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+ font-size: large; +} + +@media screen +{ + #half-title + { +margin: 6em 0; + } +} + +@media print +{ + #half-title + { +page-break-before: always; +page-break-after: always; + } +} + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78134 ***</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="vol1" style="max-width: 87.1875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/vol1.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption">Pandora’s Box.<br> + +<i>From the painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.</i></figcaption> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<h1>Plutarch’s Essays +And Miscellanies</h1> + +<h2>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</h2> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp76" id="f001" style="max-width: 12.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/f001.jpg" alt="HONOS ET VIRTUS"> +</figure> + +<p class="center">BOSTON · LITTLE, BROWN +AND COMPANY · MCMXI +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p class="center padt2 padb2">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870,<br> +By <span class="smcap">Little, Brown, and Company</span>,<br> +In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.</p> + +<p class="center padb2"> Copyright, 1898, 1905,<br> +By <span class="smcap">Little, Brown, and Company</span>.</p> + +<p class="center padt2 padb2">Printers<br> +<span class="smcap">S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.</span> +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">v</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="EDITORS_PREFACE">EDITOR’S PREFACE.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r20"> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>bubbles</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">πομφόλυγες</span>) into a story of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">vi</span> +new substance called <i>Pompholyx</i>, “made by Mixture of Brass with +the Air”! See Vol. V. p. 337, and Vol. III. p. 517, of the original +translation.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">vii</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">viii</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="right"> +WILLIAM W. GOODWIN.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">ix</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r20"> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> 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 <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">x</span> +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: “<i>Vive Dieu.</i> 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 <i>Pensées</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span> +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 <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>aperçus</i> like Goethe’s.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">xii</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“O wad ye tak’ a thought and mend!”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">xiii</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">xiv</span></p> + +<p>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 <i>papyri</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">xv</span></p> + +<p>Another gives an insight into his mystic tendencies,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">xvi</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">xvii</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>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 <i>memoranda</i> 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 <i>remora</i>, &c., +are just; and the bad guesses are not worse than many of Lord +Bacon’s.</p> + +<p>His Natural History is that of a lover and poet, and not of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">xviii</span> +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.”</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>’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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">xix</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“For neither now nor yesterday began</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These thoughts, which have been ever, nor yet can</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A man be found who their first entrance knew.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“It sounds profane impiety</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To teach that human souls e’er die.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">xx</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">xxi</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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; <i>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</i>.” +The puzzle in the worthy translator’s mind between his theology +and his reason well re-appears in the puzzle of his sentence.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxii">xxii</span> +Epaminondas, Cæsar, Cato, and the rest, sit as the +bestower of the crown of noble knighthood, and laureate of the +ancient world.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>shadows</i>; 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.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>I cannot close these notes without expressing my sense of the +valuable service which the Editor has rendered to his Author and to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiii">xxiii</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiv">xxiv</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="right">RALPH WALDO EMERSON</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxv">xxv</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_FIRST">CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.<br> +<span class="smaller">WITH THE TRANSLATORS’ NAMES.</span></h2></div> + +<hr class="r20"> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<th class="tdc normal"><span class="large"><a href="#TRAINING_OF_CHILDREN"> +A DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.</a></span></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Simon Ford, D.D.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1"> +Effect on children of impurity in the parents, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; of intemperance in the parents, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>. +Instruction and training necessary, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>. Training must assist nature, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>. Defective +natural parts may be improved by instruction, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>. Diligent effort may supply +native deficiencies, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>. A virtuous character partly the effect of custom and +habit, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>. Mothers should nurse their own children, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>. Manners of children +to be well-formed from the beginning, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>. Care to be taken of their associates, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>. +Teachers of children to be carefully chosen, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>. Moral character of teachers +to be carefully regarded, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>. Unhappy consequences of the ill-training of +children, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>. A good education preferable to the gifts of fortune, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>. +Learning better than bodily strength, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>. Children should be trained to think +before they speak, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>. A pompous style of speech to be avoided, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>. Tameness +of speech to be avoided, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>. The principal study of youth should be philosophy, +<a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>. Bodily exercise not to be neglected, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>. Gymnastic and military +exercises, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>. Corporal and disgraceful punishments not to be used, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>. Motives +to be addressed to the understanding and conscience, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>. Severe tasks not to be +imposed on children, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>. Relaxation to be allowed them, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>. Memory to be cultivated, +<a href="#Page_22">22</a>. A courteous manner of speaking to be inculcated. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>. Self-control +to be taught, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>. Restraint of the tongue, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>. Sotades punished for free +speech, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>. Severity to children unwise, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>. Young men to be restrained from +vicious company, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>. Flatterers to be avoided, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>. Allowance should be +made for youthful impetuosity, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>. Marriage a security for young men, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>. +Fathers not to be severe and harsh, but examples to their children, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#CURE_OF_ANGER">CONCERNING THE CURE OF ANGER.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By William Dillingham, D.D.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">How may a tendency to anger be overcome? i. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>. Not by the interference of other +persons, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>. The mind being then under the influence of stormy passion, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>. The +aid of reason and judgment is more effectual, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>. Resist the beginning of anger, +<a href="#Page_37">37</a>. When inclined to anger, try to be quiet and composed, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>. Anger is unreasonable +and foolish, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>. It disfigures the countenance, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>. Tends to one’s +dishonor and discredit, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>. Produces absurd and insulting speeches, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>. Is disingenuous +and unmanly, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>. Indicates a weak mind, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>. Discovers meanness +of spirit, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>. Fortitude consists with a mild temper, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>. Anger can destroy, it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvi">xxvi</span> +cannot restore, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>. It often overreaches itself, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>. Excessive urgency often fails +of success, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>. Forbearance towards servants urged, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>. Anger towards servants +makes them worse, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>. Never punish in anger, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>. Allow anger to cool, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>. No +harm arises from deferring anger, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>. Causes of anger examined; we think we +incur contempt without it, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>; it arises from self-love, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>; and a spirit of fault-finding, +<a href="#Page_52">52</a>. The absence of these makes a man gentle towards others, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>. +Nobody can dwell with an angry man, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>. Anger, the essence of all bad passions, +<a href="#Page_56">56</a>. Good temper in us will disarm others, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>. Moderate expectations prevent +anger, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>. Knowledge of human nature softens anger, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>. Make trial for a few +days of abstinence from anger, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#OF_BASHFULNESS"> +OF BASHFULNESS.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Thomas Hoy, Fellow of St. John’s College in Oxford.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Bashfulness defined, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>. Two extremes: too much or too little modesty; both to +be avoided, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>. Bashfulness, an excess of modesty, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>. It is injurious, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>; +leaves a person at the mercy of others, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>; a bashful person is liable to imposition, +<a href="#Page_63">63</a>; many are thus ruined, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>. Deny an unreasonable request, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>. The +fear of giving offence—bashfulness—hinders the proper care of our health, and +of our property, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>; exposes to the very evils it seeks to avoid, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>. The +people of Asia are slaves, because they cannot say, “No,” <a href="#Page_69">69</a>. Deny recommendation +to those not known to be worthy, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>. Undertake no services to which +you are not competent, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>. Cheerfully render good offices to those that deserve +them, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>; but deny them to the unworthy, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>. We may not violate law and +justice to please anybody, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>. Men who would dread to blunder in a matter of +literature, often violate law, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>. Err not from the right, either from fear or flattery, +<a href="#Page_76">76</a>. Remember what bashfulness has cost us, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#THAT_VIRTUE_MAY_BE_TAUGHT"> +THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Mr. Patrick, of the Charterhouse.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">If men may be taught to sing, dance, and read; to be skilful husbandmen and good +riders,—why not to order their lives aright? <a href="#Page_78">78</a>. The practice of virtue is immensely +more important than graceful speech and manners, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>. If things of +trifling moment may be taught, much more things of the deepest concern, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#LAWS_AND_CUSTOMS_OF_THE_LACEDAEMONIANS"> +THE ACCOUNT OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Mr. John Pulleyn, of Trinity College in Cambridge.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Institutions of Lycurgus, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>. The citizens ate at one table, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>. Conversation at +the table, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>. The food: black broth, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>; spare diet, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>. Learning, philosophy, +mechanic trades, theatrical performances, utterly banished, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>. Scanty apparel, +<a href="#Page_86">86</a>; hard beds, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>; social attachments, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>. A strict watch kept over the young, +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>. Respect to the aged, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>. Control by the aged of other people’s children, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#Page_89">89</a>. Children allowed to steal, if the theft were carefully concealed, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>. The +Spartan poetry and music, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>; martial music, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>. Tenacity of ancient customs, +<a href="#Page_92">92</a>. Funerals, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>; inscriptions, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>. Foreign travel prohibited, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>. A community<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvii">xxvii</span> +of children, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>; and of goods and estates, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>. Their warlike expeditions, +<a href="#Page_94">94</a>. Their religious worship, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>. The Helots, when drunk, exhibited before the +children, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>. None but grave poetry allowed, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>. Meekness and forgiveness of +injuries not tolerated, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>. A laconic style of speaking practised, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>. Whipping +of boys annually before the altar of Diana, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>. Neglect of maritime affairs, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>. +Gold and silver banished, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>. Final overthrow of the institutions of Lycurgus, +<a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#CONCERNING_MUSIC"> +CONCERNING MUSIC.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By John Philips, Gent.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Principles of Greek music: the tetrachord, heptachord, octachord; scale of fifteen +notes, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <i>note</i>. History of music, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <i>et seq.</i> The lyre, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>. Amphion, +Linus, Anthes, Pierus, Philammon, Thamyras, &c., <a href="#Page_105">105</a>. Terpander, an inventor, +<a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. Olympus, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>; Hyagnis, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>; Clonas, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>. History +of wind instruments, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>; the flute, <i>ib.</i> Three musical moods,—the Dorian, the +Phrygian, the Lydian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>. Makers of paeans, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>. The enharmonic species of +music, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>. Its relations to the diatonic and chromatic, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>. Varieties of rhythm, +<a href="#Page_112">112</a>. The harp an invention of Apollo, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>. His statue at Delos a proof of this, <i>ib.</i> +Manly and grave music used by the ancients for its worth, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>. The moderns +have introduced an inferior sort, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>. The Lydian mood, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>; the Dorian, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>. +The chromatic more ancient than the enharmonic scale, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>; though many of +the ancient musicians did not use it, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>. Plato’s remarks on harmony, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>. +Music a mathematical science, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>. Harmony as related to the senses, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. Why +the Greeks were so careful to teach their children music, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>. The high purposes +of music, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>. Archilochus, his improvements, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>. Improvements of +Polymnestus, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>. Improvements of Lasus, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>. Decline of the ancient +music, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_125">125</a>. To learn music, philosophy is needful, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>. Music too much a +thing of chance, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>. A sound judgment is necessary, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. A perfect judgment +of music not derived from a partial knowledge, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. Degeneracy of modern +music, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>. Benefits of a proper acquaintance with music, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; facts in proof +of this, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#TRANQUILLITY_OF_THE_MIND"> +OF THE TRANQUILLITY OF THE MIND.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Matthew Morgan, A.M., of St. John’s College in Oxford.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Plutarch salutes his friend Paccius, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>. Worldly honor or wealth cannot procure +quietness of mind, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. We should fortify ourselves against trouble, <i>ib.</i> Tranquillity +of mind not to be procured by neglect of public or private duty, <i>ib.</i> +Idleness is to many an affliction, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>. Changes in life do not remove causes of +disquiet, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>. The mind itself renders life pleasant or otherwise, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>. Make the +best of our circumstances, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>. Wise men derive benefit even from affliction, +<a href="#Page_142">142</a>. No trouble can arise, but good may come of it, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>. Be not soured with +the perverseness of others, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; nor fret at their failings, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>. A consideration +of the good we enjoy may help us bear our afflictions, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>. Thus balancing one +against the other, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>. Consider what the loss would be of our present enjoyments, +<a href="#Page_148">148</a>. Cultivate a contented mind, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>. The want of which creates +suffering, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>. Look at those worse off than ourselves, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>. Every one has his +particular trouble, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; therefore give no place to envy, <i>ib.</i> Do not repine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxviii">xxviii</span> +because some things are beyond your reach, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>. Let every man know what +he can do and be contented with doing it, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>. Let alone what you are not +capable of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>. It is wise to call to mind past enjoyment, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>. Do not distress +yourself by dwelling on past sorrows, nor give way to despondency of the +future, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>. Neither be too sanguine in your hopes, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>. Afflictions come +as a matter of necessity, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>. Outward sufferings do not reach our nobler part, +the mind, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>. Death not a real, ultimate evil, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>. The wise man may look +down on things terrible to the vulgar, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>. Guilt produces remorse, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>. A +clear conscience a rich possession, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>. Life should be full of joy, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>. That it +is not to some is their own fault, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#OF_SUPERSTITION"> +OF SUPERSTITION, OR INDISCREET DEVOTION.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By William Baxter, Gent.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Ignorance respecting God may lead either to atheism or superstition, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>. Atheism +and superstition compared, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <i>et seq.</i> Atheism tends to indifference, superstition +to terror, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>. Superstition infuses into the mind a constant alarm and +dread, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>. Superstition allows of no escape from fear, it permits no hope, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>. +It perverts the moral sense, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>. The atheist may be fretful and impatient; +the superstitious man charges all his misfortunes and troubles to God, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>. Is +full of unreasonable apprehensions, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>. Converts tolerable evils into fatal ones, +<a href="#Page_177">177</a>. Misinterprets the course of nature, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>. Is afraid of things that will not +hurt him, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>. Allows himself no enjoyment, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>. Entertains dishonorable +thoughts of God, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>; and thus is morally wrong, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>. He secretly hates God, +and would have no God, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>. Superstition affords an apology for atheism, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>. +Superstition of the Gauls, Scythians, and Carthaginians; they offered human sacrifices, +<a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>. In avoiding superstition do not fall into atheism, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#SAYINGS_OF_KINGS_AND_GREAT_COMMANDERS"> +THE APOPHTHEGMS OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF KINGS AND +GREAT COMMANDERS,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By E. Hinton, of Witney in Oxfordshire.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#PRESERVATION_OF_HEALTH"> +RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Matthew Poole, D.D., of Northampton.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Introduction, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>. The hands to be kept always warm, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>. Accustom yourself +in health to the food proper in sickness, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>. Avoid all excess in eating and +drinking, especially at feasts, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>. Be prepared to excuse yourself if invited to +drink to excess, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>. Partake of agreeable food and drink, when needful; otherwise +not, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>. Lean to the side of moderation and abstinence, rather than the +gratification of appetite, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>. Intemperance is as destructive of pleasure as of +health, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>. Sickness may be avoided by the use of a moderate diet, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>. A +luxurious course of living adds to the force of other causes of disease, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>. Be +especially careful of what you do, when threatened with illness, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>. When the +body is out of order, things that are otherwise pleasant become disgusting, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>. +Extreme carefulness in our diet should be avoided, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>. Disturbed sleep and +distressing dreams show a diseased state of body, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>. Avoid things which have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxix">xxix</span> +proved causes of disease to others, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>. Reading or speaking aloud is to a +scholar conducive to health, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>. Yet this must not be carried to excess, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>. +The cold bath not to be used after exercise; use the warm bath, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>. Use solid +food cautiously and sparingly; light food more freely, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>. Drink wine diluted +with water, or water simply, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>. After supper, there should be a considerable +interval, to be occupied with gentle exercise either of body or mind, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, +<a href="#Page_272">272</a>. Sufferers from gluttony or excess should not attempt to relieve themselves +by physic but by abstinence, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>. Do not fast when there is no need, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>. Idleness +is not conducive to health, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>. After severe labor, allow the body to rest, +even from pleasure, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>. A man should well study his own case, and know what +he can bear, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>. The body and the mind must deal carefully with each other, +<a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#ADVANTAGE_AND_PROFIT"> +HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT FROM HIS ENEMIES.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By John Hartcliffe, Fellow of King’s College in Cambridge.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Ill-will always to be expected, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>. It is not enough that our enemies do us no +harm, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>. We may not be able to change bad men into good men, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>. But it +is possible to derive good even from bad men, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>. An enemy, in order to discover +our failings, carefully watches all our movements and affairs, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>. Learn +from this to be wary and circumspect, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>. Learn to be discreet and sober, and +to give offence to nobody, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>. Live above reproach, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>. When censured +and accused, examine if there be just cause for it, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>. Be willing to hear +the truth even from the lips of enemies, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>. If accused unjustly, avoid even the +appearance of the supposed wrong, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>. Have you given any occasion for the +false accusation? <a href="#Page_291">291</a>. Learn to keep the tongue in subjection, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>. Be magnanimous +and kind to your enemy, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>. Indulge no malignant passion, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>. Envy +not your enemy’s success, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#CONSOLATION_TO_APOLLONIUS"> +CONSOLATION TO APOLLONIUS.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Matthew Morgan, A.M., of St. John’s College in Oxford.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">The son of Apollonius had died, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>. Apathy and excessive grief are alike unnatural +and improper, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>. Avoid both of these extremes, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>. Uninterrupted +happiness is not to be expected, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>. Every thing is subject to change, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>. +Evil is to be expected, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>. Sorrow will not remove suffering, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, +Others are in trouble besides ourselves, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>. Why should death be considered +so great an evil? <a href="#Page_308">308</a>. Death is but the debt of nature, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>. Death is inevitable, +and the termination of all human calamity, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>. Death is the brother of sleep, +<a href="#Page_311">311</a>. Death divests us of the body, and thus frees us from great evil, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>. 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, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>. Even if death be the extinction of our being, it is no evil, +and why, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>. Even untimely death may shield from evil, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>. Not long life, +but virtuous is desirable, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>. Sorrow for the dead may proceed from selfish +considerations, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>. Does the mourner intend to cherish grief as long as he +lives? <a href="#Page_320">320</a>. Excessive grief is unmanly, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>. An untimely death differs not +much from that which is timely, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>. It may be desirable, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>. Excessive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxx">xxx</span> +grief is unreasonable, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>. The state of the dead is better than that of the +living, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>. The evil in the world far exceeds the good, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>. Life is a loan, soon +to be recalled, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>. Some people are querulous and can never be satisfied, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>. +Death is fixed by fate, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>. Life is short, and should not be wasted in unavailing +sorrow, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>. Derive comfort from the example of those who have borne the +death of their sons bravely, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>. Providence wisely disposes, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>. Your +son died at the best time for him, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>. He is now numbered with the blest, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>. +The conclusion; a touching appeal to Apollonius, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#VIRTUES_OF_WOMEN"> +CONCERNING THE VIRTUES OF WOMEN.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Isaac Chauncy, of the College of Physicians, London.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">It is right to praise virtuous women, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>. Virtue in man and woman is the same, +<a href="#Page_340">340</a>; even as the poetic art in man and woman is the same, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>. There may +be variety, yet unity, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>. Virtue of the Trojan women after landing in Italy, +<a href="#Page_342">342</a>. Of the Phocian women in the war with the Thessalians, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>. Of the +women of Chios, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>. Of the Argive women and their repulse of the Spartan +army, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>. Of the Persian women, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>. Of the Celtic women, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>. Of the +Melian women, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>. Of the Tyrrhene women, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>. Of the Lycian women, +<a href="#Page_351">351</a>. Of the women of Salmantica in Spain, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>. Of the maidens of Miletus, +bent on self-murder, and how this was prevented, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>. Of the maids of Cios, +<a href="#Page_354">354</a>. Of the women of Phocis during the Sacred War, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>. Of the Roman +Lucretia, Valeria, and Cloelia, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>-<a href="#Page_357">357</a>. Of Micca and Megisto, and other women +of Elis, during the tyranny of Aristotimus, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>-<a href="#Page_363">363</a>. Of Pieria and other women +of Myus, at Miletus, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>. Of Polycrita in the war between Naxos and +Miletus, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>-<a href="#Page_366">366</a>. Of Lampsace, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>. Of Aretaphila, and how she delivered +Cyrene from tyranny, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>-<a href="#Page_371">371</a>. Of Camma the Galatian, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>. Of Stratonica of +Galatia, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>. Of Chiomara of Galatia, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>. Of the women of Pergamus, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>. +Of Timoclea at the taking of Thebes, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>. Of Eryxo of Cyrene, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>. Of +Xenocrita of Cumae, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>. Of Pythes the Lydian and his wife, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#SAYINGS_OF_THE_SPARTANS"> +LACONIC APOPHTHEGMS; OR, REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF THE +SPARTANS.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Thomas Creech, A.M., of Wadham College in Oxford.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#OFHEARING"> +OF HEARING.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By Thomas Hoy, Fellow of St. John’s College in Oxford.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Introduction, addressed to Nicander, a young man, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>. Remarks on hearing in +general, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>. Of the sense of hearing, as an inlet of thought and feeling, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>. +A guard to be placed over it, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>. How to hear with benefit, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>. Faults to be +avoided, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>. In hearing a discourse, hear with attention to the close, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>. +Guard against envy and ill-nature, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>. Hear with calmness and candor, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>. +Endeavor to reap advantage from the speaker’s faults, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>. Yield not to undue +admiration, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>. Examine the argument of the speaker apart from his expression, +<a href="#Page_449">449</a>. Separate the substance of a discourse from its accessories, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>. +Interrupt not the speaker with trifling questions, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>. Propose no impertinent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxxi">xxxi</span> +questions, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>. Wait till the proper time for asking, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>. Withhold not praise +when it is due, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>. Yet bestow not inordinate praise, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>. Something worthy +of praise may be found in every discourse, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>. The hearer owes a duty to the +speaker no less than the speaker to the hearer, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>. Be not indiscriminate in +your praises, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>. Bear admonition in a proper spirit, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>. If you find difficulties +in the lecturer’s instructions, ask him to explain, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>. Concluding +exhortation, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#FOLLY_OF_SEEKING_MANY_FRIENDS"> +OF LARGE ACQUAINTANCE: OR, AN ESSAY TO PROVE THE +FOLLY OF SEEKING MANY FRIENDS.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By W. G.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">True friendship a thing of rare occurrence, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>. In the early times, friends went in +pairs, Orestes and Pylades, &c., <a href="#Page_465">465</a>. True friendship cannot embrace a multitude, +<a href="#Page_466">466</a>. If we have numerous acquaintances, there should be one eminently +a friend, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>. The requisites to a true friendship, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>. The difficulty of finding +a true friend, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>. Be not hasty in getting friends, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>. Admit none to your +confidence without long and thorough trial, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>. As true friendship cements two +hearts into one, so a large acquaintance divides and distracts the heart, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>. We +cannot discharge the obligations of friendship to a multitude, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>; therefore do +not attempt it, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>. Joining one’s self intimately to another involves one in his +calamities, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>. Real friendship always has its origin in likeness, even in brutes, +<a href="#Page_472">472</a>. There must be a substantial oneness, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>. Therefore it is next to a miracle +to find a constant and sure friend, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="large"><a href="#FIRST_ORATION_VIRTUE_OF_ALEXANDER"> +CONCERNING THE FORTUNE OR VIRTUE OF ALEXANDER THE +GREAT.</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">By John Philips, Gent.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><p class="hangingindent1">Did he receive his empire as the gift of Fortune? By no means, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>. It was acquired +at the expense of many severe wounds, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>; of many hardships and +much daring, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>; as the issue of his training under Aristotle, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>. He was +himself a great philosopher, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>. He was the great civilizer of Asia, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>. He +realized the dreams of philosophers by making the world his country, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>. +Uniting the Greeks and the barbarians, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>. Gaining the affection of the vanquished, +<a href="#Page_483">483</a>. Aiming to establish universal brotherhood, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>. His philosophy +as exhibited in his recorded sayings, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>-<a href="#Page_489">489</a>. His generous conduct, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>. His +patronage of learned men, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>. So different from other monarchs, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>. His magnanimity, +<a href="#Page_495">495</a>. Such a man owes little to Fortune, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>. Contrasted with Sardanapalus, +<a href="#Page_497">497</a>. His greatness as seen in the confusion which followed his death, +<a href="#Page_498">498</a>. Fortune cannot make an Alexander, <a href="#Page_499">499</a>. His silly imitators attest his +greatness, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>. His self-government, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>. The Persian empire was overthrown, +not by Fortune, but by the superior genius and virtue of Alexander, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>. Alexander +owed nothing to Fortune, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>. His wisdom, his prowess, his many +wounds, his constancy and energy, procured his great success, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>-<a href="#Page_511">511</a>. Compared +with the ablest men of antiquity, he is superior to all, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>. His daring +courage, great dangers, and marvellous escape, while besieging a town of the +Oxydracae, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>-<a href="#Page_516">516</a>.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="large"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></span></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> + +<p id="half-title"><span class="larger"> +PLUTARCH’S MORALS.</span> +</p></div> +<p>VOL. I.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="largest">PLUTARCH’S MORALS.</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="TRAINING_OF_CHILDREN">A DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Misfortune on that family’s entailed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose reputation in its founder failed.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> +counterfeit in their birth are naturally enfeebled and debased; +as rightly said the poet again,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A bold and daring spirit is often daunted.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When with the guilt of parents’ crimes ’tis haunted.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span></p> + +<p>But what need of multiplying more words in this matter, +when even the notion of the word <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἦθος</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> Whereas, both +wet and dry nurses, who are hired, love only for their pay,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> The like good counsel Phocylides, the poet, seems +to give in this verse of his:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If we’ll have virtuous children, we should choose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their tenderest age good principles to infuse.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And now I come to speak of that which is a greater +matter, and of more concern than any that I have said.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span></p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I’m better skilled to treat a few, my peers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than in a crowd to tickle vulgar ears;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though others have the luck on’t, when they babble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most to the wise, then most to please the rabble.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> +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.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>11. In the next place, the exercise of the body must not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span></p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft little add to little, and the account</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Will swell: heapt atoms thus produce a mount.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where two discourse, if the one’s anger rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The man who lets the contest fall is wise.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Λακτιστής</span>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> +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<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> 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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> +And he was as good as his word; for he departed and informed +the king, who sent and put Theocritus to death.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Another love there is in mortals found;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The love of just and chaste and virtuous souls.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And yet I think it not improper here to mention withal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> 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 (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἁρπαγμός</span>);<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> and such are to be imitated as +are in Athens and Sparta.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurydice to the Muses here doth raise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This monument, her honest love to praise;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who her grown sons that she might scholars breed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then well in years, herself first learned to read.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CURE_OF_ANGER">CONCERNING THE CURE OF ANGER.<br> + +<br><span class="smaller">A DIALOGUE.<br> + +<br>SYLLA, FUNDANUS.</span></h2></div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Sylla.</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O wonder! how much gentler is he grown!<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fundanus.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sylla.</span> Neither of these is so, Fundanus; but, I pray +you, gratify us all by granting the request I made.</p> + +<p>2. <span class="smcap">Fundanus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Displace the mind, and then act dismal things;</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O my Electra, now a virgin stale,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>provoked her to make this nipping return:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou’rt wise too late, thou shouldst have kept at home.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With youthful vigor the carpenter’s lofty work;</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>so he that observes anger while it is in its beginning, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This said, a sable cloud of grief covered him o’er;<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Coming, I asked not who or whose she was,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But kissed her door full sweetly,—that I wot;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If this be sin, to sin I can but choose.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His horn, though bound with gold, he brake in’s ire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He brake his melodious and well-strung lyre;<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>and Pandarus, wishing a curse upon himself if he did not +burn his bow.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">First broken by his hands.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>For anger hath many terrible effects, and many also that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As their shrill wax-joined reed who herds do keep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sounds forth sweet measures, which invite to sleep.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">That look becomes you not, lay down your pipes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And take your arms, and set your cheeks to rights;</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With shining gold he girt his temples rough,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And his wide mouth with thongs that tied behind.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Now anger doth swell and puff up the countenance very indecently, +and sends forth a yet more indecent and unpleasant +voice,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Moving the heart-strings, which should be at rest.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>7. While now I see all this and bear it in mind, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> +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,—-</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When anger once is spread within thy breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shut up thy tongue, that vainly barking beast.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Till they should come where none would Philip know.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Magas, the king hath sent thee letters:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unhappy Magas, thou dost know no letters.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>10. As therefore one said of Philip, when he razed the +city of Olynthus, But he is not able to build such another<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the hosts of brazen-armed men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each boldly charged, but ne’er reviled his foe.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Wherever fear is, there is modesty;</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The best resolved mind in misery</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can’t keep its ground, but suffers ecstasy.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And so Agamemnon, ascribing to Ate the taking away of +Briseis, adds:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Since I so foolish was as thee to wrong,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ll please thee now, and give thee splendid gifts.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Who never is content with boiled or roast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor likes his meat, what way soever drest,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Than that supper nought can more unpleasant be,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Be gone, ye upbraiding scoundrels, haven’t ye at home</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enough, that to help bear my grief ye come?<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A woman’s, nay a little child’s soft hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gentle stroking easier doth command,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And make the bristling boar to couch and fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than any boisterous wrestler of them all.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> +man, or when one who we thought had loved us falls into +some difference and chiding with us.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> +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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Purge bitter choler with a bitter pill,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>but rather increasing and exasperating the disease which +we pretend to cure.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Affairs of greatest weight himself directeth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But matters small to Fortune he committeth.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>For as small letters hurt the sight, so do small matters +him that is too much intent upon them; they vex and stir<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> +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<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> 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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="OF_BASHFULNESS">OF BASHFULNESS.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Some</span> 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δυσωπία</span> (<i>the +being put out of countenance</i>), 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;<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> on the other hand, the sheepishly bashful betrays<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose dog-like carriage and effrontery,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Despising infamy, out-faced disgrace.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> +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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Much harm oft-times from modesty befalls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Much good oft-times.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> +great, and just; nor like Pegasus in Euripides, who, when +Bellerophon mounted him,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With trembling stooped more than his lord desired,<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>must he debase himself and yield to all who make their +addresses to him, for fear of appearing hard and ungentle.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy tongue, thy flattering tongue prevailed.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis better now to brave thy direst hate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than curse a foolish easiness too late.<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Welcome a friend, but never call thy foe.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> +as to solicit him in this manner: Swear on my side, give +false evidence, or bring in an unjust verdict.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> +expenses, will have plenty of money that he has not +for his necessary expenses.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> And our disgrace is increased +many fold, if we want what is necessary or decent, and +abound in trifles and fopperies.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> +to say, Silence is an answer to a wise man;<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> +But he that is so foolishly good-natured that he cannot answer +one that comes to borrow,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My friend, no silver white have I in all my caves,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>but gives him a promise to be better provided,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The wretch has made himself a slave to shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And drags a tiresome, though an unforged chain.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Seem not thy brother’s honesty to doubt;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet, smiling, call a witness to his hand.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> +first, have been forced afterwards to break with their +friends, and to have recourse to law for their money.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I know the dreadful consequence, and fear,<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span> +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,<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THAT_VIRTUE_MAY_BE_TAUGHT">THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Men</span> 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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> +being learned it is produced, he that hinders its being learned +destroys it. And now, as Plato<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Τελχῖνας</span> or +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Τέλχινας</span>,—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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to devour their meat in haste, nor giggle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor awkwardly their feet across to wriggle,<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> +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?...</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="LAWS_AND_CUSTOMS_OF_THE_LACEDAEMONIANS">THE ACCOUNT OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS +OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS.<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a></h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">It</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span> +careful tutors and guardians for their youth, who were +always at hand to admonish and instruct them in the solid +principles of virtue.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span> +wanted skill and cunning in the management and concealing +of it.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">That active courage youthful blood contains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did once with equal vigor warm our veins.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>To which the chorus, consisting of young men only, thus +answers:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Valiant and bold we are, let who will try:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dare accept our challenge soon shall die.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span></p> +<p>The third, which were of young children, replied to them +in this manner:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Those seeds which Nature in our breast did sow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall soon to generous fruits of virtue grow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then all those valiant deeds which you relate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We will excel, and scorn to imitate.<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>25. Whenever a victory was gained through a well-contrived +stratagem, and thereby with little loss of men and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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;<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> it being no better in their esteem +than profaneness and irreverence to their Gods to invoke +them upon slight and trivial emergencies.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span> +to his own defence with the hazard of his life, or therein +to die valiantly in the field. His words were after this +manner:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let who will boast their courage in the field,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I find but little safety from my shield.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nature’s not Honor’s laws we must obey;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This made me cast my useless shield away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by a prudent flight and cunning save</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A life, which valor could not, from the grave.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A better buckler I can soon regain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But who can get another life again?<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">That the love of money should be the ruin of Sparta,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONCERNING_MUSIC">CONCERNING MUSIC.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a><br> +<br> + +<span class="smaller">ONESICRATES, SOTERICHUS, LYSIAS.</span></h2></div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">The</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With sacred hymns and songs that sweetly please,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Grecian youth all day the Gods appease;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their lofty paeans bright Apollo hears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still the charming sounds delight his ears.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span> +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 <i>nomes</i>,<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> set verses of Homer as well as his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> And +Polymnestus the Colophonian in later times used the same +measure in his compositions.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>nome</i> (from <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νόμος</span>, <i>law</i>), 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span> +to pass:<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>17. But as for those sorts of harmony, the one being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span></p> + +<p>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;<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάται</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη μέσων</span> and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> +the <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη διεζευγμένων</span>; 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">θέατρον</span>, at a later period, +and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">θεωρεῖν</span> (<i>to behold</i>) much earlier, were derived from <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">θεός</span> +(<i>God</i>). 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span> +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.</p> + +<p>29. Of the Hypolydian mood they make Polymnestus the +inventor, and the first that taught the lowering and raising +of the voice (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἔκλυσις</span> and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἐκβολή</span>). 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.</p> + +<p>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<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> added a greater number, +and gave its notes a wider range. The wind-music also<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Music.</span> ’Tis mine to speak, thy part to hear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And therefore lend a willing ear;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Much have I suffered, long opprest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Menalippides, that beast;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He haled me from Parnassus’ springs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And plagued me with a dozen strings.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His rage howe’er sufficed not yet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To make my miseries complete.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cinesias, that cursed Attic,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A mere poetical pragmatic,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such horrid strophes in mangled verse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Made the unharmonious stage rehearse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I, tormented with the pains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of cruel dithyrambic strains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distorted lay, that you would swear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The right side now the left side were.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor did my miseries end here;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Phrynis with his whirlwind brains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wringing and racking all my veins,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ruined me quite, while nine small wires</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With harmonies twice six he tires.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet might not he so much be blamed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From all his errors soon reclaimed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But then Timotheus with his freaks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Furrowed my face, and ploughed my cheeks.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Justice.</span> Say which of them so vile could be?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Music.</span> Milesian Pyrrhias, that was he,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose fury tortured me much more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than all that I have named before;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where’er I walk the streets alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If met by him, the angry clown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his twelve cat-guts strongly bound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He leaves me helpless on the ground.<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span></p> +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He filled me with discordant measures airy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wicked Hyperbolaei and Niglari;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to uphold the follies of his play,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like a lank radish bowed me every way.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Other comedians have since set forth the absurdity of those +who have been slicers and manglers of music.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>32. Therefore, if it be the aim of any person to practise +music with skill and judgment, let him imitate the ancient<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a>] +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>40. Now for the advantages that accrue to men from the +use of music, the famous Homer has taught it us, introducing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Amused at ease, the god-like man they found,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pleased with the solemn harp’s harmonious sound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The well-wrought harp from conquered Thebe came;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of polished silver was its costly frame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With this he soothes his angry soul, and sings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The immortal deeds of heroes and of kings.<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With sacred hymns and songs that sweetly please,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Grecian youth all day the Gods appease.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their lofty paeans bright Apollo hears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still the charming sounds delight his ears.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>These verses, most excellent master, I thought requisite to +add as the finishing stone to my musical discourse, which +were by you cited before<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Song and the merry dance, the joy of feasts.<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="TRANQUILLITY_OF_THE_MIND">OF THE TRANQUILLITY OF THE MIND.<br> +<br> + +<span class="smaller">PLUTARCH WISHETH ALL HEALTH TO HIS PACCIUS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">It</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lie still, poor wretch, and keep thy bed.<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span></p> +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The virgins’ tender limbs are kept from cold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not the least wind to touch them is so bold;<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Only a toothless hag did make his bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Draw him his drink, and did his table spread,<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But raging still, amidst his navy sat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stern Achilles, steadfast in his hate;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor mix’d in combat, nor in council join’d;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul.<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And he himself complains of it, being mightily disturbed, +after this manner:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I live an idle burden to the ground.<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">74</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Hence it is that Epicurus adviseth those who aspire to +glory not to stagnate in their ambition, but be in perpetual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I thought those men, my Phania, always best,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who take no money up at interest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who disengaged from business spend the day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in complaints don’t sigh the night away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who, troubled, lamentable groans don’t fetch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus breathing out, Ah! miserable wretch!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those whom despairing thoughts don’t waking keep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But without startings sweetly take their sleep.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>He goes on and observes to us, that the same lot of misfortune +falls to the rich as well as the poor:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These neighbors slender confines do divide,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sorrow and human life are still allied.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It the luxurious liver doth infest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And robs the man of honor of his rest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In stricter ties doth with the poor engage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With him grows old to a decrepit age.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Poor men when sick do peevishly complain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sense of want doth aggravate their pain.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">75</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He doth molest him when he first doth come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when he goes away he’s troublesome,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Look upon Agamemnon, Atreus’s son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mighty loads of trouble he hath on.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is distracted with perpetual care;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove that inflicts it gives him strength to bear.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">76</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let not these things thy least concern engage;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For though thou fret, they will not mind thy rage.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him only good and happy we may call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who rightly useth what doth him befall.<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">77</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> +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<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> 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?—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Here am I set by Agis’ royal hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who both the earth and ocean did command.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Who bitter choler cleanse and scour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With drugs as bitter and as sour,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span> +and a talent of moderation can transact and converse with +mankind easily and with mildness.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why so quick sighted others’ faults to find,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to thy own so partially art blind?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis malice that exasperates thy mind.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The wealth of golden Gyges has no delight for me.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Likewise,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No emulation doth my spirits fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The actions of the Gods I don’t admire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would not, to be great, a tyrant be;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The least appearances I would not see.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Who of the products of the earth do eat,<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">79</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The pleading lawyer’s happy at the bar;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the scene opening shows a civil war.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the good man hath a domestic strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He’s slave to that imperious creature, wife.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scolding without doors doth to him belong,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But she within them doth claim all the tongue.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pecked by his female tyrant him I see,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whilst from this grievance I myself am free.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All pleasant things Atrides doth adorn;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The merry genius smiled when he was born.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">80</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove in a deep affliction did him plunge.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">81</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Observe this likewise:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Old man, I reverence thy aged head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to a mighty length hast spun thy thread;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Safe from all dangers, to the grave goest down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ingloriously, because thou art unknown.<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">82</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">None of the Greeks for courage me excel;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let others have the praise of speaking well.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">83</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With generous provender they the horse do feed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he may win the race with strength and speed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mighty ox is fitted to the yoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by his toil the fertile clods are broke.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dolphin, when a ship he doth espy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Straight the good-natured fish his fins doth ply;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the ship’s motion he his own doth guide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lovingly swims constant to her side.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if you’d apprehend the foaming boar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The monster by a mastiff must be tore.<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">84</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But he is stupid in his wishes who takes it amiss that he +is not a lion,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Who with a proud insulting air doth tread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rough as the mountains where he first was bred;<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">85</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Virtue for sordid wealth shall not be sold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It’s beauty far outshines the miser’s gold.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This without Fortune’s shocks doth still endure;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But that’s possession is insecure.<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">86</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The potter hates another of the trade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If by his hands a finer dish is made;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The smith his brother smudge with scorn doth treat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he his iron strikes with brisker heat.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">87</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">88</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The good things with the evil still are joined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in strict union mutually combined;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The chequered work doth beautiful appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For what is sweet allays the more severe;—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as an infant doth salute the day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A genius his first cryings doth obey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to his charge comes hastily away;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The daemon doth assist the tender lad,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shows him what’s good, and saves him from the bad.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But the opinion of Empedocles deserves more our approbation, +who saith that, as soon as any one is born, he is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Welcome to me, if good thou bringest aught.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if thou fail, I will take little thought,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I knew that I had begotten a mortal.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span> +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.</p> + +<p>17. Generally speaking, those things which happen to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Afflictions to thyself thou dost create,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy fancy only is unfortunate.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! alas! and well-a-day!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But why <i>alas</i> and <i>well away</i>?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Naught else to us hath yet been dealt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But that which daily men have felt.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Which conquering Greece could never force away.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">89</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span></p> +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the wind would not suffer him to stay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor would it serve to carry him away,<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">90</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 +<i>viaticum</i> 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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fate shall release me when I please myself;<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">91</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> +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.</p> + +<p>19. But many are shocked at this saying of Menander,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No man can tell what will himself befall,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> +extremely to the tranquillity of the mind. Whereas, on +the contrary, the being conscious of having done a wicked +action<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> 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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Another did not run me on this shelf;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I was the cause of all the ills myself,<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">93</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="OF_SUPERSTITION">OF SUPERSTITION OR INDISCREET DEVOTION.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Our</span> 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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Poor virtue! thou wast but a name, and mere jest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I, choust fool, did practise thee in earnest,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δεῖμα</span> because it <i>binds</i>, +and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τάρβος</span> because it <i>distracts</i> the mind.<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dear sleep, sweet easer of my irksome grief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pleasant thou art! how welcome thy relief!<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">96</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If in a dream hobgoblin thou hast seen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or felt’st the rambling guards o’ th’ Fairy Queen,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O that our Greeks should found such barbarous rites,<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">97</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Both man and wife in direful slavery,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with ill masters too! Fate’s worst decree!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No animal accurst by Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Music’s sweet charms can ever love,<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">98</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span> +have used like the worst of enemies those he so tenderly +loved.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>want of passion</i>), 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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor pains, nor age, nor labor they e’er bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor visited rough Acheron’s hoarse shore,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>saith Pindar of the Gods; but human passions and affairs +are liable to a strange multiplicity of uncertain accidents +and contingencies.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where have I erred? What have I done amiss?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What should be done by me that undone is?<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">99</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Glaucus, behold!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sea with billows deep begins to roll;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The seas begin in azure rods to lie;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A teeming cloud of pitch hangs on the sky</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Right o’er Gyre rocks; there is a tempest nigh;<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">100</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By gathering in his sails, with mighty pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Escapes the hell-pits of the raging main.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Hesiod<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> 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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Each make his spear to glitter as the sun,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each see his warlike target well hung on,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>he then prayed,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Grant me, great Jove, to throw down Priam’s roof.<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">102</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">103</a></p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">104</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mad, raving, tearing, foaming Deity,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span></p> +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou dost on the bed-clothes jump,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And there liest like a lump.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou dost tantalize the bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When love’s charms by thee are tied.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou look’st grim and full of dread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When thou walk’st to find the dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou down chairs and tables rumbl’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When with Oberon thou tumbl’st.<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">105</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Six daughters, and six sons full in their prime;<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">106</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Would God I had his liver ’twixt my teeth;<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">107</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>yet the superstitious believe, if a man taste of a minnow or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span> +bleak, the Syrian Goddess will eat his shins through, fill +his body with sores, and dissolve his liver.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Had I a power as my will is good,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know this, bold tyrant, I would have thy blood.<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">108</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span> +speaks of, where he thus touches the sacrifices of +beasts:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The sire lifts up his dear beloved son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who first some other form and shape did take;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He doth him slay and sacrifice anon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And therewith vows and foolish prayers doth make.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="SAYINGS_OF_KINGS_AND_GREAT_COMMANDERS">THE APOPHTHEGMS OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF +KINGS AND GREAT COMMANDERS.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="section"> +<h3>PLUTARCH TO TRAJAN THE EMPEROR WISHETH PROSPERITY.</h3></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Artaxerxes</span>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cyrus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Darius.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Semiramis.</span> Semiramis built a monument for herself, with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Xerxes.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Artaxerxes.</span> Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, surnamed +Longimanus (or <i>Long-hand</i>) 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cyrus the Younger.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Artaxerxes Mnemon.</span> 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!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Parysatis.</span> Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, +advised him that would discourse freely with the +king, to use words of fine linen.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Orontes.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Memnon.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Egyptian Kings.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Poltys.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Teres.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cotys.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Idathyrsus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ateas.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scilurus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gelo.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hiero.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> +fined Epicharmus the comedian, for speaking unseemly +when his wife was by.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dionysius.</span> 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, +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Μωρολογεῖς</span>, You will make a foolish speech, O Dionysius, +You are mistaken, said he, <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Μοναρχήσω</span>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dionysius the Younger</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agathocles</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dion.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archelaus.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Philip.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander.</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Such humor as distils from blessed Gods.<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">110</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span> +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 <i>royally</i>. 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ptolemy.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antigonus.</span> 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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span> +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 <i>dog</i>) 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Demetrius.</span> 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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antigonus the Second.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lysimachus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antipater.</span> Antipater, hearing that Parmenio was slain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antiochus the Third.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antiochus Hierax.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eumenes.</span> 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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If a widow you will wed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wait till you’re sure her husband’s dead.<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">111</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pyrrhus the Epirot.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antiochus.</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Themistocles.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myronides.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aristides.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Aeschylus wrote these verses on Amphiaraus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His shield no emblem bears; his generous soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wishes to be, not to appear, the best;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While the deep furrows of his noble mind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Harvests of wise and prudent counsel bear.<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">112</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span></p> +<p>And when they were pronounced in the theatre, all turned +their eyes upon Aristides.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pericles.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcibiades.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lamachus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Iphicrates.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Timotheus.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chabrias.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hegesippus.</span> When Hegesippus, surnamed Crobylus +(i.e. <i>Top-knot</i>), 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pytheas.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phocion.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span> +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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Demetrius Phalereus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lycurgus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Charillus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Teleclus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Theopompus.</span> Theopompus, to one that showed him the +walls of a city and asked him if they were not high and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span> +beautiful, answered, No, not even if they are built for +women.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archidamus.</span> Archidamus, in the Peloponnesian war, +when his allies requested him to appoint them their quota +of tributes, replied, War has a very irregular appetite.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brasidas.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agis.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lysander.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agesilaus.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archidamus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agis the Younger.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cleomenes.</span> To one that promised to give him hardy +cocks, that would die fighting, Prithee, said he, give me +cocks that will kill fighting.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paedaretus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Damonidas.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nicostratus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eudaemonidas.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antiochus.</span> Antiochus being Ephor, when he heard +Philip had given the Messenians a country, asked whether<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span> +he had granted them that they should be victorious when +they fought for that country.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Antalcidas.</span> 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?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Epaminondas.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pelopidas.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3>ROMAN APOPHTHEGMS.</h3></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">M.’ Curius.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">C. Fabricius.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fabius Maximus.</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scipio the Elder.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">T. Quinctius.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cneus Domitius.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Publius Licinius.</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paulus Aemilius.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cato the Elder.</span> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scipio Junior.</span> 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,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Others like shadows fly;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He only is wise.<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">113</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caecilius Metellus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">C. Marius.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lutatius Catulus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sylla.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">C. Popilius.</span> C. Popilius was sent to Antiochus with a +letter from the senate, commanding him to withdraw his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lucullus.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cn. Pompeius.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span> +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:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Whoever comes within a tyrant’s door</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Becomes his slave, though he were free before.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cicero.</span> 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 (<i>cicer</i>) 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Children he hath got,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though Apollo favored not.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">C. Caesar.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caesar Augustus.</span> Caesar, who was the first surnamed +Augustus, being yet young, demanded of Antony the twenty-five +millions of money<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PRESERVATION_OF_HEALTH">PLUTARCH’S RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION +OF HEALTH.<br> +<br> +<span class="small">A DIALOGUE.</span><br> +<br> +<span class="smaller">MOSCHIO, ZEUXIPPUS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Moschio.</span> And you, Zeuxippus, diverted Glaucus the +physician from entering into a philosophical discourse with +you yesterday.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zeuxippus.</span> 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<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Moschio.</span> But I am ready, Zeuxippus, to hear those +and the other things you shall discourse of, with a great +deal of pleasure.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zeuxippus.</span> 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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What in his house is well or ill-designed,<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">117</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Moschio.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>2. <span class="smcap">Zeuxippus.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span> +very bad, only because they could not endure to eat before +they washed; among whom Titus the emperor was one, +as his physicians affirm.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis better, sirs, I should you now displease,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than by complying next day lose my ease.<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">118</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span> +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;<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> 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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span> +bodies in right order, that if at any time they should be +oppressed, their lightness may keep them up like a cork.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In silence,—for the Gods have struck them dumb;<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">121</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span> +which were smeared and rubbed.<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">268</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy joys with moderation I would have,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that I ne’er may want them humbly crave.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast down his eyes and fell to junketing,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 +<i>Indus</i> or to dispute about the <i>Kyrieuon</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span> +of the state,—at least (I may say) in my +opinion.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">278</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">279</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="ADVANTAGE_AND_PROFIT">HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE ADVANTAGE AND +PROFIT FROM HIS ENEMIES.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Not</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Because then we cannot live in this world out of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">285</span> +reason. For they always carry in their minds that saying +of Homer, if we act any thing amiss,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Priam will laugh at us, and all his brood;</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">286</span> +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;</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">While from the culture of a prudent mind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Harvests of wise and noble thought you reap.<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">124</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Those that are conquered, saith Pindar, must seal up +their lips; they dare not open their mouths, no, not even +to mutter.<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> 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<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">287</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou heal others, thou thyself being full of sores?<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">128</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">288</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Know thyself</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">289</span> +they allow themselves the liberty of talking what +they please.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">290</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">291</span> +corresponded familiarly with him, and used every day to +send him letters and messengers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fortune hath taken for her salary</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My dearest goods, but wisdom she hath given;<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">130</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">292</span> +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,”<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">293</span> +the scoffs, outrages, and affronts of enemies, than to be +stirred up to choler or revenge by the worst they can say +or do.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">294</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">295</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">296</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">297</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">298</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">299</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONSOLATION_TO_APOLLONIUS">CONSOLATION TO APOLLONIUS.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">As</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Soft words alleviate a wounded heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you in time will mitigate the smart.<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">136</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">300</span></p> +<p>Euripides hath said wisely to this purpose:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Our applications should suited be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unto the nature of the malady;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sorrow we should wipe the tender eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the immoderate weeper should chastise.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">301</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If Fortune prove extravagantly kind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Above its temper do not raise thy mind;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If she disclaims thee like a jilting dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be not dejected, but be still the same,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like gold unchanged amidst the hottest flame.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For no man lives who always happy is.<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">137</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And, by Jove, you should not hinder what ought to be +done,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">302</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Those things which in their nature ought to be.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">138</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Think not thyself, O Atreus’ son, forlorn;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou always to be happy wast not born.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Even Agamemnon’s self must be a shade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thou of frail materials art made.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sorrow and joy alternately succeed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Spite of thy teeth, the Gods have so decreed.<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">139</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>These verses are Menander’s.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou, O Trophimus, of all mankind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Uninterrupted happiness couldst find;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If when thy mother brought thee forth with pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst this condition of thy life obtain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That only prosperous gales thy sails should fill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all things happen ’cording to thy will;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If any of the Gods did so engage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such usage justly might provoke thy rage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Matter for smart resentment might afford,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the false Deity did break his word.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if thou unexcepted saw’st the light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without a promise of the least delight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I say to thee (gravely in tragic style)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou ought to be more patient all the while.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In short,—and to say more there’s no one can,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which is a name of frailty, thou’rt a man;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A creature more rejoicing is not found,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">None more dejected creeps upon the ground.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though weak, yet he in politics refines,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Involves himself in intricate designs;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With nauseous business he himself doth cloy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And so the pleasure of his life destroy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In great pursuits thou never hast been cross’d</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No disappointments have thy projects lost;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nay, such hath been the mildness of thy fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast no misfortune had of any rate;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If Fortune is at any time severe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Serene and undisturbed thou must appear.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">303</span></p> +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Like to a wheel that constantly goes round,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One part is up whilst t’other’s on the ground.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Which no man can avoid with all his care.<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">140</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No worldly wealth is firm and sure;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But for a day it doth endure.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">141</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And also:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From small beginnings our misfortunes grow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And little rubs our feet do overthrow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A single day is able down to cast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some things from height, and others raise as fast.<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">142</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">304</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For earthly fruits and mortal men’s estate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Turn round about in one and selfsame rate;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some live, wax strong, and prosper day by day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While others are cast down and fade away.<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">143</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And Pindar hath it in another place,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What are we, what are we not?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Man is but a shadow’s dream.<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">305</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all that breathes or grovelling creeps on earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most man is vain! calamitous by birth:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To-day, with power elate, in strength he blooms;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The haughty creature on that power presumes:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Anon from Heaven a sad reverse he feels;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Untaught to bear, ’gainst Heaven the wretch rebels.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For man is changeful, as his bliss or woe;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too high when prosperous, when distress’d too low.<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">145</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And in another place:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What or from whence I am, or who my sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Replied the chief), can Tydeus’ son enquire?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another race the following spring supplies;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They fall successive, and successive rise.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So generations in their course decay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So flourish these, when those are past away.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">146</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>How prettily he managed this image of human life +appears from what he hath said in another place:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For what is man? Calamitous by birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They owe their life and nourishment to earth;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like yearly leaves, that now with beauty crown’d,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Smile on the sun, now wither on the ground.<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">147</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">306</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Rise then; let reason mitigate our care:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To mourn avails not: man is born to bear.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such is, alas! the Gods’ severe decree:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They, only they, are blest, and only free.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The source of evil one, and one of good;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blessings to these, to these distributes ills;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To most he mingles both; the wretch decreed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To taste the bad unmix’d is cursed indeed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He wanders, outcast both of earth and heaven.<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">148</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The cover of the box she did remove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to fly out the crowding mischief strove;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But slender hope upon the brims did stay,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">307</span> + <div class="verse indent0">Ready to vanish into air away;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She with retrieve the haggard in did put,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on the prisoner close the box did shut;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But plagues innumerable abroad did fly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Infecting all the earth, the seas, and sky.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Diseases now with silent feet do creep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torment us waking, and afflict our sleep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These midnight evils steal without a noise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Jupiter deprived them of their voice.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>8. After these the comedian, talking of those who bear +afflictions uneasily, speaks consonantly to this purpose:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If we in wet complaints could quench our grief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At any rate we’d purchase our relief;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With proffered gold would bribe off all our fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And make our eyes distil in precious tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the Gods mind not mortals here below,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor the least thought on our affairs bestow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with an unregarding air pass by,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether our cheeks be moist, or whether dry.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unhappiness is always sorrow’s root,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And tears do hang from them like crystal fruit.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And Dictys comforts Danae, who was bitterly taking on, +after this manner:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dost think that thy repinings move the grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or from its jaws thy dying son can save?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou would’st lessen it, thy grief compare;—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consider how unhappy others are;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How many bonds of slavery do hold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How many of their children robbed grow old;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How sudden Fate throws off th’ usurped crown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in the dirt doth tread the tyrant down.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let this with deep impression in thee sink,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on these revolutions often think.<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">150</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">308</span> +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.</p> + +<p>10. Aeschylus also doth justly reprimand those who +think death to be an evil, declaring after this manner:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Some as a thing injurious death do fly;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But of all mischiefs ’tis the remedy.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And he who spoke thus very nicely imitated him:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Come, with impatience I expect thee, Death;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stop with thy obliging hand my breath:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee as a physician all resort,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And we through tempests sail into thy port.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And it is great to speak this sentence with courage:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where is the slave who never fears to die?<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">151</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Or this:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And shadows never scare me, thanks to hell.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">309</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Our time is of a short and tender length,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cares we have many, and but little strength;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Labors in crowds push one another on,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And cruel destiny we cannot shun.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">310</span> + <div class="verse indent0">The casting of these lots is very just,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For good and bad lie in one common dust.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Pindar hath it so:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Gods unequal have us mortals vexed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For to one good, two evils are annexed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They pay a single joy with double care,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fools such dispensations cannot bear.<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">152</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Sophocles so:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why at a mortal’s death dost thou complain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou know’st not what may be his future gain.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And Euripides so:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dost thou not know the state of human things?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A faithful monitor thy instruction brings.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inevitable death hangs o’er our head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And threatens falling by a doubtful thread.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There’s no man can be certain over night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he shall live to see to-morrow’s light.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Life without any interruption flows,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the results of fate there’s no man knows.<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">153</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">154</a> particularly +attests it:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His senses all becalmed, he drew his breath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His sleep was sound, and quiet like to death.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">311</span></p> +<p>And in many places he saith thus,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She met Death’s brother, Sleep.—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And again,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Twin brothers, Sleep and Death,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">312</span> +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.”<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">155</a></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">313</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let no man fear what doth his labors end;—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>and death sets us free even from the greatest evils.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">314</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis ignorance makes wretched men to err;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fate did to happiness thy son prefer.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By destined death Euthynous seized we see;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So ’twas the better both for him and thee.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>These are the stories which the ancients tell us.</p> + +<p>15. But lastly, if death be the entire dissipation of soul +and body (which was the third part of Socrates’s comparison),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">315</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The dead secure from sorrow safe do lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis the same thing not to be born and die.<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">156</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">316</span> +above. What in all this is grievous? Nothing at +all.” But that which Cresphontes in Euripides saith of +Hercules,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For if he dwells below, beneath the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With those whose life is gone, his strength is nought,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>I would have changed into these words,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For if he dwells below, beneath the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With those whose life is gone, his woes are o’er.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>This Laconic too is very noble:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Others before and after us will be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose age we’re not permitted e’er to see.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And again:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These neither did live handsomely nor die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though both should have been done with decency.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But Euripides hath spoken incomparably well of those who +labor under daily indispositions:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I hate the man who studies to defeat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The power of death with artificial meat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To baffle and prevent his fate does think,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lengthens out his life with magic drink.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whereas, when he a burden doth become,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then he should die, because he’s troublesome.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old age in modesty should then give place,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And so make way unto a brisker race.<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">157</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But Merope moved the passion of the theatre with these +masculine expressions:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My sons by death are ravished from my side,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I’m a widow, who was once a bride.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am not thus selected to be crossed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Others their sons and husbands too have lost.<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">158</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And we may not incongruously add these:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What is become of that magnificence?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where is King Croesus with his opulence?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or where is Xerxes with his mighty pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who with a bridge did curb the raging tide?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inhabitants of darkness they became,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now are living only in their fame.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Their riches have perished with their bodies.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">317</span></p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If this with certainty thou could’st have known,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Fortune always would have kindness shown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That nothing but what’s good would him befall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His death thou justly might’st untimely call.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if calamities were imminent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Death the fatal mischief did prevent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give to things the character that’s due,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Death was the most obliging of the two.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There is no man whom sorrow doth not seize;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our children die while others we beget.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At last we die ourselves, and mortals grieve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As they give dust to dust; but human life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must needs be reaped like a full crop of corn.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One man must live, another die: why weep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this, which by necessity must be?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is no hardship in necessity.<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">159</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">318</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beloved by Jove and him who gilds the skies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet short his date of life.<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">160</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">319</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">320</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This wholesome precept from the wise I learn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To think of misery without concern.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My meditating thoughts are always spent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Either on death or else on banishment.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Foresight of evils doth employ my mind,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">321</span> + <div class="verse indent0">That me without defence they may not find;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And though in ambuscade the mischief lies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Kill me it may, but shall not me surprise.<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">161</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>22. Therefore Plato<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">162</a> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">322</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Your blooming children’s nurse, I have come forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A suppliant from the caves where I have mourned.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">323</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,”<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">163</a> 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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet shun Achilles! enter yet the wall;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And spare thyself, thy father, spare us all!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Save thy dear life; or, if a soul so brave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neglect that thought, thy dearer glory save.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pity, while yet I live, these silver hairs;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While yet thy father feels the woes he bears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet curst with sense! a wretch whom in his rage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All trembling on the verge of helpless age</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Great Jove has placed, sad spectacle of pain!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bitter dregs of Fortune’s cup to drain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fill with scenes of death his closing eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And number all his days by miseries!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My heroes slain, my bridal bed o’erturn’d,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughters ravish’d, and my city burn’d,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My bleeding infants dash’d against the floor;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These I have yet to see, perhaps yet more!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perhaps even I, reserv’d by angry Fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The last sad relic of my ruin’d state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Dire pomp of sovereign wretchedness!) must fall,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">324</span> + <div class="verse indent0">And stain the pavement of my regal hall;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where famish’d dogs, late guardians of my door,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall lick their mangled master’s spatter’d gore.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when the Fates, in fulness of their rage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spurn the hoar head of unresisting age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In dust the reverend lineaments deform,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pour to dogs the life-blood scarcely warm:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This, this is misery! the last, the worst,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That man can feel,—man, fated to be cursed!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He said, and acting what no words can say,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rent from his head the silver locks away.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With him the mournful mother bears a part;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet all her sorrows turn not Hector’s heart.<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">164</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">325</span></p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Whilst others they lament with weeping eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The darkness of the night doth them surprise.<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">165</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The earth with evils doth abound;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As many in the sea are found?<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">166</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">326</span></p> +<p>And thus likewise:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Fates have so encompassed men with ills,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That even the wind can find no entrance?</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">327</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>I could bring millions of examples to justify this topic, +but I will not be long.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The things we do possess are not our own;<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">167</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>but in general no man can claim a strict propriety in any +thing he hath:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When Gods do riches lend, it is but just</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That when they please we should resign our trust.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">328</span> +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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In the ever-flowering bloom of youth remain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor loaded with children, like a fruitful tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold the sun’s sweet light,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <span class="smcap">Know thyself</span>, and <span class="smcap">Nothing too much</span>; 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 <i>Know thyself</i> is +included <i>Nothing too much</i>; and so again in the latter is +comprised <i>Know thyself</i>. And Ion hath spoken of it +thus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This sentence, <i>Know thyself</i>, is but a word;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But only Jove himself could do the thing.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And thus Pindar:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This sentence brief, Do nothing to excess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wise men have always praised exceedingly.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">329</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Against those evils thou shouldest not repine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which are inflicted by the powers divine.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Thus the tragedian Aeschylus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He store of wisdom and of virtue hath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom nothing from the Gods provokes to wrath.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Euripides thus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He that is passive when the Fates command</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is wise, and all the Gods doth understand.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In another place so:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He that can bear those things which men befall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him wise and modest we may justly call.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Gods do hurt thee not, but thou thyself,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The wretch, his father being absent, dies;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor did his aged mother close his eyes.<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">168</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">330</span> +die silent, giving them no instructions at parting, they +complain thus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His tender dying words I did not hear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I in my remembrance still should bear.<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">169</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As a poor father, helpless and undone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mourns o’er the ashes of an only son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Takes a sad pleasure the last bones to burn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pours in tears ere yet they close the urn.<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">170</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And whether these things are justly lamented doth not yet +appear. But see what he elsewhere sings:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Born in his elder years, his only boy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who was designed his riches to enjoy.<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">171</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For nought that cometh by necessity is hard,<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">172</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">331</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Andromache, my soul’s far better part,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No hostile hand can antedate my doom,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till Fate condemns me to the silent tomb.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fix’d is the term to all the race of earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And such the hard condition of our birth:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No force can then resist, no flight can save,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All sink alike, the fearful and the brave.<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">173</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Which the poet expresseth in another place thus.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The thread which at his birth for him was spun.<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">174</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">332</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">333</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">334</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">175</a> 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.</p> + +<p>34. For that virtuous men die in the prime of their +years by the kindness of the Gods, to whom they are peculiarly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">335</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He whom the Gods do love dies young.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The time of being here we style amiss;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We call it life, but truly labor ’tis.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">336</span> +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.</p> + +<p>35. Of the state of the pious after death, Pindar discourseth +after this manner:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There the sun shines with an unsullied light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the world below is thick with night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There all the richly scented plants do grow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And there the crimson-colored roses blow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each flower blooming on its tender stalk,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all these meadows are their evening walk.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There trees peculiarly delight the sense,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With their exhaled perfumes of frankincense.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The boughs their noble burdens cannot hold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The weight must sink them when the fruit is gold.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some do the horse unto the manege bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Others unto the tuneful lute do sing;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There’s plenty to excess of every thing.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The region always doth serene appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sun and pious flames do make it clear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where fragrant gums do from the altars rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When to the Gods they offer sacrifice.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And proceeding farther, in another lamentation he spake +thus concerning the soul:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Just we that distribution may call,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which to each man impartially doth fall.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It doth decide the dull contentious strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And easeth the calamities of life.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Death doth its efforts on the body spend;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the aspiring soul doth upwards tend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nothing can damp that bright and subtile flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immortal as the Gods from whence it came.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this sometimes a drowsy nap will take,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the other members are awake.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fancy in various dreams doth to it show,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What punishments unto each crime is due;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What pleasures are reserved for pious deeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with what scourges the incestuous bleeds.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">337</span></p> +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">338</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">339</span> +death in my opinion is nothing else but the separation of +two things nearly united, which are soul and body.”<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">176</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">340</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="VIRTUES_OF_WOMEN">CONCERNING THE VIRTUES OF WOMEN.</h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Concerning</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">341</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">342</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 1.</span> <i>Of the Trojan Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">343</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 2.</span> <i>Of the Phocian Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">344</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 3.</span> <i>Of the Women of Chios.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">345</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">346</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 4.</span> <i>Of the Argive Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">347</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 5.</span> <i>Of the Persian Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 6.</span> <i>Of the Celtic Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">348</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 7.</span> <i>Of the Melian Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">349</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 8.</span> <i>Of the Tyrrhene Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">350</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">351</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 9.</span> <i>Of the Lycian Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">352</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 10.</span> <i>Of the Women of Salmantica.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">353</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">354</span> +in their humble supplications, were admitted by him +into the city, obtaining indemnity and civil usage.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 11.</span> <i>Of the Women of Milesia.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 12.</span> <i>Of the Women of Cios.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">355</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 13.</span> <i>Of the Phocian Women.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 14.</span> <i>Valeria and Cloelia.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">356</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">357</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 15.</span> <i>Of Micca and Megisto.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">358</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">359</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">360</span> +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:—</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">361</span> +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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">362</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">363</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 16.</span> <i>Of Pieria.</i></h3></div> + +<p>Some of the Ionians who came to dwell at Miletus, +falling into contention with the sons of Neleus, departed to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">364</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 17.</span> <i>Of Polycrita.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">365</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">366</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 18.</span> <i>Of Lampsace.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">367</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 19.</span> <i>Aretaphila.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">368</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">369</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">370</span> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">371</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">372</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 20.</span> <i>Camma.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">373</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 21.</span> <i>Stratonica.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_374">374</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 22.</span> <i>Chiomara.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 23.</span> <i>Of the Woman of Pergamus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_375">375</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_376">376</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 24.</span> <i>Timoclea.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_377">377</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_378">378</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 25.</span> <i>Eryxo.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_379">379</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_380">380</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 26.</span> <i>Xenocrita.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_381">381</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_382">382</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Example 27.</span> <i>The Wife of Pythes.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_383">383</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_384">384</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_385">385</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="SAYINGS_OF_THE_SPARTANS">LACONIC APOPHTHEGMS; OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS +OF THE SPARTANS.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agasicles.</i></h3></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Agasicles</span> 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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agesilaus the Great.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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;<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">177</a> No more, he returned, than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_386">386</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_387">387</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_388">388</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_389">389</span> +the youth may imitate, having the old men and governors +for example.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_390">390</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><span class="smcap">Agesilaus</span> <i>to the</i> <span class="smcap">Ephors</span>, <i>Greeting.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_391">391</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_392">392</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_393">393</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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?<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">178</a> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_394">394</span> +no more, he presently wrote back: King Agesilaus to +Menecrates wisheth a sound mind.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>A letter being brought him from the king of Persia by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_395">395</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_396">396</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_397">397</span> +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 +<span class="allsmcap">VICTORY</span>, 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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agesipolis the Son of Cleombrotus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_398">398</span> +must be carried out of the country, he replied, Nor men +heretofore, but now they may.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agesipolis the Son of Pausanias.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agis the Son of Archidamus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_399">399</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_400">400</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agis the Younger.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Agis the Last.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Acrotatus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Alcamenes the Son of Teleclus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_401">401</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Alexandridas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Anaxander the Son of Eurycrates.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_402">402</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Anaxilas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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).</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Androclidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Antalcidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_403">403</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Antiochus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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?</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Aregeus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Those that extinguished the tyrannic flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surprised by war and hasty fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though they are still alive in lasting fame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lie buried near Selinus’ gate;—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>and said: You died deservedly for quenching it when +already in a flame; for you should have hindered it from +coming to a blaze.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Ariston.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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!</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Archidamidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>Archidamidas said to one commending Charilas for +being kind to all alike, How can he deserve commendation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_404">404</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Archidamus the Son of Zeuxidamus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Archidamus the Son of Agesilaus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>Archidamus the son of Agesilaus, when Philip after the +battle at Chaeronea sent him a haughty letter, returned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_405">405</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Astycratidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_406">406</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Bias.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Brasidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Damonidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<i>Of Damis.</i> + +<p>Damis to some letters that were sent to him by Alexander, +intimating that he should vote Alexander a God,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_407">407</span> +returned this answer: We are content that Alexander (if +he will) be called a God.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Damindas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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?</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Dercyllidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Demaratus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_408">408</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">179</a></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Emprepes.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Epaenetus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>Epaenetus said that liars were the cause of all villanies +and injustice in the world.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Euboidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Eudamidas the Son of Archidamus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_409">409</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_410">410</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Eurycratidas the Son of Anaxandridas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Zeuxidamus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Herondas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Thearidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>Thearidas whetting his sword, being asked, Is it sharp, +Thearidas? replied, Yes, sharper than a slander.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Themisteas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Theopompus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>Theopompus, when one asked him how a monarch may be +safe, replied, If he will give his friends just freedom to speak<span class="pagenum" id="Page_411">411</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Thorycion.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Thectamenes.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Hippodamus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_412">412</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Hippocratidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Callicratidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_413">413</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Cleombrotus the Son of Pausanias.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Cleomenes the Son of Anaxandridas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_414">414</span> +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.</p> + +<p>One of the citizens saying that a good king should be +always mild and gracious, True, said he, as long as he doth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_415">415</span> +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.</p> + +<p>When the Argives boasted that they would retrieve their +defeat by a new battle, he said, I wonder if the addition of +two syllables<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">180</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_416">416</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Cleomenes the Son of Cleombrotus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Labotus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Leotychidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Leotychidas the Son of Aristo.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_417">417</span> +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?</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Leo the Son of Eucratidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Leonidas the Son of Anaxandridas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_418">418</span> +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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_419">419</span> +and the third, I will not be behind these, but the first in +the fight.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Lochagus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Lycurgus the Lawgiver.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_420">420</span></p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">181</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_421">421</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>optiloi</i>. +Being asked why he used no written laws, he replied, Because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_422">422</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_423">423</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_424">424</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_425">425</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Lysander.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_426">426</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_427">427</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Namertes.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Nicander.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Panthoidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_428">428</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Pausanias the Son of Cleombrotus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Pausanias the Son of Plistoanax.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_429">429</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Paedaretus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Plistarchus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_430">430</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Plistoanax.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Polydorus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_431">431</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Polycratidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Phoebidas.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Soos.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Telecrus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_432">432</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of Charillus.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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. + +<div class="section"> +<h3>THE REMARKABLE SPEECHES OF SOME OBSCURE +MEN AMONGST THE SPARTANS.</h3> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_433">433</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_434">434</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_435">435</span> +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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_436">436</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_437">437</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Stout Thrasybulus on his shield was brought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From bloody fields, where he had bravely fought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Argives beat, and as he stoutly prest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seven spears, and Death attending, pierced his breast.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The father took the corpse, and as he bled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He laid it on the funeral pile, and said:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be cowards mourned, I’ll spend no tear nor groan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whilst thus I burn a Spartan and my son.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_438">438</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_439">439</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_440">440</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_441">441</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="OFHEARING">OF HEARING.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>The Introduction.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">182</a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_442">442</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Remarks about Hearing in general.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_443">443</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>More General Rules about Hearing.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_444">444</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And vain and unregarded turns to air.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_445">445</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Directions concerning Attention.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_446">446</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_447">447</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_448">448</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Caution about Admiration.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_449">449</span> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_450">450</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>How to separate the Useful Part of a Discourse.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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,”<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">183</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_451">451</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_452">452</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of asking Questions.</i> +</h3></div> + +<p>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.—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To no brave prize aspired the worthless swain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twas but for scraps he asked, and asked in vain,<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">184</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_453">453</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Which doth the very heart-strings move,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That ne’er were stirred before,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_454">454</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Directions concerning Praising.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_455">455</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Not to be too prone to commend.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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;—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_456">456</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As oft amidst the furze and thorny brakes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tender violets more securely peep.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">185</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_457">457</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_458">458</span></p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Care to be observed in Praising Persons of all Qualities.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_459">459</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>Of bearing Admonitions and Reproofs.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_460">460</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>The Difficulties in Philosophy vincible.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_461">461</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_462">462</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Expect much fraud, and many a time be caught,—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus a short way is long and tedious made,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>as Sophocles<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">186</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="section"> +<h3><i>A Concluding Exhortation.</i></h3></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_463">463</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_464">464</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOLLY_OF_SEEKING_MANY_FRIENDS">OF LARGE ACQUAINTANCE; OR, AN ESSAY TO PROVE +THE FOLLY OF SEEKING MANY FRIENDS.</h2></div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Menon</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_465">465</span></p> + +<p>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,”<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">187</a>—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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἑταῖρος</span> (companion) +as much as to say <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἕτερος</span> (the other one), is a convincing +argument that the number two is the adequate and complete +measure of friendship. And in truth, a great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_466">466</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">188</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_467">467</span> +would that other sort of insect pay any farther respect, +were nothing to be got by it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his good fortune yield thy part to thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bear like part of thy calamity.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">189</a> Yet we +must own it is a hard and troublesome task to cast off a disagreeable +acquaintance; for as unwholesome meats which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_468">468</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_469">469</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No more shall meet Achilles and his friend;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more our thoughts to those we loved make known,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or quit the dearest, to converse alone.<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">190</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And, as Menelaus says of Ulysses:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There with commutual zeal we both had strove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In acts of dear benevolence and love,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Brothers in peace, not rivals in command,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And death alone dissolved the friendly band.<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">191</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As when the fig-tree’s juice curdles and binds white milk,<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">192</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_470">470</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And the whole city’s filled with incense smoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And songs of triumph mixt with groans resound;<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">193</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.”<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">194</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_471">471</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent20">Best suited to the state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of mortal life are mutual friendships formed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With moderation, such as take not root</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deep in the soul, affections that with ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May be relaxed, or closer bound at will,<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">195</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_472">472</span></p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">196</a> Thus in the plague of Athens, says Thucydides,<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">197</a> +the most generous and virtuous citizens, while without +regard to their own safety they visited their sick, frequently +perished with their friends.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_473">473</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">198</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_474">474</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_475">475</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FIRST_ORATION_VIRTUE_OF_ALEXANDER">THE FIRST ORATION OF PLUTARCH CONCERNING +THE FORTUNE OR VIRTUE OF ALEXANDER +THE GREAT.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">This</span> 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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many a bloody day</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In toilsome fight he spent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And many a wakeful night</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In battle’s management;<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">199</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>2. And now, methinks, I hear him speaking thus to Fortune, +when she signalizes herself with his successes:—</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_476">476</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_477">477</span> +timely breach, that barbarous and nameless village might +have proved Alexander’s tomb.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_478">478</span> +according to Aristobulus; or, as Duris records it, only +thirty days’ provision.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_479">479</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_480">480</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_481">481</span> +the chiefest of philosophers, who changed the wild and +brutish customs of so many various nations, reducing them +to order and government.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_482">482</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>8. But then, when he considered the Eastern garments, +Alexander preferred the Persian before the Median habit,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_483">483</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_484">484</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_485">485</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All I did eat and drink, and all that lust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me vouchsafed, I have; all else is gone.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The statue seems to look to Jove and say,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take thou Olympus; me let Earth obey!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>and that other,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This is Alexander the son of Jove.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_486">486</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Both a good king, and far renowned in war;<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">200</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When he the mighty deeds of heroes sung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose fame so loudly o’er the world has rung;<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">201</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_487">487</span> +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,—</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_488">488</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_489">489</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_490">490</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And needs no omen but his country’s cause.<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">202</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And that other of Demosthenes,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Death is the certain end of all mankind.<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">203</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">204</a> but it dissipates +all manner of consideration, sense of honor, and +resolution; while philosophy binds and keeps them together....</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—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.)</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_491">491</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="SECOND_ORATION_VIRTUE_OF_ALEXANDER">THE SECOND ORATION OF PLUTARCH CONCERNING +THE FORTUNE OR VIRTUE OF ALEXANDER THE +GREAT.</h2> +</div> + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">We</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_492">492</span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Base earth-bred silver thou admirest.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>To whom Archelaus not unwittily reparteed,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But thou dost beg it.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_493">493</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A mighty warrior, terrible to his foes.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_494">494</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The masculine touches of the well-tuned lyre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unsheathe the sword and warlike rage inspire.<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">205</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The statue seems to look to Jove and say,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take thou Olympus; me let Earth obey!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_495">495</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_496">496</span></p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis the mind only sees, the mind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hears; the rest are deaf and blind.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_497">497</span></p> +<p>For as for the senses, they seem only to have their proper +opportunities to act.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Eat, drink, indulge thy lust; all other things are nothing.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_498">498</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_499">499</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_500">500</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Women may bear the burden of a crown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When a renowned commander puts it on.<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">206</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The vainer sort, that view their heaps of gold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or else advanced at court high places hold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grow wanton with those unexpected showers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Fortune on their happy greatness pours.<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">207</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_501">501</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Doris, but from Phoebus sprung.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For tyranny is the mother of injustice.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_502">502</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_503">503</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_504">504</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_505">505</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_506">506</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_507">507</span> +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:—</p> + +<p>“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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With spears, and swords, and mighty stones.<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">208</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>At the battle of the Granicus his helmet was cleft to his +very scull; at Gaza he was wounded in the shoulder with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_508">508</span> +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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Such stream as issues from a wounded God.<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">209</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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”.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_509">509</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_510">510</span> +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,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where are the magazines of arms? And where</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The barbed steeds provided for the war?<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">210</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_511">511</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Like thundering Jove’s, his awful head and eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gazing crowd with majesty surprise;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In every part with form celestial graced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His breast like Neptune’s, and like Mars his waist;<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">211</a></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_512">512</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_513">513</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_514">514</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_515">515</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_516">516</span> +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?<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">212</a></p> + + +<p class="center">END OF VOL. I.</p> + + +<p>FOOT-NOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">1</a> Eurip. Hercules Furens, 1261.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">2</a> Eurip. Hippol. 424.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">3</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἐξ ὀνύχων ἁπαλῶν</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">4</a> See Plato, Repub. II. p. 377 C.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">5</a> Eurip. Hippol. 986.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">6</a> Demosth. in Mid. p. 576, 16.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">7</a> Plato, Repub. VII. p. 537, B.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">8</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 371.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">9</a> From the Protesilaus of Euripides, Frag. 656.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">10</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">11</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Εἰς οὐχ ὁσίην τρυμαλίην τὸ κέντρον ὠθεῖς</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">12</a> From the Dictys of Euripides, Frag. 342.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">13</a> See Plato, Repub. V. p. 468, C.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">14</a> See Strabo X. pp. 483, 484.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">15</a> This saying, <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Τὴν κατὰ σαυτὸν ἔλα</span>, is attributed to Pittacus of Mitylene by Diogenes +Laertius, I. 4, 8. See also Aristoph. Nub. 25, and Aesch. Prom. 890. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">16</a> Il. XXII. 373.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">17</a> Eurip. Orestes, 72 and 99.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">18</a> Il. XVII. 591.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">19</a> From the Thamyras of Sophocles, Frag. 224.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">20</a> Il. V. 216.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">21</a> Aesch. Prometheus, 574.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">22</a> Soph. Antig. 563.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">23</a> Il. XIX. 188.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">24</a> Odyss. XX. 392.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">25</a> Il. XXIV. 239.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">26</a> Sophocles, Frag. 769.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">27</a> Euripides, Frag. 964.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">28</a> <i>Nephalia</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήφω</span>, <i>to be sober</i>) were wineless offerings, like those to the Eumenides +See Aesch. Eumen. 107: <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Χοάς τ’ ἀοίνους, νηφάλια μειλίγματα</span>. <i>Melisponda</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέλι</span>) +were offerings of honey. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">29</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Οὐ κόρας ἀλλὰ πόρνας. Κόρη</span> means either _maiden_ or _the pupil of +the eye_. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">30</a> Il. XXIV. 44</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">31</a> Eurip. Bellerophon, Frag. 311.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">32</a> Sophocles, Frag. 772.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">33</a> Eurip. Medea, 290.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">34</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 342.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">35</a> Demosth. Olynth. III. p. 33, 25. § 19.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">36</a> Eurip. Frag. 967. The verse is found also in Menander, Monos. 222. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">37</a> Thucyd. II. 40.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">38</a> Eurip. Pirithous, Frag. 598.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">39</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 371.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">40</a> Eurip. Medea, 1078.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">41</a> Thucyd. II. 64.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">42</a> Antisthenes, in his tenth tome, had a book entitled <i>Hercules</i> or <i>De Prudentia</i> or +<i>De Robore</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἡρακλῆς ἢ περὶ φρονήσεως ἢ ἰσχύος</span>), mentioned by Diogenes Laertius in +his life. See Diogenes Laert. VI. 1, 9.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">43</a> Plato, Clitophon, p. 407 C.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">44</a> Aristoph. Nub. 983.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">45</a> See Herod. IV. 2.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">46</a> 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.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">47</a> § 13 of the original is included in the paraphrase with § 3. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">48</a> The three songs were—<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἄμες ποτ’ ἦμες ἄλκιμοι νεανίαι</span>, <i>We once were valiant +youth</i>; <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἄμες δέ γ’ ἐσμέν· αἰ δὲ λῆς, αὐγάσδεο</span>, <i>And we are now: If you will, behold us</i>; +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἄμες δέ γ’ ἐσσόμεσθα πολλῷ κάρρονες</span>, <i>And we will soon be far more valiant</i>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">49</a> Expressed by Plutarch in the proverb,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Τὰν χεῖρα ποτιφέροντα τὰν τύχαν καλεῖν</span>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>As thou puttest thy hand to the work, invoke Fortune</i>. (G.)</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">50</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἀσπίδι μὲν Σαΐων τις ἀγάλλεται, ἣν παρὰ θάμνῳ</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἔντος ἀμώμητον κάλλιπον οὐκ ἐθέλων·</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">[<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Αὐτὸς δ’ ἐξέφυγον Θανάτου τέλος·</span>] <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἀσπὶς ἐκείνη</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἐῤῥέτω· ἐξαῦτις κτήσομαι οὐ κακίω.</span></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Archilochus, Fr. 6 (Bergk). The passage in brackets is omitted by Plutarch. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">51</a> No one will attempt to <i>study</i> 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, <i>De Metris +Pindari</i> (in Vol. I. 2 of his edition of Pindar); and more at length in Westphal’s +<i>Harmonik und Melopöie der Griechen</i> (in Rossbach and Westphal’s <i>Metrik</i>, Vol. II. 1).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span>). 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τρίτη</span>, 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:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη</span> <i>e</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">2. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρυπάτη</span> <i>f</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">3. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λιχανός</span> <i>g</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">4. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέση</span> <i>a</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">5. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παραμέση</span> <i>b</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">6. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τρίτη</span> <i>c</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">7. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρανήτη</span> <i>d</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">8. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span> <i>e</i> (octave)</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The note called <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη</span> (<i>hypate</i>, or <i>highest</i>) is the lowest in tone, being named from +its position. So <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span> or <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νεάτη</span> (<i>nete</i>, or <i>lowest</i>) is the highest in tone.</p> + +<p>The other of the two heptachords mentioned above contained the octave, but +omitted the <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παραμέση</span> and had other changes in the higher notes. The scale is as +follows:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη</span> <i>e</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">2. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρυπάτη</span> <i>f</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">3. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λιχανός</span> <i>g</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">4. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέση</span> <i>a</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">5. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τρίτη</span> <i>b</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">6. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρανήτη</span> <i>c</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">7. <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span> <i>d</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 +κ<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ατὰ συναφήν</span>, the latter <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">κατὰ διάζευξιν</span>. Of the eight notes of the octachord, +the first four (counting from the lowest), <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη, παρυπάτη, λιχανός</span>, and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέση</span>, are the +same in the heptachord; <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παραμέση</span> is omitted in the heptachord; while τρίτη, +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρανήτη</span>, and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span> in the heptachord are designated as τρίτη συνημμένων, παρανήτη +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">συνημμένων</span>, and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη συνημμένων</span>, to distinguish them from the notes of the same +name in the octachord, which sometimes have the designation <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">διεζευγμένων</span>, but generally +are written simply <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τρίτη</span>, &c.</p> + +<p>These simple scales were enlarged by the addition of higher and lower notes, +four at the bottom of the scale (i.e. before <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη</span>), called προσλαμβανόμενος, ὑπάτη +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπατῶν, παρυπάτη ὑπατῶν, λιχανός ὑπατῶν</span>; and three at the top (above <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span>), called +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη, παρανήτη, τρίτη</span>, each with the designation <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπερβολαίων</span>. The lowest three notes +of the ordinary octachord are here designated by <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέσων</span>, 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τρίτη, παρανήτη</span>, and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span> designated by <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">συνημμένων</span> and +<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">διεζευγμένων</span>.</p> + +<p>The harmonic intervals, discovered by Pythagoras, are the <i>Octave</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">διὰ πασῶν</span>,) with +its ratio of 2:1; the <i>Fifth</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">διὰ πέντε</span>), with its ratio of 3:2 (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λόγος ἡμιόλιος</span> or <i>Sesquialter</i>); +the <i>Fourth</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">διὰ τεσσάρων</span>), with its ratio of 4:3 (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λόγος ἐπίτριτος</span> or <i>Sesquiterce</i>); +and the <i>Tone</i> (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τόνος)</span>, with its ratio of 9:8 (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λόγος ἐπόγδοος</span> or <i>Sesquioctave</i>). (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">52</a> Il. I. 472.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">53</a> According to K. O. Müller (History of Greek Literature, Chap. XII. § 4), the +<i>nomes</i> were “musical compositions of great simplicity and severity, something resembling +the most ancient melodies of our church music.” (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">54</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Προσόδια</span> were songs sung to the music of flutes by processions, as they marched +to temples or altars; hence, songs of supplication. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">55</a> See Rossbach and Westphal, II. 1, p. 84. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">56</a> 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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">πολυκέφαλος</span>, or <i>many-headed</i>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">57</a> The relations of the enharmonic scale to the ordinary diatonic are thus stated +by Westphal (pp. 124-126), <i>b</i> being here substituted for the German <i>h</i>:—</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<th class="tdl normal" colspan="2">Enharmonic.</th> +<th> </th> +<th class="tdl normal" colspan="2">Diatonic.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη</span></td> +<td class="tdc">_e_</td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdc">_e_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑπάτη</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρυπάτη ἁρμον.</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δ</span></td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λιχανός ἁρμον.</span></td> +<td class="tdc">_f_</td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdc">_f_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρυπάτη</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> </td> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdl">_g_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λιχανός</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέση</span></td> +<td class="tdc">_a_</td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdc">_a_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μέση</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παραμέση</span></td> +<td class="tdc">_b_</td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdc">_b_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παραμέση</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τριτη ἁρμον.</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δ</span></td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρανήτη ἁρμον.</span></td> +<td class="tdc">_c_</td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdl">_c_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τρίτη</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> </td> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdl">_d_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρανήτη</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span></td> +<td class="tdc">_e_</td> +<td class="tdc">|</td> +<td class="tdl">_e_</td> +<td class="tdl"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">νήτη</span></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δ</span> inserted between <i>e</i> and <i>f</i> and between <i>b</i> and <i>c</i> is called <i>diesis</i>, and represents +a quarter-tone. The section in Westphal containing this scheme will greatly aid the +interpretation of § 11 of Plutarch. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">58</a> 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.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">59</a> See Westphal’s interpretation of this difficult and probably corrupt passage, II. +1, p. 89. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">60</a> Plato, Timaeus, p. 36 A. See the whole passage in the treatise <i>Of the Procreation +of the Soul as discoursed in Timaeus</i>, Chap. XXIX. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">61</a> See Rossbach, Griechische Rhythmik, p. 96, § 23. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">62</a> So Rossbach and Westphal interpret <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">παρακαταλογή</span>. Metrik, III. pp. 184, 554. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">63</a> It is uncertain here to whom the pronoun <i>he</i> refers. Volkmann transfers the +whole sentence to the end of Chap. XXIX., referring it to Lasus of Hermione. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">64</a> The original of this fragment of Pherecrates may be found in Meineke’s <i>Poet +Comic. Graec. Fragm.</i> 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.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">65</a> The passage in brackets is out of place here, and is generally transferred to the +middle of Chapter XXXVII. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">66</a> See note on Chapter XXXIV.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">67</a> Il. IX. 186.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">68</a> See Section 2.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">69</a> Odyss. I. 152</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">70</a> Eurip. Orestes, 258.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">71</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 519.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">72</a> Odyss. I. 191.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">73</a> Il. I. 488.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">74</a> Il. XVII. 104.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">75</a> Eurip. Orestes, 232.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">76</a> Il. X. 88.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">77</a> From Eurip. Bellerophon.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">78</a> Pindar, Nem. IV. 6.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">79</a> Simonides, 5, 17.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">80</a> Il. III. 182.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">81</a> Il. II. 111.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">82</a> Eurip. Iph. Aul. 16.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">83</a> Il. XVIII. 105.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">84</a> Pindar, Frag. 258 (Boeckh).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">85</a> Odyss. VI. 130; Il. XVII. 61.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">86</a> Solon, Frag. 15.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">87</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 25.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">88</a> See Il. XXIV. 527.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">89</a> Il. V. 484.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">90</a> Aesch. Philoct. Frag. 246.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">91</a> Eurip. Bacchae, 498.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">92</a> Eurip. Orestes, 396.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">93</a> See Il. I. 335.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">94</a> See Plato, Repub. I. p. 331 A.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">95</a> Plutarch derives <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δεῖμα</span> from <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δέω</span>, <i>to bind</i>, and <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τάρβος </span>from <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ταράσσω</span>, <i>to distract</i> or +<i>confuse</i>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">96</a> Eurip. Orestes, 211.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">97</a> Eurip. Troad. 759.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">98</a> Pindar, Pyth. I. 25.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">99</a> Pythagoras, Carmen Aur. 41.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">100</a> Archilochus, Frag. 56.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">101</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 463.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">102</a> See Il. VII. 193; II. 382, 414.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">103</a> See Maccabees, I. 2, 27-38, cited by Wyttenbach. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">104</a> Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 4.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">105</a> 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).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">106</a> Il. XXIV. 604.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">107</a> Il. XXIV. 212.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">108</a> Il. XXII. 20.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">109</a> The Greek <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">κλείς</span> (clavis), <i>a key</i>, signifies also the <i>collar-bone</i>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">110</a> Il. V. 340.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">111</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Μὴ σποῦδε γῆμαι, πρὶν τελευτήσαντ’ ἴδῃς</span>. From Sophocles’s Tyro, Frag. 596.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">112</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent14"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Σῆμα δ’ οὐκ ἐπῆν κύκλῳ·</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος ἀλλ’ εἶναι θέλει</span>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Βαθεῖαν ἄλοκα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενος</span>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἐξ ἧς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βουλεύματα</span>.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δίκαιος</span> in the second verse in +the place of <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἄριστος</span>. It has been plausibly conjectured, that the actor who spoke the +part intentionally substituted the word <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">δίκαιος</span> 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.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">113</a> See Odyss. X. 495.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">114</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ἦλθον, εἶδον, ἐνίκησα</span>, <i>veni, vidi, vici</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">115</a> 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.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">116</a> Il. XI. 514.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">117</a> Odyss. IV. 392.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">118</a> See Eurip. Medea. 290.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">119</a> Eteocles the Theban, in Eurip. Phoeniss. 524.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">120</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Μηδὲν διαφέρειν ὄπισθέν τινα ἢ ἔμπροσθεν εἶναι κίναιδον</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">121</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 102.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">122</a> The text of this passage is uncertain, and probably corrupt. I have given +Holland’s version of the doubtful expressions. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">123</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Τράγος γένειον ἆρα πενθήσεις σύ γε</span>, <i>Thou goat, soon thou shalt bewail the loss of +thy beard</i>. This verse is supposed to belong to the Satyrdrama <i>Prometheus</i> of +Aeschylus, which was exhibited with the trilogy to which the Persians belong. The +whole tetralogy, according to the <i>didascalia</i>, consisted of the <i>Phineus</i>, <i>Persians</i>, +Glaucus, and <i>Prometheus</i>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">124</a> Aeschyl. Septem, 593. See note on page 202. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">125</a> Fragment 253.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">126</a> Fals. Legat. p. 406, 4.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">127</a> Eurip. Orest. 251.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">128</a> Eurip. Frag. No. 1071</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">129</a> From the Adrastus of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">130</a> From Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">131</a> Laws, V. p. 731 E.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">132</a> Il. IV. 350.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">133</a> Plato, Laws, XI. p. 935 A.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">134</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 23.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">135</a> Solon, Frag. No. 16.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">136</a> Aesch. Prom. 378.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">137</a> From the Stheneboea of Euripides, Frag. 662.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">138</a> From Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">139</a> Eurip. Iph. Aul. 29.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">140</a> Il. XII. 327.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">141</a> Eurip. Phoeniss. 558.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">142</a> From the Ino of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">143</a> From the Ino of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">144</a> Pindar, Pyth. VIII. 135.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">145</a> Odyss. XVIII. 130.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">146</a> Il. VI. 145.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">147</a> Il. XXI. 463.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">148</a> Il. XXIV. 522.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">149</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 94.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">150</a> From the Danae of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">151</a> From Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">152</a> Pindar, Pyth. III. 145.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">153</a> Eurip. Alcestis, 792.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">154</a> See Odyss. XIII. 80; and Il. XIV. 231; XVI. 672; XI. 241.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">155</a> Plat. Phaed. pp. 66 B-67 B.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">156</a> From Aeschylus.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">157</a> Eurip. Suppliants, 1109.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">158</a> From the Cresphontes of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">159</a> From the Hypsipyle of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">160</a> Odyss. XV. 245.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">161</a> See the Latin version in Cicero, Tusc. III. 14, 29.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">162</a> Plato, Repub. X. p. 604 B.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">163</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Μεῖον Τρωίλος ἐδάκρυσεν ἢ Πρίαμος</span> is a saying of Callimachus, as we learn from +Cicero, Tusc. I. 39: Quanquam non male ait Callimachus, <i>multo saepius lacrimasse +Priamum quam Troilum</i>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">164</a> Il. XXII. 56.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">165</a> See Il. XXIII. 109; Odyss. I. 423.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">166</a> Hesiod, Works and Days, 94.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">167</a> Eurip. Phoeniss. 555.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">168</a> Il. XI. 452.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">169</a> Il. XXIV. 744.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">170</a> Il. XXIII. 222; XVII. 37.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">171</a> Il. IX. 482.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">172</a> From Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">173</a> Il. VI. 486.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">174</a> Il. XX. 128.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">175</a> Aeschines against Ctesiphon, § 77.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">176</a> Plat. Gorg. 523 A-524 B.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">177</a> Il. I. 527.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">178</a> <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Δεικηλίκτας</span>, the Spartan word for the more common <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ὑποκρίτης</span>. (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">179</a> Following Wyttenbach’s emendation for “I have lost my post.” (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">180</a> That is, changing <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">μάχεσθαι</span> (<i>to fight</i>) into <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἀναμάχεσθαι</span> (<i>to retrieve a defeat</i>). (G.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">181</a> 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.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">182</a> Herod. I. 8.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">183</a> Simonides, Frag. No. 47.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">184</a> Odyss. XVII. 222.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">185</a> Plato, Republic, V. p. 474 D.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">186</a> Antigone, 232.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">187</a></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Εἰς τὸν λειμῶνα καθίσας</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἔδρεπεν ἕτερον ἐφ’ ἑτέρῳ</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">αἰρόμενος ἄγρευμα ἀνθέων</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ἡδομένᾳ ψυχᾷ,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">τὸ νήπιον ἄπληστον ἔχων</span>.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>From the Hypsipyle of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">188</a> Il. IX. 482.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">189</a> Sophocles, Frag. 778.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">190</a> Il. XXIII. 77.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">191</a> See Odyss. IV. 178.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">192</a> See Il. V. 902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">193</a> Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 4.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">194</a> From Menander.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">195</a> Eurip. Hippol. 253.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">196</a> Eurip. Pirith. Frag. 598.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">197</a> Thucyd. II. 51.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">198</a> Theognis vs. 215.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">199</a> Il. IX. 325.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">200</a> Il. III. 179.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">201</a> Il. IX. 189.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">202</a> Il. XII. 243.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">203</a> Demosthenes on the Crown, p. 258, 20.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">204</a> Thucyd. II. 87.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">205</a> Alcman, Frag. 27.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">206</a> Aristophanes, Knights, 1056.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">207</a> From the Erechtheus of Euripides.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">208</a> Il. XI. 265.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">209</a> Il. V. 340.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">210</a> Il. X. 407.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">211</a> Il. II. 478.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">212</a> See foot-note at the end of the First Oration on Alexander.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX.</h2> +</div> + +<ul class="index"> +<li class="ifrst">A.</li> + +<li class="indx">“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” a proverb among the Greeks, iv. 229.</li> + +<li class="indx">“Abstain from beans,” meaning of the aphorism, i. <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Achelous, a river in Aetolia, v. 504.</li> + +<li class="indx">Acrotatus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Actaeon, a beautiful youth of Corinth, murdered, iv. 313-315.</li> + +<li class="indx"> Ada, queen of Caria, sends delicacies to Alexander, i. <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Adimantus, admiral of the Corinthian fleet at the battle of Salamis, iv. 362;</li> +<li class="isub2">his courage vindicated, 364.</li> + +<li class="indx">Adrastus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Advice to a new-married couple, ii. 486-507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aeacus, his two sons, v. 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aemilius Censorinus, v. 475.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aemilius of Sybaris, v. 464.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aemilius Paulus, sayings of, i. <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; iv. 202.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aeolus, king of Etruria, v. 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aeschines, quoted, Prom., i. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Eumen., <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Prom., <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Ctesiphon, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his early life, and concern in public affairs, v. 34;</li> +<li class="isub2">incurs the hostility of Demosthenes, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">accused by Demosthenes and acquitted, 34, 35;</li> +<li class="isub2">impeaches Ctesiphon, is fined and exiled, 35;</li> +<li class="isub2">his school at Rhodes, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his death, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his orations, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his public employments, 36.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aeschylus, quoted, Septem, i. <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 47;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, 77, 160;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 48, 83, 127, 165, 374, 431, 458, 463, 474, 477;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. Frag., 24, 222;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 20, 54, 385;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 276, 279;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. Frag., 170;</li> +<li class="isub2">Prom., 241, 320, 398.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aesop, murdered by the citizens of Delphi, iv. 160;</li> +<li class="isub2">their punishment, 161.</li> +<li class="isub2"><i>See Esop.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Agamedes and Trophonius built the temple at Delphi, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agasicles, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agatharchides the Samian, his Persian History, v. 451.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agatho the Samian, v. 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agathocles, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>; ii. 317.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aged Men, Shall they meddle in State Affairs?, v. 64-96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agesianax quoted, v. 235, 236.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agesilaus, reply of, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings and great actions, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>-<a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his upright character, ii. 109, 115, 319, 455;</li> +<li class="isub2">his punishment, iii. 46, 79;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, v. 67;</li> +<li class="isub2">his faults, 118; 457;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Italian History, 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agesipolis, two of the name, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agis, king of Sparta, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, v. 95.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agis, son of Archidamus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agis the Argive, ii. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agis the Last, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Agis the Younger, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ajax’s soul, her place in Hell, iii. 442.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alba, king of, torn in pieces by horses, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Albinus, a Roman general, v. 453.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcaeus quoted, ii. 298; iii, 264.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcamenes, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcibiades, i. <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his lustful conduct, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">the prince of flatterers, ii. 108, 471;</li> +<li class="isub2">failure of, 460;</li> +<li class="isub2">spoke with hesitation, v. 110, 112.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcippus, a Lacedaemonian, banished for his virtue; his wife slays +herself and her daughters, iv. 320-322.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcmaeon, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">philosophical opinions;</li> +<li class="isub3">of the planets, iii. 140;</li> +<li class="isub3">of hearing, 170;</li> +<li class="isub3">of smelling, 170;</li> +<li class="isub3">of taste, 170;</li> +<li class="isub3">of the barrenness of mules, 182;</li> +<li class="isub3">of embryos, 184;</li> +<li class="isub3">of the formation of the body, 184;</li> +<li class="isub3">of the cause of sleep, 188;</li> +<li class="isub2">of health, sickness, and old age, 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcmaeonidae, unfairly represented by Herodotus, iv. 338, 347.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alcman, quoted; Frag., i. <a href="#Page_494">494</a>; iii. 16; v. 279.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aleuas the Thessalian, iii. 67.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexander of Macedon, and Porus, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">lament of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Criso the runner, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">the Fortune or Virtue of, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>-<a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, ii. 125, 138, 473;</li> +<li class="isub2">his moderation, 475; iii. 29;</li> +<li class="isub2">was he a great drinker, 219;</li> +<li class="isub2">his purpose to attack the Romans, iv. 219; v. 140.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, his cruel temper softened by a play, i. <a href="#Page_492">492</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexandridas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_401">401</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexarchus, his Italian History, v. 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexidemas, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexinus the sophist, i. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alexis quoted, ii. 58.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alpha, why placed first in the Alphabet, iii. 438.</li> + +<li class="indx">Alpheus, a river in Arcadia, v. 501.</li> + +<li class="indx">Amasis, king of Egypt, required to drink the ocean dry, ii. 13;</li> +<li class="isub2">questions of, 16.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ammonius, teacher of Plutarch, anecdote of, ii. 147.</li> + +<li class="indx">Amphiaraus, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his lance turned into a laurel, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Amphidamas, poets meet at his grave in Chalcis, ii. 19.</li> + +<li class="indx">Amphion, first invented playing on the harp and lyric poesy, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anarcharsis, and Eumetis, ii. 8;</li> +<li class="isub2">his utterances at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 12, 15, 20, +21, 27, 39.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anatole, a mountain, v. 482.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anaxagoras, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">said the sun was red-hot metal, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>; ii. 357; iii. 35, 37;</li> +<li class="isub2">philosophical opinions;</li> +<li class="isub2">Homoeomeries, 108;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the origin of bodies, 119;</li> +<li class="isub2">how bodies are mixed, 126;</li> +<li class="isub2">of fortune, 131;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the world’s inclination, 136;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the stars, 138, 140;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sun, 142, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 145, 147;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the milky way, 149;</li> +<li class="isub2">of shooting stars, 150;</li> +<li class="isub2">of thunder, lightning and hurricanes, 151;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the rainbow, 153;</li> +<li class="isub2">of earthquakes, 157;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sea, 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the overflow of the Nile, 160;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the voice, 172;</li> +<li class="isub2">of generation, 178;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the generation of animals, 186;</li> +<li class="isub2">of reason in animals, 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">of sleep, 190; v. 145, 255.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anaxander, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_401">401</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anaxilas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anaximander, philosophical opinions;</li> +<li class="isub2">of principles, iii. 107;</li> +<li class="isub2">the stars were heavenly deities, 121;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the stars, 140;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the essence and magnitude of the sun, 141, 142;</li> +<li class="isub2">of eclipses of the sun, 144;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">of fire from clouds, 150;</li> +<li class="isub2">of winds, 154;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the earth, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sea, 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the generation of animals, 186.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anaximenes, philosophical opinions;</li> +<li class="isub2">air is the principle of all beings, iii. 107;</li> +<li class="isub2">of heaven, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the stars, 139, 140;</li> +<li class="isub2">cause of summer and winter, 141;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the shape of the sun and summer and winter solstice, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">of clouds, 151;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the rainbow, 153;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the earth, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">of earthquakes, 157; v. 313.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ancients, suppers of the, iii. 255-259.</li> + +<li class="indx">Andocides, one of the ten Attic orators, v. 21-23;</li> +<li class="isub2">of a noble family, 21;</li> +<li class="isub2">accused of impious acts, 22;</li> +<li class="isub2">his adventures in Cyprus, 22, 23;</li> +<li class="isub2">his exile, 23;</li> +<li class="isub2">his orations, <i>ib.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Androclidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anecdotes of</li> +<li class="isub2">Aeschylus, ii. 458.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agathocles, i. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agesilaus, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>; v. 67, 118.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agis, king of Sparta, v. 95.</li> +<li class="isub2">Alcibiades, ii. 108, 109.</li> +<li class="isub2">Alexander the Great, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>; ii. 473.</li> +<li class="isub2">Ammonius, ii. 147.</li> +<li class="isub2">Anaxagoras, i. <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antigonus, i. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>; iv. 231.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antimachus, i. <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antiochus Hierax, iii. 60.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antipater, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, 197, 205, 215.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 127.</li> +<li class="isub2">Apelles the painter, i. <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>; ii. 122, 133.</li> +<li class="isub2">Appius Claudius, v. 89.</li> +<li class="isub2">Arcesilaus and Apelles, ii. 133.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archelaus of Macedon, i. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archidamus, i. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archimedes, ii. 174; v. 71.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archytas of Tarentum, i. <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Aristippus, i. <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>; ii. 55.</li> +<li class="isub2">Athenian barber, iv. 238.</li> +<li class="isub2">Attalus and Eumenes, iii. 61.</li> +<li class="isub2">Augustus Caesar and Fulvius, iv. 235, 236.</li> +<li class="isub2">Bocchoris, i. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Brasidas, ii. 458.</li> +<li class="isub2">Caesar, i. <a href="#Page_293">293</a>; iv. 204, 205; v. 67.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cato, i. <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; ii. 490.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cato and Catulus, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cleon, v. 100, 116.</li> +<li class="isub2">Corinna, v. 404.</li> +<li class="isub2">Crassus, i. 288, 290.</li> +<li class="isub2">Croesus and Solon, ii. 122.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demades and Phocion, ii. 298.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demaratus and Philip, ii. 146.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demetrius Phalereus, ii. 145; iii. 21.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demosthenes, i. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>; ii. 460; v. 43-53.</li> +<li class="isub2">Diogenes, i. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, +<a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>; ii. 455, 458; iii, 21, 29.</li> +<li class="isub2">Diogenes and Philip, ii. 147.</li> +<li class="isub2">Diogenes and the mouse, ii. 453.</li> +<li class="isub2">Dion, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Dionysius of Syracuse, i. <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>; ii. 108, 140; iv. 238.</li> +<li class="isub2">Epaminondas, v. 72, 95, 101, 120, 121, 125, 401.</li> +<li class="isub2">Euclid, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Eudoxus, ii. 174.</li> +<li class="isub2">Eumenes, iii. 61; iv. 232.</li> +<li class="isub2">Fulvius and Augustus, iv. 235, 236.</li> +<li class="isub2">Hiero, i. <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Hyperides, v. 55, 56.</li> +<li class="isub2">Isocrates, v. 31.</li> +<li class="isub2">Leaena, iv. 229, 230.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lucretia, i. <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lycurgus, the lawgiver, i. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lycurgus, the orator, v. 39.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lysander, i. <a href="#Page_72">72</a>; ii. 495.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lysias, iv. 226.</li> +<li class="isub2">Magas, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Menander, v. 403.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nasica, i. <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nero, v. 123.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nicias, the Athenian general, i. <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nicias, the painter, ii. 173; v. 71.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nicostratus and Archidamus, i. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Olympias, ii. 494, 495.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pericles, i. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>; ii. 309, 315; v. 67, 106.</li> +<li class="isub2">Philip of Macedon, i. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>; ii. 146, 147, 494.</li> +<li class="isub2">Phocion, ii. 298; v. 118.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pindar, v. 404.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pisistratus, iii. 41.</li> +<li class="isub2">Plato, i. <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Plato and Socrates, ii. 148.</li> +<li class="isub2">Polemon, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pompey, v. 70.</li> +<li class="isub2">Postumia, i. <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Priest of Hercules, iii. 90.</li> +<li class="isub2">Prometheus, i. <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Ptolemy Lagus, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pythagoras, ii. 174.</li> +<li class="isub2">Roman Senator and his wife, iv. 233-235.</li> +<li class="isub2">Scaurus, i. <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Scilurus, a Scythian king, iv. 244.</li> +<li class="isub2">Seleucus Callinicus, iv. 237.</li> +<li class="isub2">Seneca, i. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Simonides, v. 68.</li> +<li class="isub2">Socrates, i. <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Socrates and Plato, ii. 148.</li> +<li class="isub2">Solon, v. 89.</li> +<li class="isub2">Solon and Croesus, ii. 122.</li> +<li class="isub2">Sophocles, v. 68.</li> +<li class="isub2">Stasicrates, i. <a href="#Page_495">495</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Stilpo the philosopher, ii. 468.</li> +<li class="isub2">Stratonicus, iii. 21.</li> +<li class="isub2">Sylla, v. 72.</li> +<li class="isub2">Terpander, i. <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Themistocles, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>; iii. 21; v. 120.</li> +<li class="isub2">Theramenes, i. <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Timotheus the musician, i. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Valeria, i. <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Xanthippe, wife of Socrates, i. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Xenocrates, i. <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Xenophon, i. <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Xerxes and Ariamenes, iii. 59, 60.</li> +<li class="isub2">Zeno, i. <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>; ii. 455; iii. 25; iv. 225.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anger, concerning the cure of, i. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-59.</li> + +<li class="indx">Animal Food, shall it be eaten? Of Eating of Flesh, v. 3-16.</li> + +<li class="indx">Animals, generation of, iii. 186;</li> +<li class="isub2">how many species of, 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">appetites and pleasures of, 191;</li> +<li class="isub2">ails and cures of, 510;</li> +<li class="isub2">their intelligence, v. 157-217.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anius, king of the Tuscans, v. 475.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antalcidas, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his reply to a railing Athenian, v. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anthes, the first author of hymns, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anthias, the sacred fish, v. 208.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anthipphus, Lydian harmony first used by, i. <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antichthon, the, iii. 155.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antigonus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, +<a href="#Page_484">484</a>; iv. 231.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antigonus the Second, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_205">205</a>; ii. 319.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antimachus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus and Charicles, iii. 49.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus and Seleucus, iii. 60.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus Hierax, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_206">206</a>; iii. 60.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus Sidetes, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus the Spartan, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiochus the Third, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antipater, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>; ii. 135, 298; iii. 517; v. 49.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiperistasis of motion, v. 435.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiphanes, witty saying of his, ii. 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antiphon, one of the ten Attic orators, ii. 142; v. 17-21;</li> +<li class="isub2">his birth, education, &c., 17;</li> +<li class="isub2">wrote speeches for others, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">a man of great talent and learning, 18;</li> +<li class="isub2">concerned in the revolution which subverted the popular government, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">on the overthrow of the oligarchical party he was involved in their ruin, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">number of his orations, 19;</li> +<li class="isub2">decree of the senate against him, 20;</li> +<li class="isub2">his condemnation and punishment, 21;</li> +<li class="isub2">opinion concerning the moon, iii. 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sea, 158.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antisthenes quoted, i. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>; v. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 127.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apelles, the painter, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his picture of Alexander, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Megabyzus, ii. 122;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Arcesilaus, 133.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aphareus, adopted son of Isocrates, wrote orations and tragedies, v. 32.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apis, the sacred bull of the Egyptians, iv. 68;</li> +<li class="isub2">slain by Ochus, king of Persia, 74, 92.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollo and the dragon Python, iv. 20.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollo, inventor of the flute and harp, i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollo, temple of, iv. 478-498;</li> +<li class="isub2">the inscription <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ει</span> over its gate, 479.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollodorus, first invented the mixing of colors and the softening of +shadows, v. 400.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollonides, of shadow, v. 265;</li> +<li class="isub2">of spots in the moon, 269.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollonis of Cyzicum, iii. 41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollonius, consolation to, i. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apollonius, the Peripatetic, iii. 57.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apothegms of Kings and Great Commanders, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agathocles, sayings of, i. <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agesilaus, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agis, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Alcibiades, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Alexander the Great, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antalcidas, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antigonus, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antigonus the Second, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antiochus Sidetes, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antiochus the Spartan, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antiochus the Third, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antipater, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archelaus, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archidamus, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Aristides, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Artaxerxes Longimanus, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Artaxerxes Mnemon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Ateas, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Augustus Caesar, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Brasidas, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Caecilius Metellus, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Caius Fabricius, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Caius Marius, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Caius Popilius, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cato the Elder, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Chabrias, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Charillus, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cicero, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cneus Domitius, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cneus Pompeius, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cotys, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cyrus the Elder, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cyrus the Younger, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Darius, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demetrius, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demetrius Phalereus, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Dion, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Dionysius the Elder, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Dionysius the Younger, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Epaminondas, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Eudaemonidas, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Eumenes of Pergamus, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Fabius Maximus, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Gelo, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Hegesippus, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Hiero, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Idathyrsus, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Iphicrates, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lucullus, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lycurgus, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lysander, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lysimachus, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Manius Curius, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Memnon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nicostratus, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Orontes, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Parysatis, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Paulus Aemilius, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pelopidas, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pericles, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Philip of Macedon, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Phocion, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pisistratus, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Poltys, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Ptolemy Lagus, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pyrrhus the Epirot, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pytheas, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Scilurus, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Scipio Junior, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Scipio the Elder, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Semiramis, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Teres, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Themistocles, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Theopompus, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Timotheus, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Titus Quinctius, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Xerxes, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Appius Claudius, anecdote of, v. 89.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apple tree, of the, iii. 333.</li> + +<li class="indx">Arar, a river in Gaul, v. 484.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aratus, quoted, iii. 116;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the stars, 141;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 334, 497; iv. 98; v. 112;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Araxes, a river in Armenia, v. 506.</li> + +<li class="indx">Arcadian prophet in Herodotus, iii. 38.</li> + +<li class="indx">Arcadio the Archaean, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Arcesilaus, i. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Battus, ii. 115;</li> +<li class="isub2">his kindness to Apelles, 133; v. 371.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archelaus, king of Macedon, anecdote of, i. 67, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archelaus, his opinions concerning principles, iii. 109.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archias, ii. 379 <i>et seq.</i>; iv. 314, 315.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archidamidas, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archidamus, i. <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>; ii. 379 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Archilochus the poet, banished from Sparta, i. <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his improvements in music, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">phrase of, ii. 17, 61, 84; iii. 26; v. 108, 216, 320.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archimedes, of the sun’s diameter, v. 71;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, ii. 173, 174.</li> + +<li class="indx">Archytas of Tarentum, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, 24.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ardalus, a minstrel at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 11, 12.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aregeus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aretades Cnidus, his Macedonian History, v. 458;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Second Book of Islands, 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aretaphila, her fortitude and virtue, i. <a href="#Page_367">367</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Argive women, their repulse of the Spartan army, i. <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Argives, wrestling matches of, i. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">imposed a fine for playing with more than seven strings, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">combat of the, with the Lacedaemonians, v. 452.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ariamenes yields the throne of Persia to his younger brother Xerxes, iii. 59.</li> + +<li class="indx">Arion and the dolphins, ii. 33-36.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristarchus, iii. 36;</li> +<li class="isub2">concerning the eclipse of the sun, 144; v. 246.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristides, his Persian History, v. 453.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristides, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristides Milesius, his Italian History, v. 451, 452, 453, 458, 459, +460, 462, 463, 465, 466, 469, 473, 474, 475, 476;</li> +<li class="isub2">Italian Commentaries, 461;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 462.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristippus, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>; ii. 295, 459.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristo of Chios, ii. 369.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristobolus, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 470.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristocles, Third Book of his Italian History, v. 466, 476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristoclia, a beautiful maiden, iv. 312, 313.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristodemus, his Third Collection of Fables, v. 472.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristodemus, king of Messenia, i. <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristodemus the Epicurean, ii. 158, 159, 180.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristomenes, preceptor of Ptolemy, ii. 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ariston, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_403">403</a>; iii. 18;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion of moral virtue, 462; v. 111.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristonicus the musician, i. 494.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristonymus, a woman hater, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristophanes, his comedy of “The Clouds,” i. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 78, 149, 429;</li> +<li class="isub2">his coarseness and buffoonery, iii. 11;</li> +<li class="isub2">compared with Menander, 11-14;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 196, 273;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. 42, 405.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristotinus, tyranny of, i. <a href="#Page_357">357</a>-<a href="#Page_363">363</a>; v. 172.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristotle, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>; <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">on harmony, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">the teacher of Alexander, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, ii. 302, 319;</li> +<li class="isub2">letter of, 455;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions; of nature, 105;</li> +<li class="isub2">of principles and elements, 106;</li> +<li class="isub2">of God, 121;</li> +<li class="isub2">of matter, 123;</li> +<li class="isub2">of ideas, 123;</li> +<li class="isub2">of causes, 124;</li> +<li class="isub2">of a vacuum, 127;</li> +<li class="isub2">of motion, 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">of fortune, 131;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the world, 133, 134, 135;</li> +<li class="isub2">of vacuum, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the world, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of heaven, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the stars, 140;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sun, 142;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the summer and winter solstices, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the milky way, 148, 149;</li> +<li class="isub2">of comets, 149;</li> +<li class="isub2">of thunder and lightning, 151;</li> +<li class="isub2">of earthquakes, 157;</li> +<li class="isub2">of tides, 159;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the motion of the soul, 164;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the senses, 166;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the voice, 172;</li> +<li class="isub2">of generative seed, 177;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sperm, 177;</li> +<li class="isub2">of emission of women, 177;</li> +<li class="isub2">of conception, 178;</li> +<li class="isub2">of generation, 179;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the first form in the womb, 184;</li> +<li class="isub2">of seven months’ children, 185;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the species of animals, 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">of sleep, 189;</li> +<li class="isub2">of plants, 190;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 225, 226;</li> +<li class="isub2">opinions concerning the soul, 465;</li> +<li class="isub2">opinion concerning a plurality of worlds, iv. 33;</li> +<li class="isub2">concerning prophetic inspiration, 54; v. 189, 253, 262, 313, 316, 355;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 439;</li> +<li class="isub2">the Second Book of Paradoxes, 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aristoxenus, of music, i. <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Arsinoe, Queen, i. <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Artaxerxes Longimanus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Artaxerxes Mnemon, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aruntius and Medullina, v. 463.</li> + +<li class="indx">Asclepiades, opinions: of the soul, iii. 161;</li> +<li class="isub2">of respiration, 174;</li> +<li class="isub2">of two or three children at one birth, 180;</li> +<li class="isub2">animals in the womb, 188;</li> +<li class="isub2">of health, sickness, and old age, 193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Aster the archer, v. 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Astycratidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ateas, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>; ii. 177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Atepomarus, king of the Gauls, v. 469.</li> + +<li class="indx">Atheism and superstition compared, i. <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Athenian citizens, their number, v. 42;</li> +<li class="isub2">their temper and disposition, 100.</li> + +<li class="indx">Athenians, whether they were more renowned for their warlike +achievements, or for their learning, v. 399-411.</li> + +<li class="indx">Athenodorus, memorable action of, iii. 50.</li> + +<li class="indx">Athens, was a democracy, v. 397;</li> +<li class="isub2">the nurse of history, of painting, and poetry, 400, 401;</li> +<li class="isub2">not renowned for epic or lyric verse, 404.</li> + +<li class="indx">Atoms, doctrine of, v. 345-348.</li> + +<li class="indx">Atreus and Thyestes, v. 470, 471.</li> + +<li class="indx">Attalus and Eumenes, their kindness and fidelity to each other, iii. 61, 62.</li> + +<li class="indx">Attica, invasion of, by Datis, v. 450, 451.</li> + +<li class="indx">Augustus Caesar, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">the favored son of Fortune, iv. 205; v. 67.</li> + +<li class="indx">Augustus Caesar and Fulvius, anecdote of, iv. 235, 236.</li> + +<li class="indx">Autobulus, v. 156 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Autumn, dreams in, iii. 432.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">B.</li> + +<li class="indx">Baccho, iv. 256, 264, 269.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bacchus, ii. 12, 29.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ballenaeus, mount, v. 492.</li> + +<li class="indx">Banishment, or flying one’s country, iii. 15-35.</li> + +<li class="indx">Banquet of the Seven Wise Men; Solon, Bias, Thales, Anacharsis, +Cleobulus, Pittacus, Chilo, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Barley, sow, in dust, iii. 505.</li> + +<li class="indx">Barrenness in women, iii. 181.</li> + +<li class="indx">Barrenness of mules, iii. 182.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bashfulness, i. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Basilocles, iii. 69, 70.</li> + +<li class="indx">Baths, hot and cold, iii. 512.</li> + +<li class="indx">Battus, ii. 115.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bear, cunning of the, v. 185.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bears, flesh of, iii. 509.</li> + +<li class="indx">Beasts, flesh of sacrificial, iii. 361.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bees, cannot abide smoke, iii. 515;</li> +<li class="isub2">stinging of, 516.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bellerophon, fable of, i. <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Berecyntus, mount, v. 490.</li> + +<li class="indx">Berosus concerning the eclipse of the moon, iii. 146.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bewitching, power of, iii. 327.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bias, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, 406;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 4, 14, 128.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bion, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion concerning the punishment of children for the sins of +their fathers, iv. 171;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, v. 170.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bird or the egg, which was first, iii. 242-246.</li> + +<li class="indx">Birds, prophetic nature of, v. 193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Birth, two or three at one, iii. 180.</li> + +<li class="indx">Birthdays of famous men, iii. 400.</li> + +<li class="indx">Biton and Cleobis, their filial piety, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Boar and the toil, iii. 512.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bocchoris, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bodies, of, iii. 124;</li> +<li class="isub2">division of, 126;</li> +<li class="isub2">how mixed with one another, 126.</li> + +<li class="indx">Body, passions of the, iii. 175;</li> +<li class="isub2">what part is first formed, 184;</li> +<li class="isub2">diseases of the, iv. 504-508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Boedromion, month of, iii. 444.</li> + +<li class="indx">Boethus, his opinion concerning comets, iii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Book of Rivers, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Brasidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_218">218</a>; ii. 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Brennus, king of the Gauls, v. 460.</li> + +<li class="indx">Britain, longevity in, iii. 193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Brixaba, mount, v. 494.</li> + +<li class="indx">Brotherly love, iii. 36-68.</li> + +<li class="indx">Brute animals, ails and cures of, iii. 510;</li> +<li class="isub2">their intelligence; which are the more crafty, water or land +animals? v. 157-217.</li> + +<li class="indx">Brute beasts make use of reason, v. 218-233.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bucephalus, the horse, v. 183.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bulimy, or the greedy disease, iii. 355.</li> + +<li class="indx">Busiris, king of Egypt, strangers murdered by, v. 474.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">C.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caecilius Metellus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caesar, Augustus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, iv. 205;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Fulvius, 235, 236; v. 67, 132.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caesar, C. Julius, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his magnanimity, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his reliance on fortune, iv. 205.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caesar, Tiberius, sayings of, i. <a href="#Page_277">277</a>; ii. 126; iii. 23.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caicus, a river, v. 503.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caius Fabricius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caius Gracchus, i. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>; v. 99.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caius Marius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caius Maximus, and his two sons, v. 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caius Popilius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Callicratidas, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, ii. 187.</li> + +<li class="indx">Callimachus, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_323">323</a>; iii. 23, 118, 321.</li> + +<li class="indx">Callisthenes, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Book of Transformations, v. 454;</li> +<li class="isub2">Third Book of the Macedonics, 456;</li> +<li class="isub2">Third Book of History of Thrace, v. 469.</li> + +<li class="indx">Calpurnius Crassus, liberated from captivity, v. 465.</li> + +<li class="indx">Calpurnius and Florentia, v. 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Calydon, mount, v. 505.</li> + +<li class="indx">Camillus, anecdote of, iv. 204.</li> + +<li class="indx">Camma, the Galatian, her revenge, i. <a href="#Page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Canus the piper, v. 71.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caphene and Nymphaeus, i. <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caphisias, ii. 379 <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li class="indx">Carneades, i. <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">a striking observation of his, ii. 123.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cassius, a Roman traitor, v. 457.</li> + +<li class="indx">Castor and Pollux, iii. 48.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cato and Catulus, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cato, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Catulus, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>; <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his integrity, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, ii. 42, 72, 76, 318; v. 10, 66, 67;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, 83, 112, 120, 123, 144, 155.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cato the Elder, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_233">233</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, ii. 490.</li> + +<li class="indx">Catoptrics, doctrine of the, v. 257.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cattle, salt given to, iii. 497.</li> + +<li class="indx">Catulus, v. 457.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caucasus, mount, v. 483.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caudine Forks, defeat of the Romans at the, v. 452, 453.</li> + +<li class="indx">Causes, of, iii. 123.</li> + +<li class="indx">Causes of sleep and death, iii. 188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Celtic women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cephisocrates, ii. 133.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cephisophan, a rhetorician, i. <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ceres, mistress of earthly things, v. 285, 286.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chabrias, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chaeremon quoted, Frag., ii. 475.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chameleon, the, v. 202.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chaplet of flowers at table, iii. 260-265.</li> + +<li class="indx">Charicles and Antiochus, iii. 49.</li> + +<li class="indx">Charillus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>; ii. 97, 116.</li> + +<li class="indx">Charon, the Theban, ii. 381.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chasms in the earth closed by men leaping into them, v. 454.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chersias at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chian women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Children, training of, i. <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">similitude to their parents, iii. 180;</li> +<li class="isub2">similitude to strangers, 181.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chilo, i. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chilon, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_471">471</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chiomara of Galatia, i. <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chorus of the Aeantis, iii. 226-228.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chorus of the Leontis, iii. 226.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chromatic scale, in music, i. <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chrysermus, his Peloponnesian History, v. 452;</li> +<li class="isub2">Second Book of Histories, 457.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chrysippus, ii. 87;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion concerning fate, iii. 130;</li> +<li class="isub2">of moral virtue, 462;</li> +<li class="isub2">his doctrines refuted, 488; iv. 372 <i>et seq.</i>, 428-477; v. 205;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion concerning the cause of cold combated, 324;</li> +<li class="isub2">First Book of Italian History, 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cicero, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_244">244</a>; ii. 310; v. 96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cilician geese, v. 175.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cinesias, the lyric poet, i. <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cinna stoned to death, v. 469.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cios, maids of, i. <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Circe, her supposed conversation with Ulysses, v. 218-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cithaeron, mount, v. 479.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleanthes, his opinion concerning the stars, iii. 139, 140; v. 176, 420.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleobis and Biton, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleobulus at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleodemus, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">first brought the cupping-glass into request, 20.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleodorus, the physician, ii. 16.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleombrotus, i. <a href="#Page_413">413</a>; iv. 3, 4, 26.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleomenes, v. 161.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleomenes, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleon, anecdotes of, v. 100, 116.</li> + +<li class="indx">Clisthenes, vindicated from the aspersions of Herodotus, iv. 343.</li> + +<li class="indx">Clitonymus, his Italian History, v. 458;</li> +<li class="isub2">Second Book of his Sybaritics, v. 464.</li> + +<li class="indx">Clitophon, his First Book of Gallican History, v. 460.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cloelia and Valeria, i. <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Clonas, a musical composer, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Clouds, eruption of fire out of the, iii. 150;</li> +<li class="isub2">rain, hail, and snow, 151.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cneus Domitius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cneus Pompeius, apothegms of, i. <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cocles, the Roman, v. 145.</li> + +<li class="indx">Codrus, king of Athens, v. 462.</li> + +<li class="indx">Coeranus and the dolphins, v. 215.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cold, First Principle of, v. 309-330.</li> + +<li class="indx">Color, does it exist in the dark, v. 344, 345.</li> + +<li class="indx">Colors, of, iii. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Colotes, the Epicurean, ii. 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">book written by, v. 338;</li> +<li class="isub2">misrepresents Democritus, 341;</li> +<li class="isub2">his doctrines, 349;</li> +<li class="isub2">misrepresents Plato, 355, 356;</li> +<li class="isub2">falls at the feet of Epicurus, 360;</li> +<li class="isub2">disparagement of Socrates, 361;</li> +<li class="isub2">against Stilpo, 367;</li> +<li class="isub2">assaults the Philosophers, 367;</li> +<li class="isub2">condemns the opinion of Epicurus, 368;</li> +<li class="isub2">Cyrenaic philosophers ridiculed, 369;</li> +<li class="isub2">treats Arcesilaus unfairly, 371;</li> +<li class="isub2">absurdity of Epicureanism, 373;</li> +<li class="isub2">opinions of Epicurus, 374;</li> +<li class="isub2">danger of his doctrines, 377, 378, 338-385.</li> + +<li class="indx">Comets and shooting fires, iii. 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Comminius Super, a Laurentine, v. 472.</li> + +<li class="indx">Common conceptions against the Stoics, iv. 372-427.</li> + +<li class="indx">Comparison between the actions of the Greeks and Romans, v. 450-476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Comparison betwixt Aristophanes and Menander, iii. 11-14.</li> + +<li class="indx">Conception, how it is made, iii. 178.</li> + +<li class="indx">Concerning Music, i. <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-<a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Concerning such whom God is slow to punish, iv. 140-188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Concerning the fortune of the Romans, iv. 198-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Concerning the virtues of women, i. <a href="#Page_340">340</a>-<a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Conciseness of speech, recommended, iv. 243;</li> +<li class="isub2">examples given, 243, 244.</li> + +<li class="indx">Conjugal Precepts; Advice to a New-married Couple, ii. 486-507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Consolation to Apollonius, i. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Consolatory Letter from Plutarch to his Wife, Timoxena, on Occasion +of the Death of their Daughter, two years old, v. 386-394.</li> + +<li class="indx">Contingent and possible defined, v. 299.</li> + +<li class="indx">Contradictions of the Stoics, iv. 428-477.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cora and Proserpine, v. 285.</li> + +<li class="indx">Corinna, anecdote of, v. 404.</li> + +<li class="indx">Corinthian Hall at Delphi, iii. 80-82.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cornelius Scipio, consul, v. 96, 112, 114, 136.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cotys, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crabs charmed by fifes, v. 163.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cranes, flight of, v. 175, 203.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crantor, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion of the soul, ii. 327, 328, 345, 349, 360.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crassus, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>; v. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crassus Calpurnius, v. 465.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crassus’s mullet, v. 196.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crates, i. <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, 495; ii. 145, 321;</li> +<li class="isub2">opinion of the stars, iii. 140; v. 419, 423.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cratinus the comic poet, v. 410.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crato, iii. 198.</li> + +<li class="indx">Creon’s daughter, i. <a href="#Page_472">472</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cretinus, the Magnesian, v. 121.</li> + +<li class="indx">Criticism on passages in Homer, ii. 69-72, 74-84, 89, 90, 91.</li> + +<li class="indx">Criticism on Sophocles, ii. 72.</li> + +<li class="indx">Critolaus, his History of the Epirots, v. 455;</li> +<li class="isub2">Fourth Book of Celestial Appearances, 457.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crocodile, story of a, v. 196, 206, 210.</li> + +<li class="indx">Croesus, ii. 122; iii. 85; iv. 339.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cronium, mount, v. 501.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ctesiphon, his Third Book of the Boeotian History, v. 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ctesiphon the Pancratiast, i. <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Curatii and Horatii, v. 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cure of anger, i. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Curiosity, of, ii. 424-445;</li> +<li class="isub2">mischiefs of vain, iv. 236.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cuttle-fish, sign of a storm, iii. 505;</li> +<li class="isub2">wariness of the, v. 200.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyanippus, a Syracusan, v. 462.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyanippus, a Thessalian, v. 463.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyclades islands, iii. 24.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cycloborus, a brook near Athens, v. 110.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cynaegirus, an Athenian commander, story of, v. 450.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyprus, female parasites of, called Steps, ii. 103.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrus the Elder, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>; ii. 319;</li> +<li class="isub2">enlarges the Persian empire, iv. 85.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrus the Younger, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">D.</li> + +<li class="indx">Daemon of Socrates, Discourse concerning the, ii. 378-423.</li> + +<li class="indx">Daemons, their nature, attributes, and actions, iv. 14 <i>et seq.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">some of them are malignant and cruel, 19;</li> +<li class="isub2">they are mortal, 15, 23, 24;</li> +<li class="isub2">vainglorious, 28;</li> +<li class="isub2">have the care of oracles, 21, 27;</li> +<li class="isub2">sometimes have quarrels and combats with one another, 27;</li> +<li class="isub2">our souls are by nature endued with similar powers, 50 <i>et seq.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">in the Moon, v. 289;</li> +<li class="isub2">will of the, 304;</li> +<li class="isub2">providence of the, 307, 308.</li> + +<li class="indx">Damindas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Damis, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Damonidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Darius, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>; v. 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Darkness, whether visible, iii. 169.</li> + +<li class="indx">Datis, a Persian commander, his invasion of Attica, v. 450.</li> + +<li class="indx">Daughters who had carnal knowledge of their fathers, v. 464.</li> + +<li class="indx">Death appertains to soul or body, iii. 189.</li> + +<li class="indx">Death a reward for distinguished piety; illustrated by the cases of +Biton and Cleobis, of Agamedes and Trophonius, of Pindar and +Euthynous, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Death of fire is the generation of air, v. 316.</li> + +<li class="indx">Death the brother of sleep, i. <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Debates at entertainments, iii. 394.</li> + +<li class="indx">Debt, Evils of. Against running in Debt, or Taking up Money upon +Usury, v. 412-424.</li> + +<li class="indx">Debt of nature, i. <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Decius of Rome, v. 462.</li> + +<li class="indx">Decrees proposed to the Athenians, v. 58.</li> + +<li class="indx">Deity, knowledge of a, whence derived, iii. 115.</li> + +<li class="indx">Delay of Providence in Punishing the Wicked. De sera Numinis +Vindicta, iv. 140-188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Delight in hearing the passions of men represented, iii. 314.</li> + +<li class="indx">Delphi, a walk in, iii. 69;</li> +<li class="isub2">the statues there, 70;</li> +<li class="isub2">atmosphere of, 72;</li> +<li class="isub2">ancient oracles of, 73;</li> +<li class="isub2">Corinthian Hall at, 80-82;</li> +<li class="isub2">statue of Phryne, 83.</li> + +<li class="indx">Delphic Oracle, inscription on the, Know thyself, and Nothing too +much, i. <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demades and Phocion, anecdotes of, ii. 298; v. 108, 141.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demaratus and Philip, anecdote of, ii. 146.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demaratus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Second Book of Arcadian History, v. 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demetrius Phalereus, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, ii. 145; iii. 21; v. 145.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demetrius, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demetrius of Tarsus, comes to Delphi, iv. 3.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demochares, a nephew of Demosthenes, procures a statue to be set up +for his uncle, v. 58-60;</li> +<li class="isub2">a decree for a statue for himself, 60, 61.</li> + +<li class="indx">Democracy and Oligarchy, v. 395-398.</li> + +<li class="indx">Democrates, saying of, v. 109.</li> + +<li class="indx">Democritus, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>; ii. 440; iii. 7;</li> +<li class="isub2">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;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinions misrepresented, v. 341;</li> +<li class="isub2">his doctrine concerning atoms, 345, 346, 381.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demodocus, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demonides, the cripple, ii. 51.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demosthenes, the orator, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 145, 300, 312, 313;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, 460;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 212;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. 34, 35;</li> +<li class="isub2">sketch of his life, 43-53;</li> +<li class="isub2">his birth, education, and early years, 43;</li> +<li class="isub2">calls his guardians to account, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">is chosen choregus, 44;</li> +<li class="isub2">his methods to obtain excellence in speaking, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">opposes the designs of Philip, 45;</li> +<li class="isub2">describes “action” as of supreme importance in oratory, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his early failures as an orator, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">defends the Olynthians, 46;</li> +<li class="isub2">is admired by Philip, though an enemy, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his magnanimity, 47;</li> +<li class="isub2">his conduct at Chaeronea, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his patriotism, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">the oration for the Crown, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">accused of receiving a bribe, 48;</li> +<li class="isub2">his exile, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">recalled, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">returns to the administration of public affairs, 49;</li> +<li class="isub2">leaves Athens to avoid being delivered up to Antipater, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his death, 50;</li> +<li class="isub2">his family, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">honors paid to his memory, 51;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of him, 49, 50-53;</li> +<li class="isub2">his great temperance, 53;</li> +<li class="isub2">his public services recounted in a decree, 58-60;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 69, 109, 110, 124, 138, 146, + 409, 411, 447, 448.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dercyllidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dercyllus, his First Book of Foundations, v. 461;</li> +<li class="isub2">Third Book of Italian History, 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Destiny, or fate, iii. 130.</li> + +<li class="indx">Deucalion [like Noah] sent forth a dove from the ark, and with like +purpose, v. 179.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diagoras the Melian, iii. 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diana Orthia, rites of, i. <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dicaearchus, opinion concerning the soul, iii. 161;</li> +<li class="isub2">of divination, 176; v. 93.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dignity of places at table, iii. 210, 212.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dinarchus, an Athenian orator, v. 57, 58;</li> +<li class="isub2">becomes rich, 57;</li> +<li class="isub2">his exile in Chalcis, 58;</li> +<li class="isub2">restored, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his orations, <i>ib.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Diocles, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, iii. 179, 182, 185, 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diogenes Laertius quoted, i. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diogenes, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 58, 155, 193; 455, 458, 465, 466;</li> +<li class="isub2">story of the mouse, 453; iii. 21, 27, 29, 31;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, 132, 136, 138, 143, 148, +163, 183, 187, 189, 494; iv. 311; v. 8, 65.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diogenes and Philip, ii. 147.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diogenianus, iii. 71, 73, <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Diomedes, ii. 41;</li> +<li class="isub2">liberated from captivity, v. 465.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dion, example of, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, does not relish the Lacedaemonian broth, i. <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his unreasonable anger, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his ungenerous behavior, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">parasites of, ii. 166; 314;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, iv. 238.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dionysius and Plato, ii. 108, 140.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dionysius the Elder, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_191">191</a>; v. 84.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dionysius the Younger, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diophantus, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diorphus, mount, v. 507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Discourse to an Unlearned Prince, iv. 323-330.</li> + +<li class="indx">Diseases of the body, iv. 504-508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Divination, of, iii. 176; iv. 59.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dog, habit of biting of stones, iii. 516;</li> +<li class="isub2">affection for his master, v. 180, 182, 184;</li> +<li class="isub2">docility of the, 191.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dolphin, sagacity of the, v. 200;</li> +<li class="isub2">nature of the, 204;</li> +<li class="isub2">story of a, 213;</li> +<li class="isub2">its love of music, 214;</li> +<li class="isub2">stories of affection of, 215, 216.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dolphin and Arion, ii. 33-36;</li> +<li class="isub2">and the lad of Jasus, v. 215.</li> + +<li class="indx">Domitian is mentioned [which fixes the era of Plutarch], ii. 443.</li> + +<li class="indx">Domitius, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; v. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dorian Mood of music, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, 115.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dorians pray for bad making of their hay, iii. 504.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dorotheus, his First Book of Transformations, v. 466;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Fourth Book of Italian History, v. 463.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dositheus, his Third Book of Sicilian History, v. 463, 471, 472, 474;</li> +<li class="isub2">Third Book of Lydian History, 469;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Pelopidae, 471;</li> +<li class="isub2">First Book of Italian History, 475.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dream, a romantic, ii. 407-411.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dreams and Omens, ii. 401, 402.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dreams in Autumn, iii. 432.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dreams, whence do they arise, iii. 176.</li> + +<li class="indx">Drink either five or three, iii. 282-284.</li> + +<li class="indx">Drink passeth through the lungs, iii. 363.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">E.</li> + +<li class="indx">Earth, its nature and magnitude, iii. 154;</li> +<li class="isub2">figure of the, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">site and position of the, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">inclination of the, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">motion of the, 156;</li> +<li class="isub2">zones of the, 156;</li> +<li class="isub2">exhalations from the, iv. 53;</li> +<li class="isub2">its form and its place, v. 247;</li> +<li class="isub2">an instrument of time, 439.</li> + +<li class="indx">Earthquakes, of, iii. 157.</li> + +<li class="indx">Echo, what gives the, iii. 172.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eclipse of the moon, iii. 146.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eclipses of the sun, iii. 144.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ecphantus, his opinion concerning the motion of the earth, iii. 156.</li> + +<li class="indx">Egg or the bird, which was first, iii. 242-246.</li> + +<li class="indx">Egypt, its Religion and Philosophy; of Isis and Osiris, or of the +Ancient Religion and Philosophy of Egypt, iv. 65-139.</li> + +<li class="indx">Egyptian skeleton at feasts, ii. 7.</li> + +<li class="indx">Egyptians in Ethiopia, iii. 20.</li> + +<li class="indx"><span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">Ει</span> at Apollo’s temple at Delphi, iv. 479-498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eleans, the, v. 426.</li> + +<li class="indx">Elements, mixture of the, iii. 126.</li> + +<li class="indx">Elephant, understanding of the, v. 178;</li> +<li class="isub2">stories of, 178;</li> +<li class="isub2">of King Porus, 183;</li> +<li class="isub2">most beloved by the Gods, 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">amour of the, 188;</li> +<li class="isub2">chirurgery of the, 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Elephas, mount, v. 478.</li> + +<li class="indx">Elysian fields in the moon, v. 289.</li> + +<li class="indx">Elysius the Terinean, vision of, i. <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Embryo, how nourished, iii. 183;</li> +<li class="isub2">is an animal, <i>ib.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Empedocles, i. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 49, 195; 357;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 34, 81;</li> +<li class="isub2">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;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 209, 262, 293, 333, 497, 509, 518;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 21, 52, 85, 87, 108, 273;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. 169, 239, 246, 249, 252, 255, 318, 348, 350, 351;</li> +<li class="isub2">misunderstood by Colotes, 351;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 381, 420, 421, 439.</li> + +<li class="indx">Emprepes, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Enemies, how a man may profit by his, i. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-<a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Entertainment, late to an, iii. 417.</li> + +<li class="indx">Envy and Hatred, ii. 95-99.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epaminondas, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his great actions, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his consistency of character, ii. 109; 182, 185, 309, 313, 319, +381, 396, 399, 414; iii. 6; v. 72, 75, 95, 101, 121, 125;</li> +<li class="isub2">his invasion of Laconia, 401, 407, 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epaminondas, son of, beheaded, v. 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ephorus, his opinion concerning the overflowing of the Nile, iii. 161.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epicharmus, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>; ii. 141; iv. 242.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epicureans, misrepresentations of the, v. 352-354.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epicurus, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">famous sentence of, ii. 92;</li> +<li class="isub2">his doctrine; refutation of it; pleasure is not attainable, 157-203;</li> +<li class="isub2">reverence of his brothers, iii. 57;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, 111, 122, 124, 127, 128, +131, 134, 135, 139, 142, 143, 151, 163, 164, 165, 169, 177, 183;</li> +<li class="isub2">opinions of, v. 350, 374;</li> +<li class="isub2">danger of his doctrines, 377, 378;</li> +<li class="isub2">disciples of, 383, 385.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epigenes, opinion concerning comets, iii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epimenides, long sleep of, v. 66; 279.</li> + +<li class="indx">Erasistratus, his opinion of the soul, iii. 163;</li> +<li class="isub2">of superfetation, 180;</li> +<li class="isub2">his definition of a fever, 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eratosthenes, his philosophical opinions: of time, iii. 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sun, 147; v. 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Erectheus, sacrifice of his daughter, v. 463.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eryxo of Cyrene, i. <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Esop, fable of, ii. 11, 12, 16, 19-22, 23;</li> +<li class="isub2">dog of, 25;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 3-41; iii. 63, 202.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eteocles the Theban, i. <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euboea, king of, drawn in pieces by horses, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euboidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euclid, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>; ii. 173.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euclides, his brotherly love, iii. 61.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euctus and Eulaeus, ii. 146.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eudaemonidas, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eudamidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eudemus, of matter, ii. 334.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eudorus, system of numbers, ii. 343, 345.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eudoxus, anecdotes of, ii. 174;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion of the cause of winter and summer, iii. 141;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the overflow of the Nile, 161.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euemerus, his opinion of God, iii. 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eumenes of Pergamus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, iii. 61, iv. 232.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eumetis at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">her riddle, 20.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euphorion quoted, iii. 321.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euphranor, the painter, v. 400.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euphrates, the river, v. 502.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eupolis, saying of, ii. 112.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euripides, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, +<a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippol., <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Protesilaus, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Dictys, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Bellerophon, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Pirithous, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Orestes, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Medea, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Iph. Aul., <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Bacchae, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Troad, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Phoeniss, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Danae, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Adrastus, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Stheneboea, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Ino, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Alcestis, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Suppliants, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Cresphontes, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Erectheus, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hypsipyle, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>; ii. 54, 56, 62, 87, 92, +121, 148, 150, 251, 300, 306, 357, 363, 391, 472;</li> +<li class="isub2">Cresphontes, 93;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippol., 73, 108, 173, 198, 373, 374;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 86, 181, 318, 437, 501;</li> +<li class="isub2">Orestes, 143, 443;</li> +<li class="isub2">Medea, 66;</li> +<li class="isub2">Iph. Aul., 49, 85;</li> +<li class="isub2">Phoeniss, 51, 61, 66, 130, 151;</li> +<li class="isub2">Ion, 102, 144;</li> +<li class="isub2">Ino, 131;</li> +<li class="isub2">Erectheus, 132;</li> +<li class="isub2">Electra, 85;</li> +<li class="isub2">Aeolus, 66, 85, 88, 175;</li> +<li class="isub2">Herc. Furens, 151;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hecuba, 197;</li> +<li class="isub2">Iph. Taur., 447; iii. 27, 99, 116, 194;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 3, 19, 33, 41, 42, 94, + 230, 458, 475, 512;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippol., 483;</li> +<li class="isub2">Orestes, 168, 437;</li> +<li class="isub2">Phoeniss, 16, 32, 43, 49, 257;</li> +<li class="isub2">Stheneboea, 217;</li> +<li class="isub2">Iph. Taur., 21;</li> +<li class="isub2">Androm., 232;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hipsipyle, 291, iv. 17, 128, 142, 270, 308, + 450, 478, 497;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 47, 220, 233, 251, 272, 273, + 292, 301, 325, 392, 461, 475;</li> +<li class="isub2">Bacchae, 223, 272, 422, 506;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippol., 294, 298;</li> +<li class="isub2">Cyclops, 56;</li> +<li class="isub2">Aeolus, 105;</li> +<li class="isub2">Troad, 132;</li> +<li class="isub2">Orestes, 141, 507;</li> +<li class="isub2">Ino, 158, 231;</li> +<li class="isub2">Alcestis, 197;</li> +<li class="isub2">Danae, 274, 283;</li> +<li class="isub2">Stheneboea, 288;</li> +<li class="isub2">Androm., 401;</li> +<li class="isub2">Herc. Furens, 459, 467; v. 126, 128, 157, 172;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 15, 79, 105, 108, 118, 345;</li> +<li class="isub2">Aeolus, 71;</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippol., 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">Iph. Taur., 374;</li> +<li class="isub2">Orestes, 77, 380;</li> +<li class="isub2">Troad, 440;</li> +<li class="isub2">Erectheus, 463;</li> +<li class="isub2">Meleager, 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eurotas, a river in Laconia, v. 497.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eurycratidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eurydice of Hierapolis, her epigram, i. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euthrymenes, his opinion of the overflow of the Nile, iii. 160.</li> + +<li class="indx">Euthynous and Pindar, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eutropion, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Evenus quoted, ii. 102, 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Evenus, son of Mars, v. 475.</li> + +<li class="indx">Exercises, different kinds of, iii. 248-250.</li> + +<li class="indx">Exile, consolations of, iii. 15-35.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eyes, images of the, iii. 169.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">F.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fabius Maximus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">in the Punic war, v. 453.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fable of Minerva, i. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fable of the defeat of Neptune, iii. 444.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fable of the Fox and Leopard, ii. 21.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fable of the Lydian Mule, ii. 11.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fabricianus, v. 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fabricius, iv. 201.</li> + +<li class="indx">Face appearing in the moon, v. 234-292.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fasting creates more thirst than hunger, iii. 339.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fate, or destiny, iii. 130;</li> +<li class="isub2">nature of, 130; v. 293-308.</li> + +<li class="indx">Faunus, king of Italy, strangers murdered by, v. 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fever, cause of a, iii. 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fig-trees, of, iii. 250, 335.</li> + +<li class="indx">Figures, of, iii. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Filial treachery in Persian and Roman history, v. 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fire or water, which is more useful, v. 331-337.</li> + +<li class="indx">Firmus and Nuceria, v. 471.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fish called the fisherman, v. 201.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fish, eating of, iii. 422.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fisherman’s nets, rotting of, iii. 503.</li> + +<li class="indx">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.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fittest time for a man to know his wife, iii. 274-279.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fives, we reckon by, iv. 43-47.</li> + +<li class="indx">Five tragical histories of Love, iv. 312-322.</li> + +<li class="indx">Flattery: How to know a Flatterer from a Friend, ii. 100-156.</li> + +<li class="indx">Flattery fatal to whole kingdoms, ii. 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Flesh exposed to the moon, iii. 284-287.</li> + +<li class="indx">Flute girls, whether they are to be admitted to a feast, iii. 387.</li> + +<li class="indx">Folly of Seeking Many Friends, i. <a href="#Page_464">464</a>-<a href="#Page_474">474</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Food, digesting of, iii. 289-295.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fortune, of, ii. 475-481; iii. 131;</li> +<li class="isub2">is a cause by accident, v. 302;</li> +<li class="isub2">not the same as chance, 303;</li> +<li class="isub2">relates to men only, 303.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fortune of the Romans, iv. 198-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fox, cunning of the, v. 179.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fresh water washes clothes better than salt, iii. 224-226.</li> + +<li class="indx">Friends, folly of seeking many, i. <a href="#Page_464">464</a>-<a href="#Page_474">474</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Frogs, croaking of, v. 210.</li> + +<li class="indx">Frost makes hunting difficult, iii. 510.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fruit, salt not found in, iii. 498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fulvius and Augustus, anecdotes of, iv. 235, 236.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fulvius Stellus, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fundanus, i. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, 35.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">G.</li> + +<li class="indx">Galaxy, or milky way, iii. 148.</li> + +<li class="indx">Galeus, affection of, for their young, v. 209.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ganges, the river, v. 481.</li> + +<li class="indx">Garlands at sacred games, iii. 411.</li> + +<li class="indx">Garrulity, or Talkativeness, iv. 220-253.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gauran, mount, v. 508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gelo, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Generation and corruption, iii. 128.</li> + +<li class="indx">Generation of males and females, iii. 178;</li> +<li class="isub2">of animals, 186;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the Gods, 400.</li> + +<li class="indx">Generative seed, iii. 177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Geniuses and heroes, opinions concerning, iii. 122.</li> + +<li class="indx">Germanicus, ii. 96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gnatho the Sicilian, iii. 3.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gobryas, a Persian noble, ii. 104.</li> + +<li class="indx">God always plays the Geometer, saying attributed to Plato, iii. 402.</li> + +<li class="indx">God bade Socrates act the midwife’s part, v. 425.</li> + +<li class="indx">God, Father and Maker of all things, v. 428.</li> + +<li class="indx">God, what is, iii. 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gods, generation of the, iii. 400.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gorgias, i. <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41; 44, 134; ii. 502; v. 405.</li> + +<li class="indx">Government. Of the Three Sorts of Government, Monarchy, Democracy, +and Oligarchy, v. 395-398.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gracchus, Caius, example of, i. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Greek music, principles of, i. <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Greek Questions, ii. 265-293.</li> + +<li class="indx">Groom, saying of the king’s, i. <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gryllus, v. 218 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Guests, should the entertainer seat the, iii. 203-210;</li> +<li class="isub2">to a wedding supper, 300;</li> +<li class="isub2">that are called shadows, iii. 381.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gylippus, his dishonesty, i. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">H.</li> + +<li class="indx">Habits of animals, v. 173-177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Halcyon, of the, v. 211.</li> + +<li class="indx">Halo, of the, iii. 160.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hannibal and Fabius, i. <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hares, cunning of the, v. 185.</li> + +<li class="indx">Harp, an invention of Apollo, i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hart, tears of the, iii. 507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Health, preservation of, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Health, sickness, and old age, iii. 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hearing, of, i. <a href="#Page_441">441</a>-<a href="#Page_463">463</a>; iii. 170.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heaven, its nature and essence, iii. 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">division of, 137.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hebrus, a river of Thrace, v. 480.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hedgehog, ingenuity of the, v. 186.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hedgehog of the sea, v. 203.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hegemon, of the fish, v. 206.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hegesippus, sayings of, &c., i. <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hegesistratus, an Ephesian, v. 476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Helicon the mathematician, i. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hephaestion, the friend of Alexander, i. <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heracleo, v. 194.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heraclides, his compendium of music, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>; ii. 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, iii. 139, 149, 156, 159, 165.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heraclides the wrestler, iii. 220.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heraclitus, i. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>; +ii. 74, 165, 330, 358, 477; iii. 26, 74;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, 111, 125, 128, 130, 131, 143, 144, 145, +146, 162;</li> +<li class="isub2">apothegm, v. 9;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 73, 169, 425.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hercules and Iole, v. 459.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hercules in Antisthenes, precept of, i. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hercules, ridiculous representation of, v. 70;</li> +<li class="isub2">and King Faunus, 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hercules the woman-hater, his temple in Phocis, iii. 90;</li> +<li class="isub2">singular anecdote, <i>ib.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Hermes, iv. 74.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hermias, v. 121.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hermogenes, ii. 194.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herodotus, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, ii. 202, 489;</li> +<li class="isub2">Arcadian prophet, iii. 38;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 248, 335 <i>et seq.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">malice of, iv. 331-371; v. 397.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herondas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herons, artifices of the, v. 176.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herophilus, opinion of, iii. 128, 163.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hesianax, his Third Book of African History, v. 465.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hesiod, quoted, Works and Days, i. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, +<a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Works and Days, ii. 24;</li> +<li class="isub2">spare diet recommended by, 27;</li> +<li class="isub2">and the dolphin, 36, 37;</li> +<li class="isub2">Works and Days, 63, 64, 65, 73, 87, 92, 302, 303, 449, 452, 480, +483;</li> +<li class="isub2">Theogony, 102;</li> +<li class="isub2">Works and Days, iii. 64, 210, 382, 416, 436, 438;</li> +<li class="isub2">Theogony, 118, 324, 458; iv. 15;</li> +<li class="isub2">Works and Days, 48, 49, 68, 87, 154, 173, 264, 385, 442, 457;</li> +<li class="isub2">Theogony, 53;</li> +<li class="isub2">Works and Days, v. 153, 168, 172, 279.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hicetes, his opinion of the earth, iii. 154.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hiero, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hiero the Spartan, statue of, iii. 76.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hiero the Tyrant, statue of, iii. 75.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hieronymus, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Himerius, an Athenian parasite, ii. 126.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hippasus, opinions of, iii. 111.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hippocrates, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>; ii. 165, 185;</li> +<li class="isub2">his magnanimity, ii. 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hippocratidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_412">412</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hippodamus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hippolytus, son of Theseus, v. 471, 472.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hippomachus, ii. 294.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hipponax, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">History of music, i. <a href="#Page_104">104</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">History of wind instruments, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Homer, passages in, criticised, ii. 69-72, 74-84, 89, 90.</li> + +<li class="indx">Homer quoted: Iliad, i. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, +<a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, + <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, +<a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, + <a href="#Page_507">507</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>; 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;</li> +<li class="isub2">Odyss. i. <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, +<a href="#Page_469">469</a>; 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.</li> + +<li class="indx">Horatii and Curatii, v. 460, 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Horatius Cocles, v. 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Horsehair for fishing lines, iii. 505.</li> + +<li class="indx">Horses, called <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">λυχοσπάδες</span>, iii. 253.</li> + +<li class="indx">Horus, son of Osiris, iv. 80, 114 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Hounds that hunt hares, v. 184.</li> + +<li class="indx">How a man may praise himself without being envied, ii. 306.</li> + +<li class="indx">How a man may receive advantage and profit from his enemies, i. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-<a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">How animals are begotten, iii. 186.</li> + +<li class="indx">How a young man ought to hear poems, ii. 42.</li> + +<li class="indx">How plants grow, and whether they are animals, iii. 190.</li> + +<li class="indx">How to know a flatterer, ii. 100-156.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hunger, cause of, iii. 341;</li> +<li class="isub2">allayed by drinking, 345.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hurricanes, of, iii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hyagnis, first that sung to the pipe, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hydaspes, a river in India, v. 477.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hyperides, the Athenian orator, ii. 140; v. 53-57;</li> +<li class="isub2">his part in public affairs, 53;</li> +<li class="isub2">his friendship for Demosthenes, 54;</li> +<li class="isub2">this friendship broken, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">demanded by Antipater, he escapes to Aegina, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">is apprehended, tortured, and put to death, 55;</li> +<li class="isub2">an excellent orator, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his amorous propensities, 55, 56;</li> +<li class="isub2">his patriotism, 56;</li> +<li class="isub2">sent as ambassador, 56, 57.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hypsipyle, foster-child of, i, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">I.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ibis, habits of, imitated by the Egyptians, v. 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ibycus, the poet, iv. 240.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ichneumon, of the, v. 174.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ida, mount, v. 493.</li> + +<li class="indx">Idathyrsus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ideas, of, iii. 123.</li> + +<li class="indx">Images presented to our eyes in mirrors, iii. 169.</li> + +<li class="indx">Imagination, imaginable and phantom, difference between, iii. 167.</li> + +<li class="indx">Immortality of the soul, argument for it, iv. 169, 170.</li> + +<li class="indx">Impotency in men, iii. 181.</li> + +<li class="indx">Improbabilities of the Stoics, iii. 194-196.</li> + +<li class="indx">Inachus, a river in Argolis, v. 498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Incest, case of, v. 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Indus, the river, v. 508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Infants, seven months’, iii. 184.</li> + +<li class="indx">Inquisitiveness, or vain curiosity; of curiosity, or an over-busy +inquisitiveness into things impertinent, ii. 424-445.</li> + +<li class="indx">Iole, the beloved of Hercules, v. 459.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ion the tragedian, i. <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>; v. 186, 254.</li> + +<li class="indx">Iphicrates, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>; v. 105.</li> + +<li class="indx">Iphigenia at Aulis, v. 459, 460.</li> + +<li class="indx">Irascible faculty, v. 441.</li> + +<li class="indx">Isaeus, an Athenian orator, v. 33;</li> +<li class="isub2">considered by some equal to Lysias, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">the teacher of Demosthenes, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">number of his orations, <i>ib.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Isis and Osiris, iv. 66-139.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ismenodora, iv. 256, 264, 269, 311.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ismenus, a river of Boeotia, v. 478.</li> + +<li class="indx">Isocrates, an Athenian orator, iii. 198; v. 27-33;</li> +<li class="isub2">his parentage, birth, and education, 27;</li> +<li class="isub2">composed orations for others, 28;</li> +<li class="isub2">his school at Chios, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his great success as a teacher of rhetoric, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">lived to a great age, 29;</li> +<li class="isub2">his death and burial, 30;</li> +<li class="isub2">number of his orations, 31;</li> +<li class="isub2">his timidity, 27, 31;</li> +<li class="isub2">his description of the use of rhetoric, 31;</li> +<li class="isub2">the two suits against him, 32, 409;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Panegyric, 410.</li> + +<li class="indx">Isthmian games, iii. 318.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ivy, nature of, iii. 265-268.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">J.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jason, saying of, v. 140.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jewish religion, statements and conjectures respecting it, iii. 307-312.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jews, their fatal inaction in war because it was their Sabbath day, i. <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Juba, his third Book of Lybian History, v. 465.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">L.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lacedaemonians, their laws and customs, i. <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">their currency, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">influx of gold and silver, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">refuse to assist Philip and Alexander in their designs against +Persia, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">lose all their ancient glory, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">combat with the Argives, v. 452.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lachares, tyranny of, ii. 166.</li> + +<li class="indx">Laconic answers, iv. 243.</li> + +<li class="indx">Laconic Apothegms, of, i. <a href="#Page_385">385</a>-<a href="#Page_440">440</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Acrotatus, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agasicles, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agesilaus, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>-<a href="#Page_397">397</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agesipolis, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agis, son of Archidamus, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agis the Last, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Agis the Younger, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Alcamenes, the son of Teleclus, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Alexandridas, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Anaxander, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Anaxilas, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Androclidas, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antalcidas, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Antiochus, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archidamidas, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archidamus, son of Agesilaus, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Aregeus, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Ariston, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Astycratidas, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Bias, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Callicratidas, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Charillus, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cleombrotus, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Cleomenes, son of Cleombrotus, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Damindas, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Damis, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Damonidas, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Demaratus, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Dercyllidas, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Emprepes, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Euboidas, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Eudamidas, son of Archidamas, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Eurycratidas, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Herondas, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippocratidas, 412.</li> +<li class="isub2">Hippodamus, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Leonidas, the son of Anaxandrias, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Leo, the son of Eucratidas, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Leotychides, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lycurgus the Lawgiver, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>-<a href="#Page_425">425</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Lysander, 425.</li> +<li class="isub2">Namertes, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Nicander, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Paedaretus, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Panthoidas, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Pausanias, son of Plistoanax, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Phoebidas, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Plistoanax, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Polycratidas, 431.</li> +<li class="isub2">Polydorus, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Soos, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Telecrus, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Thectamenes, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Themisteas, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Theopompus, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Thorycion, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li> +<li class="isub2">Zeuxidamus, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lacydes, King of the Argives, i. <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lais, murder of, iv. 302.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lampis, a sea commander, v. 73.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lampsace, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lamps and tables of the ancients, iii. 372.</li> + +<li class="indx">Land, food of the, iii. 302-306.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lasus, his innovation upon ancient music, i. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leaena, anecdote of, iv. 229, 230.</li> + +<li class="indx">Least things in nature, iii. 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leo, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leo Byzantinus, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">and his wife, v. 110.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leonidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">vindicated from the statements of Herodotus, iv. 354; v. 157;</li> +<li class="isub2">at Thermopylae, 453.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leotychides, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leprosy caused by dewy trees, iii. 500.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leptis, custom in, ii. 499.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leucippus, his opinions of the world, iii. 135;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the earth, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the senses, 165.</li> + +<li class="indx">Light and darkness, of, v. 325.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lightning, of, iii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Light, of reflected, iii. 168, 169; v. 236 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Lilaeus, mount, v. 508, 509.</li> + +<li class="indx">Linus, elegies of, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lions, of, v. 187.</li> + +<li class="indx">Liquids, of, iii. 359.</li> + +<li class="indx">Live concealed, whether’t were rightly said, iii. 3-10.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lives of the ten Attic orators, v. 17-63.</li> + +<li class="indx">Love: Five tragical histories of, iv. 312-322.</li> + +<li class="indx">Love, of, iv. 254-311;</li> +<li class="isub2">makes a man a poet, iii. 217-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Love of wealth, ii. 294-305.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lucretia, the Roman matron, i. <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lucullus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 51; v. 84.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lugdunum, mount, v. 485.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lyaeus and choraeus, i. <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lybian crows, v. 175.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lycastus and Parasius, v. 473.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lycian women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lycormas, a river in Aetolia, v. 487.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lycurgus, an Athenian orator, v. 36-42;</li> +<li class="isub2">treasurer of the commonwealth, 36;</li> +<li class="isub2">his great public services, 37;</li> +<li class="isub2">his fidelity in office and great reputation, 37;</li> +<li class="isub2">his justice and integrity, 37, 38;</li> +<li class="isub2">useful laws procured by his influence, 38;</li> +<li class="isub2">his diligence in the study and practice of oratory, 39;</li> +<li class="isub2">his incorruptible honesty, 40;</li> +<li class="isub2">his death, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">honors paid to his memory, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his family, 40, 41;</li> +<li class="isub2">his orations and success as an orator, 41;</li> +<li class="isub2">his benevolence, 42;</li> +<li class="isub2">a decree for honors to be paid to his memory, 61-63.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his institutions, <a href="#Page_82">82</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">their final overthrow, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>-<a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, ii. 22; v. 12, 92.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lydian mood of music, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lyric nomes, i. <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lysander, i. <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his great victory over the Athenians, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">introduces gold and silver into Lacedaemon, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li> +<li class="isub3">the results, <a href="#Page_100"><i>ib.</i></a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, 425;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, ii. 149;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, 495; iii. 100; v. 92.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lysias, the Athenian orator, his remarks on music, i. <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, iv. 226; v. 24-26;</li> +<li class="isub2">his birth, early residence in Athens, residence in Thurii, and +return to Athens, 24;</li> +<li class="isub2">banished by the Thirty Tyrants, 25;</li> +<li class="isub2">return after their overthrow, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">death, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">number of his orations, <i>ib.</i>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his other works, 26;</li> +<li class="isub2">his eloquence, <i>ib.</i>; v. 33.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lysimache, the priestess, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lysimachus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lysippus, his statue of Alexander, i. <a href="#Page_494">494</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">M.</li> + +<li class="indx">Madness of animals, v. 167.</li> + +<li class="indx">Maeander, a river in Asia, v. 488.</li> + +<li class="indx">Magas, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Magpie, story of a, v. 189.</li> + +<li class="indx">Maimactes, king of the gods, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Man, perfection of a, iii. 189;</li> +<li class="isub2">most unhappy of all creatures, iv. 504;</li> +<li class="isub2">compounded of three parts, v. 286.</li> + +<li class="indx">Maneros, the foster-son of Isis, iv. 79.</li> + +<li class="indx">Manius Curius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Manlius, son of, beheaded, v. 458.</li> + +<li class="indx">Man’s progress in virtue, ii. 446-474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mantinea, battle of, v. 401.</li> + +<li class="indx">Marius, sacrifice of his daughter, v. 463.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mars, some bad actions of his, v. 466, 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Marsyas, a river in Phrygia, v. 490.</li> + +<li class="indx">Marsyas, the musician, i. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Massinissa, his vigorous old age, v. 83.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mathematics, applied to Music, i. <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">affords unspeakable delight, ii. 172, 174.</li> + +<li class="indx">Matter, of, iii. 122.</li> + +<li class="indx">Medius, the parasite, ii. 137.</li> + +<li class="indx">Megasthenes, saying of, v. 275.</li> + +<li class="indx">Megisto and Micca, and other women of Elis, i. <a href="#Page_357">357</a>-<a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Meilichius, king of the gods, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Melanippides, quoted, iv. 278.</li> + +<li class="indx">Melanthius, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>; ii. 103; iv. 147.</li> + +<li class="indx">Melian women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Melisponda and Nephalia, i. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Melissus, his opinion of generation, iii, 128.</li> + +<li class="indx">Memnon, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Menalippides, i. <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Menander, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 52, 57, 65, 86, 87, 124, 192, + 297;</li> +<li class="isub2">his superiority to Aristophanes, iii. 11-14;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 38, 65, 196, 488; iv. 290;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, v. 403;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, 425.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mendesian goat, v. 225.</li> + +<li class="indx">Menedemus, i. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>; ii. 115, 464;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion of the nature of moral virtue, iii. 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Menelaus, the mathematician, v. 257.</li> + +<li class="indx">Men, impotency in, iii. 181;</li> +<li class="isub2">elements of, 188;</li> +<li class="isub2">have better stomachs in autumn, 240;</li> +<li class="isub2">temper of, 270-272;</li> +<li class="isub2">when asleep are never thunderstruck, 295-300;</li> +<li class="isub2">having carnal knowledge of brutes, 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Menon, his definition of virtue, i. <a href="#Page_464">464</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Menyllus, his First Book of Boeotic History, v. 460;</li> +<li class="isub2">Third Book of Italian History, 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Messenians, saying among the, v. 416.</li> + +<li class="indx">Metellus, quoted, iii. 53; iv. 202; v. 459, 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Meteors, of, which resemble rods, iii. 153.</li> + +<li class="indx">Metiochus, his misuse of power, v. 127.</li> + +<li class="indx">Metius Fufetius, king of Alba, torn in pieces, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Metrocles, i. <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Metrodorus, ii. 158, 160, 161, 167, 169, 175, 180, 183, 496;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, iii. 115, 127, 132, 149, 150, 151, 153, +154, 155, 157, 158; v. 378, 383, 384.</li> + +<li class="indx">Micca and Megisto, and other women of Elis, i. <a href="#Page_357">357</a>-<a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Midas, i. <a href="#Page_326">326</a>; v. 454.</li> + +<li class="indx">Miletus, maidens of, i. <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind fine, iv. 143.</li> + +<li class="indx">Miltiades, v. 407-411.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mimnermus, quoted, iii. 475.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mind, tranquillity of the, i. <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Minerva, admonished by a satyr, i. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>; iii. 195;</li> +<li class="isub2">temple of, v. 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mirrors, causes and reasons of, iii. 169; v. 236 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Mithridates, i. <a href="#Page_204">204</a>; ii. 121;</li> +<li class="isub2">story of, iii. 219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mixture of the elements, iii. 126.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mnemosyne, the mother of the Muses, i. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mnesarete, statue of, iii. 83.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mnesiphilus, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mnesitheus, the physician, iii. 511.</li> + +<li class="indx">Monarchy, Democracy, and Oligarchy, v. 395-398.</li> + +<li class="indx">Money upon usury, v. 412-424.</li> + +<li class="indx">Monstrous births, of, iii. 179.</li> + +<li class="indx">Moon: essence of the, iii. 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">magnitude of the, 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">figure of the, 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">whence her light, 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">eclipses of the, 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">phases of the, 147;</li> +<li class="isub2">distance from the sun, 147;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the face appearing within the orb of the moon, v. 234-292;</li> +<li class="isub2">its distance from the earth, 246;</li> +<li class="isub2">its nature, 253-260;</li> +<li class="isub2">its size, 261;</li> +<li class="isub2">why called Glaucopis, 267;</li> +<li class="isub2">is it inhabited, 274, 275.</li> + +<li class="indx">Moot point in Homer’s Iliad, iii. 446.</li> + +<li class="indx">Moral virtue, essay on, iii. 461-494.</li> + +<li class="indx">Moschio, dialogue on health, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Motherland a Cretan expression, v. 85.</li> + +<li class="indx">Motion, of, iii. 128.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mount Athos’ shade, v. 270.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mule and the salt, v. 184.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mule, superannuated, v. 182.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mules, barrenness of, iii. 182.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mullet, of the, v. 213.</li> + +<li class="indx">Muses, number of the, iii. 450.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mushrooms produced by thunder, iii. 295-300.</li> + +<li class="indx">Music, treatise concerning, i. <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-<a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">pleasures from bad, iii. 376;</li> +<li class="isub2">for entertainments, 389.</li> + +<li class="indx">Musonius, his rule of health, i. <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Must, sweet, iii. 511.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mycenae, mount, v. 501.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">N.</li> + +<li class="indx">Namertes, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Names of rivers and mountains, and of such things as are to be found +therein, and the fables connected therewith, v. 477-509.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nasica, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Natural affection towards one’s offspring, iv. 189-197.</li> + +<li class="indx">Natural philosophy, iii. 105.</li> + +<li class="indx">Natural Questions, Plutarch’s, iii. 495-518.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nature, of, iii. 131;</li> +<li class="isub2">what is, 105;</li> +<li class="isub2">things that are least in, 125;</li> +<li class="isub2">animated, v. 160.</li> + +<li class="indx">Necessity, of, iii. 129;</li> +<li class="isub2">nature of, 129;</li> +<li class="isub2">defined, v. 299.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nephalia and Melisponda, i. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Neptune, ii. 38, 39, 41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nero, i. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>; iv. 228, 229;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, v. 123.</li> + +<li class="indx">New diseases and how caused, iii. 426.</li> + +<li class="indx">New-married couple, advice to, ii. 486-507.</li> + +<li class="indx">New wine, of, iii. 279.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nicander, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nicias Maleotes, quoted, v. 459.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nicias, the Athenian general, superstition of, i. <a href="#Page_177">177</a>; v. 107.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nicias, the painter, anecdote of, ii. 173; v. 71.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nicostratus and Archidamus, i. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">apothegm of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Niger, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nightingale, of the, v. 189.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nile, the river, v. 495;</li> +<li class="isub2">overflow of the, iii. 160;</li> +<li class="isub2">water of the, 415.</li> + +<li class="indx">Niloxenus, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Niobe, i. <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Noises in the night and day, iii. 406.</li> + +<li class="indx">Numa, of the reign of, iv. 208-210.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">O.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oenopides, his discovery of the obliquity of the Zodiac, iii. 138.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ogygia, an island west from Britain and its neighbor islands, +described, v. 281-283.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oil, top of the, iii. 370;</li> +<li class="isub2">on the sea, 503;</li> +<li class="isub2">is transparent, v. 318;</li> +<li class="isub2">does not easily freeze, 319.</li> + +<li class="indx">Old age, health, and sickness, iii. 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Old men, love pure wine, iii. 221;</li> +<li class="isub2">read best at a distance, 222-224;</li> +<li class="isub2">easily foxed, 268-270;</li> +<li class="isub2">in state affairs, v. 64-96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oligarchy, Monarchy, and Democracy, v. 395-398.</li> + +<li class="indx">Olympias, anecdotes of, ii. 494, 495.</li> + +<li class="indx">Olympus, a Phrygian player, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Omens and dreams, ii. 401, 402.</li> + +<li class="indx">Onesicrates, banquet of, i. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Onomademus, wisdom of, i. <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; v. 129.</li> + +<li class="indx">Opinions of philosophers, iii. 104-193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Optatus, v. 171.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oracle in Cilicia, iv. 55.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oracles of Delphi, iii. 73.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oracles, why they cease to give answers, iv. 3-64.</li> + +<li class="indx">Orestes slays his mother, v. 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Origin of things, opinions concerning the, iii. 107-113.</li> + +<li class="indx">Orontes, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Orpheus never imitated any one, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Orphic Fragments, iv. 59, 404.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oryx, fables of the, v. 193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Osiris, iv. 75-135;</li> +<li class="isub2">story about his birth, 74;</li> +<li class="isub2">great actions of, 75;</li> +<li class="isub2">his death, 76;</li> +<li class="isub2">his body torn in pieces by Typhon, 80;</li> +<li class="isub2">is identical with Serapis and Bacchus, 89;</li> +<li class="isub2">with the bull Apis, 90;</li> +<li class="isub2">sacred vestments of, 135.</li> + +<li class="indx">Othryadas, iv. 338.</li> + +<li class="indx">Otus, the bird, v. 163.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oxen, teaching of, v. 193.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">P.</li> + +<li class="indx">Paeans, makers of, i. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Paedaretus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Painter, neat saying of a, ii. 378.</li> + +<li class="indx">Painting is silent poetry, v. 402.</li> + +<li class="indx">Palladium in Ilium and in Rome, v. 461.</li> + +<li class="indx">Palm tree, of the, iii. 514.</li> + +<li class="indx">Panaetius, sayings of, i. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pancrates, i. <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pandora’s box, i. <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pangaeus, mount, v. 480.</li> + +<li class="indx">Panthoidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Papirius Tolucer, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Parallels, or a comparison between the actions of Greeks and Romans, +v. 450-476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Parmenides, v. 357;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions: of generation and corruption, iii. 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">of necessity, 129;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the world, 135;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the galaxy, 149;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the earth, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">of earthquakes, 157;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the soul, 163;</li> +<li class="isub2">defended from the misrepresentations of the Epicureans, v. 352-354;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 357, 359, 381.</li> + +<li class="indx">Partridge, cunning of the, v. 185.</li> + +<li class="indx">Parysatis, her saying, i. <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Passions of the body, iii. 175.</li> + +<li class="indx">Passions of the soul, or diseases of the body: which are worse, iv. 504, 508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Paulus Aemilius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pausanias, the Spartan traitor, v. 457.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pausanius, i. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">apothegm of, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pauson the painter, iii. 73.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pederasty, or the love of boys, iv. 259;</li> +<li class="isub2">defended, 259, 260;</li> +<li class="isub2">instances of its power, 284-286;</li> +<li class="isub2">severely condemned, 304;</li> +<li class="isub2">the connection is uncertain and short-lived, 307;</li> +<li class="isub2">it ceases on the sprouting of the beard, 307.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pelopidas, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pelops and his two sons, v. 470, 471.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pemptides, iv. 272, 275, 279.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pergamus, woman of, i. 374.</li> + +<li class="indx">Periander, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">tyrant of Corinth sends three hundred boys to be castrated, iv. 341;</li> +<li class="isub2">the crime prevented, 342.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pericles, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>; ii. 309, 315; v. 67, 102;</li> +<li class="isub2">his absolute sway over the Athenians, 106;</li> +<li class="isub2">his soliloquy when about to address the people, 130, 131, 410, 413.</li> + +<li class="indx">Periclitus, a Lesbian harper, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Persaeus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Perseus, king of Macedonia, his sorrow on losing his kingdom, i. <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Persian Magi, killers of mice, ii. 96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Persian women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Persians had a monarchy, v. 397.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pestilence, relief from, a virgin sacrificed for, v. 472.</li> + +<li class="indx">Petron, doctrine of, iv. 30.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phaedimus, v. 171, 194.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phaeton, i. <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phalaris, brazen cow of, v. 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pharnaces, of the moon, v. 265.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phasis, a river of Thrace, v. 482.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phayllus, iv. 282.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phemius, the poet, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pherecrates, fragment of, i. <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phidias, statue of Venus, ii. 498; iv. 133.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philammon, verses in honor of Latona, Diana, and Apollo, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philemon and Magas, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philinus, iii. 69, 70.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philip of Macedonia, examples from, i. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">sayings of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, ii. 141, 146, 147, 494; iii. 22; v. 115.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philippides the comedian, ii. 430.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philippus, his demonstration of the figure of the moon, ii. 173.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philolaus, his philosophical opinions: of the nutriment of the world, iii. 134;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the essence of the sun, 142;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the position of the earth, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the motion of the earth, 156.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philosophers ought chiefly to converse with great men, ii. 368-377.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philosophers, their various opinions. Of those sentiments concerning +nature with which philosophers were delighted, iii. 104-193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philosophical discourses at merry meetings, iii. 198-203.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philosophy, threefold division of, iii. 104.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philotas and Antigona, i. <a href="#Page_504">504</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philotas, son of Parmenio, i. <a href="#Page_504">504</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philotimus, the physician, i. <a href="#Page_452">452</a>; ii. 153.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philoxenus, i. <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">sayings of, ii. 42; iii. 3; iv. 289; v. 423.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phocian women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phocion, his saying on the death of Alexander, i. <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his sayings, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">wife of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>; ii. 135, 298, 311, 321, + 328; v. 83, 109, 118;</li> +<li class="isub2">his magnanimity, 122;</li> +<li class="isub2">his reply to Demades, 125, 142, 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phocus, a story of love respecting him, iv. 319.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phocylides the poet, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phoebidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phoenix, tutor to Achilles, i. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>; ii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phrygian mood of music, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phryne, the statue of, iii. 83.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phrynis, the musician, ii. 470.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pieria and other women of Myus, i. <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pierus, the first that wrote in praise of the Muses, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pindar and Euthynous, i. <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pindar, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, + <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his description of the state of the blessed, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 57, 143, 177, 193, 306;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 9, 23, 74, 93, 95, 96, 194, +207, 218, 377, 455, 458, 491, 516;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 10, 15, 96, 138, 145, 150, 163, 260, 289, 405;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. 64, 111, 117, 148, 194, 197, 202, 214, 316, 331, 404;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, 404, 440.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pine, sacred to Neptune and Bacchus, iii. 318.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pine trees, of, iii. 250.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pinoteras, the fish, v. 205.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pisias, of love, iv. 270 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Pisistratus, i. <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, iii. 41, 200.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pittacus, sayings of, i. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his reply to Myrsilus, ii. 5;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 3-41; iii. 50; iv. 231; v. 145.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pitwater, of, iii. 514.</li> + +<li class="indx">Place at table called Consular, iii. 210-212.</li> + +<li class="indx">Place, of, iii. 127.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plague in Falerie and in Lacedaemon, v. 472.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plain of truth, iv. 29.</li> + +<li class="indx">Planetiades, iv. 9, 11.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plants, grow how, iii. 190;</li> +<li class="isub2">nourishment and growth of, 191.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plato, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">on harmony, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">laws, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, + <a href="#Page_456">456</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 49, 92, 100, 104, 106;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the court of Dionysius, 108, 141, 109, 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Socrates, 148, 150, 168, 174, 326;</li> +<li class="isub2">concerning the soul, 328 <i>et seq.</i>, 334;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 344, 352, 353, 355, 356, 359, +364, 455, 456, 457, 492, 496, 504;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 19, 81;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions: of the universe, 112, 114, 115;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the understanding, 116;</li> +<li class="isub2">what is God, 119;</li> +<li class="isub2">of God, 121;</li> +<li class="isub2">of matter and ideas, 123;</li> +<li class="isub2">of causes and of bodies, 124;</li> +<li class="isub2">of colors, 125;</li> +<li class="isub2">of bodies, 126;</li> +<li class="isub2">of place and time, 127, 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">of motion, 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">of necessity, 129;</li> +<li class="isub2">of fate, 130;</li> +<li class="isub2">of fortune, 131;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the world, 134, 135, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the stars, 137-141;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sun, 142, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 145, 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the rainbow, 152;</li> +<li class="isub2">of earthquakes, 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the sea, 159;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the soul, 161-165;</li> +<li class="isub2">of sight, 168;</li> +<li class="isub2">of hearing, 170;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the voice, 171;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the echo, 172;</li> +<li class="isub2">of divination, 176;</li> +<li class="isub2">of generative seed, 177;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the embryo, 183;</li> +<li class="isub2">of reason in animals, 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">of sleep, 189;</li> +<li class="isub2">that plants are animals, 190;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 200, 201, 213, 221, 223, 243, +365, 368-370, 401, 462, 464, 499; iv. 18, 28, 30, 41, 45;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion about daemons, 86, 87, 109, 115-117, 119, 146, 254, +261, 292, 305;</li> +<li class="isub2">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.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus, ii. 157-203.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pleasures from bad music, iii. 376.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plistoanax, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plurality of worlds, iv. 29-39.</li> + +<li class="indx">Plutarch, his rules for the preservation of health, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Symposiacs, iii. 197-460;</li> +<li class="isub2">his natural questions, 495-518;</li> +<li class="isub2">on the immortality of the soul, iii. 164, iv. 169; v. 393;</li> +<li class="isub2">consolatory letter to his wife, 386-394;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Platonic questions, 425-449;</li> +<li class="isub2">his spurious remains, 450-509.</li> + +<li class="indx">Poet, love makes a man a, iii. 217-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Poetry, essay on. How a young man ought to hear poems, ii. 42-94.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polemon, his kind reply, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Policy or government defined, v. 396.</li> + +<li class="indx">Political precepts, v. 97-156.</li> + +<li class="indx">Poltys, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polus the tragedian, v. 69.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polybus, of seven-months’ infants, iii. 185.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polycephalus, the nome, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polycratidas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polycrita, a woman of Naxos, i. <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polydorus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polyhistor, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polymnestus, his improvements in music, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polypus, why it changes color, iii. 506;</li> +<li class="isub2">many-colored, v. 202.</li> + +<li class="indx">Polysperchon’s treachery, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pompey, his great actions and sayings, i. <a href="#Page_241">241</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">statues of, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, v. 70, 102, 112, 114;</li> +<li class="isub2">owed his success to Sylla, 115.</li> + +<li class="indx">Porsena of Clusium, war with the Romans, v. 451, 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Porus, an Indian king, i. <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Posidonius, his opinion of fate, iii. 130;</li> +<li class="isub2">of a vacuum, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of eclipses, v. 262.</li> + +<li class="indx">Possible and contingent defined, v. 299.</li> + +<li class="indx">Postumia, chastity of, i. <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Power, necessity, &c., defined, v. 300.</li> + +<li class="indx">Praise, inordinate, a sign of a flatterer, ii, 116, 117, 120;</li> +<li class="isub2">young people are often spoiled by it, 123.</li> + +<li class="indx">Preservation of health, rules for, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Priam and Polydore, v. 465.</li> + +<li class="indx">Price of peace, women given as the, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Priest of Hercules, iii. 90.</li> + +<li class="indx">Principle and element, difference between, iii. 106.</li> + +<li class="indx">Principle of cold, v. 309-330.</li> + +<li class="indx">Principles, what they are, iii. 106.</li> + +<li class="indx">Prize for poets at the games, iii. 316.</li> + +<li class="indx">Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, puts Timarchus to death, iii. 89;</li> +<li class="isub2">his own unhappy end, <i>ib.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Procreation of the soul as discussed in the Timaeus of Plato, ii. 326-367.</li> + +<li class="indx">Progress in virtue, how it may be ascertained, ii. 446-474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Prometheus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Proserpine, the same as Isis, iv. 88;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Cora, v. 285, 286.</li> + +<li class="indx">Prosodia, songs called, i. <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Protagoras quoted, i. <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Protogenes, iv. 257, 258, 260-265.</li> + +<li class="indx">Providence, of God, iv. 140-188; v. 305;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the inferior gods, 306;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the daemons, 307, 308.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, i. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ptolemaeus Soter, iv. 88.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ptolemy Lagus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his saying, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>; ii. 177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Publius Decius, his dream, v. 462.</li> + +<li class="indx">Publius Nigidius, v. 96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Punishment of the wicked, why so long delayed, iv. 140-188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pupius Piso, the rhetorician, iv. 245.</li> + +<li class="indx">Purple shell fish, v. 205.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pylades and Orestes, their friendship, i. <a href="#Page_465">465</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pyraechmes’s horses, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pyrander, his Fourth Book of Peloponnesian Histories, v. 474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pyrandrus, the commissary, v. 469.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pyrrhon, the Stoic philosopher, anecdote of, ii. 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pyrrhus the Epirot, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythagoras, his aphorisms, i. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">of music, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">aphorism, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">symbols of, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his unseasonable reproof, ii. 148;</li> +<li class="isub2">his joy on discovering the relation to each other of the three +sides of a right-angled triangle, 174;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions: of the principles of things, iii. 109;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the unity of God, 121;</li> +<li class="isub2">of geniuses and heroes, 122;</li> +<li class="isub2">of matter, 123;</li> +<li class="isub2">of causes, 124;</li> +<li class="isub2">of bodies, 126;</li> +<li class="isub2">of time, 127;</li> +<li class="isub2">of motion, 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">of generation and corruption, 129;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the world, 132-137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the zodiac, 138;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the summer and winter solstice, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the moon, 145;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the zones, 156;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the soul, 161-164;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the voice, 172;</li> +<li class="isub2">of divination, 176;</li> +<li class="isub2">of generative seed, 177;</li> +<li class="isub2">of reason in animals, 187;</li> +<li class="isub2">precepts of, derived his philosophy from Egyptian priests, iv. 72.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythagorean philosophy of dreams, daemons, ii. 412, 413.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythagoreans, precept of, iii. 22;</li> +<li class="isub2">why they do not eat fish, 422-426.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pytheas, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_213">213</a>; iii. 159;</li> +<li class="isub2">apothegm of, v. 107, 110.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythes, the Lydian, i. <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythian games, iii. 316.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythian priestess, iv. 8, 9, 62, 63;</li> +<li class="isub2">why she now ceases to deliver her oracles in verse, iii. 69-103.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythocles, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 460;</li> +<li class="isub2">Third Book of the Georgics, 476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pythoclides the flute player, i. <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Python of Aenos, ii. 314.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Q.</li> + +<li class="indx">Quarry of Carystus, iv. 54.</li> + +<li class="indx">Questions or Causes, Second Book of, v. 475.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">R.</li> + +<li class="indx">Raillery, of, iii. 229-240.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rainbow, of the, iii. 151.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rain, snow, and hail, of, iii. 151.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rational faculty, of the, v. 441.</li> + +<li class="indx">Reason, beasts make use of, v. 218-233.</li> + +<li class="indx">Reason, habit of our, iii. 166.</li> + +<li class="indx">Remarkable speeches of some obscure +men amongst the Spartans, i. <a href="#Page_432">432</a>-<a href="#Page_440">440</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Remora or Echeneis, iii. 252.</li> + +<li class="indx">Reproof, how to be administered, ii. 138-156.</li> + +<li class="indx">Respiration or breathing, iii, 173.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rhesus and Similius, v. 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rhodope and Haemus, mountains, v. 491.</li> + +<li class="indx">Riddles and their solutions, ii. 19, 20.</li> + +<li class="indx">Roman questions, ii. 204-264.</li> + +<li class="indx">Roman senator and his wife, iv. 233-235.</li> + +<li class="indx">Romans, fortune of the, iv. 198-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rome, saved by the cackling of geese, iv. 217;</li> +<li class="isub2">favored by fortune, 219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Romulus, his birth and education, iv. 206-208;</li> +<li class="isub2">murdered in the senate, v. 470;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Remus, suckled by a she-wolf, 473.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rules for the preservation of health, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rutilius the usurer, v. 419.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">S.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sabinus of Galatia, iv. 308.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sacadas, a flute player, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sacred games, garlands of, iii. 411.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sacrificed beasts, iii. 361.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sagaris, a river in Phrygia, v. 492.</li> + +<li class="indx">Salmantica, women of, i. <a href="#Page_352">352</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Salt and cummin, why does Homer call it divine, iii. 336.</li> + +<li class="indx">Salt given to cattle, iii. 497;</li> +<li class="isub2">not found in fruit, 498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sappho, i. <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>; ii. 506;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 95, 263;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 260.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sappho’s measures, grace in, iii. 74.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sardanapalus, his luxury and lust, i. <a href="#Page_497">497</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sardians and Smyrnaeans, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Saturn and his four children, v. 456, 457.</li> + +<li class="indx">Satyrus the orator, i. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scamander, a river in Troas, v. 493.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scaurus, his magnanimity, i. <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scilurus, anecdote of, iv. 244.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scipio the Elder, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_229">229</a>; ii. 475; iv. 201; v. 96, 112, +114, 136.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scipio the Younger, his sayings and great actions, i. <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scopas, saying of, ii. 303.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scythinus, verses of, iii. 86.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sea calves, of, v. 210.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sea, of the, iii. 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">ebbing and flowing of the, 159;</li> +<li class="isub2">food of the, 302-306;</li> +<li class="isub2">made hot by wind, 501.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sea-sickness, iii. 502.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sea water nourishes not trees, iii. 495;</li> +<li class="isub2">upon wine, 502;</li> +<li class="isub2">oil on the, 503.</li> + +<li class="indx">Seed, nature of generative, iii. 177;</li> +<li class="isub2">that fall on the oxen’s horns, 368;</li> +<li class="isub2">watering of, 496;</li> +<li class="isub2">watered by thunder showers, 498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Seleucus the mathematician, iii. 159.</li> + +<li class="indx">Seleucus Callinicus, anecdote of, iv. 237.</li> + +<li class="indx">Self-praise. How a man may inoffensively praise himself without being +liable to envy, ii. 306-325.</li> + +<li class="indx">Semiramis, her saying, i. <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>; iv. 85.</li> + +<li class="indx">Seneca, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Senses, of the, iii. 164;</li> +<li class="isub2">represent what is true, 165;</li> +<li class="isub2">number of the, 165;</li> +<li class="isub2">actions of the, 166.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sentiments concerning Nature with which Philosophers were delighted, +iii. 104-193.</li> + +<li class="indx">Serapio, iii. 74, 79, 81, 82.</li> + +<li class="indx">Serapis is Pluto, iv. 88, 89.</li> + +<li class="indx">Serpent and the Aetolian woman, v. 188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Seven months’ infants, of, iii. 184.</li> + +<li class="indx">Seven Wise Men, Banquet of the, ii. 3-41.</li> + +<li class="indx">Servius Tullius, his birth, elevation, and prosperous reign, iv. 212, 213.</li> + +<li class="indx">Shadows, guests called, iii. 381.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sheep bitten by wolves, iii. 254.</li> + +<li class="indx">She-wolves, of, iii. 517.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ships in winter, sailing of, iii. 500.</li> + +<li class="indx">Shoe pinches, where the, ii. 494.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sibyl with her frantic grimaces, iii. 74.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sight, of our, iii. 168.</li> + +<li class="indx">Silence commended, iv. 230, 243.</li> + +<li class="indx">Simonides, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 44, 101, 136, 436, 457, 471;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 22, 87, 259, 409, 451, 459, + 473;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 158;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, v. 66, 68, 71, 121.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sipylus, mount, v. 489.</li> + +<li class="indx">Siramnes, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sleep or death, causes of, iii. 188;</li> +<li class="isub2">whether it appertains to the soul or body, 189.</li> + +<li class="indx">Smelling, of, iii. 170.</li> + +<li class="indx">Smyrna and Cinyras, v. 464.</li> + +<li class="indx">Snow, preservation of, iii. 350.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soclarus, iv. 292; v. 156, 158, 160, 166, 169, 170, + 171, 216.</li> + +<li class="indx">Socrates, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">rules of health, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>; +ii. 46, 148, 150, 338, 441;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Daemon, 378-423, 441, 495; iii. 4, 19, 35, +112, 121, 123, iv. 249; v. 93, 359, 361, 362-364, 377, 381.</li> + +<li class="indx">Socrates, his Second Book of Thracian History, v. 462.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soil, deep, for wheat, iii. 504;</li> +<li class="isub2">lean soil for barley, 504.</li> + +<li class="indx">Solon and Croesus, anecdote of, ii. 122.</li> + +<li class="indx">Solon, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 297, 454, 487;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted,</li> +<li class="isub1">iii. 50; iv. 72;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 260;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, 304; v. 89, 113, 117, 118, 131.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sophocles, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Thamyras, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Tyre, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Antig., <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">Oed. Tyr., <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 45, 57, 61, 72;</li> +<li class="isub2">criticisms on, 72;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 173, 241, 244, 298, 431, 452, 456, 470, 495;</li> +<li class="isub2">Oed. Tyr., 60, 172, 442, 476, 495;</li> +<li class="isub2">Antig., 110;</li> +<li class="isub2">Trachin., 311;</li> +<li class="isub2">Electra, 440;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 97, 210, 222;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 7;</li> +<li class="isub2">Antig. 45;</li> +<li class="isub2">Oed. Tyr., 235, 474;</li> +<li class="isub2">Oed. Col., 232;</li> +<li class="isub2">Electra, 437;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 87, 246, 287, 304;</li> +<li class="isub2">Oed. Tyr., 197, 202;</li> +<li class="isub2">Trachin., 281;</li> +<li class="isub2">Antig., 239, 283, 404;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 221, 226, 274, 284, 301;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. 69, 76, 158, 216;</li> +<li class="isub2">Oed. Col., 68;</li> +<li class="isub2">Frag., 75, 84;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, 68.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sostratus, his Second Book of Tuscan History, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sotades, jest of, i. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soterichus, the musician, i. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soul of Ajax, her place in hell, iii. 442.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soul or body, death appertains to, iii. 189.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soul, procreation of the, ii. 326-367;</li> +<li class="isub2">its nature and essence, iii. 161, 163;</li> +<li class="isub2">parts of the, 162;</li> +<li class="isub2">in what part of the body it resides, 163;</li> +<li class="isub2">motion of the, 163;</li> +<li class="isub2">immortality of the, 164;</li> +<li class="isub2">principal part of the, 173;</li> +<li class="isub2">three sorts of motion in the, v. 371;</li> +<li class="isub2">state of, after death, 393, 394;</li> +<li class="isub2">ancienter than the body, 432.</li> + +<li class="indx">Souls dispersed into the earth, moon, &c., v. 438.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sounds in the night and day, iii. 406.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sows, tame and wild, iii. 508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Space, of, iii. 127.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sparta had an oligarchy, v. 397.</li> + +<li class="indx">Speech composed of nouns and verbs, v. 444.</li> + +<li class="indx">Speech of a statesman, what it should be, v. 107.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sperm, whether it be a body, iii. 177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Spermatic emission of women, iii. 177.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sphodrias, v. 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Spiders, labor of the, v. 174.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sponge, of the, v. 205.</li> + +<li class="indx">Spurious remains of Plutarch, v. 450-509.</li> + +<li class="indx">Star-fish, subtlety of the, v. 201.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stark drunk, those that are, iii. 281.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stars, essence of the, iii. 138;</li> +<li class="isub2">what figure they are, 139;</li> +<li class="isub2">order and place of, 139;</li> +<li class="isub2">motion and circulation of, 140;</li> +<li class="isub2">whence do they receive their light, 140;</li> +<li class="isub2">which are called the Dioscuri, the twins, or Castor and Pollux, +141;</li> +<li class="isub2">how they prognosticate, 141;</li> +<li class="isub2">number of the, whether odd or even, 446.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stasicrates proposes to turn Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, +i. <a href="#Page_495">495</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stesichorus, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>; iv. 497.</li> + +<li class="indx">Steward of a feast, iii. 212-216.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stilpo, the philosopher, i. <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, ii. 468;</li> +<li class="isub2">defended, v. 365-367.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stoics speak greater improbabilities than the poets, iii. 194-196;</li> +<li class="isub2">their opinions concerning daemons, iv. 24;</li> +<li class="isub2">common conceptions against the, 372-427;</li> +<li class="isub2">contradictions of the, 428-477.</li> + +<li class="indx">Strabo, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Strato, i. <a href="#Page_155">155</a>; iii. 163; v. 161.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stratonica of Galatia, i. <a href="#Page_373">373</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Stratonicus, anecdote of, ii. 298; iii. 21.</li> + +<li class="indx">Strymon, a river in Thrace, v. 491.</li> + +<li class="indx">Summer and winter, cause of, iii. 141.</li> + +<li class="indx">Summer and winter solstice, iii. 143.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sun, essence of the, iii. 141;</li> +<li class="isub2">magnitude of the, 142;</li> +<li class="isub2">figure or shape of the, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">turning and returning of the, 143;</li> +<li class="isub2">eclipses of the, 144.</li> + +<li class="indx">Superstition of the Gauls, Scythians, and Carthaginians, i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Superstition, or indiscreet devotion, i. <a href="#Page_168">168</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">folly of, ii. 387.</li> + +<li class="indx">Supper, many guests at, iii. 323.</li> + +<li class="indx">Supper-room, why too narrow at first for guests, iii. 326.</li> + +<li class="indx">Suppers of the ancients, iii. 255-259.</li> + +<li class="indx">Swallows in the house, iii. 419;</li> +<li class="isub2">intelligence of the, v. 174.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sylla, i. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, v. 72, 115, 135.</li> + +<li class="indx">Symposiacs, or table discourses, iii. 197-460.</li> + +<li class="indx">Synorix and Camma, iv. 302.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">T.</li> + +<li class="indx">Table, dignity of places at, iii. 210-212.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tables and lamps of the ancients, iii. 372.</li> + +<li class="indx">Talkativeness, or garrulity, iv. 220-253.</li> + +<li class="indx">Talk, deliberate or tumultuous, iii. 395.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tanais, a river in Scythia, v. 494.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tarpeia, a virgin, the story of, v. 460.</li> + +<li class="indx">Taste, of, iii. 170.</li> + +<li class="indx">Taxiles of India, i. <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Taygetus, mount, v. 498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tears of the hart, iii. 507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tears of wild boars, iii. 507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telamon and Periboea, v. 467.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telamon and Phocus, v. 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telecrus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telegonus, son of Ulysses, v. 476.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telephanes of Megara, i. <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telephus, i. <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telesias the Theban, an eminent flute-player, i. <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Telesphorus, in an iron cage, iii. 31.</li> + +<li class="indx">Temple of Apollo, iv. 478-498.</li> + +<li class="indx">Teres, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Teribazus, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Terpander, the musician, fined by the Ephori, and why? i. <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">an inventor of ancient music, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">an excellent composer to the harp, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">added the octave to the heptachord, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Teuthras, mount, v. 504.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thales, at the Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">first of philosophers; the Ionic sect took its denomination from him, iii. 107;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions; difference between a principle and an +element, 106;</li> +<li class="isub2">that the intelligence of the world was God, 121;</li> +<li class="isub2">of geniuses and heroes, 122;</li> +<li class="isub2">of division of bodies, 126;</li> +<li class="isub2">of necessity, 129;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the division of heaven, 137;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the eclipses of the sun, 144;</li> +<li class="isub2">that the moon borrows her light from the sun, 146;</li> +<li class="isub2">that the earth is globular, and the centre of the universe, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">of earthquakes, 157;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the overflow of the Nile, 160;</li> +<li class="isub2">of the soul, 161; iv. 337, 480.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thaletas, a composer, i. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">power of his music, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thamyras, the singer, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theanor, ii. 395, 396.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thebes, liberation of, ii. 414-423.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thectamenes, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Themisteas, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Themistocles, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his saying, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">suspected of treason, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 97, 311, 471;</li> +<li class="isub2">his kind reception by the Persian king, iii. 21, 30; iv. 208, 361, +365; v. 101, 116, 120, 121, 127.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theo, iii. 70, 71, 74, 88.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theocritus, his remark and death, i. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>; ii. 380; iii. 516.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theodorus, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_142">142</a>; ii. 321, 349; iii. 31;</li> +<li class="isub2">his Book of Transformations, v. 464.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theognis, i. <a href="#Page_473">473</a>; ii. 59; iii. 506.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theon, ii. 157 <i>et seq.</i>; v. 273-275.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theophilus, his Third Book of Italian History, v. 459;</li> +<li class="isub2">Second Book of Peloponnesian Histories, 470.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theophrastus, sayings of, i. <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>; ii. 303; iii. 45, 64, +218, 219, 334; v. 202, 427.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theopompus, his sayings, i. <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>; v. 137.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theotimus, his Italian History, v. 456.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theramenes, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thermodon, a river in Scythia, v. 495.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thero, anecdote of, iv. 286.</li> + +<li class="indx">Theseus and his son Hippolytus, v. 471.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thespesius, iv. 177, 182 <i>et seq.</i>, 188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thirst, cause of, iii. 341.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thorycion, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thrasonides quoted, ii. 297.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thucydides, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 98, 117, 149, 152, 458;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iii. 88;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, iv. 141;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, v. 65, 106, 403.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thunder, of, iii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thymbris, and his son Rustius, v. 466.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tides, of, iii. 159.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tigris, the river, v. 507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Timaeus, his opinion of tides, iii. 159.</li> + +<li class="indx">Timesias, the oracle and, i. <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, v. 127.</li> + +<li class="indx">Time, essence and nature of, iii. 127, 128.</li> + +<li class="indx">Timoclea, at the taking of Thebes, i. <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Timoleon, ii. 314.</li> + +<li class="indx">Timotheus, the musician, anecdote of, i. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>; ii. 83, 306; +v. 76.</li> + +<li class="indx">Titus Quinctius, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tmolus, mount, v. 486.</li> + +<li class="indx">Torpedo, or crampfish, v. 201.</li> + +<li class="indx">Torquatus and Clusia, v. 459.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tortoise, their care for their young, v. 209.</li> + +<li class="indx">Training of children, i. <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tranquillity of the mind, the, i. <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Transmutation of bodies, v. 14.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trees and seeds, watering of, iii. 496.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trees not nourished by sea-water, iii. 495.</li> + +<li class="indx">Triangles, of, v. 433.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trisimachus, his book of Foundations of Cities, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trochilus and crocodile, v. 206.</li> + +<li class="indx">Troilus wept less than Priam, i. <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trojan women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trophonius and Agamedes, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">True friendship, of, i. <a href="#Page_464">464</a>-<a href="#Page_474">474</a>; ii. 100-134.</li> + +<li class="indx">True happiness, of, v. 392.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tullus Hostilius, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tunnies, dim sight of the, v. 204.</li> + +<li class="indx">Typhon, in Egyptian mythology, iv. 80, 81, 86, 88, 91, 92, +99, 101, 105, 110, 114, 118, 122.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tyrrhene women, virtue of the, i. <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">U.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ulysses, i. <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">in the island of Circe, v. 218 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Unity of God. Of the word <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">εἰ</span> engraven over the +gate of the temple of Apollo at Delphi, iv. 478-498.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">Universe, whether it is one, iii. 114;</li> +<li class="isub2">division of the, v. 429.</li> + +<li class="indx">Unlearned Prince, Discourse to an, iv. 323-330.</li> + +<li class="indx">Usurers, what sort of men they are, 417.</li> + +<li class="indx">Usury, evils of, v. 412-424.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">V.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vacuum, of a, iii. 126;</li> +<li class="isub2">there can be none in nature, iv. 33;</li> +<li class="isub2">suppose there were, it would have no beginning, middle, or end, 34.</li> + +<li class="indx">Valeria and Cloelia, i. <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Valeria Tusculanaria, v. 464.</li> + +<li class="indx">Valerius Conatus swallowed up alive, v. 455.</li> + +<li class="indx">Venus’s hands wounded by Diomedes, iii. 441.</li> + +<li class="indx">Verses seasonably and unseasonably applied, iii. 436.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vice and virtue, ii. 482-485.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vice, whether it is sufficient to render a man unhappy, iv. 499-503.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vines irrigated with wine, iii. 513;</li> +<li class="isub2">rank of leaves, iii. 513.</li> + +<li class="indx">Virtue and vice, ii. 482-485.</li> + +<li class="indx">Virtue may be taught, i. <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Virtue or fortune, to which of these was due the greatness and glory +of Rome? iv. 198-219.</li> + +<li class="indx">Virtue, progress in, ii. 446-474.</li> + +<li class="indx">Virtues of women, i. <a href="#Page_340">340</a>-<a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vision, doctrine of, iii. 168; v. 236 <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li class="indx">Voice is incorporeal, iii. 172.</li> + +<li class="indx">Voice, of the, iii. 171.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vowels and semi-vowels, iii. 438.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">W.</li> + +<li class="indx">Water made colder by stones and lead, iii. 348.</li> + +<li class="indx">Water or fire, which is more useful? v. 331-337.</li> + +<li class="indx">Water, white and black, iii. 518.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wealth, the love of, ii. 294-305.</li> + +<li class="indx">Well water, change of the temperature in, iii. 347.</li> + +<li class="indx">West wind the swiftest, iii, 515.</li> + +<li class="indx">Whale, of the, v. 207.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wheat, sow, in clay, iii. 505.</li> + +<li class="indx">Whether an aged man ought to meddle in state affairs, v. 64-96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Whether the passions of the soul, or diseases of the body, are +worse, iv. 504-508.</li> + +<li class="indx">Whether ’twere rightly said, “Live concealed,” iii. 3-10.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">Whether vice is sufficient to render a man unhappy, iv. 499-503.</li> + +<li class="indx">Whirlwinds, of, iii. 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Why the oracles cease to give answers, iv. 3-64.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wicked, delay of Providence in punishing the, iv. 140-188.</li> + +<li class="indx">Widows in India, iv. 502.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wild beasts, steps of, iii. 509;</li> +<li class="isub2">their tracks, 509.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wild boars, tears of the, iii. 507.</li> + +<li class="indx">Winds, of, iii. 154.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wine, whether it is potentially cold, iii. 272-274;</li> +<li class="isub2">straining of, 351;</li> +<li class="isub2">middle of, 370;</li> +<li class="isub2">sea water upon, 502;</li> +<li class="isub2">irrigation with, 513.</li> + +<li class="indx">Winter and summer, cause of, iii. 141, 154.</li> + +<li class="indx">Winter, ships in, iii. 500;</li> +<li class="isub2">sea least hot in, 501.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wise Men, the Seven, Banquet of, ii. 3-41;</li> +<li class="isub2">their names, iv. 480.</li> + +<li class="indx">Woman, of Pergamus, i. <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Woman of Thessaly torn in pieces by dogs, v. 463.</li> + +<li class="indx">Women, the virtues of, i. <a href="#Page_340">340</a>-<a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">barrenness in, iii. 181;</li> +<li class="isub2">are hardly foxed, 268-270;</li> +<li class="isub2">temper of, 270-272;</li> +<li class="isub2">given as the price of peace, v. 468.</li> + +<li class="indx">Word <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">ει</span> at Apollo’s temple at Delphi. iv. 478-498.</li> + +<li class="indx">World, how it was brought into its present order, iii. 113.</li> + +<li class="indx">World, of the, iii. 132;</li> +<li class="isub2">figure of the, 133;</li> +<li class="isub2">whether it be an animal, 133;</li> +<li class="isub2">whether it is eternal and incorruptible, 133;</li> +<li class="isub2">its nutriment, 134;</li> +<li class="isub2">from what element was it raised, 134;</li> +<li class="isub2">in what form and order was it composed, 135;</li> +<li class="isub2">cause of its inclination, 136;</li> +<li class="isub2">thing which is beyond the, 136;</li> +<li class="isub2">what parts on the right and left hand, 137.</li> + +<li class="indx">Worlds, plurality of, iv. 29-38.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wrestling, of, iii. 246.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">X.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xanthippe, wife of Socrates, anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xenaenetus, v. 109.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xenocrates, anecdote of; i. <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinions concerning the soul, ii. 327, 439;</li> +<li class="isub2">of triangles, iii. 24, 139, 494;</li> +<li class="isub2">his opinion about daemons, iv. 17, 87;</li> +<li class="isub2">saying of, v. 10, 494.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xenocritus, a composer, i. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xenodamus, a composer, i. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xenophanes, his reply, i. <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">his philosophical opinions, iii. 134, 138, 141, 144, 145, 150, 155;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, ii. 49; iv. 291.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xenophon, quoted, i. <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">maxim of, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>; ii. 115, 144, 178, + 307;</li> +<li class="isub2">the scene of his old age, iii. 24; v. 67, 72, 121, 139.</li> + +<li class="indx">Xerxes, his saying, i. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">and Arimanes, iii. 59, 60;</li> +<li class="isub2">invasion of Greece, v. 451, 452.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">Y.</li> + +<li class="indx">Year, length of, in different planets, iii. 147.</li> + +<li class="ifrst">Z.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zaleucus, laws of, ii. 315.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zaratas, ii. 327.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zeno, saying of, i. <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdotes of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>; ii. 321, 365, 455;</li> +<li class="isub2">quoted, 467, 481; iii. 25, 113, 125, 128;</li> +<li class="isub2">his definition of virtue, 462;</li> +<li class="isub2">anecdote of, iv. 225; v. 382.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zenocrates, v. 288, 377, 441.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zeuxidamus, apothegm of, i. <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zeuxippus, dialogue on health, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a>; ii. 157 <i>et seq.</i>; iv. 270, 278, 288.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zeuxis, reply of, i. <a href="#Page_468">468</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zopyrus Byzantius, his Third Book of Histories, v. 473.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zoroaster, ii. 357; iv. 106.</li> +</ul> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="transnote chapter"><p>Transcriber’s Notes:</p> + +<p class="noindent padt1 padb1">New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +<p class="noindent padt1 padb1">The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the +original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been +corrected.</p> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78134 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78134-h/images/cover.jpg b/78134-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f5282e --- /dev/null +++ b/78134-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78134-h/images/f001.jpg b/78134-h/images/f001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfff05b --- /dev/null +++ b/78134-h/images/f001.jpg diff --git a/78134-h/images/vol1.jpg b/78134-h/images/vol1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7880b8f --- /dev/null +++ b/78134-h/images/vol1.jpg |
