of. +Accordingly the women laid open their bosoms, and the men laid hold +of the daggers, and sheathing them in the barbarians, slew them all +together. And possessing themselves of the country, they overthrew that +city, and built another, which they called New Cryassus. Moreover, +Caphene being married to Nymphaeus received due honor and grateful +acknowledgments becoming her good services. Here the taciturnity and +courage of women is worthy of admiration, that none of them among so +many did so much as unwittingly, by reason of fear, betray their trust. + + +EXAMPLE 8. _Of the Tyrrhene Women._ + +At the time when the Tyrrhenians inhabited the islands Lemnos and +Imbros, they violently seized upon some Athenian women from Brauron, on +whom they begat children, which children the Athenians banished from +the islands as mixed barbarians. But these arriving at Taenarum were +serviceable to the Spartans in the Helotic war, and therefore obtained +the privilege of citizens and marriage, but were not dignified with +magistracies or admitted to the senate; for they had a suspicion that +they would combine together in order to some innovation, and conceived +they might shake the present established government. Wherefore the +Lacedaemonians, seizing on them and securing them, shut them up close +prisoners, seeking to take them off by evident and strong convictions. +But the wives of the prisoners, gathering together about the prison, +by many supplications prevailed with the jailers that they might be +admitted to go to salute their husbands and speak with them. As soon as +they came in, they required them to change their clothes immediately +and leave them to their wives; while the men, apparelled in their +wives’ habits, should go forth. These things being effected, the women +stayed behind, prepared to endure all hard usages of the prison, but +the deluded keepers let out the men as if they had been their wives. +Whereupon they seized upon Taygeta, exciting the Helotic people to +revolt, and taking them to their aid; but the Spartans, alarmed by +these things into a great consternation, by a herald proclaimed a +treaty of peace. And they were reconciled upon these conditions, that +they should receive their wives again, and furnished with ships and +provisions should make an expedition by sea, and possessing themselves +of a land and a city elsewhere should be accounted a colony and allies +of the Lacedaemonians. These things did the Pelasgians, taking Pollis +for their captain and Crataedas his brother, both Lacedaemonians, and +one part of them took up their seat in Melos; but the most part of +them, which were shipped with Pollis, sailed into Crete, trying the +truth of the oracles, by whom they were told that, when they should +lose their Goddess and their anchor, then they should put an end to +their roving and there build a city. Wherefore, putting into harbor on +that part of Crete called Chersonesus, panic fears fell upon them by +night, at which coming under a consternation, they leaped tumultuously +on board their ships, leaving on shore for haste the statue of Diana, +which was their patrimony brought from Brauron to Lemnos, and from +Lemnos carried about with them wherever they went. The tumult being +appeased, when they had set sail, they missed this statue; and at the +same time Pollis, finding that his anchor had lost one of its beards +(for the anchor, having been dragged, as appeared, through some rocky +place, was accidentally torn), said that the oracular answer of the +Pythia was accomplished. Therefore he gave a sign to tack about, and +accordingly made an inroad into that country, conquered those that +opposed him in many battles, sat down at Lyctus, and brought many +other cities to be tributary to him. And now they repute themselves +to be akin to the Athenians on their mothers’ side, and to be Spartan +colonies. + + +EXAMPLE 9. _Of the Lycian Women._ + +That which is reported to have fallen out in Lycia, although it be +fabulous, hath yet common fame attesting it. Amisodarus, as they say, +whom the Lycians call Isaras, came from a colony of the Lycians about +Zeleia, bringing with him pirate ships, which Chimarrhus, a warlike +man, who was also savage and brutish, was commander of. He sailed in a +ship which had a lion carved on her head and a dragon on her stern. He +did much mischief to the Lycians, so that they could not sail on the +sea nor inhabit the towns nigh the sea-coast. + +This man Bellerophon pursued with his Pegasus and slew him, and also +defeated the Amazons, for which he obtained no due requital, but +Iobates the king was most unjust to him; upon which Bellerophon went +to the seashore, and made earnest supplication by himself to Neptune +that he would render that country barren and unfruitful; and having +said his prayers, he faced about. Upon which the waves of the sea +arose and overwhelmed the land, and it was a dreadful sight to behold +the lofty billows following Bellerophon and drowning the plain. And +now, when the men by their deprecation, laboring to put a stop to +Bellerophon, availed nothing at all, the women plucking up their +petticoats met him full butt; upon which confounded with shame he +turned back again, and the flood, as they say, returned with him. But +some unriddle the fabulous part of this story, by telling us that it +was not by execrations that he brought up the sea; but the fattest part +of the plain lying lower than the sea, and a certain ridge extending +itself all along the shore which beat off the sea, Bellerophon broke +through this, so that the sea forcibly flowed in and overwhelmed the +plain; and when the men by their humble addresses obtained nothing, +the women assembling about him in multitudes gained respect from him +and pacified his wrath. Some tell us that the celebrated Chimaera +was a mountain opposite to the sun, which caused reflections of the +sun’s beams, and in summer ardent and fiery heats, which spread over +the plain and withered the fruits; and Bellerophon, finding out the +reason of the mischief, cut through the smoothest part of the cliff, +which especially caused these reflections. But on seeing that he was +treated ungratefully, his indignation was excited to take vengeance on +the Lycians, but was appeased by the women. The reason which Nymphis +(in the fourth book concerning Heraclea) doth assign is to me not at +all fabulous; for he saith, when Bellerophon slew a certain wild boar, +which destroyed the cattle and fruits in the province of the Xanthians, +and received no due reward of his service, he prayed to Neptune for +vengeance, and obtained that all the fields should cast forth a salt +dew and be universally corrupted, the soil becoming bitter; which +continued till he, condescendingly regarding the women suppliants, +prayed to Neptune, and removed his wrath from them. Hence there was a +law among the Xanthians, that they should not for the future derive +their names from their fathers, but from their mothers. + + +EXAMPLE 10. _Of the Women of Salmantica._ + +When Hannibal, the son of Barca, besieged the great city Salmantica +in Spain, before he fought against the Romans, at the first assault +the besieged citizens were surprised with fear, insomuch that they +consented to grant him his demands, and to give him three hundred +talents of silver and three hundred hostages. Upon which he raised his +siege; when they changed their minds, and would not perform any thing +that they had promised. Wherefore returning again to his siege, he +gave command to his soldiers to take the city by storm, and fall to +the plundering their goods. At this the barbarians, struck universally +into a panic fear, came to terms of composition, for the free citizens +to depart the city with their clothes to their backs, but to leave +their weapons, goods, slaves, and city behind them. Now the women +supposed that, although the enemies would strictly search every man +as he departed, yet the women would go untouched. Accordingly, taking +scimitars and hiding them under their coats, they fell in with the men +as they marched out. When they were all gone out of the city, Hannibal +sets a guard of Masaesylian soldiers, fixing their post without the +gate, but the rest of his army fell promiscuously into the city to +plunder. But the Masaesylians, seeing them busy in carrying away much +spoil, were not able any longer to refrain or to mind the charge of +their watch, taking it heinously that that was their lot, and therefore +left their post and went to take their share of the booty. Upon this +the women raised a shout to animate their husbands, and delivered the +scimitars into their hands, and they themselves some of them fell upon +the sentinels; insomuch that one of them, snatching away the spear of +Banon the interpreter, smote him with it, though he was armed with a +breastplate. And as for the rest, the men routed and put some to flight +and slew others, making their escape by charging through them in a +great body together with the women. Hannibal, being made acquainted +with these things, pursued them, and those he took he slew; but some +betaking themselves to the mountains easily made their escape, and +afterwards, sending in their humble supplications, were admitted by +him into the city, obtaining indemnity and civil usage. + + +EXAMPLE 11. _Of the Women of Milesia._ + +A certain dreadful and monstrous distemper did seize the Milesian +maids, arising from some hidden cause. It is most likely the air had +acquired some infatuating and venomous quality, that did influence +them to this change and alienation of mind; for all on a sudden an +earnest longing for death, with furious attempts to hang themselves, +did attack them, and many did privily accomplish it. The arguments and +tears of parents and the persuasion of friends availed nothing, but +they circumvented their keepers in all their contrivances and industry +to prevent them, still murdering themselves. And the calamity seemed to +be an extraordinary divine stroke and beyond human help, until by the +counsel of a wise man a decree of the senate was passed, enacting that +those maids who hanged themselves should be carried naked through the +market-place. The passage of this law not only inhibited but quashed +their desire of slaying themselves. Note what a great argument of good +nature and virtue this fear of disgrace is; for they who had no dread +upon them of the most terrible things in the world, death and pain, +could not abide the imagination of dishonor and exposure to shame even +after death. + + +EXAMPLE 12. _Of the Women of Cios._ + +It was a custom among the maids of Cios to assemble together in the +public temples, and to pass the day together in good fellowship; and +there their sweethearts had the felicity to behold how prettily they +sported and danced about. In the evening this company went to the house +of every particular maid in her turn, and waited upon each other’s +parents and brethren very officiously, even to the washing of their +feet. It oftentimes so fell out that many young men fell in love with +one maid; but they carried it so decently and civilly that, when the +maid was espoused to one, the rest presently gave off courting of her. +The effect of this good order among the women was that no mention was +made of any adultery or fornication among them for the space of seven +hundred years. + + +EXAMPLE 13. _Of the Phocian Women._ + +When the tyrants of Phocis had taken Delphi, and the Thebans undertook +that war against them which was called the Holy War, certain women +devoted to Bacchus (which they call Thyades) fell frantic and went a +gadding by night, and mistaking their way they came to Amphissa; and +being very much tired and not as yet in their right wits, they flung +down themselves in the market-place, and fell asleep as they lay +scattered up and down here and there. But the wives of the Amphisseans, +fearing, because that city was engaged to aid the Phocians in the +war and abundance of the tyrants’ soldiery were present in the city, +the Thyades might have some indignity put upon them, ran forth all +of them into the market-place and stood silently round about them, +neither would offer them any disturbance whilst they slept; but when +they were awake, they attended their service particularly and brought +them refreshments; and in fine, by persuasions obtained leave of their +husbands to accompany them and escort them in safety to their own +borders. + + +EXAMPLE 14. _Valeria and Cloelia._ + +The injury done to Lucretia and her great virtue were the causes of +banishing Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh Roman king from Romulus, +she being married to an illustrious man, one of the royal race. She +was ravished by one of Tarquin’s sons, who was in a way of hospitality +entertained by her: and after she had acquainted her friends and +family with the abuse offered her, she immediately slew herself. +Tarquinius having fallen from his dominion, after many battles that he +fought in attempting to regain his kingly government, at last prevailed +with Porsena, prince of the Etrurians, to encamp against Rome with +a powerful army. Whereupon the Romans, being pressed with war and +famine at the same time, likewise knowing that Porsena was not only +a great soldier but a just and civil person, resolved to refer the +matters against Tarquinius to him as a judge. This proposal Tarquinius +obstinately refused to consent unto, saying that Porsena could not be a +just arbitrator if he did not remain constant to his military alliance. +Whereupon Porsena left him to himself, and made it his endeavor to +depart a friend to the Romans, on condition of having restored to +him the tracts of land they had cut off from the Etrurians and the +captives they had taken. Upon these accepted conditions hostages being +given,—ten male children, and ten females (among whom was Valeria, the +daughter of Publicola the consul),—he immediately ceased his warlike +preparations before the articles of agreement were quite finished. Now +the virgin hostages going down to the river, as if they intended only +to wash themselves a little further than ordinary from the camp, there, +by the instigation of one of them whose name was Cloelia, wrapping +their garments about their heads, they cast themselves into that great +river Tiber, and assisting one another, swam through those vast depths +with much labor and difficulty. There are some who say that Cloelia +compassing a horse got upon him, and passing over gently before, the +rest swimming after her, conducted, encouraged, and assisted them; the +argument they use for this we shall declare anon. + +As soon as the Romans saw the maids had made such a clever escape, they +admired indeed their fortitude and resolution, but did not approve +of their return, not abiding to be worse in their faith than any +one man; therefore they charged the maids to return back, and sent +them away with a safe conduct. Tarquinius laid wait for them as they +passed the river, and wanted but little of intercepting the virgins. +But Valeria with three of her household servants made her flight to +the camp of Porsena; and as for the rest, Aruns, Porsena’s son, gave +them speedy help and delivered them from the enemies. When they were +brought, Porsena looking upon them commanded them to tell him which +of them advised and first attempted this enterprise; all of them +being surprised with fear, except Cloelia, were silent, but she said, +that she was the author of it; at which Porsena, mightily surprised, +commanded an horse curiously adorned with trappings should be brought, +which he gave to Cloelia, and dismissed them all with much generosity +and civility; and this is the ground which many make of saying that +Cloelia passed through the river on horseback. Others deny this story, +but yet say that Porsena admiring the undauntedness and confidence +of the maid, as being beyond what is commonly in a woman, bestowed a +present on her becoming a man champion. It is certain that there is the +statue of a woman on horseback by the side of the Sacred Way, which +some say represents Cloelia, others, Valeria. + + +EXAMPLE 15. _Of Micca and Megisto._ + +Aristotimus having usurped tyranny over the people of Elis in +Peloponnesus, against whom he prevailed by the aid of King Antigonus, +used not his power with any meekness or moderation. For he was +naturally a savage man; and being in servile fear of a band of mixed +barbarians, who guarded his person and his government, he connived +at many injurious and cruel things which his subjects suffered at +their hands, among which was the calamity of Philodemus. This man had +a beautiful daughter, whose name was Micca. This maid one of the +tyrant’s captains of auxiliaries, called Lucius, attempted to lie with, +more out of a design to debauch her than for any love he had to her; +and for this end he sent to fetch her to him. The parents verily seeing +the strait they were in advised her to go; but the maid, being of a +generous and courageous spirit, clasped about her father, beseeching +him with earnest entreaties that he would rather see her put to death +than that her virginity should be filthily and wickedly violated. Some +delay being made, Lucius himself starts up in the midst of his cups, +enraged with wrath and lust, and drunk with wine; and finding Micca +laying her head on her father’s knees, he instantly commanded her to go +along with him; but she refusing, he rent off her clothes, and whipped +her stark naked, she stoutly enduring the smart in silence. When her +father and mother perceived that by their tears they could not avail +or bring any succor to her, they turned to imploring the help of both +Gods and men, as persons that were oppressed by the most cruel and +unrighteous proceedings. But this barbarous fellow, drunk and raging +every way with madness, ran the maid through as she lay with her face +in her father’s bosom. Neither was the tyrant affected with these +cruelties, but slew many and sent more into exile; for they say eight +hundred took their flight into Aetolia, petitioning the tyrant that +their wives and children might come to them. A little after he made +proclamation, permitting the women that would to go to their husbands, +carrying with them all their household goods that they pleased; but +when he perceived that all the women received the proclamation with +pleasure (for the number was above six hundred), he charged them all +to go in great companies on the appointed day, as if he intended to +consult for their safety. When the day came, they crowded at the gates +with their goods packed up, carrying their children, some in their arms +and some in carts, and stayed for one another. All on a sudden many +of the tyrant’s creatures made towards them in great haste, crying +aloud to them to stay, while they were yet at great distance from +them; and as they approached, they charged the women to return back. +Likewise turning about their chariots and carts, they forced them upon +them, drove the horses through the midst of them without fear or wit, +suffering the women neither to follow nor to stay, nor to reach forth +any help to the perishing infants, some of whom were killed falling out +of the carts, others run over by the carts. So they drove them in (as +so many sheep which butchers drive along), hauling and whipping them +as they thronged upon one another, till they had crowded them all into +a prison; but their goods they returned to Aristotimus. The people of +Elis taking these things very heinously, the priestesses devoted to +Bacchus (which they call the Sixteen), taking with them their suppliant +boughs and wreaths belonging to the service of their God, went to meet +Aristotimus in the market-place; the guards, out of a reverential awe, +stood off and gave way to their approach. These priestesses stood still +at first with silence, solemnly reaching forth their supplicatory +rods; but as soon as they appeared as petitioners and deprecators of +his wrath against the women, he fell into a great rage at the guards, +exclaiming against them that they had suffered the priestesses to +approach his presence, and he caused some to be thrust away, others +to be beaten and dragged through the market-place, and fined them two +talents apiece. + +These things being transacted in this manner, one Hellanicus moved a +conspiracy against this tyrant. He was a man who, by reason of old age +and the loss of two sons by death, was unsuspected of the tyrant, as +being altogether unlikely for action. In the mean time also the exiles +waft themselves over from Aetolia, and take Amymona, a very convenient +place on the borders to entrench a camp in, where they received great +numbers of the citizens who made their escape by flight from Elis. +Aristotimus being startled at these things went in to the imprisoned +women, and thinking to work them to his pleasure more by fear than by +favor, charged them to send letters to their husbands, enjoining them +to depart out of the coasts; if they would not write, he threatened +them to slay their children before their eyes, and then put them (the +mothers) to death by torments. Whilst he was long provoking and urging +them to declare whether they would obey his mandates or not, most of +them answered him nothing, but looked with silence one upon another, +signifying by nods and gestures that they were not at all affrighted +at his threat. But Megisto the wife of Timocleon, who both in respect +of her husband and her own excellent accomplishments carried the port +of a princess among them, would not vouchsafe to rise off her seat to +him nor permit the rest so to do, but as she sat, she gave him this +answer:— + +“Verily if thou wert a discreet man, thou wouldst not after this manner +discourse with women about their husbands, but wouldst send to them as +to our lords, finding out better language than that by which thou hast +deluded us. But if thou thyself despairest to prevail with them, and +therefore undertakest to trepan them by our means, do not hope to put +a cheat upon us again. And may they never be guilty of such baseness, +that for the saving their wives and little ones they will desert that +liberty of their native country; for it is not so great a prejudice +to them to lose us, whom even now they are deprived of, as it will be +benefit to set the subjects at liberty from thy cruelty and oppression.” + +Aristotimus, being not able to refrain himself at this speech of +Megisto, required that her son should be brought, as if it were to +slay him before her eyes; but whilst the officer was seeking out the +child, that was in the company of other children playing and wrestling +together, his mother called him by his name, and said: Come hither, my +child; before thou hast any sense and understanding, be thou delivered +from bitter tyranny; for it would be much more grievous to me to see +thee basely enslaved than to see thee die. At which Aristotimus drawing +his sword upon the mother herself, and transported with rage, was going +to fall upon her, when one of his favorites, Cylon by name (esteemed +his trusty confidant, but in reality a hater of him, and a confederate +with Hellanicus in the conspiracy), put a stop to him, and averted him +in an humble manner, telling him: This is an ignoble and woman-like +carriage, not at all becoming a person of a princely mind and a +statesman. Hereupon Aristotimus scarcely coming to his senses departed. +Now observe what an ominous prodigy happened to him. It was about noon, +when he was taking some repose, his wife sitting by; and whilst his +servants were providing dinner, an eagle was seen in the air floating +over the house, which did, as it were considerately and on purpose, +let fall a stone of an handsome bigness upon that part of the roof of +the house which was over the apartment where Aristotimus lay. At the +same time there was also a great rattling from above, together with an +outcry made by the people that were abroad looking upon the bird. Upon +which Aristotimus, falling into a great consternation and examining +the matter, sent and called his soothsayer which he usually consulted +in his public concerns, and being in great perplexity, desired to be +satisfied what that prodigy meant. The soothsayer bade him be of good +cheer, for it signified that Jupiter now wakened and assisted him. But +to the citizens that he could confide in he said, that vengeance would +no longer be delayed from falling on the tyrant’s head. Wherefore it +was concluded by Hellanicus and his friends not to defer any longer, +but to bring matters to an issue the next day. At night Hellanicus +imagined in his sleep that he saw one of his dead sons stand by him +saying, What is the matter with thee, O father! that thou sleepest? +To-morrow thou shalt be governor of this city. Being animated by his +vision, he encouraged the rest concerned with him. Now Aristotimus +was informed that Craterus, coming to his aid with great forces, was +encamped in Olympia; upon which he became so confidently secure, that +he ventured to go without his guards into the market-place, Cylon only +accompanying him. Wherefore Hellanicus, observing this opportunity, +did not think good to give the signal to those that were to undertake +the enterprise with him, but with a clear voice and lifting up both +his hands, he spake saying: O ye good men! why do ye delay? Here is a +fair theatre in the midst of your native country for you to contend in +for the prize of valor. Whereupon Cylon in the first place drawing his +sword smote one of Aristotimus’s waiting gentlemen; but Thrasybulus and +Lampis making a brisk opposition, Aristotimus escaped by flight into +the temple of Jupiter. Here slaying him, they dragged forth his corpse +into the market-place, and proclaimed liberty to the citizens. Neither +were the men there much before the women, who immediately ran forth +with joyful acclamations, environing the men and binding triumphant +garlands about their heads. The multitude presently rushed on upon the +tyrant’s palace, where his wife shutting herself into her bed-chamber +hanged herself. He had also two daughters, maidens of most beautiful +complexions, ripe for marriage. Those they laid hands on, and haled +forth, with a desperate resolution to slay them, but first to torment +and abuse them. But Megisto, with the rest of the women, meeting them +called out with a loud voice: Will they perpetrate such enormities +who reckon themselves a free people, in imitation of the practices +of audacious and libidinous tyrants? The multitude reverencing the +gravity of this matron, pleading with them so undauntedly as also +affectionately with tears, they resolved to lay aside this opprobrious +way of proceeding, and to cause them to die by their own hands. As +they were therefore returned into the chamber, they required the maids +immediately to be their own executioners. Muro, the eldest, untying +her girdle and tying it about her neck, saluted her sister, and +exhorted her to be careful and do whatever she saw her do; lest (as +she said) we come to our death in a base and unworthy manner. But the +younger desiring it might be her lot to die first, she delivered her +the girdle, saying: I did never deny thee any thing thou didst ever +desire, neither will I now; take this favor also. I am resolved to +bear and endure that which is more grievous than death to me, to see +my most dear sister die before me. Upon this, when she had instructed +her sister how to put the girdle so as to strangle her, and perceived +her dead, she took her down and covered her. And now the eldest sister, +whose turn was next, besought Megisto to take care of her, and not +suffer her to lie indecently after she was dead. So that there was not +any one present that was so bitter and vehement a tyrant-hater that he +did not lament and compassionate these maidens upon their brave and +virtuous behavior. + + * * * * * + +Of the innumerable famous exploits performed by women, these examples +may suffice. But as for their particular virtues, we will describe +them according as they offer themselves scattered here and there, not +supposing that our present history doth necessarily require an exact +order of time. + + +EXAMPLE 16. _Of Pieria._ + +Some of the Ionians who came to dwell at Miletus, falling into +contention with the sons of Neleus, departed to Myus, and there +took up their situation, where they suffered many injuries from the +Milesians; for they made war upon them by reason of their revolt +from them. This war was not indeed without truces or commerce, but +upon certain festival days the women of Myus went to Miletus. Now +there was at Myus Pythes, a renowned man among them, who had a wife +called Iapygia, and a daughter Pieria. Pythes, when there was a time +of feasting and sacrificing to Diana among the Milesians, which they +called Neleis, sent his wife and daughter, who desired to participate +of the said feast; when one of the most potent sons of Neleus, Phrygius +by name, fell in love with Pieria. He desired to know what service he +could do which might be most acceptable to her. She told him, that he +should bring it to pass that she with many others might have their +frequent recourse thither. Hence Phrygius understood that she desired +friendship and peace with the citizens of Miletus; accordingly he +finished the war. Whence arose that great honor and renown of Pieria in +both cities; insomuch that the Milesian women do to this day make use +of this benediction to new married wives, that their husbands may love +them so as Phrygius loved Pieria. + + +EXAMPLE 17. _Of Polycrita._ + +A war arose between the Naxians and Milesians upon the account of +Neaera, the wife of Hypsicreon, a Milesian. For she fell in love +with Promedon a Naxian, who was Hypsicreon’s guest. Promedon lies +with his beloved Neaera; and she, fearing her husband’s displeasure, +took shipping with her Promedon, who carried her over into Naxos and +placed her a supplicant to Vesta. The Naxians not restoring her upon +demand, for the sake of Promedon and making her devotion to Vesta their +pretence, a war arose. To the assistance of the Milesians came in many +others; and of the Ionians the Erythraeans were most ready. So that +this war was of long continuance, and had great calamities attending +it. But as it was begun by the lewdness of a woman, so it was ended by +a woman’s policy. Diognetus, a colonel of the Erythraeans, holding a +fortification committed to his keeping, which was cast up against the +Naxians, lying naturally to great advantage and well furnished with +ammunition, took great spoils from the Naxians; yea, he captivated both +free married women and virgins; with one of which, called Polycrita, +he fell in love, and treated her not as a captive but after the manner +of a married wife. Now a festival coming in turn to be celebrated +among the Milesians in the camp, and all of them given to their cups +and luxury, Polycrita petitioned Diognetus that he would be pleased +to permit her to send some part of the cakes to her brethren. He +permitting and bidding her do it, she thrust into a cake a piece of +lead engraven with writing, and commanded the bearer to say to her +brethren that they alone by themselves should eat up what she had sent. +Accordingly they met with the plate of lead, and read Polycrita’s +hand-writing, advising them that night to fall upon their enemies, +who, by reason of excess caused by their feastings, were overcome with +wine and therefore in a careless secure condition. They acquainted the +officers with it, and urged them to accompany them forth against the +enemies. Upon engagement the stronghold being gotten and many slain, +Polycrita by entreaty of her countrymen obtained the life of Diognetus +and preserved him. But she being met by her countrymen at the gate, +who received her with acclamations of joy and garlands, and greatly +applauded her deed, could not bear the greatness of the joy, but died, +falling down at the gate of the citadel, where she was buried; and +it is called the Sepulchre of Envy, as though some envious fortune +had grudged Polycrita the fruition of so great honor. And thus do the +Naxian writers declare the history. But Aristotle saith, that Polycrita +was not taken captive, but that by some other way or means Diognetus +seeing her fell in love with her, and was ready to give and do all that +he could for the enjoying her. Polycrita promised to consent to him, +provided she might obtain one only thing of him; concerning which, +as the philosopher saith, she required an oath of Diognetus. When he +had sworn, she required Delium to be delivered up to her (for the +stronghold was called Delium), otherwise she would not yield to go with +him. He, being besotted with lust and for his oath’s sake, delivered up +the place into the hands of Polycrita, and she to her countrymen. From +henceforward they adjusted matters so equally, that the Naxians had +free converse, as they pleased, with the Milesians. + + +EXAMPLE 18. _Of Lampsace._ + +There were two brethren, Phobus and Blepsus, twins of the stock of +Codrus, natives of Phocaea; of which two Phobus, the elder, threw +himself from the Leucadian rocks into the sea, as Charon of Lampsacus +hath told us in history. This Phobus, having potency and royal dignity, +took a voyage into Parium upon the account of his own private concerns; +and becoming a friend and guest to Mandron king of the Bebrycians, the +same that were called Pituoëssans, he aided and assisted him in the war +against those of the bordering inhabitants that molested him. So that +when Phobus was returning back by sea, Mandron showed great civility to +him, promising to give him a part of his country and city, if he would +bring over the Phocaeans and plant them as inhabitants in Pituoëssa. +Phobus therefore persuading his countrymen sent his brother to conduct +them over as planters, and likewise the obligation was performed on +Mandron’s part according to expectation. But the Phocaeans taking great +booty, prey, and spoils from the neighboring barbarians, were first +envied, and afterwards became a terror to the Bebrycians; and therefore +they desired to be rid of them. As for Mandron, being an honest and +righteous person, they could not possess him against the Grecians; +but he taking a long journey, they provided to destroy the Phocaeans +by treachery. Mandron had a daughter called Lampsace, a virgin, who +was acquainted with the plot; and first she endeavored to take off +her friends and familiars from it, admonishing them what a dreadful +and ungodly enterprise they were going upon,—to murder men that were +benefactors, military auxiliaries, and now citizens. But when she could +not prevail with them, she declared to the Grecians secretly what was +plotting, and wished them to stand upon their guard. Upon this, the +Phocaeans provided a sacrifice and feast, and invited the Pituoëssans +into the suburbs; on which, dividing themselves into two parts, with +one they surprised the walls of the city, with the other they slew the +men. Thus taking the city, they sent to Mandron, desiring him to join +with their own rulers in the government. As for Lampsace, she died of a +sickness, and they buried her sumptuously, and called the city Lampsace +after her name. But when Mandron, avoiding all suspicion of betraying +his people, refused to come to dwell among them, and desired this favor +at their hands, that they would send him the wives and children of the +deceased, the Phocaeans most readily sent them, offering them no injury +at all. And ascribing in the first place heroic renown to Lampsace, in +the last place they decreed a sacrifice to her as a Goddess, which they +continue yearly to offer. + + +EXAMPLE 19. _Aretaphila._ + +Aretaphila, a Cyrenaean, was not of ancient time, but lived in +the time of the Mithridatic war. She arrived at such a degree of +fortitude and experience in counsel as might be compared with the +conduct of any heroic ladies. She was the daughter of Aeglator and +the wife of Phaedimus, both renowned men. She was a great beauty, +excelling in discretion, and was not unacquainted with the most knotty +pieces of policy; but the common disasters of her native country +rendered her famous. Nicocrates, having then usurped the tyranny +over the Cyrenaeans, not only murdered many other citizens, but also +assassinated Melanippus, a priest of Apollo, with his own hand, and +held the priesthood himself. He slew also Phaedimus, the husband of +Aretaphila, and married Aretaphila against her will. Unto a thousand +other villainies he added this, that he set guards at the gates, who +mangled the dead corpses as they were carrying forth, pricking them +with their daggers and clapping hot irons to them, lest any citizen +should be carried out privily under pretence of being a dead corpse. +Aretaphila’s own proper calamities were very grievous to her, although +the tyrant, for the love that he bare to her, suffered her to enjoy +a great part of his regal power; for his love had subdued him unto +her, and to her alone was he gentle and manageable, being very rude +and savage in his behavior to others. But that which troubled her +more than other things was to see her miserable country suffering +such horrid things in so base a manner; one citizen being slaughtered +after another, without any hopes of a vindictive justice from any. +The exiles also were altogether enfeebled, affrighted, and scattered +here and there. Aretaphila therefore supposed herself to be the only +hope remaining for the state; and emulating the famous and brave +enterprises of Thebe of Pherae, although she was destitute of the +faithful friends and helpers which circumstances afforded to Thebe, +she laid a plan to despatch her husband by poison. But in setting +herself about it, providing the materials, and trying many experiments +with poisons, the matter could not be hid, but was discovered; and +there being proof made of the attempt, Calbia, Nicocrates’s mother, +being naturally of a murdering implacable spirit, presently adjudged +Aretaphila to torments and then to death. But love abated the rage of +Nicocrates, and put him upon delay; and the vigorous manner in which +Aretaphila met the accusation and defended herself gave some plausible +ground for his hesitation. But when she was convicted by the clearest +proofs, and the preparation she had made for the poison was even in +sight, admitting no denial, she confessed that she provided poison, +but not deadly poison. But truly, O sir, she said, I am contending for +matters of great concern, no less indeed than the honor and power which +by thy gracious favor I reap the fruit of. I am maligned by many ill +women, whose poisons and treacheries I stand in fear of, and therefore +have been persuaded to contrive something on the other side in my own +defence. These are haply foolish and woman-like plots, but not such +as deserve death, unless it seem good to thee as judge to take away +thy wife’s life on account of love-potions and charms, which she has +used because she wishes to be loved by thee more than thou wouldst +have her. Notwithstanding this defence which Aretaphila had made for +herself, Nicocrates thought good to commit her to torments; and Calbia +presided in the judicature, rigid and inexorable. But Aretaphila bore +up invincibly under her tortures, till Calbia herself was tired, sore +against her will. But Nicocrates being pacified discharged her, and +was sorry he had tortured her. And it was not very long ere he went in +again unto her, being highly transported with affection, renewing his +favor towards her with honors and courteous behavior. But she would +not be brought under by flattery, who had held out so stoutly under +tortures and pains; and an emulation of victory, conjoined with the +love of honesty, made her betake herself to other measures. + +She had a daughter marriageable, an excellent beauty. Her she +presented for a bait to the tyrant’s brother, a young stripling and +lasciviously addicted. There was a report, that Aretaphila used +such enchantments and witchcrafts towards the maid, that she plainly +charmed and destroyed the young man’s reason. He was called Leander. +After he was entangled, he petitioned his brother and accomplished the +marriage. Now the maid, being instructed by her mother, instigated +and persuaded him to set the city at liberty, insinuating that he +himself could not live long free under an arbitrary government, nor +could he marry a wife or reserve her to himself. Also some friends, +Aretaphila’s favorites, suggested to him continually some accusations +or surmises concerning his brother. But as soon as he perceived that +Aretaphila was counselling and aiding in these matters, he undertook +the business, and excited Daphnis a household servant, who slew +Nicocrates by his command. In what followed, he attended not so much +to Aretaphila, but presently manifested by his actions that he was +rather a fratricide than a tyrannicide; for he managed his affairs +perversely and foolishly. But yet he had some honor for Aretaphila, +and she had some influence with him; neither did she manage any enmity +or open opposition against him, but ordered her affairs privily. First +of all, she stirred up an African war against him, and incited Anabus, +a certain duke, to invade his borders and approach the city; and +then she buzzed into Leander’s head suspicions against the favorites +and officers, saying that they were not forward to fight but rather +ambitious of peace and tranquillity, which indeed (she said) the state +of affairs and the security of his dominion required of him if he +would hold his subjects in firm subjection; and she would effect a +cessation of arms and bring Anabus to a parley with him, if he would +permit it, before an incurable war should break forth. Leander gave +her commission. First she treated with the African, and with the +promise of great presents and treasures begged that he would seize +Leander when he came to treat with him. The African was persuaded, +but Leander was backward to it; only for the respect that he bore to +Aretaphila, who said that she would be present, he went unarmed and +unguarded. But as he came nigh and saw Anabus, he made a halt, and +would have waited the coming of his guards; only Aretaphila being +present sometimes encouraged him, sometimes reviled him. But at last, +when he still hesitates, she undauntedly lays hold on him, and dragging +him resolutely along, delivers him to the barbarian. He was immediately +seized, confined, and bound, and kept prisoner by the African, until +Aretaphila’s friends, with other citizens, procured the treasures +promised. Many people acquainted with this ran forth to the parley; and +as soon as they saw Aretaphila, they were so transported that they had +like to have forgot their indignation against the tyrant, and reckoned +the punishing him of no great concern. But the first work after the +enjoyment of their liberty was the saluting Aretaphila, between +acclamations of joy and weeping, and falling down before her, as before +the statue of one of the Gods. And the people flocked in one after +another, so that they scarcely had time that evening to receive Leander +again and return into the city. When they had satisfied themselves +in honoring and applauding Aretaphila, they turned themselves to the +tyrants; and Calbia they burnt alive, Leander they sewed up in a sack +and threw him into the sea, but they voted that Aretaphila should bear +her share in the government together with the statesmen, and be taken +into counsel. But she, by great sufferings having acted a tragi-comedy +consisting of various parts, and at last obtained the reward of the +garland, as soon as she saw the city set at liberty, betook herself to +her private apartment; and casting off all multiplicity of business, +she led the rest of her time in spinning, and finished her days in +tranquillity among her friends and acquaintance. + + +EXAMPLE 20. _Camma._ + +There were two most potent persons among the tetrarchs of Galatia, +allied by kin to each other, Sinatus and Synorix; one of which, +Sinatus, took a maid to wife, Camma by name, very comely to behold +for person and favor, but principally to be admired for virtue. For +she was not only modest and loving to her husband, but discreet +and of a generous mind. And by reason of her gentle and courteous +behavior she was extremely acceptable to her inferiors; yea, that +which rendered her more eminently renowned was, that being a priest +of Diana (for the Galatians worship that goddess most) she did always +appear magnificently adorned in all sacred processions and at the +sacrifices. Wherefore Synorix, falling in love with her, could not +prevail either by persuasions or violence, whilst her husband lived. +He commits a horrid crime,—he slays Sinatus treacherously,—and not +long after accosts Camma, whilst she abode within the temple, and bore +Synorix’s crime not in an abject and despondent manner, but with a +mind intent upon revenge on Synorix, and only waiting an opportunity. +He was importunate in his humble addresses, neither did he seem to +use arguments that were without all show of honesty. For as in other +things he pretended that he far excelled Sinatus, so he slew him for +the love he bare to Camma and for no other wicked design. The woman’s +denials were at first not very peremptory, and then by little and +little she seemed to be softened towards him. Her familiars and friends +also lay at her in the service and favor of Synorix, who was a man +of great power, persuading and even forcing her. In fine therefore +she consented, and accordingly sent for him to come to her, that the +mutual contract and covenant might be solemnized in the presence +of the Goddess. When he came, she received him with much courtesy, +and bringing him before the altar and pouring out some of the +drink-offering upon the altar out of the bowls, part of the remainder +she drank herself and part she gave him to drink. The cup was poisoned +mead. As she saw him drink it all up, she lifted up a shrill loud +voice, and fell down and worshipped her Goddess, saying: I call thee +to witness, O most reverend Divinity! that for this very day’s work’s +sake I have over-lived the murder of Sinatus, no otherwise taking any +comfort in this part of my life but in the hope of revenge that I +have had. And now I go down to my husband. And for thee, the lewdest +person among men, let thy relations prepare a sepulchre, instead of a +bride-chamber and nuptials. When the Galatian heard these things, and +perceived the poison to wamble up and down and indispose his body, he +ascended his chariot, hoping to be relieved by the jogging and shaking. +But he presently alighted, and put himself into a litter, and died that +evening. Camma continued all that night, and being told that he had +ended his life, she comfortably and cheerfully expired. + + +EXAMPLE 21. _Stratonica._ + +Galatia also produced Stratonica the wife of Deiotarus, and Chiomara +the wife of Ortiagon, both of them women worth remembrance. Stratonica +knowing that her husband wanted children of his own body to succeed in +his kingdom, she being barren persuaded him to beget a child on another +woman, and subject it to her tutelage. Deiotarus admiring her proposal, +committed all to her care upon that account. She provided a comely +virgin for him from among the captives, Electra by name, and brought +her to lie with Deiotarus. The children begotten of her she educated +very tenderly and magnificently, as if they had been her own. + + +EXAMPLE 22. _Chiomara._ + +It fell out that Chiomara, the wife of Ortiagon, was taken captive with +other women, in the time when the Romans under Cneus Manlius overcame +the Galatians of Asia in battle. The centurion that took her made +use of his fortune soldier-like and defiled her; for he was, as to +voluptuousness and covetousness, an ill-bred and insatiable man, over +whom avarice had gotten an absolute conquest. A great quantity of gold +being promised by the woman for her ransom, in order to her redemption +he brought her to a certain bank of a river. As the Galatians passed +over and paid him the money in gold, and received Chiomara into their +possession, she gave an intimation of her pleasure to one of them by +nod,—to smite the Roman while he was kissing and taking his leave of +her. He obeyed her commands and cut off his head. She takes it, wraps +it up in her apron, and carries it with her; and as she comes to her +husband, she casts down the head before him, at which being startled he +said, O wife! thy fidelity is noble. Yea, verily, replied she, it is a +nobler thing that there is now but one man alive that hath ever lain +with me. Polybius saith that he discoursed with this woman at Sardis, +and admired her prudence and discretion. + + +EXAMPLE 23. _Of the Woman of Pergamus._ + +When Mithridates sent for sixty noblemen of Galatia as friends, he +seemed to carry himself abusively and imperiously towards them, which +they were all mightily provoked at. Poredorix, a man of a robust +body and lofty mind, who was no less than tetrarch of the Tosiopae, +designed to lay hold on Mithridates, seizing him when he should be +determining causes on the bench of judicature in the gymnasium, and +to force him bench and all into the ditch; but by a certain chance +he went not up to the place of judicature that day, but sent for the +Galatians to come home to him to his house. Poredorix encouraged them +all to be of good courage, and when they should be all come together +there, to fall upon him on every side, slay him, and cut his body in +pieces. This conspiracy was not unknown to Mithridates, an intimation +of it being given him; accordingly he delivers up the Galatians one +by one to be slain. But calling to mind a young man among them, who +excelled in comeliness and beauty all whom he knew, he commiserated him +and repented himself and was apparently grieved, supposing him slain +among the first, and also sent his command, that if he were alive he +should remain so. The young man’s name was Bepolitanus. There was a +strange accident befell this man. When he was apprehended, he had on +very gay and rich apparel, which the executioner desired to preserve +clean from being stained with blood; and undressing the young man +leisurely, he saw the king’s messengers running to him and calling +out the name of the youth. So that covetousness, which is the ruin of +many, unexpectedly saved the life of Bepolitanus. But Poredorix being +slain was cast forth unburied, and none of his friends did dare to +come near him; only a certain woman of Pergamus, that was conversant +with him while he lived at Galatia, attempted to cover his corpse and +bury it. But when the guards perceived her, they laid hold on her and +brought her before the king. And it is reported that Mithridates was +much affected at the sight of her, the young maid seeming altogether +harmless, and the more so, as it seemed, because he knew that love was +the reason of her attempt. He gave her leave therefore to take away +the corpse and bury it, and to take grave-clothes and ornaments at his +cost. + + +EXAMPLE 24. _Timoclea._ + +Theagenes the Theban, who held the same sentiments with regard to +his country’s welfare with Epaminondas, Pelopidas, and the other +most worthy Thebans, was slain in Chaeronea, in the common disaster +of Greece, even then when he had conquered his enemies and was in +pursuit of them. For it was he that answered one who cried out aloud +to him, How far wilt thou pursue? Even (saith he) to Macedonia. When +he was dead, his sister survived him, who gave testimony that he was +nobly descended, and that he was naturally a great man and excellently +accomplished. Moreover, this woman was so fortunate as to reap a +great benefit by her prowess, so that the more public calamities +fell upon her, so much the easier she bore them. For when Alexander +took Thebes and the soldiers fell a plundering, some in one part and +some in another, it happened that a man, neither civil nor sober but +mischievous and mad, took up his quarters in Timoclea’s house. He was +a captain to a Thracian company, and the king’s namesake, but nothing +like him; for he having no regard either to the family or estate +of this woman, when he had swilled himself in wine after supper, +commanded her to come and lie with him. Neither ended he here, but +enquired for gold and silver, whether she had not some hid by her; +sometimes threatening as if he would kill her, sometimes flattering as +if he would always repute her in the place of a wife. She, taking the +occasion offered by him, said: “Would God I had died before this night +came, rather than lived to it; that though all other things had been +lost, I might have preserved my body free from abuse. But now seeing it +is thus come to pass, and Divine Providence hath thus disposed of it +that I must repute thee my guardian, lord, and husband, I will not hold +any thing from thee that is thine own. And as for myself, I see I am +at thy disposition. As for corporeal enjoyments, the world was mine, I +had silver bowls, I had gold, and some money; but when this city was +taken, I commanded my maids to pack it up altogether, and threw it, +or rather put it for security, into a well that had no water in it. +Neither do many know of it, for it hath a covering, and nature hath +provided a shady wood round about it. Take then these things, and much +good may they do thee; and they shall lie by thee, as certain tokens +and marks of the late flourishing fortune and splendor of our family.” + +When the Macedonian heard these things, he stayed not for day, but +presently went to the place by Timoclea’s conduct, commanding the +garden-door to be shut, that none might perceive what they were about. +He descended in his morning vestment. But the revengeful Clotho brought +dreadful things upon him by the hand of Timoclea, who stood on the +top of the well; for as soon as she perceived by his voice that he +reached the bottom, she threw down abundance of stones upon him, and +her maids rolled in many and great ones, till they had dashed him to +pieces and buried him under them. As soon as the Macedonians came to +understand this and had taken up the corpse, there having been late +proclamation that none of the Thebans should be slain, they seized her +and carried her before the king and declared her audacious exploit; +but the king, who by the gravity of her countenance and stateliness +of her behavior did perceive in her something that savored of the +greatest worth and nobility, asked her first, What woman art thou? She +courageously and undauntedly answered: Theagenes was my brother, who +was a commander at Chaeronea, and lost his life fighting against you +in defence of the Grecian liberty, that we might not suffer any such +thing; and seeing I have suffered things unworthy of my rank, I refuse +not to die; for it is better so to do than to experience another such +a night as the last, which awaits me unless thou forbid it. All the +most tender-spirited persons that were present broke out into tears; +but Alexander was not for pitying her, as being a woman above pity. But +he admired her fortitude and eloquence, which had taken strong hold on +him, and charged his officers to have a special care and look to the +guards, lest any such abuse be offered again to any renowned family; +and dismissed Timoclea, charging them to have a special regard to her +and all that should be found to be of her family. + + +EXAMPLE 25. _Eryxo._ + +Arcesilaus was the son of Battus who was surnamed Felix, not at all +like to his father in his conversation. His father, when he lived, laid +a fine of a talent upon him for making fortifications about his house. +After his father’s death, he being of a rugged disposition (therefore +surnamed the Severe), and following the counsels of Laarchus, an ill +friend, became a tyrant instead of a king. For Laarchus affecting +the government for himself, either banished or slew the noblemen of +Cyrene, and charged the fault upon Arcesilaus; and at last casting +him into a wasting and grievous disease, by giving him the sea-hare +in his drink, he deprived him of his life. So that Laarchus assumed +the government, under pretence of being protector to Arcesilaus’s +young son Battus; but the youth, by reason either of his lameness or +youthful age, was contemned. As for his mother, many made addresses +to her, being a modest and courteous woman, and she had many of the +commons and nobility at her devotion. Therefore Laarchus, pretending +to be her humble servant, would needs marry her, and thereby take +Battus to the dignity of being son and then allow him a share in the +government. But Eryxo (for that was the woman’s name), taking counsel +of her brethren, bade Laarchus treat with them as if she had designed +marriage; Laarchus accordingly treating with Eryxo’s brethren, they +on purpose delay and prolong the business. Eryxo sends one of her +maid-servants acquainting him, that for the present her brethren did +oppose the match, but if they could but accomplish it so as to lie +together once, her brethren would cease arguing the matter any farther, +and would give their consent. He should therefore come to her by +night, if he pleased; an entrance being once made in a business, the +rest will succeed well enough. These things were mighty pleasing to +Laarchus, and he was much inflamed by the woman’s obliging carriage +towards him, and declared that he would come to whatever place she +should command him. These things Eryxo transacted with the privity +of Polyarchus, her eldest brother. A time being now appointed for +the congress, Polyarchus placed himself in his sister’s bed-chamber, +together with two young men that were sword-men, all out of sight, to +revenge the death of his father, whom Laarchus had lately murdered. +Eryxo sending at the time to acquaint him, he entered without his +guard, and the young men falling upon him, he was wounded with the +sword and died; the corpse immediately they threw over the wall. Battus +they brought forth and proclaimed king over his father’s dominions, and +Polyarchus restored to the Cyrenaeans their ancient constitution of +government. There were present at that time many soldiers of Amasis, +the Egyptian king; whom Laarchus had employed and found faithful, and +by whose means he had been not a little formidable to the citizens. +These sent messengers to accuse Polyarchus and Eryxo to Amasis. At +this the king was greatly incensed, and determined to make war upon +the Cyrenaeans. But it happened that his mother died, and while he +was solemnizing her funeral, ambassadors came and brought the news of +his intentions to Cyrene. Wherefore it was thought best by Polyarchus +to go and apologize for himself. Eryxo would not desert him, but was +resolved to accompany him and run the same hazard with him. Nor would +his mother Critola leave him, though she was an old woman; for great +was her dignity, she being the sister of old Battus, surnamed Felix. +As soon as they came into Egypt, as others with admiration approved +of the exploit, so even Amasis himself did not a little applaud the +chastity and fortitude of Eryxo, honoring her with presents and royal +attendance, with which he sent back Polyarchus and the ladies into +Cyrene. + + +EXAMPLE 26. _Xenocrita._ + +Xenocrita of Cumae deserves no less to be admired for her exploits +against Aristodemus the tyrant, whom some have supposed to be surnamed +the Effeminate, being ignorant of the true story. He was called by the +barbarians Malakos (that is soft and effeminate) with regard merely to +his youth; because, when he was a mere stripling, with other companions +of the same age who wore long hair (whence they were called Coronistae, +as it seems from their long hair), he became famous in the war against +the barbarians. He was also not only renowned for resolution and +activity, but very exceedingly remarkable for his discretion and +providence; insomuch that being admired by the citizens he proceeded +to the highest dominion among them. He was to bring aid to the Romans +when they were in war with the Etrurians, who engaged to restore +Tarquinius Superbus to his kingdom; in all which expedition, that was +very long, he managed all affairs so as to ingratiate himself with the +military part of the citizens, aiming more at the making himself head +of a popular faction than general of the army. He accordingly prevails +with them to join with him in attacking the senate, and in casting out +the citizens of highest rank and most potent into exile. Afterwards +becoming tyrant, he was flagitious in his carriage towards women and +free-born youth, and exceeded even himself in vileness. For history +reports of him how that he accustomed the boys to wear their hair +long and set with golden ornaments, and the girls he compelled to be +polled round, and to wear youths’ jerkins and short-tailed petticoats. +Notwithstanding, he had a peculiar affection for Xenocrita, a girl of +Cumae, left behind by her exiled father. Her he kept, but could not +bring over to his humor by any insinuations or persuasions, neither had +he gained her father’s consent; however, he reckoned the maid would be +brought to love him by constant conversation with him, since she would +be envied and reputed very happy by the citizens. But these things did +not at all besot the maid; but she took it heinously that she must be +constrained to dwell with him, not espoused or married. Neither did she +less long for the liberty of her native country than did those who were +hated by the tyrant. + +It happened about that time that Aristodemus was casting up an +entrenchment about the borders of Cumae, a work neither necessary nor +profitable, only because he was resolved to tire out the citizens with +hard toil and labor; for every one was required to carry out a stinted +number of baskets of earth daily, in order to the delving this ditch. +A certain maid, as she saw Aristodemus approaching, ran aside and +covered her face with her apron; but when Aristodemus was withdrawn, +the young men would sport and jest with her, asking her whether out +of modesty she avoided only the sight of Aristodemus and was not so +affected towards other men. She made answer designedly, rather than +otherwise, that of the Cumaeans Aristodemus was the only man. This +sentence thus spoken verily touched them all very near, for it provoked +the generous-minded men among them for very shame to the recovering +of their liberties. And it is said that Xenocrita was heard to say, +that she had rather carry earth for her father, if he were at home, +than participate in the great luxury and pomp of Aristodemus. These +things added courage to them that were about to make an insurrection +against Aristodemus, which Thymoteles had the chief management of; +for Xenocrita providing them safe admittance, they easily rushed in +upon Aristodemus, unarmed and unguarded, and slew him. In this manner +the city of Cumae gained its liberty, by the virtue of two women; one +by suggesting and invigorating the enterprise, the other by bringing +it to an issue. When honors and great presents were tendered to +Xenocrita, she refused all; but requested one thing, that she might +bury the corpse of Aristodemus. This they delivered her, and made her a +priestess of Ceres; reckoning that, as it was a deserved honor bestowed +on her, so she would be no less acceptable to the Goddess. + + +EXAMPLE 27. _The Wife of Pythes._ + +It is reported that the wife of Pythes, who lived at the time of +Xerxes, was a wise and courteous woman. Pythes, as it seems, finding +by chance some gold mines, and falling vastly in love with the riches +got out of them, was insatiably and beyond measure exercised about +them; and he brought down likewise the citizens, all of whom alike he +compelled to dig or carry or refine the gold, doing nothing else; many +of them dying in the work, and all being quite worn out. Their wives +laid down their petition at his gate, addressing themselves to the wife +of Pythes. She bade them all depart and be of good cheer; but those +goldsmiths which she confided most in she required to wait upon her, +and confining them commanded them to make up golden loaves, all sorts +of junkets and summer-fruits, all sorts of fish and flesh meats, in +which she knew Pythes was most delighted. All things being provided, +Pythes coming home then (for he happened to go a long journey) and +asking for his supper, his wife set a golden table before him, having +no edible food upon it, but all golden. Pythes admired the workmanship +for its imitation of nature. When, however, he had sufficiently fed his +eyes, he called in earnest for something to eat; but his wife, when he +asked for any sort, brought it of gold. Whereupon being provoked, he +cried out, I am an hungered. She replied: Thou hast made none other +provisions for us; every skilful science and art being laid aside, no +man works in husbandry; but neglecting sowing, planting, and tilling +the ground, we delve and search for useless things, killing ourselves +and our subjects. These things moved Pythes, but not so as to give +over all his works about the mine; for he now commanded a fifth part +of the citizens to that work, the rest he converted to husbandry and +manufactures. But when Xerxes made an expedition into Greece, Pythes, +being most splendid in his entertainments and presents, requested a +gracious favor of the king, that since he had many sons, one might be +spared from the camp to remain with him, to cherish his old age. At +which Xerxes in a rage slew this son only which he desired, and cut him +in two pieces, and commanded the army to march between the two parts +of the corpse. The rest he took along with him, and all of them were +slain in the wars. At which Pythes fell into a despairing condition, so +that he fell under the like suffering with many wicked men and fools. +He dreaded death, but was weary of his life; yea, he was willing not to +live, but could not cast away his life. He had this project. There was +a great mound of earth in the city, and a river running by it, which +they called Pythopolites. In that mound he prepared him a sepulchre, +and diverted the stream so as to run just by the side of the mound, the +river lightly washing the sepulchre. These things being finished, he +enters into the sepulchre, committing the city and all the government +thereof to his wife; commanding her not to come to him, but to send +his supper daily laid on a sloop, till the sloop should pass by the +sepulchre with the supper untouched; and then she should cease to send, +as supposing him dead. He verily passed in this manner the rest of his +life; but his wife took admirable care of the government, and brought +in a reformation of all things amiss among the people. + + + + +LACONIC APOPHTHEGMS; OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF THE SPARTANS. + + +_Of Agasicles._ + +Agasicles the Spartan king, when one wondered why, since he was a great +lover of instruction, he would not admit Philophanes the Sophist, +freely said, I ought to be their scholar whose son I am. And to one +enquiring how a governor should be secure without guards, he replied, +If he rules his subjects as fathers do their sons. + + +_Of Agesilaus the Great._ + +Agesilaus the Great, being once chosen steward of a feast, and asked by +the butler how much wine he allowed every guest, returned: If you have +a great deal provided, as much as every one calls for; if but a little, +give them all an equal share. When he saw a malefactor resolutely +endure his torments, How great a rascal is this fellow, he cried out, +that uses patience, bravery, and courage, in such an impious and +dishonest case! To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying +petty matters he said, I don’t think that shoemaker a good workman +that makes a great shoe for a little foot. When one in discourse said +to him, Sir, you have assented to such a thing already, and repeated +it very often, he replied, Yes, if it is right; but if not, I said so +indeed but never assented. And the other rejoining, But, sir, a king is +obliged to perform whatever he hath granted by his nod;[177] No more, +he returned, than those that petition him are bound to make none but +good and just requests, and to consider all circumstances of time and +what befits a king. When he heard any praise or censure, he thought it +as necessary to enquire into the character of those that spake as of +those of whom they spake. While he was a boy, at a certain solemnity +of naked dancing, the person that ordered that affair put him in a +dishonorable place; and he, though already declared king, endured it, +saying, I’ll show that it is not the places that grace men, but men +the places. To a physician prescribing him a nice and tedious course +of physic, he said, By Castor and Pollux, unless I am destined to live +at any rate, I surely shall not if I take all this. Whilst he stood by +the altar of Minerva Chalcioecus sacrificing an ox, a louse bit him. +At this he never blushed, but cracked him before the whole company, +adding these words, By all the Gods, it is pleasant to kill a plotter +at the very altar. Another time seeing a boy pull a mouse by the tail +out of his hole, and the mouse turn and bite the boy’s fingers and so +escape; he bade his companions take notice of it, saying, If so little +a creature will oppose injurious violence, what think ye that men ought +to do? + +Being eager for war against the Persians to free the Asiatic Greeks, +he consulted the oracle of Jupiter at Dodona; and that telling him to +go on as he designed, he brought the answer to the Ephors, upon which +they ordered him to go to Delphi and put the same question. He went, +and put it in this form: Apollo, are you of the same mind with your +father? And the oracle agreeing, he was chosen general and the war +began. Now Tissaphernes, at first being afraid of Agesilaus, came to +articles, and agreed that the Greek cities should be free and left to +their own laws; but afterward procuring a great army from the king, he +declared war against him unless he should presently leave Asia. Glad +of this treachery of Tissaphernes, he marched as if his design was +to make an inroad upon Caria; but when Tissaphernes had brought his +troops thither, he turned upon Phrygia, and took a great many cities +and abundance of rich spoil, saying to his friend: To break one’s +promise is indeed impious; but to outwit an enemy is not only just and +glorious, but profitable and sweet. Being inferior to the enemy in +horse, he retreated to Ephesus, and ordered all the wealthy to provide +each a man and horse, which should excuse them from personal service +in his wars. By which means, in the room of rich cowards, he was soon +furnished with stout men and able horses; and this he said he did in +imitation of Agamemnon, who agreed for a serviceable mare to discharge +a wealthy coward. When he ordered the captives to be sold naked and the +chapmen came, a thousand bid money for the clothes, but all derided +the bodies of the men, which were tender and white by reason of their +delicate breeding, as useless and worth nothing. He said to his +soldiers, Look, those are the things for which ye fight, and these are +the things with whom ye fight. Having beaten Tissaphernes in Lydia and +killed many of his men, he wasted the territories of the king; and the +king sending money and desiring a peace, Agesilaus replied: To grant +peace is in the power only of the commonwealth. I delight to enrich my +soldiers rather than myself, and think it agreeable to the honor of the +Greeks not to receive gifts from their enemies but to take spoils. + +Megabates the son of Spithridates, a very pretty boy, who thought +himself very well beloved, coming to him to offer a kiss and an +embrace, he turned away his head. But when the boy had not appeared a +long time, Agesilaus enquired after him; and his friends replied, that +it was his own fault, since he derided the kiss of the pretty boy, and +the youth was afraid to come again. Agesilaus, standing silent and +musing a pretty while, said: Well, I will use no persuasions, for +methinks I had rather conquer such desires than take the most popular +city of my enemies; for it is better to preserve our own than rob +others of their liberty. In all things else he was very exact, and a +strict observer of the law; but in his friends’ concerns he thought +that to be too scrupulous was a bare pretence to cloak unwillingness to +use his interest. And agreeable to this, there is extant a small note +of his, interceding for a friend to one Idrieus a Carian: If Nicias is +not guilty, discharge him; if he is, discharge him for my sake; but by +all means pray let him be discharged. This was his usual humor in his +friends’ concerns, yet sometimes profit and convenience was preferred; +for once breaking up his camp in disorder, and leaving one that he +loved behind him sick, when he begged and beseeched him with tears to +have compassion, he turned and said, How hard it is to be pitiful and +wise at once! His diet was the same with that of his attendants; he +never fed to satisfy, nor drank himself drunk; he used sleep not as a +master, but as a servant to his affairs; and was so fitted to endure +heat or cold, that he alone was undisturbed at the change of seasons. +He lodged amongst his soldiers, and his bed was as mean as any; and +this he had always in his mouth: It befits a governor to excel private +men not in delicacy and softness, but in bravery and courage. And +therefore when one asked him what good Lycurgus’s laws had brought to +Sparta, he replied, Contempt of pleasure. And to one that wondered at +his and the other Lacedaemonians’ mean fare and poor attire, he said, +From this course of life, sir, we reap liberty. And to one advising +him to indulge more, saying, Chance is uncertain, and you may never +have the opportunity again, he replied, I accustom myself so that, let +whatever change happen, I shall need no change. When he was grown old, +he continued the same course; and to one asking him why at his age in +very cold weather he would not wear a coat, he replied, that the youth +may imitate, having the old men and governors for example. + +The Thasians, when he marched through their country, presented him with +corn, geese, sweetmeats, honey-cakes, and all sorts of delicacies, +both of meat and drink; he accepted the corn, but commanded them to +carry back the rest, as useless and unprofitable to him. But they +importunately pressing him to take all, he ordered them to be given +to the Helots; and when some asked the reason, he replied, They that +profess bravery ought not to meddle with such delicacies; and whatever +takes with slaves cannot be agreeable to the free. Another time the +Thasians, after considerable benefits received, made him a God and +dedicated temples to his honor, and sent an embassy to compliment him +on that occasion. When he had read over the honors the ambassadors had +brought him, Well, said he, and can your country make men Gods? And +they affirming, Go to, he rejoined, make yourselves all Gods first; +and when that is done, I’ll believe you can make me one. The Greeks +in Asia decreeing him statues, he wrote thus to them: Let there be no +representation of me, either painted, founded, or engraved. In Asia, +seeing a house roofed with square beams, he asked the master whether +trees in their country were grown square. And he replying, No, but +round; What then, said he, if they grew square, would you make them +round? Being asked how far Sparta’s bounds extended, shaking a spear he +replied, As far as this will reach. And to another enquiring why Sparta +was without walls, he showed the citizens in arms, saying, Look, these +are the walls of Sparta. And to another that put the same question he +replied, Cities should be walled not with stones and timber, but with +the courage of the inhabitants; and his friends he advised to strive to +be rich not in money, but in bravery and virtue. When he would have his +soldiers do any thing quickly, he before them all put the first hand +to it; he was proud that he wrought as much as any, and valued himself +more upon ruling his own desires than upon being king. When one saw a +lame Spartan marching to the war, and endeavored to procure a horse for +him, How, said he, don’t you know that war needs those that will stay, +not those that will fly? Being asked how he got this great reputation, +he replied, By contemning death. And another time, one enquiring why +the Spartans used pipes and music when they fought, he said, When all +move in measure, it may be known who is brave and who a coward. When he +heard one magnifying the king of Persia’s happiness, who was but young, +Yes, said he, Priam himself was not unhappy at that age. + +When he had conquered a great part of Asia, he designed to march +against the King himself, to break his quiet and hinder him from +corrupting the popular men amongst the Greeks; but being recalled by +the Ephors to oppose the designs which the other Greek states, bought +with the King’s gold, were forming against Sparta, he said, A good +ruler should be governed by the laws,—and sailed away from Asia, +leaving the Greeks there extremely sorry at his departure. And because +the stamp of the Persian money was an archer, he said, when he broke +up his camp, that he was driven out of Asia by thirty thousand of the +King’s archers. For so many pieces of gold being carried to Thebes and +Athens by Timocrates, and distributed amongst the popular men, the +people were excited to war upon the Spartans. And this epistle he sent +to the Ephors:— + + + AGESILAUS _to the_ EPHORS, _Greeting._ + + We have subdued a great part of Asia, driven out the barbarians, + and furnished Ionia with arms. But since you command me back, I + follow, nay almost come before this epistle; for I am not governor + for myself, but for the commonwealth. And then a king truly rules + according to justice, when he is governed by the laws, the Ephors, or + others that are in authority in the commonwealth. + +Passing the Hellespont, he marched through Thrace, but made no +applications to any of the barbarians, only sending to know whether he +marched through the country of an enemy or a friend. All the others +received him as friends and guided him in his march; only the Troadians +(of whom, as story says, even Xerxes bought his passage) demanded +of Agesilaus a hundred talents of silver and as many women. But he +scoffingly replied, Why then do not you come presently to receive +what you demand? And leading on his army, he fought them; and having +destroyed a considerable number, he marched through. To the king of +Macedon he sent the same question; and he replying that he would +consider of it. Let him consider, saith he, and we will be marching +on. Upon which the king, surprised at his daring temper and afraid of +his force, admitted him as a friend. The Thessalians having assisted +his enemies, he wasted their country, and sent Xenocles and Scythes to +Larissa in order to make a treaty. These being seized and detained, +all others stomached it extremely, and were of opinion that Agesilaus +should besiege and storm Larissa. But he replying that he would not +give either of their lives for all Thessaly, he had them delivered +upon articles. Hearing of a battle fought near Corinth, in which very +few of the Spartans, but many of the Corinthians, Athenians, and their +allies were slain, he did not appear joyful, or puffed up with his +victory, but fetching a deep sigh cried out, Unhappy Greece, that hath +destroyed herself men enough to have conquered all the barbarians! The +Pharsalians pressing upon him and distressing his forces with five +hundred horse, he charged them, and after the rout raised a trophy at +the foot of Narthacium. And this victory pleased him more than all the +others he had won, because with his single cavalry he had beaten those +that vaunted themselves as the best horsemen in the world. Diphridas +bringing him commands immediately upon his march to make an inroad into +Boeotia,—though he designed the same thing in a short time, when he +should be better prepared,—he obeyed, and sending for twenty thousand +men from the camp at Corinth, marched into Boeotia; and at Coronea +joining battle with the Thebans, Athenians, Argives, Corinthians, and +Locrians altogether, he won, though desperately wounded himself, the +greatest battle (as Xenophon affirms) that was fought in his age. And +yet when he returned, after so much glory and so many victories, he +made no alteration in his course of life. + +When he saw some of the citizens think themselves brave fellows for +breeding horses for the race, he persuaded his sister Cunisca to +get into a chariot and put in for the prize at the Olympian games, +intending by that way to convince the Greeks that it was no argument +of bravery, but of wealth and profuse expense. Having Xenophon the +philosopher at his house, and treating him with great consideration, he +urged him to send for his children and have them brought up in Sparta, +where they might learn the most excellent of arts, how to govern and +how to be governed. And at another time being asked by what means the +Lacedaemonians flourished above others, Because, says he, they are +more studious than others how to rule and how to obey. When Lysander +was dead, he found a strong faction, which Lysander upon his return +from Asia had associated against him, and was very eager to show the +people what manner of citizen Lysander was whilst he lived. And finding +among Lysander’s papers an oration composed by Cleon of Halicarnassus, +about new designs and changing the government, which Lysander was +to speak to the people, he resolved to publish it. But when an old +politician, perusing the discourse and fearing its effect upon the +people, advised him not to dig up Lysander but rather bury the speech +with him, he followed the advice, and made no more of it. Those of the +contrary faction he did not openly molest, but by cunning contrivance +he got some of them into office, and then showed them to be rascals +when in power. And then defending them or getting their pardon when +accused, he brought them over to his own side, so that he had no enemy +at last. To one desiring him to write to his acquaintance in Asia, that +he might have justice done him, he replied, My acquaintance will do +thee justice, though I do not write. One showed him the wall of a city +strongly built and well fortified, and asked him whether he did not +think it a fine thing. Yes, by heaven, he replied, for women, but not +for men to live in. To a Megarian talking great things of his city he +said, Youth, thy words want an army. + +What he saw others admire he seemed not so much as to know; and when +Callipides, a man famous among the Greeks for acting tragedies and +caressed by all, met him and saluted him, and then impudently intruding +amongst his companions showed himself, supposing that Agesilaus +would take notice of him and begin some familiar discourse, and at +last asked, Doth not your majesty know me? Have not you heard who I +am?—he looked upon him and said, Art not thou Callipides, the Merry +Andrew?[178] (For that is the name the Lacedaemonians give an actor.) +Being once desired to hear a man imitate a nightingale, he refused, +saying, I have often heard the bird itself. Menecrates the physician, +for his good success in some desperate diseases, was called Jupiter; +and priding himself in the name, he presumed to write to Agesilaus +thus: Menecrates Jupiter to King Agesilaus wisheth good health. +Reading no more, he presently wrote back: King Agesilaus to Menecrates +wisheth a sound mind. + +When Conon and Pharnabazus with the king’s navy were masters of +the sea and wasted the coasts of Laconia, and Athens—Pharnabazus +defraying the charges—was surrounded with a wall, the Lacedaemonians +made a peace with the Persian; and sending Antalcidas, one of their +citizens, to Tiribazus, they agreed to deliver into the King’s hands +all the Asiatic Greeks, for whose freedom Agesilaus fought. Upon +which account Agesilaus was not at all blemished by this dishonorable +treaty; for Antalcidas was his enemy, and clapped up a peace on purpose +because the war raised Agesilaus and got him glory. When one said, +The Lacedaemonians are becoming medized, he replied, Rather the Medes +are becoming laconized. And being asked which was the better virtue, +courage or justice, he said: Courage would be good for nothing, if +there were no justice; and if all men were just, there would be no +need of courage. The Asians being wont to style the king of Persia The +Great; How, said he, is he greater than I am, if he is not more just +or temperate? And he used to say, The Greeks in Asia are mean-spirited +freemen, but stout slaves. And being asked how one might get the +greatest reputation amongst men, he replied, By speaking the best +and doing the bravest things. And he had this saying commonly in his +mouth, A commander should be daring against his enemy, and kind and +good-natured to his own soldiers. When one asked him what boys should +learn; That, said he, which they shall use when men. When he sat judge +upon a cause, the accuser spake floridly and well; but the defendant +meanly and ever now and then repeated these words, Agesilaus, a king +should assist the laws. What, said he, dost thou think, if any one dug +down thy house or took away thy coat, a mason or a weaver would assist +thee? + +A letter being brought him from the king of Persia by a Persian +that came with Callias the Spartan, after the peace was concluded, +offering him friendship and kind entertainment, he would not receive +it, bidding the messenger tell the king that there was no need to +send private letters to him; for if he was a friend to Sparta and +meant well to Greece, he would do his best to be his friend; but if he +designed upon their liberty, he might know that, though he received +a thousand letters from him, he would be his enemy. He was very fond +of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got +astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being +seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he +had children of his own. When he had fought often with the Thebans +and was wounded in the battle, Antalcidas, as it is reported, said to +him: Indeed, sir, you have received a very fair reward for instructing +the Thebans, whom, when ignorant and unwilling, you have forced to +learn the art of war. For story tells us, the Lacedaemonians at that +time by frequent skirmishes had made the Thebans better soldiers than +themselves. And therefore Lycurgus, the old lawgiver, forbade them to +fight often with the same nation, lest the enemy should learn their +discipline. When he understood that the allies took it very ill, that +in their frequent expeditions they, being great in number, followed +the Spartans that were but few; designing to show their mistake about +the number, he ordered all the allies to sit down in one body and the +Lacedaemonians in another by themselves. Then he made proclamation +that all the potters should rise first; and when they stood up, the +braziers next; then the carpenters, next the masons, and so all other +traders in order. Now almost all the allies stood up and not one of the +Spartans, for their law forbids them all mechanical employments. Then +said Agesilaus, with a smile, See now how many soldiers we provide more +than you. When at the battle of Leuctra many of the Spartans fled and +upon that account were obnoxious to the laws, the Ephors, seeing the +city had but few men and stood in great need of soldiers at that time, +would free them from the infamy and yet still keep the laws in force. +Upon that account they put the power of making laws into the hands of +Agesilaus; and he coming into the assembly said, I will make no new +laws, nor will I add any thing to those you already have, nor take +therefrom, nor change them in any wise; but I will order that the laws +you already have be in force from to-morrow. + +Epaminondas rushing on with a torrent and tide of force, and the +Thebans and their allies being puffed up with this victory, though he +had but an inconsiderable number, Agesilaus repulsed them from the city +and forced them to retreat. In the battle at Mantinea, he advised the +Spartans to neglect the others and fight Epaminondas only, saying: The +wise alone is the stout man, and the cause of victory; and therefore +if we take him off, we shall quickly have the rest; for they are fools +and worth nothing. And it happened accordingly; for Epaminondas having +the better of the day and the Spartans being routed, as he turned about +and encouraged his soldiers to pursue, a Lacedaemonian gave him his +death-wound. He falling, the Spartans that fled with Agesilaus rallied +and turned the victory; the Thebans appearing to have much the worse, +and the Spartans the better of the day. When Sparta had a great many +hired soldiers in pay, and wanted money to carry on the war, Agesilaus, +upon the king of Egypt’s desire, went to serve him for money. But the +meanness of his habit brought him into contempt with the people of +that country; for they, according to their bad notions of princes, +expected that the king of Sparta should appear like the Persian, +gaudily attired. But in a little time he sufficiently convinced them +that majesty and glory were to be gotten by prudence and courage. When +he found his men discouraged at the number of the enemy (for they were +200,000) and their own fewness, just before the engagement, without any +man’s privity, he contrived how to encourage them: in the hollow of his +left hand he wrote VICTORY, and taking the liver from the priest, he +put it into that hand, and held it a pretty while, pretending he was +in doubt and perplexity at some appearance, till the characters were +imprinted on the flesh; and then he showed it to the soldiers, telling +them the Gods gave certain signs of victory by these characters. Upon +which, thinking they had sure evidence of good success, they marched +resolutely to the battle. When the enemy much exceeded them in number +and were making an entrenchment round his camp, and Nectabius, whom +then he assisted, urged him to fight; I would not, said he, hinder our +enemies from making their number as small as ours. And when the trench +was almost drawn round, ordering his army to the space between, and so +fighting upon equal terms, with those few soldiers he had he routed and +killed abundance of the enemy, and sent home a great treasure. Dying +on his voyage from Egypt, he commanded his attendants not to make any +figure or representation of his body; For, said he, if I have done any +brave action, that will preserve my memory; if not, neither will a +thousand statues, the works of base mechanics. + + +_Of Agesipolis the Son of Cleombrotus._ + +Agesipolis the son of Cleombrotus, when one told him that Philip had +razed Olynthus in a few days, said, Well, but he is not able to build +such another in twice that time. To one saying that whilst he was king +he himself was an hostage with some other youths, and not their wives +or children, he replied, Very good, for it is fit we ourselves should +suffer for our own faults. When he designed to send for some whelps +from home, and one said, Sir, none must be carried out of the country, +he replied, Nor men heretofore, but now they may. + + +_Of Agesipolis the Son of Pausanias._ + +Agesipolis the son of Pausanias, when the Athenians appealed to the +Megarians as arbitrators of the differences between them, said, It is +a shame, Athenians, that those who were once the lords of all Greece +should understand what is right and just less than the people of Megara. + + +_Of Agis the Son of Archidamus._ + +Agis the son of Archidamus, when the Ephors gave orders, Go take the +youth, and follow this man into his own country, and he shall guide +thee to the very citadel, said: How can it be prudent to trust so +many youths to the fidelity of him who betrays his own country? Being +asked what art was chiefly learned in Sparta, To know, he replied, +how to govern and to be governed. He used to say, The Spartans do +not enquire how many the enemy are, but where they are. At Mantinea, +being advised not to fight the enemy, who exceeded him in number, he +said, It is necessary for him to fight a great many that would rule +a great many. To one enquiring how many the Spartans were, Enough, +he replied, to keep rascals at a distance. Marching by the walls of +Corinth, and perceiving them to be high and strong and stretching out +to a great length, he said, What women live there? To an orator that +said speech was the best thing, he rejoined, You then, when you are +silent, are worth nothing. When the Argives, after they had been once +beaten, faced him more boldly than before; on seeing many of the allies +disheartened, he said, Courage, sirs! for when we conquerors shake, +what do you think is the condition of the conquered? To an ambassador +from the Abderites, after he had ended his long speech, enquiring what +answer he should carry to his city, he replied, This: As long as you +talked, so long I quietly heard. Some commending the Eleans for exact +justice in determining the prizes at the Olympian games, he said, +What great wonder is it, that in four years they can be just one day? +To some that told him he was envied by the heirs of the other royal +family, Well, said he, their own misfortunes will torment them, and my +own and my friends’ success besides. When one advised him to give the +flying enemy room to run, he said, How shall we fight those that stand +to it and resist, if we dare not engage those whom their cowardice +makes fly? When one proposed a way to free Greece, well contrived +indeed but hard to be brought about, he said, Friend, thy words want +an army and a treasure. To one saying, Philip won’t let you set foot +upon any other part of Greece, he returned, Sir, we have room enough +in our own country. An ambassador from Perinthus to Lacedaemon, after +a long tedious speech, asking what answer he should carry back to the +Perinthians, he said, What but this?—that thou couldst hardly find +an end to thy talk, and I kept silent. He went by himself ambassador +to Philip; and Philip saying, What! but one? he replied, I am an +ambassador but to one. An old man, observing that the ancient laws +were neglected and that new evil customs crept in, said to him, when +he was now grown old himself, All things here at Sparta are turned +topsy-turvy. He replied with a joke: If it is so, it is agreeable to +reason; for when I was a boy, I heard my father say that all things +were then topsy-turvy; and he heard his father say the same; and it is +no wonder if succeeding times are worse than the preceding; but it is +a wonder if they happen to be better, or but just as good. Being asked +how a man could be always free, he replied, If he contemns death. + + +_Of Agis the Younger._ + +Agis the Younger, when Demades said, The Spartans’ swords are so short +that our jugglers can easily swallow them, replied, Yet the Spartans +can reach their enemies with these swords. A base fellow often asking +who was the bravest of the Spartans, he said, He that is most unlike +thee. + + +_Of Agis the Last._ + +Agis, the last king of Lacedaemon, being taken and condemned by the +Ephors without hearing, as he was led to the gallows, saw one of the +officers weeping. Do not weep for me, he said, who, being so unjustly, +so barbarously condemned, am in a better condition than my murderers. +And having spoken thus, he quietly submitted himself to the halter. + + +_Of Acrotatus._ + +Acrotatus, when his parents commanded him to join in some unjust +action, refused for some time; but when they grew importunate, he said: +When I was under your power I had no notion of justice, but now you +have delivered me to my country and her laws, and to the best of your +power have taught me loyalty and justice, I shall endeavor to follow +these rather than you. And since you would have me to do that which is +best, and since just actions are best for a private man and much more +for a governor, I shall do what you would have me, and refuse what you +command. + + +_Of Alcamenes the Son of Teleclus._ + +Alcamenes the son of Teleclus, being asked how a ruler might best +secure his government, replied, By slighting gain. And to another +enquiring why he refused the presents the Messenians made him he said, +Because, if I had taken them, I and the laws could never have agreed. +When one said that though he had wealth enough he lived but meanly, he +replied, Well, it is a glory for one that hath abundance to live as +reason not as appetite directs. + + +_Of Alexandridas._ + +Alexandridas, the son of Leo, said to one that was much concerned at +his banishment from the city, Good sir, be not concerned that you must +leave the city, but that you have left justice. To one that talked to +the Ephors very pertinently but a great deal too much he said, Sir, +your discourse is very good, but ill-timed. And when one asked him why +they let their Helot slaves cultivate the fields, and did not take +care of them themselves, he replied, Because we acquired our land not +caring for it but for ourselves. Another saying, Desire of reputation +causes abundance of mischief, and those are happy that are free from +it; Then, he subjoined, it follows that villains are happy; for do you +think that he that commits sacrilege or doth an injury takes any care +for credit and reputation? Another asking why in a battle the Spartans +venture so boldly into danger, Because, said he, we train ourselves +to have a reverential regard for our lives, not, as others do, to +tremble for them. Another demanding why the judges took so many days +to pass sentence in a capital cause, and why he that was acquitted +still remained liable to be brought to trial, he replied: They consult +so long, because if they make a mistake in judgment and condemn a man +to death, they cannot correct their judgment; and the accused still +remains liable, because this provision might enable them to give even a +better judgment than before. + + +_Of Anaxander the Son of Eurycrates._ + +Anaxander, the son of Eurycrates, to one asking him why the Spartans +laid up no money in the exchequer, replied, that the keepers of it +might not be tempted to be knaves. + + +_Of Anaxilas._ + +Anaxilas, when one wondered for what reason the Ephors did not rise up +to the king, since the kings made them, said, It is for the same reason +for which they are appointed Ephors (or overseers). + + +_Of Androclidas._ + +Androclidas a Spartan, being maimed in his leg, enlisted in the army; +and when some refused him because he was maimed, he said, It must not +be those that can run away, but those that can stand to it, that must +fight the enemy. + + +_Of Antalcidas._ + +Antalcidas, when he was to be initiated in the Samothracian mysteries, +and was asked by the priest what great sin he had committed in all +his life, replied, If I have committed any, the Gods know it already. +To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians illiterate he said, +True; for we alone have learned no ill from you. Another Athenian +saying, We have often beat you back from the Cephissus, he subjoined, +But we never repulsed you from the Eurotas. To another demanding how +one might please most men, he replied, By speaking what delights, +and doing what profits them. A Sophist being about to read him an +encomium of Hercules, he said, Why, who has blamed him? To Agesilaus, +when he was wounded in a battle by the Thebans, he said, Sir, you +have a fine reward for forcing them to learn the art of war; for, by +the many skirmishes Agesilaus had with them, they learned discipline +and became good soldiers. He said, The youth are the walls of Sparta, +and the points of their spears its bounds. To one enquiring why the +Lacedaemonians fought with such short swords, he replied, We come up +close to our enemies. + + +_Of Antiochus._ + +Antiochus, one of the Ephors, when he heard Philip had bestowed some +lands on the Messenians, said, Well, but hath Philip also given them +forces, that they may be able to defend his gift? + + +_Of Aregeus._ + +Aregeus, when some praised not their own but other men’s wives, said: +Faith, about virtuous women there should be no common talk; and what +beauty they have none but their own husbands should understand. As he +was walking through Selinus, a city of Sicily, he saw this epitaph upon +a tomb,— + + Those that extinguished the tyrannic flame, + Surprised by war and hasty fate, + Though they are still alive in lasting fame, + Lie buried near Selinus’ gate;— + +and said: You died deservedly for quenching it when already in a flame; +for you should have hindered it from coming to a blaze. + + +_Of Ariston._ + +Ariston, when one commended the saying of Cleomenes,—who, being asked +what a good king should do, replied, Good turns to his friends, and +evil to his enemies,—said: How much better is it, sir, to do good to +our friends, and make our enemies our friends! Though upon all hands it +is agreed Socrates spoke this first, yet he hath the credit of it too. +To one asking how many the Spartans were in number he replied, Enough +to chase our enemies. An Athenian making a funeral oration in praise of +those that fell by the hand of the Lacedaemonians, he said, What brave +fellows then were ours, that conquered these! + + +_Of Archidamidas._ + +Archidamidas said to one commending Charilas for being kind to all +alike, How can he deserve commendation, that is gentle to the wicked +and unjust? When one was angry with Hecataeus the Sophist because when +admitted to the public entertainment he said nothing, he said, Sir, you +seem not to understand that he that knows how to speak knows also when +to speak. + + +_Of Archidamus the Son of Zeuxidamus._ + +Archidamus the son of Zeuxidamus, when one asked him who were governors +at Sparta, replied, The laws, and the magistrates according to those +laws. To one that praised a fiddler and admired his skill he said, +How must you prize brave men, when you can give a fiddler such a +commendation! When one recommending a musician to him said, This man +plays well upon the harp, he returned, And we have this man who makes +broth well;—as if it were no more to raise pleasure and tickle with +a sound than with meats and broths. To one that promised to make his +wine sweet he said, To what purpose? for we shall spend the more, and +ruin our public mess. When he besieged Corinth, seeing some hares +started under the very walls, he said to his soldiers, Our enemies may +be easily surprised. Two choosing him arbitrator, he brought them both +into the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House, and made them swear to +stand to his determination; and when they had both sworn, he said, I +determine that you shall not go out of this temple, till you have ended +all the differences between you. Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant sending +his daughters some very rich apparel, he refused it, saying, When this +is on, I am afraid they will look ugly and deformed. When he saw his +son rashly engaging the Athenians, he said, Pray get more strength or +less spirit. + + +_Of Archidamus the Son of Agesilaus._ + +Archidamus the son of Agesilaus, when Philip after the battle at +Chaeronea sent him a haughty letter, returned this answer, If you +measure your shadow, you will find it no greater than before the +victory. And being asked how much land the Spartans possessed, he +said, As much as their spears reach. Periander, a physician, being +well skilled in his profession and of good credit, but writing very +bad poems, he said to him, Why, Periander, instead of a good physician +are you eager to be called a bad poet? In the war with Philip, when +some advised him to fight at some distance from his own country, he +replied, Let us not mind that, but whether we shall fight bravely and +beat our enemies. To some who commended him for routing the Arcadians +he said, It had been better if we had been too hard for them in policy +rather than in strength. When he invaded Arcadia, understanding that +the Eleans were ready to oppose him, he wrote thus: Archidamus to the +Eleans; It is good to be quiet. The allies in the Peloponnesian war +consulting what treasure would be sufficient to carry on the war, +and desiring to set the tax, he said, War cannot be put on a certain +allowance. As soon as ever he saw a dart shot out of an engine brought +from Sicily, he cried out, Good God! true valor is gone for ever. When +the Greeks refused to obey him or to stand to those conditions which +he had made with Antigonus and Craterus the Macedonians, but would be +free, alleging that the Spartans would prove more rigorous lords than +the Macedonians, he said: A sheep always uses the same voice, but a man +various and many, till he hath perfected his designs. + + +_Of Astycratidas._ + +Astycratidas, after Agis the king was beaten by Antigonus at +Megalopolis, was asked, What will you Spartans do? will you serve the +Macedonians? He replied, Why so, can Antipater hinder us from dying in +the defence of Sparta? + + +_Of Bias._ + +Bias being surprised by an ambush that Iphicrates the Athenian general +had laid, and his soldiers demanding what must be done, he replied, You +must provide for your own safety, and I must fight manfully and die. + + +_Of Brasidas._ + +Brasidas catching a mouse amongst some dry figs, the mouse bit him; +upon which he let her go, and said to his companions, There is nothing +so little but it may preserve itself, if it dares resist the invaders. +In a battle, being shot through the shield into the body, he drew the +dart out and with it killed the enemy. And one asking how his wound +came, he replied, By the treachery of my shield. As he was leading +forth his army, he wrote to the Ephors, I will accomplish what I +wish in this war, or I will die for it. Being killed as he fought to +free the Greeks in Thrace, the ambassadors that were sent to Sparta +to condole his loss made a visit to his mother Argileonis. And the +first question she asked was, whether Brasidas died bravely. And the +Thracians extolling him and saying there was no such man in the world; +You mistake, sir, said she, it is true, Brasidas was a good man, but +Sparta can show many who are better. + + +_Of Damonidas._ + +Damonidas, when the master of the festival set him in the lowest place +in the choral dance, said, Well, sir, you have found a way to make this +place, which was infamous before, noble and honorable. + + +_Of Damis._ + +Damis to some letters that were sent to him by Alexander, intimating +that he should vote Alexander a God, returned this answer: We are +content that Alexander (if he will) be called a God. + + +_Of Damindas._ + +Damindas, when Philip invaded Peloponnesus, and one said that the +Spartans would suffer great mischiefs unless they accepted his +proposals, said, Thou woman-man, what misery can we suffer that despise +death? + + +_Of Dercyllidas._ + +Dercyllidas, being sent ambassador to Pyrrhus,—who was then with his +army on the borders of Sparta, and required them either to receive +their king Cleonymus, or he would make them know they were no better +than other men,—replied, If he is a God, we do not fear him, for we +have committed no fault; if a man, we are as good as he. + + +_Of Demaratus._ + +Demaratus,—when Orontes talked very roughly to him, and one said, +Demaratus, Orontes uses you very roughly,—replied, I have no reason +to be angry, for those that speak to please do the mischief, not those +that talk out of malice. To one enquiring why they disgrace those +that lose their shields in a battle and not those that lose their +head-pieces or breastplates, he answered, Because these serve for +their private safety only, but their shield for the common defence and +strength of the whole army. Hearing one play upon the harp, he said, +The man seems to play the fool well. In a certain assembly, when he +was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want +of words, he replied, A fool cannot hold his tongue. When one asked +him why being king he fled Sparta, he answered, Because the laws rule +there. A Persian having by many presents enticed the boy that he loved +from him, and saying, Spartan, I have caught your love; No, faith, he +answered, but you have bought him. One having revolted from the king of +Persia, and by Demaratus’s persuasion returning again to his obedience, +and the king designing his death, Demaratus said: It is dishonorable, +O king, whilst he was an enemy not to be able to punish him for his +revolt, and to kill him now he is a friend. To a parasite of the king +that often jeered him about his exile he said: Sir, I will not fight +you, for you have lost your post in life.[179] + + +_Of Emprepes._ + +Emprepes, one of the Ephors, cut out two of the nine strings of Phrynis +the musician’s harp with a hatchet, saying, Do not abuse music. + + +_Of Epaenetus._ + +Epaenetus said that liars were the cause of all villanies and injustice +in the world. + + +_Of Euboidas._ + +Euboidas, hearing some commend another man’s wife, disliked it and +said, Strangers who are not of the house should never speak of the +manner of any woman. + + +_Of Eudamidas the Son of Archidamus._ + +Eudamidas, the son of Archidamus and brother of Agis, seeing +Xenocrates, now grown old, philosophizing in the Academy with some of +his acquaintance, asked what old man that was. And it being answered, +He is a wise man, and one of those that seek after virtue; he replied, +When will he use it, if he is seeking of it now? Another time, when +he heard a philosopher discoursing that none but a learned man could +be a good general, he said, Indeed the discourse is admirable, but +he that makes it is of no credit in this matter, for he hath never +heard a trumpet sound. Just as Xenocrates had finished his discourse, +Eudamidas came into his school, and when one of his companions said, +As soon as we came he ended; So he ought, he replied, if he had spoken +all that was needful on the subject. And the other saying, Yet it were +a pleasant thing to hear him, he replied, If we visited one that had +supped already, should we desire him to sit down again? When one asked +him why, when all the citizens voted a war with the Macedonians, he +appeared for peace, he answered, Because I have no mind to convince +them of their mistake. And when another encouraged them to this war, +mentioning their various victories over the Persians, he said, Sir, you +appear not to see that this would be as absurd as to set upon fifty +wolves because you have beaten a thousand sheep. A musician playing +very well, some asked him what manner of man he was in his opinion, and +he answered, A great seducer in a small matter. Hearing one commending +Athens, he said, Who could have reason to praise that city which no +man ever loved because he had been made better in it? An Argive saying +that the Spartans being taken from their own customs grew worse by +travel, he replied, But you, when you come into Sparta, do not return +worse, but much better. When Alexander ordered by public proclamation +in the Olympic games, that all exiles whatever, except the Thebans, +had free liberty to return to their own country, Eudamidas said: This +is a woful proclamation to you Thebans, but yet honorable; for of all +the Grecians Alexander fears only you. Being asked why before a battle +they sacrificed to the Muses, he replied, That our brave actions may be +worthily recorded. + + +_Of Eurycratidas the Son of Anaxandridas._ + +Eurycratidas the son of Anaxandridas, when one asked him why the Ephor +sat every day to determine causes about contracts, replied, That we may +learn to keep our word even with our enemies. + + +_Of Zeuxidamus._ + +Zeuxidamus, when one asked him why they did not set down all their +laws concerning bravery and courage in writing and let the young men +read them, answered, Because they should be accustomed to mind valiant +actions, rather than books and writings. An Aetolian saying that war +was better than peace for those that would be brave men, No, faith, +said he, but death is better than life. + + +_Of Herondas._ + +Herondas, when one at Athens was condemned for idleness, being informed +of it desired one to show him the man that had been convicted of so +gentlemanly an offence. + + +_Of Thearidas._ + +Thearidas whetting his sword, being asked, Is it sharp, Thearidas? +replied, Yes, sharper than a slander. + + +_Of Themisteas._ + +Themisteas the prophet foretold to King Leonidas his own and his +soldiers’ destruction at Thermopylae, and being commanded by Leonidas +to return to Sparta, under pretence of informing the state how affairs +stood, but really that he might not perish with the rest, he refused, +saying, I was sent as a soldier, not as a courier to carry news. + + +_Of Theopompus._ + +Theopompus, when one asked him how a monarch may be safe, replied, If +he will give his friends just freedom to speak the truth, and to the +best of his power not allow his subjects to be oppressed. To a guest of +his that said, In my own country I am called a lover of the Spartans, +he replied, It would be more honorable for you to be called a lover of +your citizens than a lover of the Spartans. An ambassador from Elis +saying that his city sent him because he was the only man amongst +them that admired and followed the Spartan way of living, Theopompus +asked, And pray, sir, which way is best, yours or the other citizens? +And the ambassador replying, Mine; he subjoined, How then can that +city stand, in which amongst so many inhabitants there is but one good +man? When one said that Sparta was preserved because the kings knew +how to govern; No, he replied, but because the citizens know how to be +governed. The Pylians voting him greater honors, he wrote to them thus, +Moderate honors time augments, but it defaces the immoderate. + + +_Of Thorycion._ + +Thorycion on his return from Delphi, seeing Philip’s army possessed of +the narrow passage at the Isthmus, said, Peloponnesus hath very bad +porters in you Corinthians. + + +_Of Thectamenes._ + +Thectamenes, when the Ephors condemned him to die, went away smiling; +and one of the company asked him whether he despised the judicial +proceedings of Sparta. No, said he, but I am glad that I am ordered to +pay a fine which I can pay out of my own stock, without being beholden +to any man or taking up money upon interest. + + +_Of Hippodamus._ + +Hippodamus, when Agis was joined in command with Archidamus, being sent +with Agis to Sparta to look after affairs there, said, But shall I not +die a more glorious death fighting valiantly in defence of Sparta? He +was above fourscore years of age, yet he put on his armor, fought on +the right hand of the king, and died bravely. + + +_Of Hippocratidas._ + +Hippocratidas, when the governor of Caria sent him word that he had +a Spartan in his hands who concealed a conspiracy that he was privy +to, and asked how he should deal with him, returned this answer: If +you have done him any great kindness, kill him; if not, banish him as +a base fellow, too mean-spirited to be good. A youth whom his lover +followed meeting him and blushing at the encounter, he said: You should +keep such company that, whoever sees you, you will have no reason to +change color. + + +_Of Callicratidas._ + +Callicratidas the admiral, when some of Lysander’s friends desired him +to permit them to kill one of the enemy, and offered fifty talents +for the favor, though he wanted money extremely to buy provision for +his soldiers, refused; and when Cleander urged him, and said, Sir, I +would have taken the money if I were you, he replied, So would I, were +I Cleander. When he came to Sardis to Cyrus the Younger, who was then +an ally of the Lacedaemonians, about a sum of money to equip his navy, +on the first day he ordered his officers to tell Cyrus that he desired +audience; but being told that he was drinking, Well, said he, I shall +stay till he hath done. But understanding that he could not be admitted +that day, he presently left the court, and thereupon was thought a +rude and uncivil fellow. On the next day, when he received the same +answer and could not be admitted, he said, I must not be so eager for +money as to do any thing unbecoming Sparta. And presently he returned +to Ephesus, cursing those who had first endured the insolence of the +barbarians, and had taught them to rely upon their wealth and abuse +others; and he swore to his companions that as soon as ever he came to +Sparta, he would do all that lay in his power to reconcile the Greek +states, that they might be more dreadful to the barbarians, and not +forced to seek assistance from them to ruin one another. Being asked +what manner of men the Ionians were, he replied, Bad freemen, but good +slaves. When Cyrus sent his soldiers their pay, and some particular +presents to himself, he received the pay, but sent back the presents, +saying that there was no need of any private friendship between them, +for the common league with the Lacedaemonians included him. Designing +to engage near Arginusae, when Hermon the pilot said, It is advisable +to tack about, for the Athenians exceed us in number; he exclaimed: +What then! it is base and dishonorable to Sparta to fly, but to stand +to it and die or conquer is brave and noble. As he was sacrificing +before the battle, when he heard the priest presaging that the army +would conquer but the captain fall, undauntedly he said: Sparta doth +not depend on one man; my country will receive no great loss by my +death, but a considerable one by my yielding to the enemy. And ordering +Cleander to succeed as admiral, he readily engaged, and died in the +battle. + + +_Of Cleombrotus the Son of Pausanias._ + +Cleombrotus, the son of Pausanias, when a friend of his contended with +his father which was the best man, said, Sir, my father must be better +than you, till you get a son as well as he. + + +_Of Cleomenes the Son of Anaxandridas._ + +Cleomenes, the son of Anaxandridas, was wont to say that Homer was the +poet of the Lacedaemonians, Hesiod of the Helots; for one taught the +art of war, and the other husbandry. Having made a truce for seven +days with the Argives, he watched his opportunity the third night, +and perceiving them secure and negligent by reason of the truce, he +fell upon them whilst they were asleep, killed some, and took others +prisoners. Upon this being upbraided for breach of articles, he said +that his oath did not extend to night as well as day, and to hurt a +man’s enemies any way, both before God and man, was much better than to +be just. It happened that he missed taking Argos, in hopes of which he +broke his oath; for the women taking the old arms out of the temples +defended the city. And afterwards running stark mad, he seized a knife, +and ripped himself up from the very ankles to the vital parts, and +thus died grinning and laughing. The priest advising him not to march +to Argos,—for he would be forced to a dishonorable retreat,—when he +came near the city and saw the gates shut and the women upon the walls, +he said: What, sir priests, will this be a dishonorable retreat, when, +the men being all lost, the women have shut the gates? When some of the +Argives railed at him as an impious and forsworn wretch, he said, Well, +it is in your power to rail at me, and in mine to mischief you. The +Samian ambassadors urging him to make war on the tyrant Polycrates, and +making long harangues on that account, he said: The beginning of your +speech I don’t remember, and therefore I cannot understand the middle, +and the last I don’t like. A pirate spoiling the country, and when he +was taken saying, I had no provision for my soldiers, and therefore +went to those who had store and would not give it willingly, to force +it from them; Cleomenes said, True villainy goes the shortest way to +work. A base fellow railing at him, he said, Well, I think thou railest +at everybody, that being employed to defend ourselves, we may have no +time to speak of thy baseness. + +One of the citizens saying that a good king should be always mild +and gracious, True, said he, as long as he doth not make himself +contemptible. Being tormented with a long disease, he consulted the +priests and expiators, to whom he formerly gave no credit; and when a +friend of his wondered at the action, Why dost thou wonder, said he, +for I am not the same man I was then; and since I am not the same, +I do not approve the same things. A Sophist discoursing of courage, +he laughed exceedingly; and the Sophist saying, Why do you laugh, +Cleomenes, when you hear one treat of courage, especially since you are +a king? Because, sir, said he, if a swallow should discourse of it, I +should laugh; but if an eagle, I should hearken attentively. + +When the Argives boasted that they would retrieve their defeat by a +new battle, he said, I wonder if the addition of two syllables[180] +has made you braver than you were before. When one railed at him, and +said, Thou art luxurious, Cleomenes; Well, he replied, that is better +than to be unjust; but thou art covetous, although thou art master of +abundance of superfluities. A friend willing to recommend a musician to +him, besides other large commendations, said he was the best musician +in all Greece. Cleomenes, pointing to one that stood by, said, Faith, +sir, that fellow is my best cook. Maeander the Samian tyrant, flying +to Sparta upon the invasion of the Persian, discovering what treasure +he had brought, and offering Cleomenes as much as he would have, +Cleomenes refused, and beside took care that he should not give any +of the citizens a farthing; but going to the Ephors, told them that +it would be good for Sparta to send that Samian guest of his out of +Peloponnesus, lest he should persuade any of the Lacedaemonians to be +a knave. And they taking his advice ordered Maeander to be gone that +very day. One asking why, since they had beaten the Argives so often, +they did not totally destroy them, he replied, That we may have some to +exercise our youth. One demanding why the Spartans did not dedicate +the spoils of their enemies to the Gods, Because, said he, they are +taken from cowards; and such things as are betrayed to us by the +cowardice of the possessors are fit neither for our youth to see, nor +to be dedicated to the Gods. + + +_Of Cleomenes the Son of Cleombrotus._ + +Cleomenes, the son of Cleombrotus, to one that presented him some +game-cocks, and said, Sir, these will die before they run, returned: +Pray let me have some of that breed which will kill these, for +certainly they are the better of the two. + + +_Of Labotus._ + +Labotus said to one that made a long discourse: Why such great +preambles to so small a matter? A speech should be no bigger than the +subject. + + +_Of Leotychidas._ + +Leotychidas the First, when one said he was very inconstant, replied, +My inconstancy proceeds from the variety of times, and not as yours +from innate baseness. And to another asking him what was the best +way to secure his present happiness, he answered, Not to trust all +to Fortune. And to another enquiring what free-born boys should +principally learn, That, said he, which will profit them when they +are grown men. And to another asking why the Spartans drink little, +he replied, That we may consult concerning others, and not others +concerning us. + + +_Of Leotychidas the Son of Aristo._ + +Leotychidas the son of Aristo, when one told him that Demaratus’s sons +spake ill of him, replied, Faith, no wonder, for not one of them can +speak well. A serpent twisting about the key of his inmost door, and +the priests declaring it a prodigy; I cannot think it so, said he, but +it had been one if the key had twisted round the serpent. To Philip, a +priest of Orpheus’s mysteries, in extreme poverty, saying that those +whom he initiated were very happy after death, he said, Why then, you +sot, don’t you die quickly, and bewail your poverty and misery no more? + + +_Of Leo the Son of Eucratidas._ + +Leo the son of Eucratidas, being asked in what city a man might live +with the greatest safety, replied, In that where the inhabitants +have neither too much nor too little; where justice is strong and +injustice weak. Seeing the racers in the Olympian games very solicitous +at starting to get some advantage of one another, he said, How much +more careful are these racers to be counted swift than just! To one +discoursing of some profitable matters out of due season he said, Sir, +you do a very good thing at a very bad time. + + +_Of Leonidas the Son of Anaxandridas._ + +Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas and brother to Cleomenes, when one +said to him, Abating that you are king, you are no better than we, +replied, But unless I had been better than you, I had not been king. +His wife Gorgo, when he went forth to Thermopylae to fight the Persian, +asked him what command he left with her; and he replied, Marry brave +men, and bear them brave children. The Ephors saying, You lead but few +to Thermopylae; They are many, said he, considering on what design we +go. And when they again asked him whether he had any other enterprise +in his thought, he replied, I pretend to go to hinder the barbarians’ +passage, but really to die fighting for the Greeks. When he was at +Thermopylae, he said to his soldiers: They report the enemy is at +hand, and we lose time; for we must either beat the barbarian or die +ourselves. And to another saying, What, the flights of the Persian +arrows will darken the very sun, he said, Therefore it will be pleasant +for us to fight in the shade. And another saying, What, Leonidas, do +you come to fight so great a number with so few?—he returned: If you +esteem number, all Greece is not able to match a small part of that +army; if courage, this number is sufficient. And to another discoursing +after the same manner he said, I have enough, since they are to be +killed. When Xerxes wrote to him thus, Sir, you may forbear to fight +against the Gods, but may follow my interest and be lord of all Greece, +he answered: If you understood wherein consisted the happiness of life, +you would not covet other men’s; but know that I would rather die for +the liberty of Greece than be a monarch over my countrymen. And Xerxes +writing to him again thus, Send me thy arms, he returned, Come and take +them. When he resolved to fall upon the enemy, and his captains of the +war told him he must stay till the forces of the allies had joined +him, he said: Do you think all those that intend to fight are not here +already? Or do you not understand that those only fight who fear and +reverence their kings? And he ordered his soldiers so to dine, as if +they were to sup in another world. And being asked why the bravest +men prefer an honorable death before an inglorious life, he replied, +Because they believe one is the gift of Nature, while the other is +peculiarly their own. Being desirous to save the striplings that were +with him, and knowing very well that if he dealt openly with them none +would accept his kindness, he gave each of them privately letters to +carry to the Ephors. He desired likewise to save three of those that +were grown men; but they having some notice of his design refused the +letters. And one of them said, I came, sir, to be a soldier, and not a +courier; and the second, I shall be a better man if here than if away; +and the third, I will not be behind these, but the first in the fight. + + +_Of Lochagus._ + +Lochagus the father of Polyaenides and Siron, when one told him one of +his sons was dead, said, I knew long ago that he must die. + + +_Of Lycurgus the Lawgiver._ + +Lycurgus the lawgiver, designing to reclaim his citizens from their +former luxury and bring them to a more sober course of life and make +them brave men (for they were then loose and delicate), bred up two +whelps of the same litter; one he kept at home, bred him tenderly, and +fed him well; but the other he taught to hunt, and used him to the +chase. Both these dogs he brought out into the public assembly, and +setting down some scraps of meat and letting go a hare at the same +time, each of the dogs ran greedily to what they had been accustomed. +And the hunter catching the hare, Lycurgus said: See, countrymen, how +these two, though of the same litter, by my breeding them are become +very different; and that custom and exercise conduces more than Nature +to make things brave and excellent. Some say that he did not bring +out two whelps of the same kind, but one a house dog and the other a +hunter; the former of which (though the baser kind) he had accustomed +to the woods, and the other (though more noble) kept lazily at home; +and when in public, each of them pursuing his usual delight, he had +given a clear evidence that education is of considerable force in +raising bad or good inclinations, he said: Therefore, countrymen, our +honorable extraction, that idol of the crowd, though from Hercules +himself, profits us little, unless we learn and exercise all our life +in such famous exploits as made him accounted the most noble and the +most glorious in the world. + +When he made a division of the land, giving each man an equal portion, +it is reported that some while after, in his return from a journey, as +he past through the country in harvest time and saw the cocks of wheat +all equal and lying promiscuously, he was extremely pleased, and with +a smile said to his companions, All Sparta looks like the possession +of many loving brothers who have lately divided their estate. Having +discharged every man from his debts, he endeavored likewise to divide +all movables equally amongst all, that he might have no inequality in +his commonwealth. But seeing that the rich men would hardly endure this +open and apparent spoil, he cried down all gold and silver coin, and +ordered nothing but iron to be current; and rated every man’s estate +and defined how much it was worth upon exchange for that money. By +this means all injustice was banished Sparta; for none would steal, +none take bribes, none cheat or rob any man of that which he could +not conceal, which none would envy, which could not be used without +discovery, or carried into other countries with advantage. Besides, +this contrivance freed them from all superfluous arts; for no merchant, +Sophist, fortune-teller, or mountebank would live amongst them; no +carver, no contriver ever troubled Sparta; because he cried down all +money that was advantageous to them, and permitted none but this iron +coin, each piece of which was an Aegina pound in weight, and less +than a penny in value.[181] Designing farther to check all luxury and +greediness after wealth, he instituted public meals, where all the +citizens were obliged to eat. And when some of his friends demanded +what he designed by this institution and why he divided the citizens, +when in arms, into small companies, he replied: That they may more +easily hear the word of command; and if there are any designs against +the state, the conspiracy may join but few; and besides, that there may +be an equality in the provision, and that neither in meat nor drink, +seats, tables, or any furniture, the rich may be better provided than +the poor. When he had by this contrivance made wealth less desirable, +it being unfit both for use and show, he said to his familiars, What +a brave thing is it, my friends, by our actions to make Plutus appear +(as he is indeed) blind! He took care that none should sup at home and +afterwards, when they were full of other victuals, come to the public +entertainments; for all the rest reproached him that did not feed +with them as a glutton and of too delicate a palate for the public +provision; and when he was discovered, he was severely punished. And +therefore Agis the king, when after a long absence he returned from the +camp (the Athenians were beaten in the expedition), willing to sup at +home with his wife once, sent a servant for his allowance; the officers +refused, and the next day the Ephors fined him for the fault. + +The wealthy citizens being offended at these constitutions made a +mutiny against him, abused, threw stones, and designed to kill him. +Thus pursued, he ran through the market-place towards the temple of +Minerva of the Brazen House, and reached it before any of the others; +only Alcander pursuing close struck him as he turned about, and beat +out one eye. Afterward the commonwealth delivered up this Alcander to +his mercy; but he neither inflicted any punishment nor gave him an +ill word, but kindly entertained him at his own house, and brought +him to be his friend, an admirer of his course of life, and very well +affected to all his laws. Yet he built a monument of this sad disaster +in the temple of Minerva, naming it Optiletis,—for the Dorians in that +country call eyes _optiloi_. Being asked why he used no written laws, +he replied, Because those that are well instructed are able to suit +matters to the present occasion. And another time, when some enquired +why he had ordained that the timber which roofed the houses should +be wrought with the axe only, and the doors with no other instrument +but the saw, he answered: That my citizens might be moderate in every +thing which they bring into their houses, and possess nothing which +others so much prize and value. And hence it is reported that King +Leotychides the First, supping with a friend and seeing the roof +curiously arched and richly wrought, asked him whether in that country +the trees grew square. And some demanding why he forbade them to war +often with the same nation, he replied, Lest being often forced to +stand on their defence, they should get experience and be masters of +our art. And therefore it was a great fault in Agesilaus, that by his +frequent incursions into Boeotia he made the Thebans a match for the +Lacedaemonians. And another asking why he exercised the virgins’ bodies +with racing, wrestling, throwing the bar, and the like, he answered: +That the first rooting of the children being strong and firm, their +growth might be proportionable; and that the women might have strength +to bear and more easily undergo the pains of travail, or, if necessity +should require, be able to fight for themselves, their country, and +their children. Some being displeased that the virgins went about naked +at certain solemnities, and demanding the reason of that custom, he +replied: That using the same exercises with men, they might equal them +in strength and health of body and in courage and bravery of mind, and +be above that mean opinion which the vulgar had of them. And hence goes +the story of Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, that when a stranger, a friend of +hers, said, You Spartan women alone rule men, she replied, Good reason, +for we alone bear men. By ordering that no bachelor should be admitted +a spectator of these naked solemnities and fixing some other disgrace +on them, he made them all eager to be married and get children; +besides, he deprived them of that honor and observance which the young +men were bound to pay their elders. And upon that account none can +blame what was said to Dercyllidas, though a brave captain; for as he +approached, one of the young men refused to rise up and give him place, +saying, You have not begotten any to give place to me. + +When one asked him why he allowed no dowry to be given with a maid, +he answered, that none might be slighted for their poverty or courted +for their wealth, but that every one, considering the manners of the +maid, might choose for the sake of virtue. And for the same reason he +forbade all painting of the face and curiousness in dress and ornament. +To one that asked him why he made a law that before such an age neither +sex should marry, he answered, that the children might be lusty, being +born of persons of full age. And to one wondering why he would not +suffer the husband to lie all night with his wife, but commanded them +to be most of the day and all the night with their fellows, and creep +to their wives cautiously and by stealth, he said: I do it that they +may be strong in body, having never been satiated and surfeited with +pleasure; that they may be always fresh in love, and their children +more strong and lusty. He forbade all perfumes, as nothing but good +oil corrupted, and the dyer’s art, as a flatterer and enticer of the +sense; and he ejected all skilled in ornament and dressing, as those +who by their lewd devices corrupt the true arts of decency and living +well. At that time the women were so chaste and such strangers to that +lightness to which they were afterwards addicted, that adultery was +incredible; and there goes a saying of Geradatas, one of the ancient +Spartans, who being asked by a stranger what punishment the Spartans +appointed for adulterers (for Lycurgus mentioned none), he said, Sir, +we have no adulterers amongst us. And he replying, But suppose there +should be? Geradatas made the same reply; For how (said he) could there +be an adulterer in Sparta, where wealth, delicacy, and all ornaments +are disesteemed, and modesty, neatness, and obedience to the governors +only are in request? When one desired him to establish a democracy in +Sparta, he said, Pray, sir, do you first set up that form in your own +family. And to another demanding why he ordered such mean sacrifices he +answered, That we may always be able to honor the Gods. He permitted +the citizens those exercises only in which the hand is not stretched +out; and one demanding his reason, he replied, That none in any labor +may be accustomed to be weary. And another enquiring why he ordered +that in a war the camp should be often changed, he answered, That we +may damage our enemies the more. Another demanding why he forbade to +storm a castle, he said, Lest my brave men should be killed by a woman, +a boy, or some man of as mean courage. + +When the Thebans asked his advice about the sacrifices and lamentation +which they instituted in honor of Leucothea, he gave them this: If you +think her a Goddess, do not lament; if a woman, do not sacrifice to her +as a Goddess. To some of the citizens enquiring, How shall we avoid +the invasions of enemies, he replied, If you are poor, and one covets +no more than another. And to others demanding why he did not wall his +city he said, That city is not unwalled which is encompassed with men +and not brick. The Spartans are curious in their hair, and tell us +that Lycurgus said, It makes the handsome more amiable, and the ugly +more terrible. He ordered that in a war they should pursue the routed +enemy so far as to secure the victory, and then retreat, saying, it was +unbecoming the Grecian bravery to butcher those that fled; and beside, +it was useful, for their enemies, knowing that they spared all that +yielded and cut in pieces the opposers, would easily conclude that it +was safer to fly than to stand stoutly to it and resist. When one asked +him why he charged his soldiers not to meddle with the spoil of their +slain enemies, he replied, Lest while they are eager on their prey they +neglect their fighting, but also that they may keep their order and +their poverty together. + + +_Of Lysander._ + +Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which +he would to carry to his daughter, said, She can choose best; and so +took both away with him. This Lysander being a very crafty fellow, +frequently using subtle tricks and notable deceits, placing all +justice and honesty in profit and advantage, would confess that truth +indeed was better than a lie, but the worth and dignity of either was +to be defined by their usefulness to our affairs. And to some that +were bitter upon him for these deceitful practices, as unworthy of +Hercules’s family, and owing his success to little mean tricks and +not plain force and open dealing, he answered with a smile, When the +lion’s skin cannot prevail, a little of the fox’s must be used. And +to others that upbraided him for breaking his oaths made at Miletus +he said, Boys must be cheated with cockal-bones, and men with oaths. +Having surprised the Athenians by an ambush near the Goat Rivers and +routed them, and afterwards by famine forced the city to surrender, +he wrote to the Ephors, Athens is taken. When the Argives were in a +debate with the Lacedaemonians about their confines and seemed to have +the better reasons on their side, drawing his sword, he said, He that +hath this is the best pleader about confines. Leading his army through +Boeotia, and finding that state wavering and not fixed on either party, +he sent to know whether he should march through their country with his +spears up or down. At an assembly of the states of Greece, when a +Megarian talked saucily to him, he said, Sir, your words want a city. +The Corinthians revolting, and he approaching to the walls that he saw +the Spartans not eager to storm, while at the same time hares were +skipping over the trenches of the town; Are not you ashamed (said he) +to be afraid of those enemies whose slothfulness suffers even hares +to sleep upon their walls? At Samothrace, as he was consulting the +oracle, the priests ordered him to confess the greatest crime he had +been guilty of in his whole life. What, said he, is this your own, +or the God’s command? And the priests replying, The God’s; said he, +Do you withdraw, and I will tell them, if they make any such demand. +A Persian asking him what polity he liked, That, he replied, which +assigns stout men and cowards suitable rewards. To one that said, Sir, +I always commend you and speak in your behalf,—Well, said he, I have +two oxen in the field, and though neither says one word, I know very +well which is the laborious and which the lazy. To one that railed at +him he said, Speak, sir, let us have it all fast, if thou canst empty +thy soul of those wicked thoughts which thou seemest full of. Some time +after his death, there happening a difference between the Spartans and +their allies, Agesilaus went to Lysander’s house to inspect some papers +that lay in his custody relating to that matter; and there found an +oration composed for Lysander concerning the government, setting forth +that it was expedient to set aside the families of the Europrotidae +and Agidae, to admit all to an equal claim, and choose their king out +of the worthiest men, that the crown might be the reward not of those +that shared in the blood of Hercules, but of those who were like him +for virtue and courage, that virtue that exalted him into a God. This +oration Agesilaus was resolved to publish, to show the Spartans how +much they were mistaken in Lysander and to discredit his friends; but +they say, Cratidas the president of the Ephors fearing this oration, +if published, would prevail upon the people, advised Agesilaus to be +quiet, telling him that he should not dig up Lysander, but rather bury +that oration with him, being so cunningly contrived, so powerful to +persuade. Those that courted his daughters, and when at his death he +appeared to be poor forsook them, the Ephors fined, because whilst they +thought him rich they caressed him, but scorned him when by his poverty +they knew him to be just and honest. + + +_Of Namertes._ + +Namertes being on an embassy, when one of that country told him he was +a happy man in having so many friends, asked him if he knew any certain +way to try whether a man had many friends or not; and the other being +earnest to be told, Namertes replied, Adversity. + + +_Of Nicander._ + +Nicander, when one told him that the Argives spake very ill of him, +said, Well, they suffer for speaking ill of good men. And to one +that enquired why they wore long hair and long beards, he answered, +Because man’s natural ornaments are the handsomest and the cheapest. +An Athenian saying, Nicander, you Spartans are extremely idle; You +say true, he answered, but we do not busy ourselves like you in every +trifle. + + +_Of Panthoidas._ + +When Panthoidas was ambassador in Asia and some showed him a strong +fortification, Faith, said he, it is a fine cloister for women. In the +Academy, when the philosophers had made a great many and excellent +discourses, and asked Panthoidas how he liked them; Indeed, said he, I +think them very good, but of no profit at all, since you yourselves do +not use them. + + +_Of Pausanias the Son of Cleombrotus._ + +Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus, when the Delians pleaded their +title to the island against the Athenians, and urged that according +to their law no women were ever brought to bed or any carcass buried +in the isle, said, How then can that be your country, in which not +one of you was born or shall ever lie? The exiles urging him to march +against the Athenians, and saying that, when he was proclaimed victor +in the Olympic games, these alone hissed; How, says he, since they +hissed whilst we did them good, what do you think they will do when +abused? When one asked him why they made Tyrtaeus the poet a citizen, +he answered, That no foreigner should be our captain. A man of a weak +and puny body advising to fight the enemy both by sea and land; Pray, +sir, says he, will you strip and show what a man you are who advise +to engage? When some amongst the spoils of the barbarians admired the +richness of their clothes; It had been better, he said, that they had +been men of worth themselves than that they should possess things +of worth. After the victory over the Medes at Plataea, he commanded +his officers to set before him the Persian banquet that was already +dressed; which appearing very sumptuous, By heaven, quoth he, the +Persian is an abominable glutton, who, when he hath such delicacies at +home, comes to eat our barley-cakes. + + +_Of Pausanias the Son of Plistoanax._ + +Pausanias the son of Plistoanax replied to one that asked him why it +was not lawful for the Spartans to abrogate any of their old laws, +Because men ought to be subject to laws, and not the laws to men. When +banished and at Tegea, he commended the Lacedaemonians. One said to +him, Why then did you not stay at Sparta? And he returned, Physicians +are conversant not amongst the healthy, but the diseased. To one +asking him how they should conquer the Thracians, he replied, If we +make the best man our captain. A physician, after he had felt his +pulse and considered his constitution, saying, He ails nothing; It +is because, sir, he replied, I use none of your physic. When one of +his friends blamed him for giving a physician an ill character, since +he had no experience of his skill nor received any injury from him; +No, faith, said he, for had I tried him, I had not lived to give this +character. And when the physician said, Sir, you are an old man; That +happens, he replied, because you were never my doctor. And he was used +to say, that he was the best physician, who did not let his patients +rot above ground, but quickly buried them. + + +_Of Paedaretus._ + +Paedaretus, when one told him the enemies were numerous, said, +Therefore we shall get the greater reputation, for we shall kill +the more. Seeing a man soft by nature and a coward commended by the +citizens for his lenity and good disposition, he said, We should not +praise men that are like women, nor women that are like men, unless +some extremity forceth a woman to stand upon her guard. When he was +not chosen into the three hundred (the chief order in the city), he +went away laughing and very jocund; and the Ephors calling him back and +asking why he laughed, Why, said he, I congratulate the happiness of +the city, that enjoys three hundred citizens better than myself. + + +_Of Plistarchus._ + +Plistarchus the son of Leonidas, to one asking him why they did not +take their names from the first kings, replied, Because the former were +rather captains than kings, but the later otherwise. A certain advocate +using a thousand little jests in his pleading; Sir, said he, you do not +consider that, as those that often wrestle are wrestlers at last, so +you by often exciting laughter will become ridiculous yourself. When +one told him that an notorious railer spoke well of him; I’ll lay my +life, said he, somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well +of no man living. + + +_Of Plistoanax._ + +Plistoanax the son of Pausanias, when an Athenian orator called the +Lacedaemonians unlearned fellows, said, ’Tis true, for we alone of all +the Greeks have not learned any ill from you. + + +_Of Polydorus._ + +Polydorus the son of Alcamenes, when one often threatened his enemies, +said to him, Do not you perceive, sir, that you waste a great part of +your revenge? As he marched his army against Messene, a friend asked +him if he would fight against his brothers? No, said he, but I put in +for an estate to which none, as yet, hath any good title. The Argives +after the fight of the three hundred being totally routed in a set +battle, the allies urged him not to let the opportunity slip, but storm +and take the city of the enemy; for it would be very easy, now all +the men were destroyed and none but women left. He replied: I love to +vanquish my enemies when I fight on equal terms; nor do I think it just +in him who was commissioned to contest about the confines of the two +states, to desire to be master of the city; for I came only to recover +our own territories and not to seize theirs. Being asked once why the +Spartans ventured so bravely in battle; Because, said he, we have +learned to reverence and not fear our leaders. + + +_Of Polycratidas._ + +Polycratidas being joined with others in an embassy to the lieutenants +of the king, being asked whether they came as private or public +persons, returned, If we obtain our demands, as public; if not, as +private. + + +_Of Phoebidas._ + +Phoebidas, just before the battle at Leuctra, when some said, This day +will show who is a brave man, replied, ’Tis a fine day indeed that can +show a brave man alive. + + +_Of Soos._ + +It is reported of Soos that, when his army was shut up by the +Clitorians in a disadvantageous strait and wanted water, he agreed to +restore all the places he had taken, if all his men should drink of the +neighboring fountain. Now the enemy had secured the spring and guarded +it. These articles being sworn to, he convened his soldiers, and +promised to give him the kingdom who would forbear drinking; but none +accepting it, he went to the water, sprinkled himself, and so departed, +whilst the enemies looked on; and he therefore refused to restore the +places, because he himself had not drunk. + + +_Of Telecrus._ + +Telecrus, to one reporting that his father spake ill of him, replied, +He would not speak so unless he had reason for it. When his brother +said, The citizens have not that kindness for me they have for you, but +use me more coarsely, though born of the same parents, he replied, You +do not know how to bear an injury, and I do. Being asked what was the +reason of that custom among the Spartans for the younger to rise up +in reverence to the elder, Because, said he, by this behavior towards +those to whom they have no relation, they may learn to reverence their +parents more. To one enquiring what wealth he had, he returned, No more +than enough. + + +_Of Charillus._ + +Charillus being asked why Lycurgus made so few laws; Because, he +replied, those whose words are few need but few laws. Another enquiring +why their virgins appear in public unveiled, and their wives veiled; +Because, said he, virgins ought to find husbands, married women keep +those they have. To a slave saucily opposing him he said, I would kill +thee if I were not angry. And being asked what polity he thought best; +That, said he, in which most of the citizens without any disturbance +contend about virtue. And to a friend enquiring why amongst them all +the images of the Gods were armed he replied, That those reproaches we +cast upon men for their cowardice may not reflect upon the Gods, and +that our youth may not supplicate the Deities unarmed. + + + + +THE REMARKABLE SPEECHES OF SOME OBSCURE MEN AMONGST THE SPARTANS. + + +When the Samian ambassadors had made a long harangue, the Spartans +answered, We have forgot the first part, and so cannot understand the +last. To the Thebans violently contesting with them about something +they replied, Your spirit should be less, or your forces greater. A +Lacedaemonian being asked why he kept his beard so long; That seeing +my gray hairs, he replied, I may do nothing but what becomes them. +One commending the best warriors, a Spartan that overheard said, At +Troy. Another, hearing that some forced their guests to drink after +supper, said, What! not to eat too? Pindar in his poems having called +Athens the prop of Greece, a Spartan said, Greece would soon fall if it +leaned on such a prop. When one, seeing the Athenians pictured killing +the Spartans, said, The Athenians are stout fellows; Yes, subjoined a +Spartan, in a picture. To one that was very attentive to a scandalous +accusation a Spartan said, Pray, sir, be not prodigal of your ears +against me. And to one under correction that cried out, I offend +against my will, another said, Therefore suffer against thy will. One +seeing some journeying in a chariot said, God forbid that I should sit +where I cannot rise up to reverence my elders. Some Chian travellers +vomiting after supper in the consistory, and dunging in the very seats +of the Ephors, first they made strict inquiry whether the offenders +were citizens or not; but finding they were Chians, they publicly +proclaimed that they gave the Chians leave to be filthy and uncivil. + +When one saw a merchant sell hard almonds at double the price that +others were usually sold at, he said, Are stones scarce? Another +pulling a nightingale, and finding but a very small body, said, Thou +art voice and nothing else. Another Spartan, seeing Diogenes the Cynic +in very cold weather embrace a brazen statue, asked whether he was +not very cold; and he replying, No, he rejoined, What great matter +then is it that you do? A Metapontine, being jeered by a Spartan for +cowardice, replied, Nay, sir, we are masters of some of the territories +of other states; Then, said the Spartan, you are not only cowards but +unjust. A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a +Lacedaemonian, I do not believe you can do as much; True, said he, +but every goose can. To one valuing himself upon his skill in oratory +a Spartan said, By heaven, there never was and never can be any art +without truth. An Argive saying, We have the tombs of many Spartans +amongst us; a Spartan replied, But we cannot show the grave of one +Argive; meaning that they had often invaded Argos, but the Argives +never Sparta. A Spartan that was taken captive and to be sold,—when +the crier said, Here’s a Spartan to be sold,—stopped his mouth, +saying, Cry a captive. One of the soldiers of Lysimachus, being asked +by him whether he was a true Spartan or one of the Helot slaves, +replied, Do you imagine a Lacedaemonian would serve you for a groat a +day? The Thebans, having beaten the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, marched +to the river Eurotas itself, where one of them boasting said, Where are +the Spartans now? To whom a captive replied, They are not at hand, sir, +for if they had been, you had not come so far. The Athenians, having +surrendered their own city to the Spartans, requested that they might +be permitted to enjoy Samos only; upon which the Spartans said, When +you are not at your own disposal, would you be lords of others? And +hence came that proverb, He that is not master of himself begs Samos. + +When the Lacedaemonians had taken a town by storm, the Ephors said, The +exercise of our youth is lost, for now they will have none to contend +with them. The Persian offering to raze a city that had frequent +quarrels and skirmishes with the Spartans, they desired him to forbear +and not take away the whetstone of their youth. They appointed no +masters to instruct their boys in wrestling, that they might contend +not in sleights of art and little tricks, but in strength and courage; +and therefore Lysander, being asked by what means Charon was too hard +for him, replied, By sleights and cunning. When Philip, having entered +their territories, sent to know whether he should come as an enemy or +a friend, the Spartans returned, Neither. Hearing that the ambassador +they had sent to Antigonus the son of Demetrius had called him king, +they fined him, though he had obtained of him in a time of scarcity a +bushel of wheat for every person in the city. A vicious person giving +excellent good counsel, they received it, but took it from him and +attributed it to another, a man regular and of a good life. When some +brothers differed, they fined the father for neglecting his sons and +suffering them to be at strife. They fined likewise a musician that +came amongst them, for playing the harp with his fingers. Two boys +fighting, one wounded the other mortally with a hook. And when his +acquaintance, just as he was dying, vowed to revenge his death and +have the blood of him that killed him; By no means, saith he, it is +unjust, for I had done the same thing if I had been stout and more +speedy in my stroke. Another boy, at the time when freemen’s sons are +allowed to steal what they can and it is a disgrace to be discovered, +when some of his companions had stolen a young fox and delivered it +to him, and the owners came to search, hid it under his gown; and +though the angry little beast bit through his side to his very guts, he +endured it quietly, that he might not be discovered. When the searchers +were gone and the boys saw what had happened, they chid him roundly, +saying, It had been better to produce the fox, than thus to conceal +him by losing your own life; No, no! he replied, it is much better +to die in torments, than to let my softness betray me and suffer a +life that had been scandalous. Some meeting certain Spartans upon the +road said, Sirs, you have good luck, for the robbers are just gone. +Faith, they replied, they have good luck that they did not meet with +us. A Lacedaemonian, being asked what he knew, answered, To be free. +A Spartan boy, being taken by Antigonus and sold, obeyed his master +readily in every thing that he thought not below a freeman to do; but +when he was commanded to bring a chamber-pot, unable to contain he +said, I will not serve; but his master pressing him, he ran to the +top of the house, and saying, You shall find what you have bought, +threw himself down headlong and died. Another being to be sold, when +the chapman asked him, Wilt thou be towardly if I buy thee? Yes, he +returned, and if you do not buy me. Another captive, when the crier +said, Here’s a slave to be sold, cried out, You villain, why not a +captive? A Spartan, who had a fly engraven on his shield no bigger than +Nature hath made that creature, when some jeered him as if he did it on +purpose that he might not be taken notice of, replied: It is that I may +be known; for I advance so near my enemies that they can well perceive +my impress, as little as it is. Another, when at an entertainment a +harp was brought in, said, It is not the custom of the Spartans to play +the fool. A Spartan being asked whether the way to Sparta was safe or +not, replied: That is according as you go down thither; for lions that +approach rue their coming, and hares we hunt in their very coverts. A +Spartan wrestling, when he could not make his adversary that had got +the upper hand of him loose his hold, and was unable to avoid the fall, +bit him by the arm; and the other saying, Spartan, thou bitest like a +woman; No, said he, but like a lion. A lame man, marching out to war +and being laughed at, said, There is no need of those that can run +away, but of those that can stand to it and defend their post. Another +being shot through said with his last breath: It doth not trouble +me that I die, but that I should be killed by a woman before I had +performed some notable exploit. One coming into an inn and giving the +host a piece of meat to make ready for him,—when the host demanded +some cheese and oil besides,—What! says the Spartan, if I had cheese +should I want meat? When one called Lampis of Aegina happy, because +he seemed a rich man, having many ships of his own at sea, a Spartan +said, I do not like that happiness that hangs by a cord. One telling +a Spartan that he lied, the Spartan returned: True, for we are free; +but others, unless they speak truth, will suffer for it. When one had +undertaken to make a carcass stand upright, and tried every way to no +purpose; Faith, said he, there wants something within. Tynnichus bore +his son Thrasybulus’s death very patiently, and there is this epigram +made upon him:— + + Stout Thrasybulus on his shield was brought + From bloody fields, where he had bravely fought, + The Argives beat, and as he stoutly prest, + Seven spears, and Death attending, pierced his breast. + The father took the corpse, and as he bled, + He laid it on the funeral pile, and said: + Be cowards mourned, I’ll spend no tear nor groan, + Whilst thus I burn a Spartan and my son. + +The keeper of the bath allowing more water than ordinary to Alcibiades +the Athenian, a Spartan said, What! is he more foul, that he wants more +than others? Philip making an inroad upon Sparta, and all the Spartans +expecting to be cut off, he said to one of them, Now what will you +Spartans do? And he replied: What, but to die bravely? for only we of +all the Greeks have learned to be free and not endure a yoke. When Agis +was beaten and Antipater demanded fifty boys for hostages, Eteocles, +one of the then Ephors, answered: Boys we will not give, lest swerving +from the customs of their country they prove slothful and untoward, +and so incapable of the privilege of citizens; but of women and old +men you shall have twice as many. And when upon refusal he threatened +some sharp afflictions, he returned: If you lay upon us somewhat worse +than death, we shall die the more readily. An old man in the Olympic +games being desirous to see the sport, and unprovided of a seat, went +about from place to place, was laughed and jeered at, but none offered +him the civility; but when he came to the Spartans’ quarter, all the +boys and some of the men rose from their seats, and made him room. At +this, all the Greeks clapped and praised their behavior; upon which +the good old man shaking his hoary hairs, with tears in his eyes, said: +Good God! how well all the Greeks know what is good, and yet only the +Lacedaemonians practise it! And some say the same thing was done at +Athens. For at the great solemnity of the Athenians, the Panathenaic +festival, the Attics abused an old man, calling him as if they designed +to make room for him, and when he came putting him off again; and when +after this manner he had passed through almost all, he came to that +quarter where the Spartan spectators sat, and all of them presently +rose up and gave him place; the whole multitude, extremely taken with +this action, clapped and shouted; upon which one of the Spartans said: +By Heaven, these Athenians know what should be done, but are not much +for doing it. A beggar asking an alms of a Lacedaemonian, he said: +Well, should I give thee any thing, thou wilt be the greater beggar, +for he that first gave thee money made thee idle, and is the cause of +this base and dishonorable way of living. Another Spartan, seeing a +fellow gathering charity for the Gods’ sake, said, I will never regard +those as Gods that are poorer than myself. Another, having taken one +in adultery with an ugly whore, cried out, Poor man, how great was thy +necessity! Another, hearing an orator very lofty and swelling in his +speech, said, Faith, this is a brave man, how excellently he rolls his +tongue about nothing! A stranger being at Sparta, and observing how +much the young men reverenced the old, said, At Sparta alone it is +desirable to be old. A Lacedaemonian, being asked what manner of poet +Tyrtaeus was, replied, Excellent to whet the courage of our youth. +Another that had very sore eyes listed himself a soldier; when some +said to him, Poor man, whither in that condition, and what wilt thou +do in a fight? He returned, If I can do nothing else, I shall blunt +the enemies’ sword. Buris and Spertis, two Lacedaemonians, going +voluntarily to Xerxes the Persian to suffer that punishment which the +oracle had adjudged due to Sparta for killing those ambassadors the +King had sent, as soon as they came desired Xerxes to put them to death +as he pleased, that they might make satisfaction for the Spartans. But +he, surprised at this gallantry, forgave the men and desired their +service in his court; to which they replied, How can we stay here, and +leave our country, our laws, and those men for whom we came so far to +die? Indarnes the general pressing them to make peace, and promising +them equal honors with the King’s greatest favorites, they returned, +Sir, you seem to be ignorant of the value of liberty, which no man in +his wits would change for the Persian empire. A Spartan in a journey, +when a friend of his had purposely avoided him the day before, and the +next day, having obtained very rich furniture, splendidly received +him, trampled on his tapestry saying, This was the cause why I had not +so much as a mat to sleep upon last night. Another coming to Athens, +and seeing the Athenians crying salt-fish and dainties to sell up and +down the streets, others gathering taxes, keeping stews, and busied +about a thousand such dishonest trades, and looking on nothing as base +and unbecoming; after his return, when his acquaintance enquired how +things were at Athens, he replied, All well; intimating by this irony +that all things there were esteemed good and commendable, and nothing +base. Another, being questioned about something, denied it; and the +enquirer rejoining, Thou liest, he replied: And art not thou a fool to +ask me what you know yourself very well? Some Lacedaemonians being sent +ambassadors to the tyrant Lygdamis, pretending sickness he deferred +their audience a long time. They said to one of his officers, Pray, +sir, assure him that we did not come to wrestle but to treat with him. +A priest initiating a Spartan in holy mysteries asked him what was the +greatest wickedness he was ever guilty of. And he replying, The Gods +know very well, and the priest pressing him the more and saying he +must needs discover, the Spartan asked, To whom? to thee or the God? +And the priest saying, To the God, he rejoined, Then do you withdraw. +Another at night passing by a tomb and imagining he saw a ghost, made +towards it with his spear, and striking it through cried out, Whither +dost thou fly, poor twice dead ghost? Another having vowed to throw +himself headlong from the Leucadian rock, when he came to the top and +saw the vast precipice, he went down again; upon which being jeered by +an acquaintance, he said, I did not imagine that one vow needed another +that was greater. Another in a battle had his sword lifted up to kill +his enemy, but the retreat being sounded, he did not let the blow +fall; and when one asked him why, when his enemy was at his mercy, he +did not use the advantage, Because, said he, it is better to obey my +leader than kill my enemy. One saying to a Spartan that was worsted in +the Olympic games, Spartan, thy adversary was the better man; No, he +replied, but the better tripper. + + + + +OF HEARING. + + +_The Introduction._ + +1. I have sent, Nicander, the reflections of some spare hours +concerning Hearing, digested into the following short essay, that +being out of the hands of governors and come to man’s estate, you may +know how to pay a proper attention to those who would advise you. For +that libertinism which some wild young fellows, for want of more happy +education, mistake for liberty, subjects them to harder tyrants than +their late tutors and masters, even to their own vicious inclinations, +which, as it were, break loose upon them. And as Herodotus observes of +women, that they put off modesty with their shift,[182] so some young +men lay aside with the badges of minority all the sense of shame or +fear, and divested of the garment of modesty which sat so well upon +them are covered with insolence. But you, who have often heard that +to follow God and to obey reason are all one, cannot but believe that +men of best sense in passing from minority to manhood do not throw +off the government, but simply change their governor. In the room of +some mercenary pedant, they receive that divine guide and governor +of human life, reason, under whose subjection alone men are properly +said to live in freedom. For they only live at their own will who have +learned to will as they ought; and that freedom of will which appears +in unconstrained appetites and unreasonable actions is mean and narrow, +and accompanied with much repentance. + +2. For as newly naturalized citizens who were entire strangers and +aliens are apt to disrelish many administrations of the government; +while those who have previously lived in the country, bred up under +the constitution and acquainted with it, act without difficulty in +their several stations, well satisfied with their condition; in like +manner, a man should for a long time have been bred up in philosophy, +and accustomed from his earliest years to receive his lessons and +instruction mingled with philosophic reason, that so he may come at +last as a kind and familiar friend to philosophy, which alone can +array young men in the perfect manly robes and ornaments of reason. +Therefore, I believe, some directions concerning hearing will not be +ill received by you. + + +_Remarks about Hearing in general._ + +Of this Theophrastus affirms, that it is the most sensitive of all the +senses. For the several objects of sight, tasting, and feeling do not +excite in us so great disturbances and alterations as the sudden and +frightful noises which assault us only at the ears. Yet in reality this +sense is more rational than sensitive. For there are many organs and +other parts of the body which serve as avenues and inlets to the soul +to give admission to vice; there is but one passage of virtue into +young minds, and that is by the ears, provided they be preserved all +along free from the corruptions of flattery and untainted with lewd +discourses. For this reason Xenocrates was of opinion that children +ought to have a defence fitted to their ears rather than fencers or +prize-players, because the ears only of the latter suffered by the +blows, but the morals of the former were hurt and maimed by words. Not +that he thereby recommended deafness, or forbade that they should be +suffered to hear at all; but he advised only that debauchery might be +kept out, till better principles, like so many guardians appointed +by philosophy, had taken charge of that part which is so liable to +be drawn aside and corrupted by discourse. And Bias of old, being +ordered by Amasis to send him the best and withal the worst part of +the sacrifice, sent the tongue; because the greatest benefits and +disadvantages are derived to us thereby. Thus again many diverting +themselves with children touch their ears, bidding them return the like +again; by which they seem to intimate to them that such best deserve +their love and esteem whose obligations enter at the ears. This is +evident, that he that has lain fallow all his days, without tasting +instruction, will not only prove barren and unfruitful of virtue, +but very inclinable to vice; for an uncultivated mind, like untilled +ground, will soon be overrun with weeds. For if that violent propensity +of the mind to pleasure, and jealousy of all that carries any show of +pain,—which proceed not from external causes or received prejudices, +but are the natural springs of evil affections and infinite diseases +of the mind,—are suffered to take their course, and not restrained, +or diverted some other way by wholesome instructions, there can be no +beast so savage that it may not be called tame and civilized in respect +of such a man. + + +_More General Rules about Hearing._ + +3. Since then it appears that hearing is of so great use and no less +danger to young men, I think it a very commendable thing for such a one +to reflect continually with himself, and consult often with others, how +he may hear with benefit. And in this particular we may observe many to +have been mistaken, that they practise speaking before they have been +used enough to hearing. Speaking they think will require some study +and attention, but hearing cannot be a thing of any difficulty. Those +indeed who play the game of tennis learn at the same time how to throw +and how to catch the ball; but in the exercise of the tongue, we ought +to practise how to talk well before we pretend to return, as conception +and retention of the foetus precede childbirth. When fowls let fall +wind-eggs, it is usually said that they are the rudiments of imperfect +fruits which will never quicken and have life; and when young men +either hear not at all or retain not what they hear, their discourse +comes from them altogether as useless and full of wind, + + And vain and unregarded turns to air. + +In filling one vessel from another, they take care to incline and +turn it so that nothing be spilled, and that it may be really filling +and not emptying; but they think it not worth the heeding to regulate +their attention and apply themselves with advantage to a speaker, that +nothing of importance may fall beside or escape them. Yet, what is +beyond comparison ridiculous, if they happen upon any one who has a +knack at describing an entertainment or a show, or can relate his dream +well, or give an handsome account of a quarrel between himself and +another, such a one they hear with the greatest attention, they court +him to proceed, and importune him for every circumstance. Whereas, let +another call them about him for any thing useful, to exhort to what is +decent or reprehend what is irregular, or to make up a quarrel, they +have not temper enough to away with it, but they fight with all their +might to put him down by argument, if they are able, or if not, they +haste away to more agreeable fopperies; as if their ears, like faulty +earthen vessels, might be filled with any thing but what is useful or +valuable. But as jockeys take great care in breeding horses to bring +them to rein right and endure the bit, so such as have the care of +educating children should breed them to endure hearing, by allowing +them to speak little and hear much. And Spintharus, speaking in +commendation of Epaminondas, says he scarce ever met with any man who +knew more and spoke less. Some again make the observation, that Nature +has given every man two ears and but one tongue, as a secret intimation +that he ought to speak less than he hears. + + +_Directions concerning Attention._ + +4. Well then, silence is at all times a singular ornament of a youth, +but especially if he does not interrupt the speaker nor carp and except +at every thing he says, but patiently expects the conclusion, though +his discourse be none of the best; and when he has done, if he does not +presently come over him with an objection, but (as Aeschines directs) +allows time to add, if he please, to what has been said, or to alter, +or retract. Whereas such as turn too suddenly upon a speaker neither +hear nor are heard themselves, but senselessly chatter to one another, +and sin against the laws and rules of decorum. But he that brings along +with him a modest and unwearied attention has this advantage, that +whatever is beneficial in the discourse he makes his own, and he more +readily discovers what is false or impertinent, appearing all the while +a friend to truth rather than to squabbling or rashness. Therefore +it was not ill said, that such as design to infuse goodness into +the minds of youth must first exclude thence pride and self-conceit +more carefully than we squeeze air out of bladders which we wish to +fill with something useful; because, while they are puffed up with +arrogance, there is no room to admit any thing else. + +5. Thus again, envy and detraction and prejudice are in no case good, +but always a great impediment to what is so; yet nowhere worse than +when they are made the bosom friends and counsellors of a hearer, +because they represent the best things to him as unpleasant and +impertinent, and men in such circumstances are pleased with any thing +rather than what deserves their applause. Yet he that grieves at the +wealth, glory, or beauty of any is but simply envious, for he repines +only at the good of others; but he that is ill-natured to a good +speaker is an enemy to his own happiness. For discourse to an hearer, +like light to the eye, is a great benefit, if he will make the best use +of it. Envy in all other instances carries this pretence with it, that +it is to be referred to the depraved and ungovernable affections of +the mind, but that which is conceived against a speaker arises from an +unjust presumption and vain-glorious affectation of praise. + +In such a case, the man has not leisure to attend to what he hears; +his soul is in continual hurry and disturbance, at one time examining +her own habits and endowments, if any way inferior to the speaker; +anon, watching the behavior and inclination of others, if inclined to +praise or admire his discourse; disordered at the praise and enraged +at the company, if he meet with any encouragement. She easily lets +slip and willingly forgets what has been said, because the remembrance +is a pain and vexation to her; she hears what is to come with a great +deal of uneasiness and concern, and is never so desirous that the +speaker should hasten to an end, as when he discourses best. After all +is over, she considers not what was said, but has respect only to the +common vogue and disposition of the audience; she avoids and flies +like one distracted such as seem to be pleased, and herds among the +censorious and perverse. If she finds nothing to pervert, then she puts +forward other speakers, who (as she asserts) have spoken better and +with greater force of argument on the same subject. Thus, by abusing +and corrupting what was said, she defeats the use and effect of it on +herself. + +6. He therefore who comes to hear must for the time come to a kind +of truce and accommodation with vain-glory, and preserve the same +evenness and cheerfulness of humor he would bring with him if he were +invited to a festival entertainment or the first-fruits’ sacrifice, +applauding the orator’s power when he speaks to the purpose, and where +he fails receiving kindly his readiness to communicate what he knows +and to persuade others by what wrought upon himself. Where he comes +off with success, he must not impute it to chance or peradventure, +but attribute all to study and diligence and art, not only admiring +but studiously emulating the like; where he has done amiss, he must +pry curiously into the causes and origin of the mistake. For what +Xenophon says of discreet house-keepers, that they make an advantage +of their enemies as well as their friends, is in some sort true of +vigilant and attentive hearers, who reap no less benefit from an ill +than a good orator. For the meanness and poverty of a thought, the +emptiness and flatness of an expression, the unseasonableness of a +figure, and the impertinence of falling into a foolish ecstasy of joy +or commendation, and the like, are better discovered by a by-stander +than by the speaker himself. Therefore his oversight or indiscretion +must be brought home to ourselves, that we may examine if nothing of +the same kind has skulked there and imposed on us all the while. For +there is nothing in the world more easy than to discover the faults +of others; but it is done to no effect if we do not make it useful to +ourselves in correcting and avoiding the like failures. When therefore +you animadvert upon other men’s miscarriages, forget not to put that +question of Plato to yourself, Am not I such another? We must trace out +our own way of writing in the discourses of other men, as in another’s +eyes we see the reflection of our own; that we may learn not to be too +free in censuring others, and may use more circumspection ourselves in +speaking. To this design the following method of comparison may be very +instrumental; if upon our return from hearing we take what seemed to +us not well or sufficiently handled, and attempt it afresh ourselves, +endeavoring to fill out one part or correct another, to vary this +or model that into a new form from the very beginning. And thus +Plato examined the oration of Lysias. For it is a thing of no great +difficulty to raise objections against another man’s oration,—nay, +it is a very easy matter,—but to produce a better in its place is a +work extremely troublesome; as the Spartan, who was told Philip had +demolished the city Olynthus, made this reply, But he cannot raise such +another. When then it appears, upon handling the same topic, that we do +not much excel those who undertook it before, this will abate much of +our censorious humor, and our pride and self-conceit will be exposed +and checked by such comparisons. + + +_Caution about Admiration._ + +7. To contempt is opposed admiration, which indeed argues a more +candid and better disposition; but even in this case no small care is +to be observed, and perhaps even greater. For although such as are +contemptuous and self-conceited receive but little good from what they +hear, yet the good-natured and such as are given to admire every thing +take a great deal of harm. And Heraclitus was not mistaken when he said +that a fool was put in a flutter at every thing he heard. We ought +indeed to use all the candor imaginable in praising the speaker, yet +withal as great caution in yielding our assent to what he says; to look +upon his expression and action with a favorable construction, but to +inspect the usefulness and truth of his doctrine with the nicest and +most critical judgment; that speakers may cease to be malicious, and +that what they say may do no mischief. For many false and dangerous +principles steal upon us through the authority of the speaker and our +own credulity. The Spartan Ephors, approving the judgment of one of +an ill conversation, ordered it to be communicated to the people by a +person of better life and reputation; thereby wisely and politicly +using them to give more deference to the morals than to the words of +such as pretend to advise them. But now in philosophy the reputation +of the speaker must be pulled off, and his words examined naked and +without a mask; for in hearing as in war there are many false alarms. +The hoary head of the speaker or his gesture, his magisterial look +or his assuming pride, and above all the noise and clapping of the +auditory, bear great sway with a raw and inexperienced hearer, who is +easily carried away with the tide. The very expression, if sweet and +full and representing things with some pomp and greatness, has a secret +power to impose upon us. For, as many lapses in such as sing to an +instrument escape the hearers, so luxuriancy and pomp of style dazzle +the hearer so that he cannot see clearly the argument in hand. And +Melanthius, as it is said, being asked his opinion concerning a tragedy +of Diogenes, made answer that the words intercepted his sight of it. +But most Sophists in their declamations and speeches not only make use +of words to veil and muffle their design; but with affected tone and +softness of voice they draw aside and bewitch their followers, for the +empty pleasure which they create reaping a more empty glory. So that +the saying of Dionysius is very applicable to them, who, being one day +extremely pleased with an harper that played excellently well before +him, promised the fellow a great reward, yet afterwards would give him +nothing, pretending he had kept his word; For, said he, as long as you +pleased me by your playing, so long were you pleased by hope of the +reward. And such also is the reward this kind of harangues bring to the +authors. The hearers admire as long as they are pleased and tickled, +but the satisfaction on one hand and glory on the other conclude with +the oration; and the hearers lose their time idly, and the speakers +their whole life. + + +_How to separate the Useful Part of a Discourse._ + +8. No, we must separate the trash and trumpery of an oration, that we +may come at the more fruitful and useful part; not imitating those +women who busy themselves in gathering nosegays and making garlands, +but the more useful industry of bees. The former indeed plat and weave +together the sweetest and gayest flowers, and their skill is mighty +pretty; but it lasts for one day only, and even then is of little or +no use; whereas the bees, passing by the beds of violets and roses and +hyacinth, fix on the prickly and biting thyme, and settle upon this +“intent on the yellow honey,”[183] and taking thence what they need +for their work, they fly home laden. In like manner, a well-meaning +sincere hearer ought to pass by the flowers of an oration, leaving +the gaudy show and theatrical part to entertain dronish Sophists; +and, diving into the very mind of the speaker and the sense of his +speech, he must draw thence what is necessary for his own service; +remembering withal that he is not come to the theatre or music-meeting, +but is present at the schools and auditories of philosophy, to learn +to rectify his way of life by what he hears. In order thereunto, he +ought to inspect diligently and try faithfully the state and temper of +his mind after hearing, if any of his affections are more moderate, if +any afflictions grow lighter, if his constancy and greatness of spirit +are confirmed, if he feels any divine emotions or inward workings of +virtue and goodness upon his soul. For it becomes us but ill, when we +rise from the barber’s chair, to be so long in consulting the mirror, +or to stroke our heads and examine so curiously the style in which our +hair is trimmed and dressed, and then, at our return from hearing in +the schools, to think it needless to look into ourselves, or examine +whether our own mind has discharged any turbulent or unprofitable +affections and is grown more sedate and serene. For, as Ariston was +wont to say, The bath and a discourse are of no use unless they are +purgative. + +9. Let then a young man be pleased and entertained with a discourse; +but let him not make his pleasure the only end of hearing, nor think +he may come from the school of a philosopher singing and sportive; nor +let him call for perfumes and essences when he has need of a poultice +and fomentations. But let him learn to be thankful to him that purges +away the darkness and stupidity of his mind, though (as we clear +beehives by smoking) with an offensive or unpalatable discourse. For +though it lies upon a speaker to take some care that his expression be +pleasing and plausible, yet a hearer ought not to make that the first +thing he looks after. Afterward, indeed, when he has satisfied his +appetite with the substance and has taken breath, he may be allowed +the curiosity of examining the style and expression, whether it has +any thing delicate or extraordinary; as men quench their thirst before +they have time to admire the embossing of the bowl. But now such a one +as is not intent on the subject-matter, but demands merely that the +style shall be plain and pure Attic, is much of his foolish humor who +refuses an antidote unless it be mixed in Attic porcelain, or who will +not put on a coat in the winter because the cloth is not made of Attic +wool; but who can yet sit still, doing nothing and stirring not, under +such a thin and threadbare cloak as an oration of Lysias. That extreme +dearth of judgment and good sense, and that abundance of subtilty +and sophistry which is crept into the schools, is all owing to these +corruptions of the youngsters; who, observing neither the lives nor +public conversation of philosophers, mind nothing but words and jingle, +and express themselves extravagantly upon what they think well said, +without ever understanding or enquiring if it be useful and necessary, +or needless and vain. + + +_Of asking Questions._ + +10. After this, it will be convenient to lay down some directions +touching asking of questions. For it is true, he that comes to a great +collation must eat what is set before him, not rudely calling for what +is not to be had nor finding fault with the provision. But he that +is invited to partake of a discourse, if it be with that proviso, +must hear with silence; for such disagreeable hearers as occasion +digressions by asking impertinent questions and starting foolish +doubts are an hindrance both to the speaker and the discourse, without +benefiting themselves. But when the speaker encourages them to propose +their objections, he must take care that the question be of some +consequence. The suitors in Homer scorned and derided Ulysses.— + + To no brave prize aspired the worthless swain, + ’Twas but for scraps he asked, and asked in vain,[184] + +because they thought it required a great and heroic soul no less to +ask than to bestow great gifts. But there is much better reason to +slight and laugh at such a hearer as can please himself in asking +little trifling questions. Thus some young fellows, to proclaim their +smattering in logic and mathematics, upon all occasions enquire +about the divisibility of the infinite, or about motion through a +diagonal or upon the sides. But we may answer them with Philotimus, +who, being asked by a consumptive phthisical person for a remedy +against a whitlow, and perceiving the condition he was in by his +color and his shortness of breath, replied, Sir, you have no reason +to be apprehensive of that. So we must tell them, You have no reason, +young gentlemen, to trouble yourselves about these questions; but +how to shake off your conceit and arrogance, to have done with your +intrigues and fopperies, and to settle immediately upon a modest and +well-governed course of life, is the question for you. + +11. Great regard is to be had also to the genius and talent of a +speaker, that we may enquire about such things as are in his way, and +not take him out of his knowledge; as if one should propose physical or +mathematical queries to a moral philosophy reader, or apply himself to +one who prides himself on his knowledge of physics to give his opinion +on conditional propositions or to resolve a fallacy in logic. For, +as he that goes about to cleave wood with a key or to unlock a door +with an axe does not so much mis-employ those instruments as deprive +himself of the proper use of them, so such as are not content with what +a speaker offers them, but call for such things as he is a stranger +to, not only are disappointed, but incur the suspicion of malice and +ill-nature. + +12. Be cautious also how you ask questions yourself, or ask too often; +for that betrays somewhat of conceit and ostentation. But to wait +civilly while another proposes his scruples argues a studious spirit +and willingness that others should be informed, unless some sudden +perturbation of mind require to be repressed or some distemper to +be assuaged. For perhaps, as Heraclitus says, it is an ill thing to +conceal even a man’s ignorance; it must be laid open, that the remedy +may be applied. So also if anger or superstition or a violent quarrel +with your domestics or the mad passion of love,— + + Which doth the very heart-strings move, + That ne’er were stirred before,— + +excite any commotion in your mind, you are not, for fear of being +galled by reproof, to fly to such as are treating of other arguments; +but you must frequent those places where your particular case is +stating, and after lecture address yourself privately to the speaker +for better information and fuller satisfaction therein. On the +contrary, men commonly flatter themselves, and admire the philosopher +so long as he discourses of indifferent things; but if he come home +to themselves and deal freely with them about their real interests, +this they think is beyond all enduring, or at best a needless piece +of supererogation. For they naturally think that they ought to +hear philosophy in the schools, like actors on the stage, while in +matters out of the school they believe them to be no better men than +themselves; and, to confess the truth, they have but reason to think so +of many Sophists, who, having once left the desk and laid aside their +books, in the serious concerns of human life are utterly insignificant +and even more ignorant than the vulgar. But they do not know that even +the austerity or raillery of real philosophers, their very nod or look, +their smile or frown, and especially their admonitions directed to +particular persons, are of weighty importance to such as can brook or +attend to them. + + +_Directions concerning Praising._ + +13. As for commendation, some caution and mean is to be observed in it; +because to be either deficient or excessive in that particular shows +a base spirit. He is but a morose and rigid hearer whom no part of an +oration can work upon or move, one who is full of a secret presumptuous +opinion of himself, and of an inbred conceit that he could do better +things himself; one who dares not alter his countenance as occasion +requires, or let fall the least word to testify his good wishes, but +with silence and affected gravity hunts after the reputation of a +sagacious and profound person, and thinks that all the praise is lost +to himself which he bestows on others, as if it were money. For many +wrest that sentence of Pythagoras, who used to say that he had learned +by philosophy to admire nothing; but these men think that to admire +nobody and to honor nobody consists in despising everybody, and they +aim at seeming grave by being contemptuous. Philosophy indeed removes +that foolish admiration and surprise which proceeds from doubt or +ignorance, by laying open to us the causes of things, but endeavors not +to destroy all good-nature and humanity. And those who are truly good +take it for their greatest honor and commendation to be just in paying +honor and commendation where it is due to others; and for a man to +adorn another is a most glorious ornament, proceeding from a generous +abundance of glory and honor in himself; while those who are niggardly +in praising others only betray how poor and bare they are of praises at +home. + + +_Not to be too prone to commend._ + +Yet to use no consideration at all, but to stand up and make a +clamor at every word or syllable, is to offend in the other extreme. +Such fluttering fellows for the most part oblige not the speakers +themselves, and are always a plague and common grievance to the +hearers, exciting them many times against their inclination, and +forcing them for very shame to join in the tumult. In the end, he that +raised the disturbance receives no benefit by the discourse, but goes +away with the character of a scoffer or flatterer or novice. A judge, +it is true, ought to hear and determine without favor or ill-will, +regarding only what is just and equitable; but in philosophical +proceedings the case is altered, where neither law nor oaths tie us up +from being favorable to the speaker. And the ancients in their temples +were wont to place the statue of Mercury among the Graces, intimating +that orators ought to find a propitious and good-natured audience. For +they thought it passed all belief, that any man could prove so much a +blockhead or come so wide of the purpose, that, though he should make +no remarks of his own and quote none of others worthy taking notice +of, or though the argument and design of his discourse might not be +commendable, yet at least the order and disposition or the style should +not deserve some applause;— + + As oft amidst the furze and thorny brakes + The tender violets more securely peep. + +For if some have undertaken successfully to speak in commendation of +vomiting or a fever, and have even made an encomium on a porridge-pot +not without some acceptance, certainly a discourse from one that has +the least pretence to philosophy cannot but afford some opportunity, +though it be a slight one, for commendation to a well-disposed +auditory. Plato says that all who are in their bloom in some way +excite the amorous man;—the fair are the children of the Gods, the +black are manly, the hook-nosed have a look of majesty, the flat-nose +gives a graceful air, even the sallow complexion is complimented for +looking like honey; in spite of all their defects, he cherishes and +loves them all.[185] Thus love, like ivy, must needs find something or +other to lay hold on. But much more will a studious hearer and scholar +be sure to find some not unworthy reason for praising every speaker. +For Plato in an oration of Lysias, disliking the invention and utterly +condemning the disposition as confused, yet praised the style and +elocution, because every word was wrought off cleverly and cleanly +turned. Thus a man may see cause enough to disapprove the argument of +Archilochus, the verse of Parmenides, the poverty of Phocylides, the +eternal talk of Euripides, and inequality of style in Sophocles; and +among the orators, one has no manner, another is not moving, a third +has nothing of ornament; yet every one has his peculiar power of moving +and exciting, for which he is praised. Some again do not require of +us to testify our acceptance by the voice; a pleasing eye or cheerful +look, or a behavior without any thing of pain or uneasiness, is all +that they desire. For the following favors are nowadays bestowed of +course upon every oration, though the speaker may speak to no purpose +at all,—sitting modestly without lolling from one side to the other, +looking earnestly on the speaker, in the posture of an attentive +listener, and with a countenance which betrays not only no contempt or +ill-will but not even a mind otherwise employed. For as the beauty and +excellence of every thing consists in the concurrence of many different +accidents, which contribute to the symmetry and harmony of the whole, +so that, if but one inconsiderable part be away or absurdly added, +deformity immediately follows; in like manner, not only a supercilious +look or forbidding mien or roving eyes or waving the body to and fro or +indecent crossing of the legs, but even a nod, a whisper to another, a +scornful smile, a sleepy yawn, hanging of the head, or the like, are +all likewise great indecorums and to be avoided with particular care. + +14. Yet some there are who can assign a speaker his part, and think no +duty incumbent on themselves all the while; who will have him prepare +and premeditate what he has to deliver, and yet throw themselves into +an auditory without any preparation or consideration, as if they were +invited to a feast, to revel and take their pleasures at another’s +cost. Yet it is known that even a guest has some things required of him +to make him suitable and agreeable, and certainly a hearer has much +more; because he ought to be a sharer in the discourse and an assistant +to the speaker. Neither will it become him to be severe at all turns +upon every slight miscarriage or perpetually putting the speaker’s +elocution and action to the test, while he himself is guilty of grosser +enormities in hearing, without danger or control. But as at tennis he +that takes the ball turns and winds his body according to the motion +of the server, so a kind of proportion is to be observed between the +speaker and the hearer, if both will discharge their several duties. + + +_Care to be observed in Praising Persons of all Qualities._ + +15. Neither ought we to use any expressions of praise indifferently. +For it is an ill thing which Epicurus relates, that, upon reading any +epistles from his friends, those about him broke out into tumultuous +applauses; and such as daily introduce new forms into our auditories, +as Divinely said! Superhuman! Inimitable! (as if those used by +Plato, Socrates, and Hyperides, Well! Wisely! Truly said! were not +sufficiently expressive), exceed the bounds of decency and modesty, +nay indeed, do but affront the speaker, as though he were fond of such +extravagant praises. Nor are they less odious and troublesome who +confirm approbation with impertinent oaths, as if they were giving +their testimony for a speaker in a court of judicature. And so likewise +is it with such as observe not to give just deference to the quality +of persons, who to a philosopher are apt to cry out, Smartly said! or +to a reverend gentleman, Wittily! Floridly! applying to philosophy +such trifles as are proper to scholastic exercises and declamations, +and giving meretricious applause to a sober discourse,—as if a man +should compliment the conqueror in the Olympic games with a garland of +lilies or roses, instead of laurel or wild olive. Euripides the poet +one day at a rehearsal instructing the chorus in a part that was set +to a serious air, one of the company unexpectedly fell out a laughing; +Sir, said he, unless you were very stupid and insensible, you could +not laugh while I sing in the grave mixolydian mood. In like manner a +master of philosophy and politics may put a stop to the unseasonable +levity and pertness of a youngster, by telling him, You seem to be a +madman and unacquainted with all manner of civility, otherwise you +would not hum over your tunes or practise your new steps while I am +discoursing of Gods, or the laws, or the supreme magistrate. For +consider seriously what a very scandalous thing it is that, while a +philosopher is in his discourse, the passengers in the street, from +the clamor and hooting of the hearers, should have reason to make it +a question whether some piper or harper or morris-dancer were got in +among them. + + +_Of bearing Admonitions and Reproofs._ + +16. Admonitions and reprimands ought to be taken neither altogether +insensibly nor yet sheepishly. For such as carry off a disgrace from +a philosopher carelessly and without due concern, so as to grin at +his reprehensions or scoffingly to praise him for them, as sharping +parasites applaud the scurrilous reflection of their cullies,—such, +I say, are shameless and insolent, and betray only their invincible +impudence, which is no good or true argument of courage. Yet to +bear handsomely without passion an innocent jest in raillery is not +unbecoming the breeding of a gentleman, but a good accomplishment and +altogether worthy of a Spartan. But when an exhortation to amendment +of manners, like a bitter potion, is made up of harsh and unpleasant +words, in such a case for a youth—instead of hearing submissively +and running into a sweat or being seized with dizziness, when the +mind is on fire with shame and confusion—to remain unmoved or sneer +or dissemble his concernment is the certain sign of a dissolute and +ill-bred man, one whose soul, like callous flesh, being hardened with +a course of debauchery, will receive no scar or impression. Some young +men indeed there are of a contrary disposition, who having undergone +one rebuke fly off without ever looking back, turn renegades, and +quite desert philosophy. These being naturally very modest have a +good disposition toward an healthful habit of mind, but vitiate it by +too much tenderness and effeminacy, which disables them for bearing +a reproof or manfully submitting to a correction, and run after more +pleasing harangues wherewith some flatterers and Sophists soothe and +bewitch them, without any benefit or advantage. For as he that flies +from the surgeon after incision, and will not suffer the ligature to +be applied, endures that part of his skill only which is painful, +rejecting what would give him ease; so such a one as being lanced and +scarified by a sharp oration has not patience till the wound be skinned +over, goes away from philosophy tortured and harassed, without that +benefit he might receive thereby. For not only Telephus’s wound was +cured by rusty filings of the spear (as Euripides has it), but whatever +pain philosophy may occasion to a meek disposition will be cured and +removed by the same discourse that gave the wound. He therefore that is +reprehended must endure awhile and away with some pain, not presently +be discouraged or out of heart. Let him behave himself as though he +were to be initiated into the mysteries of philosophy, still hoping, +after the lustrations and more troublesome ceremonies are undergone, +he shall enjoy some considerable effect of his present troubles and +inconveniences. Or suppose he be wrongfully chidden, it is but handsome +to expect the conclusion; after that he may make his defence, and +desire that such freedom and violence may be reserved to repress some +other misdemeanor which really deserves it. + + +_The Difficulties in Philosophy vincible._ + +17. But besides this,—as in grammar, music, and the exercises of +activity, there are many things which to young beginners appear +troublesome, laborious, and obscure, which yet a fuller knowledge, like +acquaintance among men, makes more agreeable, ready, and feasible,—in +like manner, though philosophy in its first terms and notions may +seem uncouth and strange, yet a man must not be so far discouraged at +the first elements as to throw it up altogether, but he must bid at +all and ply his business hard and patiently expect that acquaintance +which will make all easy and pleasant; and that will not be long in +coming, bringing great light into things and exciting ardent affections +to virtue; without which to endure to live, after one has through +his own effeminacy fallen from philosophy, is an argument of a mean +spirit and servile disposition. I must confess there is some difficulty +in the things themselves which is not easily conquered by raw and +unexperienced beginners; yet the greatest part of the difficulty they +bring upon themselves by their own ignorance and inadvertency, falling +into the same error from two contrary causes. For some, out of a +foolish bashfulness and desire to be easy to the speaker, are loath to +be inquisitive or have the thing made plain to them, and so they nod +their assent to every thing that is said, as if they fully comprehended +it. And others out of unseasonable vain-glory, and vying with their +fellows that they may vaunt their readiness of wit and quickness of +apprehension, pretend to understand things before they do, and never +understand them at all. Now the consequence in both cases is this; the +modest go away in a great deal of anxiety and doubt, and are forced in +the end, with greater disgrace, to interrupt the speaker to be informed +again; and the vain-glorious are troubled to keep close and conceal the +ignorance they carry about them. + +18. Therefore all such sheepishness and self-conceit being set aside, +let us learn to lay up in our minds whatever is usefully said, enduring +to be laughed at by such as set up for wits and railers. This course +took Cleanthes and Xenocrates, who being somewhat slower than their +fellows did not therefore give over hearing or despond; but prevented +the jests of others, by comparing themselves to narrow-mouthed vessels +and to copper plates; because, though they received learning with some +difficulty, yet they retained it surely. For he that will be a good man +must not only, as Phocylides says,— + + Expect much fraud, and many a time be caught,— + +but be laughed at and disgraced, and endure many scurrilous and +virulent reflections; he must also encounter ignorance and wrestle with +it with all the strength of his mind, and subdue it too. + +Neither on the other hand must the faults be passed by which some +troublesome people commit out of mere laziness and negligence; such +men as will not bestow any pains in considering themselves, but asking +often the same questions are a perpetual vexation to the speaker; +like callow birds always gaping at the bill of the old one, and still +reaching after what has been prepared and worked over by others. +Another sort there are, who, affecting the reputation of quickness +and attention, confound the speaker with their pragmatical curiosity +and jargon, always haling in something unnecessary and requiring +demonstrations of things foreign to the business in hand. + + Thus a short way is long and tedious made, + +as Sophocles[186] says, and that not only to themselves, but others +also. For by taking off the speaker with vain and unnecessary questions +they retard the progress of instruction, like travellers in the road, +by impertinent halts and stops. Hieronymus compares these men to lazy +and greedy curs, which within doors bite and tear the skins of wild +animals and lie tugging at their shaggy hair, but in the field dare not +fasten upon beasts themselves. + + +_A Concluding Exhortation._ + +Yet one exhortation let me leave with these people, that having +received the general heads of things they would supply the rest by +their own industry, making their memory a guide to their invention; +and that, looking on the discourse of others only as a kind of first +principle or seed, they would take care to cherish and increase it. +For the mind requires not like an earthen vessel to be filled up; +convenient fuel and aliment only will inflame it with a desire of +knowledge and ardent love of truth. Now, as it would be with a man who, +going to his neighbor’s to borrow fire and finding there a great and +bright fire, should sit down to warm himself and forget to go home; so +is it with the one who comes to another to learn, if he does not think +himself obliged to kindle his own fire within and inflame his own mind, +but continues sitting by his master as if he were enchanted, delighted +by hearing. Such a one, although he may get the name of a philosopher, +as we get a bright color by sitting by the fire, will never clear +away the mould and rust of his mind, and dispel the darkness of his +understanding by the help of philosophy. In fine, if there is any +other precept concerning hearing, it is briefly this, to be careful +in observing the last exhortation,—that is, to join the exercise of +our invention to our hearing; that so, while we lay down the rule that +hearing well is the first step to living well, we may not content +ourselves with a superficial commonplace knowledge, but endeavor after +such a philosophical habit as shall be deeply imprinted on the mind. + + + + +OF LARGE ACQUAINTANCE; OR, AN ESSAY TO PROVE THE FOLLY OF SEEKING MANY +FRIENDS. + + +1. Menon the Thessalian, a person who had no mean opinion of his +own parts, who thought himself well accomplished in all the arts of +discourse and to have reached (as Empedocles words it) the highest +pitch of wisdom, was asked by Socrates, What is virtue? And he answered +readily enough, and as impertinently, that there is one virtue +belonging to childhood, another to old age; that there are distinct +virtues in men and women, magistrates and private persons, masters and +servants. Excellently well! replied Socrates in raillery, when you were +asked about one virtue, you have raised, as it were, a whole swarm; +conjecturing, not without reason, that the man therefore named many +because he knew the nature of none. And may not we ourselves expect +and deserve as justly to be scoffed and rallied, who having not yet +contracted one firm friendship seem nevertheless exceeding cautious of +too many? It is almost the same thing as if one maimed and blind should +appear solicitous lest like Briareus he may chance to be furnished +with a hundred hands, and become all over eyes like Argus. However, we +cannot but extol the sense of that young man in Menander the poet, who +said that he counted every man wonderfully honest and happy who had +found even the shadow of a friend. + +2. But all the difficulty lies in finding him; and the chiefest reason +is that, instead of one choice true friend, nothing under a multitude +will content us; like women of the town who admit the embraces of all +gallants that come, at the gay appearance of the last which comes we +neglect and slight the former, and so are unable to hold them. Or +rather, like the foster-child of Hypsipyle, who “in a green meadow +sat cropping the flowers one after another, snatching each prize +with delighted heart, insatiable in his childish joy,”[187]—so we +of riper years, from an inbred affection of novelty and disdain of +things already possessed, take up presently with the first promising +aspect of every fresh and new-blooming friend, and lay all at once the +foundations of several acquaintances; but we leave each unfinished, and +when we have scarce fixed on one, our love immediately palls there, +while we passionately pursue some other. + +Wherefore, in this affair,—to begin at the beginning (at the domestic +altar, as the saying is),—let us ask the opinion and counsel of our +forefathers, and consider what report the records of antiquity make +concerning true friends. They are, we find, always reckoned in pairs; +as Theseus and Pirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and Pylades, +Phintias and Damon, Epaminondas and Pelopidas. Friendship (so to speak) +is a creature sociable, but affects not a herd or a flock; and that we +usually esteem a friend another self, and call him ἑταῖρος (companion) +as much as to say ἕτερος (the other one), is a convincing argument that +the number two is the adequate and complete measure of friendship. And +in truth, a great number of friends or servants is not to be purchased +at an easy rate. That which procures love and friendship in the world +is a sweet and obliging temper of mind, a lively readiness in doing +good offices, together with a constant habit of virtue; than which +qualifications nothing is more rarely found in nature. Therefore to +love and to be beloved much can have no place in a multitude; but the +most eager affection, if divided among numerous objects, like a river +divided into several channels, must needs flow at length very weak and +languid. Upon this score, those animals love their young most which +generate but one; and Homer, describing a beloved child, calls it the +only-begotten and born in old age,—that is, at such a time when the +parents neither have nor hope for another.[188] + +3. Yet I do not assert we ought to confine ourselves to one only +friend; but among the rest, there should be one eminently so, like +a well-beloved and only son, not casually picked up at a tavern or +eating-house or in a tennis-court, nor at a game of hazard, nor at an +accidental meeting in the wrestling-place or the market,—as is too +common nowadays,—but one chosen upon long and mature deliberation, +with whom (according to that celebrated proverb) we have eaten a bushel +of salt. + +The palaces of noble men and princes appear guarded with splendid +retinues of diligent obsequious servants, and every room is crowded +with a throng of visitors, who caress the great man with all the +endearing gestures and expressions that wit and breeding can invent; +and it may be thought, I confess, at first sight, that such are very +fortunate in having so many cordial, real friends at their command; +whereas it is all bare pageantry and show. Change the scene, and you +may observe a far greater number of flies as industriously busy in +their kitchens; and as these would vanish, were the dishes empty and +clean, so neither would that other sort of insect pay any farther +respect, were nothing to be got by it. + +There are chiefly these requisites to a true friendship: virtue, as a +thing lovely and desirable; familiarity, as pleasant; and advantage, +as necessary. For we must first choose a friend upon a right judgment +made of his excellent qualities; having chosen him, we must perceive a +pleasure in his conversation, and upon occasion he must be useful to us +in our concerns. All which (especially judgment in our choice, the main +point of all) are inconsistent with a numerous acquaintance. + +And first of all (to draw a parallel in other matters), if there is no +small time required to select a great many persons together who can +dance and sing in exact time to the same tune, manage oars with a like +strength and vigor, be fit stewards of our estates or tutors of our +children, certainly we must acknowledge it much more difficult to meet +with a considerable number of friends, ready to enter with us the trial +of all manner of fortune, of whom every one will + + Of his good fortune yield thy part to thee, + And bear like part of thy calamity. + +Even a ship at sea runs not the risk of so many storms, nor are any +castles, forts, and havens secured with walls, ramparts, and dams +against the apprehension of so many dangers, as are the misfortunes +against which a constant approved friendship mutually undertakes to +afford a defence and refuge. Whoever without due trial put themselves +upon us for friends we examine as bad money; and the cheat being +discovered, we are glad if of their own accord they withdraw; or if +they persist, at least we wish with great impatience fairly to get rid +of them.[189] Yet we must own it is a hard and troublesome task to +cast off a disagreeable acquaintance; for as unwholesome meats which +nauseate the stomach can neither be retained without hazard of health, +nor yet ejected sincere as they were taken, but wholly disguised and +defiled with other humors; so a mistaken false friend must either be +still entertained, and remain a mere vexation to us as well as uneasy +to himself, or else by a kind of convulsion be thrown up like bile, +leaving behind the continual torment of private grudgings and hatred. + +4. Therefore it highly concerns us not to be too rash in fastening on +the next that may accidentally offer, nor presently to affect every one +that pretends to be fond of our friendship. Let the search rather begin +on our own part, and our choice fix on those who approve themselves +really worthy of our respect. What is cheap and with ease obtained is +below our notice; and we trample under foot bushes and brambles that +readily catch hold of us, while we diligently clear our way to the +vine and olive; so it is always best not to admit to our familiarity +persons who officiously stick and twist themselves about us, but we +ought rather of our own accord to court the friendship of those who are +worthy of our regard, and who prove advantageous to ourselves. + +5. Therefore, as Zeuxis replied to some who blamed the slowness of his +pencil,—that he therefore spent a long time in painting, because he +designed his work should last for a long eternity,—so he that would +secure a lasting friendship and acquaintance must first deliberately +judge and thoroughly try its worth, before he settles it. Suppose then +it is hard to make a right judgment in choosing many friends together, +it may still be asked whether we may not maintain a familiarity with +many persons, or whether that too is impossible. Now familiarity and +converse are the genuine products and enjoyments of true friendship, +and the highest pleasure the best friends aim at is continual +intercourse and the daily frequenting one another’s company. + + No more shall meet Achilles and his friend; + No more our thoughts to those we loved make known, + Or quit the dearest, to converse alone.[190] + +And, as Menelaus says of Ulysses:— + + There with commutual zeal we both had strove + In acts of dear benevolence and love,— + Brothers in peace, not rivals in command,— + And death alone dissolved the friendly band.[191] + +Now much acquaintance has a clear contrary effect; and whereas single +friendship by kind discourses and good offices cements, unites, and +condenses as it were two parties,— + + As when the fig-tree’s juice curdles and binds white milk,[192] + +as Empedocles says; this on the other hand unties, rends, and breaks +the bond, distracts our inclinations with too much variety; and the +agreeable just mixture of affection, the very cement of true friends, +is wholly lost in so loose and confused a conversation. Hence at once +arises great inequality with respect to the services of friendship, +and a foolish diffidence in the performance of them. For multiplicity +of friends renders those very parts of friendship vain and useless +whence advantage was most expected; neither can we hope it should be +otherwise, if we consider how “one man is acted upon by his nature and +another by his cares and anxieties.” Nature hath not bestowed the same +inclinations on all, nor are we all born to the same fortune; and the +occasions of our actions, like the wind, may often favor one of our +acquaintance while they stand cross to another. + +6. However, suppose by great chance all should agree to crave +assistance in the same affair, whether at a consult, exercise of a +public trust in the government, canvassing for preferment, entertaining +guests, or the like; yet it is exceeding hard to satisfy all. But now +if they are engaged in diverse concerns at the very same moment of +time, and every one should make his particular request to you, one +to take a voyage with him, another to assist in pleading his cause, a +third to prosecute a criminal, a fourth to help in managing his trade, +another to celebrate his wedding, and another to attend a funeral,— + + And the whole city’s filled with incense smoke, + And songs of triumph mixt with groans resound;[193] + +I say, in this case, it is utterly impossible to answer the requests +of all, to gratify none is absurd, and to serve only one and disoblige +the rest is a thing grievous and intolerably rude;—“for no one, when +he loves a friend, will bear to be neglected.”[194] If indeed you could +persuade that inadvertency was the cause of the omission, you might +more easily hope a pardon; and to plead forgetfulness is a sort of +excuse which perhaps might pass without much angering your friend; but +to allege “I could not be advocate in your cause, being of counsel for +another,” or “I could not visit you in a fever, because I was invited +to a feast elsewhere,” while it is thus confessed that we neglect one +friend to pay our respects to another, is so far from extenuating the +offence, that it highly aggravates it, and adds all the jealousies of +rivalry. + +But commonly men overlook these and such like inconveniences of a +numerous acquaintance, and take only a prospect of its advantages, not +in the least reflecting that whoever employs many assistants in his +affairs must in gratitude repay his service to as many when they need +it; and as Briareus, who with his hundred hands was daily obliged for +his bare subsistence to feed fifty stomachs, could thrive no better +than ourselves, who supply a single one with two hands, so a man of +many friends cannot boast any other privilege but that of being a slave +to many, and of sharing in all the business, cares, and disquiet that +may befall them. Nor can Euripides help him by advising that + + Best suited to the state + Of mortal life are mutual friendships formed + With moderation, such as take not root + Deep in the soul, affections that with ease + May be relaxed, or closer bound at will,[195] + +that is, we may pull in and let out our friendships like a sail, as the +wind happens to blow. Let us rather, good Euripides, turn this saying +of yours to enmity; for heats and animosities ought to be moderate, and +never reach the inmost recesses of the soul; hatred, anger, complaints, +and jealousies may with good reason be readily appeased and forgotten. +Therefore it is far more advisable, as Pythagoras directs, “not to +shake hands with too many,”—that is, not to make many friends,—nor to +affect that popular kind of easiness which courts and embraces every +acquaintance that occurs, but carries with it on the reverse a thousand +mischiefs; among which (as was before hinted) to bear part of the same +cares, to be affected with the same sorrows, and to be embroiled in the +same enterprises and dangers with any great number of friends will be a +sort of life hardly tolerable even to the most ingenuous and generous +tempers. What Chilon the wise man remarked to one who said he had no +enemies, namely, “Thou seemest rather to have no friends,” has a great +deal of truth; for enmities always keep pace and are interwoven with +friendships. + +7. And it is impossible any should be friends that resent not mutually +the affronts and injuries offered unto either, and that do not hate +alike and in common. They also who are enemies to yourself will +presently suspect and hate your friend; nay, your other friends too +will often envy, calumniate, and undermine him. Wherefore what the +oracle foretold Timesias concerning his planting a colony, that an hive +of bees should be changed into a nest of wasps, may not impertinently +be applied to those who seek after a hive of friends, but light before +they know it upon a wasps-nest of enemies. + +Besides, we should do well to consider that the kindest affections +of friends seldom compensate for the misfortunes that befall us from +the malice of enemies. It is well known how Alexander treated the +familiars of Philotas and Parmenio; Dionysius, those of Dion; Nero, +those of Plautus; and Tiberius, those of Sejanus; all shared the same +hard fate of being racked and tortured to death. For as the gold and +riches Creon’s daughter was adorned with could not secure the good old +father from being consumed in her flames, endeavoring too officiously +to rescue her; so not a few partake of the calamities and ruin of +their friends, before they have reaped the least advantage from their +prosperity; a misfortune to which philosophers and the best-natured men +are the most liable. This was the case of Theseus, who for the sake +of his dear Pirithous shared his punishment, and was bound with him +in the same eternal chains.[196] Thus in the plague of Athens, says +Thucydides,[197] the most generous and virtuous citizens, while without +regard to their own safety they visited their sick, frequently perished +with their friends. + +8. Such accidents as these ought to admonish us not to be too prodigal +of our virtue, nor inconsiderately to prostitute our perfections to the +enjoyment of every little thing that pretends to be our humble admirer; +rather let us reserve them for the worthy, for those who can love +and share another’s joys and sorrows like ourselves. And truly, this +alone renders it most unlikely that many men should remain friends, +that real friendship has always its origin from likeness. For, we +may observe, even brute and inanimate beings affect their like, very +readily mixing and uniting with those of their own nature; while with +great reluctance and a kind of indignation they shrink from and avoid +whatever differs from themselves, and force can scarce oblige them to +the loathed embraces. By what motive then can we imagine any league of +amity can be kept inviolable amidst a multitude, where manners admit of +so much variety, where desires and humors will be perpetually jarring, +where the several courses of life must needs be almost as unlike as +constitutions and faces? A musical concord consists of contrary sounds, +and a due composition of flat and sharp notes makes a delightful tune; +but as for friendship, that is a sort of harmony all of a piece, and +admits not the least inequality, unlikeness, or discords of parts, but +here all discourses, opinions, inclinations, and designs serve one +common interest, as if several bodies were acted and informed by the +same soul. + +9. Now is there any person living of that industrious, pliant, and +universal humor, who can take the pains exactly to imitate all shapes, +and will not rather deride the advice of Theognis[198] as absurd and +impossible, namely, to learn the craft of the polypus, which puts on +the hue of every stone it sticks to? However, the changes of this +fish are only superficial, and the colors are produced in the skin, +which by its closeness or its laxity receives various impressions from +neighboring objects; whereas the resemblance betwixt friends must be +far more than skin-deep, must be substantial, such as may be traced in +every action of their lives, in all their affections, dispositions, +words and purposes, even to their most retired thoughts. To follow the +advice of Theognis would be a task worthy of a Proteus, who was neither +very fortunate nor very honest, but could by enchantment transform +himself in an instant from one shape to another. Even so, he that +entertains many friends must be learned and bookish among the learned, +go into the arena with wrestlers, drudge cheerfully after a pack of +hounds with gentlemen that love hunting, drink with debauchees, and sue +for office with politicians; in fine, he must have no proper principles +of actions and humors of his own, but those of the present company +he converses with. Thus, as the first matter of the philosophers is +originally without shape or color, yet being the subject of all natural +changes takes by its own inherent forces the forms of fire, water, air, +and solid earth; so a person that affects a numerous friendship must +possess a mind full of folds and windings, subject to many passions, +inconstant as water, and easy to be transformed into an infinite +variety of shapes. But real friendship requires a sedate, stable, and +unalterable temper; so that it is a rare thing and next a miracle to +find a constant and sure friend. + + + + +THE FIRST ORATION OF PLUTARCH CONCERNING THE FORTUNE OR VIRTUE OF +ALEXANDER THE GREAT. + + +1. This is the oration of Fortune, asserting and challenging Alexander +to be her masterpiece, and hers alone. In contradiction to which it +behooves us to say something on the behalf of philosophy, or rather +in the defence of Alexander himself, who cannot choose but spurn away +the very thought of having received his empire as a gift at the hands +of Fortune, knowing that it was so dearly bought with the price of his +lost blood and many wounds, and that in gaining it, + + Full many a bloody day + In toilsome fight he spent, + And many a wakeful night + In battle’s management;[199] + +and all this in opposition to armies almost irresistible, numberless +nations, rivers before impassable, and rocks impenetrable; choosing, +however, for his chiefest guides and counsellors prudence, endurance, +fortitude, and steadiness of mind. + +2. And now, methinks, I hear him speaking thus to Fortune, when she +signalizes herself with his successes:— + +Envy not my virtue, nor go about to detract from my honor. Darius +was a fabric of thy own rearing, who of a servant and the king’s +courier was by thee advanced to be monarch of all Persia. The same +was Sardanapalus, who from a comber of purple wool was raised by +thee to wear the royal diadem. But I, subduing as I marched, from +Arbela forced my passage even to Susa itself. Cilicia opened me a +broad way into Egypt; and the Granicus, o’er which I passed without +resistance, trampling under foot the slain carcasses of Mithridates +and Spithridates, opened the way into Cilicia. Pamper up thyself, and +boast thy kings that never felt a wound nor ever saw a finger bleed; +for they were fortunate, it is true,—thy Ochi and thy Artaxerxes,—who +were no sooner born but they were by thee established in the throne +of Cyrus. But my body carries many marks of Fortune’s unkindness, who +rather fought against me as an enemy than assisted me as her friend. +First, among the Illyrians I was wounded in the head with a stone, and +received a blow in the neck with an iron mace. Then, near the Granicus +my head was a second time gashed with a barbarian scimitar; at Issus +I was run through the thigh with a sword; at Gaza I was shot in the +ankle with a dart; and not long after, falling heavy from my saddle, I +forced my shoulder out of joint. Among the Maracadartae my shinbone was +split with an arrow. The wounds I received in India and my strenuous +acts of daring courage will declare the rest. Then among the Assacani +I was shot through the shoulder with another arrow. Encountering the +Gandridae, my thigh was wounded; and one of the Mallotes drew his bow +with that force, that the well-directed arrow made way through my iron +armor to lodge itself in my breast; besides the blow in my neck, when +the scaling-ladders brake that were set to the walls, and Fortune left +me alone, to gratify with the fall of so great a person not a renowned +or illustrious enemy, but ignoble and worthless barbarians. So that +had not Ptolemy covered me with his shield, and Limnaeus, after he had +received a thousand wounds directed at my body, fallen dead before me; +or if the Macedonians, breathing nothing but courage and their prince’s +rescue, had not opened a timely breach, that barbarous and nameless +village might have proved Alexander’s tomb. + +3. Take the whole expedition together, and what was it but a patient +endurance of cold winters and parching droughts; depths of rivers, +rocks inaccessible to the winged fowl, amazing sights of strange wild +beasts, savage diet, and lastly revolts and treasons of far-controlling +potentates. As to what before the expedition befell me, it is well +known that all Greece lay gasping and panting under the fatal effects +of the Philippic wars. But then the Thebans, raising themselves upon +their feet again after so desperate a fall, shook from their arms the +dust of Chaeronea; with them also joined the Athenians, reaching forth +their helping hands. The treacherous Macedonians, studying nothing +but revenge, cast their eyes upon the sons of Aeropus; the Illyrians +brake out into an open war; and the Scythians hung in equal balance, +seeing their neighbors meditating new revolutions; while Persian gold, +liberally scattered among the popular leaders of every city, put all +Peloponnesus into motion. + +King Philip’s treasuries were at that time empty, and besides he was +in debt, as Onesicritus relates, two hundred talents. In the midst of +so much pressing want and such menacing troubles, a youth but new past +the age of childhood durst aspire to the conquest of Babylon and Susa, +or rather project in his thoughts supreme dominion over all mankind; +and all this, trusting only to the strength of thirty thousand foot +and four thousand horse. For so many there were, by the account which +Aristobulus gives; by the relation of King Ptolemy, there were five +thousand horse; from both which Anaximenes varying musters up the +foot to three and forty thousand, and the horse to five thousand five +hundred. Now the glorious and magnificent sum which Fortune had raised +up to supply the necessities of so great an expedition was no more than +seventy talents, according to Aristobulus; or, as Duris records it, +only thirty days’ provision. + +4. You will say therefore that Alexander was too rash and daringly +inconsiderate, with such a slender support to rush upon so vast an +opposition. By no means: for who was ever better fitted than he +for splendid enterprises, with all the choicest and most excelling +precepts of magnanimity, consideration, wisdom, and virtuous +fortitude, with which a philosophical education largely supplied him +for his expedition? So that we may properly affirm that he invaded +Persia with greater assistance from Aristotle than from his father +Philip. As for those who write how Alexander was wont to say that +the Iliad and Odyssey had always followed him in his wars, in honor +to Homer I believe them. Nevertheless, if any one affirm that the +Iliad and Odyssey were admitted of his train merely as the recreation +of his wearied thoughts or pastime of his leisure hours, but that +philosophical learning, and commentaries concerning contempt of fear, +fortitude, temperance, and nobleness of spirit, were the real cabinet +provision which he carried along for his personal use, we contemn +their assertion. For he was not a person that ever wrote concerning +arguments or syllogisms; none of those who observed walks in the +Lyceum, or held disputes in the Academy; for they who thus circumscribe +philosophy believe it to consist in discoursing, not in action. And +yet we find that neither Pythagoras nor Socrates, Arcesilaus nor +Carneades, was ever celebrated for his writings, though they were the +most approved and esteemed among all the philosophers. Yet no such busy +wars as these employed their time in civilizing wild and barbarous +kings, in building Grecian cities among rude and unpolished nations, +nor in settling government and peace among people that lived without +humanity or control of law. They only lived at ease, and surrendered +the business and trouble of writing to the more contentious Sophists. +Whence then came it to pass that they were believed to be philosophers? +It was either from their sayings, from the lives they led, or from the +precepts which they taught. Upon these grounds let us take a prospect +of Alexander, and we shall soon find him, by what he said, by what he +acted, and by the lessons he taught, to be a great philosopher. + +5. And first, if you please, consider that which seems the farthest +distant of all from the common received opinion, and compare the +disciples of Alexander with the pupils of Plato and Socrates. The +latter instructed persons ingenuous, such as speak the same speech, +well understanding (if nothing else) the Grecian language. But there +were many with whom their precepts did not prevail; for men like +Critias, Alcibiades, and Cleitophon shook off their doctrine like a +bridle, and followed the conduct of their own inclinations. + +On the other side, take a view of Alexander’s discipline, and you shall +see how he taught the Hyrcanians the conveniency of wedlock, introduced +husbandry among the Arachosians, persuaded the Sogdians to preserve and +cherish—not to kill—their aged parents; the Persians to reverence and +honor—not to marry—their mothers. Most admirable philosophy! which +induced the Indians to worship the Grecian Deities, and wrought upon +the Scythians to bury their deceased friends, not to feed upon their +carcasses. We admire the power of Carneades’s eloquence, for forcing +the Carthaginian Clitomachus, called Asdrubal before, to embrace the +Grecian customs. No less we wonder at the prevailing reason of Zeno, by +whom the Babylonian Diogenes was charmed into the love of philosophy. +Yet no sooner had Alexander subdued Asia, than Homer became an author +in high esteem, and the Persian, Susian, and Gedrosian youth sang the +tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles. Among the Athenians, Socrates, +introducing foreign Deities, was condemned to death at the prosecution +of his accusers. But Alexander engaged both Bactria and Caucasus to +worship the Grecian Gods, which they had never known before. Lastly, +Plato, though he proposed but one single form of a commonwealth, could +never persuade any people to make use of it, by reason of the austerity +of his government. But Alexander, building above seventy cities among +the barbarous nations, and as it were sowing the Grecian customs and +constitutions all over Asia, quite weaned them from their former wild +and savage manner of living. The laws of Plato here and there a single +person may peradventure study, but myriads of people have made and +still make use of Alexander’s. And they whom Alexander vanquished were +more greatly blessed than they who fled his conquests. For these had +none to deliver them from their ancient state of misery; the others the +victor compelled to better fortune. True therefore was that expression +of Themistocles, when he was a fugitive from his native country, and +the king entertained him with sumptuous presents, assigning him three +stipendiary cities to supply his table, one with bread, a second with +wine, a third with all manner of costly viands; Ah! young men, said he, +had we not been undone, we had surely been undone. It may, however, be +more justly averred of those whom Alexander subdued, had they not been +vanquished, they had never been civilized. Egypt had not vaunted her +Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia her Seleucia; Sogdiana had not gloried in +her Propthasia, nor the Indians boasted their Bucephalia, nor Caucasus +its neighboring Grecian city; by the founding of all which barbarism +was extinguished and custom changed the worse into better. + +If then philosophers assume to themselves their highest applause for +cultivating the most fierce and rugged conditions of men, certainly +Alexander is to be acknowledged the chiefest of philosophers, who +changed the wild and brutish customs of so many various nations, +reducing them to order and government. + +6. It is true indeed that the so much admired commonwealth of Zeno, +first author of the Stoic sect, aims singly at this, that neither +in cities nor in towns we should live under laws distinct one from +another, but that we should look upon all men in general to be our +fellow-countrymen and citizens, observing one manner of living and one +kind of order, like a flock feeding together with equal right in one +common pasture. This Zeno wrote, fancying to himself, as in a dream, +a certain scheme of civil order, and the image of a philosophical +commonwealth. But Alexander made good his words by his deeds; for he +did not, as Aristotle advised him, rule the Grecians like a moderate +prince and insult over the barbarians like an absolute tyrant; nor did +he take particular care of the first as his friends and domestics, and +scorn the latter as mere brutes and vegetables; which would have filled +his empire with fugitive incendiaries and perfidious tumults. But +believing himself sent from Heaven as the common moderator and arbiter +of all nations, and subduing those by force whom he could not associate +to himself by fair offers, he labored thus, that he might bring all +regions, far and near, under the same dominion. And then, as in a +festival goblet, mixing lives, manners, customs, wedlock, all together, +he ordained that every one should take the whole habitable world for +his country, of which his camp and army should be the chief metropolis +and garrison; that his friends and kindred should be the good and +virtuous, and that the vicious only should be accounted foreigners. Nor +would he that Greeks and barbarians should be distinguished by long +garments, targets, scimitars, or turbans; but that the Grecians should +be known by their virtue and courage, and the barbarians by their vices +and their cowardice; and that their habit, their diet, their marriage +and custom of converse, should be everywhere the same, engaged and +blended together by the ties of blood and pledges of offspring. + +7. Therefore it was that Demaratus the Corinthian, an acquaintance +and friend of Philip, when he beheld Alexander in Susa, bursting into +tears of more than ordinary joy, bewailed the deceased Greeks, who, +as he said, had been bereaved of the greatest blessing on earth, for +that they had not seen Alexander sitting upon the throne of Darius. +Though most assuredly, for my part, I do not envy the beholders this +show, which was only a thing of chance and a happiness of more ordinary +kings. But I would gladly have been a spectator of those majestic +and sacred nuptials, when, after he had betrothed together a hundred +Persian brides and a hundred Macedonian and Greek bridegrooms, he +placed them all at one common table within the compass of one pavilion +embroidered with gold, as being all of the same family; and then, +crowned with a nuptial garland, and being himself the first to sing an +epithalamium in honor of the conjunction between two of the greatest +and most potent nations in the world, of only one the bridegroom, of +all the brideman, father, and moderator, he caused the several couples +to be severally married. Had I but beheld this sight, ecstasied with +pleasure I should have then cried out: “Barbarous and stupid Xerxes, +how vain was all thy toil to cover the Hellespont with a floating +bridge! Thus rather wise and prudent princes join Asia to Europe. They +join and fasten nations together not with boards or planks, or surging +brigandines, not with inanimate and insensible bonds, but by the +ties of legitimate love, chaste nuptials, and the infallible gage of +progeny.” + +8. But then, when he considered the Eastern garments, Alexander +preferred the Persian before the Median habit, though much the +meaner and more frugal garb. Therefore rejecting the gaudy and +scenical ornament of barbarian gallantry, such as were the tiara and +candys, together with the upper breeches, according to the report of +Eratosthenes, he ordered a mixture of the Macedonian and Persian modes +to be observed in all the garments which he wore. As a philosopher, +he contented himself with mediocrity; but as the common chieftain of +both and as a mild and affable prince, he was willing to gain the +affection of the vanquished by the esteem which he showed to the mode +of the country; that so they might continue the more steadfast and +loyal to the Macedonians, not hating them as their enemies, but loving +them as their princes and rulers. This behavior was contrary to that +of persons insipid and puffed up with prosperity, who wedded to their +own humors admire the single colored robe but cannot endure the tunic +bordered with purple, or else are well pleased with the latter and hate +the former, like young children, in love with the mode in which, as +another nurse, their country’s custom first apparelled them. And yet we +see that they who hunt wild beasts clothe themselves with their hairy +skins; and fowlers make use of feathered jerkins; nor are others less +wary how they show themselves to wild bulls in scarlet or to elephants +in white; for those creatures are provoked and enraged at the sight of +these colors. If then this potent monarch, designing to reclaim and +civilize stubborn and warlike nations, took the same course to soften +and allay their inbred fury which others take with wild beasts, and at +length brought them to be tame and tractable by making use of their +familiar habits and by submitting to their customary course of life, +thereby removing animosity from their breasts and sour looks from their +countenances, shall we blame his management; or rather must we not +admire the wisdom of him who by so slight a change of apparel ruled all +Asia, subduing their bodies with his arms and vanquishing their minds +with his habit? It is a strange thing; we applaud Socratic Aristippus, +because, being sometimes clad in a poor threadbare cloak, sometimes in +a Milesian robe, he kept a decency in both; but they censure Alexander, +because he gave some respect to the garb and mode of those whom he had +vanquished, as well as to that of his native country; not considering +that he was laying the foundation of vast achievements. It was not his +design to ransack Asia like a robber, or to despoil and ruin it, as +the prey and rapine of unexpected good fortune, as afterwards Hannibal +pillaged Italy, and before him the Treres ravaged Ionia and the +Scythians harassed Media,—but to subdue all the kingdoms of the earth +under one form of government, and to make one nation of all mankind. +So that if the same Deity which hither sent the soul of Alexander had +not too soon recalled it, one law had overlooked all the world, and one +form of justice had been as it were the common light of one universal +government; while now that part of the earth which Alexander never saw +remains without a sun. + +9. Thus, in the first place, the very scope and aim of Alexander’s +expedition speaks him a philosopher, as one that sought not to gain for +himself luxurious splendor or riches, but to establish concord, peace, +and mutual community among all men. + +Next, let us consider his sayings, seeing that the souls of other +kings and potentates betray their conditions and inclinations by their +expressions. Antigonus the Aged, having heard a certain poet sing +before him a short treatise concerning justice, said, Thou art a fool +to mention justice to me, when thou seest me thundering down the cities +belonging to other people about their ears. Dionysius the Tyrant was +wont to say that children were to be cheated with dice, but men with +oaths. Upon the monument of Sardanapalus this inscription is to be +seen:— + + All I did eat and drink, and all that lust + To me vouchsafed, I have; all else is gone. + +What now can a man say of these apophthegms, but that the first denotes +injustice and immoderate desire of sovereignty; the next impiety; and +the third sensuality? But as for the sayings of Alexander, set aside +his diadem, his claimed descent from Ammon, and the nobility of his +Macedonian extraction, and you would believe them to have been the +sayings of Socrates, Plato, or Pythagoras. For we omit the swelling +hyperboles of flattery which poets have inscribed under his images +and statues, studying rather to extol the power of Alexander than his +moderation and temperance; as, for example,— + + The statue seems to look to Jove and say, + Take thou Olympus; me let Earth obey! + +and that other,— + + This is Alexander the son of Jove. + +But these, as I said, were only the flashes of poetic adulation +magnifying his good success. Let us therefore come to such sentences +as were really uttered by Alexander himself, beginning first with the +early blossoms of his childhood. + +It is well known that for swiftness in running he exceeded all +that were of his years; for which reason some of his most familiar +play-fellows would have persuaded him to show himself at the Olympic +games. He asked them whether there were any kings to contend with him. +And when they replied that there were none, he said, The contest then +is unequal, for I can conquer only private men, while they may conquer +a king. + +His father, King Philip, being run through the thigh in a battle +against the Triballi, and, though he escaped the danger, being not a +little troubled at the deformity of his limping; Be of good cheer, +father, said he, and show yourself in public, that you may be reminded +of your bravery at every step. + +Are not these the products of a mind truly philosophical, which by an +inspired inclination to what is noble already contemns the disfigurings +of the body? Nor can we otherwise believe but that he himself gloried +in his own wounds, which every time he beheld them called to his +remembrance the conquered nation and the victory, what cities he had +taken, what kings had surrendered themselves; never striving to conceal +or cover those indelible characters and scars of honor, which he +always carried about him as the engraven testimonies of his virtue and +fortitude. + +10. Then again, if any dispute arose or judgment were to be given upon +any of Homer’s verses, either in the schools or at meals, this that +follows he always preferred above the rest,— + + Both a good king, and far renowned in war;[200] + +believing that the praise which another by precedency of time had +anticipated was to be a law also to himself, and saying that Homer in +the same verse had extolled the fortitude of Agamemnon and prophesied +of Alexander’s. Crossing therefore the Hellespont, he viewed the city +of Troy, revolving in his mind the heroic acts of antiquity. At this +time one of the chief citizens proffering to him Paris’s harp, if he +pleased to accept it; I need it not, said he, for I have that with +which Achilles pleased himself already, + + When he the mighty deeds of heroes sung, + Whose fame so loudly o’er the world has rung;[201] + +but as for Paris, his soft and effeminate harmony was devoted only +to the pleasures of amorous courtship. Now it is part of a true +philosopher’s soul to love wisdom and chiefly to admire wise men; +and this was Alexander’s praise beyond all other princes. His high +esteem for his master Aristotle we have already mentioned. No less +honor did he give to Anaxarchus the musician, whom he favored as one +of his choicest friends. To Pyrrhon the Elean, the first time he saw +him, he gave a thousand crowns in gold. To Xenocrates, the companion +of Plato, he sent an honorary present of fifty talents. Lastly, it is +recorded by several that he made Onesicratus, the disciple of Diogenes +the Cynic, chief of his pilots. But when he came to discourse with +Diogenes himself at Corinth, he was struck in such a manner with wonder +and astonishment at the course of life and sententious learning of +the person, that frequently calling him to mind he was wont to say, +Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes. That is, I would have +devoted myself to the study of words, had I not been a philosopher in +deeds. He did not say, Were I not a king, I would be Diogenes; nor, +Were I not opulent, an Argeades. For he did not prefer fortune before +wisdom, nor the purple robe or regal diadem before the beggar’s wallet +and threadbare mantle; but he said, Were I not Alexander, I would be +Diogenes. That is,— + +“Had I not designed to intermix barbarians and Greeks and to civilize +the earth as I marched forward, and had I not proposed to search the +limits of sea and land, and so, extending Macedon to the land-bounding +ocean, to have sown Greece in every region all along and to have +diffused justice and peace over all nations, I would not have sat +yawning upon the throne of slothful and voluptuous power, but would +have labored to imitate the frugality of Diogenes. But now pardon us, +Diogenes. We follow the example of Hercules, we emulate Perseus, and +tread in the footsteps of Bacchus, our divine ancestor and founder +of our race; once more we purpose to settle the victorious Greeks in +India, and once more to put those savage mountaineers beyond Caucasus +in mind of their ancient Bacchanalian revels. There, by report, live +certain people professing a rigid and austere philosophy, and more +frugal than Diogenes, as going altogether naked; pious men, governed +by their own constitutions and devoted wholly to God. They have no +occasion for scrip or wallet, for they never lay up provision, having +always fresh and new gathered from the earth. The rivers afford them +drink, and at night they rest upon the grass and the leaves that fall +from the trees. By our means shall they know Diogenes, and Diogenes +them. But it behooves us also, as it were, to make a new coin, and to +stamp a new face of Grecian civility upon the barbarian metal.” + +11. Tell me now; can such generous acts of Alexander as these be +thought to speak the spontaneous favors of Fortune, only an impetuous +torrent of success and strength of hand? Do they not rather demonstrate +much of fortitude and justice, much of mildness and temperance, in +one who managed all things with decorum and consideration, with a +sober and intelligent judgment? Not that I (believe me) go about to +distinguish between the several acts of Alexander, and to ascribe this +to fortitude, that to humanity, another to temperance; but I take every +act to be an act of all the virtues mixed together. This is conformable +to that Stoic sentence, “What a wise man does he does by the impulse +of all the virtues together; only one particular virtue seems to +head every action, and calling the rest to her assistance drives on +to the end proposed.” Therefore we may behold in Alexander a warlike +humanity, a meek fortitude, a liberality poised with good husbandry, +anger easily appeased, chaste amours, a busy relaxation of mind, and +labor not wanting recreation. Who ever like him mixed festivals with +combats, revels and jollity with expeditions, nuptials and bacchanals +with sieges and difficult attempts? To those that offended against the +law who more severe? To the unfortunate who more pitiful? To those that +made resistance who more terrible? To suppliants who more merciful? +This gives me an occasion to insert here the saying of Porus. For he +being brought a captive before Alexander, and by him being asked how +he expected to be treated, Royally, said he, O Alexander. And being +further asked whether he desired no more, he replied, Nothing; for all +things are comprehended in that word “royally.” And for my part, I know +not how to give a greater applause to the actions of Alexander, than by +adding the word “philosophically,” for in that word all other things +are included. Being ravished with the beauty of Roxana, the daughter +of Oxyarthes, dancing among the captive ladies, he never assailed her +with injurious lust, but married her philosophically. Beholding Darius +stuck to the heart with several arrows, he did not presently sacrifice +to the Gods or sing triumphal songs to celebrate the end of so long a +war, but unclasping his own cloak from his shoulders he threw it over +the dead corpse philosophically, as it were to cover the shame of royal +calamity. Another time, as he was perusing a private letter sent him +by his mother, he observed Hephaestion, who was sitting by him, to +read it along with him, little understanding what he did. For which +unwary act Alexander forbore to reprove him; only clapping his signet +to his mouth, he thus kindly admonished him that his lips were then +sealed up to silence by the friendly confidence which he reposed in +him,—all this philosophically. And indeed if these were not acts done +philosophically, where shall we find them? + +12. Let us compare with his some few acts of those who are by all +allowed to be philosophers. Socrates yielded to the lustful embraces +of Alcibiades. Alexander, when Philoxenus, governor of the sea-coasts, +wrote to him concerning an Ionian lad that had not his equal for +youthful beauty, and desired to know whether he should be sent to him +or not, returned him this nipping answer: Vilest of men, when wast +thou ever privy to any desires of mine, that thou shouldst think to +flatter me with such abhorred allurements? We admire the abstinency +of Xenocrates for refusing the gift of fifty talents which Alexander +sent him; but do we take no notice of the munificence of the giver? +Or is the bountiful person not to be thought as much a contemner of +money as he that refuses it? Xenocrates needed not riches, by reason +of his philosophy; but Alexander wanted wealth, by reason of the same +philosophy, that he might be more liberal to such persons.... How +often has Alexander borne witness to this in the midst of a thousand +dangers? It is true, we believe that it is in the power of all men to +judge rightly of things; for nature guides us of herself to virtue and +bravery. But herein philosophers excel all others, that they have by +education acquired a fixed and solid judgment to encounter whatever +dangers they meet with. For most men have no such maxims to defend them +as this in Homer,— + + Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, + And needs no omen but his country’s cause.[202] + +And that other of Demosthenes,— + + Death is the certain end of all mankind.[203] + +But sudden apparitions of imminent danger many times break our +resolutions; and the fancy troubled with the imagination of approaching +peril chases away true judgment from her seat. For fear not only +astonishes the memory, according to the saying of Thucydides,[204] +but it dissipates all manner of consideration, sense of honor, and +resolution; while philosophy binds and keeps them together.... + + NOTE.—The text is defective at the end, and elsewhere in the last + chapter. The sense of the clause just preceding the quotation from + Homer is chiefly conjectural. A similar deficiency is found at the + end of the Second Oration on Alexander, which immediately follows. + (G.) + + + + +THE SECOND ORATION OF PLUTARCH CONCERNING THE FORTUNE OR VIRTUE OF +ALEXANDER THE GREAT. + + +1. We forgot in our yesterday’s discourse to tell you, that the age +wherein Alexander flourished had the happiness to abound in sciences +and in persons of transcending natural endowments. Yet this is not to +be ascribed to Alexander’s but their own good fortune, which favored +them with such a judge and such a spectator of their particular +excellencies as was both able rightly to discern and liberally +to reward their understood deserts. Therefore it is recorded of +Archestratus, born some ages after, an elegant poet but buried in his +own extreme poverty, that a certain person meeting him said, Hadst +thou but lived when Alexander lived, for every verse he would have +gratified thee with an island of Cyprus or a territory fair as that of +Phoenicia. Which makes me of opinion that those former famous artists +and soaring geniuses may not so properly be said to have lived in +the time of Alexander as by Alexander. For as the temperature of the +season and limpid thinness of the surrounding air produce plenty of +grain and fruit; so the favor, the encouragement, and benignity of a +prince increase the number of aspiring geniuses, and advance perfection +in sciences. And on the other side, by the envy, covetousness, and +contentiousness of those in power, whatever soars to the height of true +bravery or invention is utterly quelled and extinguished. Therefore +it is reported of Dionysius the Tyrant that, being pleased with the +music of a certain player on a harp, he promised him a talent for +his reward; but when the musician claimed his promise the next day, +Yesterday, said he, by thee delighted, while thou sangest before me, I +gave thee likewise the pleasure of thy hopes; and thence immediately +didst thou receive the reward of thy delightful pastime, enjoying at +the same time the charming expectation of my promise. In like manner +Alexander tyrant of the Pheraeans (for it behooves us to distinguish +him by that addition, lest we should dishonor his namesake), sitting +to see a tragedy, was so affected with delight at the acting, that he +found himself moved to a more than ordinary compassion. Upon which, +leaping suddenly from his seat, as he hastily flung out of the theatre, +How poor and mean it would look, said he, if I, that have massacred +so many of my own citizens and subjects, should be seen here weeping +at the misfortunes of Hecuba and Polyxena! And it was an even lay but +that he had mischiefed the tragedian for having mollified his cruel +and merciless disposition, like iron softened by fire. Timotheus also, +singing to Archelaus who seemed too parsimonious in remuneration, +frequently upbraided him with the following sarcasm:— + + Base earth-bred silver thou admirest. + +To whom Archelaus not unwittily reparteed,— + + But thou dost beg it. + +Ateas, king of the Scythians, having taken Ismenias the musician +prisoner, commanded him to play during one of his royal banquets. And +when all the rest admired and applauded his harmony, Ateas swore that +the neighing of a horse was more delightful to his ears. So great a +stranger was he to the habitations of the Muses; as one whose soul +lodged always in his stables, fitter however to hear asses bray than +horses neigh. Therefore, among such kings, what progress or advancement +of noble sciences or esteem for learning can be expected? And surely +no more can be expected from such as would themselves be rivals, +who therefore persecute real artists with all the hatred and envy +imaginable. In the number of these was Dionysius before mentioned, who +condemned Philoxenus the poet to labor in the quarries, because, being +by the tyrant commanded only to correct a tragedy by him written, he +struck out every line from the beginning to the end. Nay, I must needs +say that Philip, who became a student not till his latter years, in +these things descended beneath himself. For it being once his chance to +enter into a dispute about sounds with a musician whom he thought he +had foiled in his art, the person modestly and with a smile replied, +May never so great a misfortune befall thee, O King, as to understand +these things better than I do. + +2. But Alexander, well considering of what persons and things it became +him to be the hearer and spectator, and with whom to contend and +exercise his strength, made it his business to excel all others in the +art of war, and according to Aeschylus, to be + + A mighty warrior, terrible to his foes. + +For having learned this art from his ancestors, the Aeacidae and +Hercules, he gave to other arts their due honor and esteem without +the least emulation; embracing and favoring what was in them noble +and elegant, but never suffering himself to be carried away with the +pleasure of being a practitioner in any. In his time flourished the +two tragedians, Thessalus and Athenodorus, who contending for the +prize, the Cyprian kings supplied the charges of the theatre, and +the judges were to be the most renowned captains of the age. But at +length Athenodorus being adjudged the victor; I could have wished, +said Alexander, rather to have lost a part of my kingdom than to +have seen Thessalus vanquished. Yet he neither interceded with the +judges nor anywhere disapproved or blamed the judgment; believing it +became him to be superior to all others, only to submit to justice. +To the comedian Lyco of Scarphe, who had inserted into one of his +scenes certain verses in the nature of a begging petition, he gave +ten talents, laughing heartily at the conceit. Aristonicus was in the +number of the most famous musicians of those times. This man being +slain in battle, strenuously fighting to assist and save his friend, +Alexander commanded his statue to be made in brass and set up in the +temple of Pythian Apollo, holding his harp in one hand and his spear +upright in the other, not only in memory of the person, but in honor +of music itself, as exciting to fortitude and inspiring those who are +rightly and generously bred to it with a kind of supernatural courage +and bravery. + +Even Alexander himself, when Antigenides played before him in the +Harmatian mood, was so transported and warmed for battle by the charms +of lofty airs, that leaping from his seat all in his clattering armor +he began to lay about him and attack those who stood next him, thereby +verifying to the Spartans what was commonly sung among themselves,— + + The masculine touches of the well-tuned lyre + Unsheathe the sword and warlike rage inspire.[205] + +Furthermore, there were also Apelles the painter and Lysippus the +statuary both living under the reign of Alexander. The first of which +painted him grasping Jupiter’s thunderbolt in his hand, so artfully +and in such lively colors, that it was said of the two Alexanders that +Philip’s was invincible, but Apelles’s inimitable. Lysippus, when he +had finished the first statue of Alexander looking up with his face to +the sky (as Alexander was wont to look, with his neck slightly bent), +not improperly added to the pedestal the following lines:— + + The statue seems to look to Jove and say, + Take thou Olympus; me let Earth obey! + +For which Alexander gave to Lysippus the sole patent for making all his +statues; because he alone expressed in brass the vigor of his mind, +and in his lineaments represented the lustre of his virtue; while +others, who strove to imitate the turning of his neck and softness and +brightness of his eyes, failed to observe the manliness and lion-like +fierceness of his countenance. + +Among the great artists of that time was Stasicrates, who never studied +elegance nor what was sweet and alluring to the eye, but only bold and +lofty workmanship and design, becoming the munificence of royal bounty. +He attended upon Alexander, and found fault with all the paintings, +sculptures, and cast figures that were made of his person, as the works +of mean and slothful artificers. “But I,” said he, “will undertake +to fix the likeness of thy body on matter incorruptible, such as has +eternal foundations and a ponderosity steadfast and immovable. For the +mountain Athos in Thrace, where it rises largest and most conspicuous, +having a just symmetry of breadth and height, with members, limbs, and +distances answerable to the shape of human body, may be so wrought +and formed as to be, not only in imagination and fancy but really, +the effigy and statue of Alexander; with his feet reaching to the +seas, grasping in his left hand a fair and populous city, and with his +right pouring forth an ever-flowing river into the ocean from a bowl, +as a perpetual drink-offering. But as for gold, brass, ivory, wood, +stained figures, and little wax images, toys which may be bought or +stolen, I despise them all.” When Alexander heard this discourse, he +admired and praised the spirit and confidence of the artist; “But,” +said he, “let Athos alone; for it is sufficient that it is the monument +of the vanquished folly and presuming pride of one king already. Our +portraiture the snowy Caucasus, and towering Emodon, Tanais, and the +Caspian Sea shall draw. They shall remain eternal monuments of our +renown.” + +3. But grant that so vast an undertaking should have been brought to +perfection; is there any person living, do ye think, that would have +believed such a figure, such a form, and so great a design, to be the +spontaneous and accidental production of fantastic Nature? Certainly, +not one. What may we think of the statue representing him grasping +thunder, and that other with his spear in his hand? Is it possible +that a Colossus of a statue should ever be made by Fortune without the +help of art; nay, though she should profusely afford all the materials +imaginable of gold, brass, ivory, or any other substance whatever? +Much more, is it probable that so great a personage, and indeed the +greatest of all who have ever lived, should be the workmanship of +Fortune without the assistance of virtue? And all this, perhaps, +because she has made him the potent master of arms, horses, money, and +wealthy cities?—which he who knows not how to use shall rather find +to be destructive and dangerous than aids to advance his power and +magnificence, as affording proofs of his weakness and pusillanimity. +Noble therefore was the saying of Antisthenes, that we ought to wish an +enemy all things beneficial to mankind except fortitude; for so these +blessings will belong not to their possessors but to the conqueror. +Therefore it was, they say, that Nature provided for the hart, one of +the most timorous of creatures, such large and branchy horns, to teach +us that strength and weapons nothing avail where conduct and courage +are wanting. In like manner, Fortune frequently bestowing wealth and +empire upon princes simple and faint-hearted, who blemish their dignity +by misgovernment, honors and more firmly establishes virtue, as being +that which alone makes a man most truly beautiful and majestic. For +indeed, according to Epicharmus, + + ’Tis the mind only sees, the mind + That hears; the rest are deaf and blind. + +For as for the senses, they seem only to have their proper +opportunities to act. + +But that the mind alone is that which gives both assistance and +ornament, the mind that overcomes, that excels, and acts the kingly +part, while those other blind, deaf, and inanimate things do but +hinder, depress, and disgrace the possessors void of virtue, is easily +made manifest by experience. For Semiramis, but a woman, set forth +great navies, raised mighty armies, built Babylon, covered the Red Sea +with her fleets and subdued the Ethiopians and Arabians. On the other +side, Sardanapalus possessing the same power and dominion, though born +a man, spent his time at home combing purple wool, lying among his +harlots in a lascivious posture upon his back, with his heels higher +than his head. After his decease, they made for him a statue of stone, +resembling a woman dancing, who seemed to snap with her fingers as she +held them over her head, with this inscription,— + + Eat, drink, indulge thy lust; all other things are nothing. + +Whence it came to pass that Crates, seeing the golden statue of Phryne +the courtesan standing in the temple of Delphi, cried out, There +stands a trophy of the Grecian luxury. But had he viewed the life or +rather burial (for I find but little difference) of Sardanapalus, +would he have imagined that statue to have been a trophy of Fortune’s +indulgences? Shall we suffer the fortune of Alexander to be sullied by +the touch of Sardanapalus, or endure that the latter should challenge +the majesty and prowess of the former? For what did Sardanapalus enjoy +through her favor, more than other princes receive at her hands—arms, +horses, weapons, money, and guards of the body? Let Fortune, with +all these assistances, make Aridaeus famous, if she can; let her, if +she can, advance the renown of Ochus, Amasis, Oarses, Tigranes the +Armenian, or Nicomedes the Bithynian. Of which last two, the one, +casting his diadem at Pompey’s feet, ignominiously surrendered up his +kingdom a prey to the victor; and as for Nicomedes, he, after he had +shaved his head and put on the cap of liberty, acknowledged himself no +more than a freed vassal of the Roman people. + +4. Rather let us therefore affirm that Fortune makes her favorites +little, poor-spirited, and pusillanimous cowards. But it is not just +to ascribe vice to misfortune, fortitude and wisdom to prosperity. +Fortune indeed was herself made great by Alexander’s reign; for in him +she appeared illustrious, invincible, magnanimous, merciful, and just. +Insomuch that after his decease Leosthenes likened this vast bulk of +power—wandering as in a mist, and sometimes violently rushing one part +against the other—to the giant Cyclops, who after he had lost his eye +went feeling and groping about with his hands before him, not knowing +where to lay them. So strangely did that vast pile of dominion roll +and tumble about in the dark of confusion, when shattered into anarchy +by the loss of its supreme head. Or rather, as dead bodies, when the +soul takes her flight, no longer grow together, no longer act together, +but are broken up and dissolved, and are finally dissipated; thus +Alexander’s empire, wanting his enlivening conduct, panted, gasped, +and boiled with fever, struggling with Perdiccas, Meleager, Seleucus, +and Antigonus,—as with vital spirits still remaining hot, and with +irregular and intermittent pulses,—till at length, totally corrupted +and putrefied, it produced a sort of degenerate kings and faint-hearted +princes, like so many worms. This he himself seemed to prophesy, +reproving Hephaestion for quarrelling with Craterus: What power, said +he, or signal achievement couldst thou pretend to, should any one +deprive thee of thy Alexander? The same will I be bold to say to the +Fortune of that time: Where would have been thy grandeur, where thy +glory, where thy vast empire, thy invincibility, should any one have +bereaved thee of thy Alexander?—that is, should any one have deprived +thee of thy skill and dexterity in war, thy magnificence in expense, +thy moderation in the midst of so much affluence, thy prowess in the +field, thy meekness to the vanquished? Frame, if thou canst, another +piece like him, that missing all his noble qualities shall neither be +magnificently liberal nor foremost in battle, that shall not regard nor +esteem his friends, that shall not be compassionate to his captives, +that shall not moderate his pleasures, that shall not be watchful +to take all opportunities, whom victory shall make inexorable and +prosperity insolent; and try if thou canst make him another Alexander. +What ruler ever obtained renown by folly and improbity? Separate virtue +from the fortunate, and he everywhere appears little;—among those +that deserve his bounty, for his close-handed illiberality; among the +laborious, for his effeminacy; among the Gods, for his superstition; +among the good, for his envious conditions; among men, for his +cowardice; among women, for his inordinate lust. For as unskilful +workmen, erecting small figures upon huge pedestals, betray the +slightness of their own understandings; so Fortune, when she brings a +person of a poor and narrow soul upon the stage of weighty and glorious +actions, does but expose and disgrace him, as a person whom the vanity +of his own ill conduct has rendered worthless. + +5. So that true grandeur does not consist in the possession but in +the use of noble means. For new-born infants frequently inherit their +father’s kingdoms and empires. Such an one was Charillus, whom Lycurgus +carried in his swaddling-bands to the public table, and resigning his +own authority proclaimed king of Lacedaemon. Yet was not the infant +thereby the more famous, but he who surrendered to the infant his +paternal right, scorning fraud and usurpation. But who could make +Aridaeus great, whom Meleager seated in Alexander’s throne, differing +from a child only in having his swaddling-clothes of purple? Prudently +done, that so in a few days it might appear how men govern by virtue, +and how by fortune. For after the true prince who swayed the empire, +he brought in a mere player; or rather he exposed the diadem of the +habitable world upon the brainless head of a mere mute on the stage. + + Women may bear the burden of a crown, + When a renowned commander puts it on.[206] + +Yet some may say, it is possible for women and children to confer +dignity, riches, and empire upon others. Thus the eunuch Bagoas took +the diadem of Persia, and set it upon the head of Oarses and Darius. +But for a man to take upon him the burden of a vast dominion, and so +to manage his ponderous affairs as not to suffer himself to sink and +be overwhelmed under the immense weight of wakeful cares and incessant +labor, that is the character which signalizes a person endued with +virtue, understanding, and wisdom. All these royal qualities Alexander +had, whom some accuse of being given to wine. But he was a really +great man, who was always sober in action and never drunk with the +pride of his conquests and vast power; while others intoxicated with +the smallest part of his prosperity have ceased to be masters of +themselves. For, as the poet sings,— + + The vainer sort, that view their heaps of gold, + Or else advanced at court high places hold, + Grow wanton with those unexpected showers + That Fortune on their happy greatness pours.[207] + +Thus Clitus, having sunk some three or four of the Grecians galleys +near the island Amorgus, called himself Neptune and carried a +trident. So Demetrius, to whom Fortune vouchsafed a small portion of +Alexander’s power, assumed the title of Kataibates (as if descended +from heaven), to whom the several cities sent their ambassadors, by the +name of God-consulters, and his determinations were called oracles. +Lysimachus, having made himself master of some part of the skirts of +Alexander’s empire, viz., the region about Thrace, swelled to such +excess of pride and vain-glory as to break forth into this ranting +expression: Now the Byzantines make their addresses to me, because I +touch heaven with my spear. At which words, Pasiades of Byzantium being +then present said, Let us be gone, lest he pierce heaven with the point +of his lance. + +What shall we, in the next place, think of those who presumed, as +imitators of Alexander, to have high thoughts of themselves? Clearchus, +having made himself tyrant of Heraclea, carried a sceptre like that of +Jupiter’s in his hand, and named one of his sons Thunderbolt. Dionysius +the Younger called himself the son of Apollo in this inscription:— + + The son of Doris, but from Phoebus sprung. + +His father put to death above ten thousand of his subjects, betrayed +his brother out of envy to his enemies, and not enduring to expect the +natural death of his mother, at that time very aged, caused her to be +strangled, writing in one of his tragedies,— + + For tyranny is the mother of injustice. + +Yet after all this, he named one of his daughters Virtue, another +Temperance, and a third Justice. Others there were that assumed the +titles of benefactors, others of glorious conquerors, others of +preservers, and others usurped the title of great and magnificent. +But should we go about to recount their promiscuous marriages like +horses, their continual herding among impudent and lawless women, their +contaminations of boys, their drumming among effeminate eunuchs, their +perpetual gaming, their piping in theatres, their nocturnal revels, and +days consumed in riot, it would be a task too tedious to undertake. + +6. As for Alexander, he breakfasted by break of day, always sitting; +and supped at the shutting in of the evening; he drank when he had +sacrificed to the Gods. With his friend Medius he played for diversion +when he was sick with a fever. He also played upon the road as he +marched, learning between whiles to throw a dart and leap from his +chariot. He married Roxana merely for love; but Statira, the daughter +of Darius, upon the account of state-policy, for such a conjunction of +both nations strengthened his conquest. As to the other Persian women, +he excelled them in chastity and continence as far as he surpassed +the men in valor. He never desired the sight of any virgin that was +unwilling; and those he saw, he regarded less than if he had not seen +them; mild and affable to all others, proud and lofty only to fair +youth. As for the wife of Darius, a woman most beautiful, he never +would endure to hear a word spoken in commendation of her features. +When she was dead, he graced her funeral with such a regal pomp, and +bewailed her death so piteously, that his kindness cast discredit upon +his chastity, and his very courtesy incurred the obloquy of injustice. +Indeed, Darius himself had been moved with suspicion at first, when he +thought of the power and the youth of the conqueror; for he was one +of those who thought Alexander to be only the darling of Fortune. But +when he understood the truth, “Well,” said he, “I do not yet perceive +the condition of the Persians so deplorable, since the world can never +tax us now with imbecility or effeminacy, whose fate it was to be +vanquished by such a person. Therefore my prayers shall be to the Gods +for his prosperity, and that he may be still victorious in war; to the +end that in well-doing I may surpass Alexander. For my emulation and +ambition lead me in point of honor to show myself more cordial and +friendly than he. If then the Fates have otherwise determined as to me +and mine, O Jupiter preserver of the Persians, and you, O Deities, to +whom the care of kings belongs, hear your suppliant, and suffer none +but Alexander to sit upon the throne of Cyrus.” This was the manner in +which Darius adopted Alexander, after he had called the Gods to witness +the act. + +7. So true it is that virtue is the victor still. But now, if you +please, let us ascribe to Fortune Arbela and Cilicia, and those other +acts of main force and violence; say that Fortune thundered down the +walls of Tyre, and that Fortune opened the way into Egypt. Believe +that by Fortune Halicarnassus fell, Miletus was taken, Mazaeus left +Euphrates unguarded, and the Babylonian fields were strewed with +the carcasses of the slain. Yet was not his prudence the gift of +Fortune, nor his temperance. Neither did Fortune, as it were empaling +his inclinations, preserve him impregnable against his pleasures or +invulnerable against the assaults of his fervent desires. These were +the weapons with which he overthrew Darius. Fortune’s advantages, if +so they may be called, were only the fury of armed men and horses, +battles, slaughters, and flights of routed adversaries. But the great +and most undoubted victory which Darius lost was this, that he was +forced to yield to virtue, magnanimity, prowess, and justice, while he +beheld with admiration his conqueror, who was not to be overcome by +pleasure or by labor, nor to be matched in liberality. + +True it is, that among the throngs of shields and spears, in the midst +of warlike shouts and the clashing of weapons, Tarrias the son of +Dinomenes, Antigenes the Pellenian, and Philotas the son of Parmenio +were invincible; but in respect of their inordinate debauchery, their +love of women, their insatiable covetousness, they were nothing +superior to the meanest of their captives. For the last of these vices +Tarrias was particularly noted; and when Alexander set the Macedonians +out of debt and paid off all their creditors, Tarrias pretended among +the rest to owe a great sum of money, and brought a suborned person +to demand the sum as due to him; but being discovered, he would have +laid violent hands upon himself, had not Alexander forgiven him and +ordered him the money, remembering that at the battle of Perinthus +fought by Philip, being shot into the eye with a dart, he would not +suffer the head of it to be pulled out till the field was clear of +the enemy. Antigenes, when the sick and maimed soldiers were to be +sent back into Macedon, made suit to be registered down in the number, +pretending himself utterly disabled in the wars; which very much +troubled Alexander, who was well acquainted with his valor and knew +that he wore the scars about him of many a bloody field. But the fraud +being detected, that was concealed under some little present infirmity, +Alexander asked him the reason of his design; and he answered, he did +it for the love of Telesippe, that he might accompany her to the sea, +not being able to endure a separation from her. Presently the King +demanded to whom the wench belonged, and who was to be dealt with in +regard to her. To which he replied, she was free from any tie. Well, +then, said the King, let us persuade her to stay, if promises or gifts +will prevail. So ready was he to pardon the dotages of love in others, +so rigorous to himself. But Philotas the son of Parmenio exercised his +incontinency after a more offensive manner. Antigona was a Pellaean +virgin among the captives taken about Damascus, a prisoner before to +Autophradates, who took her going by sea into Samothrace. The beauty +of this damsel was such as kept Philotas constant to her embraces. +Nay, she had so softened and mellowed this man of steel, I know not +how, that he was not master of himself in his enjoyments, but told her +the very secrets of his breast; among other things he said: What had +Philip been, but for Parmenio? And what would Alexander now be, but +for Philotas? What would become of Ammon and the dragons, should we be +once provoked? These words Antigona prattled to one of her companions, +and she told them to Craterus. Craterus brings Antigona privately to +Alexander, who forbore to offer her the least incivility, but by her +means piercing into Philotas’s breast, he detected the whole. Yet for +seven years after he never discovered so much as the least sign of +jealousy, either in his wine or in his anger; nor did he ever disclose +it to any friend, even to Hephaestion, from whom he never concealed +the most inward of his counsels and designs. For it is said that once, +when Alexander had just opened a private letter from his mother and was +quietly reading it, Hephaestion looked over his shoulder and began to +read it likewise; but Alexander forbore to reprove him, and only took +off his signet and clapped it to Hephaestion’s mouth. + +8. These recitals may suffice, without being tedious, to show that +he exercised his authority according to all the most illustrious and +royal methods of government. To which grandeur if he arrived by the +assistance of Fortune, he is to be acknowledged the greater, because +he made so glorious a use of her. So that the more any man extols his +fortune, the more he advances his virtue, which made him worthy of such +fortune. + +But now I shall return to the beginnings of his advancement and the +early dawnings of his power, and endeavor to discover what was there +the great work of Fortune, which rendered Alexander so great by her +assistance. First then, how came it to pass that some neighing barb did +not seat him in the throne of Cyrus, free from wounds, without loss of +blood, without a toilsome expedition, as formerly it happened to Darius +Hystaspes? Or that some one flattered by a woman, as Darius by Atossa, +did not deliver up his diadem to him, as the other did to Xerxes, so +that the empire of Persia came home to him, even to his own doors? Or +why did not some eunuch aid him, as Bagoas did the son of Parysatis, +who, only throwing off the habit of a messenger, immediately put on the +royal turban? Or why was he not elected on a sudden and unexpectedly by +lot to the empire of the world, as at Athens the lawgivers and rulers +are wont to be chosen? Would you know how men come to be kings by +Fortune’s help? At Argos the whole race of the Heraclidae happened to +be extinct, to whom the sceptre of that kingdom belonged. Upon which +consulting the oracle, answer was made to them that an eagle should +direct them. Within a few days the eagle appeared towering aloft, but +stooping he at length lighted upon Aegon’s house; thereupon Aegon was +chosen king. Another time in Paphos, the king that there reigned being +an unjust and wicked tyrant, Alexander resolved to dethrone him, and +therefore sought out for another, the race of the Kinyradae seeming +to be at an end. They told him there was one yet in being, a poor man +and of no account, who lived miserable in a certain garden. Thereupon +messengers were sent, who found the poor man watering some few small +beds of pot-herbs. The miserable creature was strangely surprised to +see so many soldiers about him, but go he must; and so being brought +before Alexander in his rags and tatters, he caused him presently to be +proclaimed king and clad in purple; which done, he was admitted into +the number of those who were called the king’s companions. The name of +this person was Alynomus. Thus Fortune creates kings suddenly, easily +changing the habits and altering the names of those that never expected +or hoped for any such thing. + +9. All this while, what favors did Fortune shower upon Alexander +but what he merited, what he sweat for, what he bled for? What came +gratis? What without the price of great achievements and illustrious +actions? He quenched his thirst in rivers mixed with blood; he marched +over bridges of slain carcasses; he grazed the fields to satisfy his +present hunger; he dug his way to nations covered with snow and cities +lying under ground; he made the hostile sea submit to his fleets; +and, marching over the thirsty and barren sands of the Gedrosians and +Arachosians, he discovered green at sea before he saw it at land. So +that if I might use the same liberty of speech for Alexander to Fortune +as to a man, I would thus expostulate with her:— + +“Insulting Fortune, when and where didst thou make an easy way +for Alexander’s vast performances? What impregnable rock was ever +surrendered to him without a bloody assault, by thy favor? What city +didst thou ever deliver unguarded into his hands? Or what unarmed +battalion of men? What faint-hearted prince, what negligent captain, or +sleepy sentinels did he ever surprise? When didst thou ever befriend +him with so much as a fordable river, a mild winter, or an easy summer? +Get thee to Antiochus the son of Seleucus, to Artaxerxes the brother of +Cyrus. Get thee to Ptolemy Philadelphus. Their fathers proclaimed them +kings in their own lifetime; they won battles which no mothers wept +for; they spent their days in festivals, admiring the pomp of shows and +theatres; and still more happy, they prolonged their reigns till scarce +their feeble hands could wield their sceptres. But if nothing else, +behold the body of Alexander wounded by the enemy, mangled, battered, +bruised, from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, + + With spears, and swords, and mighty stones.[208] + +At the battle of the Granicus his helmet was cleft to his very scull; +at Gaza he was wounded in the shoulder with a dart. Among the +Maragandi he was shot in the shin so desperately, that the bone of +his shank was broken and started out of the skin. In Hyrcania he was +struck in the neck with a stone, which caused such a dimness in his +eyes that for many days he was in danger of losing his sight. Among the +Assaracans he was wounded in the heel with an Indian dart; at which +time he thus derided his flatterers with a smiling countenance, saying, +This is blood, and no immortal ichor,— + + Such stream as issues from a wounded God.[209] + +At Issus he was run through the thigh with a sword by Darius (as Chares +relates), who encountered him hand to hand. Alexander also himself, +writing the truth with all sincerity to Antipater, said, It was my +fortune to be wounded with a poniard in the thigh, but no ill symptoms +attended it either when it was newly done or afterwards during the +cure. Another time, among the Malli he was wounded with an arrow two +cubits in length, that went in at his breast and came out at his neck, +as Aristobulus relates. Crossing the Tanais against the Scythians and +winning the field, he pursued the flying enemy a hundred and fifty +furlongs, though at the same time laboring with a dysentery”. + +10. “Well contrived, vain Fortune! to advance and aggrandize Alexander +by lancing, broaching, boring every part of his body. Not like +Minerva,—who, to save Menelaus, directed the dart against the most +impenetrable parts of his armor, blunting the force of the weapon with +his breastplate, belt, and scarf, so that it only glanced upon his +skin, and drew forth two or three drops of blood,—but contrariwise, +thou hast exposed his principal parts naked to mischief, driving the +wounds through the very bones, rounding every corner of his body, +besieging the eyes, undermining the pursuing feet, stopping the +torrent of victory, and disappointing the prosecution of noble designs. +For my part, I know no prince to whom Fortune ever was more unkind, +though she has been envious and severe enough to several. However, +other princes she destroyed with a swift and rapid destruction, as with +a whirlwind; but in her hatred against Alexander she prolonged her +malice, and persisted still implacable and inexorable, as she showed +herself to Hercules. For what Typhons and monstrous giants did she not +oppose against him? Which of his enemies did she not fortify with store +of arms, deep rivers, steep mountains, and the foreign strength of +massy elephants? Now had not Alexander been a personage of transcending +wisdom, actuated by the impulse of a more than ordinary virtue, but had +he been supported only by Fortune, he would have trusted to her as her +favorite, and spared himself the labor and the turmoil of ranging so +many armies and fighting so many battles, the toil of so many sieges +and pursuits, the vexations of revolting nations and haughty princes +not enduring the curb of foreign dominion, and all his tedious marches +into Bactria, Maracanda, and Sogdiana, among faithless and rebellious +nations, who were ever breaking out afresh with new wars, like the +Hydra putting forth a new head so soon as one was cut off.” + +11. And here I may seem to utter an absurdity, but I will venture to +speak it, as being an undoubted truth; that it was by Fortune that +he came very near losing the reputation of being the son of Jupiter +Ammon. For who but one sprung from the Gods, Hercules excepted, would +ever have undertaken and finished those hazardous and toilsome labors +which he did? Yet what did Hercules do but terrify lions, pursue wild +boars, and scare birds; enjoined thereto by one evil man, that he +might not have leisure for those greater actions of punishing Antaeus +and putting an end to the murders of Busiris. But it was virtue that +enjoined Alexander to undertake that godlike labor, not covetousness +of the golden burden of ten thousand camels, not the possession of the +Median women or glorious ornaments of Persian luxury, not greediness of +the Chalybonian wine or the fish of Hyrcania, but that he might reduce +all mankind as it were into one family, under one form of government +and the same custom of intercourse and conversation. This love of +virtue was thoroughly inbred, and increased and ripened as he grew in +years; so that once being to entertain the Persian ambassadors in his +father’s absence, he never asked them any questions that savored of +boyish imbecility,—never troubled them to answer any questions about +the golden vine, the pendent gardens, or what habit the king wore,—but +still desired to be satisfied in the chiefest concerns of the empire, +what force the Persians brought into the field, and in what part of the +army the king fought; as Ulysses asked, + + Where are the magazines of arms? And where + The barbed steeds provided for the war?[210] + +He also enquired which were the nearest roads for them that travelled +from the sea up into the country; at all of which the ambassadors +were astonished, and said, This youth is a great prince, but ours a +rich one. No sooner was Philip interred, but his resolution hurried +him to cross the sea; and having already grasped it in his hopes +and preparations, he made all imaginable haste to set foot in Asia. +But Fortune opposed him, diverted him, and kept him back, creating +a thousand vexatious troubles to delay and stop him. First, she +contrived the Illyrian and Triballic wars, exciting to hostility the +neighboring barbarians. But they, after many dangers run and many +terrible encounters, being at length chased even as far as Scythia +beyond the river Ister, he returned back to prosecute his first +design. But then again spiteful Fortune stirred up the Thebans against +him, and entangled him in the Grecian war, and in the dire necessity of +defending himself against his fellow-countrymen and relations with fire +and sword and hideous slaughter. Which war being brought to a dreadful +end, away he presently crossed into Asia,—as Phylarchus relates, with +only thirty days’ provision; as Aristobulus reports, with seventy +talents,—having before sold and divided among his friends his own +revenues and those of his crown. Only Perdiccas refused what he offered +him, asking him at the same time what he had left for himself. And when +Alexander replied, Nothing but hopes, Then, said he, we will be content +with the same; for it is not just to accept of thy goods, but we must +wait for those of Darius. + +12. What were then the hopes with which Alexander passed into +Asia? Not a vast power mustered out of populous cities, nor fleets +sailing through mountains; not whips and fetters, the instruments of +barbarians’ fury, to curb and manacle the sea. But in his small army +there was surpassing desire of glory, emulation among those of equal +age, and a noble strife to excel in honor and virtue among friends. +Then, as for himself, he carried with him all these great hopes,—piety +towards the Gods, fidelity to his friends, generous frugality, +temperance, beneficence, contempt of death, magnanimity, humanity, +decent affability, candid integrity, constancy in counsel, quickness +in execution, love of precedence in honor, and an effectual purpose +to follow the steps of virtue. And though Homer, in describing the +beauty of Agamemnon, seems not to have observed the rules of decorum or +probability in any of his three similitudes,— + + Like thundering Jove’s, his awful head and eyes + The gazing crowd with majesty surprise; + In every part with form celestial graced, + His breast like Neptune’s, and like Mars his waist;[211] + +yet as for Alexander, if his celestial parents formed and composed +him of several virtues, may we not conclude that he had the wisdom of +Cyrus, the temperance of Agesilaus, the foresight of Themistocles, the +skill of Philip, the daring courage of Brasidas, the shrewdness and +political skill of Pericles? Certainly, if we compare him with the most +ancient heroes, he was more temperate than Agamemnon, who preferred +a captive before his lawful wife, though but newly wedded, while +Alexander, before he was legally married, abstained from his prisoners. +He was more magnanimous than Achilles, who accepted a small sum of +money for the redemption of Hector’s dead body, while Alexander spared +no expense to adorn the funeral of Darius. Achilles accepted gifts and +bribes from his friends, as the atonement of his wrath; Alexander, +when once a victor, enriched his enemies. He was much more pious than +Diomede, who scrupled not to fight against the Gods, while Alexander +ascribed to Heaven all his successes. Finally, he was more bewailed +of his relations than Ulysses, whose mother died for grief, while the +mother of Alexander’s enemy, out of affection, bare him company in his +death. + +13. In short, if Solon proved so wise a ruler by Fortune, if Miltiades +led his armies by Fortune, if Aristides was so renowned for his +justice by Fortune, then there is nothing that can be called the +work of virtue. Then is virtue only an airy fiction, and a word that +passes with some show of glory through the life of man, but feigned +and magnified by Sophists and lawgivers. But if every one of these +whom we have mentioned was wealthy or poor, weak or strong, deformed +or beautiful, long or short lived, by Fortune, but made himself a +great captain, a great lawgiver, famous for governing kingdoms and +commonwealths, by virtue and reason; then in God’s name let us compare +Alexander with the best of them. Solon by a law made a great abatement +upon the payment of the Athenians’ private debts, which he called his +burden-easing law; Alexander discharged the debts of his Macedonians at +his own expense. Pericles, laying a tax upon the Greeks, expended the +money in building temples to beautify the citadel of Athens; Alexander +sent home ten thousand talents out of the spoils of the barbarians, for +the building of temples to the Gods all over Greece. Brasidas advanced +his fame all over Greece, by breaking through the enemy’s army lying +encamped by the seaside near Methone; but when you read of that daring +jump of Alexander’s (so astonishing to the hearers, much more to them +that beheld it) when he threw himself from the walls of the Oxydracian +metropolis among the thickest of the enemy, assailing him on every +side with spears, darts, and swords, tell me where you meet with such +an example of matchless prowess, or to what you can compare it but to +a gleam of lightning violently flashing from a cloud, and impetuously +driven by the wind? Such was the appearance of Alexander, as he leaped +like an apparition to the earth, glittering in his flaming armor. The +enemy, at first amazed and struck with horror, retreated and fell back; +till seeing him single they came on again with a redoubled force. + +Now was not this a great and splendid testimony of Fortune’s kindness, +to throw him into an inconsiderable and barbarous town, and there +to enclose and immure him a prey to worthless enemies? And when his +friends made haste to his assistance, to break the scaling-ladders, +and to overthrow and cast them down? Of three that got upon the walls +and flung themselves down in his defence, endearing Fortune presently +despatched one; the other, pierced and struck with a shower of darts, +could only be said to live. Without, the Macedonians foamed and filled +the air with helpless cries, having no engines at hand. All they could +do was to dig down the walls with their swords, tear out the stones +with their nails, and almost to rend them out with their teeth. All +this while, Alexander, Fortune’s favorite, whom she always covered with +her protection, like a wild beast entangled in a snare, stood deserted +and destitute of all assistance, not laboring for Susa, Babylon, +Bactria, or to vanquish the mighty Porus. For to miscarry in great and +glorious attempts is no reproach; but so malicious was Fortune, so kind +to the barbarians, such a hater of Alexander, that she aimed not only +at his life and body, but at bereaving him of his honor and sullying +his renown. For Alexander’s fall had never been so much lamented had he +perished near Euphrates or Hydaspes by the hand of Darius, or by the +horses, swords, and axes of the Persians fighting with all their might +and main in defence of their king, or had he tumbled from the walls of +Babylon, and all his hopes together. Thus Pelopidas and Epaminondas +fell; whose death was to be ascribed to their virtue, not to such a +poor misfortune as this. But what was the singular act of Fortune’s +favor which we are now enquiring into? What indeed, but in the farthest +nook of a barbarous country, on the farther side of a river, within +the walls of a miserable village, to pen up and hide the lord and +king of the world, that he might there perish shamefully at the hands +of barbarians, who should knock him down and pelt him with whatever +came next to hand? There the first blow he received with a battle-axe +cleft his helmet and entered his skull; at the same time another shot +him with an Indian arrow in the breast near one of his paps, the head +being four fingers broad and five in length, which, together with the +weight of the shaft which projected from the wound, did not a little +torment him. But, what was worst of all, while he was thus defending +himself from his enemies before him, when he had laid a bold attempter +that approached his person sprawling upon the earth with his sword, a +fellow from a mill close by came behind him, and with a great iron +pestle gave him such a bang upon the neck as deprived him for the +present both of his senses and his sight. However, his virtue did not +yet forsake him, but supplied him still with courage, infusing strength +withal and speed into those about him. For Ptolemy, Limnaeus, and +Leonnatus, and some others who had mounted or broken through the wall, +made to his succor, and stood about him like so many bulwarks of his +virtue; out of mere affection and kindness to their sovereign exposing +their bodies, their faces, and their lives in his defence. For it is +not Fortune that overrules men to run the hazard of death for brave +princes; but the love of virtue allures them—as natural affection +charms and entices bees—to surround and guard their chief commander. + +What person then, at that time beholding in security this strange +adventure, would not have confessed that he had seen a desperate combat +of Fortune against virtue, and that the barbarians were undeservedly +superior through Fortune’s help, but that the Greeks resisted beyond +imagination through the force of virtue? So that if the barbarians had +vanquished, it had been the act of Fortune or of some evil genius or +divine retribution; but as the Greeks became the victors, they owed +their conquest to their virtue, their prowess, their friendship and +fidelity to each other. For these were all the life-guard Alexander had +at that time; Fortune having interposed a wall between him and all his +other forces, so that neither fleets nor armies, cavalry nor infantry, +could stand him in any stead. Therefore the Macedonians routed the +barbarians, and buried those that fell under the ruins of their own +town. But this little availed Alexander; for he was carried off with +the dart sticking in his breast, having now a war in his own bowels, +while the arrow in his bosom was a kind of cord, or rather nail, that +was driven through his breast-plate and fastened it to his body. When +they went about to dress him, the forked shape of the iron head would +not permit the surgeons to draw it forth from the root of the wound, +being fixed in the solid parts of the breast that fortify the heart. +Nor durst they attempt to cut away the shaft that stuck out, fearing +they should put him to an excess of torment by the motion of the iron +in the cleft of the bone, and cause a new flux of blood not easy to be +stopped. Alexander, observing their hesitation and delay, endeavored +himself with a little knife to cut off the shaft close to the skin; +but his hand failed him, being seized with a heavy numbness by reason +of the inflammation of the wound. Thereupon he commanded the surgeons +and those that stood about him to try the same thing themselves and not +to be afraid, giving them all the encouragement he could. Those that +wept he upbraided for their weakness; others he called deserters, that +refused him their assistance in such a time of need. At length, calling +to his friends, he said: Let no one of you fear for me; for how shall I +believe you to be contemners of death, when you betray yourselves to be +afraid of mine?[212] + + +END OF VOL. I. + + +FOOT-NOTES: + +[1] Eurip. Hercules Furens, 1261. + +[2] Eurip. Hippol. 424. + +[3] Ἐξ ὀνύχων ἁπαλῶν. + +[4] See Plato, Repub. II. p. 377 C. + +[5] Eurip. Hippol. 986. + +[6] Demosth. in Mid. p. 576, 16. + +[7] Plato, Repub. VII. p. 537, B. + +[8] Hesiod, Works and Days, 371. + +[9] From the Protesilaus of Euripides, Frag. 656. + +[10] The story is related by our author at large, in the Life of +Lysander. It is this: Lysander sent by Gylippus to the Ephori, or +chief magistrates of Sparta, a great sum of money, sealed up in bags. +Gylippus unsews the bags at the bottom, and takes what he thinks fit +out of each bag, and sews them up again; but was discovered, partly by +the notes which were put in the bags by Lysander, mentioning the sums +in each bag; and partly by his own servant, who, when the magistrates +were solicitous to find what was become of the money that was wanting, +told them jestingly that there were a great many owls under the tiles +at his master’s house (for the money had that bird, as the badge of +Athens, where it was coined, stamped on it); whither they sent, and +found it. + +[11] Εἰς οὐχ ὁσίην τρυμαλίην τὸ κέντρον ὠθεῖς. + +[12] From the Dictys of Euripides, Frag. 342. + +[13] See Plato, Repub. V. p. 468, C. + +[14] See Strabo X. pp. 483, 484. + +[15] This saying, Τὴν κατὰ σαυτὸν ἔλα, is attributed to Pittacus of +Mitylene by Diogenes Laertius, I. 4, 8. See also Aristoph. Nub. 25, and +Aesch. Prom. 890. (G.) + +[16] Il. XXII. 373. + +[17] Eurip. Orestes, 72 and 99. + +[18] Il. XVII. 591. + +[19] From the Thamyras of Sophocles, Frag. 224. + +[20] Il. V. 216. + +[21] Aesch. Prometheus, 574. + +[22] Soph. Antig. 563. + +[23] Il. XIX. 188. + +[24] Odyss. XX. 392. + +[25] Il. XXIV. 239. + +[26] Sophocles, Frag. 769. + +[27] Euripides, Frag. 964. + +[28] _Nephalia_ (νήφω, _to be sober_) were wineless offerings, like +those to the Eumenides See Aesch. Eumen. 107: Χοάς τ’ ἀοίνους, νηφάλια +μειλίγματα. _Melisponda_ (μέλι) were offerings of honey. (G.) + +[29] Οὐ κόρας ἀλλὰ πόρνας. Κόρη means either _maiden_ or _the pupil of +the eye_. (G.) + +[30] Il. XXIV. 44 + +[31] Eurip. Bellerophon, Frag. 311. + +[32] Sophocles, Frag. 772. + +[33] Eurip. Medea, 290. + +[34] Hesiod, Works and Days, 342. + +[35] Demosth. Olynth. III. p. 33, 25. § 19. + +[36] Eurip. Frag. 967. The verse is found also in Menander, Monos. 222. +(G.) + +[37] Thucyd. II. 40. + +[38] Eurip. Pirithous, Frag. 598. + +[39] Hesiod, Works and Days, 371. + +[40] Eurip. Medea, 1078. + +[41] Thucyd. II. 64. + +[42] Antisthenes, in his tenth tome, had a book entitled _Hercules_ +or _De Prudentia_ or _De Robore_ (Ἡρακλῆς ἢ περὶ φρονήσεως ἢ ἰσχύος), +mentioned by Diogenes Laertius in his life. See Diogenes Laert. VI. 1, +9. + +[43] Plato, Clitophon, p. 407 C. + +[44] Aristoph. Nub. 983. + +[45] See Herod. IV. 2. + +[46] This is not a translation, but rather an essay by Mr. Pulleyn +based upon the text of Plutarch’s brief notes on the customs of the +Lacedaemonians. It is therefore reprinted without essential changes. +The sections of the original are marked whenever this is possible. (G.) + +[47] § 13 of the original is included in the paraphrase with § 3. (G.) + +[48] The three songs were—Ἄμες ποτ’ ἦμες ἄλκιμοι νεανίαι, _We once were +valiant youth_; Ἄμες δέ γ’ ἐσμέν· αἰ δὲ λῆς, αὐγάσδεο, _And we are now: +If you will, behold us_; Ἄμες δέ γ’ ἐσσόμεσθα πολλῷ κάρρονες, _And we +will soon be far more valiant_. (G.) + +[49] Expressed by Plutarch in the proverb,— + + Τὰν χεῖρα ποτιφέροντα τὰν τύχαν καλεῖν, + _As thou puttest thy hand to the work, invoke Fortune_. (G.) + +[50] + + Ἀσπίδι μὲν Σαΐων τις ἀγάλλεται, ἣν παρὰ θάμνῳ + Ἔντος ἀμώμητον κάλλιπον οὐκ ἐθέλων· + [Αὐτὸς δ’ ἐξέφυγον Θανάτου τέλος·] ἀσπὶς ἐκείνη + Ἐῤῥέτω· ἐξαῦτις κτήσομαι οὐ κακίω. + +Archilochus, Fr. 6 (Bergk). The passage in brackets is omitted by +Plutarch. (G.) + +[51] No one will attempt to _study_ this treatise on music, without +some previous knowledge of the principles of Greek music, with its +various moods, scales, and combinations of tetrachords. The whole +subject is treated by Boeckh, _De Metris Pindari_ (in Vol. I. 2 of his +edition of Pindar); and more at length in Westphal’s _Harmonik und +Melopöie der Griechen_ (in Rossbach and Westphal’s _Metrik_, Vol. II. +1). + +An elementary explanation of the ordinary scale and of the names of the +notes (which are here retained without any attempt at translation) may +be of use to the reader. + +The most ancient scale is said to have had only four notes, +corresponding to the four strings of the tetrachord. But before +Terpander’s time two forms of the heptachord (with seven strings) were +already in use. One of these was enlarged to an octachord (with eight +strings) by adding the octave (called νήτη). This addition is ascribed +to Terpander by Plutarch (§ 28); but he is said to have been unwilling +to increase the number of strings permanently to eight, and to have +therefore omitted the string called τρίτη, thus reducing the octachord +again to a heptachord. The notes of the full octachord in this form, in +the ordinary diatonic scale, are as follows:— + + 1. ὑπάτη _e_ + 2. παρυπάτη _f_ + 3. λιχανός _g_ + 4. μέση _a_ + 5. παραμέση _b_ + 6. τρίτη _c_ + 7. παρανήτη _d_ + 8. νήτη _e_ (octave) + +The note called ὑπάτη (_hypate_, or _highest_) is the lowest in tone, +being named from its position. So νήτη or νεάτη (_nete_, or _lowest_) +is the highest in tone. + +The other of the two heptachords mentioned above contained the octave, +but omitted the παραμέση and had other changes in the higher notes. The +scale is as follows:— + + 1. ὑπάτη _e_ + 2. παρυπάτη _f_ + 3. λιχανός _g_ + 4. μέση _a_ + 5. τρίτη _b_ + 6. παρανήτη _c_ + 7. νήτη _d_ + +This is not to be confounded with the reduced octachord of Terpander. +This heptachord includes two tetrachords so united that the lowest +note of one is identical with the highest note of the other; while the +octachord includes two tetrachords entirely separated, with each note +distinct. The former connection is called κατὰ συναφήν, the latter +κατὰ διάζευξιν. Of the eight notes of the octachord, the first four +(counting from the lowest), ὑπάτη, παρυπάτη, λιχανός, and μέση, are the +same in the heptachord; παραμέση is omitted in the heptachord; while +τρίτη, παρανήτη, and νήτη in the heptachord are designated as τρίτη +συνημμένων, παρανήτη συνημμένων, and νήτη συνημμένων, to distinguish +them from the notes of the same name in the octachord, which sometimes +have the designation διεζευγμένων, but generally are written simply +τρίτη, &c. + +These simple scales were enlarged by the addition of higher and lower +notes, four at the bottom of the scale (i.e. before ὑπάτη), called +προσλαμβανόμενος, ὑπάτη ὑπατῶν, παρυπάτη ὑπατῶν, λιχανός ὑπατῶν; and +three at the top (above νήτη), called νήτη, παρανήτη, τρίτη, each with +the designation ὑπερβολαίων. The lowest three notes of the ordinary +octachord are here designated by μέσων, when the simple names are +not used. Thus a scale of fifteen notes was made; and we have one of +eighteen by including the two classes of τρίτη, παρανήτη, and νήτη +designated by συνημμένων and διεζευγμένων. + +The harmonic intervals, discovered by Pythagoras, are the _Octave_ +(διὰ πασῶν,) with its ratio of 2:1; the _Fifth_ (διὰ πέντε), with its +ratio of 3:2 (λόγος ἡμιόλιος or _Sesquialter_); the _Fourth_ (διὰ +τεσσάρων), with its ratio of 4:3 (λόγος ἐπίτριτος or _Sesquiterce_); +and the _Tone_ (τόνος), with its ratio of 9:8 (λόγος ἐπόγδοος or +_Sesquioctave_). (G.) + +[52] Il. I. 472. + +[53] According to K. O. Müller (History of Greek Literature, Chap. XII. +§ 4), the _nomes_ were “musical compositions of great simplicity and +severity, something resembling the most ancient melodies of our church +music.” (G.) + +[54] Προσόδια were songs sung to the music of flutes by processions, as +they marched to temples or altars; hence, songs of supplication. (G.) + +[55] See Rossbach and Westphal, II. 1, p. 84. (G.) + +[56] This seems to be the nome referred to by Pindar, Pyth. XII. 12, as +the invention of Pallas Athena. The Scholia on the passage of Pindar +tell us that the goddess represented it in the lamentation of the two +surviving Gorgons for their sister Medusa slain by Perseus, and the +hissing of the snakes which surrounded their heads,—whence the name +πολυκέφαλος, or _many-headed_. (G.) + +[57] The relations of the enharmonic scale to the ordinary diatonic are +thus stated by Westphal (pp. 124-126), _b_ being here substituted for +the German _h_:— + + Enharmonic. Diatonic. + ὑπάτη _e_ | _e_ ὑπάτη +παρυπάτη ἁρμον. δ | +λιχανός ἁρμον. _f_ | _f_ παρυπάτη + | _g_ λιχανός +μέση _a_ | _a_ μέση +παραμέση _b_ | _b_ παραμέση +τριτη ἁρμον. δ | +παρανήτη ἁρμον. _c_ | _c_ τρίτη + | _d_ παρανήτη +νήτη _e_ | _e_ νήτη + +The δ inserted between _e_ and _f_ and between _b_ and _c_ is called +_diesis_, and represents a quarter-tone. The section in Westphal +containing this scheme will greatly aid the interpretation of § 11 of +Plutarch. (G.) + +[58] This is Volkmann’s conjecture for “spondee.” It is defined by +him (according to Aristides Quintilianus) as the raising of the tone +through three dieses (or quarter-tones). (G.) + +[59] See Westphal’s interpretation of this difficult and probably +corrupt passage, II. 1, p. 89. (G.) + +[60] Plato, Timaeus, p. 36 A. See the whole passage in the treatise _Of +the Procreation of the Soul as discoursed in Timaeus_, Chap. XXIX. (G.) + +[61] See Rossbach, Griechische Rhythmik, p. 96, § 23. (G.) + +[62] So Rossbach and Westphal interpret παρακαταλογή. Metrik, III. pp. +184, 554. (G.) + +[63] It is uncertain here to whom the pronoun _he_ refers. Volkmann +transfers the whole sentence to the end of Chap. XXIX., referring it to +Lasus of Hermione. (G.) + +[64] The original of this fragment of Pherecrates may be found in +Meineke’s _Poet Comic. Graec. Fragm._ II. p. 326; and in Didot’s +edition of the same fragments, p. 110. Meineke includes the verses +commonly assigned to Aristophanes in the extract from Pherecrates. (G.) + +[65] The passage in brackets is out of place here, and is generally +transferred to the middle of Chapter XXXVII. (G.) + +[66] See note on Chapter XXXIV. + +[67] Il. IX. 186. + +[68] See Section 2. + +[69] Odyss. I. 152 + +[70] Eurip. Orestes, 258. + +[71] Hesiod, Works and Days, 519. + +[72] Odyss. I. 191. + +[73] Il. I. 488. + +[74] Il. XVII. 104. + +[75] Eurip. Orestes, 232. + +[76] Il. X. 88. + +[77] From Eurip. Bellerophon. + +[78] Pindar, Nem. IV. 6. + +[79] Simonides, 5, 17. + +[80] Il. III. 182. + +[81] Il. II. 111. + +[82] Eurip. Iph. Aul. 16. + +[83] Il. XVIII. 105. + +[84] Pindar, Frag. 258 (Boeckh). + +[85] Odyss. VI. 130; Il. XVII. 61. + +[86] Solon, Frag. 15. + +[87] Hesiod, Works and Days, 25. + +[88] See Il. XXIV. 527. + +[89] Il. V. 484. + +[90] Aesch. Philoct. Frag. 246. + +[91] Eurip. Bacchae, 498. + +[92] Eurip. Orestes, 396. + +[93] See Il. I. 335. + +[94] See Plato, Repub. I. p. 331 A. + +[95] Plutarch derives δεῖμα from δέω, _to bind_, and τάρβος from +ταράσσω, _to distract_ or _confuse_. (G.) + +[96] Eurip. Orestes, 211. + +[97] Eurip. Troad. 759. + +[98] Pindar, Pyth. I. 25. + +[99] Pythagoras, Carmen Aur. 41. + +[100] Archilochus, Frag. 56. + +[101] Hesiod, Works and Days, 463. + +[102] See Il. VII. 193; II. 382, 414. + +[103] See Maccabees, I. 2, 27-38, cited by Wyttenbach. (G.) + +[104] Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 4. + +[105] I leave Mr. Baxter’s conjectural version of this corrupt passage, +instead of inserting another equally conjectural. As to the original +Greek, hardly a word can be made out with certainty. (G). + +[106] Il. XXIV. 604. + +[107] Il. XXIV. 212. + +[108] Il. XXII. 20. + +[109] The Greek κλείς (clavis), _a key_, signifies also the +_collar-bone_. (G.) + +[110] Il. V. 340. + +[111] Μὴ σποῦδε γῆμαι, πρὶν τελευτήσαντ’ ἴδῃς. From Sophocles’s Tyro, +Frag. 596. + +[112] + + Σῆμα δ’ οὐκ ἐπῆν κύκλῳ· + Οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος ἀλλ’ εἶναι θέλει, + Βαθεῖαν ἄλοκα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενος, + Ἐξ ἧς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βουλεύματα. + +Aesch. Sept. 591. Thus the passage stands in all MSS. of Aeschylus; +but it is quoted by Plutarch in his Life of Aristides, § 3, with +δίκαιος in the second verse in the place of ἄριστος. It has been +plausibly conjectured, that the actor who spoke the part intentionally +substituted the word δίκαιος as a compliment to Aristides, on seeing +him in a conspicuous place among the spectators. See Hermann’s note on +the passage in his edition of Aeschylus. (G.) + +[113] See Odyss. X. 495. + +[114] Ἦλθον, εἶδον, ἐνίκησα, _veni, vidi, vici_. + +[115] It is doubtful what amount is here intended by Plutarch. If +sesterces are understood, the amount is much less than it is commonly +stated; and even if we understand drachmas (or denarii), we shall still +fall below the amount commonly given, which is 700,000,000 sesterces +(or about $28,000,000). See, for example, Vell. Paterc. II. 60, 4: +Sestertium septiens miliens. (G.) + +[116] Il. XI. 514. + +[117] Odyss. IV. 392. + +[118] See Eurip. Medea. 290. + +[119] Eteocles the Theban, in Eurip. Phoeniss. 524. + +[120] Μηδὲν διαφέρειν ὄπισθέν τινα ἢ ἔμπροσθεν εἶναι κίναιδον. + +[121] Hesiod, Works and Days, 102. + +[122] The text of this passage is uncertain, and probably corrupt. I +have given Holland’s version of the doubtful expressions. (G.) + +[123] Τράγος γένειον ἆρα πενθήσεις σύ γε, _Thou goat, soon thou shalt +bewail the loss of thy beard_. This verse is supposed to belong to the +Satyrdrama _Prometheus_ of Aeschylus, which was exhibited with the +trilogy to which the Persians belong. The whole tetralogy, according to +the _didascalia_, consisted of the _Phineus_, _Persians_, Glaucus, and +_Prometheus_. (G.) + +[124] Aeschyl. Septem, 593. See note on page 202. (G.) + +[125] Fragment 253. + +[126] Fals. Legat. p. 406, 4. + +[127] Eurip. Orest. 251. + +[128] Eurip. Frag. No. 1071 + +[129] From the Adrastus of Euripides. + +[130] From Euripides. + +[131] Laws, V. p. 731 E. + +[132] Il. IV. 350. + +[133] Plato, Laws, XI. p. 935 A. + +[134] Hesiod, Works and Days, 23. + +[135] Solon, Frag. No. 16. + +[136] Aesch. Prom. 378. + +[137] From the Stheneboea of Euripides, Frag. 662. + +[138] From Euripides. + +[139] Eurip. Iph. Aul. 29. + +[140] Il. XII. 327. + +[141] Eurip. Phoeniss. 558. + +[142] From the Ino of Euripides. + +[143] From the Ino of Euripides. + +[144] Pindar, Pyth. VIII. 135. + +[145] Odyss. XVIII. 130. + +[146] Il. VI. 145. + +[147] Il. XXI. 463. + +[148] Il. XXIV. 522. + +[149] Hesiod, Works and Days, 94. + +[150] From the Danae of Euripides. + +[151] From Euripides. + +[152] Pindar, Pyth. III. 145. + +[153] Eurip. Alcestis, 792. + +[154] See Odyss. XIII. 80; and Il. XIV. 231; XVI. 672; XI. 241. + +[155] Plat. Phaed. pp. 66 B-67 B. + +[156] From Aeschylus. + +[157] Eurip. Suppliants, 1109. + +[158] From the Cresphontes of Euripides. + +[159] From the Hypsipyle of Euripides. + +[160] Odyss. XV. 245. + +[161] See the Latin version in Cicero, Tusc. III. 14, 29. + +[162] Plato, Repub. X. p. 604 B. + +[163] Μεῖον Τρωίλος ἐδάκρυσεν ἢ Πρίαμος is a saying of Callimachus, as +we learn from Cicero, Tusc. I. 39: Quanquam non male ait Callimachus, +_multo saepius lacrimasse Priamum quam Troilum_. (G.) + +[164] Il. XXII. 56. + +[165] See Il. XXIII. 109; Odyss. I. 423. + +[166] Hesiod, Works and Days, 94. + +[167] Eurip. Phoeniss. 555. + +[168] Il. XI. 452. + +[169] Il. XXIV. 744. + +[170] Il. XXIII. 222; XVII. 37. + +[171] Il. IX. 482. + +[172] From Euripides. + +[173] Il. VI. 486. + +[174] Il. XX. 128. + +[175] Aeschines against Ctesiphon, § 77. + +[176] Plat. Gorg. 523 A-524 B. + +[177] Il. I. 527. + +[178] Δεικηλίκτας, the Spartan word for the more common ὑποκρίτης. (G.) + +[179] Following Wyttenbach’s emendation for “I have lost my post.” (G.) + +[180] That is, changing μάχεσθαι (_to fight_) into ἀναμάχεσθαι (_to +retrieve a defeat_). (G.) + +[181] According to Plutarch, the Spartan iron coin weighed an Aeginetan +mina (about 1-1/2 lbs. avoir.), and was of the value of four chalci (or +3-1/4 farthings, about 1-1/2 cents). (G.) + +[182] Herod. I. 8. + +[183] Simonides, Frag. No. 47. + +[184] Odyss. XVII. 222. + +[185] Plato, Republic, V. p. 474 D. + +[186] Antigone, 232. + +[187] + + Εἰς τὸν λειμῶνα καθίσας + ἔδρεπεν ἕτερον ἐφ’ ἑτέρῳ + αἰρόμενος ἄγρευμα ἀνθέων + ἡδομένᾳ ψυχᾷ, + τὸ νήπιον ἄπληστον ἔχων. + +From the Hypsipyle of Euripides. + +[188] Il. IX. 482. + +[189] Sophocles, Frag. 778. + +[190] Il. XXIII. 77. + +[191] See Odyss. IV. 178. + +[192] See Il. V. 902. + +[193] Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 4. + +[194] From Menander. + +[195] Eurip. Hippol. 253. + +[196] Eurip. Pirith. Frag. 598. + +[197] Thucyd. II. 51. + +[198] Theognis vs. 215. + +[199] Il. IX. 325. + +[200] Il. III. 179. + +[201] Il. IX. 189. + +[202] Il. XII. 243. + +[203] Demosthenes on the Crown, p. 258, 20. + +[204] Thucyd. II. 87. + +[205] Alcman, Frag. 27. + +[206] Aristophanes, Knights, 1056. + +[207] From the Erechtheus of Euripides. + +[208] Il. XI. 265. + +[209] Il. V. 340. + +[210] Il. X. 407. + +[211] Il. II. 478. + +[212] See foot-note at the end of the First Oration on Alexander. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A. + + “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” a proverb among the + Greeks, iv. 229. + + “Abstain from beans,” meaning of the aphorism, i. 29. + + Achelous, a river in Aetolia, v. 504. + + Acrotatus, apothegm of, i. 400. + + Actaeon, a beautiful youth of Corinth, murdered, iv. 313-315. + + Ada, queen of Caria, sends delicacies to Alexander, i. 199. + + Adimantus, admiral of the Corinthian fleet at the battle of Salamis, + iv. 362; + his courage vindicated, 364. + + Adrastus, anecdote of, i. 288. + + Advice to a new-married couple, ii. 486-507. + + Aeacus, his two sons, v. 466. + + Aemilius Censorinus, v. 475. + + Aemilius of Sybaris, v. 464. + + Aemilius Paulus, sayings of, i. 232; iv. 202. + + Aeolus, king of Etruria, v. 467. + + Aeschines, quoted, Prom., i. 40; + anecdote of, 55; + Eumen., 59; + Frag., 163; + Prom., 299; + Ctesiphon, 334; + his early life, and concern in public affairs, v. 34; + incurs the hostility of Demosthenes, _ib._; + accused by Demosthenes and acquitted, 34, 35; + impeaches Ctesiphon, is fined and exiled, 35; + his school at Rhodes, _ib._; + his death, _ib._; + his orations, _ib._; + his public employments, 36. + + Aeschylus, quoted, Septem, i. 210, 286, 315, 329, 493; + quoted, ii. 47; + anecdote of, 77, 160; + Frag., 48, 83, 127, 165, 374, 431, 458, 463, 474, 477; + quoted, iii. Frag., 24, 222; + quoted, iv. 20, 54, 385; + Frag., 276, 279; + quoted, v. Frag., 170; + Prom., 241, 320, 398. + + Aesop, murdered by the citizens of Delphi, iv. 160; + their punishment, 161. + _See Esop._ + + Agamedes and Trophonius built the temple at Delphi, i. 313. + + Agasicles, apothegms of, i. 385. + + Agatharchides the Samian, his Persian History, v. 451. + + Agatho the Samian, v. 474. + + Agathocles, anecdote of, i. 46; ii. 317. + + Aged Men, Shall they meddle in State Affairs?, v. 64-96. + + Agesianax quoted, v. 235, 236. + + Agesilaus, reply of, i. 73, 219, 220; + his sayings and great actions, 385-397; + his upright character, ii. 109, 115, 319, 455; + his punishment, iii. 46, 79; + anecdote of, v. 67; + his faults, 118; 457; + his Italian History, 468. + + Agesipolis, two of the name, apothegms of, i. 397, 398. + + Agis, king of Sparta, his sayings, i. 218, 221; + anecdote of, v. 95. + + Agis, son of Archidamus, apothegm of, i. 398. + + Agis the Argive, ii. 125. + + Agis the Last, apothegm of, i. 400. + + Agis the Younger, apothegms of, i. 400. + + Ajax’s soul, her place in Hell, iii. 442. + + Alba, king of, torn in pieces by horses, v. 455. + + Albinus, a Roman general, v. 453. + + Alcaeus quoted, ii. 298; iii, 264. + + Alcamenes, apothegm of, i. 400. + + Alcibiades, i. 143; + his sayings, 211; + his lustful conduct, 489; + the prince of flatterers, ii. 108, 471; + failure of, 460; + spoke with hesitation, v. 110, 112. + + Alcippus, a Lacedaemonian, banished for his virtue; his wife slays + herself and her daughters, iv. 320-322. + + Alcmaeon, saying of, i. 288; + philosophical opinions; + of the planets, iii. 140; + of hearing, 170; + of smelling, 170; + of taste, 170; + of the barrenness of mules, 182; + of embryos, 184; + of the formation of the body, 184; + of the cause of sleep, 188; + of health, sickness, and old age, 192. + + Alcmaeonidae, unfairly represented by Herodotus, iv. 338, 347. + + Alcman, quoted; Frag., i. 494; iii. 16; v. 279. + + Aleuas the Thessalian, iii. 67. + + Alexander of Macedon, and Porus, i. 45; + lament of, 140; + and Criso the runner, 152; + his sayings, 198-202; + the Fortune or Virtue of, 475-516; + anecdotes of, ii. 125, 138, 473; + his moderation, 475; iii. 29; + was he a great drinker, 219; + his purpose to attack the Romans, iv. 219; v. 140. + + Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, his cruel temper softened by a play, i. 492. + + Alexandridas, apothegm of, i. 401. + + Alexarchus, his Italian History, v. 456. + + Alexidemas, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41. + + Alexinus the sophist, i. 76. + + Alexis quoted, ii. 58. + + Alpha, why placed first in the Alphabet, iii. 438. + + Alpheus, a river in Arcadia, v. 501. + + Amasis, king of Egypt, required to drink the ocean dry, ii. 13; + questions of, 16. + + Ammonius, teacher of Plutarch, anecdote of, ii. 147. + + Amphiaraus, quoted, i. 317; + his lance turned into a laurel, v. 455. + + Amphidamas, poets meet at his grave in Chalcis, ii. 19. + + Amphion, first invented playing on the harp and lyric poesy, i. 105. + + Anarcharsis, and Eumetis, ii. 8; + his utterances at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 12, 15, 20, + 21, 27, 39. + + Anatole, a mountain, v. 482. + + Anaxagoras, saying of, i. 159; + said the sun was red-hot metal, 179; + anecdote of, 332; ii. 357; iii. 35, 37; + philosophical opinions; + Homoeomeries, 108; + of the origin of bodies, 119; + how bodies are mixed, 126; + of fortune, 131; + of the world’s inclination, 136; + of the stars, 138, 140; + of the sun, 142, 143; + of the moon, 145, 147; + of the milky way, 149; + of shooting stars, 150; + of thunder, lightning and hurricanes, 151; + of the rainbow, 153; + of earthquakes, 157; + of the sea, 158; + of the overflow of the Nile, 160; + of the voice, 172; + of generation, 178; + of the generation of animals, 186; + of reason in animals, 187; + of sleep, 190; v. 145, 255. + + Anaxander, apothegm of, i. 401. + + Anaxilas, apothegm of, i. 402. + + Anaximander, philosophical opinions; + of principles, iii. 107; + the stars were heavenly deities, 121; + of the stars, 140; + of the essence and magnitude of the sun, 141, 142; + of eclipses of the sun, 144; + of the moon, 145; + of fire from clouds, 150; + of winds, 154; + of the earth, 155; + of the sea, 158; + of the generation of animals, 186. + + Anaximenes, philosophical opinions; + air is the principle of all beings, iii. 107; + of heaven, 137; + of the stars, 139, 140; + cause of summer and winter, 141; + of the shape of the sun and summer and winter solstice, 143; + of the moon, 146; + of clouds, 151; + of the rainbow, 153; + of the earth, 155; + of earthquakes, 157; v. 313. + + Ancients, suppers of the, iii. 255-259. + + Andocides, one of the ten Attic orators, v. 21-23; + of a noble family, 21; + accused of impious acts, 22; + his adventures in Cyprus, 22, 23; + his exile, 23; + his orations, _ib._ + + Androclidas, apothegm of, i. 402. + + Anecdotes of + Aeschylus, ii. 458. + Agathocles, i. 46. + Agesilaus, i. 73, 219, 220; v. 67, 118. + Agis, king of Sparta, v. 95. + Alcibiades, ii. 108, 109. + Alexander the Great, i. 45; ii. 473. + Ammonius, ii. 147. + Anaxagoras, i. 332. + Antigonus, i. 44, 47, 67, 202, 205, 334; iv. 231. + Antimachus, i. 307. + Antiochus Hierax, iii. 60. + Antipater, i. 64, 197, 205, 215. + Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 127. + Apelles the painter, i. 16, 153; ii. 122, 133. + Appius Claudius, v. 89. + Arcesilaus and Apelles, ii. 133. + Archelaus of Macedon, i. 67, 193. + Archidamus, i. 74. + Archimedes, ii. 174; v. 71. + Archytas of Tarentum, i. 18, 24. + Aristippus, i. 11, 55, 147, 459; ii. 55. + Athenian barber, iv. 238. + Attalus and Eumenes, iii. 61. + Augustus Caesar and Fulvius, iv. 235, 236. + Bocchoris, i. 63. + Brasidas, ii. 458. + Caesar, i. 293; iv. 204, 205; v. 67. + Cato, i. 295; ii. 490. + Cato and Catulus, i. 73. + Cleon, v. 100, 116. + Corinna, v. 404. + Crassus, i. 288, 290. + Croesus and Solon, ii. 122. + Demades and Phocion, ii. 298. + Demaratus and Philip, ii. 146. + Demetrius Phalereus, ii. 145; iii. 21. + Demosthenes, i. 15, 65, 334; ii. 460; v. 43-53. + Diogenes, i. 51, 67, 141, 142, 166, 283, + 285, 311, 487; ii. 455, 458; iii, 21, 29. + Diogenes and Philip, ii. 147. + Diogenes and the mouse, ii. 453. + Dion, i. 64, 333. + Dionysius of Syracuse, i. 83, 152, 493; ii. 108, 140; iv. 238. + Epaminondas, v. 72, 95, 101, 120, 121, 125, 401. + Euclid, i. 55. + Eudoxus, ii. 174. + Eumenes, iii. 61; iv. 232. + Fulvius and Augustus, iv. 235, 236. + Hiero, i. 291. + Hyperides, v. 55, 56. + Isocrates, v. 31. + Leaena, iv. 229, 230. + Lucretia, i. 355. + Lycurgus, the lawgiver, i. 7. + Lycurgus, the orator, v. 39. + Lysander, i. 72; ii. 495. + Lysias, iv. 226. + Magas, i. 45. + Menander, v. 403. + Nasica, i. 285. + Nero, v. 123. + Nicias, the Athenian general, i. 177. + Nicias, the painter, ii. 173; v. 71. + Nicostratus and Archidamus, i. 74. + Olympias, ii. 494, 495. + Pericles, i. 15, 18, 66, 211, 332; ii. 309, 315; v. 67, 106. + Philip of Macedon, i. 305; ii. 146, 147, 494. + Phocion, ii. 298; v. 118. + Pindar, v. 404. + Pisistratus, iii. 41. + Plato, i. 71. + Plato and Socrates, ii. 148. + Polemon, i. 55. + Pompey, v. 70. + Postumia, i. 290. + Priest of Hercules, iii. 90. + Prometheus, i. 289. + Ptolemy Lagus, i. 45. + Pythagoras, ii. 174. + Roman Senator and his wife, iv. 233-235. + Scaurus, i. 295. + Scilurus, a Scythian king, iv. 244. + Seleucus Callinicus, iv. 237. + Seneca, i. 53. + Simonides, v. 68. + Socrates, i. 11, 13, 23, 26, 38, 53, 141, 150. + Socrates and Plato, ii. 148. + Solon, v. 89. + Solon and Croesus, ii. 122. + Sophocles, v. 68. + Stasicrates, i. 495. + Stilpo the philosopher, ii. 468. + Stratonicus, iii. 21. + Sylla, v. 72. + Terpander, i. 91, 92. + Themistocles, i. 73, 290, 296; iii. 21; v. 120. + Theramenes, i. 306. + Timotheus the musician, i. 92. + Valeria, i. 356. + Xanthippe, wife of Socrates, i. 53, 292. + Xenocrates, i. 71. + Xenophon, i. 333. + Xerxes and Ariamenes, iii. 59, 60. + Zeno, i. 72, 142, 283; ii. 455; iii. 25; iv. 225. + + Anger, concerning the cure of, i. 33-59. + + Animal Food, shall it be eaten? Of Eating of Flesh, v. 3-16. + + Animals, generation of, iii. 186; + how many species of, 187; + appetites and pleasures of, 191; + ails and cures of, 510; + their intelligence, v. 157-217. + + Anius, king of the Tuscans, v. 475. + + Antalcidas, his sayings, i. 222, 402; + his reply to a railing Athenian, v. 125. + + Anthes, the first author of hymns, i. 105. + + Anthias, the sacred fish, v. 208. + + Anthipphus, Lydian harmony first used by, i. 114. + + Antichthon, the, iii. 155. + + Antigonus, anecdote of, i. 25; + saying of, 44, 47, 67, 202, 205, 334, 484; iv. 231. + + Antigonus the Second, his sayings, i. 205; ii. 319. + + Antimachus, anecdote of, i. 308. + + Antiochus and Charicles, iii. 49. + + Antiochus and Seleucus, iii. 60. + + Antiochus, apothegm of, i. 403. + + Antiochus Hierax, anecdotes of, i. 206; iii. 60. + + Antiochus Sidetes, anecdotes of, i. 207. + + Antiochus the Spartan, his saying, i. 221. + + Antiochus the Third, anecdotes of, i. 206. + + Antipater, anecdotes of, i. 64, 197, 205, 215; ii. 135, 298; iii. 517; + v. 49. + + Antiperistasis of motion, v. 435. + + Antiphanes, witty saying of his, ii. 456. + + Antiphon, one of the ten Attic orators, ii. 142; v. 17-21; + his birth, education, &c., 17; + wrote speeches for others, _ib._; + a man of great talent and learning, 18; + concerned in the revolution which subverted the popular government, + _ib._; + on the overthrow of the oligarchical party he was involved in their + ruin, _ib._; + number of his orations, 19; + decree of the senate against him, 20; + his condemnation and punishment, 21; + opinion concerning the moon, iii. 146; + of the sea, 158. + + Antisthenes quoted, i. 77, 289, 496; v. 125. + + Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 127. + + Apelles, the painter, anecdotes of, i. 16, 153; + his picture of Alexander, 494; + and Megabyzus, ii. 122; + and Arcesilaus, 133. + + Aphareus, adopted son of Isocrates, wrote orations and tragedies, v. 32. + + Apis, the sacred bull of the Egyptians, iv. 68; + slain by Ochus, king of Persia, 74, 92. + + Apollo and the dragon Python, iv. 20. + + Apollo, inventor of the flute and harp, i. 113. + + Apollo, temple of, iv. 478-498; + the inscription ει over its gate, 479. + + Apollodorus, first invented the mixing of colors and the softening of + shadows, v. 400. + + Apollonides, of shadow, v. 265; + of spots in the moon, 269. + + Apollonis of Cyzicum, iii. 41. + + Apollonius, consolation to, i. 299-339. + + Apollonius, the Peripatetic, iii. 57. + + Apothegms of Kings and Great Commanders, i. 185-250. + Agathocles, sayings of, i. 193. + Agesilaus, 219. + Agis, 218-221. + Alcibiades, 211. + Alexander the Great, 198-202. + Antalcidas, 222. + Antigonus, 202. + Antigonus the Second, 205. + Antiochus Sidetes, 207. + Antiochus the Spartan, 221. + Antiochus the Third, 206. + Antipater, 205. + Archelaus, 193. + Archidamus, 218. + Aristides, 210. + Artaxerxes Longimanus, 187. + Artaxerxes Mnemon, 188. + Ateas, 189. + Augustus Caesar, 248-250. + Brasidas, 218. + Caecilius Metellus, 239. + Caius Fabricius, 227. + Caius Marius, 239. + Caius Popilius, 240. + Cato the Elder, 233-235. + Chabrias, 213. + Charillus, 217. + Cicero, 244. + Cneus Domitius, 231. + Cneus Pompeius, 241-244. + Cotys, 189. + Cyrus the Elder, 186. + Cyrus the Younger, 188. + Darius, 186. + Demetrius, 204. + Demetrius Phalereus, 217. + Dion, 193. + Dionysius the Elder, 191. + Dionysius the Younger, 192. + Epaminondas, 222-226. + Eudaemonidas, 221. + Eumenes of Pergamus, 206. + Fabius Maximus, 227-228. + Gelo, 190. + Hegesippus, 213. + Hiero, 190. + Idathyrsus, 189. + Iphicrates, 212. + Lucullus, 241. + Lycurgus, 217. + Lysander, 219. + Lysimachus, 205. + Manius Curius, 226. + Memnon, 189. + Nicostratus, 221. + Orontes, 188. + Parysatis, 188. + Paulus Aemilius, 232. + Pelopidas, 225. + Pericles, 211. + Philip of Macedon, 194-198. + Phocion, 213, 216. + Pisistratus, 216. + Poltys, 189. + Ptolemy Lagus, 202. + Pyrrhus the Epirot, 207. + Pytheas, 213. + Scilurus, 190. + Scipio Junior, 235-239. + Scipio the Elder, 229. + Semiramis, 187. + Teres, 189. + Themistocles, 208. + Theopompus, 217. + Timotheus, 212. + Titus Quinctius, 230. + Xerxes, 187. + + Appius Claudius, anecdote of, v. 89. + + Apple tree, of the, iii. 333. + + Arar, a river in Gaul, v. 484. + + Aratus, quoted, iii. 116; + of the stars, 141; + quoted, 334, 497; iv. 98; v. 112; + quoted, 177. + + Araxes, a river in Armenia, v. 506. + + Arcadian prophet in Herodotus, iii. 38. + + Arcadio the Archaean, saying of, i. 44. + + Arcesilaus, i. 53, 148; + quoted, 258, 315; + and Battus, ii. 115; + his kindness to Apelles, 133; v. 371. + + Archelaus, king of Macedon, anecdote of, i. 67, 193. + + Archelaus, his opinions concerning principles, iii. 109. + + Archias, ii. 379 _et seq._; iv. 314, 315. + + Archidamidas, apothegms of, i. 404. + + Archidamus, i. 4, 74, 218, 404; ii. 379 _et seq._ + + Archilochus the poet, banished from Sparta, i. 96; + quoted, 97; + his improvements in music, 122, 123, 177; + phrase of, ii. 17, 61, 84; iii. 26; v. 108, 216, 320. + + Archimedes, of the sun’s diameter, v. 71; + anecdote of, ii. 173, 174. + + Archytas of Tarentum, anecdotes of, i. 18, 24. + + Ardalus, a minstrel at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 11, 12. + + Aregeus, apothegm of, i. 403. + + Aretades Cnidus, his Macedonian History, v. 458; + his Second Book of Islands, 467. + + Aretaphila, her fortitude and virtue, i. 367. + + Argive women, their repulse of the Spartan army, i. 346. + + Argives, wrestling matches of, i. 121; + imposed a fine for playing with more than seven strings, 130; + combat of the, with the Lacedaemonians, v. 452. + + Ariamenes yields the throne of Persia to his younger brother Xerxes, + iii. 59. + + Arion and the dolphins, ii. 33-36. + + Aristarchus, iii. 36; + concerning the eclipse of the sun, 144; v. 246. + + Aristides, his Persian History, v. 453. + + Aristides, his sayings, i. 210. + + Aristides Milesius, his Italian History, v. 451, 452, 453, 458, 459, + 460, 462, 463, 465, 466, 469, 473, 474, 475, 476; + Italian Commentaries, 461; + quoted, 462. + + Aristippus, anecdotes of, i. 11, 55, 79, 147; ii. 295, 459. + + Aristo of Chios, ii. 369. + + Aristobolus, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 470. + + Aristocles, Third Book of his Italian History, v. 466, 476. + + Aristoclia, a beautiful maiden, iv. 312, 313. + + Aristodemus, his Third Collection of Fables, v. 472. + + Aristodemus, king of Messenia, i. 177. + + Aristodemus the Epicurean, ii. 158, 159, 180. + + Aristomenes, preceptor of Ptolemy, ii. 149. + + Ariston, apothegm of, i. 403; iii. 18; + his opinion of moral virtue, 462; v. 111. + + Aristonicus the musician, i. 494. + + Aristonymus, a woman hater, v. 468. + + Aristophanes, his comedy of “The Clouds,” i. 23; + quoted, 79, 125, 500; + quoted, ii. 78, 149, 429; + his coarseness and buffoonery, iii. 11; + compared with Menander, 11-14; + quoted, iv. 196, 273; + quoted, v. 42, 405. + + Aristotinus, tyranny of, i. 357-363; v. 172. + + Aristotle, quoted, i. 37; 50; + on harmony, 119; 155, 272, 326; + the teacher of Alexander, 478, ii. 302, 319; + letter of, 455; + his philosophical opinions; of nature, 105; + of principles and elements, 106; + of God, 121; + of matter, 123; + of ideas, 123; + of causes, 124; + of a vacuum, 127; + of motion, 128; + of fortune, 131; + of the world, 133, 134, 135; + of vacuum, 137; + of the world, 137; + of heaven, 137; + of the stars, 140; + of the sun, 142; + of the summer and winter solstices, 143; + of the moon, 146; + of the milky way, 148, 149; + of comets, 149; + of thunder and lightning, 151; + of earthquakes, 157; + of tides, 159; + of the motion of the soul, 164; + of the senses, 166; + of the voice, 172; + of generative seed, 177; + of the sperm, 177; + of emission of women, 177; + of conception, 178; + of generation, 179; + of the first form in the womb, 184; + of seven months’ children, 185; + of the species of animals, 187; + of sleep, 189; + of plants, 190; + quoted, 225, 226; + opinions concerning the soul, 465; + opinion concerning a plurality of worlds, iv. 33; + concerning prophetic inspiration, 54; v. 189, 253, 262, + 313, 316, 355; + quoted, 439; + the Second Book of Paradoxes, 468. + + Aristoxenus, of music, i. 114, 115, 125, 134. + + Arsinoe, Queen, i. 319. + + Artaxerxes Longimanus, his sayings, i. 187. + + Artaxerxes Mnemon, his sayings, i. 188. + + Aruntius and Medullina, v. 463. + + Asclepiades, opinions: of the soul, iii. 161; + of respiration, 174; + of two or three children at one birth, 180; + animals in the womb, 188; + of health, sickness, and old age, 193. + + Aster the archer, v. 456. + + Astycratidas, apothegm of, i. 405. + + Ateas, saying of, i. 189; ii. 177. + + Atepomarus, king of the Gauls, v. 469. + + Atheism and superstition compared, i. 168 _et seq._ + + Athenian citizens, their number, v. 42; + their temper and disposition, 100. + + Athenians, whether they were more renowned for their warlike + achievements, or for their learning, v. 399-411. + + Athenodorus, memorable action of, iii. 50. + + Athens, was a democracy, v. 397; + the nurse of history, of painting, and poetry, 400, 401; + not renowned for epic or lyric verse, 404. + + Atoms, doctrine of, v. 345-348. + + Atreus and Thyestes, v. 470, 471. + + Attalus and Eumenes, their kindness and fidelity to each other, iii. + 61, 62. + + Attica, invasion of, by Datis, v. 450, 451. + + Augustus Caesar, his sayings, i. 248-250; + the favored son of Fortune, iv. 205; v. 67. + + Augustus Caesar and Fulvius, anecdote of, iv. 235, 236. + + Autobulus, v. 156 _et seq._ + + Autumn, dreams in, iii. 432. + + + B. + + Baccho, iv. 256, 264, 269. + + Bacchus, ii. 12, 29. + + Ballenaeus, mount, v. 492. + + Banishment, or flying one’s country, iii. 15-35. + + Banquet of the Seven Wise Men; Solon, Bias, Thales, Anacharsis, + Cleobulus, Pittacus, Chilo, ii. 3-41. + + Barley, sow, in dust, iii. 505. + + Barrenness in women, iii. 181. + + Barrenness of mules, iii. 182. + + Bashfulness, i. 60-77. + + Basilocles, iii. 69, 70. + + Baths, hot and cold, iii. 512. + + Battus, ii. 115. + + Bear, cunning of the, v. 185. + + Bears, flesh of, iii. 509. + + Beasts, flesh of sacrificial, iii. 361. + + Bees, cannot abide smoke, iii. 515; + stinging of, 516. + + Bellerophon, fable of, i. 351. + + Berecyntus, mount, v. 490. + + Berosus concerning the eclipse of the moon, iii. 146. + + Bewitching, power of, iii. 327. + + Bias, quoted, i. 17, 406; + at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 4, 14, 128. + + Bion, saying of, i. 76; + his opinion concerning the punishment of children for the sins of their + fathers, iv. 171; + saying of, v. 170. + + Bird or the egg, which was first, iii. 242-246. + + Birds, prophetic nature of, v. 193. + + Birth, two or three at one, iii. 180. + + Birthdays of famous men, iii. 400. + + Biton and Cleobis, their filial piety, i. 313. + + Boar and the toil, iii. 512. + + Bocchoris, anecdote of, i. 63. + + Bodies, of, iii. 124; + division of, 126; + how mixed with one another, 126. + + Body, passions of the, iii. 175; + what part is first formed, 184; + diseases of the, iv. 504-508. + + Boedromion, month of, iii. 444. + + Boethus, his opinion concerning comets, iii. 150. + + Book of Rivers, v. 455. + + Brasidas, apothegm of, i. 218; ii. 458. + + Brennus, king of the Gauls, v. 460. + + Britain, longevity in, iii. 193. + + Brixaba, mount, v. 494. + + Brotherly love, iii. 36-68. + + Brute animals, ails and cures of, iii. 510; + their intelligence; which are the more crafty, water or land + animals? v. 157-217. + + Brute beasts make use of reason, v. 218-233. + + Bucephalus, the horse, v. 183. + + Bulimy, or the greedy disease, iii. 355. + + Busiris, king of Egypt, strangers murdered by, v. 474. + + + C. + + Caecilius Metellus, apothegm of, i. 239. + + Caesar, Augustus, his sayings, i. 248-250; + anecdote of, iv. 205; + and Fulvius, 235, 236; v. 67, 132. + + Caesar, C. Julius, his sayings, i. 246-248; + his magnanimity, 293; + his reliance on fortune, iv. 205. + + Caesar, Tiberius, sayings of, i. 277; ii. 126; iii. 23. + + Caicus, a river, v. 503. + + Caius Fabricius, apothegm of, i. 227. + + Caius Gracchus, i. 40; v. 99. + + Caius Marius, apothegm of, i. 239. + + Caius Maximus, and his two sons, v. 466. + + Caius Popilius, apothegm of, i. 240. + + Callicratidas, apothegms of, i. 412; + saying of, ii. 187. + + Callimachus, saying of, i. 323; iii. 23, 118, 321. + + Callisthenes, saying of, i. 37; + his Book of Transformations, v. 454; + Third Book of the Macedonics, 456; + Third Book of History of Thrace, v. 469. + + Calpurnius Crassus, liberated from captivity, v. 465. + + Calpurnius and Florentia, v. 467. + + Calydon, mount, v. 505. + + Camillus, anecdote of, iv. 204. + + Camma, the Galatian, her revenge, i. 372. + + Canus the piper, v. 71. + + Caphene and Nymphaeus, i. 348. + + Caphisias, ii. 379 _et seq._ + + Carneades, i. 160; + a striking observation of his, ii. 123. + + Cassius, a Roman traitor, v. 457. + + Castor and Pollux, iii. 48. + + Cato and Catulus, anecdotes of, i. 73. + + Cato, saying of, i. 61; + and Catulus, 73; 261; + his integrity, 295; + his sayings, ii. 42, 72, 76, 318; v. 10, 66, 67; + anecdotes of, 83, 112, 120, 123, 144, 155. + + Cato the Elder, apothegms of, i. 233-235; + anecdote of, ii. 490. + + Catoptrics, doctrine of the, v. 257. + + Cattle, salt given to, iii. 497. + + Catulus, v. 457. + + Caucasus, mount, v. 483. + + Caudine Forks, defeat of the Romans at the, v. 452, 453. + + Causes, of, iii. 123. + + Causes of sleep and death, iii. 188. + + Celtic women, virtue of the, i. 347. + + Cephisocrates, ii. 133. + + Cephisophan, a rhetorician, i. 98. + + Ceres, mistress of earthly things, v. 285, 286. + + Chabrias, his sayings, i. 213. + + Chaeremon quoted, Frag., ii. 475. + + Chameleon, the, v. 202. + + Chaplet of flowers at table, iii. 260-265. + + Charicles and Antiochus, iii. 49. + + Charillus, his sayings, i. 217, 432; ii. 97, 116. + + Charon, the Theban, ii. 381. + + Chasms in the earth closed by men leaping into them, v. 454. + + Chersias at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41. + + Chian women, virtue of the, i. 344. + + Children, training of, i. 3-32; + similitude to their parents, iii. 180; + similitude to strangers, 181. + + Chilo, i. 280; + at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41. + + Chilon, saying of, i. 471. + + Chiomara of Galatia, i. 374. + + Chorus of the Aeantis, iii. 226-228. + + Chorus of the Leontis, iii. 226. + + Chromatic scale, in music, i. 117. + + Chrysermus, his Peloponnesian History, v. 452; + Second Book of Histories, 457. + + Chrysippus, ii. 87; + his opinion concerning fate, iii. 130; + of moral virtue, 462; + his doctrines refuted, 488; iv. 372 _et seq._, 428-477; v. 205; + his opinion concerning the cause of cold combated, 324; + First Book of Italian History, 468. + + Cicero, apothegm of, i. 244; ii. 310; v. 96. + + Cilician geese, v. 175. + + Cinesias, the lyric poet, i. 180. + + Cinna stoned to death, v. 469. + + Cios, maids of, i. 354. + + Circe, her supposed conversation with Ulysses, v. 218-219. + + Cithaeron, mount, v. 479. + + Cleanthes, his opinion concerning the stars, iii. 139, 140; v. 176, 420. + + Cleobis and Biton, i. 313. + + Cleobulus at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41. + + Cleodemus, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; + first brought the cupping-glass into request, 20. + + Cleodorus, the physician, ii. 16. + + Cleombrotus, i. 413; iv. 3, 4, 26. + + Cleomenes, v. 161. + + Cleomenes, apothegms of, i. 346, 413, 416. + + Cleon, anecdotes of, v. 100, 116. + + Clisthenes, vindicated from the aspersions of Herodotus, iv. 343. + + Clitonymus, his Italian History, v. 458; + Second Book of his Sybaritics, v. 464. + + Clitophon, his First Book of Gallican History, v. 460. + + Cloelia and Valeria, i. 356. + + Clonas, a musical composer, i. 107, 109. + + Clouds, eruption of fire out of the, iii. 150; + rain, hail, and snow, 151. + + Cneus Domitius, apothegm of, i. 231. + + Cneus Pompeius, apothegms of, i. 241-244. + + Cocles, the Roman, v. 145. + + Codrus, king of Athens, v. 462. + + Coeranus and the dolphins, v. 215. + + Cold, First Principle of, v. 309-330. + + Color, does it exist in the dark, v. 344, 345. + + Colors, of, iii. 125. + + Colotes, the Epicurean, ii. 187; + book written by, v. 338; + misrepresents Democritus, 341; + his doctrines, 349; + misrepresents Plato, 355, 356; + falls at the feet of Epicurus, 360; + disparagement of Socrates, 361; + against Stilpo, 367; + assaults the Philosophers, 367; + condemns the opinion of Epicurus, 368; + Cyrenaic philosophers ridiculed, 369; + treats Arcesilaus unfairly, 371; + absurdity of Epicureanism, 373; + opinions of Epicurus, 374; + danger of his doctrines, 377, 378, 338-385. + + Comets and shooting fires, iii. 149. + + Comminius Super, a Laurentine, v. 472. + + Common conceptions against the Stoics, iv. 372-427. + + Comparison between the actions of the Greeks and Romans, v. 450-476. + + Comparison betwixt Aristophanes and Menander, iii. 11-14. + + Conception, how it is made, iii. 178. + + Concerning Music, i. 102-135. + + Concerning such whom God is slow to punish, iv. 140-188. + + Concerning the fortune of the Romans, iv. 198-219. + + Concerning the virtues of women, i. 340-384. + + Conciseness of speech, recommended, iv. 243; + examples given, 243, 244. + + Conjugal Precepts; Advice to a New-married Couple, ii. 486-507. + + Consolation to Apollonius, i. 299-339. + + Consolatory Letter from Plutarch to his Wife, Timoxena, on Occasion + of the Death of their Daughter, two years old, v. 386-394. + + Contingent and possible defined, v. 299. + + Contradictions of the Stoics, iv. 428-477. + + Cora and Proserpine, v. 285. + + Corinna, anecdote of, v. 404. + + Corinthian Hall at Delphi, iii. 80-82. + + Cornelius Scipio, consul, v. 96, 112, 114, 136. + + Cotys, his sayings, i. 189. + + Crabs charmed by fifes, v. 163. + + Cranes, flight of, v. 175, 203. + + Crantor, quoted, i. 300, 304, 324, 326; + his opinion of the soul, ii. 327, 328, 345, 349, 360. + + Crassus, anecdotes of, i. 288, 290; v. 125. + + Crassus Calpurnius, v. 465. + + Crassus’s mullet, v. 196. + + Crates, i. 141; + saying of, 495; ii. 145, 321; + opinion of the stars, iii. 140; v. 419, 423. + + Cratinus the comic poet, v. 410. + + Crato, iii. 198. + + Creon’s daughter, i. 472. + + Cretinus, the Magnesian, v. 121. + + Criticism on passages in Homer, ii. 69-72, 74-84, 89, 90, 91. + + Criticism on Sophocles, ii. 72. + + Critolaus, his History of the Epirots, v. 455; + Fourth Book of Celestial Appearances, 457. + + Crocodile, story of a, v. 196, 206, 210. + + Croesus, ii. 122; iii. 85; iv. 339. + + Cronium, mount, v. 501. + + Ctesiphon, his Third Book of the Boeotian History, v. 458. + + Ctesiphon the Pancratiast, i. 42. + + Curatii and Horatii, v. 461. + + Cure of anger, i. 33-59. + + Curiosity, of, ii. 424-445; + mischiefs of vain, iv. 236. + + Cuttle-fish, sign of a storm, iii. 505; + wariness of the, v. 200. + + Cyanippus, a Syracusan, v. 462. + + Cyanippus, a Thessalian, v. 463. + + Cyclades islands, iii. 24. + + Cycloborus, a brook near Athens, v. 110. + + Cynaegirus, an Athenian commander, story of, v. 450. + + Cyprus, female parasites of, called Steps, ii. 103. + + Cyrus the Elder, his sayings, i. 186; ii. 319; + enlarges the Persian empire, iv. 85. + + Cyrus the Younger, his sayings, i. 188. + + + D. + + Daemon of Socrates, Discourse concerning the, ii. 378-423. + + Daemons, their nature, attributes, and actions, iv. 14 _et seq._; + some of them are malignant and cruel, 19; + they are mortal, 15, 23, 24; + vainglorious, 28; + have the care of oracles, 21, 27; + sometimes have quarrels and combats with one another, 27; + our souls are by nature endued with similar powers, 50 _et seq._; + in the Moon, v. 289; + will of the, 304; + providence of the, 307, 308. + + Damindas, apothegm of, i. 407. + + Damis, apothegm of, i. 406. + + Damonidas, apothegm of, i. 406. + + Darius, his sayings, i. 186, 502; v. 458. + + Darkness, whether visible, iii. 169. + + Datis, a Persian commander, his invasion of Attica, v. 450. + + Daughters who had carnal knowledge of their fathers, v. 464. + + Death appertains to soul or body, iii. 189. + + Death a reward for distinguished piety; illustrated by the cases of + Biton and Cleobis, of Agamedes and Trophonius, of Pindar and + Euthynous, i. 313, 314. + + Death of fire is the generation of air, v. 316. + + Death the brother of sleep, i. 311. + + Debates at entertainments, iii. 394. + + Debt, Evils of. Against running in Debt, or Taking up Money upon + Usury, v. 412-424. + + Debt of nature, i. 309. + + Decius of Rome, v. 462. + + Decrees proposed to the Athenians, v. 58. + + Deity, knowledge of a, whence derived, iii. 115. + + Delay of Providence in Punishing the Wicked. De sera Numinis + Vindicta, iv. 140-188. + + Delight in hearing the passions of men represented, iii. 314. + + Delphi, a walk in, iii. 69; + the statues there, 70; + atmosphere of, 72; + ancient oracles of, 73; + Corinthian Hall at, 80-82; + statue of Phryne, 83. + + Delphic Oracle, inscription on the, Know thyself, and Nothing too + much, i. 328. + + Demades and Phocion, anecdotes of, ii. 298; v. 108, 141. + + Demaratus and Philip, anecdote of, ii. 146. + + Demaratus, apothegm of, i. 407, 482; + his Second Book of Arcadian History, v. 461. + + Demetrius Phalereus, his saying, i. 217; + anecdotes of, ii. 145; iii. 21; v. 145. + + Demetrius, his sayings, i. 204. + + Demetrius of Tarsus, comes to Delphi, iv. 3. + + Demochares, a nephew of Demosthenes, procures a statue to be set up + for his uncle, v. 58-60; + a decree for a statue for himself, 60, 61. + + Democracy and Oligarchy, v. 395-398. + + Democrates, saying of, v. 109. + + Democritus, saying of, i. 22, 263, 275; ii. 440; iii. 7; + his philosophical opinions, 121, 123, 126, 127, 128, 129, 132, 133, + 135, 139, 140, 142, 145, 149, 155, 156, 157, 160, 162, 163, 164, + 166, 168, 169, 171, 176, 177, 179, 183, 187, 227; + his opinions misrepresented, v. 341; + his doctrine concerning atoms, 345, 346, 381. + + Demodocus, i. 105. + + Demonides, the cripple, ii. 51. + + Demosthenes, the orator, anecdotes of, i. 15, 65; + quoted, 67, 286, 325; + anecdote of, 334, 481; + quoted, ii. 145, 300, 312, 313; + anecdote of, 460; + quoted, iv. 212; + quoted, v. 34, 35; + sketch of his life, 43-53; + his birth, education, and early years, 43; + calls his guardians to account, _ib._; + is chosen choregus, 44; + his methods to obtain excellence in speaking, _ib._; + opposes the designs of Philip, 45; + describes “action” as of supreme importance in oratory, _ib._; + his early failures as an orator, _ib._; + defends the Olynthians, 46; + is admired by Philip, though an enemy, _ib._; + his magnanimity, 47; + his conduct at Chaeronea, _ib._; + his patriotism, _ib._; + the oration for the Crown, _ib._; + accused of receiving a bribe, 48; + his exile, _ib._; + recalled, _ib._; + returns to the administration of public affairs, 49; + leaves Athens to avoid being delivered up to Antipater, _ib._; + his death, 50; + his family, _ib._; + honors paid to his memory, 51; + anecdotes of him, 49, 50-53; + his great temperance, 53; + his public services recounted in a decree, 58-60; + quoted, 69, 109, 110, 124, 138, 146, 409, 411, 447, 448. + + Dercyllidas, apothegm of, i. 407. + + Dercyllus, his First Book of Foundations, v. 461; + Third Book of Italian History, 474. + + Destiny, or fate, iii. 130. + + Deucalion [like Noah] sent forth a dove from the ark, and with like + purpose, v. 179. + + Diagoras the Melian, iii. 118. + + Diana Orthia, rites of, i. 98. + + Dicaearchus, opinion concerning the soul, iii. 161; + of divination, 176; v. 93. + + Dignity of places at table, iii. 210, 212. + + Dinarchus, an Athenian orator, v. 57, 58; + becomes rich, 57; + his exile in Chalcis, 58; + restored, _ib._; + his orations, _ib._ + + Diocles, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; + his philosophical opinions, iii. 179, 182, 185, 192. + + Diogenes Laertius quoted, i. 77. + + Diogenes, quoted, i. 4, 12; + anecdotes of, 51, 67, 141, 142, 166, 283, 285, 311, 487; + quoted, ii. 58, 155, 193; 455, 458, 465, 466; + story of the mouse, 453; iii. 21, 27, 29, 31; + his philosophical opinions, 132, 136, 138, 143, 148, 163, 183, 187, + 189, 494; iv. 311; v. 8, 65. + + Diogenes and Philip, ii. 147. + + Diogenianus, iii. 71, 73, _et seq._ + + Diomedes, ii. 41; + liberated from captivity, v. 465. + + Dion, example of, i. 64, 193, 333. + + Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, does not relish the Lacedaemonian + broth, i. 83; + his unreasonable anger, 152; + his sayings, 449, 484, 491; + his ungenerous behavior, 493; + parasites of, ii. 166; 314; + anecdote of, iv. 238. + + Dionysius and Plato, ii. 108, 140. + + Dionysius the Elder, his sayings, i. 191; v. 84. + + Dionysius the Younger, his sayings, i. 192, 501. + + Diophantus, saying of, i. 4. + + Diorphus, mount, v. 507. + + Discourse to an Unlearned Prince, iv. 323-330. + + Diseases of the body, iv. 504-508. + + Divination, of, iii. 176; iv. 59. + + Dog, habit of biting of stones, iii. 516; + affection for his master, v. 180, 182, 184; + docility of the, 191. + + Dolphin, sagacity of the, v. 200; + nature of the, 204; + story of a, 213; + its love of music, 214; + stories of affection of, 215, 216. + + Dolphin and Arion, ii. 33-36; + and the lad of Jasus, v. 215. + + Domitian is mentioned [which fixes the era of Plutarch], ii. 443. + + Domitius, anecdote of, i. 288, 295; v. 125. + + Dorian Mood of music, i. 109, 115. + + Dorians pray for bad making of their hay, iii. 504. + + Dorotheus, his First Book of Transformations, v. 466; + his Fourth Book of Italian History, v. 463. + + Dositheus, his Third Book of Sicilian History, v. 463, 471, 472, 474; + Third Book of Lydian History, 469; + his Pelopidae, 471; + First Book of Italian History, 475. + + Dream, a romantic, ii. 407-411. + + Dreams and Omens, ii. 401, 402. + + Dreams in Autumn, iii. 432. + + Dreams, whence do they arise, iii. 176. + + Drink either five or three, iii. 282-284. + + Drink passeth through the lungs, iii. 363. + + + E. + + Earth, its nature and magnitude, iii. 154; + figure of the, 155; + site and position of the, 155; + inclination of the, 155; + motion of the, 156; + zones of the, 156; + exhalations from the, iv. 53; + its form and its place, v. 247; + an instrument of time, 439. + + Earthquakes, of, iii. 157. + + Echo, what gives the, iii. 172. + + Eclipse of the moon, iii. 146. + + Eclipses of the sun, iii. 144. + + Ecphantus, his opinion concerning the motion of the earth, iii. 156. + + Egg or the bird, which was first, iii. 242-246. + + Egypt, its Religion and Philosophy; of Isis and Osiris, or of the + Ancient Religion and Philosophy of Egypt, iv. 65-139. + + Egyptian skeleton at feasts, ii. 7. + + Egyptians in Ethiopia, iii. 20. + + Ει at Apollo’s temple at Delphi, iv. 479-498. + + Eleans, the, v. 426. + + Elements, mixture of the, iii. 126. + + Elephant, understanding of the, v. 178; + stories of, 178; + of King Porus, 183; + most beloved by the Gods, 187; + amour of the, 188; + chirurgery of the, 192. + + Elephas, mount, v. 478. + + Elysian fields in the moon, v. 289. + + Elysius the Terinean, vision of, i. 314. + + Embryo, how nourished, iii. 183; + is an animal, _ib._ + + Empedocles, i. 59; + saying of, 158, 469; + quoted, ii. 49, 195; 357; + quoted, iii. 34, 81; + his philosophical opinions, 112, 114, 125-129, 131, 132, 136-138, + 143, 145, 147, 154, 158, 163, 165, 168-170, 173, 178-184, 188-191; + quoted, 209, 262, 293, 333, 497, 509, 518; + quoted, iv. 21, 52, 85, 87, 108, 273; + quoted, v. 169, 239, 246, 249, 252, 255, 318, 348, 350, 351; + misunderstood by Colotes, 351; + quoted, 381, 420, 421, 439. + + Emprepes, apothegm of, i. 408. + + Enemies, how a man may profit by his, i. 280-298. + + Entertainment, late to an, iii. 417. + + Envy and Hatred, ii. 95-99. + + Epaminondas, his sayings, i. 222-226, 277; + his great actions, 225; + his consistency of character, ii. 109; 182, 185, 309, 313, 319, + 381, 396, 399, 414; iii. 6; v. 72, 75, 95, 101, 121, 125; + his invasion of Laconia, 401, 407, 458. + + Epaminondas, son of, beheaded, v. 458. + + Ephorus, his opinion concerning the overflowing of the Nile, iii. 161. + + Epicharmus, quoted, i. 315, 496; ii. 141; iv. 242. + + Epicureans, misrepresentations of the, v. 352-354. + + Epicurus, quoted, i. 138, 139, 159; + famous sentence of, ii. 92; + his doctrine; refutation of it; pleasure is not attainable, 157-203; + reverence of his brothers, iii. 57; + his philosophical opinions, 111, 122, 124, 127, 128, 131, 134, 135, + 139, 142, 143, 151, 163, 164, 165, 169, 177, 183; + opinions of, v. 350, 374; + danger of his doctrines, 377, 378; + disciples of, 383, 385. + + Epigenes, opinion concerning comets, iii. 150. + + Epimenides, long sleep of, v. 66; 279. + + Erasistratus, his opinion of the soul, iii. 163; + of superfetation, 180; + his definition of a fever, 192. + + Eratosthenes, his philosophical opinions: of time, iii. 128; + of the sun, 147; v. 456. + + Erectheus, sacrifice of his daughter, v. 463. + + Eryxo of Cyrene, i. 378. + + Esop, fable of, ii. 11, 12, 16, 19-22, 23; + dog of, 25; + at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 3-41; iii. 63, 202. + + Eteocles the Theban, i. 257. + + Euboea, king of, drawn in pieces by horses, v. 455. + + Euboidas, apothegm of, i. 408. + + Euclid, anecdote of, i. 55; ii. 173. + + Euclides, his brotherly love, iii. 61. + + Euctus and Eulaeus, ii. 146. + + Eudaemonidas, his sayings, i. 221. + + Eudamidas, apothegm of, i. 408. + + Eudemus, of matter, ii. 334. + + Eudorus, system of numbers, ii. 343, 345. + + Eudoxus, anecdotes of, ii. 174; + his opinion of the cause of winter and summer, iii. 141; + of the overflow of the Nile, 161. + + Euemerus, his opinion of God, iii. 118. + + Eumenes of Pergamus, his sayings, i. 206; + anecdotes of, iii. 61, iv. 232. + + Eumetis at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; + her riddle, 20. + + Euphorion quoted, iii. 321. + + Euphranor, the painter, v. 400. + + Euphrates, the river, v. 502. + + Eupolis, saying of, ii. 112. + + Euripides, quoted, i. 3, 158, 291, 300, 301, 302, 308, 320, 329, 330, + 335, 458; + Hippol., 4, 14, 471; + Protesilaus, 23; + Dictys, 26, 58; + Bellerophon, 63, 141; + Frag., 287, 472; + Pirithous, 70; + Orestes, 37, 137, 140, 165, 170, 286; + Medea, 64, 71, 255; + Iph. Aul., 152, 302; + Bacchae, 163; + Troad, 170; + Phoeniss, 257, 303, 327; + Danae, 307; + Adrastus, 288; + Stheneboea, 301; + Ino, 303, 304; + Alcestis, 310; + Suppliants, 316; + Cresphontes, 316; + Erectheus, 500; + Hypsipyle, 317, 465; ii. 54, 56, 62, 87, 92, 121, 148, 150, 251, + 300, 306, 357, 363, 391, 472; + Cresphontes, 93; + Hippol., 73, 108, 173, 198, 373, 374; + Frag., 86, 181, 318, 437, 501; + Orestes, 143, 443; + Medea, 66; + Iph. Aul., 49, 85; + Phoeniss, 51, 61, 66, 130, 151; + Ion, 102, 144; + Ino, 131; + Erectheus, 132; + Electra, 85; + Aeolus, 66, 85, 88, 175; + Herc. Furens, 151; + Hecuba, 197; + Iph. Taur., 447; iii. 27, 99, 116, 194; + Frag., 3, 19, 33, 41, 42, 94, + 230, 458, 475, 512; + Hippol., 483; + Orestes, 168, 437; + Phoeniss, 16, 32, 43, 49, 257; + Stheneboea, 217; + Iph. Taur., 21; + Androm., 232; + Hipsipyle, 291, iv. 17, 128, 142, 270, 308, 450, 478, 497; + Frag., 47, 220, 233, 251, 272, 273, 292, 301, 325, 392, 461, 475; + Bacchae, 223, 272, 422, 506; + Hippol., 294, 298; + Cyclops, 56; + Aeolus, 105; + Troad, 132; + Orestes, 141, 507; + Ino, 158, 231; + Alcestis, 197; + Danae, 274, 283; + Stheneboea, 288; + Androm., 401; + Herc. Furens, 459, 467; v. 126, 128, 157, 172; + Frag., 15, 79, 105, 108, 118, 345; + Aeolus, 71; + Hippol., 158; + Iph. Taur., 374; + Orestes, 77, 380; + Troad, 440; + Erectheus, 463; + Meleager, 466. + + Eurotas, a river in Laconia, v. 497. + + Eurycratidas, apothegm of, i. 410. + + Eurydice of Hierapolis, her epigram, i. 32. + + Euthrymenes, his opinion of the overflow of the Nile, iii. 160. + + Euthynous and Pindar, i. 313. + + Eutropion, anecdote of, i. 25. + + Evenus quoted, ii. 102, 192. + + Evenus, son of Mars, v. 475. + + Exercises, different kinds of, iii. 248-250. + + Exile, consolations of, iii. 15-35. + + Eyes, images of the, iii. 169. + + + F. + + Fabius Maximus, his sayings, i. 227, 228; + in the Punic war, v. 453. + + Fable of Minerva, i. 41. + + Fable of the defeat of Neptune, iii. 444. + + Fable of the Fox and Leopard, ii. 21. + + Fable of the Lydian Mule, ii. 11. + + Fabricianus, v. 474. + + Fabricius, iv. 201. + + Face appearing in the moon, v. 234-292. + + Fasting creates more thirst than hunger, iii. 339. + + Fate, or destiny, iii. 130; + nature of, 130; v. 293-308. + + Faunus, king of Italy, strangers murdered by, v. 474. + + Fever, cause of a, iii. 192. + + Fig-trees, of, iii. 250, 335. + + Figures, of, iii. 125. + + Filial treachery in Persian and Roman history, v. 458. + + Fire or water, which is more useful, v. 331-337. + + Firmus and Nuceria, v. 471. + + Fish called the fisherman, v. 201. + + Fish, eating of, iii. 422. + + Fisherman’s nets, rotting of, iii. 503. + + Fishes, of; the labrax, mullet, scate, anthias, dolphin, cuttle-fish, + star-fish, torpedo, the fisherman, tunny, amiae, pionetras, + sponge, porphyrae, hegemon, whale, pinoterus, gilthead, + phycides, galeus, tortoise, v. 195, 209. + + Fittest time for a man to know his wife, iii. 274-279. + + Fives, we reckon by, iv. 43-47. + + Five tragical histories of Love, iv. 312-322. + + Flattery: How to know a Flatterer from a Friend, ii. 100-156. + + Flattery fatal to whole kingdoms, ii. 118. + + Flesh exposed to the moon, iii. 284-287. + + Flute girls, whether they are to be admitted to a feast, iii. 387. + + Folly of Seeking Many Friends, i. 464-474. + + Food, digesting of, iii. 289-295. + + Fortune, of, ii. 475-481; iii. 131; + is a cause by accident, v. 302; + not the same as chance, 303; + relates to men only, 303. + + Fortune of the Romans, iv. 198-219. + + Fox, cunning of the, v. 179. + + Fresh water washes clothes better than salt, iii. 224-226. + + Friends, folly of seeking many, i. 464-474. + + Frogs, croaking of, v. 210. + + Frost makes hunting difficult, iii. 510. + + Fruit, salt not found in, iii. 498. + + Fulvius and Augustus, anecdotes of, iv. 235, 236. + + Fulvius Stellus, v. 468. + + Fundanus, i. 34, 35. + + + G. + + Galaxy, or milky way, iii. 148. + + Galeus, affection of, for their young, v. 209. + + Ganges, the river, v. 481. + + Garlands at sacred games, iii. 411. + + Garrulity, or Talkativeness, iv. 220-253. + + Gauran, mount, v. 508. + + Gelo, his saying, i. 190. + + Generation and corruption, iii. 128. + + Generation of males and females, iii. 178; + of animals, 186; + of the Gods, 400. + + Generative seed, iii. 177. + + Geniuses and heroes, opinions concerning, iii. 122. + + Germanicus, ii. 96. + + Gnatho the Sicilian, iii. 3. + + Gobryas, a Persian noble, ii. 104. + + God always plays the Geometer, saying attributed to Plato, iii. 402. + + God bade Socrates act the midwife’s part, v. 425. + + God, Father and Maker of all things, v. 428. + + God, what is, iii. 118. + + Gods, generation of the, iii. 400. + + Gorgias, i. 340; + at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; 44, 134; ii. 502; + v. 405. + + Government. Of the Three Sorts of Government, Monarchy, Democracy, + and Oligarchy, v. 395-398. + + Gracchus, Caius, example of, i. 40. + + Greek music, principles of, i. 102, 103. + + Greek Questions, ii. 265-293. + + Groom, saying of the king’s, i. 21. + + Gryllus, v. 218 _et seq._ + + Guests, should the entertainer seat the, iii. 203-210; + to a wedding supper, 300; + that are called shadows, iii. 381. + + Gylippus, his dishonesty, i. 23. + + + H. + + Habits of animals, v. 173-177. + + Halcyon, of the, v. 211. + + Halo, of the, iii. 160. + + Hannibal and Fabius, i. 228. + + Hares, cunning of the, v. 185. + + Harp, an invention of Apollo, i. 113. + + Hart, tears of the, iii. 507. + + Health, preservation of, i. 251-279. + + Health, sickness, and old age, iii. 192. + + Hearing, of, i. 441-463; iii. 170. + + Heaven, its nature and essence, iii. 137; + division of, 137. + + Hebrus, a river of Thrace, v. 480. + + Hedgehog, ingenuity of the, v. 186. + + Hedgehog of the sea, v. 203. + + Hegemon, of the fish, v. 206. + + Hegesippus, sayings of, &c., i. 213. + + Hegesistratus, an Ephesian, v. 476. + + Helicon the mathematician, i. 57. + + Hephaestion, the friend of Alexander, i. 489, 505. + + Heracleo, v. 194. + + Heraclides, his compendium of music, i. 105; ii. 158; + his philosophical opinions, iii. 139, 149, 156, 159, 165. + + Heraclides the wrestler, iii. 220. + + Heraclitus, i. 44, 79, 276, 308, 448, 453; ii. 74, 165, 330, 358, + 477; iii. 26, 74; + his philosophical opinions, 111, 125, 128, 130, 131, 143, 144, + 145, 146, 162; + apothegm, v. 9; + quoted, 73, 169, 425. + + Hercules and Iole, v. 459. + + Hercules in Antisthenes, precept of, i. 77. + + Hercules, + ridiculous representation of, v. 70; + and King Faunus, 474. + + Hercules the woman-hater, his temple in Phocis, iii. 90; + singular anecdote, _ib._ + + Hermes, iv. 74. + + Hermias, v. 121. + + Hermogenes, ii. 194. + + Herodotus, quoted, i. 80, 441; + saying of, ii. 202, 489; + Arcadian prophet, iii. 38; + quoted, iv. 248, 335 _et seq._; + malice of, iv. 331-371; v. 397. + + Herondas, apothegm of, i. 410. + + Herons, artifices of the, v. 176. + + Herophilus, opinion of, iii. 128, 163. + + Hesianax, his Third Book of African History, v. 465. + + Hesiod, quoted, Works and Days, i. 22, 65, 70, 138, 156, 178, + 261, 296, 307, 325; + Works and Days, ii. 24; + spare diet recommended by, 27; + and the dolphin, 36, 37; + Works and Days, 63, 64, 65, 73, 87, 92, 302, 303, 449, 452, + 480, 483; + Theogony, 102; + Works and Days, iii. 64, 210, 382, 416, 436, 438; + Theogony, 118, 324, 458; iv. 15; + Works and Days, 48, 49, 68, 87, 154, 173, 264, 385, 442, 457; + Theogony, 53; + Works and Days, v. 153, 168, 172, 279. + + Hicetes, his opinion of the earth, iii. 154. + + Hiero, his sayings, i. 190; + anecdote of, 291. + + Hiero the Spartan, statue of, iii. 76. + + Hiero the Tyrant, statue of, iii. 75. + + Hieronymus, saying of, i. 38, 50, 462. + + Himerius, an Athenian parasite, ii. 126. + + Hippasus, opinions of, iii. 111. + + Hippocrates, saying of, i. 40; + quoted, 261, 292; ii. 165, 185; + his magnanimity, ii. 466. + + Hippocratidas, apothegm of, i. 412. + + Hippodamus, apothegm of, i. 411. + + Hippolytus, son of Theseus, v. 471, 472. + + Hippomachus, ii. 294. + + Hipponax, i. 108. + + History of music, i. 104 _et seq._ + + History of wind instruments, i. 108. + + Homer, passages in, criticised, ii. 69-72, 74-84, 89, 90. + + Homer quoted: Iliad, i. 34, 38, 39, 51, 52, 55, 62, 104, 132, 133, + 134, 138, 141, 151, 153, 154, 156, 161, 165, 178, 180, 181, 200, + 236, 251, 292, 303, 305, 306, 310, 324, 325, 329, 330, 331, 385, + 466, 469, 475, 486, 490, 507, 508, 510, 511; ii. 25, 32, 41, 44, + 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 55, 56, 59, 62, 63, 65, 67, 68, 74, 75, 77, + 79, 81, 82, 84, 88, 89, 90, 91, 108, 114, 115, 120, 123, 131, 140, + 142, 145, 150, 151, 152, 154, 185, 197, 198, 200, 237, 295, 305, + 310, 311, 314, 317, 319, 413, 501, 505; iii. 25, 26, 47, 53, 54, + 107, 120, 152, 206, 207, 221, 231, 248, 255, 285, 301, 313, 317, + 321, 323, 325, 336, 354, 364, 381, 394, 401, 413, 418, 437, 442, + 447, 448, 449, 450, 480, 486, 492, 493, 515; iv. 16, 65, 108, 111, + 152, 191, 194, 195, 216, 237, 238, 280, 285, 291, 327, 329, 383, + 386, 401, 405, 434, 462, 483, 490, 499, 504; v. 78, 79, 85, 88, + 90, 92, 96, 104, 119, 122, 123, 134, 135, 138, 146, 147, 171, 182, + 200, 208, 214, 266, 276, 281, 315, 339, 350, 371, 386, 394, 400, + 418, 443, 444, 447; + + Odyss. i. 52, 134, 138, 154, 236, 252, 305, 310, 318, 325, 452, 469; + ii. 41, 43, 47, 48, 52, 53, 54, 56, 59, 63, 65, 67, 70, 71, 82, + 83, 108, 110, 114, 115, 127, 149, 158, 159, 162, 184, 195, 304, + 316, 317, 320, 371, 427, 463, 467, 478; iii. 10, 42, 45, 72, 81, + 101, 196, 201, 207, 226, 232, 233, 249, 259, 280, 333, 359, 365, + 395, 419, 425, 437, 438, 451, 466, 477, 499; iv. 5, 30, 86, 97, + 191, 200, 219, 224, 226, 230, 231, 289, 307, 325, 401, 405; v. 3, + 11, 105, 106, 143, 171, 184, 281, 285, 290, 315, 323, 403, 416, + 422, 423, 446. + + Horatii and Curatii, v. 460, 461. + + Horatius Cocles, v. 456. + + Horsehair for fishing lines, iii. 505. + + Horses, called λυχοσπάδες, iii. 253. + + Horus, son of Osiris, iv. 80, 114 _et seq._ + + Hounds that hunt hares, v. 184. + + How a man may praise himself without being envied, ii. 306. + + How a man may receive advantage and profit from his enemies, i. + 280-298. + + How animals are begotten, iii. 186. + + How a young man ought to hear poems, ii. 42. + + How plants grow, and whether they are animals, iii. 190. + + How to know a flatterer, ii. 100-156. + + Hunger, cause of, iii. 341; + allayed by drinking, 345. + + Hurricanes, of, iii. 150. + + Hyagnis, first that sung to the pipe, i. 107. + + Hydaspes, a river in India, v. 477. + + Hyperides, the Athenian orator, ii. 140; v. 53-57; + his part in public affairs, 53; + his friendship for Demosthenes, 54; + this friendship broken, _ib._; + demanded by Antipater, he escapes to Aegina, _ib._; + is apprehended, tortured, and put to death, 55; + an excellent orator, _ib._; + his amorous propensities, 55, 56; + his patriotism, 56; + sent as ambassador, 56, 57. + + Hypsipyle, foster-child of, i, 465. + + + I. + + Ibis, habits of, imitated by the Egyptians, v. 192. + + Ibycus, the poet, iv. 240. + + Ichneumon, of the, v. 174. + + Ida, mount, v. 493. + + Idathyrsus, his sayings, i. 189. + + Ideas, of, iii. 123. + + Images presented to our eyes in mirrors, iii. 169. + + Imagination, imaginable and phantom, difference between, iii. 167. + + Immortality of the soul, argument for it, iv. 169, 170. + + Impotency in men, iii. 181. + + Improbabilities of the Stoics, iii. 194-196. + + Inachus, a river in Argolis, v. 498. + + Incest, case of, v. 467. + + Indus, the river, v. 508. + + Infants, seven months’, iii. 184. + + Inquisitiveness, or vain curiosity; of curiosity, or an over-busy + inquisitiveness into things impertinent, ii. 424-445. + + Iole, the beloved of Hercules, v. 459. + + Ion the tragedian, i. 322, 328; v. 186, 254. + + Iphicrates, his saying, i. 80, 212; v. 105. + + Iphigenia at Aulis, v. 459, 460. + + Irascible faculty, v. 441. + + Isaeus, an Athenian orator, v. 33; + considered by some equal to Lysias, _ib._; + the teacher of Demosthenes, _ib._; + number of his orations, _ib._ + + Isis and Osiris, iv. 66-139. + + Ismenodora, iv. 256, 264, 269, 311. + + Ismenus, a river of Boeotia, v. 478. + + Isocrates, an Athenian orator, iii. 198; v. 27-33; + his parentage, birth, and education, 27; + composed orations for others, 28; + his school at Chios, _ib._; + his great success as a teacher of rhetoric, _ib._; + lived to a great age, 29; + his death and burial, 30; + number of his orations, 31; + his timidity, 27, 31; + his description of the use of rhetoric, 31; + the two suits against him, 32, 409; + his Panegyric, 410. + + Isthmian games, iii. 318. + + Ivy, nature of, iii. 265-268. + + + J. + + Jason, saying of, v. 140. + + Jewish religion, statements and conjectures respecting it, + iii. 307-312. + + Jews, their fatal inaction in war because it was their Sabbath day, + i. 178. + + Juba, his third Book of Lybian History, v. 465. + + + L. + + Lacedaemonians, their laws and customs, i. 82-101; + their currency, 99; + influx of gold and silver, 100; + refuse to assist Philip and Alexander in their designs against + Persia, 101; + lose all their ancient glory, 101; + combat with the Argives, v. 452. + + Lachares, tyranny of, ii. 166. + + Laconic answers, iv. 243. + + Laconic Apothegms, of, i. 385-440. + Acrotatus, 400. + Agasicles, 385. + Agesilaus, 385-397. + Agesipolis, 397, 398. + Agis, son of Archidamus, 398. + Agis the Last, 400. + Agis the Younger, 400. + Alcamenes, the son of Teleclus, 400. + Alexandridas, 401. + Anaxander, 401. + Anaxilas, 402. + Androclidas, 402. + Antalcidas, 402. + Antiochus, 403. + Archidamidas, 403. + Archidamus, son of Agesilaus, 404. + Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, 404. + Aregeus, 403. + Ariston, 403. + Astycratidas, 405. + Bias, 406. + Callicratidas, 412. + Charillus, 432. + Cleombrotus, 413. + Cleomenes, son of Cleombrotus, 413, 416. + Damindas, 407. + Damis, 406. + Damonidas, 406. + Demaratus, 407. + Dercyllidas, 407. + Emprepes, 408. + Euboidas, 408. + Eudamidas, son of Archidamas, 408. + Eurycratidas, 410. + Herondas, 410. + Hippocratidas, 412. + Hippodamus, 411. + Leonidas, the son of Anaxandrias, 417. + Leo, the son of Eucratidas, 417. + Leotychides, 416. + Lycurgus the Lawgiver, 419-425. + Lysander, 425. + Namertes, 427. + Nicander, 427. + Paedaretus, 429. + Panthoidas, 427. + Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, 428. + Pausanias, son of Plistoanax, 428. + Phoebidas, 431. + Plistoanax, 430. + Polycratidas, 431. + Polydorus, 430. + Soos, 431. + Telecrus, 431. + Thectamenes, 411. + Themisteas, 410. + Theopompus, 410. + Thorycion, 411. + Zeuxidamus, 410. + + Lacydes, King of the Argives, i. 290. + + Lais, murder of, iv. 302. + + Lampis, a sea commander, v. 73. + + Lampsace, anecdote of, i. 366. + + Lamps and tables of the ancients, iii. 372. + + Land, food of the, iii. 302-306. + + Lasus, his innovation upon ancient music, i. 123. + + Leaena, anecdote of, iv. 229, 230. + + Least things in nature, iii. 125. + + Leo, apothegm of, i. 417. + + Leo Byzantinus, saying of, i. 288; + and his wife, v. 110. + + Leonidas, apothegm of, i. 417; + vindicated from the statements of Herodotus, iv. 354; v. 157; + at Thermopylae, 453. + + Leotychides, apothegm of, i. 422. + + Leprosy caused by dewy trees, iii. 500. + + Leptis, custom in, ii. 499. + + Leucippus, his opinions of the world, iii. 135; + of the earth, 155; + of the senses, 165. + + Light and darkness, of, v. 325. + + Lightning, of, iii. 150. + + Light, of reflected, iii. 168, 169; v. 236 _et seq._ + + Lilaeus, mount, v. 508, 509. + + Linus, elegies of, i. 105. + + Lions, of, v. 187. + + Liquids, of, iii. 359. + + Live concealed, whether’t were rightly said, iii. 3-10. + + Lives of the ten Attic orators, v. 17-63. + + Love: Five tragical histories of, iv. 312-322. + + Love, of, iv. 254-311; + makes a man a poet, iii. 217-219. + + Love of wealth, ii. 294-305. + + Lucretia, the Roman matron, i. 355. + + Lucullus, apothegm of, i. 241; + quoted, iii. 51; v. 84. + + Lugdunum, mount, v. 485. + + Lyaeus and choraeus, i. 54. + + Lybian crows, v. 175. + + Lycastus and Parasius, v. 473. + + Lycian women, virtue of the, i. 351. + + Lycormas, a river in Aetolia, v. 487. + + Lycurgus, an Athenian orator, v. 36-42; + treasurer of the commonwealth, 36; + his great public services, 37; + his fidelity in office and great reputation, 37; + his justice and integrity, 37, 38; + useful laws procured by his influence, 38; + his diligence in the study and practice of oratory, 39; + his incorruptible honesty, 40; + his death, _ib._; + honors paid to his memory, _ib._; + his family, 40, 41; + his orations and success as an orator, 41; + his benevolence, 42; + a decree for honors to be paid to his memory, 61-63. + + Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, anecdote of, i. 7; + his institutions, 82 _et seq._; + their final overthrow, 101, 217, 419-425; + his sayings, ii. 22; v. 12, 92. + + Lydian mood of music, i. 109, 114. + + Lyric nomes, i. 106. + + Lysander, i. 72; + his great victory over the Athenians, 99; + introduces gold and silver into Lacedaemon, 100; + the results, _ib._; + his sayings, 219, 425; + saying of, ii. 149; + anecdote of, 495; iii. 100; v. 92. + + Lysias, the Athenian orator, his remarks on music, i. 104; + anecdote of, iv. 226; v. 24-26; + his birth, early residence in Athens, residence in Thurii, and + return to Athens, 24; + banished by the Thirty Tyrants, 25; + return after their overthrow, _ib._; + death, _ib._; + number of his orations, _ib._; + his other works, 26; + his eloquence, _ib._; v. 33. + + Lysimache, the priestess, i. 73. + + Lysimachus, his sayings, i. 205, 259. + + Lysippus, his statue of Alexander, i. 494. + + + M. + + Madness of animals, v. 167. + + Maeander, a river in Asia, v. 488. + + Magas, anecdote of, i. 45. + + Magpie, story of a, v. 189. + + Maimactes, king of the gods, i. 45. + + Man, perfection of a, iii. 189; + most unhappy of all creatures, iv. 504; + compounded of three parts, v. 286. + + Maneros, the foster-son of Isis, iv. 79. + + Manius Curius, apothegm of, i. 226. + + Manlius, son of, beheaded, v. 458. + + Man’s progress in virtue, ii. 446-474. + + Mantinea, battle of, v. 401. + + Marius, sacrifice of his daughter, v. 463. + + Mars, some bad actions of his, v. 466, 467. + + Marsyas, a river in Phrygia, v. 490. + + Marsyas, the musician, i. 41, 108. + + Massinissa, his vigorous old age, v. 83. + + Mathematics, applied to Music, i. 118-121; + affords unspeakable delight, ii. 172, 174. + + Matter, of, iii. 122. + + Medius, the parasite, ii. 137. + + Megasthenes, saying of, v. 275. + + Megisto and Micca, and other women of Elis, i. 357-363. + + Meilichius, king of the gods, i. 45. + + Melanippides, quoted, iv. 278. + + Melanthius, quoted, i. 35, 449; ii. 103; iv. 147. + + Melian women, virtue of the, i. 348. + + Melisponda and Nephalia, i. 59. + + Melissus, his opinion of generation, iii, 128. + + Memnon, his saying, i. 189. + + Menalippides, i. 114, 123. + + Menander, quoted, i. 70, 139, 158, 161, 164, 335, 470; + quoted, ii. 52, 57, 65, 86, 87, 124, 192, 297; + his superiority to Aristophanes, iii. 11-14; + quoted, 38, 65, 196, 488; iv. 290; + anecdote of, v. 403; + saying of, 425. + + Mendesian goat, v. 225. + + Menedemus, i. 77; ii. 115, 464; + his opinion of the nature of moral virtue, iii. 461. + + Menelaus, the mathematician, v. 257. + + Men, impotency in, iii. 181; + elements of, 188; + have better stomachs in autumn, 240; + temper of, 270-272; + when asleep are never thunderstruck, 295-300; + having carnal knowledge of brutes, 468. + + Menon, his definition of virtue, i. 464. + + Menyllus, his First Book of Boeotic History, v. 460; + Third Book of Italian History, 467. + + Messenians, saying among the, v. 416. + + Metellus, quoted, iii. 53; iv. 202; v. 459, 461. + + Meteors, of, which resemble rods, iii. 153. + + Metiochus, his misuse of power, v. 127. + + Metius Fufetius, king of Alba, torn in pieces, v. 455. + + Metrocles, i. 144. + + Metrodorus, ii. 158, 160, 161, 167, 169, 175, 180, 183, 496; + his philosophical opinions, iii. 115, 127, 132, 149, 150, 151, 153, + 154, 155, 157, 158; v. 378, 383, 384. + + Micca and Megisto, and other women of Elis, i. 357-363. + + Midas, i. 326; v. 454. + + Miletus, maidens of, i. 354. + + Mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind fine, iv. 143. + + Miltiades, v. 407-411. + + Mimnermus, quoted, iii. 475. + + Mind, tranquillity of the, i. 136-167. + + Minerva, admonished by a satyr, i. 41; iii. 195; + temple of, v. 461. + + Mirrors, causes and reasons of, iii. 169; v. 236 _et seq._ + + Mithridates, i. 204; ii. 121; + story of, iii. 219. + + Mixture of the elements, iii. 126. + + Mnemosyne, the mother of the Muses, i. 22. + + Mnesarete, statue of, iii. 83. + + Mnesiphilus, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41. + + Mnesitheus, the physician, iii. 511. + + Monarchy, Democracy, and Oligarchy, v. 395-398. + + Money upon usury, v. 412-424. + + Monstrous births, of, iii. 179. + + Moon: essence of the, iii. 145; + magnitude of the, 145; + figure of the, 145; + whence her light, 145; + eclipses of the, 146; + phases of the, 147; + distance from the sun, 147; + of the face appearing within the orb of the moon, v. 234-292; + its distance from the earth, 246; + its nature, 253-260; + its size, 261; + why called Glaucopis, 267; + is it inhabited, 274, 275. + + Moot point in Homer’s Iliad, iii. 446. + + Moral virtue, essay on, iii. 461-494. + + Moschio, dialogue on health, i. 251, 252. + + Motherland a Cretan expression, v. 85. + + Motion, of, iii. 128. + + Mount Athos’ shade, v. 270. + + Mule and the salt, v. 184. + + Mule, superannuated, v. 182. + + Mules, barrenness of, iii. 182. + + Mullet, of the, v. 213. + + Muses, number of the, iii. 450. + + Mushrooms produced by thunder, iii. 295-300. + + Music, treatise concerning, i. 102-135; + pleasures from bad, iii. 376; + for entertainments, 389. + + Musonius, his rule of health, i. 35. + + Must, sweet, iii. 511. + + Mycenae, mount, v. 501. + + + N. + + Namertes, apothegm of, i. 427. + + Names of rivers and mountains, and of such things as are to be found + therein, and the fables connected therewith, v. 477-509. + + Nasica, his saying, i. 285. + + Natural affection towards one’s offspring, iv. 189-197. + + Natural philosophy, iii. 105. + + Natural Questions, Plutarch’s, iii. 495-518. + + Nature, of, iii. 131; + what is, 105; + things that are least in, 125; + animated, v. 160. + + Necessity, of, iii. 129; + nature of, 129; + defined, v. 299. + + Nephalia and Melisponda, i. 59. + + Neptune, ii. 38, 39, 41. + + Nero, i. 53; iv. 228, 229; + anecdote of, v. 123. + + New diseases and how caused, iii. 426. + + New-married couple, advice to, ii. 486-507. + + New wine, of, iii. 279. + + Nicander, apothegm of, i. 427, 441. + + Nicias Maleotes, quoted, v. 459. + + Nicias, the Athenian general, superstition of, i. 177; v. 107. + + Nicias, the painter, anecdote of, ii. 173; v. 71. + + Nicostratus and Archidamus, i. 74; + apothegm of, 221. + + Niger, anecdote of, i. 267. + + Nightingale, of the, v. 189. + + Nile, the river, v. 495; + overflow of the, iii. 160; + water of the, 415. + + Niloxenus, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41. + + Niobe, i. 328. + + Noises in the night and day, iii. 406. + + Numa, of the reign of, iv. 208-210. + + + O. + + Oenopides, his discovery of the obliquity of the Zodiac, iii. 138. + + Ogygia, an island west from Britain and its neighbor islands, + described, v. 281-283. + + Oil, top of the, iii. 370; + on the sea, 503; + is transparent, v. 318; + does not easily freeze, 319. + + Old age, health, and sickness, iii. 192. + + Old men, love pure wine, iii. 221; + read best at a distance, 222-224; + easily foxed, 268-270; + in state affairs, v. 64-96. + + Oligarchy, Monarchy, and Democracy, v. 395-398. + + Olympias, anecdotes of, ii. 494, 495. + + Olympus, a Phrygian player, i. 107, 108, 110, 112, 115, 116, 123. + + Omens and dreams, ii. 401, 402. + + Onesicrates, banquet of, i. 103, 133. + + Onomademus, wisdom of, i. 295; v. 129. + + Opinions of philosophers, iii. 104-193. + + Optatus, v. 171. + + Oracle in Cilicia, iv. 55. + + Oracles of Delphi, iii. 73. + + Oracles, why they cease to give answers, iv. 3-64. + + Orestes slays his mother, v. 474. + + Origin of things, opinions concerning the, iii. 107-113. + + Orontes, his saying, i. 188. + + Orpheus never imitated any one, i. 107. + + Orphic Fragments, iv. 59, 404. + + Oryx, fables of the, v. 193. + + Osiris, iv. 75-135; + story about his birth, 74; + great actions of, 75; + his death, 76; + his body torn in pieces by Typhon, 80; + is identical with Serapis and Bacchus, 89; + with the bull Apis, 90; + sacred vestments of, 135. + + Othryadas, iv. 338. + + Otus, the bird, v. 163. + + Oxen, teaching of, v. 193. + + + P. + + Paeans, makers of, i. 110. + + Paedaretus, apothegm of, i. 429. + + Painter, neat saying of a, ii. 378. + + Painting is silent poetry, v. 402. + + Palladium in Ilium and in Rome, v. 461. + + Palm tree, of the, iii. 514. + + Panaetius, sayings of, i. 57. + + Pancrates, i. 117. + + Pandora’s box, i. 306. + + Pangaeus, mount, v. 480. + + Panthoidas, apothegm of, i. 427. + + Papirius Tolucer, v. 468. + + Parallels, or a comparison between the actions of Greeks and Romans, + v. 450-476. + + Parmenides, v. 357; + his philosophical opinions: of generation and corruption, iii. 128; + of necessity, 129; + of the world, 135; + of the moon, 145; + of the galaxy, 149; + of the earth, 155; + of earthquakes, 157; + of the soul, 163; + defended from the misrepresentations of the Epicureans, v. 352-354; + quoted, 357, 359, 381. + + Partridge, cunning of the, v. 185. + + Parysatis, her saying, i. 188. + + Passions of the body, iii. 175. + + Passions of the soul, or diseases of the body: which are worse, iv. + 504, 508. + + Paulus Aemilius, apothegm of, i. 232. + + Pausanias, the Spartan traitor, v. 457. + + Pausanius, i. 305; + apothegm of, 428. + + Pauson the painter, iii. 73. + + Pederasty, or the love of boys, iv. 259; + defended, 259, 260; + instances of its power, 284-286; + severely condemned, 304; + the connection is uncertain and short-lived, 307; + it ceases on the sprouting of the beard, 307. + + Pelopidas, his saying, i. 225. + + Pelops and his two sons, v. 470, 471. + + Pemptides, iv. 272, 275, 279. + + Pergamus, woman of, i. 374. + + Periander, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; + tyrant of Corinth sends three hundred boys to be castrated, iv. 341; + the crime prevented, 342. + + Pericles, anecdotes of, i. 15, 18, 66, 211, 332; ii. 309, 315; v. 67, + 102; + his absolute sway over the Athenians, 106; + his soliloquy when about to address the people, 130, 131, 410, 413. + + Periclitus, a Lesbian harper, i. 108. + + Persaeus, anecdote of, i. 70. + + Perseus, king of Macedonia, his sorrow on losing his kingdom, i. 160. + + Persian Magi, killers of mice, ii. 96. + + Persian women, virtue of the, i. 347. + + Persians had a monarchy, v. 397. + + Pestilence, relief from, a virgin sacrificed for, v. 472. + + Petron, doctrine of, iv. 30. + + Phaedimus, v. 171, 194. + + Phaeton, i. 141. + + Phalaris, brazen cow of, v. 474. + + Pharnaces, of the moon, v. 265. + + Phasis, a river of Thrace, v. 482. + + Phayllus, iv. 282. + + Phemius, the poet, i. 105. + + Pherecrates, fragment of, i. 124. + + Phidias, statue of Venus, ii. 498; iv. 133. + + Philammon, verses in honor of Latona, Diana, and Apollo, i. 105. + + Philemon and Magas, i. 45. + + Philinus, iii. 69, 70. + + Philip of Macedonia, examples from, i. 44, 45; + sayings of, 194-198, 305; + anecdotes of, ii. 141, 146, 147, 494; iii. 22; v. 115. + + Philippides the comedian, ii. 430. + + Philippus, his demonstration of the figure of the moon, ii. 173. + + Philolaus, his philosophical opinions: of the nutriment of the world, + iii. 134; + of the essence of the sun, 142; + of the position of the earth, 155; + of the motion of the earth, 156. + + Philosophers ought chiefly to converse with great men, ii. 368-377. + + Philosophers, their various opinions. Of those sentiments concerning + nature with which philosophers were delighted, iii. 104-193. + + Philosophical discourses at merry meetings, iii. 198-203. + + Philosophy, threefold division of, iii. 104. + + Philotas and Antigona, i. 504. + + Philotas, son of Parmenio, i. 504. + + Philotimus, the physician, i. 452; ii. 153. + + Philoxenus, i. 125; + sayings of, ii. 42; iii. 3; iv. 289; v. 423. + + Phocian women, virtue of the, i. 343, 355. + + Phocion, his saying on the death of Alexander, i. 49; + his sayings, 70; + wife of, 102, 216; ii. 135, 298, 311, 321, 328; v. 83, 109, 118; + his magnanimity, 122; + his reply to Demades, 125, 142, 149. + + Phocus, a story of love respecting him, iv. 319. + + Phocylides the poet, quoted, i. 9, 462. + + Phoebidas, apothegm of, i. 431. + + Phoenix, tutor to Achilles, i. 9; ii. 150. + + Phrygian mood of music, i. 109. + + Phryne, the statue of, iii. 83. + + Phrynis, the musician, ii. 470. + + Pieria and other women of Myus, i. 363, 364. + + Pierus, the first that wrote in praise of the Muses, i. 105. + + Pindar and Euthynous, i. 314. + + Pindar, his sayings, i. 77, 114; + quoted, 143, 173, 174, 286, 293, 303, 304, 310, 313, 328; + his description of the state of the blessed, 336; + quoted, ii. 57, 143, 177, 193, 306; + quoted, iii. 9, 23, 74, 93, 95, 96, 194, 207, 218, 377, 455, 458, + 491, 516; + quoted, iv. 10, 15, 96, 138, 145, 150, 163, 260, 289, 405; + quoted, v. 64, 111, 117, 148, 194, 197, 202, 214, 316, 331, 404; + anecdote of, 404, 440. + + Pine, sacred to Neptune and Bacchus, iii. 318. + + Pine trees, of, iii. 250. + + Pinoteras, the fish, v. 205. + + Pisias, of love, iv. 270 _et seq._ + + Pisistratus, i. 216; + anecdote of, iii. 41, 200. + + Pittacus, sayings of, i. 31, 151; + his reply to Myrsilus, ii. 5; + at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 3-41; iii. 50; iv. 231; + v. 145. + + Pitwater, of, iii. 514. + + Place at table called Consular, iii. 210-212. + + Place, of, iii. 127. + + Plague in Falerie and in Lacedaemon, v. 472. + + Plain of truth, iv. 29. + + Planetiades, iv. 9, 11. + + Plants, grow how, iii. 190; + nourishment and growth of, 191. + + Plato, quoted, i. 9, 19, 24, 26; + saying of, 27; + quoted, 41, 57, 71, 74, 79; + on harmony, 115, 118; + quoted, 141, 173, 256, 264, 279, 287; + laws, 292; + quoted, 297, 311, 314, 321, 337, 339, 456; + quoted, ii. 49, 92, 100, 104, 106; + at the court of Dionysius, 108, 141, 109, 146; + and Socrates, 148, 150, 168, 174, 326; + concerning the soul, 328 _et seq._, 334; + quoted, 344, 352, 353, 355, 356, 359, 364, 455, 456, 457, 492, 496, + 504; + quoted, iii. 19, 81; + his philosophical opinions: of the universe, 112, 114, 115; + of the understanding, 116; + what is God, 119; + of God, 121; + of matter and ideas, 123; + of causes and of bodies, 124; + of colors, 125; + of bodies, 126; + of place and time, 127, 128; + of motion, 128; + of necessity, 129; + of fate, 130; + of fortune, 131; + of the world, 134, 135, 137; + of the stars, 137-141; + of the sun, 142, 143; + of the moon, 145, 146; + of the rainbow, 152; + of earthquakes, 158; + of the sea, 159; + of the soul, 161-165; + of sight, 168; + of hearing, 170; + of the voice, 171; + of the echo, 172; + of divination, 176; + of generative seed, 177; + of the embryo, 183; + of reason in animals, 187; + of sleep, 189; + that plants are animals, 190; + quoted, 200, 201, 213, 221, 223, 243, 365, 368-370, 401, 462, 464, + 499; iv. 18, 28, 30, 41, 45; + his opinion about daemons, 86, 87, 109, 115-117, 119, 146, 254, 261, + 292, 305; + quoted, v. 10, 82, 103, 116, 120, 172, 257, 276, 288, 293, 295, 297, + 302, 305, 306, 338, 355, 364, 377, 381, 412, 425-433, 435, 440, + 441, 444. + + Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus, ii. 157-203. + + Pleasures from bad music, iii. 376. + + Plistoanax, apothegm of, i. 430. + + Plurality of worlds, iv. 29-39. + + Plutarch, his rules for the preservation of health, i. 251-279; + his Symposiacs, iii. 197-460; + his natural questions, 495-518; + on the immortality of the soul, iii. 164, iv. 169; v. 393; + consolatory letter to his wife, 386-394; + his Platonic questions, 425-449; + his spurious remains, 450-509. + + Poet, love makes a man a, iii. 217-219. + + Poetry, essay on. How a young man ought to hear poems, ii. 42-94. + + Polemon, his kind reply, i. 55. + + Policy or government defined, v. 396. + + Political precepts, v. 97-156. + + Poltys, saying of, i. 189. + + Polus the tragedian, v. 69. + + Polybus, of seven-months’ infants, iii. 185. + + Polycephalus, the nome, i. 108. + + Polycratidas, apothegm of, i. 431. + + Polycrita, a woman of Naxos, i. 364, 366. + + Polydorus, apothegm of, i. 430. + + Polyhistor, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 476. + + Polymnestus, his improvements in music, i. 107, 110, 112, 123. + + Polypus, why it changes color, iii. 506; + many-colored, v. 202. + + Polysperchon’s treachery, i. 64, 71. + + Pompey, his great actions and sayings, i. 241 _et seq._, 290; + statues of, 293, v. 70, 102, 112, 114; + owed his success to Sylla, 115. + + Porsena of Clusium, war with the Romans, v. 451, 456. + + Porus, an Indian king, i. 202. + + Posidonius, his opinion of fate, iii. 130; + of a vacuum, 137; + of eclipses, v. 262. + + Possible and contingent defined, v. 299. + + Postumia, chastity of, i. 290. + + Power, necessity, &c., defined, v. 300. + + Praise, inordinate, a sign of a flatterer, ii, 116, 117, 120; + young people are often spoiled by it, 123. + + Preservation of health, rules for, i. 251-279. + + Priam and Polydore, v. 465. + + Price of peace, women given as the, v. 468. + + Priest of Hercules, iii. 90. + + Principle and element, difference between, iii. 106. + + Principle of cold, v. 309-330. + + Principles, what they are, iii. 106. + + Prize for poets at the games, iii. 316. + + Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, puts Timarchus to death, iii. 89; + his own unhappy end, _ib._ + + Procreation of the soul as discussed in the Timaeus of Plato, ii. + 326-367. + + Progress in virtue, how it may be ascertained, ii. 446-474. + + Prometheus, anecdote of, i. 289. + + Proserpine, the same as Isis, iv. 88; + and Cora, v. 285, 286. + + Prosodia, songs called, i. 106. + + Protagoras quoted, i. 332. + + Protogenes, iv. 257, 258, 260-265. + + Providence, of God, iv. 140-188; v. 305; + of the inferior gods, 306; + of the daemons, 307, 308. + + Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, i. 25. + + Ptolemaeus Soter, iv. 88. + + Ptolemy Lagus, anecdote of, i. 45; + his saying, 202; ii. 177. + + Publius Decius, his dream, v. 462. + + Publius Nigidius, v. 96. + + Punishment of the wicked, why so long delayed, iv. 140-188. + + Pupius Piso, the rhetorician, iv. 245. + + Purple shell fish, v. 205. + + Pylades and Orestes, their friendship, i. 465. + + Pyraechmes’s horses, v. 455. + + Pyrander, his Fourth Book of Peloponnesian Histories, v. 474. + + Pyrandrus, the commissary, v. 469. + + Pyrrhon, the Stoic philosopher, anecdote of, ii. 467. + + Pyrrhus the Epirot, his saying, i. 207. + + Pythagoras, his aphorisms, i. 28, 29; + of music, 130; + quoted, 175; + aphorism, 179, 294; + symbols of, 454, 471; + his unseasonable reproof, ii. 148; + his joy on discovering the relation to each other of the three + sides of a right-angled triangle, 174; + his philosophical opinions: of the principles of things, iii. 109; + of the unity of God, 121; + of geniuses and heroes, 122; + of matter, 123; + of causes, 124; + of bodies, 126; + of time, 127; + of motion, 128; + of generation and corruption, 129; + of the world, 132-137; + of the zodiac, 138; + of the summer and winter solstice, 143; + of the moon, 145; + of the zones, 156; + of the soul, 161-164; + of the voice, 172; + of divination, 176; + of generative seed, 177; + of reason in animals, 187; + precepts of, derived his philosophy from Egyptian priests, iv. 72. + + Pythagorean philosophy of dreams, daemons, ii. 412, 413. + + Pythagoreans, precept of, iii. 22; + why they do not eat fish, 422-426. + + Pytheas, his saying, i. 213; iii. 159; + apothegm of, v. 107, 110. + + Pythes, the Lydian, i. 382. + + Pythian games, iii. 316. + + Pythian priestess, iv. 8, 9, 62, 63; + why she now ceases to deliver her oracles in verse, iii. 69-103. + + Pythocles, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 460; + Third Book of the Georgics, 476. + + Pythoclides the flute player, i. 114. + + Python of Aenos, ii. 314. + + + Q. + + Quarry of Carystus, iv. 54. + + Questions or Causes, Second Book of, v. 475. + + + R. + + Raillery, of, iii. 229-240. + + Rainbow, of the, iii. 151. + + Rain, snow, and hail, of, iii. 151. + + Rational faculty, of the, v. 441. + + Reason, beasts make use of, v. 218-233. + + Reason, habit of our, iii. 166. + + Remarkable speeches of some obscure men amongst the Spartans, + i. 432-440. + + Remora or Echeneis, iii. 252. + + Reproof, how to be administered, ii. 138-156. + + Respiration or breathing, iii, 173. + + Rhesus and Similius, v. 466. + + Rhodope and Haemus, mountains, v. 491. + + Riddles and their solutions, ii. 19, 20. + + Roman questions, ii. 204-264. + + Roman senator and his wife, iv. 233-235. + + Romans, fortune of the, iv. 198-219. + + Rome, saved by the cackling of geese, iv. 217; + favored by fortune, 219. + + Romulus, his birth and education, iv. 206-208; + murdered in the senate, v. 470; + and Remus, suckled by a she-wolf, 473. + + Rules for the preservation of health, i. 251-279. + + Rutilius the usurer, v. 419. + + + S. + + Sabinus of Galatia, iv. 308. + + Sacadas, a flute player, i. 109, 110, 112. + + Sacred games, garlands of, iii. 411. + + Sacrificed beasts, iii. 361. + + Sagaris, a river in Phrygia, v. 492. + + Salmantica, women of, i. 352. + + Salt and cummin, why does Homer call it divine, iii. 336. + + Salt given to cattle, iii. 497; + not found in fruit, 498. + + Sappho, i. 42, 114; ii. 506; + quoted, iii. 95, 263; + quoted, iv. 260. + + Sappho’s measures, grace in, iii. 74. + + Sardanapalus, his luxury and lust, i. 497. + + Sardians and Smyrnaeans, v. 468. + + Saturn and his four children, v. 456, 457. + + Satyrus the orator, i. 47. + + Scamander, a river in Troas, v. 493. + + Scaurus, his magnanimity, i. 295. + + Scilurus, anecdote of, iv. 244. + + Scipio the Elder, apothegm of, i. 229; ii. 475; iv. 201; v. 96, 112, + 114, 136. + + Scipio the Younger, his sayings and great actions, i. 235-239. + + Scopas, saying of, ii. 303. + + Scythinus, verses of, iii. 86. + + Sea calves, of, v. 210. + + Sea, of the, iii. 158; + ebbing and flowing of the, 159; + food of the, 302-306; + made hot by wind, 501. + + Sea-sickness, iii. 502. + + Sea water nourishes not trees, iii. 495; + upon wine, 502; + oil on the, 503. + + Seed, nature of generative, iii. 177; + that fall on the oxen’s horns, 368; + watering of, 496; + watered by thunder showers, 498. + + Seleucus the mathematician, iii. 159. + + Seleucus Callinicus, anecdote of, iv. 237. + + Self-praise. How a man may inoffensively praise himself without being + liable to envy, ii. 306-325. + + Semiramis, her saying, i. 187, 497; iv. 85. + + Seneca, anecdote of, i. 53. + + Senses, of the, iii. 164; + represent what is true, 165; + number of the, 165; + actions of the, 166. + + Sentiments concerning Nature with which Philosophers were delighted, + iii. 104-193. + + Serapio, iii. 74, 79, 81, 82. + + Serapis is Pluto, iv. 88, 89. + + Serpent and the Aetolian woman, v. 188. + + Seven months’ infants, of, iii. 184. + + Seven Wise Men, Banquet of the, ii. 3-41. + + Servius Tullius, his birth, elevation, and prosperous reign, iv. 212, + 213. + + Shadows, guests called, iii. 381. + + Sheep bitten by wolves, iii. 254. + + She-wolves, of, iii. 517. + + Ships in winter, sailing of, iii. 500. + + Shoe pinches, where the, ii. 494. + + Sibyl with her frantic grimaces, iii. 74. + + Sight, of our, iii. 168. + + Silence commended, iv. 230, 243. + + Simonides, quoted, i. 149, 257, 295, 305, 309, 318; + quoted, ii. 44, 101, 136, 436, 457, 471; + quoted, iii. 22, 87, 259, 409, 451, 459, 473; + quoted, iv. 158; + saying of, v. 66, 68, 71, 121. + + Sipylus, mount, v. 489. + + Siramnes, saying of, i. 185. + + Sleep or death, causes of, iii. 188; + whether it appertains to the soul or body, 189. + + Smelling, of, iii. 170. + + Smyrna and Cinyras, v. 464. + + Snow, preservation of, iii. 350. + + Soclarus, iv. 292; v. 156, 158, 160, 166, 169, 170, 171, 216. + + Socrates, anecdotes of, i. 11, 13, 23, 26, 38, 53, 141, 150, 162; + rules of health, 255; + quoted, 307, 310, 312, 337; ii. 46, 148, 150, 338, 441; + his Daemon, 378-423, 441, 495; iii. 4, 19, 35, 112, 121, 123, + iv. 249; v. 93, 359, 361, 362-364, 377, 381. + + Socrates, his Second Book of Thracian History, v. 462. + + Soil, deep, for wheat, iii. 504; + lean soil for barley, 504. + + Solon and Croesus, anecdote of, ii. 122. + + Solon, quoted, i. 155, 297; + at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; + quoted, 297, 454, 487; + quoted, iii. 50; iv. 72; + quoted, 260; + anecdote of, 304; v. 89, 113, 117, 118, 131. + + Sophocles, quoted, i. 46, 57, 244, 288; + Thamyras, 39; + Frag., 58, 63; + Tyre, 206, 467; + Antig., 51, 462; + Oed. Tyr., 179, 470; + quoted, ii. 45, 57, 61, 72; + criticisms on, 72; + Frag., 173, 241, 244, 298, 431, 452, 456, 470, 495; + Oed. Tyr., 60, 172, 442, 476, 495; + Antig., 110; + Trachin., 311; + Electra, 440; + quoted, iii. 97, 210, 222; + Frag., 7; + Antig. 45; + Oed. Tyr., 235, 474; + Oed. Col., 232; + Electra, 437; + quoted, iv. 87, 246, 287, 304; + Oed. Tyr., 197, 202; + Trachin., 281; + Antig., 239, 283, 404; + Frag., 221, 226, 274, 284, 301; + quoted, v. 69, 76, 158, 216; + Oed. Col., 68; + Frag., 75, 84; + anecdote of, 68. + + Sostratus, his Second Book of Tuscan History, v. 468. + + Sotades, jest of, i. 25. + + Soterichus, the musician, i. 103, 112. + + Soul of Ajax, her place in hell, iii. 442. + + Soul or body, death appertains to, iii. 189. + + Soul, procreation of the, ii. 326-367; + its nature and essence, iii. 161, 163; + parts of the, 162; + in what part of the body it resides, 163; + motion of the, 163; + immortality of the, 164; + principal part of the, 173; + three sorts of motion in the, v. 371; + state of, after death, 393, 394; + ancienter than the body, 432. + + Souls dispersed into the earth, moon, &c., v. 438. + + Sounds in the night and day, iii. 406. + + Sows, tame and wild, iii. 508. + + Space, of, iii. 127. + + Sparta had an oligarchy, v. 397. + + Speech composed of nouns and verbs, v. 444. + + Speech of a statesman, what it should be, v. 107. + + Sperm, whether it be a body, iii. 177. + + Spermatic emission of women, iii. 177. + + Sphodrias, v. 118. + + Spiders, labor of the, v. 174. + + Sponge, of the, v. 205. + + Spurious remains of Plutarch, v. 450-509. + + Star-fish, subtlety of the, v. 201. + + Stark drunk, those that are, iii. 281. + + Stars, essence of the, iii. 138; + what figure they are, 139; + order and place of, 139; + motion and circulation of, 140; + whence do they receive their light, 140; + which are called the Dioscuri, the twins, or Castor and Pollux, 141; + how they prognosticate, 141; + number of the, whether odd or even, 446. + + Stasicrates proposes to turn Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, + i. 495. + + Stesichorus, i. 109, 112; iv. 497. + + Steward of a feast, iii. 212-216. + + Stilpo, the philosopher, i. 13, 76, 144, 161; + anecdote of, ii. 468; + defended, v. 365-367. + + Stoics speak greater improbabilities than the poets, iii. 194-196; + their opinions concerning daemons, iv. 24; + common conceptions against the, 372-427; + contradictions of the, 428-477. + + Strabo, quoted, i. 27. + + Strato, i. 155; iii. 163; v. 161. + + Stratonica of Galatia, i. 373. + + Stratonicus, anecdote of, ii. 298; iii. 21. + + Strymon, a river in Thrace, v. 491. + + Summer and winter, cause of, iii. 141. + + Summer and winter solstice, iii. 143. + + Sun, essence of the, iii. 141; + magnitude of the, 142; + figure or shape of the, 143; + turning and returning of the, 143; + eclipses of the, 144. + + Superstition of the Gauls, Scythians, and Carthaginians, i. 182, 183. + + Superstition, or indiscreet devotion, i. 168-184; + folly of, ii. 387. + + Supper, many guests at, iii. 323. + + Supper-room, why too narrow at first for guests, iii. 326. + + Suppers of the ancients, iii. 255-259. + + Swallows in the house, iii. 419; + intelligence of the, v. 174. + + Sylla, i. 32-35; + anecdote of, v. 72, 115, 135. + + Symposiacs, or table discourses, iii. 197-460. + + Synorix and Camma, iv. 302. + + + T. + + Table, dignity of places at, iii. 210-212. + + Tables and lamps of the ancients, iii. 372. + + Talkativeness, or garrulity, iv. 220-253. + + Talk, deliberate or tumultuous, iii. 395. + + Tanais, a river in Scythia, v. 494. + + Tarpeia, a virgin, the story of, v. 460. + + Taste, of, iii. 170. + + Taxiles of India, i. 201. + + Taygetus, mount, v. 498. + + Tears of the hart, iii. 507. + + Tears of wild boars, iii. 507. + + Telamon and Periboea, v. 467. + + Telamon and Phocus, v. 466. + + Telecrus, apothegm of, i. 431. + + Telegonus, son of Ulysses, v. 476. + + Telephanes of Megara, i. 117. + + Telephus, i. 289. + + Telesias the Theban, an eminent flute-player, i. 125. + + Telesphorus, in an iron cage, iii. 31. + + Temple of Apollo, iv. 478-498. + + Teres, his saying, i. 189. + + Teribazus, anecdote of, i. 176. + + Terpander, the musician, fined by the Ephori, and why? i. 91, 92; + an inventor of ancient music, 102, 105, 109; + an excellent composer to the harp, 106, 112; + added the octave to the heptachord, 102, 122. + + Teuthras, mount, v. 504. + + Thales, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; + first of philosophers; the Ionic sect took its denomination from + him, iii. 107; + his philosophical opinions; difference between a principle and an + element, 106; + that the intelligence of the world was God, 121; + of geniuses and heroes, 122; + of division of bodies, 126; + of necessity, 129; + of the division of heaven, 137; + of the eclipses of the sun, 144; + that the moon borrows her light from the sun, 146; + that the earth is globular, and the centre of the universe, 155; + of earthquakes, 157; + of the overflow of the Nile, 160; + of the soul, 161; iv. 337, 480. + + Thaletas, a composer, i. 110, 112; + power of his music, 133. + + Thamyras, the singer, i. 105. + + Theanor, ii. 395, 396. + + Thebes, liberation of, ii. 414-423. + + Thectamenes, apothegm of, i. 411. + + Themisteas, apothegm of, i. 410. + + Themistocles, quoted, i. 73; + his saying, 208; + suspected of treason, 290, 296, 480; + quoted, ii. 97, 311, 471; + his kind reception by the Persian king, iii. 21, 30; iv. 208, 361, + 365; v. 101, 116, 120, 121, 127. + + Theo, iii. 70, 71, 74, 88. + + Theocritus, his remark and death, i. 25, 73; ii. 380; iii. 516. + + Theodorus, saying of, i. 142; ii. 321, 349; iii. 31; + his Book of Transformations, v. 464. + + Theognis, i. 473; ii. 59; iii. 506. + + Theon, ii. 157 _et seq._; v. 273-275. + + Theophilus, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 459; + Second Book of Peloponnesian Histories, 470. + + Theophrastus, sayings of, i. 276, 304, 442; ii. 303; iii. 45, 64, + 218, 219, 334; v. 202, 427. + + Theopompus, his sayings, i. 217, 410; v. 137. + + Theotimus, his Italian History, v. 456. + + Theramenes, anecdote + of, i. 306. + + Thermodon, a river in Scythia, v. 495. + + Thero, anecdote of, iv. 286. + + Theseus and his son Hippolytus, v. 471. + + Thespesius, iv. 177, 182 _et seq._, 188. + + Thirst, cause of, iii. 341. + + Thorycion, apothegm of, i. 411. + + Thrasonides quoted, ii. 297. + + Thucydides, quoted, i. 70, 76, 472, 490; + quoted, ii. 98, 117, 149, 152, 458; + quoted, iii. 88; + quoted, iv. 141; + quoted, v. 65, 106, 403. + + Thunder, of, iii. 150. + + Thymbris, and his son Rustius, v. 466. + + Tides, of, iii. 159. + + Tigris, the river, v. 507. + + Timaeus, his opinion of tides, iii. 159. + + Timesias, the oracle and, i. 471; + anecdote of, v. 127. + + Time, essence and nature of, iii. 127, 128. + + Timoclea, at the taking of Thebes, i. 376. + + Timoleon, ii. 314. + + Timotheus, the musician, anecdote of, i. 92, 106, 112; ii. 83, 306; + v. 76. + + Titus Quinctius, apothegm of, i. 230. + + Tmolus, mount, v. 486. + + Torpedo, or crampfish, v. 201. + + Torquatus and Clusia, v. 459. + + Tortoise, their care for their young, v. 209. + + Training of children, i. 3-32. + + Tranquillity of the mind, the, i. 136-167. + + Transmutation of bodies, v. 14. + + Trees and seeds, watering of, iii. 496. + + Trees not nourished by sea-water, iii. 495. + + Triangles, of, v. 433. + + Trisimachus, his book of Foundations of Cities, v. 455. + + Trochilus and crocodile, v. 206. + + Troilus wept less than Priam, i. 323. + + Trojan women, virtue of the, i. 342. + + Trophonius and Agamedes, i. 313. + + True friendship, of, i. 464-474; ii. 100-134. + + True happiness, of, v. 392. + + Tullus Hostilius, v. 455. + + Tunnies, dim sight of the, v. 204. + + Typhon, in Egyptian mythology, iv. 80, 81, 86, 88, 91, 92, + 99, 101, 105, 110, 114, 118, 122. + + Tyrrhene women, virtue of the, i. 349. + + + U. + + Ulysses, i. 160; + in the island of Circe, v. 218 _et seq._ + + Unity of God. Of the word εἰ engraven over the gate of the temple of + Apollo at Delphi, iv. 478-498. + + + + + Universe, whether it is one, iii. 114; + division of the, v. 429. + + Unlearned Prince, Discourse to an, iv. 323-330. + + Usurers, what sort of men they are, 417. + + Usury, evils of, v. 412-424. + + + V. + + Vacuum, of a, iii. 126; + there can be none in nature, iv. 33; + suppose there were, it would have no beginning, middle, or end, 34. + + Valeria and Cloelia, i. 356. + + Valeria Tusculanaria, v. 464. + + Valerius Conatus swallowed up alive, v. 455. + + Venus’s hands wounded by Diomedes, iii. 441. + + Verses seasonably and unseasonably applied, iii. 436. + + Vice and virtue, ii. 482-485. + + Vice, whether it is sufficient to render a man unhappy, iv. 499-503. + + Vines irrigated with wine, iii. 513; + rank of leaves, iii. 513. + + Virtue and vice, ii. 482-485. + + Virtue may be taught, i. 78-81. + + Virtue or fortune, to which of these was due the greatness and glory + of Rome? iv. 198-219. + + Virtue, progress in, ii. 446-474. + + Virtues of women, i. 340-384. + + Vision, doctrine of, iii. 168; v. 236 _et seq._ + + Voice is incorporeal, iii. 172. + + Voice, of the, iii. 171. + + Vowels and semi-vowels, iii. 438. + + + W. + + Water made colder by stones and lead, iii. 348. + + Water or fire, which is more useful? v. 331-337. + + Water, white and black, iii. 518. + + Wealth, the love of, ii. 294-305. + + Well water, change of the temperature in, iii. 347. + + West wind the swiftest, iii, 515. + + Whale, of the, v. 207. + + Wheat, sow, in clay, iii. 505. + + Whether an aged man ought to meddle in state affairs, v. 64-96. + + Whether the passions of the soul, or diseases of the body, are + worse, iv. 504-508. + + Whether ’twere rightly said, “Live concealed,” iii. 3-10. + + Whether vice is sufficient to render a man unhappy, iv. 499-503. + + Whirlwinds, of, iii. 150. + + Why the oracles cease to give answers, iv. 3-64. + + Wicked, delay of Providence in punishing the, iv. 140-188. + + Widows in India, iv. 502. + + Wild beasts, steps of, iii. 509; + their tracks, 509. + + Wild boars, tears of the, iii. 507. + + Winds, of, iii. 154. + + Wine, whether it is potentially cold, iii. 272-274; + straining of, 351; + middle of, 370; + sea water upon, 502; + irrigation with, 513. + + Winter and summer, cause of, iii. 141, 154. + + Winter, ships in, iii. 500; + sea least hot in, 501. + + Wise Men, the Seven, Banquet of, ii. 3-41; + their names, iv. 480. + + Woman, of Pergamus, i. 374. + + Woman of Thessaly torn in pieces by dogs, v. 463. + + Women, the virtues of, i. 340-384; + barrenness in, iii. 181; + are hardly foxed, 268-270; + temper of, 270-272; + given as the price of peace, v. 468. + + Word ει at Apollo’s temple at Delphi. iv. 478-498. + + World, how it was brought into its present order, iii. 113. + + World, of the, iii. 132; + figure of the, 133; + whether it be an animal, 133; + whether it is eternal and incorruptible, 133; + its nutriment, 134; + from what element was it raised, 134; + in what form and order was it composed, 135; + cause of its inclination, 136; + thing which is beyond the, 136; + what parts on the right and left hand, 137. + + Worlds, plurality of, iv. 29-38. + + Wrestling, of, iii. 246. + + + X. + + Xanthippe, wife of Socrates, anecdotes of, i. 53, 292. + + Xenaenetus, v. 109. + + Xenocrates, anecdote of; i. 71, 442; + his opinions concerning the soul, ii. 327, 439; + of triangles, iii. 24, 139, 494; + his opinion about daemons, iv. 17, 87; + saying of, v. 10, 494. + + Xenocritus, a composer, i. 110, 380. + + Xenodamus, a composer, i. 110. + + Xenophanes, his reply, i. 65, 183; + his philosophical opinions, iii. 134, 138, 141, 144, 145, 150, 155; + quoted, ii. 49; iv. 291. + + Xenophon, quoted, i. 137; + maxim of, 281, 333, 447; ii. 115, 144, 178, 307; + the scene of his old age, iii. 24; v. 67, 72, 121, 139. + + Xerxes, his saying, i. 39, 187; + and Arimanes, iii. 59, 60; + invasion of Greece, v. 451, 452. + + + Y. + + Year, length of, in different planets, iii. 147. + + + Z. + + Zaleucus, laws of, ii. 315. + + Zaratas, ii. 327. + + Zeno, saying of, i. 56; + anecdotes of, 72, 142, 283; ii. 321, 365, 455; + quoted, 467, 481; iii. 25, 113, 125, 128; + his definition of virtue, 462; + anecdote of, iv. 225; v. 382. + + Zenocrates, v. 288, 377, 441. + + Zeuxidamus, apothegm of, i. 410. + + Zeuxippus, dialogue on health, i. 251-279; ii. 157 _et seq._; + iv. 270, 278, 288. + + Zeuxis, reply of, i. 468. + + Zopyrus Byzantius, his Third Book of Histories, v. 473. + + Zoroaster, ii. 357; iv. 106. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78134 *** |