Moralia, Part II (Books III–V) — Plutarch
=========================================
Translation/edition: F. C. Babbitt, A. O. Prickard; one essay from the Goodwin edition
Language: English
Read in Plato Scroll: https://plato-scroll.com/s/plut-moralia-2/
This file: https://plato-scroll.com/text/plut-moralia-2.txt
Other editions of this work:
  - Greek text: https://plato-scroll.com/text/plut-moralia-2-e.txt
Sources and licences: https://plato-scroll.com/attribution.html
Numbers in [brackets] are the edition's reference loci (Stephanus, Bekker, book.line, page...). Superscript numerals refer to the Notes at the end.


## Sayings of kings and commanders

[Reg. apophth. 1.1] 172 ARTAXERXES, KING of Persia, O Caesar Trajanus, 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 labourer, 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, law givers, and generals, both Romans and Greeks; 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 Seiramnes the Persian, to such as wondered that he usually spoke like a wise man and yet was unsuccessful in his designs, replied: I myself am master of my words, but the king and fortune have power over my actions. In the former treatise speeches and actions are mingled together, and require a reader that is at leisure; but in this the speeches, being as it were the seeds and the illustrations of those lives, are placed by themselves, and will not (I think) be tedious to you, since they will give you in a few words a review of many memorable persons.
[Reg. apophth. 2.1] CYRUS. The Persians affect such as are hawk-nosed and think them most beautiful, because Cyrus, the most beloved of their kings, had a nose of that shape.
[Reg. apophth. 2.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 2.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 3.1] DARIUS. Darius the father of Xerxes used to praise himself, saying that he became even wiser in battles and dangers.
[Reg. apophth. 3.2] When he laid a tax upon his subjects, he summoned his lieutenants, and asked them whether the tax was burdensome or not. When they told him it was moderate, he commanded them to pay half as much as was at first demanded.
[Reg. apophth. 3.3] 173 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.
[Reg. apophth. 3.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 4.1] SEMIRAMIS. Semiramis built a monument for herself, with this inscription: Whatever king wants treasure, if he open this tomb, he may be satisfied. Darius therefore opening it found no treasure, but another inscription of this import: If you were not a wicked person and of insatiable covetousness, you would not disturb the mansions of the dead.
[Reg. apophth. 5.1] XERXES. Arimenes came out of Bactria as a rival for the kingdom with his brother Xerxes, the son of Darius. Xerxes sent presents to him, commanding those that brought them to say: With these your brother Xerxes now honours 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.
[Reg. apophth. 5.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 5.3] He refused to eat Attic figs that were brought to be sold, until he had conquered the country that produced them.
[Reg. apophth. 5.4] When he caught some Greek 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.
[Reg. apophth. 6.1] ARTAXERXES. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, surnamed Longimanus (or Long-hand) because he had one hand longer than the other, said, it was more princely to add than to take away.
[Reg. apophth. 6.2] He first gave leave to those that hunted with him, if they would and saw occasion, to throw their darts before him.
[Reg. apophth. 6.3] 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 then, hair should have been plucked out, that the same should be done to their turbans.
[Reg. apophth. 6.4] When Satibarzanes, his chamberlain, petitioned him in an unjust matter, and he understood he did it to gain thirty thousand darics, 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 it had been more unjust if I had granted your petition.
[Reg. apophth. 7.1] Cyrus the Younger. Cyrus the Younger, when he was exhorting the Lacedaemonians to side with him in the war, said that he had a stronger heart than his brother, and could drink more wine unmixed than he, and bear it better; that his brother, when he hunted, could scarce sit his horse, or when ill news arrived, his throne. He exhorted them to send him men, promising he would give horses to footmen, chariots to horsemen, villages to those that had farms, and those that possessed villages he would make lords of cities; and that he would give them gold and silver, not by tale but by weight.
[Reg. apophth. 8.1] Artaxerxes Mnemon. Artaxerxes, the brother of Cyrus the Younger, called Mnemon, did not only give very free and patient access to any that would speak with him, but commanded the queen his wife to draw the curtains of her chariot, that petitioners might have the same access to her also.
[Reg. apophth. 8.2] 174 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.
[Reg. apophth. 8.3] 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!
[Reg. apophth. 9.1] PARYSATIS. Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, advised him that would discourse freely with the king, to use words of fine linen.
[Reg. apophth. 10.1] ORONTES. Orontes, the son-in-law of King Artaxerxes, falling into disgrace and being condemned, said: As mathematicians count sometimes myriads on their fingers, sometimes units only; in like manner the favourites of kings sometimes can do every thing with them, sometimes little or nothing.
[Reg. apophth. 11.1] MEMNON. Memnon, one of King Darius’ 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.
[Reg. apophth. 12.1] Egyptian kings. The Egyptian kings, according unto their law, used to swear their judges that they should not obey the king when he commanded them to give an unjust sentence.
[Reg. apophth. 13.1] POLTYS. Poltys king of Thrace, in the Trojan war, being solicited both by the Trojan and Greek ambassadors, advised Alexander to restore Helen, promising to give him two beautiful women for her.
[Reg. apophth. 14.1] TERES. Teres, the father of Sitalces, said, when he was out of the army and had nothing to do, he thought there was no difference between him and his grooms.
[Reg. apophth. 15.1] COTYS. Cotys, when one gave him a leopard, gave him a lion for it.
[Reg. apophth. 15.1b] 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 broke them.
[Reg. apophth. 16.1] IDATHYRSUS. Idathyrsus, King of Scythia, when Darius invaded him, solicited the Ionian tyrants that they would assert their liberty by breaking down the bridge that was made over the Danube: which they refusing to do because they had sworn fealty to Darius, he called them good, honest, lazy slaves.
[Reg. apophth. 17.1] ATEAS. Ateas wrote to Philippus: You reign over the Macedonians, men that have learned fighting; and I over the Scythians, which can fight with hunger and thirst.
[Reg. apophth. 17.1b] As he was rubbing his horse, turning to the ambassadors of Philippus, he asked whether Philippus did so or not.
[Reg. apophth. 17.1c] He took prisoner Ismenias, an excellent piper, and commanded him to play; and when others admired him, he swore it was more pleasant to hear a horse neigh.
[Reg. apophth. 18.1] SCILURUS. Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave eighty 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.
[Reg. apophth. 19.1] GELON. 175 Gelon 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 Cronus.
[Reg. apophth. 19.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 19.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 19.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 20.1] HIERON. Hieron, who succeeded Gelon in the tyranny, said he was not disturbed by any that freely spoke against him.
[Reg. apophth. 20.2] 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 would not have disclosed.
[Reg. apophth. 20.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 20.4] To Xenophanes the Colophonian, who said he had much ado to maintain two servants, he replied: But Homerus, whom you disparage, maintains above ten thousand, although he is dead.
[Reg. apophth. 20.5] He fined Epicharmus the comedian, for speaking unseemly when his wife was by.
[Reg. apophth. 21.1] Dionysius the Elder. 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, morologeis, You will make a foolish speech, O Dionysius, You are mistaken, said he, monarcheso, I shall be a monarch. And as soon as his speech was ended, the Syracusans chose him general.
[Reg. apophth. 21.2] 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!
[Reg. apophth. 21.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 21.4] And another time, going into his son’s house and seeing there abundance of silver and gold plate, he cried out: You are not capable of being a tyrant, who have made never a friend with all the plate I have given you.
[Reg. apophth. 21.5] 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 despise me, it is a sign they have nothing left.
[Reg. apophth. 21.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 21.7] Although he punished other malefactors severely, he favoured such as stole clothes, that the Syracusans might forbear feasting and drunken clubs.
[Reg. apophth. 21.8] 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. 176 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 subtlety of the man.
[Reg. apophth. 21.9] Being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied: God forbid that it should ever befall me.
[Reg. apophth. 21.10] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 21.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 21.12] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 21.13] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 22.1] Dionysius the Younger. Dionysius the Younger said that he maintained many Sophists; not that he admired them, but that he might be admired for their sake.
[Reg. apophth. 22.2] When Polyxenus the logician told him he had baffled him; Yes, said he, in words, but I have caught you in deeds; for you, leaving your own fortune, attend me and mine.
[Reg. apophth. 22.3] When he was deposed from his government, and one asked him what he got by Platon and philosophy, he answered, That I may bear so great a change of fortune patiently.
[Reg. apophth. 22.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 22.5] To another that asked him the same question, he replied: My father bequeathed to me his government, but not his fortune.
[Reg. apophth. 23.1] AGATHOCLES. Agathocles was the son of a potter. When he became lord and was proclaimed king of Sicily, he used 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 valour and industry.
[Reg. apophth. 23.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 23.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 24.1] DION. Dion, who 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 177 than to live, who must be weary not only of his enemies, but of his friends too.
[Reg. apophth. 25.1] ARCHELAUS. Archelaus, when one of his companions ( and none of the best) begged a golden cup of him, bade the boy give it Euripides; and when the man wondered at him, You, said he, are worthy to ask, but he is worthy to receive it without asking.
[Reg. apophth. 25.2] A garrulous barber asked him how he would be trimmed. He answered, In silence.
[Reg. apophth. 25.3] When Euripides at a banquet embraced fair Agathon 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.
[Reg. apophth. 25.4] Timotheus the harper, receiving of him a reward less than his expectation, twitted him for it not openly; 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.
[Reg. apophth. 25.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.1] PHILIPPUS. Theophrastus tells us that Philippus, the father of Alexander, was not only greater in his character and success, but also freer from luxury than other kings of his time.
[Reg. apophth. 26.2] 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 Parmenion.
[Reg. apophth. 26.3] When he had news brought him of diverse and eminent successes in one day, O fortune, said he, for all these so great kindnesses do me some small mischief.
[Reg. apophth. 26.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.5] His friends advised him to banish an abusive man from his court. I will not do it, said he, lest he should go about and insult us in many other places.
[Reg. apophth. 26.6] Smicythus accused Nicanor for one that commonly spoke evil of King Philippus; and, his friends advised him to send for him and punish him. Truly, said he, Nicanor is not the worst of the Macedonians; we ought therefore to consider whether we have given him any cause or not. When he understood therefore that Nicanor, being slighted by the king, was much afflicted with poverty, he ordered a boon should be given him. And when Smicythus reported that Nicanor was continually abounding in the king’s praises, You see then, said he, that whether we will be well or ill spoken of is in our own power.
[Reg. apophth. 26.7] He said he was beholden to the Athenian orators, who by reproaching him made him better both, in speech and behaviour; for I will endeavour, said he, both by my words and actions to prove them liars.
[Reg. apophth. 26.8] Such Athenians as he took prisoners in the fight at Chaeroneia he dismissed without ransom. When they also demanded their garments and quilts, and on that account accused the Macedonians, Philippus laughed and said, Do you not think these Athenians imagine we beat them at a game of dice?
[Reg. apophth. 26.9] In a fight he broke his collar-bone, and the surgeon that had him in care requested him daily for his reward. Take what you will, said he, for you have the key.
[Reg. apophth. 26.10] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.11] 178 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.12] Being arbitrator between two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.
[Reg. apophth. 26.13] 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!
[Reg. apophth. 26.14] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.15] Lasthenes the Olynthian and his friends being aggrieved, and complaining that some of Philippus’ retinue called them traitors, These Macedonians, said he, are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade.
[Reg. apophth. 26.16] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.17] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.18] To Philon 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.19] 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, Philippus, for our fathers were friends. When Philippus asked him, Tell me, 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 Philippus: Let him go, in truth he wishes me well and is my friend; though I did not know him.
[Reg. apophth. 26.20] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.21] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.22] Hearing that Alexander blamed him for having children by several women, Therefore, said he to him, since you have many rivals with you for the kingdom, be just and honourable, that you may not receive the kingdom as my gift, but by your own merit.
He charged him to be observant of Aristotle, and study philosophy, That you may not, said he, do many things which I now repent of doing.
[Reg. apophth. 26.23] He made one of Antipater’s recommendation a judge; and perceiving afterwards that his hair and beard were coloured, he removed him, saying, I could not think one that was faithless in his hair could be trusty in his deeds.
[Reg. apophth. 26.24] While he sat as judge in the cause of one Machaetas, he fell asleep, and for want of minding his arguments, gave judgement against him. And when being enraged he cried out, I appeal; To whom, said he, will you appeal? 179 To you yourself, O king, said he, when you are awake to hear me with attention. Then Philippus rousing and coming to himself, and perceiving Machaetas was injured, although he did not reverse the sentence, he paid the fine himself.
[Reg. apophth. 26.25] When Harpalus, on 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.
[Reg. apophth. 26.26] His friends being enraged because the Peloponnesians, to whom he had shown favour, hissed at him in the Olympic games, What then, said he, would they do if we should abuse them?
[Reg. apophth. 26.27] Awaking after he had overslept himself in the army; I slept, said he, securely, for Antipater watched.
[Reg. apophth. 26.28] Another time, being asleep in the day-time, while the Greeks fretting with impatience thronged at the gates; Do not wonder, said Parmenion to them, if Philippus be now asleep, for while you slept he was awake.
[Reg. apophth. 26.29] When he corrected a musician at a banquet, and discoursed with him concerning notes and instruments, the musician replied: Far be that dishonour from your majesty, that you should understand these things better than I do.
[Reg. apophth. 26.30] While he was at variance with his wife Olympias and his son, Demaratus the Corinthian came to him, and Philippus asked him how the Greeks held together. Demaratus replied: You had need to enquire how the Greeks agree, who agree so well with your nearest relations. Whereupon he let fall his anger, and was reconciled to them.
[Reg. apophth. 26.31] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.1] ALEXANDER. While Alexander was a boy, Philippus 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, said he, will it do me, if I possess much and do nothing!
[Reg. apophth. 27.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.3] A wench being brought to lie with him late in the evening, he asked why she tarried so long. She answered, I stayed until my husband was abed; and he sharply reproved his pages, because through their carelessness he had almost committed adultery.
[Reg. apophth. 27.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.6] Perillus, one of his friends, begged of him dowries for his daughters; and he ordered him to receive fifty talents. And when he said, Ten were enough, Alexander replied: Enough for you to receive, but not for me to give.
[Reg. apophth. 27.7] He commanded his steward to give Anaxarchus the philosopher as much as he should ask for. He asks, said the steward, for an hundred talents. He does well, said he, knowing he has 180 a friend that both can and will bestow so much on him.
[Reg. apophth. 27.8] 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?
[Reg. apophth. 27.9] 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 - my night-travelling for my breakfast, and my spare breakfast for my dinner.
[Reg. apophth. 27.10] 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. Parmenion wondering at it, Do you not know, said he, there is no better hold in a fight than the beard?
[Reg. apophth. 27.11] When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him; I would accept it, said Parmenion, were I Alexander. And so. truly would I; said Alexander, if I were Parmenion. But he answered Darius, that the earth could not bear two suns, nor Asia two kings.
[Reg. apophth. 27.12] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.13] The army being marshalled, he saw a soldier fitting his thong to his javelin, and dismissed him as a useless fellow, for fitting his weapons when he should use them.
[Reg. apophth. 27.14] As he was reading a letter from his mother, containing secrets and accusations of Antipater, Hephaestion also ( as he was accustomed) 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.15] Being saluted as the son of Zeus in the temple of Ammon by the chief priest; It is no wonder, said he, for Zeus is by nature the father of all, and calls the best men his sons.
[Reg. apophth. 27.16] 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 says, -
[Reg. apophth. 27.16b] “Such liquid as distils from blessed Gods.” [ Il5’340 ]
[Reg. apophth. 27.17] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.18] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.19] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.20] Again, when Cassander forced a kiss from Python, a boy beloved by Euius the piper, and Alexander perceived that Euius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.21] When he sent such of the Macedonians as were sick and maimed to the sea, 181 they showed him one that was in health and yet subscribed his name among the sick; being brought into the presence and examined, he confessed he used that pretence for the love of Telesippa, who was going to the sea. Alexander asked, of whom he could make inquiries about this Telesippa, and hearing she was a free woman, he said. Therefore, my Antigenes, let us persuade her to stay with us, for to force her to do so when she is a free woman is not according to my custom.
[Reg. apophth. 27.22] Of the Greek mercenaries 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.23] He took captive an excellent Indian archer who 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.24] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.25] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.26] Another, commanding a rock thought to be invincible, surrendered himself and the rock to Alexander, who committed the said rock and the adjacent country to his government, saying: I take this for a wise man, who chose rather to commit himself to a good man than to a strong place.
[Reg. apophth. 27.27] When the rock was taken, his friends said that it exceeded the deeds of Heracles - But I, said he, do not think my actions and all my empire to be compared with one word of Heracles.
[Reg. apophth. 27.28] He fined some of his friends whom he caught playing at dice in earnest.
[Reg. apophth. 27.29] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.30] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 27.31] He demanded of Porus, after the fight, how he should treat him. Royally, said he, like a king. And being again asked, what else he had to request; All things, said he, are in that word royally. Admiring his wisdom and valour, he gave him a greater government than he had before.
[Reg. apophth. 27.32] Being told a certain person reviled him, To do good, said he, and to be evil spoken of is kingly.
[Reg. apophth. 27.33] As he was dying, looking upon his friends, I see, said he, my funeral tournament will be great.
[Reg. apophth. 27.34] When he was dead, Demades the rhetorician likened the Macedonian army without a general to Polyphemus the Cyclops when his eye was put out.
[Reg. apophth. 28.1] PTOLEMAEUS. Ptolemaeus, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.1] ANTIGONUS. 182 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.2] Seeing some soldiers playing at ball in helmets 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.4] To Philippus 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?
[Reg. apophth. 29.5] The same young man being desirous to quarter at a widow’s house that had three handsome daughters, Antigonus called the quartermaster to him: Please, said he, help my son out of these straits.
[Reg. apophth. 29.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.7] Hermodotus in his poems called him Son of the Sun. He that attends my chamber-pot, said he, would say differently.
[Reg. apophth. 29.8] When one said, All things in kings are just and honourable, - Indeed, said he, for barbarian kings; but for us only honourable things are honourable, and only just things are just.
[Reg. apophth. 29.9] Marsyas his brother had a legal case pending, and requested him it might be examined at his house. No, said he, it shall be heard in the judgement-hall, that all may hear whether we do exact justice or not.
[Reg. apophth. 29.10] In the winter being forced to pitch his camp where necessities 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.11] Aristodemus, one of his friends, supposed to be a cook’s son, advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. Your words, said he, Aristodemus, smell of the apron.
[Reg. apophth. 29.12] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.13] A youth, scholar to Anaximenes the rhetorician, spoke in his presence a prepared and studied speech; and he asking something which he desired to learn, the youth was silent. What do you say, said he,
[Reg. apophth. 29.13b] “Is all that you have said written in your table-book?” [ Euripides, IpTaur787 ]
[Reg. apophth. 29.14] When he heard another rhetorician say, The snow-spread season makes the country fodder spent; Will you not stop, said he, declaiming to me as you do to the rabble?
[Reg. apophth. 29.15] Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachma of him. That, said he, is too little for a king to give. Why then, said the other, give me a talent. And that, said he, is too much for a Cynic (or for a dog) to receive.
[Reg. apophth. 29.16] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 29.17] Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his pan, 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?
[Reg. apophth. 29.18] 183 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.
[Reg. apophth. 30.1] DEMETRIUS. Demetrius, while he was besieging Rhodes, found in one of the suburbs the picture of Ialysus made by Protogenes the painter. The Rhodians sent a herald to him, beseeching him not to deface the picture. I will sooner, said he, deface my father’s statues, than such a picture.
[Reg. apophth. 30.1b] When he made peace with the Rhodians, he left behind him an engine, called the Helepolis, that it might be a memorial of his magnificence and of their courage.
[Reg. apophth. 30.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 31.1] Antigonus the second. Antigonus the Second, when his father was a prisoner, and sent one of his friends to admonish him to pay no regard to any thing that he might write at the constraint of Seleucus, and to enter into no obligation to surrender up the cities, wrote to Seleucus that he would give up his whole kingdom, and himself for an hostage, that his father might be set free.
[Reg. apophth. 31.2] Being about to fight by sea with the lieutenants of Ptolemaeus, 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?
[Reg. apophth. 31.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 31.4] 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’ valour.
[Reg. apophth. 31.5] When Zenon of Citium, whom he admired beyond all philosophers, died, he said, The theatre of my actions is fallen.
[Reg. apophth. 32.1] LYSIMACHUS. Lysimachus, when he was overcome by Dromichaetes 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!
[Reg. apophth. 32.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 33.1] ANTIPATER. Antipater, hearing that Parmenion was slain by Alexander, said: If Parmenion conspired against Alexander, whom may we trust? but if he did not, what is to be done?
[Reg. apophth. 33.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 34.1] Antiochus the third. Antiochus the Third wrote to the cities, that if he should at any time write for anything to be done contrary to the law, they should not obey, but suppose it to be done out of ignorance.
[Reg. apophth. 34.2] When he saw the Priestess of Artemis, that she was exceeding beautiful, he presently removed from Ephesus, lest he should be swayed, contrary to his judgement, to commit some unholy act.
[Reg. apophth. 35.1] Antiochus Hierax. 184 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.
[Reg. apophth. 36.1] EUMENES. Eumenes was thought to be slain by a conspiracy of Perseus. That report being brought to Pergamum, 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: -
[Reg. apophth. 36.1b] “If a widow you will wed,
Wait till you’re sure her husband’s dead.” -
[Reg. apophth. 36.1c] But he never afterwards did or spoke any thing that showed any suspicion all his lifetime; but when he died, be bequeathed to him his queen and kingdom. In requital of which, his brother bred up none of his own children, although he had many; but when the son of Eumenes was grown up, he bestowed the kingdom on him in his own lifetime.
[Reg. apophth. 37.1] Pyrrhus of epirus. Pyrrhus was asked by his sons, when they were boys, to whom he would leave the kingdom. To him of you, said he, that has the sharpest sword.
[Reg. apophth. 37.2] Being asked whether Python or Caphisius was the better piper, Polysperchon, said he, is the best general.
[Reg. apophth. 37.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 37.4] 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!
[Reg. apophth. 37.5] His soldiers called him Eagle; And I may deserve the title, said he, while I am borne upon the wings of your arms.
[Reg. apophth. 37.6] 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 spoke such things or him or not. The young man answered: Such words were spoken, O King, and more we had spoken, if we had had more wine.
[Reg. apophth. 38.1] ANTIOCHUS. Antiochus, who twice made an inroad into Parthia, as he was once a hunting, lost his friends and servants in the pursuit, and went into a cottage of poor people who did not know him. As they were at supper, he threw out discourse concerning the king; they said for the most part he was a good prince, but overlooked many things he left to the management of debauched courtiers, and out of love of hunting often neglected his necessary affairs; and there they stopped. At break of day the guard arrived at the cottage, and the king was recognised when the crown and purple robes were brought. From the day, said he, on which I first received these, I never heard truth concerning myself till yesterday.
[Reg. apophth. 38.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 39.1] THEMISTOCLES. Themistocles in his youth was much given to wine and women. But after Miltiades the general overcame the Persian at Marathon, Themistocles utterly forsook his former disorders; 185 and to such as wondered at the change, he said, The trophy of Miltiades will neither suffer me to sleep nor to be idle.
[Reg. apophth. 39.2] Being asked whether he would rather be Achilles or Homerus, - And pray, said he, which would you rather be, a conqueror in the Olympic games, or the crier that proclaims who are conquerors?
[Reg. apophth. 39.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 39.4] Adeimantus was afraid to hazard a sea-fight, whereunto Themistocles persuaded and encouraged the Greeks. O Themistocles, said he, those that start before their time in the Olympic games are always scourged. Yes; but, Adeimantus, said the other, they that are left behind are not crowned.
[Reg. apophth. 39.5] Eurybiades lifted up his cane at him, as if he would strike him. Strike, said he, but hear me.
[Reg. apophth. 39.6] 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 Greeks, for they were running away. Xerxes, upon this persuasion, fighting in a place advantageous for the Greeks, was worsted; and then he sent him another message, and bade him fly with all speed over the Hellespont, for the Greeks designed to break down his bridge; that under pretence of saving him he might secure the Greeks.
[Reg. apophth. 39.7] A man from the little island of 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.
[Reg. apophth. 39.8] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 39.9] 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 judgement contrary to law.
[Reg. apophth. 39.10] When his son was a little saucy towards his mother, he said that this boy had more power than all the Greeks, for the Athenians governed Greece, he the Athenians, his wife him, and his son his wife.
[Reg. apophth. 39.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 39.12] Having a farm to sell, he bid the crier proclaim also that it had a good neighbour.
[Reg. apophth. 39.13] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 39.14] Scoffing at the Eretrians, he said, Like the sword-fish, they have a sword indeed, but no heart.
[Reg. apophth. 39.15] Being banished first out of Athens and afterwards out of Greece, he betook himself to the king of Persia, who bade him speak his mind. Speech, he said, was like to tapestry; and like it, when it was spread, it showed its figures, but when it was folded up, hid and spoiled them.
[Reg. apophth. 39.16] And therefore he requested time until he might learn the Persian tongue, and could explain himself without an interpreter.
[Reg. apophth. 39.17] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 40.1] MYRONIDES. Myronides summoned the Athenians to fight against the Boeotians. When the time was almost come, and the captains told him they were not near all come out; 186 They are come, said he, all that intend to fight. And marching while their spirits were up, he overcame his enemies.
[Reg. apophth. 41.1] ARISTEIDES. Aristeides the Just always managed his offices himself, and avoided all political clubs, because power gained by the assistance of friends was an encouragement to the unjust.
[Reg. apophth. 41.2] 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 Aristeides. Friend, said he, do you know Aristeides? 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.
[Reg. apophth. 41.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 41.4] When he levied an assessment upon the Greeks, he returned poorer by so much as he spent in the journey.
[Reg. apophth. 41.5] Aeschylus wrote these verses on Amphiaraus: -
“His shield no emblem bears; his generous soul
Wishes to be, not to appear, the best;
While the deep furrows of his noble mind
Harvests of wise and prudent counsel bear.”
[Reg. apophth. 41.5b] And when they were pronounced in the theatre, all turned their eyes upon Aristeides.
[Reg. apophth. 42.1] PERICLES. Whenever he entered on his command as general, while he was putting on his war-cloak, he used thus to bespeak himself: Remember, Pericles, you govern freemen, Greeks, Athenians.
[Reg. apophth. 42.2] He advised the Athenians to demolish Aegina, as a dangerous eyesore to the haven of Peiraeus.
[Reg. apophth. 42.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 42.4] When he lay on his death-bed, he blessed himself that no Athenian ever went into mourning upon his account.
[Reg. apophth. 43.1] ALCIBIADES. Alcibiades, while he was a boy, wrestling in a ring, seeing he could not break his adversary’s hold, bit him by the hand; who cried out, You bite like a woman. Not so, said he, but like a lion.
[Reg. apophth. 43.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 43.3] Coming into a school, he called for Homerus’ Iliad; and when the master told him he had none of Homerus’ works, he gave him a box on the ear, and went his way.
[Reg. apophth. 43.4] He came to Pericles’ 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?
[Reg. apophth. 43.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 43.6] But, said one, will you not trust your country with your cause? No, said he, nor my mother either, lest she mistake and cast a black pebble, instead of a white one.
[Reg. apophth. 43.7] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 44.1] LAMACHUS. Lamachus rebuked 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.
[Reg. apophth. 45.1] IPHICRATES. Iphicrates was despised because he was thought to be a shoemaker’s son. 187 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 armour to his own ship.
[Reg. apophth. 45.2] 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 you afraid of? Of all speeches, said he, none is so dishonourable for a general, as I should not have thought it.
[Reg. apophth. 45.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 45.4] Being accused of a capital crime, he said to the informer: O fellow! what are you doing, who, when war is at hand, do advise the city to consult concerning me, and not with me?
[Reg. apophth. 45.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 45.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 46.1] TIMOTHEUS. Timotheus was reputed a successful general, and some that envied him painted cities falling under his net of their own accord, while he was asleep. Said Timotheus, If I take such cities when I am asleep, what do you think I shall do when I am awake?
[Reg. apophth. 46.2] A confident commander showed the Athenians a wound he had received. But I, said he, when I was your general in Samos, was ashamed that a dart from an engine fell near me.
[Reg. apophth. 46.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 47.1] CHABRIAS. Chabrias said, they were the best commanders who best understood the affairs of their enemies.
[Reg. apophth. 47.2] 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 empty; I’ll die clean and anointed, with my dinner in my belly.
[Reg. apophth. 47.3] He was accustomed 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.
[Reg. apophth. 48.1] HEGESIPPUS. When Hegesippus, surnamed Crobylus (i.e. Top-knot), instigated the Athenians against Philippus, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 49.1] PYTHEAS. Pytheas, when he was a young man, stood forth to oppose the decrees made concerning Alexander. One said: Have you, young man, the confidence to speak in such weighty affairs? And why not? said he: Alexander, whom you voted a God, is younger than I am.
[Reg. apophth. 50.1] PHOCION. Phocion the Athenian was never seen to laugh or cry.
[Reg. apophth. 50.2] In an assembly one told him, You seem to be thoughtful, Phocion. You guess right, said he, for I am contriving how to reduce what I have to say to the people of Athens.
[Reg. apophth. 50.3] The Oracle told the Athenians, there was one man in the city of a contrary judgement to all the rest; and the Athenians in a hubbub ordered search to be made, who this should be. I, said Phocion, am the man; I alone am pleased with nothing the common people say or do.
[Reg. apophth. 50.4] 188 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 something or other wrong?
[Reg. apophth. 50.5] The Athenians gathered contributions for a certain sacrifice; and when others gave 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.7] Aristogeiton 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 Aristogeiton more pleasantly?
[Reg. apophth. 50.8] The Athenians were offended with the Byzantines, for refusing to receive Chares into their city, who was sent with forces to assist them against Philippus. 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 be was chosen general, and being trusted by the Byzantines, he forced Philippus to return without his errand.
[Reg. apophth. 50.9] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.10] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.11] An uncertain rumour happened, that Alexander was dead. Immediately the orators leaped into the rostrum, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.12] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.13] 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 Heracles! 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.14] 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 honour receive now.
[Reg. apophth. 50.15] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 50.16] When Antipater requested him to do some indirect thing or other, Antipater, said he, you cannot have Phocion for your friend and flatterer too.
[Reg. apophth. 50.17] 189 After the death of Antipater, democracy was established in Athens, and the assembly decreed the death of Phocion and his friends. The rest were led weeping to execution; but as Phocion passed silently, one of his enemies met him and spat in his face. But he turned himself to the magistrates, and said, Will nobody restrain this insolent fellow?
[Reg. apophth. 50.18] One of those that were to suffer with him lamented and complained: Why, Euippus, said he, are you not pleased that you die with Phocion?
[Reg. apophth. 50.19] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 51.1] PEISISTRATUS. Peisistratus, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 51.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 51.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 51.4] Some lascivious drunken persons by chance met his wife, and used unseemly speech and behaviour 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.
[Reg. apophth. 51.5] He designed to marry another wife, and his children asked him whether he could blame them for anything. By no means, said he, but I commend you, and desire to have more such children as you are.
[Reg. apophth. 52.1] Demetrius Phalereus. Demetrius Phalereus persuaded King Ptolemaeus 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.
[Reg. apophth. 53.1] 189 LYCURGUS. Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian brought long hair into fashion among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible.
[Reg. apophth. 53.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 53.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 53.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 53.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 54.1] CHARILLUS. King Charillus, being asked why Lycurgus made so few laws, answered, They who use few words do not need many laws.
[Reg. apophth. 54.2] When one of the Helots behaved rather too insolently towards him, By Castor and Polydeuces, said he, I would kill you, were I not angry.
[Reg. apophth. 54.3] To one that asked him why the Spartans wore long hair, Because, said he, of all ornaments that is the cheapest.
[Reg. apophth. 55.1] TELECLUS. 190 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.
[Reg. apophth. 56.1] THEOPOMPUS. Theopompus, to one that showed him the walls of a city, and asked him if they were not high and beautiful, answered, No, not even if they are built for women.
[Reg. apophth. 57.1] ARCHIDAMUS. Archidamus, in the Peloponnesian war, when his allies requested him to appoint them their quota of tributes, replied, War has a very irregular appetite.
[Reg. apophth. 58.1] BRASIDAS. Brasidas caught a mouse among his dried figs, which bit him, and he let it go. Whereupon, turning to the company, Nothing, said he, is so small which may not save itself, if it have the valour to defend itself against its aggressors.
[Reg. apophth. 58.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 58.3] It was his fortune to be slain in battle, as he endeavoured to liberate the Greeks that were in Thrace. These sent an embassy to Lacedaemon, which made a visit to his mother, who first asked them whether Brasidas died honourably. 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 has many more valiant men than he.
[Reg. apophth. 59.1] AGIS. King Agis said, The Lacedaemonians are not accustomed to ask how many, but where the enemy are.
[Reg. apophth. 59.2] At Mantineia 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.
[Reg. apophth. 59.3] The Eleans were commended for managing the Olympic games honourably. 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 honourably, which is an honourable thing?
[Reg. apophth. 59.4] To a lewd person, that often asked who was the best man among the Spartans, he answered, He that is most unlike you.
[Reg. apophth. 59.5] When another asked what was the number of the Lacedaemonians, Sufficient, said he, to defend themselves from wicked men.
[Reg. apophth. 59.6] To another that asked him the same question, If you should see them fight, said he, you would think them to be many.
[Reg. apophth. 60.1] LYSANDER. Dionysius the tyrant presented Lysander’s daughters with rich garments, which he refused to accept, saying he feared they would seem more deformed in them.
[Reg. apophth. 60.2] To such as blamed him for managing much of his affairs by stratagems, which was unworthy of Heracles from whom he was descended, he answered, Where the lion’s skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox’s.
[Reg. apophth. 60.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 60.4] 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?
[Reg. apophth. 60.5] To an inhabitant of Megara, that in a parley spoke confidently unto him, Your words, said he, want the breeding of the city.
[Reg. apophth. 61.1] AGESILAUS. Agesilaus said that the inhabitants of Asia were bad freemen and good servants.
[Reg. apophth. 61.2] 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?
[Reg. apophth. 61.3] Being asked which was better, valour or justice, he answered, We should have no need of valour, if we were all just.
[Reg. apophth. 61.4] 191 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.
[Reg. apophth. 61.5] Menecrates the physician, surnamed Zeus, inscribed a letter to him thus: Menecrates Zeus to King Agesilaus wishes joy. And he returned in answer: King Agesilaus to Menecrates wishes his wits.
[Reg. apophth. 61.6] When the Lacedaemonians overcame the Athenians and their confederates at Corinth, and he heard the number of the enemies that were slain; Alas, said he, for Greece, who hath destroyed so many of her men as were enough to have conquered all the barbarians together.
[Reg. apophth. 61.7] He had received an answer from the Oracle of Zeus in Olympia, which was to his satisfaction, Afterwards the Ephors 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.
[Reg. apophth. 61.8] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 61.9] Being exhorted to hear one that imitated the voice of a nightingale, I have often, said he, heard nightingales themselves.
[Reg. apophth. 61.10] The law ordained that such as ran away should be disgraced. After the fight at Leuctra, the Ephors, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 61.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 61.12] 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 honourable exploit, that is my monument; but if I have done none, all your statues will signify nothing.
[Reg. apophth. 62.1] ARCHIDAMUS. When Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, beheld a dart to be shot from an engine newly brought out of Sicily, he cried out, O Heracles! the valour of man is at an end.
[Reg. apophth. 63.1] Agis the Younger. Demades said, the Laconians’ swords were so small, that jugglers might swallow them. That may be, said Agis, but the Lacedaemonians can reach their enemies very well with them.
[Reg. apophth. 63.2] The Ephors ordered him to deliver his soldiers to a traitor. I will not, said he, entrust him with strangers, who betrayed his own men.
[Reg. apophth. 64.1] CLEOMENES. To one that promised to give him hardy cocks, that would die fighting, Please, said he, give me cocks that will kill fighting.
[Reg. apophth. 65.1] PEDARITUS. Pedaritus, when he was not chosen among the Three Hundred (which was the highest office and honour in the city), went away cheerfully and smiling, saying, he was glad if the city had three hundred better citizens than himself.
[Reg. apophth. 66.1] DAMONIDAS. Damonidas, being placed by him that ordered the chorus in the last rank of it, said: Well done, you have found a way to make this place also honourable.
[Reg. apophth. 67.1] NICOSTRATUS. 192 Archidamus tried to entice Nicostratus, the general of the Argives, to betray a fort, by promising a great sum, and the marriage of whatever Lacedaemonian lady he pleased except the king’s daughters. Nicostratus answered, that Archidamus was not a genuine descendant of Heracles, for Heracles went about to punish wicked men, but Archidamus to corrupt honest men.
[Reg. apophth. 67.1b] EUDAEMONIDAS. Eudaemonidas beholding Xenocrates, when he was old, in the Academy reading philosophy to his scholars, and being told he was in quest of virtue, asked: And when does he intend to practise it?
[Reg. apophth. 68.2] 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 says it never heard the sound of trumpets.
[Reg. apophth. 69.1] ANTOCHUS. Antiochus being Ephor, when he heard Philippus had given the Messenians a country, asked whether he had granted them that they should be victorious when they fought for that country,
[Reg. apophth. 70.1] ANTALCIDAS. To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians unlearned, Therefore we alone, said Antalcidas, have learned no mischief of you.
[Reg. apophth. 70.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 70.3] When a Sophist was beginning to recite the praise of Heracles; And who, said he, ever spoke against him?
[Reg. apophth. 71.1] EPAMINONDAS. No panic fear ever surprised the army or the Thebans while Epaminondas was their general.
[Reg. apophth. 71.2] He said, to die in war was the most honourable 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.4] He was so frugal in his diet that, being invited by a neighbour 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,
[Reg. apophth. 71.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.7] A mean man, who had committed no great fault, he refused to discharge at the request of Pelopidas; when his miss entreated for him, he dismissed him, saying: Whores are fitting to receive such presents, and not generals.
[Reg. apophth. 71.8] The Lacedaemonians marched against 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 judgement 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 worse.
[Reg. apophth. 71.9] 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. 193 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.10] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.11] Whereas he usually appeared with his body anointed and a cheerful countenance, the day after that fight he came abroad meanly dressed 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.12] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.13] 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 drachmas of a citizen, with that money to supply his army he invaded the Peloponnese.
[Reg. apophth. 71.14] Another time, when the Persian king sent him thirty thousand darics, he rebuked 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 for free, but when he was otherwise minded, his enemy.
[Reg. apophth. 71.15] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.16] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.17] 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 meat at half an obol a pound. And we, said Epaminondas, will supply them with wood for that meat without charge; for if they grow meddlesome, we will make bold to cut all the wood in their country for them.
[Reg. apophth. 71.18] Being desirous to keep the Boeotians, who 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.19] 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 Hecate, which they usually placed in the highway before the gates.
[Reg. apophth. 71.20] One told him that the Athenians had sent an army into the Peloponnese adorned with new armour. What then? said he, does Antigenidas sigh because Telles has got new pipes? Now Antigenidas was an excellent piper, but Telles a vile one.
[Reg. apophth. 71.21] 194 Understanding his shield-bearer had taken a great deal of money from a prisoner, Come, said he, give me the shield, and buy yourself a tavern to live in; for now you are grown rich and wealthy, you will not hazard your life as you did formerly.
[Reg. apophth. 71.22] Being asked whether he thought himself or Chabrias or Iphicrates the better general, It is hard, said he, to judge while we live.
[Reg. apophth. 71.23] 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 Greeks 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.
[Reg. apophth. 71.24] In his last fight, being wounded and carried into his tent, he called for Daiphantus and after him for Iolaidas; and when he heard they were slain, he advised the Thebans to make their peace with the enemy, since they had no general left to lead them; as by the event proved true. So well did he understand his countrymen.
[Reg. apophth. 72.1] PELOPIDAS. Pelopidas, Epaminondas’ colleague, when his friends told him that he neglected a necessary business, that was the gathering of money, replied: In good deed money is necessary for this Nicomedas, pointing to a lame man that could not go.
[Reg. apophth. 72.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 72.3] A soldier told him, We have fallen among the enemies. Said he, How are we fallen among them, more than they among us?
[Reg. apophth. 72.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 72.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 72.6] When Epaminondas caused him to be released, he said: I thank Alexander, for I have now found by trial that I have not only courage to fight, but to die.
ROMAN SAYINGS.
[Reg. apophth. 73.1] Mcurius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 73.2] 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
[Reg. apophth. 74.1] Cfabricius C. Fabricius, hearing Pyrrhus had overthrown the Romans, told Laevinus, it was Pyrrhus, not the Epirots, that beat the Romans.
[Reg. apophth. 74.2] He went to treat about exchange of prisoners with Pyrrhus, who offered him a great sum of gold, which he refused, 195 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 today.
[Reg. apophth. 74.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 74.4] When Fabricius was consul, Pyrrhus’ 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.
[Reg. apophth. 74.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 75.1] Fabius Maximus. Fabius Maximus would not fight, but chose to spin away the time with Hannibal, who lacked 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.
[Reg. apophth. 75.2] When Minucius, his fellow-consul, upon routing a party of the enemy, was highly extolled as a man worthy of Rome; I am more afraid, said he, of Minucius’ 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 came to his aid, 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?
[Reg. apophth. 75.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 75.4] 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 at nights, contrary to the law; but your former good behaviour 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.
[Reg. apophth. 75.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 75.6] When M. Livius, who kept a garrison in the castle, said he took Tarentum by his assistance, others laughed at him; 196 but said Fabius, You say true, for if you had not lost the city, I had not re-took it.
[Reg. apophth. 75.7] When he was ancient, his son was consul, and as he was discharging his office publicly with many attendants, he met him on horseback. The young man sent a lictor 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.
[Reg. apophth. 76.1] Scipio the Elder. Scipio the Elder spent on his studies what leisure the campaign and government would allow him, saying, that he did most when he was idle.
[Reg. apophth. 76.2] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 76.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 76.4] 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 armour, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 76.5] Over he went, landed, and burnt the enemy’s camp, and the Carthaginians sent to him about a truce, and agreed to surrender their elephants, ships, and a sum of money. But when Hannibal 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.
[Reg. apophth. 76.6] 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 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 judgement-seat, and then he transacted with the Carthaginians and put an end to the war.
[Reg. apophth. 76.7] 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 honour. But these things were done afterwards.
[Reg. apophth. 76.8] King Antiochus, after the Romans crossed over to Asia against him, sent to Scipio for peace; That should have been done before, said he, not now when you have received a bridle and a rider.
[Reg. apophth. 76.9] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 76.10] When Petillius 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 who pleases stay and pass his vote upon me. 197 Having thus said, he went his way; and the people followed him, leaving his accusers declaiming to themselves.
[Reg. apophth. 77.1] Tquinctius t. Quinctius was eminent so early, that before he had been tribune, praetor, or aedile, he was chosen consul. Being sent as general against Philippus, he was persuaded to come to a conference with him. And when Philippus 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.
[Reg. apophth. 77.2] Having overcome Philippus in battle, he proclaimed in the Isthmian games that the Greeks were free and to be governed by their own laws. And the Greeks redeemed all the Roman prisoners that in Hannibal’s days were sold for slaves in Greece, each of them with two hundred drachmas, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 77.3] 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 Peloponnese.
[Reg. apophth. 77.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 77.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 78.1] Cnaeus Domitius. Cnaeus 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.
[Reg. apophth. 79.1] Publius Licinius. Publius Licinius, consul and general, being worsted in a horse engagement by Perseus king of Macedon, with what were slain and what were took prisoners, lost two thousand eight hundred men. Presently after the fight, Perseus sent ambassadors to make peace and league with him; and although he was overcome, yet he advised the conqueror to submit himself and his affairs to the pleasure of the Romans.
[Reg. apophth. 80.1] Paulus Aemilius. Paulus Aemilius, when he stood for his second consulship, was rejected. Afterwards, the war with Perseus and the Macedonians being prolonged by the ignorance and effeminacy of the commanders, they chose him consul. I thank, said he, the people for nothing; they choose me general, not because I want the office, but because they want an officer.
[Reg. apophth. 80.2] As he returned from the hall to his own house, and found his little daughter Tertia weeping, he asked her what she cried for? 198 Perseus, said she (so her little dog was called), is dead. Luckily have you spoken, girl, said he, and I accept the omen.
[Reg. apophth. 80.3] When he found in the camp much confident talk 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.
[Reg. apophth. 80.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 80.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 80.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 80.7] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 80.8] He found an infinite quantity of money, but kept none for himself; only to his son-in-law Tubero he gave a silver bowl that weighed five pounds, as a reward of his valour; and that, they say, was the first piece of plate that belonged to the Aelian family.
[Reg. apophth. 80.9] 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 sympathised with 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.1] Cato the Elder. Cato the Elder, in a speech to the people, inveighed against luxury and intemperance. How hard, said he, is it to persuade the belly, that hath no ears?
[Reg. apophth. 81.2] And he wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox!
[Reg. apophth. 81.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.5] He instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying, that they that did not prevent crimes when they might encouraged them.
[Reg. apophth. 81.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.8] He said, he was the worst governor who could not govern himself.
[Reg. apophth. 81.9] It was his opinion that everyone ought especially to reverence himself; for everyone was always in his own presence.
[Reg. apophth. 81.10] When he saw many had their statues set up, I had rather, says he, men should ask why Cato had no statue, than why he had one.
[Reg. apophth. 81.11] He exhorted those in power to be sparing of exercising their power, that they might continue in power.
[Reg. apophth. 81.12] They that separate honour from virtue, said he, separate virtue from youth.
[Reg. apophth. 81.13] A governor, said he, or judge ought to do justice without entreaty, not injustice upon entreaty.
[Reg. apophth. 81.14] 199 He said, that injustice, if it did not endanger the authors, endangered all besides.
[Reg. apophth. 81.15] He requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.
[Reg. apophth. 81.16] He thought an angry man differed from a madman only in the shorter time which his passion endured.
[Reg. apophth. 81.17] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.18] He said, they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
[Reg. apophth. 81.19] Honourable actions ought to succeed honourable sayings; Lest, said he, they lose their reputation.
[Reg. apophth. 81.20] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.21] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.22] When he stood for the censorship, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.23] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.24] As he warred against Baetica, he was outnumbered by the enemy, and in danger. The Celtiberi 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 wrong, said he; for if we overcome, not we but the enemy must pay them; if we are routed, there will be nobody to demand nor to pay either.
[Reg. apophth. 81.25] Having taken more cities, as he said, than he stayed days in the enemies’ country, he reserved no more of the booty for himself than what he ate or drank.
[Reg. apophth. 81.26] 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 honour. 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.
[Reg. apophth. 81.28] 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 Greeks, whether they shall be carried to their graves by our bearers or by those of their own country.
[Reg. apophth. 81.29] Postumius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.1] Scipio the Younger. It is reported that Scipio the Younger 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.2] He observed the precept of Polybius, and endeavoured 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.3] 200 While he was yet young, he had such a repute for valour 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, -
[Reg. apophth. 82.3b] “Others like shadows fly;
He only is wise.” [ Homer, Od10’495 ]
[Reg. apophth. 82.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.5] After he 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.6] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.7] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.8] He assisted C. Laelius, his most beloved friend, when he stood to be consul, and asked Pompeius (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 Pompeius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.9] 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 has been my care not to know many, but that all might know me.
[Reg. apophth. 82.10] He advised the city, which then had an army in Celtiberia, to send them both to the army, either as tribunes or envoys, that thus the soldiers might be witnesses and judges of the valour of each of them.
[Reg. apophth. 82.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.12] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.13] The senate sent him thrice, as Cleitomachus says, “to take cognisance 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, struggled to keep pace with them, and Scipio whispered softly to Panaetius: The Alexandrians have already received some benefit of our visit, 201 for upon our account they have seen their king walk.
[Reg. apophth. 82.14] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.15] The Numantines seemed invincible, and having overcome several generals, the people the second time chose Scipio general in that war. When great numbers strived to list them in his army, even that the senate forbade, as if Italy thereby would be left destitute. Nor did they allow him money that was in bank, but ordered him to receive the revenues of tributes that were not yet payable. As to money, Scipio said he wanted none, for of his own and by his friends he could be supplied; but of the decree concerning the soldiers he complained, for the war (he said) was a hard and difficult one, whether their defeat had been caused by the valour of the enemy or by the cowardice of their own men.
[Reg. apophth. 82.16] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.17] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.18] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.19] To one that was building the rampart, saying his burden was very heavy, And deservedly, said he, for you trust more to this wood than to your sword.
[Reg. apophth. 82.20] 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, uses iron as his last remedy. And yet he fought when he saw it convenient, and routed the enemy.
[Reg. apophth. 82.21] When they were worsted, the elder men rebuked 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.
[Reg. apophth. 82.22] 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 spoke from the rostrum; The outcry of the army, said he, when they charge, never disturbed me, much less the clamour of a rabble of newcomers, to whom Italy is a step-mother (I am well assured) and not a mother.
[Reg. apophth. 82.23] And when they of Gracchus’ 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.
[Reg. apophth. 83.1] Caecilius Metellus. Caecilius Metellus designing to reduce a strong fort, a centurion told him he would undertake to take it with the loss only of ten men; 202 and he asked him, whether he himself would be one of those ten.
[Reg. apophth. 83.2] A young officer asked him what plans he had. If I thought my shirt knew, said he, I would pluck it off and burn it.
[Reg. apophth. 83.3] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 84.1] Cmarius C. Marius was of obscure parentage, pursuing offices by his valour. He stood as candidate for 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.
[Reg. apophth. 84.2] Having a cyst on each leg, he suffered one to be cut, and endured the surgeon without binding, not so much as sighing or once contracting his eyebrows; but when the surgeon would cut the other, he did not suffer him, saying the cure was not worth the pain.
[Reg. apophth. 84.3] In his second consulship, Lusius 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 officer, and told the reason why. Hereupon Marius called for a crown, the reward of extraordinary valour, and put it upon Trebonius’ head.
[Reg. apophth. 84.4] He had pitched his camp, when he fought against the Teutones, in a place where water was lacking; 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.
[Reg. apophth. 84.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 84.6] In the civil war, he lay patiently entrenched and besieged, waiting for a fit opportunity; when Poppaedius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 85.1] Lutatius Catulus. Lutatius Catulus in the Cimbrian war lay encamped by the side of the river Athesis, and his soldiers, seeing the barbarians attempting to pass the river, gave back; when he could not make them stand, he hastened to the front of them that fled, that they might not seem to fly from their enemies but to follow their commander.
[Reg. apophth. 86.1] SULLA. Sulla, surnamed the Fortunate, reckoned these two things as foremost amongst his good luck: the friendship of Metellus Pius, and that he had spared and not destroyed the city of Athens.
[Reg. apophth. 87.1] Cpopilius C. Popilius was sent to Antiochus with a letter from the senate, commanding him to withdraw his army out of Egypt, and to renounce the protection of that kingdom during the minority of Ptolemaeus’ 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 staff 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, 203 then at length Popilius saluted and embraced him.
[Reg. apophth. 88.1] LUCULLUS. Lucullus in Armenia, with ten thousand foot in armour 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.
[Reg. apophth. 88.2] His soldiers were most afraid of their armoured cavalry; but he bade them be of good courage, for it was more labour to strip than to overcome them. He first came up to the crest of a hill, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.1] Cn. Pompeius. Cn. Pompeius was as much beloved by the Romans as his father was hated. When he was young, he wholly sided with Sulla, and before he had borne many offices or was chosen into the senate, he enlisted many soldiers in Italy. When Sulla sent for him, he returned answer, that he would not muster his forces in the presence of his general, unbloodied and without spoils; nor did he come before that in several fights he had overcome the captains of the enemy.
[Reg. apophth. 89.2] He was sent by Sulla as commander 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.3] 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. Pompeius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.4] 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 honour, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.5] At his return, among other courtesies and honours wherewith Sulla entertained him, he styled him The Great; yet when he was desirous to triumph, Sulla would not consent, because he was not yet chosen into the senate. But when Pompeius said to those that were about him, Sulla does not know that more worship the rising than the setting sun, Sulla cried aloud, Let him triumph.
[Reg. apophth. 89.5b] Hereat Servilius, one of the nobles, was displeased; the soldiers also withstood his triumph, until he had bestowed a largess among them. But when Pompeius replied, I would rather forego my triumph than flatter them, - Now, said Servilius, I see Pompeius is truly great and worthy of a triumph.
[Reg. apophth. 89.6] It was a custom in Rome, that knights who had served in the wars the time appointed by the laws should bring their horse into the forum before the censors, and there give an account of their warfare and the commanders under whom they had served. 204 Pompeius, 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.7] Having got 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.8] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.9] L. Lucullus, after he left the army, gave himself up to pleasure and luxury, jeering at Pompeius for busying himself in affairs unsuitable to his age. He answered, that government became old age better than luxury.
[Reg. apophth. 89.10] In a fit of sickness, his physician prescribed him to eat a thrush; but when none could be got, because they were out of season, one said, that Lucullus had some, for he kept them all the year. It seems then, said he, Pompeius must not live, unless Lucullus play the glutton; and dismissing the physician, he ate such things as were easy to get.
[Reg. apophth. 89.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.12] When the difference between him and Caesar broke out, and Marcellinus, one of those whom he had preferred, revolted to Caesar and inveighed much against Pompeius in the senate; Are you not ashamed, said he, Marcellinus, to reproach me, who taught you to speak when you were dumb, and fed you full even to vomiting when you were starved?
[Reg. apophth. 89.13] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 89.14] Concerning himself, he freely professed, that he entered all his offices sooner than he expected, and resigned them sooner than was expected by others.
[Reg. apophth. 89.15] After the fight at Pharsalia, in his flight towards Egypt, as he was going out of the ship into the fishing-boat the king sent to attend him, turning to his wife and son, he said nothing to them beside those two verses of Sophocles:
[Reg. apophth. 89.15b] “Whoever comes within a tyrant’s door
Becomes his slave, though he were free before.”
[Reg. apophth. 89.15c] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 90.1] CICERO. Cicero the orator, when his name was played upon and his friends advised him to change it, answered, that he would make the name of Cicero more honourable than the name of the Catos, the Catuli, or the Scauri.
[Reg. apophth. 90.2] He dedicated to the Gods a silver cup with a cover, with the first letters of his other names, and instead of Cicero a chick-pea ( cicer ) engraved.
[Reg. apophth. 90.3] Loud bawling orators, he said, were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.
[Reg. apophth. 90.4] Verres had a son that in his youth had not well secured his chastity; yet he reviled Cicero for his effeminacy, and called him a catamite. Do you not know, said he, that children are to be rebuked at home within doors?
[Reg. apophth. 90.5] Metellus Nepos told him he had slain more by his testimony than he had saved by his pleadings. 205 You say true, said he, my honesty exceeds my eloquence.
[Reg. apophth. 90.6] When Metellus asked him who his father was, Your mother, said he, has made that question a harder one for you to answer than for me. For she was unchaste, while Metellus himself was a light, inconstant, and passionate man. The same Metellus, when Diodotus his master in rhetoric died, caused a marble crow to be placed on his monument; and Cicero said, he returned his master a very suitable gratuity, who had taught him to fly out not to declaim.
[Reg. apophth. 90.8] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 90.9] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 90.10] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 90.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 90.12] Meeting Voconius with his three daughters who were ill favoured, he whispered to his friends that verse, -
[Reg. apophth. 90.12b] “Children he hath got,
Though Apollo favoured not.”
[Reg. apophth. 90.13] When Faustus the son of Sulla, being very much in debt, set up a notice that he would sell his goods by auction, he said, I like this proscription better than his father’s.
[Reg. apophth. 90.14] When Pompeius and Caesar fell out, he said, I know whom to fly from, but I know not whom to fly to. He blamed Pompeius for leaving the city, and for imitating Themistocles rather than Pericles, when his affairs did not resemble the former’s but the latter’s.
[Reg. apophth. 90.16] He changed his mind and went over to Pompeius, who asked him where he left his son-in-law Piso. He answered, With your father-in-law Caesar.
[Reg. apophth. 90.17] To one that went over from Caesar to Pompeius, saying that in his haste and eagerness he had left his horse behind him, he said, You have taken better care of your horse than of yourself.
[Reg. apophth. 90.18] To one that brought news that the friends of Caesar looked sourly, You do as good as call them, said he, Caesar’s enemies.
[Reg. apophth. 90.19] After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompeius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 90.20] Caesar, now conqueror, honourably restored the statues of Pompeius that were thrown down; whereupon Cicero said, that Caesar by erecting Pompeius’s statues had secured his own.
[Reg. apophth. 90.21] He set so high a value on oratory, and did so layout 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.1] Ccaesar Caius Caesar, when he was a young man, fled from Sulla, 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; 206 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.2] At Rome he stood to be chief priest against Catulus, a man of great influence 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.3] He divorced his wife Pompeia, because she was reported to be over familiar with Clodius; yet when Clodius was brought to trial upon that account, and he was cited as a witness, he spoke 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.5] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.6] He said, great and surprising enterprises were not to be consulted upon, but done. And coming against Pompeius out of his province of Gaul, he passed the river Rubicon, saying, Let every die be thrown.
[Reg. apophth. 91.8] After Pompeius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.9] 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 overturned, he revealed himself to the pilot, crying out, Trust Fortune, and know that you carry Caesar.
[Reg. apophth. 91.10] 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 Pompeius 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.11] Pompeius commanded his army to stand in array at Pharsalia in their place, and to receive the charge from the enemy. In this, Caesar said he was wrong, thereby allowing the eagerness of his soldiers’ spirits, when they were up and inspired with rage and success, in mid-course to languish and expire.
[Reg. apophth. 91.12] After he routed Pharnaces of Pontus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends, I came, I saw, I conquered.
[Reg. apophth. 91.13] After Scipio was worsted in Africa and fled, and Cato had killed himself, he said: I envy you your death, O Cato! since you envied me the honour of saving you.
[Reg. apophth. 91.14] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 91.15] As he was at supper, the discourse was of death, which sort was the best. That, said he, which is unexpected.
[Reg. apophth. 92.1] Caesar Augustus. Caesar, who was the first surnamed Augustus, being yet young, demanded of M. Antonius the twenty-five millions of money 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 drachmas. But when Antonius detained the money, and bade him, if he were wise, let fall his demand, 207 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 Antonius the hatred of the Romans.
[Reg. apophth. 92.2] Rhoemetalces, king of Thrace, forsook Antonius and went over to Caesar; but bragging immoderately in his drink, and odiously reproaching his new confederates, Caesar drank to one of the other kings, and told him, I love treason but do not commend traitors.
[Reg. apophth. 92.3] The Alexandrians, when he had taken their city, expected great severity from him; but when he came upon the judgement-seat, he placed Areius 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 Areius my friend.
[Reg. apophth. 92.4] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 92.5] He removed Theodorus, and in his stead made Areius his steward in Sicily, whereupon a petition was presented to him, in which was written, Theodorus of Tarsus is either a bald-pate or a thief, what is your opinion? Caesar read it, and subscribed, I think so.
[Reg. apophth. 92.6] Maecenas, his intimate companion, presented him yearly on his birthday with a drinking-bowl.
[Reg. apophth. 92.7] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 92.8] 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 labour to gain a great empire than to set in order what he had got.
[Reg. apophth. 92.9] He made a law concerning adulterers, wherein was determined how the accused were to be tried and how the guilty were to be punished. Afterwards, meeting with a young man that was reported to have been familiar with his daughter Julia, being enraged he struck him with his hands; but when the young man cried out, O Caesar! you have made a law, he was so troubled at it that he refrained from supper that day.
[Reg. apophth. 92.10] When he sent Gaius his daughter’s son into Armenia, he begged of the Gods that the favour of Pompeius, the valour of Alexander, and his own fortune might attend him.
[Reg. apophth. 92.11] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 92.12] He endeavoured 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.
[Reg. apophth. 92.13] 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.
[Reg. apophth. 92.14] One of the accusers of Eurycles spoke out 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.
[Reg. apophth. 92.15] 208 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.

## Sayings of Spartans

[Apophth. Lac. 1.1] 208 b Agasicles
[Apophth. Lac. 1.1b] 1 When someone expressed surprise to Agasicles, king of the Spartans, because, although he was very fond of reading and lectures, yet he would not admit to his presence Philophanes, a learned man, he said, “I want to be a pupil of those whose son I should like to be as well.”
[Apophth. Lac. 1.2] 2 In answer to a man who raised the question how anyone could possibly rule in safety without the protection of a bodyguard, he said, “If one rules his subjects as fathers rule their sons.”
[Apophth. Lac. 3.1] Agesipolis, son of Cleombrotus
[Apophth. Lac. 3.1b] 1 Agesipolis, son of Cleombrotus, when somebody said that Philip in a few days had razed Olynthus to the ground, said, “By Heaven, he will not build another like it in many years!”
[Apophth. Lac. 3.2] 2 When someone else remarked that he while king had been made hostage with those in the prime of life, and not their children or their women, he said, “That is but just, for it is good that we ourselves should bear the consequences of our own mistakes.”
[Apophth. Lac. 3.3] 3 When he wished to send for some dogs from home, and some said, “There is no such export permitted from there,” he said, “Nor was there of men before this; but now it has been done!”
[Apophth. Lac. 4.1] Agesipolis, son of Pausanias
[Apophth. Lac. 4.1b] Agesipolis, the son of Pausanias, when the Athenians offered to accept the city of Megara as arbitrator regarding some complaints which they had each against the other, said, “It is a shame, men of Athens, that those who have held the hegemony of the Greeks should know less about justice than the Megarians.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.1] Agis, son of Archidamus
[Apophth. Lac. 5.1b] 1 Once upon a time the Ephors said to Agis the son of Archidamus, “Take the young men and march against the country of this man here. He will himself guide you to its citadel.” “And how, sirs,” said Agis, “is it right to entrust so many youths to a man who is betraying his own country?”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.2] 2 Being asked what form of instruction was most in vogue in Sparta, he said, “Knowledge of how to rule and to be ruled.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.3] 3 He said that the Spartans did not ask ‘how many are the enemy,’ but ‘where are they?’
[Apophth. Lac. 5.4] 4 When, at Mantineia, he was not permitted to risk a decisive battle with the enemy, who outnumbered his men, he said, “He who would rule over many must fight with many.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.5] 5 When someone inquired how many Spartans there were, he said, “Enough to keep all bad men away.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.6] 6 As he was going about among the walls of the Corinthians and observed that they were high and towering and vast in extent, he said, “What women live in that place?”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.7] 7 When a lecturer said, “Speech is the most important thing of all,” he retorted, “Then if you are silent, you are of no worth at all!”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.8] 8 When the Argives, after their defeat, met him again with greater boldness, and he saw that his allies were greatly perturbed, he said, “Do not be afraid, men; for when we who are victorious are frightened, what do you think those vanquished by us are doing?”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.9] 9 In answer to the ambassador from Abdera, who, after winding up a long discourse, asked him what report he should make to his people at home, he said, “Report that during all the time you wanted to speak I listened in silence.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.10] 10 When some commended the people of Elis because they were very just in conducting the Olympic games, he said, “What great or marvellous accomplishment is it if they practise justice on one day only in four years?”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.11] 11 In answer to those who said that some members of the other royal house were jealous of him he said, “So then, their own ill fortune will make them miserable and, besides that, the good fortune of myself and of my friends.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.12] 12 When someone proffered the advice that they ought to give a passage-way to those of the enemy who were fleeing, he said, “And how, if we do not fight those who because of cowardice are fleeing, shall we fight those who because of bravery stand their ground?”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.13] 216 13 When someone brought forward a plan for the freedom of the Greeks, which, while not lacking idealism, was difficult to put into practice, he said, “Your words, my friend, need the backing of power and money.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.14] 14 When someone said that Philip would make Greece forbidden ground to them, he said, “It is quite enough, my friend, for us to go and come within the confines of our own land.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.15] 15 An ambassador who had come from Perinthus to Sparta made a long harangue; and when he had stopped speaking and asked Agis what report he should make to the people of Perinthus, Agis said, “What else except that it was hard for you to stop speaking, and that I said nothing?”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.16] 16 He came alone on an embassy to Philip, and when Philip exclaimed, “What is this? Have you come all alone?”, he said, “Yes, for I came to only one man.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.17] 17 When one of the elderly men said to him in his old age, inasmuch as he saw the good old customs falling into desuetude, and other mischievous practices creeping in, that for this reason everything was getting to be topsy-turvy in Sparta, Agis said humorously, “Things are then but following a logical course if that is what is happening; for when I was a boy, I used to hear from my father that everything was topsy-turvy among them; and my father said that, when he was a boy, his father had said this to him; so nobody ought to be surprised if conditions later are worse than those earlier, but rather to wonder if they grow better or remain approximately the same.”
[Apophth. Lac. 5.18] 18 Being asked how one could be a free man all his life, he said, “By feeling contempt for death.”
[Apophth. Lac. 6.1] The Younger Agis
[Apophth. Lac. 6.1b] 1 The younger Agis, when Demades said that the jugglers who swallow swords use the Spartan swords because of their shortness, retorted, “But all the same the Spartans reach their enemies with their swords.”
[Apophth. Lac. 6.2] 2 In answer to a base man who asked repeatedly who was the best Spartan, he said, “The one most unlike you.”
[Apophth. Lac. 7.1] The Last Agis
[Apophth. Lac. 7.1b] Agis, the last of the kings of Sparta, was arrested as the result of treachery and condemned by the Ephors without a trial. As he was being led away to the halter he saw one of the officers weeping, and said, “Stop your weeping for me, man. For in spite of my being put to death in such defiance of law and justice, I am superior to those who are taking my life.” With these words he willingly offered his neck for the noose.
[Apophth. Lac. 8.1] Acrotatus
[Apophth. Lac. 8.1b] Acrotatus, when his parents claimed it was his duty to co operate with them in some unjust action, spoke in opposition up to a certain limit. But when they insisted, he said, “While I was with you, I had not the slightest idea of justice; but since you have surrendered me to our country and its laws, and, besides, have had me instructed in justice and honourable conduct so far as lay in your power, I shall try to follow these rather than you. And since your wish is for me to do what is best, and since what is just is best both for a private citizen, and much more so for a ruler, I will do what you wish; but as for what you propose I shall beg to be excused.”
[Apophth. Lac. 9.1] Alcamenes, son of Teleclus
[Apophth. Lac. 9.1b] 1 Alcamenes, the son of Teleclus, when somebody inquired how a man could best keep a kingdom secure, said, “If he should not hold his own advantage too high.”
[Apophth. Lac. 9.2] 2 When another person sought to know the reason why he did not accept gifts from the Messenians, he said, “Because if I took gifts, it would be impossible to maintain peace with impartial regard for the laws.”
[Apophth. Lac. 9.3] 3 When someone said that he lived a straitened life while possessed of plenty of property, he said, “Yes, for it is a noble thing for one who possesses much to live according to reason and not according to his desires.”
[Apophth. Lac. 10.1] Anaxandridas
[Apophth. Lac. 10.1b] 1 Anaxandridas, the son of Leo, in answer to a man who took much to heart the sentence imposed upon him of exile from the country, said, “My good sir, be not downcast at being an exile from your country but at being an exile from justice.”
[Apophth. Lac. 10.2] 2 To a man who told the Ephors of things that were needful, but spoke at greater length than would have sufficed, he said, “My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need!”
[Apophth. Lac. 10.3] 3 When someone inquired why they put their fields in the hands of the Helots, 217 and did not take care of them themselves, he said, “It was by not taking care of the fields, but of ourselves, that we acquired those fields.”
[Apophth. Lac. 10.4] 4 When someone else said that high repute works injury to men and that he who is freed from this will be happy, he retorted, “Then those who commit crimes would, according to your reasoning, be happy. For how could any man, in committing sacrilege or any other crime, be concerned over high repute?”
[Apophth. Lac. 10.5] 5 When another person asked why the Spartans, in their wars, ventured boldly into danger, he said, “Because we train ourselves to have regard for life and not, like others, to be timid about it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 10.6] 6 When someone asked him why the elders continue the trials of capital cases over several days, and why, even if the defendant is acquitted, he is none the less still under indictment, he said, “They take many days to decide, because, if they make an error in a capital case, there can be no reversal of the judgement; and the accused continues, perforce, to be under indictment of the law, because, under this law, it may be possible, by deliberation, to arrive at a better decision.”
[Apophth. Lac. 11.1] Anaxander, son of Eurycrates
[Apophth. Lac. 11.1b] Anaxander, the son of Eurycrates, when someone inquired why the Spartans did not amass money in the public treasury, said, “So that those made the guardians of it may not become corrupt.”
[Apophth. Lac. 12.1] Anaxilas
[Apophth. Lac. 12.1b] Anaxilas, in answer to the man who wondered why the Ephors did not rise and offer their places to the kings, and this, too, although they were appointed to their position by the kings, said, “For the very same reason that they hold the office of Ephor.”
[Apophth. Lac. 13.1] Androcleidas
[Apophth. Lac. 13.1b] Androcleidas the Spartan, who had a crippled leg, enrolled himself among the fighting-men. And when some persons were insistent that he be not accepted because he was crippled, he said, “But I do not have to run away, but to stay where I am when I fight the opposing foe.”
[Apophth. Lac. 14.1] Antalcidas
[Apophth. Lac. 14.1b] 1 When Androcleidas was being initiated into the mysteries at Samothrace, he was asked by the priest what especially dreadful thing he had done during his life, and he replied, “If any such deed has been committed by me, the gods themselves will know it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 14.2] 2 In answer to the Athenian who called the Spartans unlearned, he said, “At any rate we are the only people who have learned no evil from you.”
[Apophth. Lac. 14.3] 3 When another Athenian said to him, “You must admit that we have many a time put you to rout from the Cephisus,” he retorted, “But we have never put you to rout from the Eurotas.”
[Apophth. Lac. 14.4] 4 Being asked how anybody could best make himself agreeable to the people, he said, “If his conversation with them is most pleasant and his suggestions most profitable.”
[Apophth. Lac. 14.5] 5 When a lecturer was about to read a laudatory essay on Heracles, he said, “Why, who says anything against him?”
[Apophth. Lac. 14.6] 6 When Agesilaus was wounded in battle by the Thebans, Androcleidas said to his face, “You have your just reward for the lessons in fighting you have given to that people who had no desire to fight and no knowledge even of fighting.” For it appeared that they had been made warlike by the continual campaigns of Agesilaus against them.
[Apophth. Lac. 14.7] 7 He used to say that the young men were the walls of Sparta, and the points of their spears its boundaries.
[Apophth. Lac. 14.8] 8 In answer to the man who sought to know why the Spartans use short daggers in war, he said, “Because we fight close to the enemy.”
[Apophth. Lac. 15.1] Antiochus
[Apophth. Lac. 15.1b] Antiochus, when he was Ephor, hearing that Philip had given Messenians their land, asked if he had also provided them with the power to prevail in fighting to keep it.
[Apophth. Lac. 16.1] Areus
[Apophth. Lac. 16.1b] 1 Areus, when some men commended, not their own wives, but certain wives of other men, said, “By Heaven, there ought to be no random talk about fair and noble women, and their characters ought to be totally unknown save only to their consorts.”
[Apophth. Lac. 16.2] 2 Once upon a time, when he was passing though Selinus in Sicily, he saw inscribed upon a monument this elegiac couplet:
[Apophth. Lac. 16.2b] Here at Selinus these men, who tyranny strove to extinguish,
Brazen-clad Ares laid low; nigh to our gates were they slain.
[Apophth. Lac. 16.2c] Whereupon he said, “You certainly deserved to die for trying to extinguish tyranny when it was ablaze; rather you ought to have let it burn itself out completely.”
[Apophth. Lac. 17.1] Ariston
[Apophth. Lac. 17.1b] 218 1 When someone commended the maxim of Cleomenes, who, on being asked what a good king ought to do, said, “To do good to his friends and evil to his enemies,” Ariston said, “How much better, my good sir, to do good to our friends, and to make friends of our enemies?” This, which is universally conceded to be one of Socrates’ maxims, is also referred to Ariston.
[Apophth. Lac. 17.2] 2 When someone inquired how many Spartans there were in all, he said, “Enough to keep away our enemies.”
[Apophth. Lac. 17.3] 3 When one of the Athenians read a memorial oration bin praise of those who fell at the hands of the Spartans, he said, “What kind of men, then, do you think ours must be who vanquished these?”
[Apophth. Lac. 18.1] Archidamidas
[Apophth. Lac. 18.1b] 1 Archidamidas, in answer to a man who commended Charillus because he was gentle towards all alike, said, “And how could any man be justly commended if he be gentle towards the wicked?”
[Apophth. Lac. 18.2] 2 When somebody found fault with Hecataeus the sophist because, when he was received as a member at the common table, he spoke not a word, Archidamidas said, “You do not seem to realize that he who knows how to speak knows also the right time for speaking.”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.1] Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus
[Apophth. Lac. 19.1b] 1 Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, when someone inquired of him who were at the head of Sparta, said, “The laws and the magistrates in accordance with the laws.”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.2] 2 In answer to a man who praised a harper and expressed amazement at his ability, he said, “My good sir, what honours shall you be able to offer to good men when you have such praise for a harper?”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.3] 3 When someone, in introducing a musician to him, remarked, “This man is a good musician,” he said, “And in this country of ours that man there rates as a good soup-maker,” thus implying that there was no distinction between giving pleasure through the sound of instruments and giving it through the preparation of appetizing foods and soup.
[Apophth. Lac. 19.4] 4 When somebody promised him to make the wine pleasant to the taste, he said, “What for? For more of it will be used, and it will make the men’s eating together less beneficial.”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.5] 5 As he was establishing his camp hard by the city of Corinth, he saw hares start up from a spot near the wall. He said therefore to his fellow-soldiers, “The enemy are ours.”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.6] 6 When two persons accepted him as arbiter, he took them to the sacred precinct of Athena of the Brazen House, and made them swear to abide by his decision; and when they had given their oaths, he said, “My decision, then, is that you are not to leave this sacred precinct before you compose your differences.”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.7] 7 When Dionysius, the despot of Sicily, sent costly raiment to Archidamus’ daughters, he would not accept it, saying, “I am afraid that, if the girls should put it on, they would appear ugly to me.”
[Apophth. Lac. 19.8] 8 Observing that his son was fighting impetuously against the Athenians, he said, “Either add to your strength, or subtract from your courage.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.1] Archidamus, son of Agesilaus
[Apophth. Lac. 20.1b] 1 Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, when Philip, after the battle of Chaeroneia, wrote him a somewhat haughty letter, wrote in reply, “If you should measure your own shadow, you would not find that it has become any greater than before you were victorious.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.2] 2 Being asked how much land the Spartans controlled, he said, “As much as they can reach with the spear.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.3] 3 Periander, the physician, was distinguished in his profession and commended very highly, but was a writer of wretched verses. “Why in the world, Periander,” said Archidamus, “do you yearn to be called a bad poet instead of a skilful physician?”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.4] 4 In the war against Philip, when some proffered the advice that they ought to engage him in battle at a good distance from their own land, Archidamus said, “No, there is not what we ought to look to, but where, in fighting, we shall be superior to the enemy.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.5] 5 In answer to those who commended him when he had been victorious in battle against the Arcadians, he said, “It would have been better if he had vanquished them by intelligence rather than by strength.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.6] 219 6 When he invaded Arcadia, he learned that the Eleans were supporting the Arcadians, and so he sent this letter to them: “Archidamus to the Eleans. Quiet is a good thing.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.7] 7 In the plebeian war, when his allies sought to know how much money would be sufficient, and said it was only fair that he set a limit to their contributions, he said, “War does not feed on fixed rations.”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.8] 8 When he saw the missile shot by a catapult, which had been brought then for the first time from Sicily, he exclaimed, “Great Heavens! man’s valour is no more!”
[Apophth. Lac. 20.9] 9 When the Greeks were not willing to take his advice and break their agreements with Antipater and Craterus the Macedonian, band be free, because of a feeling that the Spartans would be harsher than the Macedonians, he said, “A sheep or a goat bleats always in the same way, but a man talks in a great variety of ways until he accomplishes what he has set his mind upon.”
[Apophth. Lac. 21.1] Astycratidas
[Apophth. Lac. 21.1b] When someone said to Astycratidas, after the defeat of Agis their king in the battle against Antipater in the vicinity of Megalopolis, “What will you do, men of Sparta? Will you be subject to the Macedonians? he said, “What! Is there any way in which Antipater can forbid us to die fighting for Sparta?”
[Apophth. Lac. 22.1] Bias
[Apophth. Lac. 22.1b] Bias, caught in an ambush by Iphicrates the Athenian general, and asked by his soldiers what was to be done, said, “What else except for you to save your lives and for me to die fighting?”
[Apophth. Lac. 23.1] Brasidas
[Apophth. Lac. 23.1b] 1 Brasidas caught a mouse among some figs, and, when he got bitten, let it go. Then, turning to those who were present, he said, “There is nothing so small that it does not save its life if it has the courage to defend itself against those who would lay hand on it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 23.2] 2 In a battle he was wounded by a spear which pierced his shield, and, pulling the weapon out of the wound, with this very spear he slew the foe. Asked how he got his wound, he said, “ ‘Twas when my shield turned traitor.”
[Apophth. Lac. 23.3] 3 As he was going forth to war he wrote to the Ephors, “What I wull to dae I’ll dae as regairds the war or be a deid mon.”
[Apophth. Lac. 23.4] 4 When it came to pass that he fell in trying to win independence for the Greeks who were living in the region of Thrace, the committee which was sent to Sparta waited upon his mother Argileonis. Her first question was whether Brasidas had come to his end honourably; and when the Thracians spoke of him in the highest terms, and said that there was no other like him, she said, “You have no knowledge of that, sirs, being from abroad; for Brasidas was indeed a good man, but Sparta has many better than he was.”
[Apophth. Lac. 24.1] Damonidas
[Apophth. Lac. 24.1b] Damonidas, being assigned to the last place in the chorus by the director, exclaimed, “Good! You have discovered, sir, how this place which is without honour may be made a place of honour.”
[Apophth. Lac. 25.1] Damis
[Apophth. Lac. 25.1b] Damis, with reference to the instructions sent from Alexander that they should pass a formal vote deifying him, said, “We concede to Alexander that, if he so wishes, he may be called a god.”
[Apophth. Lac. 26.1] Damindas
[Apophth. Lac. 26.1b] When Philip invaded the Peloponnesus, and someone said, “There is danger that the Spartans may meet a dire fate if they do not make terms with the invader,” Damindas exclaimed, “You poor womanish thing! What dire fate could be ours if we have no fear of death?”
[Apophth. Lac. 27.1] Dercylidas
[Apophth. Lac. 27.1b] Dercylidas, when Pyrrhus had his army near Sparta, was sent to him as ambassador; and when Pyrrhus stated that they must receive their king Cleonymus, or they would find out that they were no braver than any of the rest, Dercylidas interrupted to say, “If this man is a god, we do not fear him, for we are guilty of no wrong; but if he is a man, he is surely not superior to us.”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.1] Demaratus
[Apophth. Lac. 28.1b] 1 Demaratus, when Orontes had talked to him rather haughtily and someone remarked, 220”Orontes has treated you haughtily, Demaratus,” said, “He has committed no fault against me; for it is those who talk to please that do harm, not those who talk with hatred at heart.”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.2] 2 When someone asked why they visited disgrace upon those among them who lost their shields, but did not do the same thing to those who lost their helmets or their breastplates, he said, “Because these they put on for their own sake, but the shield for the common good of the whole line.”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.3] 3 As he was listening to a musician, he said, “He seems to do his silly task fairly well.”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.4] 4 In a council meeting he was asked whether it was due to foolishness or lack of words that he said nothing. “But a fool,” said he, “would not be able to hold his tongue.”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.5] 5 When someone inquired why he was an exile from Sparta, being a king, he said, “Because her laws are more powerful than I am.”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.6] 6 When one of the Persians, by unremitting bribery, had got away from him his beloved youth, and said to him, “Ho, Spartan, I have captivated your beloved,” he said, “Not you, I swear, but you have bought and paid for him!”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.7] 7 When one of the Persians deserted from the king and was persuaded by Demaratus to change his mind and return, and the king was going to have him put to death, Demaratus said: “For shame, your Majesty! To think that when this man was your enemy you could not punish him for his desertion but now that he has become your friend, you would put him to death!”
[Apophth. Lac. 28.8] 8 In answer to a man who was a parasite of the king and often jeered at him over his exile, he said, “I have no quarrel with you, my friend; for I have squandered my position in life.”
[Apophth. Lac. 29.1] Ecprepes
[Apophth. Lac. 29.1b] Ecprepes, an Ephor, cut out with an adze two of the nine strings of Phrynis the musician, saying, “Do not murder music.”
[Apophth. Lac. 30.1] Epaenetus
Epaenetus said that liars are to blame for all sins and crimes.
[Apophth. Lac. 31.1] Euboedas
[Apophth. Lac. 31.1b] Euboedas, on hearing some men praising the wife of another man, could not stomach it, saying, “In regard to a woman’s endowments there should be absolutely no talk among those outside the family.”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.1] Eudamidas, son of Archidamus
[Apophth. Lac. 32.1b] 1 Eudamidas, the son of Archidamus and the brother of Agis, seeing Xenocrates in the Academy, already well on in years, discussing philosophy with his acquaintances, inquired who the old man was. Somebody said that he was a wise man and one of the seekers after virtue. “And when will he use it,” said Eudamidas, “if he is only now seeking for it?”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.2] 2 Hearing a philosopher discoursing to the effect that the wise man is the only good general, he said, “The speech is admirable, but the speaker is not to be trusted; for he has never been amid the blare of trumpets.”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.3] 3 Xenocrates had been expounding his theme, and had just reached the stopping-point when Eudamidas arrived. One of the persons with him remarked, “Just when we arrive he comes to the stopping-point.” “Quite properly so,” said Eudamidas, “if he has already said all he wanted to say.” “It would have been nice to hear him,” said the other. “Indeed,” said Eudamidas, “and if we came to a man who had just dined, should we insist that he eat another dinner?”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.4] 4 Someone inquired why, when the citizens professed to be all for war against the Macedonians, he himself decided in favour of keeping the peace. He replied, “Because I do not need to prove that they are lying.”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.5] 5 When another man brought up their brave successes against the Persians, and was urgent for the war, Eudamidas said, “You do not seem to realize that your proposition is the same as fighting fifty wolves after overcoming a thousand sheep!”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.6] 6 When a certain musician made a great hit, they asked Eudamidas what he thought of the man, and he replied, “He has great power to charm in a trifling matter.”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.7] 7 When someone praised Athens, he said “And who could praise that city deservedly, towards which nobody has ever felt any affection for having been made a better man by it?”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.8] 8 When a man from Argos said that the Spartans became more unscrupulous on going abroad and being out of the control of their long-established laws, he said, 221”But you, when you come to Sparta, do not become worse, but better.”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.9] 9 When Alexander caused proclamation to be made at Olympia that all exiles might return to their own land, save only the Thebans, Eudamidas said, “The proclamation for you, men of Thebes, is unfortunate, but very complimentary; for it is you only that Alexander fears.”
[Apophth. Lac. 32.10] 10 Being asked for what purpose they offered sacrifice to the Muses before hazardous ventures, he said, “So that our deeds may find good words.”
[Apophth. Lac. 33.1] Eurycratidas, son of Anaxandridas
[Apophth. Lac. 33.1b] Eurycratidas, the son of Anaxandridas, when someone inquired why the Ephors try cases involving contracts each day, said “So that also amid our enemies we may trust one another.”
[Apophth. Lac. 34.1] Zeuxidamus
[Apophth. Lac. 34.1b] 1 When someone inquired why they kept the laws in regard to bravery unwritten, and did not have them written down and thus give them to the young men to read, Zeuxidamus said, “Because the young ought to accustom themselves to deeds of manly valour, a better thing than to apply their mind to writings.”
[Apophth. Lac. 34.2] 2 When a certain Aetolian asserted that, for those who are able to play the part of real men, war is better than peace, Zeuxidamus said, “By Heaven, no; but for such men death is better than life.”
[Apophth. Lac. 35.1] Herondas
[Apophth. Lac. 35.1b] Herondas was at Athens when a man there was found guilty on a charge of not having any occupation, and when he heard of this, he bade them point out to him the man who had been convicted of the freeman’s crime!
[Apophth. Lac. 36.1] Thearidas
[Apophth. Lac. 36.1b] Thearidas, as he was whetting his sword, was asked if it was sharp, and he replied, “Sharper than slander.”
[Apophth. Lac. 37.1] Themisteas
[Apophth. Lac. 37.1b] Themisteas foretold to Leonidas, the king, the coming destruction both of himself and of his fellow-soldiers at Thermopylae, for he was a prophet. He was sent away by Leonidas to Sparta, on the pretext of announcing there what would come to pass, but in reality so that he should not suffer death with the rest. He, however, would not brook this, but said, “I was sent out to fight, not to carry messages.”
[Apophth. Lac. 38.1] Theopompus
[Apophth. Lac. 38.1b] 1 Theopompus, in answer to a man who asked how anyone could keep a kingdom most securely, said, “If he concede to his friends their just share of frank speech, and, so far as lies in his power, do not suffer any of his subjects to be wronged.”
[Apophth. Lac. 38.2] 2 In answer to a man from abroad who said that among his own citizens he was called a lover of Sparta, he said, “It would be better to be called a lover of your own country than a lover of Sparta.”
[Apophth. Lac. 38.3] 3 When the ambassador from Elis said that his citizens had sent him for the especial reason that he alone emulated the Spartan way of living, Theopompus said, “Is your way of living or that of the other citizens better?” And when the man said that his own was, Theopompus said, “How, then, can that State be saved in which, among many citizens, only one is a good man?”
[Apophth. Lac. 38.4] 4 When someone said that Sparta was saved through its kings, because they were competent to rule, he said, “Not so, but through its citizens, because they are obedient to the rulers.”
[Apophth. Lac. 38.5] 5 When the people of Pylos voted him some unusually high honours, he wrote in reply that time increases modest honours, but obliterates those that are extravagant.
[Apophth. Lac. 38.6] 6 When someone pointed out to him a wall, and inquired if it was strong and high, he said, “Is it not a place where women live?”
[Apophth. Lac. 39.1] Thorycion
[Apophth. Lac. 39.1b] Thorycion, arriving from Delphi and seeing in the Isthmus the forces of Philip, who had already gained possession of the narrow entrance, said, “The Peloponnesus has poor gate-keepers in you, men of Corinth!”
[Apophth. Lac. 40.1] Thectamenes
[Apophth. Lac. 40.1b] Thectamenes, when the Ephors condemned him to death, went away smiling. Someone among the bystanders asked him if he felt such contempt for the laws of Sparta. “No,” said he, “but I rejoice to think that I must pay this penalty myself without begging or borrowing anything from anybody.”
[Apophth. Lac. 41.1] Hippodamus
[Apophth. Lac. 41.1b] 222 Hippodamus, when Agis was taking his place on the field of battle beside Archidamus, was sent with Agis to Sparta to render his services there. “But look you,” said he, “I shall meet no more honourable death than in playing the part of a brave man for Sparta’s sake.” (He was over eighty years old.) And thereupon, seizing his arms and taking his stand at the king’s right hand, he fell fighting.
[Apophth. Lac. 42.1] Hippocratidas
[Apophth. Lac. 42.1b] 1 This is the answer of Hippocratidas to the governor of Caria who wrote a letter to him because a man from Sparta had been privy to the plot of certain conspirators, and had said nothing about it; and the governor added a line, asking how he should deal with him. Hippocratidas wrote in reply: “If you have done him any great favour, put him to death; but if not, expel him from your country, for he is a poltroon so far as any virtue is concerned.”
[Apophth. Lac. 42.2] 2 When a youth with a lover in attendance met him one day, and turned colour, he said, “You ought to walk with persons such that when you are seen with them you shall keep the same complexion.”
[Apophth. Lac. 43.1] Callicratidas
[Apophth. Lac. 43.1b] 1 Callicratidas, an admiral, when Lysander’s friends made him a fair offer that he permit them to make away with one of their enemies and receive ten thousand pounds, although he was in sore need of money for rations for his sailors, would not consent. Cleander, who was a member of his council, said, “But I would take it, if I were you.” “And so would I,” said Callicratidas, “if I were you!”
[Apophth. Lac. 43.2] 2 When he came to Cyrus the Younger at Sardis (who was allied with the Spartans) to get money for his fleet, on the first day he bade them send in word that he wished to have an audience with Cyrus. But when he was told that Cyrus was busy drinking, he said, “I will wait till he has finished drinking.” And at that time he withdrew, when he realized that it was not possible to meet Cyrus on that day, thus creating the impression that he was somewhat lacking in manners. On the succeeding day, when he was again told that Cyrus was drinking and would not come forth, he said, “We must not be so eager to get money as to do anything unworthy of Sparta,” and withdrew to Ephesus, invoking many evil curses on those who were first wantonly treated by the barbarians and had taught the barbarians to be arrogant because of wealth. And he swore to the persons present that, just so soon as he should arrive at Sparta, he would do everything to bring about a reconciliation among the Greeks, that they might become more formidable to the barbarians, and cease begging them for their resources to use against one another.
[Apophth. Lac. 43.3] 3 Being asked what kind of men the Ionians were, he said, “Poor freemen, but good slaves.”
[Apophth. Lac. 43.4] 4 When Cyrus sent on money to pay the soldiers, and special presents for himself as a token of friendship, he took the money only and sent back the presents, saying that there was no need of any private friendship between him and Cyrus, but the general friendship which had been contracted with all the Spartans would also serve for him.
[Apophth. Lac. 43.5] 5 As he was about to engage in the naval battle at Arginusae, Hermon the pilot said that it would be well to sail away, for the ships of the Athenians were many more in number; but Callicratidas said, “And what of that? To flee is a disgrace and an injury to Sparta. No; to stay here, be it death or be it victory, is best.”
[Apophth. Lac. 43.6] 6 As he offered sacrifice before the battle, and heard from the seer that the indications of the omens were victory for the army, but death for its commander, he said, not at all disconcerted, “Sparta’s fate rests not with one man. For, if I am killed, my country will not be impaired in any way; but if I yield to the enemy, it will be.” And so, after appointing Cleander to take his place as commander, he put forth without delay for the naval engagement, and met his death in the battle.
[Apophth. Lac. 44.1] Cleombrotus, son of Pausanias
[Apophth. Lac. 44.1b] 223 1 Cleombrotus, the son of Pausanias, when a man from abroad was disputing with Cleombrotus’s father about excellence, said, “My father is a better man than you — until you too have become a father.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.1] Cleomenes, son of Anaxandridas
[Apophth. Lac. 45.1b] 1 Cleomenes, the son of Anaxandridas, said that Homer was the poet of the Spartans, and Hesiod of the Helots; for Homer had given the necessary directions for fighting, and Hesiod for farming.
[Apophth. Lac. 45.2] 2 Having made an armistice of seven days with the Argives, he kept a watch on them, and on the third night, when they were sleeping because of their reliance on the truce, he attacked them, and slew some and took the others prisoners. b 3 When he was reproached for his violation of the oath, he said that he had not included the nights as well as the days in his plighted word; and anyway, whatever ill one can do to one’s enemies is regarded, among both gods and men, as something vastly higher than justice.
[Apophth. Lac. 45.4] 4 It was his fortune to be repulsed from Argos, to gain which he had violated the truce, owing to the women’s taking down the weapons in the shrines and defending themselves against him with these. Later he went out of his mind, and, getting hold of a small dagger, he slashed himself, beginning with his ankles until he reached the vital parts, and thus departed this life laughing and grinning.
[Apophth. Lac. 45.5] 5 The seer tried to dissuade him from leading his army against the city of the Argives, for the return, he said, would be made in disgrace. But when Cleomenes had advanced near the city, and saw the gates closed and the women upon the walls, he said, “Does it seem to you that the return from here can be made in disgrace, where, since the men are dead, the women have barred the gates?”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.6] 6 In answer to those of the Argives who upbraided him as an impious perjurer, he said, “You have the power to speak ill of me, but I have the power to do ill to you.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.7] 7 To the ambassadors from Samos who urged him to make war upon the despot Polycrates, and for this reason spoke at great length, he said, “What you said at the beginning I do not remember; for that reason I do not comprehend the middle part; and the conclusion I do not approve.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.8] 8 A certain pirate overran the country, and, when he was captured, said, “I had not the means to provide subsistence for my soldiers; therefore, to those who had it, but would not willingly give it, I came with the purpose of taking it by force.” To this Cleomenes said, “Villainy is curt.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.9] 9 When a certain low fellow spoke ill of him, he said, “So it is for this reason, is it, that you speak ill of everyone, that we, busied in defending ourselves, may not have time to speak of your baseness?”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.10] 10 When one of the citizens said that the good king ought to be mild at all times and in every way, he remarked, “Yes, but not to the extent of being despised.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.11] 11 When he was afflicted with a lingering illness, and began to give attention to mind-healers and seers, to whom formerly he had given no attention, someone expressed surprise. “Why are you surprised?” said he; “for I am not now the same man that I was, and, not being the same man, I do not approve the same things.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.12] 12 When a public lecturer spoke at considerable length about bravery, he burst out laughing and when the man said, “Why do you laugh, Cleomenes, at hearing a man speak about bravery, and that, too, when you are a king?” “Because, my friend, “ he said, “if it had been a swallow speaking about it, I should have done the same thing, but if it had been an eagle, I should have kept very quiet.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.13] 13 When the people of Argos asserted that they would wipe out their former defeat by fighting again, he said, “I wonder if by the addition of a word of two syllables you have now become more powerful than you were before!”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.14] 14 When someone upbraided him, saying, “You are inclined to luxury, Cleomenes,” he said, “Well, that is better than being unjust. And you are avaricious though you possess property enough.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.15] 15 When someone, wishing to introduce a musician to him, 224 said, in addition to other commendations, that the man was the best musician among the Greeks, Cleomenes pointed to one of the persons near, and said, “Yonder man, I swear, ranks with me as the best soup-maker.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.16] 16 Maeandrius, the despot of Samos, because of the inroad of the Persians, fled to Sparta, and exhibited all the gold and silver vessels which he had brought with him, and offered to favour Cleomenes with as many as he wished; but he would have none, and taking good care that the man should not distribute any among the rest of the citizens, he went to the Ephors and said that it was better for Sparta that his own friend and guest from Samos should withdraw from the Peloponnesus, so that he should not persuade anyone of the Spartans to become a bad man. And they listened to his advice and proclaimed the expulsion of Maeandrius that very day.
[Apophth. Lac. 45.17] 17 When someone said, “Why have you not killed off the people of Argos who wage war against you so often?” he said, “Oh, we would not kill them off, for we want to have some trainers for our young men.”
[Apophth. Lac. 45.18] 18 When somebody inquired of him why Spartans do not dedicate to the gods the spoils from their enemies, he said, “Because they are taken from cowards.”
[Apophth. Lac. 46.1] Cleomenes, son of Cleombrotus
[Apophth. Lac. 46.1b] Cleomenes, the son of Cleombrotus, when someone offered him fighting cocks and said that they would die fighting for victory, said, “Well then, give me some of those that kill them, for those are better than these.”
[Apophth. Lac. 47.1] Labotas
[Apophth. Lac. 47.1b] Labotas, when someone spoke at very great length, said, “Why, pray, such a big introduction to a small subject? For proportionate to the topic should be the words you use.”
[Apophth. Lac. 48.1] Leotychidas
[Apophth. Lac. 48.1b] 1 Leotychidas the First, when somebody remarked to him that he was very changeable, said, “Yes, because of varying occasion; not like all you because of your baseness.”
[Apophth. Lac. 48.2] 2 In answer to the man who asked how any man could best preserve his present state of good fortune, he said, “By not trusting everything to chance.”
[Apophth. Lac. 48.3] 3 Being asked what freeborn boys had best learn, he said, “Those things which may help them when they become men.”
[Apophth. Lac. 48.4] 4 When someone inquired for what reason the Spartans drank so little, he said “So that others may not deliberate over us, but we over others.”
[Apophth. Lac. 49.1] Leotychidas, son of Ariston
[Apophth. Lac. 49.1b] 1 Leotychidas, the son of Ariston, in answer to a man who said that the sons of Demaratus were speaking ill of him, remarked, “Egad, I don’t wonder; for not one of them could ever speak a good word.”
[Apophth. Lac. 49.2] 2 When at the adjacent gate a snake had coiled around the key, and the soothsayers declared this to be a prodigy, he said, “It doesn’t seem so to me, but if the key had coiled around the snake, that would be a prodigy!”
[Apophth. Lac. 49.3] 3 This is his retort to Philip, the priest of the Orphic mysteries, who was in the direst straits of poverty, but used to assert that those who were initiated under his rites were happy after the conclusion of this life; to him Leotychidas said, “You idiot! Why then don’t you die as speedily as possible so that you may with that cease from bewailing your unhappiness and poverty?”
[Apophth. Lac. 49.4] 4 When someone inquired why they did not dedicate to the gods the arms taken from the enemy, he said that property wrested from its owners owing to cowardice it is not good either for the young men to see, or to dedicate to the gods.
[Apophth. Lac. 50.1] Leo, son of Eurycratidas
[Apophth. Lac. 50.1b] 1 When Leo, the son of Eurycratidas, was asked what kind of a city one could live in so as to live most safely, he said, “Where the inhabitants shall possess neither too much nor too little, and where right shall be strong and wrong shall be weak.”
[Apophth. Lac. 50.2] 2 Seeing that the runners at Olympia were eager to gain some advantage in starting, he said, “How much more eager are the runners for a quick start than for fair play!”
[Apophth. Lac. 50.3] 3 When someone, at an inappropriate time, discoursed about some matters which were not unprofitable, he said, “My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need!”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.1] Leonidas, son of Anaxandridas
[Apophth. Lac. 51.1b] 1 Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas and the brother of Cleomenes, in answer to a man who remarked, 225”Except for your being king, you are no different from the rest of us,” said, “But if I were no better than you others, I should not be king.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.2] 2 His wife Gorgo inquired, at the time when he was setting forth to Thermopylae to fight the Persian, if he had any instructions to give her, and he said, “To marry good men and bear good children.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.3] 3 When the Ephors said that he was taking but few men to Thermopylae, he said, “Too many for the enterprise on which we going.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.4] 4 And when again they said, “Hae ye decided to dae aught else save to keep the barbarians from gettin’ by?” “Nominally that,” he said, “but actually expecting to die for the Greeks.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.5] 5 When he had arrived at Thermopylae he said to his comrades in arms, “They say that the barbarian has come near and is comin’ on while we are wastin’ time. Truth, soon we shall either kill the barbarians, or else we are bound to be killed oursel’s.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.6] 6 When someone said, “Because of the arrows of the barbarians it is impossible to see the sun,” he said, “Won’t it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them?”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.7] 7 When someone else said, “They are near to us,” he said, “Then we also are near to them.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.8] 8 When someone said, “Leonidas, are you here to take such a hazardous risk with so few men against so many?” he said, “If you men think that I rely on numbers, then all Greece is not sufficient, for it is but a small fraction of their numbers; but if on men’s valour, then this number will do.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.9] 9 When another man remarked the same thing he said, “In truth I am taking many if they are all to be slain.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.10] 10 Xerxes wrote to him, “It is possible for you, by not fighting against God but by ranging yourself on my side, to be the sole ruler of Greece.” But he wrote in reply, “If you had any knowledge of the noble things of life, you would refrain from coveting others’ possessions; but for me to die for Greece is better than to be the sole ruler over the people of my race.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.11] 11 When Xerxes wrote again, “Hand over your arms,” he wrote in reply, “Come and take them.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.12] 12 He wished to engage the enemy at once, but the other commanders, in answer to his proposal, said that he must wait for the rest of the allies. “Why,” said he, “are not all present who intend to fight? Or do you not realize that the only men who fight against the enemy are those who respect and revere their kings?”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.13] 13 He bade his soldiers eat their breakfast as if they were to eat their dinner in the other world.
[Apophth. Lac. 51.14] 14 Being asked why the best of men prefer a glorious death to an inglorious life, he said, “Because they believe the one to be Nature’s gift but the other to be within their own control.”
[Apophth. Lac. 51.15] 15 Wishing to save the lives of the young men, and knowing full well that they would not submit to such treatment, he gave to each of them a secret dispatch, and sent them to the Ephors. He conceived the desire to save also three of the grown men, but they fathomed his design, and would not submit to accepting the dispatches. One of them said, “I came with the army, not to carry messages, but to fight;” and the second, “I should be a better man if I stayed here”; and the third, “I will not be behind these, but first in the fight.”
[Apophth. Lac. 52.1] Lochagus
[Apophth. Lac. 52.1b] Lochagus, the father of Polyaenides and Seiron, when word was brought to him that one of his sons was dead, said, “I have known this long while that he was fated to die.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.1] Lysander
[Apophth. Lac. 54.1b] 1 When Dionysius, the despot of Sicily, sent costly garments for Lysander’s daughters, he would not accept them, saying that he was afraid that because of them his daughters would appear ugly rather than beautiful. But a little later, when he was sent as ambassador to the same despot from the same State, Dionysius sent to him two robes and bade him choose whichever one of them he would, and take it to his daughter; but Lysander said that she herself would make a better choice, and, taking them both, he departed.
[Apophth. Lac. 54.2] 2 Lysander, who was a clever quibbler, and given to employing cunning deceptions to further most of his designs, counted justice as mere expediency, and honour as that which is advantageous. He said that the truth is better than falsehood, but that the worth and value of either is determined by the use to which it is put.
[Apophth. Lac. 54.3] 3 In answer to those who blamed him because his carrying out most of his designs through deception, which they said was unworthy of Heracles, and gaining his successes by wile in no straightforward way, he said laughing that where he could not get on with the lion’s skin it must be pieced out with the skin of the fox.
[Apophth. Lac. 54.4] 4 When others censured him for his violation of his oaths which he had made in Miletus he said that one must trick children with knuckle-bones, but men with oaths.
[Apophth. Lac. 54.5] 5 He conquered the Athenians by a ruse at Aegospotami, and by pressing them hard through famine he forced them to surrender their city, whereupon he wrote to the Ephors, “Athens is taken.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.6] 6 In answer to the Argives, who were disputing with the Spartans in regard to the boundaries of their land and said that they had the better of the case, he drew his sword and said, “He who is master of this talks best about boundaries of land.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.7] 7 Seeing that the Boeotians were wavering at the time when he was about to pass through their country he sent to them to inquire whether he should march through their land with spears at rest or ready for action.
[Apophth. Lac. 54.8] 8 When a Megarian in the common council used plain words to him, he said, “My friend, your words need a city to back them.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.9] 9 When the Corinthians had revolted and he was going through their country along by the walls and saw that the Spartans were reluctant to attack, a hare was seen leaping across a ditch, whereupon he said, “Are you not ashamed, men of Sparta, to be afraid of such enemies as these, who are so slack that hares sleep in the walls of their city?”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.10] 10 As he was consulting the oracle in Samothrace, the priest bade him tell what was the most lawless deed that had ever been committed by him in his lifetime. Lysander asked, “Must I do this at your command or at the command of the gods?” When the priest said, “At the command of the gods,” Lysander said, “Then do you take yourself out of my way, and I will tell them in case they inquire.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.11] 11 When a Persian asked what kind of government he commended most highly, he said, “The government which duly awards what is fitting to both the brave and the cowardly.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.12] 12 In answer to a man who said that he commended him and was very fond of him, he said “I have two oxen in a field, and although they both may utter no sound, I know perfectly well which one is lazy and which one is the worker.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.13] 13 When someone was reviling him, he said, “Talk right on, you miserable foreigner, talk, and don’t leave out anything if thus you may be able to empty your soul of the vicious notions with which you seem to be filled.”
[Apophth. Lac. 54.14] 14 Some time after his death, when a dispute arose regarding a certain alliance, Agesilaus came to Lysander’s house to examine the documents in regard to this, for Lysander had kept these at his own house. Agesilaus found also a book written by Lysander in regard to the government, to this effect: that the citizens should take away the kingship from the Eurypontids and the Agiads and put it up for election, and make their choice from the best men, so that this high honour should belong not to those who were descended from Heracles, but to men like Heracles, who should be selected for their excellence; for it was because of such excellence that Heracles was exalted to divine honours. This document Agesilaus was bent upon publishing to the citizens, and demonstrating what kind of a citizen Lysander had been in secret, and with the purpose also of discrediting the friends of Lysander. But they say that Cratidas, who at that time was at the head of the Ephors, anxious lest, if the speech should be read, it might convert the people to this way of thinking, restrained Agesilaus and said that he ought not to disinter Lysander, 230 but to inter the speech along with him, since it was composed with a vicious purpose and in a plausible vein.
[Apophth. Lac. 54.15] 15 The suitors of his daughters, when after his death he was found to be a poor man, renounced their obligations; but the Ephors punished them because when they thought he was rich they courted his favour, but when they found from his poverty that he was just and honest they disdained him.
[Apophth. Lac. 55.1] Namertes
[Apophth. Lac. 55.1b] Namertes was sent as an ambassador, and when one of the people in that country congratulated him because he had many friends, he asked if this man had any sure means of testing the man of many friends; and when the other desired to learn, Namertes said, “By means of misfortune.”
[Apophth. Lac. 56.1] Nicander
[Apophth. Lac. 56.1b] 1 Nicander, when someone said that the Argives were speaking ill of him, said, “Well then, they are paying the penalty for speaking ill of the good!”
[Apophth. Lac. 56.2] 2 When someone inquired why the Spartans wore their hair long and cultivated beards, he said, “Because for a man his own adornment is the very beside and cheapest.”
[Apophth. Lac. 56.3] 3 When one of the Athenians said, “Nicander, you Spartans insist too much on your principle of doing no work,” he said, “Quite true; we do not make work of this thing or that thing in your haphazard fashion.”
[Apophth. Lac. 57.1] Panthoedas
[Apophth. Lac. 57.1b] 1 Panthoedas went on embassy to Asia and when they pointed out to him a very strong wall he said, “By Heaven, strangers, fine quarters for women!”
[Apophth. Lac. 57.2] 2 When the philosophers in the Academy were conversing long and seriously, and afterwards some people asked Panthoidas how their conversation impressed him, he said, “What else than serious? But there is no good in it unless you put it to use.”
[Apophth. Lac. 58.1] Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus
[Apophth. Lac. 58.1b] 1 Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, at the time when the people of Delos were asserting their rightful claims to the island against the Athenians, and said that according to the law which prevailed among them there were no births and no burials in the island, said, “How can this be your native land in which no one of you has ever been born nor shall ever be hereafter?”
[Apophth. Lac. 58.2] 2 When the exiles were inciting him to lead his army against the Athenians, and saying that, when his name was proclaimed at Olympia, they were the only people who hissed him, he said, “What do you think that those who hissed when they were being well treated will do if they are treated ill?”
[Apophth. Lac. 58.3] 3 When someone inquired why the Spartans had made Tyrtaeus the poet a citizen, he said, “So a stranger shall never appear as our leader.”
[Apophth. Lac. 58.4] 4 In answer to the man who was weak in body, but was urging that they risk a battle against the enemy by both land and sea, he said, “Are you willing to strip yourself and show what kind of man you are — you who advise us to fight?”
[Apophth. Lac. 58.5] 5 When some people were amazed at the costliness of the raiment found among the spoils of the barbarians, he said that it would have been better for them to be themselves men of worth than to possess things of worth.
[Apophth. Lac. 58.6] 6 After the victory at Plataea over the Persians he ordered that the dinner which had been prepared for the Persians should be served to himself and his officers. As this had a wondrous sumptuousness, he said, “By Heaven, the Persian was a greedy fellow who, when he had all this, came after our barley-cake.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.1] Pausanias, the son of Pleistoanax
[Apophth. Lac. 59.1b] 1 Pausanias, the son of Pleistoanax, in answer to the question why it was not permitted to change any of the ancient laws in their country, said, “Because the laws ought to have authority over the men, and not the men over the laws.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.2] 2 When, in Tegea, after he had been exiled, he commended the Spartans, someone said, “Why did you not stay in Sparta instead of going into exile?” And he said, “Because physicians, too, are wont to spend their time, not among the healthy, but where the sick are.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.3] 3 When someone inquired of him how they could become able to conquer the Thracians, he said, “If we should make the best man our general.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.4] 231 4 When a physician paid him a visit and said, “You have nothing wrong with you,” he said, “No, for I do not employ you as my physician.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.5] 5 When one of his friends blamed him because he spoke ill of a certain physician, although he had never had anything to do with him, and had not suffered any harm at his hands, he said, “Because if I had ever had anything to do with him I should not now be alive.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.6] 6 When the physician said to him, “You have lived to be an old man,” he said, “That is because I never employed you as my physician.”
[Apophth. Lac. 59.7] 7 He said that the best physician was the man who did not allow his patients to rot, but buried them quickly.
[Apophth. Lac. 60.1] Paedaretus
[Apophth. Lac. 60.1b] 1 Paedaretus, when someone said that the enemy were many in number, remarked, “Then we shall be the more famous, for we shall kill more men.”
[Apophth. Lac. 60.2] 2 Seeing a certain man who was effeminate by nature, but was commended by the citizens for his moderation, he said, “People should not praise men who are like to women nor women who are like to men, unless some necessity overtake the woman.”
[Apophth. Lac. 60.3] 3 When he was not chosen as one of the three hundred, which was rated as the highest honour in the State, he went away cheerful and smiling; but when the Ephors called him back, and asked why he was laughing, he said, “Because I congratulate the State for having three hundred citizens better than myself.”
[Apophth. Lac. 61.1] Pleistarchus
[Apophth. Lac. 61.1b] 1 Pleistarchus the son of Leonidas, in answer to one who asked him for what reason they did not take their titles from the names of the first kings, said, “Because the first kings needed to be absolute monarchs, but those who followed them had no such need.”
[Apophth. Lac. 61.2] 2 When a certain advocate kept making jests, he said, “You had better be on your guard, my friend, against jesting all the time, lest you become a jest yourself, just as those who wrestle all the time become wrestlers.”
[Apophth. Lac. 61.3] 3 In retort to the man who imitated a nightingale, he said, “My friend, I have had more pleasure in hearing the nightingale itself.”
[Apophth. Lac. 61.4] 4 When someone said that a certain evil-speaker was commending him, he said, “I wonder whether possibly someone may not have told him that I was dead; for the man can never say a good word of anybody who is alive.”
[Apophth. Lac. 62.1] Pleistoanax
[Apophth. Lac. 62.1b] Pleistoanax, the son of Pausanias, when an Attic orator called the Spartans unlearned, said, “You are quite right, for we alone of the Greeks have learned no evil from you.”
[Apophth. Lac. 63.1] Polydorus
[Apophth. Lac. 63.1b] 1 Polydorus, the son of Alcamenes, when a certain man was continually making threats against his enemies, said, “Don’t you see that you are using up the best part of your vengeance?”
[Apophth. Lac. 63.2] 2 As he was leading out his army to Messene, someone asked him if he was going to fight against his brothers. He said that he was not, but was merely proceeding to the unassigned portion of the land.
[Apophth. Lac. 63.3] 3 The Argives, after the battle of the three hundred, were again overcome, with all their forces, in a set battle, and the allies urged Polydorus not to let slip the opportunity, but to make a descent upon the enemy’s wall and capture their city; for this, they said, would be very easy, since the men had been destroyed and the women only were left. He said in answer to them, “To my mind it is not honourable, when fighting on even terms, to conquer our opponents, but, after having fought to settle the boundaries of the country, to desire to capture the city I do not regard as just; for I came to recapture territory and not to capture a city.”
[Apophth. Lac. 63.4] 4 Being asked why the Spartans risked their lives so bravely in war, he said, “Because they have learned to respect their commanders and not to fear them.”
[Apophth. Lac. 64.1] Polycratidas
[Apophth. Lac. 64.1b] Polycratidas was sent, along with others, as ambassador to the king’s generals, and when these asked whether they were there as private citizens or had been sent as public representatives, he said, “If we succeed, public; if not, private.”
[Apophth. Lac. 65.1] Phoebidas
[Apophth. Lac. 65.1b] Phoebidas, before the hazardous engagement at Leuctra, when some remarked that this day would show the brave man, said that the day was worth much if it had the power to show the brave man.
[Apophth. Lac. 66.1] Soüs
[Apophth. Lac. 66.1b] 232 The story is told that Soüs being besieged by the Cleitorians in a rugged and waterless stronghold, agreed to give up to them the land which he had captured by the spear if all the men with him should drink from the neighbouring spring. This spring the enemy were guarding. When the oaths had been exchanged, he got together his men and offered the kingdom to the man who would not drink; however no one had the strength to resist, but they all drank; whereupon he came down after all the rest, and sprinkled himself, the enemy still being present, and went back and took possession of the land on the ground that he had not drunk.
[Apophth. Lac. 67.1] Teleclus
[Apophth. Lac. 67.1b] 1 Teleclus, in answer to the man who said that Teleclus’s father was speaking ill of him, said, “If he had had no cause to speak, he would not have spoken.”
[Apophth. Lac. 67.2] 2 When his brother said to him that the citizens did not comport themselves toward himself as they did toward the king (although he was of the same family), but with much less consideration, he said, “The reason is, you do not know how to submit to injustice, and I do.”
[Apophth. Lac. 67.3] 3 Being asked why it was the custom among them for the younger men to rise up and give place to the elder, he said, “So that, having this attitude regarding honour toward those who are not related to them, they may pay greater honour to their parents.”
[Apophth. Lac. 67.4] 4 When someone inquired how much property he possessed, he said, “Not more than enough.”
[Apophth. Lac. 68.1] Charillus
[Apophth. Lac. 68.1b] 1 Charillus, being asked why Lycurgus made so few laws, said, “Because those who use few words have need of but few laws.”
[Apophth. Lac. 68.2] 2 When someone inquired why they took their girls into public places unveiled, but their married women veiled, he said, “Because the girls have to find husbands, and the married women have to keep to those who have them!”
[Apophth. Lac. 68.3] 3 When one of the Helots conducted himself rather boldly toward him, he said, “If I were not angry, I would kill you.”
[Apophth. Lac. 68.4] 4 When someone asked him what he thought to be the best form of government, he said, “That in which the greatest number of citizens are willing, without civil strife, to vie with one another in virtue.”
[Apophth. Lac. 68.5] 5 When someone inquired why all the statues of the gods erected among them were equipped with weapons, he said, “So that we may not put upon the gods the reproaches which are spoken against men because of their cowardice, and so that the young men may not pray to the gods unarmed.”
[Apophth. Lac. 68.6] 6 In answer to the man who inquired why they wore their hair long, he said, “Because this is the natural and inexpensive form of ornament.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.1] Various Sayings of Spartans to Fame Unknown
[Apophth. Lac. 69.1b] 1 When the ambassadors of the Samians spoke at great length, the Spartans said to them, “We hae forgot the first part, and the later part we did na ken because we hae forgot the first.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.2] 2 When a speaker extended his remarks to a great length, and then asked for answers to report to his citizens, they said, “Report that you found it hard to stop speaking and we to listen.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.3] 3 In answer to the Thebans who were disputing with them over some matters, they said, “You should have less pride or more power.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.4] 4 A Spartan, being asked why he wore his beard so very long, said, “So that I may see my grey hairs and do nothing unworthy of them.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.5] 5 Another, in answer to the inquiry, “Why do you use short swords?” said, “So that we may get close to the enemy.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.6] 6 When someone was praising the Argive warriors, a Spartan said, “Yes, at Troy!”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.7] 7 Another, being told that some people after dining are forced to drink, said, “What, and are they forced to eat also?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.8] 8 When Pindar wrote,
Athens the mainstay of Greece,
Spartan said that Greece was like to fall if it rested on any such mainstay as that!
[Apophth. Lac. 69.9] 9 Someone on seeing a painting in which Spartans were depicted as slain by Athenians, kept repeating, “Brave, brave Athenians.” A Spartan cut in with, “Yes, in the picture!”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.10] 10 To a man who was listening avidly to some spitefully slanderous remarks a Spartan said, “Stop being so generous with your ears against me!”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.11] 11 To a man who was being punished, and kept saying, “I did wrong unwillingly,” someone retorted, “Then take your punishment unwillingly.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.12] 12 Someone, seeing men seated on stools in a privy, said, “God forbid that I should ever sit where it is not possible to rise and yield my place to an older man.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.13] 13 When some Chians, on a visit to Sparta, vomited after dinner in the hall of the ephors, and befouled with ordure the very chairs in which the Ephors were wont to sit, 233 the Spartans, first of all, instituted a vigorous investigation, lest possibly these might be citizens; but when they learned that they were, in fact, Chians, they caused public proclamation to be made that ‘The Spartans grant permission to the Chians to be filthy.’
[Apophth. Lac. 69.14] 14 When someone saw almonds of the hard sort selling at double the price of others, he said, “Are stones so scarce?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.15] 15 A man plucked a nightingale and finding almost no meat, said, “It’s all voice ye are, and nought else.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.16] 16 One of the Spartans saw Diogenes the Cynic holding his arms around a bronze statue in very cold weather, and asked Diogenes if he were cold, and when Diogenes said “No,” the other said, “What great thing are you doing then?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.17] 17 One of the people of Metapontum, being reproached for cowardice by a Spartan, said, “But as a matter of fact we have not a little of the country of other states”; whereupon the Spartan replied, “Then you are not only cowardly, but also unjust.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.18] 18 A man who was visiting Sparta stood for a long time upon one foot, and said to a Spartan, “I do not think that you, sir, could stand upon one foot as long as that”; and the other interrupting said, “No, but there is not a single goose that could not do it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.19] 19 When a man boasted greatly of his art in speaking, a Spartan said, “By Heaven, there is no art nor can there be an art without a firm hold on truth.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.20] 20 When an Argive said once upon a time, “There are many tombs of Spartans in our country,” a Spartan said, “But there is not a single tomb of an Argive in our country,” indicating by this that the Spartans had often set foot in Argos, but the Argives had never set foot in Sparta.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.21] 21 A Spartan having been taken prisoner in war and put up for sale, when the crier said, “I offer a Spartan for sale,” stopped his mouth, saying, “Cry a prisoner of war.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.22] 22 One of the men serving in the army of Lysimachus, being asked by him whether he were not one of the Helots, said, “Do you suppose that any Spartan would come to get the sixpence which you pay?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.23] 23 At the time when Thebans had conquered the Spartans at Leuctra and advanced to the river Eurotas itself, one of them, boasting, said, “Where are the Spartans now?” A Spartan who had been captured by them said, “They are not here; otherwise you would not have come thus far.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.24] 24 At the time when the Athenians had surrendered their city, they declared it was only right that Samos should be left to them, but the Spartans said, “Do you, at a time when you do not even own yourselves, seek to possess others?” From this incident arose the proverb:
[Apophth. Lac. 69.24b] Who does not own himself would Samos own.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.25] 25 When the Spartans had taken by storm a certain city, the Ephors said, “Gone is the wrestling-school of our young men; they no longer will have competitors.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.26] 26 When their king promised to wipe out completely another city which, as it happened, had given much trouble to the Spartans, they would not allow it, saying, “You must not abolish nor remove the whetstone of our youth.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.27] 27 They appointed no trainers to instruct in wrestling so that the rivalry might not be in skill, but in courage. This is the reason why Lysanoridas, when he was asked how Charon had conquered him, said, “By his great resourcefulness.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.28] 28 Philip wrote at the time when he entered their country, asking whether they wished that he should come as a friend or as a foe; and they made answer, “Neither.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.29] 29 They sent an ambassador to Antigonus, son of Demetrius, and, upon learning that the ambassador had addressed Antigonus as King, they fined him, although he had brought for each one of them a bushel and a half of wheat at a time when there was great scarcity of food.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.30] 30 When Demetrius complained that they had sent only one ambassador to him, they replied, “Is it not enough — one to one?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.31] 31 When a bad man brought in a very good idea, they accepted it; but they took it away from him and bestowed the right of proposing it upon another man who had lived a virtuous life.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.32] 32 When two brothers quarrelled with each other, the Spartans fined the father because he permitted his sons to quarrel.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.33] 33 They fined a visiting harp-player because he played the harp with his fingers.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.34] 34 The boys were fighting, and one of them wounded the other mortally with the stroke of a sickle. The friends of the wounded boy, as they were about to separate, promised to avenge him and make away with the one who had struck him, but the boy said, “In Heaven’s name do not, for it is not right; 234 the fact is, I should have done that myself if I had been quick enough and brave enough.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.35] 35 In the case of another boy, when the time had arrived during which it was the custom for the free boys to steal whatever they could, and it was a disgrace not to escape being found out, when the boys with him had stolen a young fox alive, and given it to him to keep, and those who had lost the fox came in search for it, the boy happened to have slipped the fox under his garment. The beast, however, became savage and ate through his side to the vitals; but the boy did not move or cry out, so as to avoid being exposed, and left, when they had departed, the boys saw what had happened, and blamed him, saying that it would have been better to let the fox be seen than to hide it even unto death; but the boy said, “Not so, but better to die without yielding to the pain than through being detected because of weakness of spirit to gain a life to be lived in disgrace.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.36] 36 Some people, encountering Spartans on the road, said, “You are in luck, for robbers have just left this place,” but they said, “Egad, no, but it is they who are in luck for not encountering us.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.37] 37 A Spartan being asked what he knew, said, “How to be free.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.38] 38 A Spartan boy, being taken captive by Antigonus the king and sold, was obedient in all else to the one who had bought him, that is, in everything which he thought fitting for a free person to do, but when his owner bade him bring him a chamber-pot, he would not brook such treatment, saying, “I will not be a slave”; and when the other was insistent, he went up to the roof, and saying, “You will gain much by your bargain,” he threw himself down and ended his life.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.39] 39 Another one being sold, when someone said, “If I buy you, will you be good and helpful?” said, “Yes, and if you do not buy me.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.40] 40 Another captive being put up for sale, when the crier that he was offering a slave for sale, said, “You damnable wretch, won’t you say ‘a captive’?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.41] 41 A Spartan had as an emblem on his shield a fly, and that, too, no bigger than life-size. When some mockingly said that he had done this to escape being noticed, he said, “Rather that I may be noticeable; for I come so close to the enemy that my emblem is seen by them in its true size.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.42] 42 Another, when a lyre was brought in at an evening party, “It is not Spartan to indulge in nonsense.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.43] 43 A Spartan, being asked if the road into Sparta were safe, said, That depends on what kind of a mon ye are; for the lions gang about where they wull, but the hares we hunt over that land.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.44] 44 In a clinch one wrestler, who had the other by the neck, overpowered him with little effort, and pulled him to the ground. Since the one who was down was at a disadvantage in using his body, he bit the arm that held him. His opponent said, “Spartan, you bite like a woman.” “No, indeed,” said he, “but like a lion.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.45] 45 A lame man was going forth to war, and some persons followed after him laughing. He turned around and said, “You vile noddles! A man does not need to run away when he fights the enemy, but to stay where he is and hold his ground.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.46] 46 Another, mortally wounded by an arrow, said, as his life was ebbing away, “I am not troubled because I must die, but because my death comes at the hands of a womanish archer, and before I have accomplished anything.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.47] 47 A man stopped at an inn and gave the innkeeper a piece of meat to prepare; and when the innkeeper asked for cheese and oil besides, the other said, “If I had cheese, what need should I have of meat too?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.48] 48 In answer to the man who called Lampis of Aegina happy, because he seemed very rich in having many cargoes on the sea in ships, a Spartan said, “I do not pay much attention to happiness that hangs by ropes!”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.49] 49 When somebody told a Spartan that he was lying, the Spartan replied, “Yea, we are free men; but ithers, if they dinna tell the truth, will rue it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.50] 50 When someone set himself to make a corpse stand upright, and, for all his efforts, was unable to do this, he said, “Egad, there is need of something inside.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.51] 51 Tynnichus, when his son Thrasybulus was slain, bore it sturdily; and this epigram was written on him:
[Apophth. Lac. 69.51b] 235 Lifeless to Pitane came, on his shield upborne, Thrasybulus;
Seven the wounds he received, pierced by the Argive spears;
All in the front did he show them; and him with his blood-stained body
Tynnichus placed on the pyre, saying these words in his eld:
“Let the poor cowards be mourned, but with never a tear shall I bury
You, my son, who are mine, yea, and are Sparta’s as well.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.52] 52 When the keeper of a bath was pouring in a great quantity of water for Alcibiades, a Spartan said, “Why all this for him as if he were not clean? The fellow is pouring in extra water as if for a very dirty man.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.53] 53 When Philip of Macedon sent some orders to the Spartans by letter, they wrote in reply, “What you wrote about, ‘No.’ “
[Apophth. Lac. 69.53b] When he invaded the Spartans’ country, and all thought that they should be destroyed, he said to one of the Spartans, “What shall you do now, men of Sparta?” And the other said, “What else than die like men? For we alone of all the Greeks have learned to be free, and not to be subject to others.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.54] 54 After the defeat of Agis, Antipater demanded fifty boys as hostages, but Eteocles, who was Ephor, said they would not give boys, lest the boys should turn out to be uneducated through missing the traditional discipline; and they would not be fitted for citizenship either. But the Spartans would give, if he so desired, either old men or women to double the number. And when Antipater made dire threats if he should not get the boys, the Spartans made answer with one consent, “If the orders you lay upon us are harsher than death, we shall find it easier to die.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.55] 55 While the games were being held at Olympia, an old man was desirous of seeing them, but could find no seat. As he went to place after place, he met with insults and jeers, and nobody made room for him. But when he came opposite the Spartans, all the boys and many of the men arose and yielded their places. Whereupon the assembled multitude of Greeks expressed their approbation of the custom by applause, and commended the action beyond measure; but old man, shaking
[Apophth. Lac. 69.55b] His head grey-haired and grey-bearded,
[Apophth. Lac. 69.55c] and with tears in his eyes, said, “Alas for the evil days! Because all the Greeks know what is right and fair, but the Spartans alone practise it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.55d] Some say that the same thing happened at Athens also. It was at the time of the Panathenaic festival, and the people of Attica were teasing an old man in an unseemly manner, calling him to them as if they were intending to make room for him, and not making room if he came to them. When he had passed through almost all the spectators and came opposite the delegates of the Spartans, they all arose from where they were sitting and gave him place. The crowd, delighted, applauded the action with great approval, and one of the Spartans said, “Egad, the Athenians know what is right and fair, but do not do it.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.56] 56 A beggar asked alms of a Spartan, who said, “If I should give to you, you will be the more a beggar; and for this unseemly conduct of yours he who first gave you is responsible, for he thus made you lazy.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.57] 57 A Spartan, seeing a man taking up a collection for the gods, said that he did not think much of gods who were poorer than himself.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.58] 58 A man who caught another in adultery with an ugly woman said, “Puir soul! what was yer muckle need?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.59] 59 Another, listening to an orator rolling off long sentences, said, “Egad, but the man has courage; he twists his tongue well about no subject at all.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.60] 60 One man who came to Sparta, and observed the honour which the young render to the old, said, “Only in Sparta does it pay to grow old.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.61] 61 A Spartan, being asked what kind of a man Tyrtaeus the poet was, said, “A good man to sharpen the spirit of youth.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.62] 62 Another who had sore trouble with his eyes was going forth to war; and when some said to him, “Where are you going in that state, or what do you purpose to do?” he said, “Even if I accomplish nothing else, I may at least blunt an enemy’s sword.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.63] 63 Bulis and Sperchis of Sparta went as volunteers to Xerxes king of the Persians, to render satisfaction which Sparta owed according to an oracle, 236 because the people had killed the heralds sent to them by the Persian. These men came before Xerxes and bade him make away with them in any manner he desired, as representing the Spartans. But when he, filled with admiration, let them go free, and was insistent that they remain with him, they said, “And how should we be able to live here, abandoning our country and laws and those men in whose behalf we made such a long journey to die?” And when Indarnes the general besought them at greater length, and said that they would receive equal honour with the friends of the king who stood highest in advancement, they said, “You seem to us not to know what is the meed of liberty, which no man of sense would exchange for the kingdom of the Persians.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.64] 64 Because a friend with whom a Spartan was intending to stay dodged him on the first day, and on the next day, having borrowed bedding, received him sumptuously, the Spartan jumped on the bedding and trod it under foot, remarking that it was because of this that yesterday he had not had even straw to sleep on.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.65] 65 Another, on going to Athens, saw that the Athenians were hawking salt fish and dainties, collecting taxes, keeping public brothels, and following other unseemly pursuits, and holding none of them to be shameful. When he returned to his own country, his fellow-citizens asked how things were in Athens, and he said, “Everything fair and lovely,” speaking sarcastically and conveying the idea that among the Athenians everything is considered fair and lovely, and nothing shameful.
[Apophth. Lac. 69.66] 66 Another, being asked a question, answered “No.” And when the questioner said, “You lie,” the other said, “You see, then, that it is silly of you to ask questions to which you know the answer!”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.67] 67 Once upon a time, ambassadors from Sparta arrived at the court of Lygdamis the despot. But as he tried to put them off and repeatedly postponed the interview, and, to crown all, it was asserted that he was in a delicate condition, the Spartans said, “Tell him, in God’s name, that we have not come to wrestle with him, but to have a talk with him.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.68] 68 When someone, initiating a Spartan into the Mysteries, asked him what his conscience told him was the most unholy deed he had ever done, he said, “The gods know.” And when the other became even more insistent, and said, “It is absolutely necessary that you tell,” the Spartan asked in turn, “To whom must I tell it? To you or to the god?” And when the other said, “To the god,” the Spartan said, “You go away then.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.69] 69 Another, passing by a tomb at night, and imagining that he saw a ghost, ran at it with uplifted spear, and, as he thrust at it, he exclaimed, “Where are you fleeing from me, you soul that shall die twice?”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.70] 70 Another, having vowed to throw himself from the Leucadian cliff, went up and came down again after seeing the height. Being jeered at for this, he said, “I did na think my vow needed anither greater vow to dae it!”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.71] 71 Another, in the thick of the fight, was about to bring down his sword on an enemy when the recall sounded, and he checked the blow. When someone inquired why, when he had his enemy in his power, he did not kill him, he said, “Because it is better to obey one’s commander than to slay an enemy.”
[Apophth. Lac. 69.72] 72 Someone said to a Spartan who was defeated at Olympia, “Spartan, your opponent proved himself the better man.” “No,” said he, “not that, but more upsetting!”

## The ancient customs of the Spartans

236 1 TO each one of those who comes in to the public meals the eldest man says, as he points to the doors, “Through these no word goes out.”
2 A thing that met with especial approval among them was their so called black broth, so much so that the older men did not require a bit of meat, but gave up all of it to the young men. It is said that Dionysus, the despot of Sicily, for the sake of this bought a slave who had been a Spartan cook, and ordered him to prepared the broth for him, sparing no expense; but when the king tasted it he spat it out in disgust; whereupon the cook said, “Your Majesty, it is necessary to have exercised 237 in the Spartan manner, and to have bathed in the Eurotas, in order to relish this broth.”
3 The Spartans, after drinking in moderation at their public meals, go away without a torch. In fact, they are not permitted to walk with a light either on this route or on any other, so that they may become accustomed to travelling in darkness at night confidently and fearlessly.
4 They learned to read and write for purely practical reasons; but all other forms of education they banned from the country, books and treatises being included in this quite as much as men. All their education was directed toward prompt obedience to authority, stout endurance of hardship, and victory or death in battle.
5 They always went without a shirt, receiving one garment for the entire year, and with unwashed bodies, refraining almost completely from bathing and rubbing down.
6 The young men slept together, according to division and company, upon pallets which they themselves brought together by breaking off by hand, without any implement, the tops of the reeds which grew on the banks of the Eurotas. In the winter they put beneath their pallets, and intermingled with them, the plant called lycophon, since the material is reputed to possess some warming qualities.
7 Affectionate regard for boys of good character was permissible, but embracing them was held to be disgraceful, on the ground that the affection was for the body and not for the mind. Any man against whom complaint was made of any disgraceful embracing was deprived of all civic rights for life.
8 It was the custom that the younger men should be questioned by the elder as to where they were going and for what, and also that the elder should rebuke the one who did not answer or tried to contrive plausible reasons. And the elder who did not rebuke a younger who did wrong in his presence was liable to the same reprimand as the wrongdoer. And anyone who showed resentment, if he was reprimanded, was in great opprobrium.
9 If anyone was detected in wrongdoing he had to go round and round a certain altar in the city, chanting lines composed as a reprehension of himself, and this was nothing else than his own self rebuking himself.
10 Moreover, the young men were required not only to respect their own fathers and to be obedient to them, but to have regard for all the older men, to make room for them on the streets, to give up their seats to them, and to keep quiet in their presence. As the result of this custom each man had authority, not as in other states over his own children, slaves, and property, but also over his neighbour’s in like manner as over his own, to the end that the people should, as much as possible, have all things in common, and should take thought for them as for their own.
11 When a boy was punished by anybody, if he told his father, it was a disgrace for his father, upon hearing this, not to give him another beating; for they had confidence one in another, as the result of their ancestral discipline, that no one had ordered their children to do anything disgraceful.
12 The boys steal whatever they can of their food, learning to make their raids adroitly upon people who are asleep or are careless in watching. The penalty for getting caught is a beating and no food. For the dinner allowed them is meagre, so, through coping with want by their own initiative, they may be compelled to be daring and unscrupulous.
13 This was the object of the starvation diet. It was meagre both for the reasons given and purposely that the youth should never become accustomed to being sated, but to being able to go without food; for in this way, the Spartans thought, the youth would be more serviceable in war if they were able to carry on without food, and they would be more self-controlled and more frugal if they lived a very considerable time at small expense. And to put up with the plainest diet, so as to be able to consume anything that came to hand, they thought made the youths’ bodies more healthy owing to the scanty food, and they believed that this practice caused the bodies, repressed in any impulse towards thickness and breadth, to grow tall, and also to make them handsome; for a spare and lean condition they felt served to produce suppleness, while an overfed condition, because of too much weight, was against it.
238 14 They were no less seriously concerned over their music and their songs. These contained a stimulus to awaken a spirit of pride and to afford an inspiring and effective impulse. Their language was simple and plain, consisting merely of praise of those who had lived noble lives, and had died for Sparta, and are now counted among the blessed, and also censure of those who had played the coward, and now, presumably, are living a tormenting and ill-fated existence; and therewith profession and boasting in regard to valour, such as was fitting for the different periods of life. 15 So there were three choirs, corresponding to the three periods of life, which were made up at their festivals, and the choir of old men would begin with this song:
Young valiant men long days ago were we.
Then the choir of men in the prime of life would sing in response,
And that are we; look, if you will, and see.
And the third choir, that of the boys, would sing,
And better far ‘tis certain we shall be.
16 Moreover the rhythmic movement of their marching songs was such as to excite courage and boldness, and contempt for death; and these they used both in dancing, and also to the accompaniment of the flute when advancing upon the enemy. In fact, Lycurgus coupled fondness for music with military drill, so that the over-assertive warlike spirit, by being combined with melody, might have concord and harmony. It was for this reason that in time of battle the king offered sacrifice to the Muses before the conflict, so that those who fought should make their deeds worthy to be told and to be remembered with honour.
17 If anyone presumed to transgress in any way the rules of the good old music, they would not permit this; but even Terpander, one of the oldest and the best harp-player of his time as well as a devoted admirer of the deeds of heroes, the Ephors none the less fined, and carried away his instrument and nailed it to a wall because he put in just one extra string for the sake of the variety in the notes; for they approved only the simpler melodies. Moreover, when Timotheus was competing at the Carneian Festival, done of the Ephors took a knife, and asked him on which side he should cut out the superfluous strings beyond the usual seven.
18 Lycurgus did away with all superstitious fear connected with burials, granting the right to bury the dead within the city, and to have the tombs near the shrines. He also abolished the pollutions associated with death and burial. He permitted the people to bury nothing with the dead, but only to enfold the body in a red robe and olive leaves, and all to treat their dead alike. He also did away with the inscriptions on tombs, except of those who had met their end in war, and also did away with mourning and lamentation.
19 It was not allowed them to go abroad, so that they should have nothing to do with foreign ways and undisciplined modes of living.
20 Lycurgus also introduced the practice of banning all foreigners from the country, so that these should not filter in and serve to teach the citizens something bad.
21 Whosoever of the citizens would not submit to the discipline to which the boys were subjected had no participation in civic rights.
22 Some used to assert that whosoever among the foreigners would submit to such discipline as was enjoined by the constitution in accordance with the programme of Lycurgus might become a member of the division assigned to him at the beginning.
The selling of anything was not permitted; 23 but it was their custom to use the neighbours’ servants as their own if they needed them and also their dogs and horses, unless the owners required them for their own use. And in the country, if anyone found himself lacking anything and had need of it, he would open an owner’s storehouse and take away enough to meet his need, and then replace the seals and leave it.
24 In wars they used red garments for two reasons: first, the colour they thought was a manly colour, and second, the blood-red hue causes more terror in the minds of the inexperienced. Also, if anyone of them receive a wound, it is advantageous that it be not easily discovered by the enemy, but be unperceived by reason of the identity of colour.
25 Whenever they overcome their enemies by outgeneralling them, they sacrifice a bull to Ares, but when the victory is gained in open conflict, they offer a cock, thus trying to make their leaders habitually not merely fighters but tacticians as well.
239 26 To their prayers they add the petition that they may be able to submit to injustice.
27 And their prayer is that the gods give them fair and honourable requital for their good deeds, and that is all.
28 They worship Aphrodite in her full armour, and the statues of all the gods, both female and male, they make with spear in hand to indicate that all the gods have the valour which war demands.
29 Those fond of proverbs are wont to quote this on occasion:
Yer ain hand use when Fortune ye would call,
thus indicating that calling on the gods for aid ought to be accompanied by effort and action on one’s own part, or else they should not be invoked.
30 They used to make the Helots drunk and exhibit them to the young as a deterrent from excessive drinking.
31 It was their custom not to knock on the outer doors but to call from outside.
32 The strigils which they used were not made of metal but of reeds.
33 They did not attend either comedy or tragedy, so that they might not hear anyone speak either in earnest or in jest against the laws.
34 Archilochus the poet, when he arrived in Sparta, they ordered to depart that very instant because they learned that he had written in his verses that it is better to throw away one’s arms than to be killed:
Shield that was mine, fair armour, now gladdens the heart of some Saian;
Sorry I left it behind tangled in brush in my path;
But for myself I escaped from the clutches of Death. Let perdition
Take the old shield, for no worse surely I’ll get the next time.
35 The temples and religious services were open to maidens and youths alike.
36 The Ephors fined Sciraphidas because he was wronged by many.
37 They made away with a man who wore the very coarsest clothing, because he inserted a border in his garment.
38 They reprimanded the young man from the gymnasium because he knew well about the road to Pylaea.
39 Cephisophon, who asserted that he could speak the whole day long on any topic whatsoever, they expelled from the country, saying that the good orator must keep his discourse equal to the subject in hand.
40 The boys in Sparta were lashed with whips during the entire day at the altar of Artemis Orthia, frequently to the point of death, and they bravely endured this, cheerful and proud, vying with one another for the supremacy as to which one of them could endure being beaten for the longer time and the greater number of blows. And the one who was victorious was held in especial repute. This competition is called ‘The Flagellation,’ and it takes place each year.
41 One of the noble and blessed privileges which Lycurgus appears to have secured for his fellow-citizens was abundance of leisure. In fact it was not permitted them to take up any menial trade at all; and there was no need whatever of making money, which involves a toilsome accumulation, nor of busy activity, because of his having made wealth wholly unenvied and unhonoured. The Helots tilled the soil for them, paying a return which was regularly settled in advance. There was a ban against letting for a higher price, so that the Helots might make some profit, and thus be glad to do the work for their masters, and so that the masters might not look for any larger return.
42 It was forbidden them to be sailors and to fight on the sea. Later, however, they did engage in such battles, and, after they had made themselves masters of the sea, they again desisted, since they observed that the character of the citizens was deteriorating sadly. But they changed about again, as in all else. For example, when money was amassed for the Spartans, those who amassed it were condemned to death; for to Alcamenes and Theopompus, their kings, an oracle had been given:
Eager desire for money will bring the ruin of Sparta.
Yet, nevertheless, when Lysander had taken Athens, he brought home much gold and silver, and they accepted it, and bestowed honours on the man.
As long as the Spartan State adhered to the laws of Lycurgus and remained true to its oaths, it held the first place in Greece for good government and good repute over a period of five hundred years. But, little by little, as these laws and oaths were transgressed, and greed and love of wealth crept in, the elements of their strength began to dwindle also, 240 and their allies on this account were ill-disposed toward them. But although they were in this plight, yet after the victory of Philip of Macedon at Chaeroneia, when all the Greeks proclaimed him commander both on land and sea, and likewise, in the interval following, proclaimed Alexander, his son, after the subjugation of the Thebans, the Spartans only, although they dwelt in an unwalled city, and were few in number because of their continual wars, and had become much weaker and an easy prey, still keeping alive some feeble sparks of the laws of Lycurgus, did not take any part in the campaigns of these or of the other kings of Macedon who ruled in the interval following, nor did they ever enter the general congress or even pay tribute. So it was, until they ceased altogether to observe the laws of Lycurgus, and came to be ruled despotically by their own citizens, preserving nothing of their ancestral discipline any longer, and so they became much like the rest, and put from them their former glory and freedom of speech, and were reduced to a state of subjection; and now they, like the rest of the Greeks, have come under Roman sway.

## Sayings of Spartan women

240 c Argileonis
Argileonis, the mother of Brasidas, when her son had met his death, and some of the citizens of Amphipolis arrived at Sparta and came to her, asked if her son had met his death honourably and in a manner worthy of Sparta. And when they proceeded to tell of his greatness, and declared that he was the best of all the Spartans in such enterprises, she said, “Sirs, my son was a gude and honourable mon, but Sparta has mony a mon better than him.”
Gorgo
1 Gorgo, daughter of king Cleomenes, when Aristagoras of Miletus was urging her father to enter upon the war against the Persian king in behalf of the Ionians, promising a vast sum of money, and, in answer to Cleomenes’ objections, making the amount larger and larger, said, “Father, the miserable foreigner will be your ruin if you don’t get him out of the house pretty soon!”
2 Once when her father told her to give some grain to a man by way of remuneration, and added, “It is because he showed me how to make the wine taste good,” she said, “Then, father, there will be more wine drunk, and the drinkers will become more intemperate and depraved.”
3 When she had watched Aristagoras having his shoes put on and laced by one of the servants, she said, “Father, the foreigner hasn’t any hands!”
4 When a foreigner made advances in a mild and leisurely way, she pushed him aside, saying, “Get away from here, you who cannot play a woman’s part either!”
5 Being asked by a woman from Attica, “Why is it that you Spartan women are the only women that lord it over your men,” she said, “Because we are the only women that are mothers of men.”
6 As she was encouraging her husband Leonidas, when he was about to set out for Thermopylae, to show himself worthy of Sparta, she asked what she should do; and he said, “Marry a good man, and bear good children.”
Gyrtias
1 Gyrtias, when on a time Acrotatus, her grandson, in a fight with other boys received many blows, and was brought home for dead, and the family and friends were all wailing, said, “Will you not stop your noise? He has shown from what blood he was sprung.” And she said that people who were good for anything should not scream, but should try to find some remedy.
2 When a messenger came from Crete bringing the news of the death of Acrotatus, she said, “When he had come to the enemy, was he not bound either to be slain by them or to slay them? It is more pleasing to hear that he died in a manner worthy of myself, his country, and his ancestors than if he had lived for all time a coward.”
Damatria
Damatria heard that her son had been a coward and unworthy of her, and when he arrived, she made away with him. This is the epigram referring to her:
Sinner against our laws, Damatrius, slain by his mother,
Was of the Spartan youth; she was of Sparta too.
Other Spartan Women to Fame Unknown
241 1 Another Spartan woman made away with her son, who had deserted his post, on the ground that he was unworthy of his country, saying, “Not mine the scion.” This is the epigram referring to her:
Off to your fate through the darkness, vile scion, who makes such a hatred,
So the Eurotas flow not e’en for the timorous deer.
Worthless whelp that you are, vile remnant, be off now to Hades;
Off! for never I bore Sparta’s unworthy son.
2 Another, hearing that her son had fallen on the field of battle, said:
“Let the poor cowards be mourned, but, with never a tear do I bury
You, my son, who are mine, yea, and are Sparta’s as well.”
3 Another, hearing that her son had been saved and had run away from the enemy, wrote to him, “Ill report is spread about ye; aither clear yersel’ of this or stop yer living.”
4 Another, when her sons had run away from battle and come to her, said, “Where have you come now in your cowardly flight, vile varlets? Do you intend to slink in here whence you came forth?” And with these words she pulled up her garment and showed them.
5 One woman, observing her son coming towards her, inquired, “How fares our country?” And when he said, “All have perished,” she took up a tile and, hurling it at him, killed him, saying, “And so they sent you to bear the bad news to us!”
6 As a man was narrating to his mother the noble death of his brother, she said, “Isn’t it a shame, then, to have missed his company on such a journey?”
7 One woman sent forth her sons, five in number, to war, and, standing in the outskirts of the city, she awaited anxiously the outcome of the battle. And when someone arrived and, in answer to her inquiry, reported that all her sons had met death, she said, “I did not inquire about that, you vile varlet, but how fares our country?” And when he declared that it was victorious, “Then,” she said, “I accept gladly also the death of my sons.”
8 Another was burying her son, when a commonplace old woman came up to her and said, “Ah the bad luck of it, you puir woman.” “No, by Heaven,” said she, “but good luck; for I bore him that he might die for Sparta, and this is the very thing that has come to pass for me.”
9 When a woman from Ionia showed vast pride in a bit of her own weaving, which was very valuable, a Spartan woman pointed to her four sons, who were most well-behaved, and said, “Such should be the employments of the good and honourable woman, and it is over these that she should be elated and boastful.”
10 Another, hearing about her son that he was conducting himself badly in a foreign land, wrote to him, “Ill report is spread about ye; pit this from ye or else stop yer living.”
11 Of somewhat similar character is this: Chian exiles came to Sparta, and accused Paedaretus of many misdeeds; whereupon his mother Teleutia sent for them and, after listening to their complaints, feeling that her son was in the wrong, sent him this letter: “Mither to Paedaretus. Aither dae better, or stay where ye are, and gie up hope o’ gaen back safe to Sparta.”
12 Another, when her son was being tried for some offence, said to him, “My child, either rid yourself of the charges, or rid yourself of life.”
13 Another, as she accompanied a lame son on his way to the field of battle, said, “At every step, my child, remember your valour.”
14 Another, when her son came back to her from field of battle wounded in the foot, and in great pain, said, “If you remember your valour, my child, you will feel no pain, and be quite cheerful.”
15 A Spartan, wounded in battle and unable to walk, was crawling on all fours. He was mortified at being so ridiculous; but his mother said to him, “How much better to be joyful over your bravery than to be mortified at silly laughter.”
16 Another, as she handed her son his shield, exhorted him, saying, “Either this or upon this.”
17 Another, as her son was going forth to war, said, as she gave the shield into his hands, “This shield your father kept always safe for you; do you, therefore, keep it safe, or cease to live.”
18 Another, in answer to her son who said that the sword which he carried was short, said, “Add a step to it.”
242 19 Another, hearing that her son had been slain fighting bravely in the line of battle, said, “Yes, he was mine.” But learning in regard to her other son that he had played the coward and saved his life, she said, “No, he was not mine.”
20 Another, hearing that her son had been killed in battle on the spot where he had been placed, said, “Lay him away, and let his brother take his place.”
21 Another, engaged in conducting a solemn public procession, heard that her son was victorious on the field of battle, but that he was dying from the many wounds he had received. She did not remove the garland from her head, but with a proud air said to the women near her, “How much more noble, my friends, to be victorious on the field of battle and meet death, than to win at the Olympic games and live!”
22 As a man was relating to his sister the noble death of her son, she said, “As glad as I am for him, I am sorry for you that you were left behind when you might have gone in such brave company.”
23 A man sent to a Spartan woman to ask if she were inclined to look with favour upon seduction; she replied, “When I was a child I learned to obey my father, and made that my practice. Then when I became a married woman, my husband took that place. So if the man’s proposal is honourable, let him lay the matter before my husband first.”
24 A poor girl, being asked what dowry she brought to the man who married her, said, “The family virtue.”
25 A Spartan woman, being asked if she had made advances to her husband, said, “No, but my husband has made them to me.”
26 A girl had secret relations with a man, and, after bringing on an abortion, she bore up so bravely, not uttering a single sound, that her delivery took place without the knowledge of her father and others who were near. For the confronting of her indecorum with decorum gained the victory over the poignant distress of her pains.
27 A Spartan woman who was being sold as a slave, when asked what she knew how to do, said, “To be faithful.”
28 Another, taken captive, and asked a similar question, said, “To manage a house well.”
29 Another, asked by a man if she would be good if he bought her, said, “Yes, and if you do not buy me.”
30 Another who was being sold as a slave, when the crier inquired of her what she knew how to do, said, “To be free.” And when the purchaser ordered her to do something not fitting for a free woman, she said, “You will be sorry that your meanness has cost you such a possession,” and committed suicide.”

## Bravery of women

[Mul. virt. 0] 242 E 11 Regarding the virtues of women, Clea, I do not hold the same opinion as Thucydides. For he declares that the best woman is she about whom there is the least talk among persons outside regarding either censure or commendation, feeling that the name of the good woman, like her person, ought to be shut up indoors and never go out. But to my mind Gorgias appears to display better taste in advising that not the form but the fame of a woman should be known to many. Best of all seems the Roman custom, which publicly renders to women, as to men, a fitting commemoration after the end of their life. So when Leontis, that most excellent woman, died, I forthwith had then a long conversation with you, which was not without some share of consolation drawn from philosophy, and now, as you desired, I have also written out for you the remainder of what I would have said on the topic 243 that man’s virtues and woman’s virtues are one and the same. This includes a good deal of historical exposition, and it is not composed to give pleasure in its perusal. Yet, if in a convincing argument delectation is to be found also by reason of the very nature of the illustration, then the discussion is not devoid of an agreeableness which helps in the exposition, nor does it hesitate
[Mul. virt. 0b] To join
The Graces with the Muses,
A consorting most fair,
as Euripides says, and to pin its faith mostly to the love of beauty inherent to the soul.
[Mul. virt. 0c] If, conceivably, we asserted that painting on the part of men and women is the same, and exhibited paintings, done by women, of the sort that Apelles, or Zeuxis, or Nicomachus has left to us, would anybody reprehend us on the ground that we were aiming at giving gratification and allurement rather than at persuasion? I do not think so.
[Mul. virt. 0d] Or again, if we should declare that the poetic or the prophetic art is not one art when practised by men and another when practised by women, but the same, and if we should put the poems of Sappho side by side with those of Anacreon, or the oracles of the Sibyls with those of Bacis, will anybody have the power justly to impugn the demonstration because these lead on the hearer, joyous and delighted, to have belief in it? No, you could not say that either.
[Mul. virt. 0e] And actually it is not possible to learn better the similarity and the difference between the virtues of men and of women from any other source than by putting lives beside lives and actions beside actions, like great works of art, and considering whether the magnificence of Semiramis has the same character and pattern as that of Sesostris, or the intelligence of Tanaquil the same as that of Servius the king, or the high spirit of Porcia the same as that of Brutus, or that of Pelopidas the same as Timocleia’s, when compared with due regard to the most important points of identity and influence. For the fact is that the virtues acquire certain other diversities, their own colouring as it were, due to varying natures, and they take on the likeness of the customs on which they are founded, and of the temperament of persons and their nurture and mode of living. For example, Achilles was brave in one way and Ajax in another; and the wisdom of Odysseus was not like that of Nestor, nor was Cato a just man in exactly the same way as Agesilaus, nor Eirene fond of her husband in the manner of Alcestis, nor Cornelia high-minded in the manner of Olympias. But, with all this, let us not postulate many different kinds of bravery, wisdom, and justice — if only the individual dissimilarities exclude no one of these from receiving its appropriate rating.
[Mul. virt. 0f] Those incidents which are so often recited, and those of which I assume that you, having kept company with books, have assuredly record and knowledge, I will pass over for the present; but with this exception: if any tales worthy of perusal have escaped the attention of those who, before our time, have recorded the commonly published stories. Since, however, many deeds worthy of mention have been done by women both in association with other women and by themselves alone, it may not be a bad idea to set down first a brief account of those commonly known.
[Mul. virt. 1] I. The Trojan Women
[Mul. virt. 1b] Most of those that escaped from Troy at the time of its capture had to weather a storm, and, because of their inexperience in navigation and ignorance of the sea, were driven upon the shores of Italy, and, in the neighbourhood of the river Tiber, they barely escaped by running in, under compulsion, where there were anchorages and havens. While the men were wandering about the country, in search of information, fit suddenly occurred to the women to reflect that for a happy and successful people any sort of a settled habitation on land is better than all wandering and voyaging, and that the Trojans must create a fatherland, since they were not able to recover that which they had lost. Thereupon, becoming of one mind, they burned the ships, one woman, Roma, taking the lead. Having accomplished this, they went to meet the men who were hurrying to the sea to save the ships, and, fearful of their anger, 244 some embraced their husbands and some their relatives, and kissed them coaxingly, and mollified them by this manner of blandishment. This is the origin of the custom, which still persists among the Roman women, of greeting their kinsfolk with a kiss.
[Mul. virt. 1c] The Trojans, apparently realizing the inevitable necessity, and after having also some experience with the native inhabitants, who received them kindly and humanely, came to be content with what had been done by the women, and took up their abode there with the Latins.
[Mul. virt. 2] II. The Women of Phocis
[Mul. virt. 2b] The deed of the women of Phocis has not found any writer of high repute to describe it, yet it is not inferior in point of bravery to anything ever done by women, as is attested by imposing sacred rites which the Phocians perform even to this day in the neighbourhood of Hyampolis, and by ancient decrees. Of these events a detailed account of the achievements is given in the Life of Daïphantus, and the women’s part was as follows.
[Mul. virt. 2c] The Thessalians were engaged in a war without quarter against the Phocians. For the Phocians had slain on one day all the Thessalian governors and despots in their cities. Whereupon the Thessalians massacred two hundred and fifty Phocian hostages; then with all their forces they made an invasion through Locris, having previously passed a resolution to spare no grown man, and to make slaves of the children and women. Accordingly Daïphantus, Bathyllius’s son, one of the three governors of Phocis, persuaded the men to meet the Thessalians in battle, and to bring together into some one place the women with their children from all Phocis, and to heap about them a mass of faggots, and to post guards, giving them instructions that, if they learned the men were being vanquished, they should with all haste set fire to the mass and reduce the living bodies to ashes. Nearly all voted approval of the plan, but one man arose in the council and said it was only right that the women approve this also; otherwise they must reject it, and use no compulsion. When report of this speech reached the women, they held a meeting by themselves and passed the same vote, and they exalted Daïphantus for having conceived the best plan for Phocis. It is said that the children also held an assembly on their own account and passed their vote too.
[Mul. virt. 2d] After this had been done, the Phocians engaged the enemy near Cleonae of Hyampolis, and gained the victory. To this vote of the Phocians the Greeks gave the name of “Desperation”; and the greatest festival of all, the Elaphebolia in honour of Artemis, they celebrate in Hyampolis even to this day in commemoration of that victory.
[Mul. virt. 3] III. The Women of Chios
[Mul. virt. 3b] The reason which led the Chians to appropriate Leuconia as a settlement was as follows: One of the men who appear to have been prominent in Chios was getting married, and, as the bride was being conducted to his home in a chariot, the king, Hippoclus, a close friend of the bridegroom, being there with the rest amid the drinking and merry-making, jumped up into the chariot, not with intent to do anything insulting, but merely following the common custom and indulging in facetiousness. Whereupon the friends of the bridegroom killed him.
[Mul. virt. 3c] Signs of divine anger were soon disclosed to the Chians, and the god of the oracle bade them slay the slayers of Hippoclus, but they said that they all had slain Hippoclus. So the god bade them all leave the city, if they were all involved in the crime. And thus the guilty, both those who had taken a hand in the murder and those who had in any way assented to it, being not few in number nor without strength, the Chians sent away to settle in Leuconia, which they had earlier wrested from the Coroneans and taken possession of with the co-operation of the Erythraeans.
[Mul. virt. 3d] Later, however, they became involved in war with the Erythraeans, the most powerful of the Ionians; and when these marched against Leuconia, they were not able to hold out, 245 and agreed to evacuate the town under truce, each man to have one cloak and one inner garment and nothing else. The women, however, called them cowards if they purposed to lay down their arms and go forth naked through the midst of the enemy. But when the men said that they had given their oath, the women bade them not to leave their arms behind, but to say, by way of answer to the enemy, that the spear serves as a cloak, and the shield as a shirt, to a man of spirit. The Chians took this advice, and when they used bold words towards the Erythraeans and displayed their weapons, the Erythraeans were frightened at their boldness, and no one approached nor hindered them, but all were well pleased at their departure. So the Chians, having been taught courage by their women, were saved in this way.
[Mul. virt. 3e] A deed which does not in the least fall short of this one in bravery was performed by the women of Chios many years later at the time when Philip, son of Demetrius, was besieging their city, and had made a barbarous and insolent proclamation bidding the slaves to desert to him, their reward to be freedom and marriage with their owners, meaning thereby that he was intending to unite them with the wives of their masters. But the women, suddenly possessed of fierce and savage spirit, in company with their slaves, who were themselves equally indignant and supported the women by their presence, hastened to mount the walls, both bringing stones and missiles, and exhorting and importuning the fighting men until, finally, by their vigorous defence and the wounds inflicted on the enemy by their missiles, they repulsed Philip. And not a single slave deserted to him.
[Mul. virt. 4] IV. The Women of Argos
[Mul. virt. 4b] Of all the deeds performed by women for the community none is more famous than the struggle against Cleomenes for Argos, which the women carried out at the instigation of Telesilla the poetess. She, as they say, was the daughter of a famous house but sickly in body, and so she sent to the god to ask about health; and when an oracle was given her to cultivate the Muses, she followed the god’s advice, and by devoting herself to poetry and music she was quickly relieved of her trouble, and was greatly admired by the women for her poetic art.
[Mul. virt. 4c] But when Cleomenes king of the Spartans, having slain many Argives (but not by any means seven thousand, seven hundred and seventy-seven, as some fabulous narratives have it) proceeded against the city, an impulsive daring, divinely inspired, came to the younger women to try, for their country’s sake, to hold off the enemy. Under the lead of Telesilla they took up arms, and, taking their stand by the battlements, manned the walls all round, so that the enemy were amazed. The result was that Cleomenes they repulsed with great loss, and the other king, Demaratus, who managed to get inside, as Socrates says, and gained possession of the Pamphyliacum, they drove out. In this way the city was saved. The women who fell in the battle they buried close by the Argive Road, and to the survivors they granted the privilege of erecting a statue of Ares as a memorial of their surpassing valour. Some say that the battle took place on the seventh day of the month which is now known as the Fourth Month, but anciently was called Hermaeus among the Argives; others say that it was on the first day of that month, on the anniversary of which they celebrate even to this day the ‘Festival of Impudence,’ at which they clothe the women in men’s shirts and cloaks, and the men in women’s robes and veils.
[Mul. virt. 4d] To repair the scarcity of men they did not unite the women with slaves, as Herodotus records, but with the best of their neighbouring subjects, whom they made Argive citizens. It was reputed that the women showed disrespect and an intentional indifference to those husbands in their married relations from a feeling that they were underlings. Wherefore the Argives enacted a law, the one which says that married women having a beard must occupy the same bed with their husbands!
[Mul. virt. 5] V. The Persian Women
[Mul. virt. 5b] 246 At the time when Cyrus induced the Persians to revolt from king Astyages and the Medes he was defeated in battle. As the Persians were fleeing to the city, with the enemy not far from forcing their way in along with the Persians, the women ran out to meet them before the city, and, lifting up their garments, said, “Whither are you rushing so fast, you biggest cowards in the whole world? Surely you cannot, in your flight, slink in here whence you came forth.” The Persians, mortified at the sight and the words, chiding themselves for cowards, rallied and, engaging the enemy afresh, put them to rout. As a result of this it became an established custom that, whenever the king rode into the city, each woman should receive a gold coin; the author of the law was Cyrus. But Ochus, they say, being a mean man and the most avaricious of the kings, would always make a detour round the city and not pass within, but would deprive the women of their largess. Alexander, however, entered the city twice, and gave all the women who were with child a double amount.
[Mul. virt. 6] VI. The Celtic Women
[Mul. virt. 6b] Before the Celts crossed over the Alps and settled in that part of Italy which is now their home, ca dire and persistent factional discord broke out among them which went on and on to the point of civil war. The women, however, put themselves between the armed forces, and, taking up the controversies, arbitrated and decided them with such irreproachable fairness that a wondrous friendship of all towards all was brought about between both States and families. As the result of this they continued to consult with the women in regard to war and peace, and to decide through them any disputed matters in their relations with their allies. At all events, in their treaty with Hannibal they wrote the provision that, if the Celts complained against the Carthaginians, the governors and generals of the Carthaginians in Spain should be the judges; and if the Carthaginians complained against the Celts, the judges should be the Celtic women.
[Mul. virt. 7] VII. The Women of Melos
[Mul. virt. 7b] The Melians, being in need of wide acres, put in charge of the colony to be sent forth Nymphaeus, a young man and unusually handsome. The god bade them sail, and wherever they should lose their transports to settle in that place. It came about, as they put in at Caria and went ashore, that their ships were destroyed by a storm. The Carian inhabitants of Cryassus, whether pitying their sorry plight or fearing their boldness, bade them live near themselves, and gave them a portion of their land. Later, seeing their great expansion in a short time, they plotted to make away with them, after preparing a sumptuous banquet for the purpose. It happened that a Carian maiden was in love with Nymphaeus, but nobody else was aware of this. Her name was Caphene. As the plan was being put into operation, she could not suffer Nymphaeus to be put to death, and so she disclosed to him the intention of her fellow-citizens. So, when the Cryassians came to invite them, Nymphaeus said that it was not the custom for the Greeks to go to dinner without women. When the Carians heard this, they told them to bring the women too. On this understanding Nymphaeus informed the Melians of what had been done, and told the men to go to the place unarmed in conventional attire, but that each of the woman should carry a sword in the fold of her garment and sit beside her husband or male relative. When, about the middle of the meal, the predetermined signal was given to the Carians, and the Greeks realized that the time had come, all the women at the same instant threw open the fold of their garments and the men, seizing their swords, attacked the barbarians and slew them all together. Then, taking possession of the land and razing that city, they built another, to which they gave the name of New Cryassus. 247 Caphene married Nymphaeus and received the honour and gratitude merited by her valuable services. It is right and proper to admire both the silence and the courage of the women, and that not a single one of them among so many was led by timidity to turn coward even involuntarily.
[Mul. virt. 8] VIII. The Etruscan Women
[Mul. virt. 8b] When the Etruscans had gained possession of Lemnos and Imbros, they carried away forcibly from Brauron Athenian women, and children were born to them. These the Athenians expelled from the islands on the ground that they were in part barbarian, and they put in at Taenarum and made themselves useful to the Spartans in the war with the Helots. For this they received citizenship and the right of intermarriage, but were not deemed worthy to hold office or to be members of the Senate, and this gave colour to the idea that some radical design underlay their coming together, and that they purposed to disturb the established institutions. Accordingly the Spartans took them into custody and, shutting them up in prison, placed a strong guard over them, seeking to convict them by clear and certain proofs. The wives of the prisoners, coming to the prison, by dint of many prayers and entreaties, were permitted by the guards to pass within just to greet and to speak to their husbands. When they had gone inside they bade their husbands to change their clothing quickly, leaving their own for their wives, and then, putting on their wives’ garments, to depart with their faces covered. This done, the women waited there, prepared to face all terrors, but the guards were deceived and allowed the men to pass, supposing, of course, that they were women.
[Mul. virt. 8c] Following this, they seized the strongholds on Mount Taÿgetus, incited the body of Helots to revolt, and gladly received them as an addition to their forces. The Spartans were thrown into a great state of fear and, sending heralds, made peace with them, the conditions being that they should get back their wives, should receive money and ships, and sail away and, having found land and a city elsewhere, be considered as colonists and kindred of the Spartans. This the Pelasgians did, taking as their leaders Pollis and Delphus and Crataïdas, all Spartans. A part of them settled in Melos, but Pollis and his associates, with the great majority, sailed to Crete, testing the truth of the oracles. For an oracle had been given them that whenever they should lose their goddess and their anchor they should cease from their wanderings and found a city in that place. So, when they had come to anchor off that part of Crete which is called the Chersonese, panic confusion fell upon them by night, by which they were so excited that they leaped aboard in utter disorder, leaving behind on land an ancient statue of Artemis which had been handed down to them from their ancestors, having been originally brought to Lemnos from Brauron, and from Lemnos had been carried about with them in all their journeyings. But when at sea, as the confusion subsided, they missed this, and at the same time Pollis discovered that the fluke was gone from the anchor (for apparently it had been broken off as the anchor dragged in some rocky places, without anybody’s noticing its loss), he declared that the god-given predictions were now fulfilled, and gave the signal to return. He took possession of the country, prevailed in many battles over those who ranged themselves against him, settled Lyctus, and took other cities under his control. Because of all this people regard them as related to the Athenians by descent on account of their mothers, and as colonists of the Spartans also.
[Mul. virt. 9] IX. The Lycian Women
[Mul. virt. 9b] That which is said to have happened in Lycia sounds like a myth, yet it has some supporting testimony in the tales that are told. Amisodarus, as they say, whom the Lycians call Isaras, arrived from the Lycian colony in the vicinity of Zeleia, bringing with him pirate ships, in command of which was Chimarrhus, a warlike man, bloodthirsty and brutal. 248 He sailed in a vessel which had a lion as its figurehead at the prow, and a serpent at the stern. He did much evil to the Lycians, and it was not possible to sail at sea or even to live in the cities near the sea.
[Mul. virt. 9c] This man Bellerophon slew, pursuing him with Pegasus as he was trying to escape. Bellerophon also drove out the Amazons, but met with no just treatment; in fact, Iobates was most unjust with him. Because of this, Bellerophon waded into the sea, and prayed to Poseidon that, as a requital against Iobates, the land might become sterile and unprofitable. Thereupon he went back after his prayer, and a wave arose and inundated the land. It was a fearful sight as the sea, following him, rose high in air and covered up the plain. The men besought Bellerophon to check it, but when they could not prevail on him, the women, pulling up their garments, came to meet him; and when he, for shame, retreated towards the sea again, the wave also, it is said, went back with him.
[Mul. virt. 9d] Some, attempting to explain away the mythical element in this account, assert that he did not get the sea to move by imprecations, but that the most fertile part of the plain lies below the sea-level, and Bellerophon broke through the ridge extending along the shore, which kept the sea out; then, as the ocean rushed in violently and covered up the plain, the men accomplished nothing by beseeching him, but the women, flocking about him in a crowd, met with respect, and caused his anger to subside.
[Mul. virt. 9e] Still others assert that the Chimaera, as it was called, was nothing but a mountain facing the sun, and that it caused reflexions of sunlight, fierce and fiery in the summer time, and by these, striking all over the plain, the crops were dried up, and that Bellerophon, sensing this, cut away the smoothest part of the precipice which mostly sent back the reflexions. When, however, he met with no gratitude, in anger he turned to avenge himself upon the Lycians, but was prevailed upon by the women.
[Mul. virt. 9f] But the reason which Nymphis gives in the fourth book of his treatise about Heracleia is least mythical of all; for he says that Bellerophon killed a wild boar which was making havoc of the stock and crops in the land of the Xanthians, but obtained no fitting reward; whereupon he addressed to Poseidon imprecations against the Xanthians, and the whole plain suddenly became glittering with a salt deposit and was completely ruined, since the soil had become saline. This lasted until Bellerophon, out of respect for the women who besought him, prayed to Poseidon to give up his anger. For this reason it was the custom for the Xanthians to bear names derived not from their fathers but from their mothers.
[Mul. virt. 10] X. The Women of Salmantica
[Mul. virt. 10b] When Hannibal, the son of Barca, before making his campaign against the Romans, attacked a great city in Spain, Salmantica, at first the besieged were terrified, and agreed to do what was ordered by giving him six thousand pounds and three hundred hostages. But when he raised the siege, they changed their minds and did nothing of what they had agreed to do. So he returned and ordered his soldiers, with the promise of plunder, to attack the city. At this the barbarians were panic-stricken, and came to terms, agreeing that the free inhabitants should depart clad in one civilian garment, and should leave behind weapons, property, slaves, and their city. The women, thinking that the enemy would search each man as he came out, but would not touch the women, took swords, and, hiding them, hastened out with the men. When all had come out, Hannibal set over them a guard of Masaesylian soldiers in a place near the city, and kept them there under constraint. The rest of the soldiers rushed into the city in disorder and set to plundering. As much booty was being carried off, the Masaesylians could not bear to be merely spectators, 249 nor did they keep their mind on their watching, but were much aggrieved and started to move away as if to have their share of the spoils. At this juncture the women, calling upon the men, handed them the swords, and some of the women of themselves attacked their guards. One of them snatched away the spear of Banon the interpreter, and smote the man himself; but he happened to have on his breast-plate. Of the others, the men struck down some, routed the rest, and forced a way out in a body, accompanied by the women. Hannibal, learning of this, sent in pursuit of them, and caught those who could not keep up. The others gained the mountains, and, for the time, escaped. Afterwards, however, they sent a petition to him, and were restored to their city, and received immunity and humane treatment.
[Mul. virt. 11] XI. The Women of Miletus
[Mul. virt. 11b] Once upon a time a dire and strange trouble took possession of the young women in Miletus for some unknown cause. The most popular conjecture was that the air had acquired a distracting and infectious constitution, and that this operated to produced in them an alteration and derangement of mind. At any rate, a yearning for death and an insane impulse toward hanging suddenly fell upon all of them, and many managed to steal away and hang themselves. Arguments and tears of parents and comforting words of friends availed nothing, but they circumvented every device and cunning effort of their watchers in making away with themselves. The malady seemed to be of divine origin and beyond human help, until, on the advice of a man of sense, an ordinance was proposed that the women who hanged themselves should be carried naked through the market-place to their burial. And when this ordinance was passed it not only checked, but stopped completely, the young women from killing themselves. Plainly a high testimony to natural goodness and virtue is the desire to guard against ill repute, and the fact that the women who had no deterrent sense of shame when facing the most terrible of all things in the world, death and pain, yet could not abide nor bear the thought of disgrace which would come after death.
[Mul. virt. 12] XII. The Women of Ceos
[Mul. virt. 12b] It was a custom for the maidens of Ceos to go in a company to the public shrines and spend the day together, and their suitors watched their sports and dances. At evening they went by turns to each one’s home and waited upon one another’s parents and brothers even to washing their feet. Very often more than one youth would be in love with one maid, but their love was so orderly and so controlled by custom, that when the girl became engaged to one, the others ceased their attentions at once. The net result of this orderly behaviour on the part of the women was that there was no memory of a case of adultery or seduction in that country for the space of seven hundred years.
[Mul. virt. 13] XIII. The Women of Phocis
[Mul. virt. 13b] When the despots in Phocis had seized Delphi, and the Thebans were waging war against them in what has been called the Sacred War, the women devotees of Dionysus, to whom they give the name of Thyads, in Bacchic frenzy wandering at night unwittingly arrived at Amphissa. As they were tired out, and sober reason had not yet returned to them, they flung themselves down in the market-place, and were lying asleep, some here, some there. The wives of the men of Amphissa, fearing, because their city had become allied with the Phocians, and numerous soldiers of the despots were present there, that the Thyads might be treated with indignity, all ran out into the market-place, and, taking their stand round in silence, did not go up to them while they were sleeping, but when they arose from their slumber, one devoted herself to one of the strangers and another to another, bestowing attentions on them and offering them food. Finally, the women of Amphissa, after winning the consent of their husbands, accompanied the strangers, who were safely escorted as far as the frontier.
[Mul. virt. 14] 250 XIV. Valeria and Cloelia
[Mul. virt. 14b] The two things that brought about the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus, seventh king of Rome from Romulus, were arrogance and the virtue of Lucretia, a woman married to a distinguished man of royal lineage. For she was outraged by one of Tarquin’s sons who had been welcomed as a guest in her home. She told her friends and family what had been done to her, and immediately slew herself. Deposed from power, Tarquin waged various wars in his endeavours to regain his sovereignty. Finally he persuaded Porsena, ruler of the Etruscans, to march against Rome with a great force. At the same time with the war famine also attacked the Romans, and they, learning that Porsena was not merely a great soldier but a just and fair man as well, wished to make him judge in their case against Tarquin. But Tarquin was stubborn, saying that Porsena, if he did not remain faithful as an ally, would not be a just judge either; and so Porsena renounced him and made it his endeavour that when he went away he should be a friend of the Romans, and should get back such part of the land as they had cut off from the Etruscans, and also the prisoners of war. To confirm these terms hostages were given to him, ten youths and ten maidens, among whom was Valeria, the daughter of Publicola the consul, whereupon Porsena at once remitted all his preparation for the war, although the agreement was not yet consummated.
[Mul. virt. 14c] The maidens went down to the river as if to bathe, a short distance away from the camp. At the instigation of one of them, Cloelia, they fastened their clothes to their heads, and took the risk of breasting a swift current and deep-whirling eddies, and by swimming close together they reached the other side by dint of a hard struggle, and with many a chance of failure. There are those who say that Cloelia procured a horse and, mounting it, swam it across slowly, acting as guide for the others, and encouraging and helping them as they were swimming. The argument with which they support this I will mention in a moment.
[Mul. virt. 14d] When the Romans saw them safe and sound, they admired the maidens’ bravery and daring, yet did not like their coming back, nor could endure to prove themselves less honourable than one man in keeping faith. Accordingly they commanded the girls to go back again, and sent men with them to see that they got there. Tarquin set an ambush for these when they had crossed the river, and came very near getting the maidens in his power. But Valeria, daughter of the consul, Publicola, with three servants succeeded in escaping to the camp of Porsena, and the others Porsena’s son, Aruns, rescued from the enemy by hastening with all speed to their assistance.
[Mul. virt. 14e] When they were brought to camp, Porsena, with a look at them, bade them say which one of them was the instigator and leader in the plan. The others, for fear regarding Cloelia, said not a word; but Cloelia of her own accord said that it was herself, and Porsena, in admiration of her, ordered a horse to be brought, fittingly caparisoned, and presented it to her, and sent them all back kindly and humanely. Many make of this an indication that Cloelia rode across the river on a horse. Others, however, say this is not so, but that Porsena, because he admired her strength and daring as above that of a woman, deemed her worthy of a gift fitting for a warrior. At all events, there stood an equestrian statue of a woman close beside the Sacred Way, as it is called, and some say that this is the statue of Cloelia, others of Valeria.
[Mul. virt. 15] XV. Micca and Megisto
[Mul. virt. 15b] Aristotimus, having succeeded in becoming despot over the people of Elis, was able to prevail through the support of Antigonus the king, 251 but he used his power for no seemly or moderate purpose. He was himself brutal by nature, and he was led by fear to be subservient to a band of mixed barbarians who kept guard over his person and his sovereignty, and he overlooked many arrogant and cruel deeds done to the citizens by them. An example is what happened to Philodemus. The man had a beautiful daughter named Micca, and this girl one of the officers of the despot’s mercenaries named Lucius, to show his arrogance, rather than for love of her, undertook to make his paramour, and sent a summons for her. Her parents, seeing the necessity, advised her to go, but the girl, being noble and high-minded, begged her father, embracing and beseeching him, that he would rather bear to see her dead than robbed of her maidenhood in such a shameful and lawless way. There was some delay, and Lucius himself, lustful and drunk, started forth in the midst of his drinking in a passion. Finding Micca with her head on her father’s knees, he commanded her to follow with him. But, as she was not willing, he tore off her clothes and whipped her naked body, while she bravely bore the painful blows in silence. Her father and mother, effecting nothing by their intreaties and tears, resorted to calling upon gods and men to witness their frightful and lawless treatment. But the barbarian, utterly crazed by rage and drink, killed the maiden, as she lay with her face in her father’s bosom.
[Mul. virt. 15c] The despot, however, was not moved even by things like this, but he made away with many, and forced even more into exile. At any rate, it is said that eight hundred men fled for safety to the Aetolians, asking for rescue of their wives and youngest children from the despot. A little later he himself caused proclamation to be made that the women who wished might go away to their husbands, taking along as much as they wished of their feminine possessions. When he learned that they all received the proclamation with gladness (and their number was over six hundred), he issued orders that all should proceed in a company on a specified day, as if purposing himself to assure their safety. When the day arrived, the women gathered at the gates with their possessions which they had packed up, and some of their children they carried in their arms, and others they had in wagons, and they were waiting there for one another. Suddenly many of the despot’s men bore down upon them, calling out to them, while still a long way off, to wait. And when these came near, they ordered the women to move back, and then turned the teams about and rode them at the women, driving them through their midst mercilessly, and giving the women no chance either to follow or to stay or to come to the help of their little ones who were being killed, some of whom perished by being thrown from the wagons, others by falling under foot. The mercenaries urged them on like a flock of sheep, with shouts and whips, while the women tripped over one another, until the soldiers had cast them all into prison. This possessions were carried off to Aristotimus.
[Mul. virt. 15d] The people of Elis being highly indignant over this affair, the holy women devoted to Dionysus, whom they call the Sixteen, taking suppliant branches and fillets from those sacred to the god, went to meet Aristotimus close by the market-place. His bodyguard made way out of respect, and the priestesses silently halted, first of all reverently holding out their suppliant branches. But when it became clear that they were petitioning in behalf of the women, and trying by entreaty to mollify his anger, he, greatly exasperated with his guards, screamed out that they had permitted the priestesses to come into his presence, and he made them drive these from the market-place by pushing or striking one or another, and he fined each woman four hundred pounds.
[Mul. virt. 15e] After these events, Hellanicus started a concerted activity against the despot. He was a man, who owing to his advanced years and the death of two sons, was not thought of by the despot as likely to be active in any way. 252 The exiles crossed over from Aetolia and occupied Amymone, a stronghold in Elis, well adapted to serve as a base for warlike operations, and there they received a great addition to their numbers from the citizens who managed to escape from Elis. Aristotimus, alarmed at this, went to see the imprisoned women, and, thinking that he should accomplish his purpose better by fear than by favour, he gave orders to them to write and send letters to their husbands so that the men should leave the country; and if they would not write, he threatened to put them all to death after torturing them and making away with their children first. As he stood there a long time and urged them to say whether they would carry out any part of this programme, most of the women made no answer to him, but looked at one another in silence, and showed by nods that all their minds were made up not to be frightened or perturbed at the threat. Megisto, the wife of Timoleon, who, on account of her husband and her own virtues as well, held the position of leader, did not think it meet to rise, nor would she allow the other women to do so; but, keeping her seat, she made answer to him: “If you were a sensible man, you would not be talking to women about husbands, but you would send to them, as to those having authority over us, finding better words to say to them than those by which you tricked us. But if you despair of persuading them yourself, and are attempting to use us to mislead them, do not expect to deceive us again, and I pray that they may never entertain such a base thought that, to spare their wives and little children, they should forsake the cause of their country’s freedom. In truth, it is not so bad a thing for them to lose us, whom they have not at present, as it is a good thing to rescue the citizens from your cruelty and overbearing insolence.”
[Mul. virt. 15f] As Megisto spoke thus, Aristotimus could not brook her words, and ordered her young child to be brought, as if intending to kill him in her sight. As the servants sought for him mingled among the other children playing and wrestling, his mother, calling him by name, said, “Come here, child, and, before you can realize and think, be delivered from this bitter despotism; since for me it is more grievous to look upon your undeserved slavery than upon your death.”
[Mul. virt. 15g] At this, Aristotimus drew his sword upon the mother herself, but as he was rushing at her in a rage, one of his intimate associates, Cylon by name, who was thought to be loyal to him, but really hated him, and was in the conspiracy with Hellanicus and the rest, intervened and turned him from his purpose by intreating him and saying that such action was ignoble and womanish, not that of a manly ruler who had learned to meet any situation. The result was that Aristotimus, with difficulty regaining his senses, came away.
[Mul. virt. 15h] An ominous thing, however, happened to him. It was midday, and he was resting, and his wife was with him. While preparations for dinner were going on, an eagle was seen high in air circling over the house; then, as if with intent and design, it let fall a good-sized stone on that part of the roof under which was the room where Aristotimus happened to be lying. At the same moment there was a great crash above and shouting outside by those who saw the bird. Aristotimus was seized with consternation, and when he learned what had happened, he sent for a seer whom he constantly consulted in the market-place, and, much perturbed, questioned him about the ominous happening. The seer encouraged him to believe that Zeus was rousing him and aiding him, but, on the other hand, told those citizens in whom he trusted that judgement was hovering over the despot’s head, and was all but ready to fall on him. Wherefore it seemed best to Hellanicus and his friends not to delay but to make their attack on the next day.
[Mul. virt. 15i] That night Hellanicus in his sleep dreamed that one of his dead sons stood beside him and said, “What has happened to you, father, that you are asleep? 253 To morrow you must be commander of the city.” So he, having gained good courage because of the vision, urged on his associates, while on the other hand, Aristotimus also having learned that Craterus was coming to his aid with a numerous force and was encamped at Olympia, became so extremely bold that without his bodyguard he went forth into the market-place in the company of Cylon. When, therefore, Hellanicus realized the opportunity, he did not give the signal which had been agreed upon between himself and those who were to make the attempt, but with clear voice, stretching out both arms at the words, he said, “Why delay, brave men? Fair is this place on the soil of your own native land to stage your contest!” So then Cylon first, drawing his sword, smote one of the men following with Aristotimus, but, as Thrasybulus and Lampis rushed at him from the opposite side, Aristotimus forestalled the conspirators by taking refuge in the temple of Zeus. There they slew him, and, exposing his corpse in the market-place, they sounded for the citizens the call to freedom. As a matter of fact, they were not much ahead of the women, for these at once ran forth with joyful acclamations and, surrounding the men, adorned them with ribbons and garlands. Then the crowd surged towards the house of the despot, but his wife, bolting the doors of her chamber, hanged herself. He had two daughters, still unwedded, most beautiful to look upon, of marriageable age. These they seized and dragged out, having resolved to do away with them, but to torture and insult them first. But Megisto, with the rest of the women, meeting them, cried out that they were committing a frightful crime if they who deemed themselves worthy to be a democratic people were, in this matter, showing recklessness and wanton violence like despots. As many had respect for the high worth of the woman who spoke so boldly amid her tears, they decided to omit the violence, and permit the daughters to die by their own hand.
[Mul. virt. 15j] When, therefore, they had returned the maidens to the house and ordered their death immediately, the elder, Myro, loosing her girdle and making a noose of it, bade farewell to her sister and urged her to take note and do exactly what she saw her do, “so that,” she said, “we may not end our lives in any humiliating way, unworthy of ourselves.” But when the younger sister wanted the other to concede to her the privilege of dying first, and seized hold of the girdle, the elder said, “I have never denied you anything else that you wanted; and so you may receive this favour also, and I will patiently endure and bear what is more grievous than death, and that is, dearest, to see you die first.” Thereupon she instructed her sister how to put the noose around her neck, and when she saw that she was dead she took her down and covered her. She herself begged Megisto to take care of her and not to suffer her to be laid in any ignominious way when she should be dead. In consequence no one there was so bitter or such a hater of despots as not to shed tears and commiserate the nobility of the maidens.
[Mul. virt. 15k] Of the deeds, countless in number, done by women acting together these may suffice as examples. But cases of individual bravery I will put down as they come to me, not in any order, because I think that the record of the present subject does not at all require a chronological arrangement.
[Mul. virt. 16] XVI. Pieria
[Mul. virt. 16b] Some of the Ionians who came to Miletus, owing to lively disagreements with the sons of Neileus, went away to Myus and settled there, suffering many ills at the hands of the Milesians; for these made war upon them because of their defection. However, the war was not without truce or intercourse, but at certain festivals the women commonly went to Miletus from Myus. There was among the people of Myus a prominent man named Pythes, who had a wife named Iapygia and a daughter Pieria. As there was a festival in honour of Artemis, and a sacrifice, which they call Neleis, 254 he sent his wife and daughter, who had asked that they might participate in the festival. The most influential of Neileus’s sons, Phrygius by name, fell in love with Pieria, and tried to think what could be done on his part that would be most pleasing to her. And when she said, “If only you could make it possible for me to come here often and many with me,” Phrygius was quick to understand that she wanted friendship and peace for the citizens, and stopped the war. There was, consequently, in both cities repute and honour for Pieria, so that the women of Miletus pray even to this day that their husbands may love them as Phrygius loved Pieria.
[Mul. virt. 17] XVII. Polycrite
[Mul. virt. 17b] A war arose between the Naxians and Milesians on account of Neaera the wife of Hypsicreon of Miletus. It was because she fell in love with Promedon of Naxos and sailed away with him. He was a friend and guest of Hypsicreon, but yielded to Neaera’s ardent advances, and then, as she was in fear of her husband, he took her away to Naxos, and placed her as a suppliant at the shrine of Hestia. When the Naxians, as a favour to Promedon, refused to give her up, though they advanced another excuse, her position as suppliant, the war arose. Besides the many others who fought on the side of the Milesians the Erythraeans were the most zealous among the Ionians; and the war dragged on and on, and brought great calamities. Then it came to an end through a woman’s bravery, as it had arisen through a woman’s badness.
[Mul. virt. 17c] Diognetus, the general of the Erythraeans, entrusted with the command of a stronghold, its natural advantages reinforced by fortification to menace the city of the Naxians, gathered much spoil from the Naxians, and captured some free women and maidens; with one of these, Polycrite, he fell in love and kept her, not as a captive, but in the status of a wedded wife. Now when a festival which the Milesians celebrate came due in the army, and all turned to drinking and social gatherings, Polycrite asked Diognetus if there were any reason why she should not send some bits of pastry to her brothers. And when he not only gave her permission but urged her to do so, she slipped into a cake a note written on a sheet of lead, and bade the bearer tell her brothers that they themselves and no others should consume what she had sent. The brothers came upon the piece of lead and read the words of Polycrite, advising them to attack the enemy that night, as they were all in a state of carelessness from drink on account of the festival. Her brothers took this message to their generals and strongly urged them to set forth with themselves. When the place had been taken and many slain, Polycrite begged for the life of Diognetus from her citizens, and saved him. When she herself arrived at the gates, and found herself confronting the citizens who came to meet her, welcoming her with joy and garlands and giving expression to their admiration for her, she could not bear the immensity of her joy, but fell down dead beside the gate; and there she is buried, and her tomb is called the Tomb of Envy, as though by some envious fortune Polycrite was begrudged the enjoyment of her honours.
[Mul. virt. 17d] This is the story which the Naxian writers record. Aristotle, however, says that Polycrite was not taken captive, but that Diognetus, in some other way, saw her and fell in love with her, and stood ready to give or to do anything; and she agreed to come to him, if she might obtain just one thing, for which, as the philosopher asserts, she required an oath of Diognetus. And when he had given the required oath, she demanded in fulfilment that Delium be given to her (the place was called by this name), otherwise she would have nothing to do with him. He, because of his love and his oath, was carried quite away, and handed over the spot to Polycrite, and she in turn to the citizens. Following this, the Naxians were again put on an equal footing, and effected a reconciliation with the Milesians on such terms as they desired.
[Mul. virt. 18] 255 XVIII. Lampsace
[Mul. virt. 18b] There came from Phocaea twin brothers Phobus and Blepsus of the family of the Codridae, of whom Phobus was the first to throw himself into the sea from the Leucadian Rocks, as Charon of Lampsacus has recorded. Phobus, having influence and princely rank, sailed to Parium on some business of his own, and having become the friend and guest of Mandron, who was king of the Bebrycians who are called the Pityoessenians, he aided them by fighting on their side when they were being harassed by their neighbours. When Phobus took his departure Mandron expressed the utmost regard for him, and, in particular, promised to give him a part of their land and city if Phobus wished to come to Pityoessa with Phocaean colonists. So Phobus prevailed on his citizens and sent out his brother with the colonists. And what Mandron had promised was at their disposal, as they expected. But they, inasmuch as they made great gains for themselves through the spoils and booty which they took from the neighbouring barbarians, were first an object of envy, and later an object of fear also, to the Bebrycians, who, desiring to be rid of them, could not prevail on Mandron, who was a fair and just man in his treatment of the Greeks; but when he had gone away on a journey, they prepared to destroy the Phocians by treachery. But the daughter of Mandron, Lampsace, a young girl, learned of the plot beforehand, and tried first to dissuade her friends and relatives and to point out to them that they were undertaking to carry out a frightful and wicked deed in murdering men who were their benefactors and allies and now also their fellow-citizens. But when she could not prevail on them, she secretly told the Greeks what was afoot, and warned them to be on their guard. And they, having made ready a sacrifice and banquet, invited the Pityoessenians to come to it just outside the city; then, dividing themselves into two parties, with the one they took possession of the walls, and with the other made away with the men. Having gained control of the city in this manner, they sent for Mandron, and bade him be king jointly with one or another of their outnumber. Lampsace died as the result of an illness, and they buried her within the city most magnificently, and called the city Lampsacus after her name. When Mandron, endeavouring to avoid any suspicion of treachery, asked to be released from dwelling with them, but asked as his right to take away with him the children and wives of the slain, they sent them forth, doing them no wrong. They rendered heroic honours to Lampsace at first; later they voted to offer sacrifice to her as to a goddess, and so they continue to do.
[Mul. virt. 19] XIX. Aretaphila
[Mul. virt. 19b] Aretaphila, of Cyrene, was not born long years ago, but in the crucial times of Mithradates; she displayed, however, a bravery and an achievement which may well rival the counsel of the heroines of olden time. She was the daughter of Aeglator and the wife of Phaedimus, both men of note. She had beautiful features, and was reputed to be unusually sensible and not deficient in political wisdom, but the common misfortunes of her country brought her into prominence.
[Mul. virt. 19c] Nicocrates, having made himself despot over the people of Cyrene, not only ordered the murder of many persons, but killed with his own hand Melanippus the priest of Apollo, and took the priesthood himself. He also killed Phaedimus the husband of Aretaphila, and made Aretaphila his unwilling wife. In addition to his other unnumbered acts of lawlessness, he stationed guards at the gates, who maltreated the dead that were being borne to the grave, prodding them with daggers, and applying red-hot irons to them, so that none of the citizens should be secretly carried out in the guise of a corpse.
[Mul. virt. 19d] Even for Aretaphila her own troubles were hard enough to bear, 256 although the despot, because of his love for her, granted her the fullest enjoyment of his power, for he was quite vanquished by her, and with her alone did he conduct himself civilly, being relentless and brutal in all else. But even so, the piteous and undeserved suffering of her country distressed her the more; for one citizen after another was slaughtered, and there was no hope of vengeance from any quarter; for the exiles, altogether weak and timid, were scattered here and there and everywhere. So Aretaphila, risking herself as the sole remaining hope for the common weal, and emulating the glorious and far-famed daring of Thebe of Pherae, but being destitute of faithful supporters in the household, such as the circumstances provided for Thebe, undertook to dispatch her husband by poison. In preparing, procuring, and testing many potent mediums she did not go unnoticed, but was betrayed. And when proofs were presented, Calbia, Nicocrates’s mother, who was by nature bloodthirsty and inexorable, felt that she ought to make away with Aretaphila after torturing her. But Nicocrates’ love had the effect of tempering his anger with procrastination and weakness, and the fact that Aretaphila vigorously met the accusations and defended herself against them provided some excuse for his attitude. But when she was apprehended by the proofs, and saw that her preparations for the poisoning admitted no denial, she confessed, but said that she had prepared no fatal poisoning. “No, my dear,” said she, “my striving is for very important things, your affection for me, and the repute and influence which I enjoy because of you, and so I am an object of envy to bad women. It was fear of their potions and devices that led me to counteract them. It was foolish and feminine perhaps, but not deserving of death, unless you as judge decide to put to death because of love-potions and charms a woman who yearns for more love than you are willing to grant her.”
[Mul. virt. 19e] In spite of this defence of Aretaphila’s, Nicocrates decided to have her put to the torture, and, with Calbia standing by, relentless and inexorable, he tested her in this way. She sustained herself with indomitable courage under the torments until even Calbia unwillingly gave over; and Nicocrates was convinced, and acquitted her, and was sorry that he had caused her to be tortured; and after no long time he came back again, impelled towards her by his passion for her, and resumed the old relations, and tried through honours and acts of kindness to regain her goodwill. But she, who had been triumphant over tortures and pain, had no intention of being vanquished by a show of favour, and, with eagerness for victory added to her eagerness for the honourable and good, she resorted to another device.
[Mul. virt. 19f] She was fortunate in having a daughter of marriageable age, rather good-looking. Her she dangled as a bait before the despot’s brother, who was a young man and an easy prey to pleasures. There is much talk to the effect that Aretaphila, by using charms and love-potions on the girl, got the youth in hand and upset his reasoning powers. His name was Leander. When he had been captivated, and, by importuning his brother, had gained his consent to the marriage, the girl, on the one hand, instructed by her mother, tried to influence him and to induce him to set the city free, arguing that not even he himself was living as a free man under the despotism, and had not even warrant to contract a marriage or to keep to it; and, on the other hand, his friends, thinking to do a favour to Aretaphila, suggested to his mind certain prejudices and suspicions against his brother.
[Mul. virt. 19g] When he discovered that Aretaphila was planning and working to the same end, he undertook the deed, and by urging on Daphnis a servant, through him he slew Nicocrates. For the rest, he no longer paid any attention to Aretaphila, but straightway showed by his deeds that he had made away with his brother, but not with the despot; for he ruled in a crazy and foolish way. 257 Nevertheless there remained with him some respect for Aretaphila and some influence on her part, as she was not hateful to him and not directly hostile, but carried on her activities in his affairs unknown to him. First she secretly stirred up a war with the Africans for him by persuading a certain potentate Anabus to overrun the country and lead his army against the city; then she falsely accused to Leander his friends and generals, intimating that they were not zealous in carrying on the war, but wanted rather peace and quiet, which his circumstances and despotism required, as he wished to hold secure his power over the citizens.
[Mul. virt. 19h] She said that she herself would effect the reconciliation, and would get Anabus to come to a conference with him, if he would but give the word, before the war should have wrought some irremediable ill. When Leander gave the word, she herself had a talk with the African beforehand, in which she desired him, on the promise of many presents and much money, to seize the despot when he should come to the conference with him. When the African had been won over, Leander was hesitant, but, abashed before Aretaphila, who said that she would be present herself, he went forth unarmed and unattended. When he came near and saw Anabus, he again felt uneasy, and wanted to wait for his bodyguard. But Aretaphila, who was there, at one moment encouraged him, and the next called him a coward. Finally, as a delay ensued, she, quite impulsively and boldly dragging him by the hand, brought him up to the barbarian and handed him over.
[Mul. virt. 19i] Instantly he was seized and made a prisoner, and, after having been put in bonds, was kept under watch by the Africans, until Aretaphila’s friends, who were bringing the money for her, arrived, accompanied by the rest of the citizens. For almost all of them, on hearing the news, ran out at the call. When they saw Aretaphila, they came near forgetting their anger against the despot, and considered vengeance upon him a secondary concern. Their first concern in the enjoyment of their freedom was to greet her with joy and tears, prostrating themselves before her as before the statue of a god. As the people surged on, one close upon another, it was with difficulty that by evening they took over Leander and returned to the city. When they had had their fill of honours and praises for Aretaphila, they then turned their attention to the despots. Calbia they burned alive, and Leander they sewed up in a leathern sack and sank in the depths of the sea.
[Mul. virt. 19j] They asked that Aretaphila, as her proper due, should share with the best citizens in the control and management of the government. But she, as one who had played through a drama of varying sort and of many rôles up to the winning of the prize, when she saw the city free, withdrew at once to her own quarters among the women, and, rejecting any sort of meddling in affairs, spent the rest of her life quietly at the loom in the company of her friends and family.
[Mul. virt. 20] XX. Camma
[Mul. virt. 20b] There were in Galatia two of the most powerful of the tetrarchs, distantly related to each other, Sinatus and Sinorix. One of these, Sinatus, had married a maiden, Camma by name, conspicuous for her form and beauty, but even more admired for her virtues. Not only was she modest and fond of her husband, but she was also quick-witted and high-minded, and unusually dear to her inferiors by reason of her kindness and benevolence. A thing that brought her into greater prominence was the fact that she was the priestess of Artemis, whom the Galatians especially reverence, and was seen magnificently attired always in connexion with the processions and sacrifices.
[Mul. virt. 20c] So Sinorix fell in love with her, and not being able to prevail upon her either by persuasion or force as long as her husband lived, he committed a horrible deed, and treacherously killed Sinatus. Then, without allowing much time to elapse, he commenced to woo Camma, 258 who was spending time in the temple and bearing Sinorix’s lawless transgression in no pitiful nor abject manner, but with a spirit that showed sense and bided its time. He was persistent in his suit, and seemed not to be at all at a loss for arguments that had some plausibility, to the effect that in all respects he had shown himself a better man than Sinatus, and had made away with him for love of Camma and not because of any other nefarious intent. The woman’s denials at the first were not too peremptory, and later, little by little, she appeared to be softened; for her relatives and friends also brought pressure to bear upon her by way of service and favour to Sinorix, who held such very great power, and they tried to persuade and coerce her. Finally she yielded, and sent for him to come to her, on the ground that the consenting and pledging should take place in the presence of the goddess. When he had come, she received him kindly and, having led him to the altar, poured a libation from a bowl, then drank a portion herself and bade him drink the rest; it was poisoned mixture of milk and honey. When she saw that he had drunk, she uttered a clear cry of joy, and, prostrating herself before the goddess, said, “I call you to witness, goddess most revered, that for the sake of this day I have lived on after the murder of Sinatus, and during all that time I have derived no comfort from life save only the hope of justice; and now that justice is mine, I go down to my husband. But as for you, wickedest of all men, let your relatives make ready a tomb instead of a bridal chamber and a wedding.”
[Mul. virt. 20d] When the Galatian heard these words, and felt the poison already working and creating a disturbance in his body, he mounted a chariot as if to try shaking and jolting as a relief, but he got out almost immediately and changed over into a litter, and in the evening he died. Camma endured through the night, and when she learned that he had come to his end, she died cheerful and happy.
[Mul. virt. 21] XXI. Stratonice
[Mul. virt. 21b] Galatia produced also Stratonice the wife of Deiotarus and Chiomara the wife of Ortiagon, dwomen that deserve to be remembered.
[Mul. virt. 21c] Stratonice, well knowing that her husband desired children from her to succeed to the kingdom, but having no child herself, prevailed upon him to have a child by another woman, and to connive at its being passed off as her own. Deiotarus thought highly of the idea, and did everything in dependence upon her judgement, and she procured a comely maiden from among the prisoners, Electra by name, and sealed her to Deiotarus. The children that were born she brought up with loving care and in royal state as if they had been her own.
[Mul. virt. 22] XXII. Chiomara
[Mul. virt. 22b] It came to pass that Chiomara, the wife of Ortiagon, was made a prisoner of war along with the rest of the women at the time when the Romans under Gnaeus overcame in battle the Galatians in Asia. The officer who obtained possession of her used his good fortune as soldiers do, and dishonoured her. He was, naturally, an ignorant man with no self-control when it came to either pleasure or money. He fell a victim, however, to his love of money, and when a very large sum in gold had been mutually agreed upon as the price for the woman, he brought her to exchange for the ransom to a place where a river, flowing between, formed a boundary. When the Galatians had crossed and given him the money and received Chiomara, she, by a nod, indicated to one man that he should smite the Roman as he was affectionately taking leave of her. And when the man obediently struck off the Roman’s head, she picked it up and, wrapping it in the folds of her garment, departed. When she came to her husband and threw the head down before him, he said in amazement, “A noble thing, dear wife, is fidelity.” “Yes,” said she, “but it is a nobler thing that only one man be alive who has been intimate with me.”
[Mul. virt. 22c] Polybius says that he had a conversation with this woman in Sardis, and that he admired her good sense and intelligence.
[Mul. virt. 23] 259 XXIII. A Woman of Pergamum
[Mul. virt. 23b] When Mithradates, after sending for sixty of the noblest of Galatians to come to Pergamum as friends, seemed to comport himself arrogantly and despotically toward them, and all were indignant, Poredorix, a man of great bodily strength and of unusual spirit, tetrarch of the Tosiopians, undertook, when Mithradates should be hearing cases on the tribunal in a gymnasium, to seize hold of it suddenly and precipitate him, tribunal and all, down into the ravine. But by some chance Mithradates did not go up to the gymnasium on that day, but sent for the Galatians to come to his house, bwhereupon Poredorix urged them to keep up their courage and, when they all should be met together there, to rend Mithradates limb from limb, and kill him, by falling upon him from all sides at once. Knowledge of this came to Mithradates through the agency of some informer, and he delivered over the Galatians one by one to be executed. A little later, happening to remember a young man who, in comeliness and beauty, far surpassed those of his age, he felt sorry for him and changed his mind. It was plain that he was much distressed, since the youth had probably put to death among the first; yet he sent orders that, if the youth should be found alive, they should let him go. The young man’s name was Bepolitanus, and a marvellous piece of luck befell him in this wise: when he was arrested he was wearing very beautiful and costly clothing, which the executioner wished to keep, unstained by blood and unsullied, for himself, and he was stripping this off in a leisurely way, when he saw the messengers from the king running towards him and shouting the youth’s name. So in the case of Bepolitanus, avarice, which has been the undoing of many a man, unexpectedly saved his life.
[Mul. virt. 23c] Poredorix was executed and his body cast forth unburied, and not one of his friends dared to go near him; but a woman of Pergamum, who for her loveliness had been known to the Galatian while he was living, took the risk of burying and covering up his body. The guards, noticing her, arrested her and took her before the king. It is said that Mithradates’ emotions were stirred at the sight of her, as the girl appeared altogether young and innocent. A still stronger influence very likely came from his having learned that love was the reason behind it all; at any rate, he relented and granted her permission to remove and bury the corpse, and to take for it clothing and adornment from what belonged to him.
[Mul. virt. 24] XXIV. Timocleia
[Mul. virt. 24b] Theagenes of Thebes, who had come to entertain the same aspirations for his city as Epameinondas and Pelopidas and the noblest of the Thebans, came to grief, involved in the general fortunes of Greece at Chaeroneia, when he was already overpowering and pursuing the opposing lines. He is the one who, in answer to a man who cried out, “How far is your pursuit to go?” said, “As far as Macedonia!”
[Mul. virt. 24c] A sister survived him to bear witness that by reason of the virtues of the family and his own natural endowment he was a great and splendid man. However, she had the advantage of getting some benefit from her virtues, so that she could bear more lightly so much of the general misfortunes as came upon her.
[Mul. virt. 24d] For when Alexander had overpowered the Thebans, and some of his men were going to this part of the city, and others to that, and plundering, it happened that a man took possession of Timocleia’s house who was not reasonable or civil but arrogant and foolish. He was commander of a certain Thracian troop, and bore the same name as the king, but was in no way like him; for, without showing the least respect for the ancestry or the estate of the woman, after he had guzzled his fill of wine, he summoned her after dinner to spend the night with him. And this was not the end; he asked for gold and silver, if any had been hidden away by her, at one time threatening to kill her, at another promising to keep her for all time in the position of a wife. She, seizing upon the hold he offered, said, “Would God I had been dead before this night rather than to be alive, 260 so that I might at least, when all else is being ravaged, have preserved my honour. But, since what has been done is done, if I must look upon you as my protector, lord, and husband, by God’s will, I will not deprive you of your own; for I see that I myself have become whatever your will shall decide. I did possess personal ornaments and silver fashioned into drinking-cups, and there was also some gold and money. When the city was being captured, I told my maid-servants to get this all together, and I threw it, or rather deposited it, into a dry well. Nor do many know of it; for there is a cover over the well, and a shady wood growing all around it. I hope you may be fortunate in obtaining it, and for me it will serve as proofs and tokens to you of the happy and splendid state of my house.”
[Mul. virt. 24e] When the Macedonian heard this, he could not wait for daylight, but went straight to the place under the guidance of Timocleia, and, after ordering the garden to be shut close, so that nobody should find out what was going on, he climbed down into the well in his shirt only. An odious Fate led him on, destined to work vengeance upon him at the hands of Timocleia standing over him at the top of the well. When she could tell by his voice that he had reached the bottom, she herself brought many of the stones, while her maid-servants rolled in many big ones on top until they had beaten him down and completely buried him. When the Macedonians came to know of this and recovered the corpse, inasmuch as proclamation had been made before this to kill none of the Thebans, they arrested Timocleia and brought her to the king, and told of her daring deed. But he, seeing in the composure of her countenance and her unhurried step an indication of high rank and noble blood, first questioned her as to who she was among the women. She quite undauntedly and courageously said, “I had the good fortune to have a brother Theagenes, who was a general at Chaeroneia and fell there, fighting against you Macedonians for the freedom of Greece, that we might not have any such experience as we have had. But since we have had an experience undeserved by our family, we have no wish to escape death; for it were better, perhaps, not to live to experience another such night, unless you put a stop to this thing.”
[Mul. virt. 24f] At this the most sympathetic of those present began to weep, but it did not occur to Alexander to pity the woman, for he felt that she was too great for that, but he marvelled at her bravery and her words, which touched him greatly, and he issued orders to his officers that they should take good care and be on the watch that no such insult should again be offered to a noted house. Timocleia he allowed to go free, both herself and all others who were found to be related to her.
[Mul. virt. 25] XXV. Eryxo
[Mul. virt. 25b] Arcesilaus, the son of Battus who was nicknamed ‘The Happy,’ was not at all like his father in his ways. In fact, while his father was still living, he surrounded his house with a rampart, and was fined two hundred pounds by his father; and when his father had come to his end, for one thing Arcesilaus, being harsh by nature (and this gave him his nickname), and for another consorting with a vicious friend Laarchus, instead of being a king became a despot. Laarchus, secretly scheming to become despot, banished or murdered the noblest among the men of Cyrene, and diverted all the blame for this from himself to Arcesilaus; and finally he brought Arcesilaus into a wasting and grievous illness by a drink containing sea-hare, and thus accomplished his death; then he took over the sovereign rule himself on the pretext that he was keeping it for Arcesilaus’s son Battus. The boy, by reason of his lameness and his youth as well, was looked down upon, but to his mother many gave heed, for she was discreet and humane, and had many influential relatives. Wherefore Laarchus lavished attentions upon her, trying to win her as his wife, saying that it was only right and proper to make Battus his own son by marrying her, and to proclaim him colleague in the sovereignty. Eryxo (for that was the woman’s name), after taking counsel with her brothers, 261 bade Laarchus to have an interview with them, as if she herself looked with favour on the marriage. But when Laarchus interviewed them, and they purposely misled him and put off, Eryxo sent a maid-servant to him to tell him from her that at present her brothers declared themselves opposed, but if the union should be consummated, they would cease their dissent and give over; he must, therefore, come to her by night if he were willing; for if the beginning were once made, all the rest would be well.
[Mul. virt. 25c] This was joyful news to Laarchus, and, all excitement in view of the woman’s compliant mood, he agreed to come bwhenever she should give the word. Eryxo carried out all this in consultation with Polyarchus the eldest of her brothers. When a time had been determined upon for the coming together, Polyarchus was secretly introduced into his sister’s room, having with him two young men with sword in hand who were intent on avenging the murder of their father, whom Laarchus, a short time before, had put to death.
[Mul. virt. 25d] When Eryxo sent for Laarchus, he came in unattended, and, the young men falling upon him, he was run through by their swords and killed. His body they threw over the wall and, bringing forward Battus, they proclaimed him king in succession to his father’s rights, and Polyarchus restored to the people of Cyrene their original form of government.
[Mul. virt. 25e] It happened that there were in the city numerous soldiers of Amasis, king of the Egyptians. These Laarchus had employed as trusty retainers, and they were not the least of his instruments through which he terrorized the citizens. These soldiers sent men to Amasis to accuse Polyarchus and Eryxo. He was much incensed and had thoughts of making war on the people of Cyrene, but just then it happened that his mother died, and it was during the days in which he was holding her funeral that messengers returned from Amasis with the tidings. So Polyarchus thought it best to go there to make his defence. When Eryxo would not be left behind, but expressed her wish to go with him and share the danger, their mother Critola, although well on in years, would not be left behind either. Her standing was of the highest, since she was the sister of Battus the Happy. When they came to Egypt, the people expressed wondrous approval of their exploit, and Amasis expressed extraordinary approval of the self-control and courage of the woman; and after honouring both Polyarchus and the women with presents and royal attentions he sent them back to Cyrene.
[Mul. virt. 26] XXVI. Xenocrite
[Mul. virt. 26b] No less admiration might be expressed for Xenocrite of Cumae for her behaviour towards Aristodemus the despot, who, some think, had the nickname of ‘Mild’ given to him, but they do not know the truth. The fact is that by the barbarians he was called ‘Mild,’ which, in their tongue, means ‘childlike,’ because, when he was a mere youth with others of his age who were still wearing their hair long (whom they called ‘harassers,’ from their long hair presumably), in the wars against the barbarians he was conspicuous and brilliant, not merely by daring and the work of his hands, but showing himself to be above others in quickness of mind and forethought. Wherefore he advanced to the highest offices, being admired by his fellow-citizens, and he was sent to bring aid to the Romans when they were besieged by the Etruscans who would restore Tarquinius Superbus to his kingdom. In this campaign, which lasted a long time, he gave in altogether to the citizens who were in the military service, and, by playing the part of a demagogue rather than that of a general, he persuaded them to join him in attacking the Senate and in driving into exile the noblest and most influential. Following upon this, he made himself despot, and in the ways in which he misconducted himself towards women and free-born youth he surpassed his former record for viciousness. In fact it is recorded in history that he imposed on boys the custom of wearing long hair and golden ornaments, and the girls he compelled to bob their hair and to wear boy’s clothes and the short undergarment. 262 However, he was singularly enamoured of Xenocrite, whom he kept, the daughter of an exiled father, without restoring her father to his country or winning his consent, but believing that somehow the girl was contented to be with him, inasmuch as she was envied and deemed happy by the citizens. But all this did not make any great impression on her. She was distressed at being partner to a union in which there had been no giving in marriage nor plighting of troth, and she longed for her country’s freedom no less than did those who were the object of the despot’s hatred.
[Mul. virt. 26c] It happened at that juncture that Aristodemus was extending a moat all the way round the country, ba work neither necessary nor useful, but the real reason was that he wished to wear out the citizens and waste their strength with toils and labours; for it was prescribed for each one to carry out a certain number of measures of earth. One woman, when she saw Aristodemus approaching, stepped well out of his way and covered her face with her garment. When he had gone, the young men made fun of her and asked her, in joke, why her modesty led her to avoid Aristodemus only, when she had no such feeling towards the rest of the men. She with a very serious purpose replied, “Because among all the people of Cumae Aristodemus is the only man!”
[Mul. virt. 26d] These few words thus spoken laid holding of them all, and also incited the noble-minded, for very shame, to struggle for their liberty. It is said that when Xenocrite heard of it she said that she herself would rather carry earth for her father, if he were only in his own land, than be associated with Aristodemus in all his luxury and power. These things gave added strength to those who were banding together against Aristodemus, at the head of whom was Thymoteles. And when Xenocrite provided them with a safe way to get in and assurance that Aristodemus was unarmed and unattended, they forced their way in without much difficulty, and dispatched him. Thus the city of Cumae was made free by the bravery of two women, the one who put into their minds the thought and impulse for the deed, and the other who co-operated with them to bring about its conclusion.
[Mul. virt. 26e] Honours and great gifts were tendered to Xenocrite, but she would have none of them; one request only she made, to bury the body of Aristodemus, and this they granted her, and chose her to be priestess of Demeter, feeling that the honour would be no less pleasing to the goddess than appropriate for Xenocrite.
[Mul. virt. 27] XXVII. The Wife of Pythes
[Mul. virt. 27b] It is said the wife of Pythes, contemporary with Xerxes, was wise and good. Pythes himself, as it appears, came by chance upon some gold mines, and, delighting in the wealth from them not with moderation, but insatiably and beyond measure, he himself spent all his time over them, and put the citizens down there also, and compelled all alike to dig or carry or wash out the gold, performing no other work and carrying on no other activity. Many perished and all were completely exhausted, when the women, coming to the door of the wife of Pythes, made supplication. She bade them depart and not lose heart; then she summoned the goldsmiths whom she trusted most, secluded them, and ordered them to make golden loaves of bread, cakes of all sorts, fruit, and whatever else in the way of dainties and food she knew Pythes liked best. When these had all been made, Pythes arrived home from abroad; for he had been travelling. And when he called for dinner, his wife caused a golden table to be set before him which contained nothing edible, but everything of gold. At first Pythes was delighted with the mimic food, but when he had gazed his fill, he called for something to eat; and she served to him a golden replica of whatever he chanced to express a desire for. By this time he was in a high dudgeon and shouted out that he was hungry, whereupon she said, “But it is you who have created for us a plentiful supply of these things, and of nothing else; 263 for all skill in the trades has disappeared from among us; no one tills the soil, but we have forsaken the sowing and planting of crops in the soil and the sustaining food that comes from it, and we dig and delve for useless things, wasting our own strength and that of our people.”
[Mul. virt. 27c] These things moved Pythes, and he did away with much of his activities at the mines, but not all, ordering a fifth of the citizens to work the mines in turn, and the remainder he transferred to agriculture and the trades.
[Mul. virt. 27d] When Xerxes was on his way to invade Greece, Pythes, who had been most splendid in his entertainments and gifts, asked as a favour from the king that, as he had several sons, the king should exempt one from military duty, and leave him at home to be a comfort to Pythes in his old age. Xerxes, in his rage, ordered that this one son for whom the father made his request should be killed and cut in two, and that the army should march between the two halves; the others he took with him, and all perished in the battles.
[Mul. virt. 27e] Because of this Pythes lost all spirit, and went through an experience similar to that of many bad and foolish men; for he was afraid of death and burdened with life. He wished not to live, and yet could not let go of life. As there was a great mound in the city, and also a river flowing through it, which they called the Pythopolites, he made ready a mausoleum in the mound, and then turned the course of the stream so that the river was carried through the mound with its waters touching the tomb. Upon the completion of all this he went down into the mausoleum, committing the government and care of the whole city to his wife, and ordered her not to come near him, but to send his dinner for him every day, by placing it in a boat, until the time when the boat should pass by the tomb with the dinner untouched; then she should cease sending, taking it for granted that he was dead. He passed the remainder of his life in this way, and his wife administered the government excellently, and gave the citizens relief from their miseries.

## Roman questions

263 1 Why do they bid the bride touch fire and water?
Is it that of these two, being reckoned as elements or first principles, fire is masculine and water feminine, and fire supplies the beginnings of motion and water the function of the subsistent element or the material?
Or is it because fire purifies and water cleanses, and a married woman must remain pure and clean?
Or is it that, just as fire without moisture is unsustaining and arid, and water without heat is unproductive and inactive, so also male and female apart from each other are inert, but their union in marriage produces the perfection of their life together?
Or is it that they must not desert each other, but must share together every sort of fortune, even if they are destined to have nothing other than fire and water to share with each other?
2 1 Why in the marriage rites do they light five torches, neither more nor less, which they call cereones?
Is it, as Varro has stated, that while the praetors use three, the aediles have a right to more, and it is from the aediles that the wedding party light their torches?
264 Or is it because in their use of several numbers the odd number was considered better and more perfect for various purposes and also better adapted to marriage? For the even number admits division and its equality of division suggests strife and opposition; the odd number, however, cannot be divided into equal parts at all, but whenever it is divided it always leaves behind a remainder of the same nature as itself. Now, of the odd numbers, five is above all the nuptial number; for three is the first odd number, and two is the first even number, and five is composed of the union of these two, as it were of male and female.
Or is it rather that, since light is the symbol of birth, and women in general are enabled by nature to bear, at the most, five children at one birth, the wedding company makes use of exactly that number of torches?
Or is it because they think that the nuptial pair has need of five deities: Zeus Teleios, Hera Teleia, Aphrodite, Peitho, and finally Artemis, whom women in child-birth and travail are wont to invoke?
3 Why is it that, although there are many shrines of Diana in Rome, the only one into which men may not enter is the shrine in the so called Vicus Patricius?
Is it because of the current legend? For a man attempted to violate a woman who was here worshipping the goddess, and was torn to pieces by the dogs; and men do not enter because of the superstitious fear that arose from this occurrence.
4 1 Why do they, as might be expected, nail up stags’ horns in all the other shrines of Diana, but in the shrine on the Aventine nail up horns of cattle?
Is it because they remember the ancient occurrence? For the tale is told that among the Sabines in the herds of Antro Curiatius was born a heifer excelling all the others in appearance and size. When a certain soothsayer told him that the city of the man who should sacrifice that heifer to Diana on the Aventine was destined to become the mightiest city and to rule all Italy, the man came to Rome with intent to sacrifice his heifer. But a servant of his secretly told the prophecy to the king Servius, who told Cornelius the priest, and Cornelius gave instructions to Antro to bathe in the Tiber before the sacrifice; for this, said he, was the custom of those whose sacrifice was to be acceptable. Accordingly Antro went away and bathed, but Servius sacrificed the heifer to Diana before Antro could return, and nailed the horns to the shrine. This tale both Juba and Varro have recorded, except that Varro has not noted the name of Antro; and he says that the Sabine was cozened, not by Cornelius the priest, but by the keeper of the temple.
5 1 Why is it that those who are falsely reported to have died in a foreign country, even if they return, men do not admit by the door, but mount upon the roof-tiles and let them down inside?
Varro gives an explanation of the cause that is quite fabulous. For he says that in the Sicilian war there was a great naval battle, and in the case of many men a false report spread that they were dead. But, when they had returned home, in a short time they all came to their end except one who, when he tried to enter, found the doors shutting against him of their own accord, nor did they yield when he strove to open them. The man fell asleep there before his threshold and in his sleep saw a vision, which instructed him to climb upon the roof and let himself down into the house. When he had done so, he prospered and lived to an advanced age; and from this occurrence the custom became established for succeeding generations.
But consider if this be not in some wise similar to Greek customs; for the Greeks did not consider pure, nor admit to familiar intercourse, nor suffer to approach the temples any person for whom a funeral had been held and a tomb constructed on the assumption that they were dead. The tale is told that Aristinus, a victim of this superstition, sent to Delphi and besought the god to release him from the difficulties in which he was involved because of the custom; and the prophetic priestess gave response:
265 All that a woman in childbed does at the birth of her baby,
When this again thou hast done, to the blessed gods sacrifice offer.
Aristinus, accordingly, chose the part of wisdom and delivered himself like a new-born babe into the hands of women to be washed, and to be wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and to be suckled; and all other men in such plight do likewise and they are called “Men of Later Fate.” But some will have it that this was done in the case of such persons even before Aristinus, and that the custom is ancient. Hence it is nothing surprising if the Romans also did not think it right to admit by the door, through which they go out to sacrifice and come in from sacrificing, those who are thought to have been buried once and for all and to belong to the company of the departed, but bade them descend from the open air above into that portion of the house which is exposed to the sky. And with good reason, for, naturally, they perform all their rites of purification under the open sky.
6 1 Why do the women kiss their kinsmen on the lips?
Is it, as most authorities believe, that the drinking of wine was forbidden to women, and therefore, so that women who had drunk wine should not escape detection, but should be detected when they chanced to meet men of their household, the custom of kissing was established?
Or is it for the reason which Aristotle the philosopher has recorded? For that far-famed deed, the scene of which is laid in many different places, was dared, it appears, by the Trojan women, even on the very shores of Italy. For when they had reached the coast, and the men had disembarked, the women set fire to the ships, since, at all hazards, they desired to be quit of their wanderings and their sea-faring. But they were afraid of their husbands, and greeted with a kiss and a warm embrace such of their kinsmen and members of their household as they encountered; and when the men had ceased from their wrath and had become reconciled, the women continued thereafter as well to employ this mark of affection towards them.
Or was this rather bestowed upon the women as a privilege that should bring them both honour and power if they should be seen to have many good men among their kinsmen and in their household?
Or is it that, since it is not the custom for men to marry blood relations, affection proceeded only so far as a kiss, and this alone remained as a token of kinship and a participation therein? For formerly men did not marry women related to them by ties of blood, just as even now they do not marry their aunts or their sisters; but after a long time they made the concession of allowing wedlock with cousins for the following reason: a man possessed of no property, but otherwise of excellent character and more satisfactory to the people than other public men, had as wife his cousin, an heiress, and was thought to be growing rich from her estate. He was accused on this ground, but the people would not even try the case and dismissed the charge, enacting a decree that all might marry cousins or more distant relatives; but marriage with nearer kin was prohibited.
7 1 Why is it forbidden for a men to receive a gift from his wife or a wife to receive a gift from her husband?
Is it that, Solon having promulgated a law that the bequests of the deceased should be valid unless a man were constrained by force or persuaded by his wife, whereby he excepted force as overriding the free will, and pleasure as misleading the judgement, in this way the bequests of wives and husbands became suspect?
Or did they regard giving as an utterly worthless token of affection (for even strangers and persons with no kindly feelings give gifts), and so deprived the marriage relationship of this mode of giving pleasure, that mutual affection might be unbought and free, existing for its own sake and for no other reason?
Or is it that women are most likely to be seduced and welcome strangers because of gifts they receive from them; and thus it is seen to be dignified for them to love their own husbands even though their husbands give them no gifts?
Or is it rather that both the husbands’ property should be held in common with their wives and the wives’ with their husbands? 266 For anyone who accepts what is given learns to regard what is not given to him as belonging to another, with the result that by giving a little to each other they deprive each other of all else that they own.
8 1 Why among the Romans is it forbidden to receive a gift from a son-in law or from a father-in law?
Is the father-in law prevented from receiving a gift from his son-in law, in order that the gift may not appear ultimately to reach the wife through her father? And is the son-in law similarly prevented, since it is obviously just that he who may not give shall also not receive?
9 1 Why is it that, when men who have wives at home are returning either from the country or from abroad, they send ahead to tell their wives that they are coming?
Is it because this is the mark of a man who is confident that his wife is not up to any mischief, whereas coming suddenly and unexpectedly is, as it were, an arrival by stratagem and unfair vigilance; and are they eager to send good tidings about themselves to their wives as if they felt certain that their wives would be longing for them and expecting them?
Or is it rather that the men themselves long to hear news of their wives, if they shall find them safe at home and longing for their husbands?
Or is it because during their husbands’ absence the wives have more household duties and occasions, and also dissensions and outbursts against those of the household? Therefore the notice is given in advance that the wife may rid herself of these matters and make for her husband his welcome home undisturbed and pleasant.
10 1 Why is it that when they worship the gods, they cover their heads, but when they meet any of their fellow-men worthy of honour, if they happen to have the toga over the head, they uncover?
This second fact seems to intensify the difficulty of the first. If, then, the tale told of Aeneas is true, that, when Diomedes passed by, he covered his head and completed the sacrifice, it is reasonable and consistent with the covering of one’s head in the presence of an enemy that men who meet good men and their friends should uncover. In fact, the behaviour in regard to the gods is not properly related to this custom, but accidentally resembles it; and its observance has persisted since the days of Aeneas.
But if there is anything else to be said, consider whether it be not true that there is only one matter that needs investigation: why men cover their heads when they worship the gods; and the other follows from this. For they uncover their heads in the presence of men more influential than they: it is not to invest these men with additional honour, but rather to avert from them the jealousy of the gods, that these men may not seem to demand the same honours as the gods, nor to tolerate an attention like that bestowed on the gods, nor to rejoice therein. But they thus worshipped the gods, either humbling themselves by concealing the head, or rather by pulling the toga over their ears as a precaution lest any ill-omened and baleful sound from without should reach them while they were praying. That they were mightily vigilant in this matter is obvious from the fact that when they went forth for purposes of divination, they surrounded themselves with the clashing of bronze.
Or, as Castor states when he is trying to bring Roman customs into relation with Pythagorean doctrines: the Spirit within us entreats and supplicates the gods without, and thus he symbolizes by the covering of the head the covering and concealment of the soul by the body.
11 Why do they sacrifice to Saturn with the head uncovered?
Is it because Aeneas instituted the custom of covering the head, and the sacrifice to Saturn dates from long before that time?
Or is it that they cover the head before the heavenly deities, but they consider Saturn a god whose realm is beneath the earth? Or is it that no part of Truth is covered or overshadowed, and the Romans consider Saturn father of Truth?
12 1 And why do they consider Saturn father of Truth?
Is it that they think, as do certain philosophers, that Saturn (Kronos) is Time (Chronos), and Time discovers the truth? Or because it is likely that the fabled Age of Saturn, if it was an age of the greatest righteousness, participated most largely in truth?
13 1 Why do they also sacrifice to the god called “Honor” with the head uncovered? One might translate Honor as “renown” or “honour.”
Is it because renown is a brilliant thing, conspicuous, and widespread, and for the reason that they uncover in the presence of good and honoured men, 267 is it for the same reason that they also worship the god who is named for “honour”?
14 1 Why do sons cover their heads when they escort their parents to the grave, while daughters go with uncovered heads and hair unbound?
Is it because fathers should be honoured as gods by their male offspring, but mourned as dead by their daughters, that custom has assigned to each sex its proper part and has produced a fitting result from both?
Or is it that the unusual is proper in mourning, and it is more usual for women to go forth in public with their heads covered band men with their heads uncovered? So in Greece, whenever any misfortune comes, the women cut off their hair and the men let it grow, for it is usual for men to have their hair cut and for women to let it grow.
Or is it that it has become customary for sons to cover their heads for the reason already given? For they turn about at the graves, as Varro relates, thus honouring the tombs of their fathers even as they do the shrines of the gods; and when they have cremated their parents, they declare that the dead person has become a god at the moment when first they find a bone.
But formerly women were not allowed to cover the head at all. At least it is recorded that Spurius Carvilius was the first man to divorce his wife and the reason was her barrenness; the second was Sulpicius Gallus, because he saw his wife pull her cloak over her head; and the third was Publius Sempronius, because his wife had been present as a spectator at funeral games.
15 1 Why is it that they were wont to sacrifice no living creature to Terminus, in whose honour they held the Terminalia, although they regard him as a god?
Is it that Romulus placed no boundary-stones for his country, so that Romans might go forth, seize land, and regard all as theirs, as the Spartan said, which their spears could reach; whereas Numa Pompilius, a just man and a statesman, who had become versed in philosophy, marked out the boundaries between Rome and her neighbours, and, when on the boundary-stones he had formally installed Terminus as overseer and guardian of friendship and peace, he thought that Terminus should be kept pure and undefiled from blood and gore?
16 1 Why is it that it is forbidden to slave-women to set foot in the shrine of Matuta, and why do the women bring in one slave-woman only and slap her on the head and beat her?
Is the beating of this slave but a symbol of the prohibition, and do they prevent the others from entering because of the legend? For Ino is said to have become madly jealous of a slave-woman on her husband’s account, and to have vented her madness on her son. The Greeks relate that the slave was an Aetolian by birth and that her name was Antiphera. Wherefore also in my native town, Chaeroneia, the temple-guardian stands before the precinct of Leucothea and, taking a whip in his hand, makes proclamation: “Let no slave enter, nor any Aetolian, man or woman!”
17 1 Why is it that in the shrine of this goddess they do not pray for blessings on their own children, but only on their sisters’ children?
Is it because Ino was fond of her sister and suckled her sister’s son also, but was herself unfortunate in her own children? Or is it that, quite apart from this reason, the custom is morally excellent and produces much goodwill among kindred?
18 1 Why was it the custom for many of the wealthy to give a tithe of their property to Hercules?
Is it because he also sacrificed a tithe of Geryon’s cattle in Rome? Or because he freed the Romans from paying a tithe to the Etruscans?
Or have these tales no historical foundation worthy of credence, but the Romans were wont to sacrifice lavishly and abundantly to Hercules as to an insatiable eater and a good trencher-man?
Or was it rather in curtailing their excessive wealth, since it was odious to their fellow-citizens, and in doing away with some of it, as from a lusty bodily vigour that had reached its culmination, did they think that thus Hercules would be especially honoured and pleased by such a way of using up and reducing overabundance, since in his own life he was frugal, self-sufficient, and free from extravagance?
19 1 Why do they adopt the month of January as the beginning of the new year?
268 The fact is that, in ancient days, March was counted before January, as is clear from many different proofs, and particularly from the fact that the fifth month from March is called Quintilis, the sixth Sextilis, and so on to the last, which they call December, since it is the tenth in order from March. Wherefore it has also naturally occurred to some to believe and to maintain that the ancient Romans completed their year, not in twelve months, but in ten, by adding more days than thirty to some of the months. Others state that December is the tenth from March, January the eleventh, and February the twelfth; and in this month they perform rites of purification and make offerings to the dead, since it is the end of the year. But the order of these months was altered, so they say, and January was put first because in this month on the day of the new moon, which they call the Kalends of January, the first consuls entered office after the kings had been expelled.
But more worthy of credence are they who maintain that it was because Romulus was a warrior and a lover of battle, and was thought to be a son of Mars, that he placed first the month which bore Mars’ name. But Numa, in turn, who was a lover of peace, and whose ambition it was to turn the city towards husbandry and to divert it from war, gave the precedence to January and advanced the god Janus to great honours, since Janus was a statesman and a husbandman rather than a warrior. But consider whether Numa may not have adopted as the beginning of the year that which conforms to our conception of the natural beginning. Speaking generally, to be sure, there is not naturally either last or first in a cycle; and it is by custom that some adopt one beginning of this period and others another. They do best, however, who adopt the beginning after the winter solstice, when the sun has ceased to advance, and turns about and retraces his course toward us. For this beginning of the year is in a certain way natural to mankind, since it increases the amount of light that we receive and decreases the amount of darkness, and brings nearer to us the lord and leader of all mobile matter.
20 1 Why is it that the women, when they adorn in their houses a shrine to the women’s goddess, whom they call Bona Dea, bring in no myrtle, although they are very eager to make use of all manner of growing and blooming plants?
Was this goddess, as the mythologists relate, the wife of the seer Faunus; and was she secretly addicted to wine, but did not escape detection and was beaten by her husband with myrtle rods, and is this the reason why they do not bring in myrtle and, when they make libations of wine to her, call it milk?
Or is it because they remain pure from many things, particularly from venery, when they perform this holy service? For they not only exclude their husbands, but they also drive everything male out of the house whenever they conduct the customary ceremonies in honour of the goddess. So, because the myrtle is sacred to Venus, they religiously exclude it. For she whom they now call Venus Murcia, in ancient days, it seems, they styled Myrtia.
21 1 Why do the Latins revere the woodpecker and all strictly abstain from it?
Is it because, as they tell the tale, Picus, transformed by his wife’s magic drugs, became a woodpecker and in that form gives oracles and prophecies to those who consult him?
Or is this wholly incredible and monstrous, and is that other tale more credible which relates that when Romulus and Remus were exposed, not only did a she-wolf suckle them, but also a certain woodpecker came continually to visit them and bring them scraps of food? For generally, even to this day, in foot-hills and thickly wooded places what the woodpecker is found, there also is found the wolf, as Nigidius records.
Or is it rather because they regard this bird as sacred to Mars, even as other birds to other gods? For it is a courageous and spirited bird 269 and has a beak so strong that it can overturn oaks by pecking them until it has reached the inmost part of the tree.
22 1 Why do they suppose Janus to have been two-faced and so represent him in painting and sculpture?
Is it because, as they relate, he was by birth a Greek from Perrhaebia, and, when he had crossed to Italy and had settled among the savages there, he changed both his speech and his habits? Or is it rather because he changed the people of Italy to another manner and form of life by persuading a people which had formerly made use of wild plants and lawless customs to till the soil and to live under organized government?
23 1 Why do they sell articles for funerals in the precinct of Libitina, bwhom they identify with Venus?
Is this also one of the philosophic devices of king Numa, that they should learn not to feel repugnance at such things nor shun them as a pollution?
Or is it rather a reminder that whatever is born must die, since one goddess presides over births and deaths? For in Delphi there is a little statue of Aphrodite of the Tomb, to which they summon the departed to come forth for the libations.
24 1 Why have they in the month three beginnings or fixed points, and do not adopt the same interval of days between them?
Is it, as Juba and his followers relate, that on the Kalends the officials used to call the people and announce the Nones for the fifth day thereafter, regarding the Ides as a holy day?
Or is it rather because, since they measured time by the phases of the moon, they observed that in each month the moon undergoes three very important changes: first, when she is hidden by her conjunction with the sun; second, when she has escaped the sun’s rays and becomes visible for the first time at sunset; and third, at the full moon, when her orb is completely round? The disappearance and concealment of the moon they call Kalendae, for everything concealed or secret is clam, and “to be concealed” is celari. The first appearance of the moon they call Nones, the most accurate since it is the new moon: for their word for “new” and “novel” is the same as ours. They name the Ides as they do either because of the beauty and form (eidos) of the full-orbed moon, or by derivation from a title of Jupiter. But we must not follow out the most exact calculation of the number of days nor cast aspersions on approximate reckoning; since even now, when astronomy has made so much progress, the irregularity of the moon’s movements is still beyond the skill of mathematicians, and continues to elude their calculations.
269 e 25 Why do they reckon the day that follows the Kalends, the Nones, or the Ides as unsuitable for leaving home or for travel?
Is it, as most authorities think and as Livy records, that on the day after the Ides of Quintilis, which they now call July, the military tribunes led out the army, and were vanquished in battle by the Gauls at the river Allia and lost the City? But when the day after the Ides had come to be regarded as ill-omened, did superstition, as is its wont, extend the custom further, and involve in the same circumspection the day after the Nones and the day after the Kalends?
Or does this contain many irrational assumptions? For it was on a different day that they were defeated in battle, a day which they call Alliensis from the river, and make a dread day of expiation; and although they have many ill-omened days, they do not observe them under the same names in each month, but each in the month in which it occurs; and it is thus quite incredible that the superstition should have attached itself simply to all the days that follow immediately after the Nones or the Kalends.
Consider the following analogy: just as they have dedicated the first month to the gods of Olympus, and the second, in which they perform certain rites of purification and sacrifice to the departed, to the gods of the lower world, 270 so also in regard to the days of the month they have established three as festive and holy days, as I have stated, which are, as it were, fundamental and sovereign days; but the days which follow immediately they have dedicated to the spirits and the dead, and have come to regard them as ill-omened and unsuitable for business. In fact, the Greeks worship the gods on the day of the new moon; the next day they have duly assigned to the heroes and spirits, and the second bowl of wine is mixed in honour of the heroes and heroines. And speaking generally, time is a sort of number; and the beginning of number is divine, for it is the monad. But after it is the dyad, antagonistic to the beginning number, and the first of the even numbers. The even numbers are imperfect, incomplete, and indeterminate, just as the odd numbers are determinate, completing, and perfect. Wherefore, in like manner, the Nones succeed the Kalends at an interval of five days and the Ides succeed the Nones at an interval of nine days. For the odd numbers define the beginnings but even numbers, since they occur after the beginnings, have no position nor power; therefore on these days they do not begin any business or travel.
Or has also the saying of Themistocles some foundation in reason? For once upon a time, said he, the Day-After had an altercation with the Feast- Day on the ground that the Feast- Day had much labour and toil, whereas she herself provided the opportunity of enjoying in leisure and quiet all the things prepared for the festival. To this the Feast- Day replied “You are quite right; but if I had not been, you would not be!” This story Themistocles related to the Athenian generals who succeeded him, to show that they would have been nowhere, if he himself had not saved the city.
Since, therefore, all travel and all business of importance needs provision and preparation, and since in ancient days the Romans, at the time of festivals, made no provision or plan for anything, save only that they were engaged in the service of their gods and busied themselves with this only, just as even to this day the priests cause such a proclamation to be made in advance as they proceed on their way to sacrifice; so it was only natural that they did not set out on a journey immediately after their festivals, nor did they transact any business, for they were unprepared; but that day they always spent at home making their plans and preparations.
Or is it even as men now, who have offered their prayers and oblations, are wont to tarry and sit a while in the temples, and so they would not let busy days succeed holy days immediately, but made some pause and breathing-space between, since business brings with it much that is distasteful and undesired?
26 1 Why do women in mourning wear white robes and white head-dresses?
Do they do this, as men say the Magi do, arraying themselves against Hades and the powers of darkness, and making themselves like unto Light and Brightness?
Or is it that, just as they clothe the body of the dead in white, they think it proper that the relatives should also wear this colour? They adorn the body thus since they cannot so adorn the soul; and they wish to send forth the soul bright and pure, since it is now set free after having fought the good fight in all its manifold forms.
Or are plainness and simplicity most becoming on these occasions? Of the dyed garments, some reflect expense, others over-elaboration; for we may say no less with reference to black than to purple: “These be cheating garments, these be cheating colours.” That which is naturally black is dyed not through art, but by nature; and when it is combined with a dark colour, it is overpowered. Only white, therefore, is pure, unmixed, and uncontaminated by dye, nor can it be imitated; wherefore it is most appropriate for the dead at burial. For he who is dead has become something simple, unmixed, and pure, once he has been released from the body, which is indeed to be compared with a stain made by dyeing. In Argos, as Socrates says, persons in mourning wear white garments washed in water.
27 1 Why do they regard all the city wall as inviolable and sacred, 271 but not the gates?
Is it, as Varro has written, because the wall must be considered sacred that men may fight and die with enthusiasm in its defence? It was under such circumstances, it seems, that Romulus killed his brother because he was attempting to leap across a place that was inviolable and sacred, and to make it traversable and profane.
But it was impossible to consecrate the gates, for through them they carry out many other objectionable things and also dead bodies. Wherefore the original founders of a city yoke a bull and a cow, and mark out with a plough all the land on which they intend to build; and when they are engaged in tracing the circuit of the walls, as they measure off the space intended for gates, they lift up the ploughshare and thus carry the plough across, since they hold that all the land that is ploughed is to be kept sacred and inviolable.
28 1 Why do they tell children, whenever they would swear by Hercules, not to do so under a roof, and bid them go out into the open air?
Is it, as some relate, because they believe that Hercules had no pleasure in staying in the house, but rejoiced in a life in the open air and a bed under the stars?
Or is it rather because Hercules is not one of the native gods, but a foreigner from afar? For neither do they swear under a roof by Bacchus, since he also is a foreign god if he is from Nysa.
Or is this but said in jest to the children, and what is done is really a check upon over-readiness and hastiness to swear, as Favorinus stated? For what is done following, as it were, upon preparation produces delay and allows deliberation. Yet one might urge against Favorinus the fact that this custom is not common, but peculiar to Hercules, as may be seen from the legend about him: for it is recorded that he was so circumspect regarding an oath that he swore but once and for Phyleus, the son of Augeas, alone. Wherefore they say that the prophetic priestess also brought up against the Spartans all the oaths they had sworn, saying that it would be better and much more to be desired if they would keep them!
29 1 Why do they not allow the bride to cross the threshold of her home herself, but those who are escorting her lift her over?
Is it because they carried off by force also the first Roman brides and bore them in this manner, and the women did not enter of their own accord?
Or do they wish it to appear that it is under constraint and not of their own desire that they enter a dwelling where they are about to lose their virginity?
Or is it a token that the woman may not go forth of her own accord and abandon her home if she be not constrained, just as it was under constraint that she entered it? So likewise among us in Boeotia they burn the axle of the bridal carriage before the door, signifying that the bride must remain, since her means of departure has been destroyed.
30 1 Why do they, as they conduct the bride to her home, bid her say, “Where you are Gaius, there am I Gaia”?
Is her entrance into the house upon fixed terms, as it were, at once to share everything and to control jointly the household, and is the meaning, then, “Wherever you are lord and master, there am I lady and mistress”? These names are in common use also in other connexions, just as jurists speak of Gaius Seius and Lucius Titius, and philosophers of Dion and Theon.
Or do they use these names because of Gaia Caecilia, consort of one of Tarquin’s sons, a fair and virtuous woman, whose statue in bronze stands in the temple of Sanctus? And both her sandals and her spindle were, in ancient days, dedicated there as tokens of her love of home and of her industry respectively.
31 Why is the far-famed “Talassio” sung at the marriage ceremony?
Is it derived from talasia (spinning)? For they call the wool-basket (talaros) talasus. When they lead in the bride, they spread a fleece beneath her; she herself brings with her a distaff and her spindle, and wreaths her husband’s door with wool.
Or is the statement of the historians true? They relate that there was a certain young man, brilliant in military achievements and valuable in other ways, whose name was Talasius; and when the Romans were carrying off the daughters of the Sabines who had come to see the games, 272 a maiden of particularly beautiful appearance was being carried off for him by some plebeian retainers of his. To protect their enterprise and to prevent anyone from approaching and trying to wrest the maiden from them, they shouted continually that she was being brought as a wife for Talasius (Talasio). Since, therefore, everyone honoured Talasius, they followed along and provided escort, joining in the good wishes and acclamations. Wherefore since Talasius’s marriage was happy, they became accustomed to invoke Talasius in other marriages also, even as the Greeks invoke Hymen.
32 1 Why is it that in the month of May at the time of the full moon they throw into the river from the Pons Sublicius figures of men, calling the images thrown Argives?
Is it because in ancient days the barbarians who lived in these parts used to destroy thus the Greeks whom they captured? But Hercules, who was much admired by them, put an end to their murder of strangers and taught them to throw figures into the river, in imitation of their superstitious custom. The men of old used to call all Greeks alike Argives; unless it be, indeed, since the Arcadians regarded the Argives also as their enemies because of their immediate proximity, that, when Evander and his men fled from Greece and settled there, they continued to preserve their ancient feud and enmity.
33 1 Why in ancient days did they never dine out without their sons, even when these were still but children?
Did Lycurgus introduce this custom also, and bring boys to the common meals that they might become accustomed to conduct themselves towards their pleasures, not in a brutish or disorderly way, but with discretion, since they had their elders as supervisors and spectators, as it were? No less important is the fact that the fathers themselves would also be more decorous and prudent in the presence of their sons; for “where the old are shameless,” as Plato remarks, “there the young also must needs be lost to all sense of shame.”
34 1 Why is it that while the other Romans make libations and offerings to the dead in the month of February, Decimus Brutus, as Cicero has recorded, used to do so in the month of December? This was the Brutus who invaded Lusitania, and was the first to visit those remote places, and cross the river Lethê with an army.
Since most peoples are accustomed to make offerings to the dead at the close of the day and at the end of the month, is it not reasonable also to honour the dead in the last month at the turn of the year? And December is the last month.
Or do these honours belong to deities beneath the earth, and is it the proper season to honour these deities when all the crops have attained consummation?
Or is it most fitting to remember those below when men are stirring the earth at the beginning of seed-time?
Or is it because this month has been consecrated to Saturn by the Romans, and they regard Saturn as an infernal, not a celestial god?
Or is it that then their greatest festival, the Saturnalia, is set; and it is reputed to contain the most numerous social gatherings and enjoyments, and therefore Brutus deemed it proper to bestow upon the dead first-fruits, as it were, of this festival also?
Or is this statement, that Brutus alone sacrificed to the dead in this month, altogether a falsehood? For it is in December that they make offerings to Larentia and bring libations to her sepulchre.
35 1 And why do they thus honour Larentia who was at one time a courtesan?
They record that there was another Larentia, Acca, the nurse of Romulus, whom they honour in the month of April. But they say that the surname of the courtesan Larentia was Fabula. She became famous for the following reason: a certain keeper of the temple of Hercules enjoyed, it seems, considerable leisure and had the habit of spending the greater part of the day at draughts and dice; and one day, as it chanced, there was present no one of those who were wont to play with him and share the occasion of his leisure. So, in his boredom, he challenged the god to throw dice with him on fixed terms, as it were: if he should win, he was to obtain some service from the god; 273 but if he should lose, he was to furnish a supper for the god at his own expense and provide a comely girl to spend the night with him. Thereupon he brought out the dice, and threw once for himself and once for the god, and lost. Abiding, therefore, by the terms of his challenge he prepared a somewhat sumptuous repast for the god and fetched Larentia, who openly practised the profession of courtesan. He feasted her, put her to bed in the temple, and, when he departed, locked the doors. The tale is told that the god visited her in the night, not in mortal wise, and bade her on the morrow go into the forum, band pay particular attention to the first man she met, and make him her friend. Larentia arose, therefore, and, going forth, met one of the wealthy men that were unwed and past their prime, whose name was Tarrutius. With this man she became acquainted, and while he lived she presided over his household, and when he died, she inherited his estate; and later, when she herself died, she left her property to the State; and for that reason she has these honours.
36 1 Why do they call one of the gates the Window, for this is what fenestra means; and why is the so called Chamber of Fortune beside it?
Is it because King Servius, the luckiest of mortals, was reputed to have converse with Fortune, who visited him through a window?
Or is this but a fable, and is the true reason that when King Tarquinius Priscus died, his wife Tanaquil, a sensible and queenly woman, put her head out of a window and, addressing the citizens, persuaded them to appoint Servius king, and thus the place came to have this name?
37 1 Why is it that of all the things dedicated to the gods it is the custom to allow only spoils of war to disintegrate with the passage of time, and not to move them beforehand nor repair them?
Is it in order that men may believe that their repute deserts them at the same time with the obliteration of their early memorials, and may ever seek to bring in some fresh reminder of valour?
Or is it rather that, as time makes dim the memorials of their dissension with their enemies, it would be invidious and malicious to restore and renew them? Nor among the Greeks, either, do they that first erected a trophy of stone or of bronze stand in good repute.
38 1 Why did Quintus Metellus, when he became pontifex maximus, with his reputation for good sense in all other matters as well as in his statesmanship, prevent divination from birds after the month Sextilis, which is now called August?
Is it that, even as we attend to such matters in the middle of the day or at dawn, or in the beginning of the month when the moon is waxing, and avoid the declining days and hours as unsuitable for business, so likewise did Metellus regard the period of time after the first eight months as the evening or late afternoon, so to speak, of the year, since then it is declining and waning?
Or is it because we should observe birds when they are in their prime and in perfect condition? And this they are before the summer-time; but towards autumn some are weak and sickly, others but nestlings and not full-grown, and still others have vanished completely, migrating because of the time of year.
39 1 Why were men who were not regularly enlisted, but merely tarrying in the camp, not allowed to throw missiles at the enemy or to wound them?
This fact Cato the Elder has made clear in one of his letters to his son, fin which he bids the young man to return home if he has completed his term of service and has been discharged; or, if he should stay over, to obtain permission from his general to wound or slay an enemy.
Is it because sheer necessity alone constitutes a warrant to kill a human being, and he who does so illegally and without the word of command is a murderer? For this reason Cyrus also praised Chrysantas who, when he was about to kill an enemy, and had his weapon raised to strike, heard the recall sounded and let the man go without striking, believing that he was now prevented from so doing.
Or must he who grapples with the enemy and fights 274 not be free from accountability nor go unscathed should he play the coward? For he does not help so much by hitting or wounding an enemy as he does harm by fleeing or retreating. He, therefore, who has been discharge from service is freed from military regulations; but he who asks leave to perform the offices of a soldier renders himself again accountable to the regulations and to his general.
40 1 Why is it not allowed the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) to anoint himself in the open air?
Is it because it used not to be proper or decent for sons to strip in their father’s sight, nor a son-in law in the presence of his father-in law, nor in ancient days did they bathe together? Now Jupiter is our father, and whatever is in the open air is in some way thought to be particularly in his sight.
Or, just as it is against divine ordinance to strip oneself in a shrine or a temple, so also did they scrupulously avoid the open air and the space beneath the heavens, since it was full of gods and spirits? Wherefore also we perform many necessary acts under a roof, hidden and concealed by our houses from the view of Divine powers.
Or are some regulations prescribed for the priest alone, while others are prescribed for all by the law through the priest? Wherefore also, in my country, to wear a garland, to wear the hair long, not to have any iron on one’s person, and not to set foot within the boundaries of Phocis, are the special functions of an archon; but not to taste fruit before the autumnal equinox nor to prune a vine before the vernal equinox are prohibitions disclosed to practically all alike through the archon; for those are the proper seasons for each of these acts.
In the same way, then, it is apparently a special obligation of the Roman priest also not to use a horse nor to be absent from the city more than three nights nor to lay aside the cap from which he derives the name of flamen. But many other regulations are revealed to all through the priest, and one of them is the prohibition not to anoint oneself in the open air. For the Romans used to be very suspicious of rubbing down with oil, and even to day they believe that nothing has been so much to blame for the enslavement and effeminacy of the Greeks as their gymnasia and wrestling-schools, which engender much listless idleness and waste of time in their cities, as well as paederasty and the ruin of the bodies of the young men with regulated sleeping, walking, rhythmical movements, and strict diet; by these practices they have unconsciously lapsed from the practice of arms, and have become content to be termed nimble athletes and handsome wrestlers rather than excellent men-at arms and horsemen. It is hard work, at any rate, when men strip in the open air, to escape these consequences; but those who anoint themselves and care for their bodies in their own houses commit no offence.
41 1 Why did their ancient coinage have stamped on one side a double-faced likeness of Janus, on the other the stern or the prow of a ship?
Is it, as many affirm, in honour of Saturn who crossed over to Italy in a ship?
Or, since this might be said of many, inasmuch as Janus, Evander, and Aeneas all landed in Italy after a voyage by sea, one might rather conjecture thus: some things are excellent for States, others are necessary; and of the excellent things good government is the chief, and of the necessary things facility of provision. Since, therefore, Janus established for them an ordered government by civilizing their life, and since the river, which was navigable and permitted transportation both from the sea and from the land, provided them with an abundance of necessities, the coinage came to have as its symbol the twofold form of the lawgiver, as has been stated, because of the change he wrought, and the vessel as the symbol of the river.
They also used another kind of coinage, stamped with the figures of a bull, a ram, and a boar, because their prosperity came mostly from their live stock, and from these they also derived their affluence. This is the reason why many of the names of the ancient families are such as 275 the Suillii, Bubulci, Porcii, as Fenestella has stated.
42 1 Why do they use the temple of Saturn as the public treasury and also as a place of storage for records of contracts?
Is it because the opinion and tradition prevailed that when Saturn was king there was no greed or injustice among men, but good faith and justice?
Or is it because the god was the discoverer of crops and the pioneer in husbandry? For this is what his sickle signifies and not as Antimachus, following Hesiod, has written:
Here with sickle in hand was wrought the form of rough Cronus
Maiming his sire at his side, who is Uranus, offspring of Acmon.
Now abundant harvests and their disposal are what give rise to a monetary system; therefore they make the god who is the cause of their good fortune its guardian also. Testimony to support this may be found in the fact that the markets held every eight days and called nundinae are considered sacred to Saturn, for it was the superabundance of the harvest that initiated buying and selling.
Or is this a matter of ancient history, and was Valerius Publicola the first to make the temple of Saturn the treasury, when the kings had been overthrown, because he believed that the place was well-protected, in plain sight, and hard to attack secretly?
43 1 Why do the ambassadors to Rome, from whatever country they come, proceed to the temple of Saturn, and register with the prefects of the treasury?
Is it because Saturn was a foreigner, and consequently takes pleasure in foreigners, or is the solution of this question also to be found in history? For it seems that in early days the treasurers used to send gifts to the ambassadors, which were called lautia, and they cared for the ambassadors when they were sick, and buried them at public expense if they died; but now, owing to the great number of embassies that come, this expensive practice has been discontinued; yet there still remains the preliminary meeting with the prefects of the treasury in the guise of registration.
44 1 Why may not the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) take an oath?
Is it because an oath is a kind of test to prove that men are free-born, and neither the body nor the soul of the priest must be subjected to any test?
Or is it because it is unreasonable to distrust in trivial affairs him who is entrusted with holy matters of the greatest importance?
Or is it because every oath concludes with a curse on perjury, and a curse is an ill-omened and gloomy thing? This is the reason why priests may not even invoke curses upon others. At any rate the priestess at Athens who was unwilling to curse Alcibiades at the people’s bidding won general approval, for she declared that she had been made a priestess of prayer, not of cursing.
Or is it because the danger of perjury is a public danger if an impious and perjured man leads in prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the State?
275 e 45 Why on the festival of the Veneralia do they pour out a great quantity of wine from the temple of Venus?
Is it true, as most authorities affirm, that Mezentius, general of the Etruscans, sent to Aeneas and offered peace on condition of his receiving the year’s vintage? But when Aeneas refused, Mezentius promised his Etruscans that when he had prevailed in battle, he would give them the wine. Aeneas learned of his promise and consecrated the wine to the gods, and after his victory he collected all the vintage and poured it out in front of the temple of Venus.
Or is this also symbolic, indicating that men should be sober and not drunken on festival days, since the gods take more pleasure in those who spill much strong drink than in those who imbibe it?
46 1 Why did the men of old keep the temple of Horta continually open?
Is it, as Antistius Labeo has stated, that since “to urge on” is expressed by hortari, Horta is the goddess who urges us on, as it were, and incites us to noble actions; and thus they thought that, since she was ever active, she should never be procrastinating nor shut off by herself nor unemployed?
Or rather do they call her, as at present, Hora, with the first syllable lengthened, an attentive and very considerate goddess, who, 276 since she was protective and thoughtful, they felt was never indifferent nor neglectful of human affairs?
Or is this too like many other Latin words, a Greek word, and does it signify the supervising and guardian goddess? Hence her temple was continually open since she neither slumbers nor sleeps.
If, however, Labeo be right in pointing out that Hora is derived from “parorman” (to urge on), consider whether we must not declare that orator is thus to be derived, since an orator is a counsellor or popular leader who stimulates, as it were, and incites; and it is not to be derived from “imprecating” or “praying” (orare), as some assert.
47 1 Why did Romulus build the temple of Vulcan outside the city?
Was it in consequence of Vulcan’s fabled jealousy of Mars because of Venus that Romulus, the reputed son of Mars, did not give Vulcan a share in his home or his city?
Or is this a foolish explanation, and was the temple originally built as a secret place of assembly and council-chamber for himself and his colleague Tatius, that here they might convene with the senators and take counsel concerning public affairs in quiet without being disturbed?
Or was it that since Rome, from the very beginning, has been in great danger from conflagrations, they decided to show honour to this god, but to place his temple outside of the city?
48 1 Why is it that at festival of the Consualia they place garlands on both the horses and the asses and allow them to rest?
Is it because they celebrate this festival in honour of Poseidon, god of horses, and the ass enjoys a share in the horse’s exemption?
Or is it that since navigation and transport by sea have been discovered, pack animals have come to enjoy a certain measure of ease and rest?
49 1 Why was it the custom for those canvassing for office to do so in the toga without the tunic, as Cato has recorded?
Was it in order that they might not carry money in the folds of their tunic and give bribes?
Or was it rather because they used to judge candidates worthy of office, not by their family nor their wealth nor their repute, but by their wounds and scars? Accordingly that these might be visible to those that encountered them, they used to go down to their canvassing without tunics.
Or were they trying to commend themselves to popular favour by thus humiliating themselves by their scanty attire, even as they do by hand-shaking, personal appeals, and fawning behaviour?
50 1 Why did the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) resign his office if his wife died, as Ateius has recorded?
Is it because the man who has taken a wife and then lost her is more unfortunate than one who has never taken a wife? For the house of the married man is complete, but the house of him who has married and later lost his wife is not only incomplete, but also crippled.
Or is it because the wife assists her husband in the rites, so that many of them cannot be performed without the wife’s presence, and for a man who has lost his wife to marry again immediately is neither possible perhaps nor otherwise seemly? Wherefore it was formerly illegal for the flamen to divorce his wife; and it is still, as it seems, illegal, but in my day Domitian once permitted it on petition. The priests were present at that ceremony of divorce and performed many horrible, strange, and gloomy rites.
One might be less surprised at this resignation of the flamen if one should adduce also the fact that when one of the censors died, the other was obliged to resign his office; but when the censor Livius Drusus died, his colleague Aemilius Scaurus was unwilling to give up his office until certain tribunes ordered him to be led away to prison.
51 1 Why is a dog placed beside the Lares that men call by the special name of praestites, and why are the Lares themselves clad in dog-skins?
Is it because “those that stand before” are termed praestites, and, also because it is fitting that those who stand before a house should be its guardians, terrifying to strangers, but gentle and mild to the inmates, even as a dog is?
Or is the truth rather, as some Romans affirm, that, just as the philosophic school of Chrysippus think that evil spirits stalk about 277 whom the gods use as executioners and avengers upon unholy and unjust men, even so the Lares are spirits of punishment like the Furies and supervisors of men’s lives and houses? Wherefore they are clothed in the skins of dogs and have a dog as their attendant, in the belief that they are skilful in tracking down and following up evil-doers.
52 1 Why do they sacrifice a bitch to the goddess called Geneta Mana and pray that none of the household shall become “good”?
Is it because Geneta is a spirit concerned with the generation and birth of beings that perish? Her name means some such thing as “flux and birth” or “flowing birth.” Accordingly, just as the Greeks sacrifice a bitch to Hecatê, even so do the Romans offer the same sacrifice to Geneta on behalf of the members of their household. But Socrates says that the Argives sacrifice a bitch to Eilioneia by reason of the ease with which the bitch brings forth its young. But does the import of the prayer, that none of them shall become “good,” refer not to the human members of a household, but to the dogs? For dogs should be savage and terrifying.
Or, because of the fact that the dead are gracefully called “the good,” are they in veiled language asking in their prayer that none of their household may die? One should not be surprised at this; Aristotle, in fact, says that there is written in the treaty of the Arcadians with the Spartans: “No one shall be made good for rendering aid to the Spartan party in Tegea”; that is, no one shall be put to death.
53 1 Why do they even now, at the celebration of the Capitoline games, proclaim “Sardians for sale!”, and why is an old man led forth in derision, wearing around his neck a child’s amulet which they call a bulla?
Is it because the Etruscans called Veians fought against Romulus for a long time, and he took this city last of all and sold at auction many captives together with their king, taunting him for his stupidity and folly? But since the Etruscans were originally Lydians, and Sardis was the capital city of the Lydians, they offered the Veians for sale under this name; and even to this day they preserve the custom in sport.
54 1 Why do they call the meat-markets macella and macellae?
Is this word corrupted from mageiroi (cooks) and has it prevailed, as many others have, by force of habit? For c and g have a close relationship in Latin, and it was only after many years that they made use of g, which Spurius Carvilius introduced. And l, again, is substituted lispingly for r when people make a slip in the pronunciation of r because of the indistinctness of their enunciation.
Or must this problem also be solved by history? For the story goes that there once lived in Rome a violent man, a robber, Marcellus by name, who despoiled many people and was with great difficulty caught and punished; from his wealth the public meat-market was built, and it acquired its name from him.
55 1 Why is it that on the Ides of January the flute-players are allowed to walk about the city wearing the raiment of women?
Is it for the reason commonly alleged? They used to enjoy, as it seems, great honours, which King Numa had given them by reason of his piety towards the gods. Because they were later deprived of these honours by the decemviri, who were invested with consular power, they withdrew from the city. There was, accordingly, inquiry made for them, and a certain superstitious fear seized upon the priests when they sacrificed without flutes. But when the flute-players would not hearken to those sent to summon them to return, but remained in Tibur, a freedman secretly promised the officials to bring them back. On the pretext of having sacrificed to the gods, he prepared a sumptuous banquet and invited the flute-players. Women were present, as well as wine, and a party lasting all the night was being celebrated with merriment and dancing, when suddenly the freedman interrupted, saying that his patron was coming to see him, 278 and, in his perturbation, he persuaded the flute-players to climb into wagons, which were screened round about with skins, to be conveyed back to Tibur. But this was a trick, for he turned the wagons around, and, without being detected, since the flute-players comprehended nothing because of the wine and the darkness, at dawn he had brought them all to Rome. Now the majority of them happened to be clad in raiment of feminine finery because of the nocturnal drinking-bout; when, therefore, they had been persuaded and reconciled by the officials, bit became their custom on that day to strut through the city clad in this manner.
56 1 Why are the matrons supposed to have founded the temple of Carmenta originally, and why do they reverence it now above all others?
There is a certain tale repeated that the women were prevented by the senate from using horse-drawn vehicles; they therefore made an agreement with one another not to conceive nor to bear children, and they kept their husbands at a distance, until the husbands changed their minds and made the concession to them. When children were born to them, they, as mothers of a fair and numerous progeny, founded the temple of Carmenta.
Some assert that Carmenta was the mother of Evander and that she came to Italy; that her name was Themis, or, as others say, Nicostratê; and that because she chanted oracles in verse, she was named Carmenta by the Latins, for they call verses carmina.
But others think that Carmenta is a Fate, and that this is the reason why the matrons sacrifice to her. The true meaning of the name is “deprived of sense,” by reason of her transports. Wherefore Carmenta was not so named from carmina, but rather carmina from her, because, in her divine frenzy, she chanted oracles in verse and metre.
57 1 Why do women that sacrifice to Rumina pour milk over the offerings, but make no oblation of wine in the ceremony?
Is it because the Latins call the teat ruma, and assert that Ruminalis acquired its name inasmuch as the she-wolf offered its teat to Romulus? Therefore, as we call wet-nurses thelonai from thele (teat), even so Rumina is she that gives suck, the nurse and nurturer of children; she does not, therefore, welcome pure wine, since it is harmful for babes.
58 1 Why did they use to address some of the senators as Conscript Fathers, others merely as Fathers?
Is it because they used to call those senators originally assigned to that body by Romulus fathers and patricians, that is to say “well-born,” since they could point out their fathers, while they called those who were later enrolled from the commoners conscript fathers?
59 1 Why did Hercules and the Muses have an altar in common?
Is it because Hercules taught Evander’s people the use of letters, as Juba has recorded? And this action was held to be noble on the part of men who taught their friends and relatives. It was a long time before they began to teach for pay, and the first to open an elementary school was Spurius Carvilius, a freedman of the Carvilius who was the first to divorce his wife.
60 1 Why, when there are two altars of Hercules, do women receive no share nor taste of the sacrifices offered on the larger altar?
Is it because the friends of Carmenta came late for the rites, as did also the clan of the Pinarii? Wherefore, as they were excluded from the banquet while the rest were feasting, they acquired the name Pinarii (Starvelings). Or is it because of the fable of Deianeira and the shirt?
61 1 Why is it forbidden to mention or to inquire after or to call by name that deity, whether it be male or female, whose especial province it is to preserve and watch over Rome? This prohibition they connect with a superstition and relate that Valerius Soranus came to an evil end because he revealed the name.
Is it because, as certain Roman writers have recorded, there are certain evocations and enchantments affecting the gods, by which the Romans also believed that certain gods had been called forth from their enemies, and had come to dwell among themselves, 279 and they were afraid of having this same thing done to them by others? Accordingly, as the Tyrians are said to have put chains upon their images, and certain other peoples are said to demand sureties when they send forth their images for bathing or for some other rite of purification, so the Romans believed that not to mention and not to know the name of a god was the safest and surest way of shielding him.
Or as Homer has written,
Earth is yet common to all,
so that mankind should reverence and honour all the gods, since they possess the earth in common, even so did the Romans of early times conceal the identity of the god who was the guardian of their safety, since they desired that not only this god, but all the gods should be honoured by the citizens?
62 1 Why, among those called Fetiales, or, as we should say in Greek, peace-makers or treaty-bringers, was he who was called pater patratus considered the chief? The pater patratus is a man whose father is still alive and who has children; even now he possesses a certain preferment and confidence, for the praetors entrust to him any wards whose beauty and youth require a careful and discreet guardianship.
Is it because there attaches to these men respect for their children and reverence for their fathers? Or does the name suggest the reason? For patratus means, as it were, “completed” or “perfected,” since he to whose lot it has fallen to become a father while he still has a father is more perfect than other men.
Or should the man who presides over oaths and treaties of peace be, in the words of Homer, one “looking before and after”? Such a man above all others would be he that has a son to plan for and a father to plan with.
63 1 Why is the so called rex sacrorum, that is to say “king of the sacred rites,” forbidden to hold office or to address the people?
Is it because in early times the kings performed greater part of the most important rites, and themselves offered the sacrifices with the assistance of the priests? But when they did not practise moderation, but were arrogant and oppressive, most of the Greek states took away their authority, and left to them only the offering of the sacrifice to the gods; but the Romans expelled their kings altogether, and to offer the sacrifices they appointed another, whom they did not allow to hold office or to address the people, so that in their sacred rites only they might seem to be subject to a king, and to tolerate a kingship only on the gods’ account. At any rate, there is a sacrifice traditionally performed in the forum at the place called Comitium, and, when the rex has performed this, he flees from the forum as fast as he can.
64 1 Why did they not allow the table to be taken away empty, but insisted that something should be upon it?
Was it that they were symbolizing the necessity of ever allowing some part of the present provision to remain for the future, and to day to be mindful of to morrow, or did they think it polite to repress and restrain the appetite while the means of enjoyment was still at hand? For persons who have accustomed themselves to refrain from what they have are less likely to crave for what they have not.
Or does the custom also show a kindly feeling towards the servants? For they are not so well satisfied with taking as with partaking, since they believe that they thus in some manner share the table with their masters.
Or should no sacred thing be suffered to be empty, and the table is a sacred thing?
65 1 Why does the husband approach his bride for the first time, not with a light, but in darkness?
Is it because he has a feeling of modest respect, since he regards her as not his own before his union with her? Or is he accustoming himself to approach even his own wife with modesty?
Or, as Solon has given directions that the bride shall nibble a quince before entering the bridal chamber, in order that the first greeting may not be disagreeable nor unpleasant, even so did the Roman legislator, if there was anything abnormal or disagreeable connected with the body, keep it concealed?
Or is this that is done a manner of casting infamy upon unlawful amours, since even lawful love has a certain opprobrium connected with it?
66 1 Why is one of the hippodromes called Flaminian?
280 Is it because a certain Flaminius long ago bestowed some land upon the city and they used the revenues for the horse-races; and, as there was money still remaining, they made a road, and this they also called Flaminian?
67 1 Why do they call the rod-bearers “lictors”?
Is it because these officers used both to bind unruly persons and also to follow in the train of Romulus with straps in their bosoms? Most Romans use alligare for the verb “to bind,” but purists, when they converse, say ligare.
Or is the c but a recent insertion, and were they formerly called litores, that is, a class of public servants? The fact that even to this day the word “public” is expressed by leitos in many of the Greek laws has escaped the attention of hardly anyone.
68 1 Why do the Luperci sacrifice a dog? The Luperci are men who race through the city on the Lupercalia, lightly clad in loin-cloths, striking those whom they meet with a strip of leather.
Is it because this performance constitutes a rite of purification of the city? In fact they call this month February, and indeed this very day, februata; and to strike with a kind of leather thong they call februare, the word meaning “to purify.” Nearly all the Greeks used a dog as the sacrificial victim for ceremonies of purification; and some, at least, make use of it even to this day. They bring forth for Hecatê puppies along with the other materials for purification, and rub round about with puppies such persons as are in need of cleansing, and this kind of purification they call periskylakismos (“puppifrication”).
Or is it that lupus means “wolf” and the Lupercalia is the Wolf Festival, and that the dog is hostile to the wolf, and for this reason is sacrificed at the Wolf Festival?
Or is it that the dogs bark at the Luperci and annoy them as they race about in the city?
Or is it that the sacrifice is made to Pan, and a dog is something dear to Pan because of his herds of goats?
69 1 Why on the festival called Septimontium were they careful to refrain from the use of horse-drawn vehicles; and why even to this day are those who do not contemn ancient customs still careful about this?
The festival Septimontium they observe in commemoration of the addition to the city of the seventh hill, by which Rome was made a city of seven hills. Is it, as some of the Roman writers conceive, because the city had not yet been completely joined together in all its parts?
Or has this “nothing to do with Dionysus”? But did they imagine, when their great task of consolidation had been accomplished, that the city had now ceased from further extension; and they rested themselves, and gave respite to the pack-animals, which had helped them in their labours, and afforded the animals an opportunity to enjoy the general festival with no work to do?
Or did they wish that the presence of the citizens should adorn and honour every festival always, and, above all, that one which was held in commemoration of the consolidation of the city? Wherefore in order that they might not leave the City, in whose honour the festival was being held, it was not permitted to make use of vehicles on that day.
70 1 Why do they call such persons as stand convicted of theft or of any other servile offences furciferi?
Is this also evidence of the carefulness of the men of old? For anyone who had found guilty of some knavery a slave reared in his own household used to command him to take up the forked stick, which they put under their carts, and to proceed through the community or the neighbourhood, observed of all observers, that they might distrust him and be on their guard against him in the future. This stick we call a prop, and the Romans furca (“fork”); wherefore also he who has borne it about is called furcifer (“fork-bearer”).
71 1 Why do they tie hay to one horn of vicious bulls to warn anyone who meets them to be on guard?
Is it because bulls, horses, asses, men, all wax wanton through stuffing and gorging? So Sophocles has somewhere written,
You prance, as does a colt, from glut of food,
For both your belly and your cheeks are full.
Wherefore also the Romans used to say that Marcus Crassus had hay on his horn: for those who heckled the other chief men in the State were on their guard against assailing him, 281 since they knew that he was vindictive and hard to cope with. Later, however, another saying was bandied about, that Caesar had pulled the hay from Crassus; for Caesar was the first to oppose Crassus in public policy and to treat him with contumely.
72 1 Why did they think that the priests that take the omens from birds, whom they formerly called Auspices, but now Augures, should always keep their lanterns open and put no cover on them?
Were they like the Pythagoreans, who made small matters symbols of great, forbidding men to sit on a peck measure or the poke a fire with a sword; band even so did the men of old make use of many riddles, especially with reference to priests; and is the question of the lantern of this sort? For the lantern is like the body which encompasses the soul; the soul within is a light and the part of it that comprehends and thinks should be ever open and clear-sighted, and should never be closed nor remain unseen.
Now when the winds are blowing the birds are unsteady, and do not afford reliable signs because of their wandering and irregular movements. Therefore by this custom they instruct the augurs not to go forth to obtain these signs when the wind is blowing, but only in calm and still weather when they can use their lanterns open.
281 c 73 Why was it forbidden to priests that had any sore upon their bodies to sit and watch for birds of omen?
Is this also a symbolic indication that those who deal with matters divine should be in no way suffering from any smart, and should not, as it were, have any sore or affection in their souls, but should be untroubled, unscathed, and undistracted?
Or is it only logical, if no one would use for sacrifice a victim afflicted with a sore, or use such birds for augury, that they should be still more on their guard against such things in their own case, and be pure, unhurt, and sound when they advance to interpret signs from the gods? For a sore seems to be a sort of mutilation or pollution of the body.
74 1 Why did King Servius Tullius build a shrine of Little Fortune, which they call Brevis?
Is it because although, at the first, he was a man of little importance and of humble activities and the son of a captive woman, yet, owing to Fortune, he became king of Rome? Or does this very change reveal the greatness rather than the littleness of Fortune, and does Servius beyond all other men seem to have deified the power of Fortune, and to have set her formally over all manner of actions? For he not only built shrines of Fortune the Giver of Good Hope, the Averter of Evil, the Gentle, the First- Born, and the Male; but there is also a shrine of Private Fortune, another of Attentive Fortune, and still another of Fortune the Virgin. Yet why need anyone review her other appellations, when there is a shrine of the Fowler’s Fortune, or Viscata, as they call her, signifying that we are caught by Fortune from afar and held fast by circumstances?
Consider, however, whether it be not that Servius observed the mighty potency of Fortune’s ever slight mutation, and that by the occurrence or non-occurrence of some slight thing, it has often fallen to the lot of some to succeed or to fail in the greatest enterprises, and it was for this reason that he built the shrine of Little Fortune, teaching men to give great heed to events, and not to despise anything that they encountered by reason of its triviality.
75 1 Why did they not extinguish a lamp, but suffered it to go out of itself?
Did they reverence it as akin and closely related to the inextinguishable and undying fire, or is this also a symbolic indication that we should not destroy nor do away with any living thing, if it does us no harm, since fire is like a living thing? For it needs sustenance, it moves of itself, and when it is extinguished it gives out a sound as if it were being slain.
Or does this custom teach us that we should not destroy fire, water, or any other necessity when we have enough and to spare, but should allow those who have need of these things to use them, and should leave them for others when we ourselves no longer have any use for them?
282 76 Why do they that are reputed to be of distinguished lineage wear crescents on their shoes?
Is this, as Castor says, an emblem of the fabled residence in the moon, and an indication that after death their souls will again have the moon beneath their feet; or was this the special privilege of the most ancient families? These were Arcadians of Evander’s following, the so called Pre-Lunar people.
Or does this also, like many another custom, remind the exalted and proud of the mutability, for better or worse, in the affairs of men, and that they should take the moon as an illustration:
When out of darkness first she comes anew
Her face she shows increasing fair and full;
And when she reaches once her brightest sheen,
Again she wastes away and comes to naught?
Or was it a lesson in obedience to authority, teaching them not to be disaffected under the government of kings, but to be even as the moon, who is willing to give heed to her superior and to be a second to him,
Ever gazing in awe at the rays of the bright-gleaming Sun-god,
as Parmenides puts it; and were they thus to be content with their second place, living under their ruler, and enjoying the power and honour derived from him?
77 1 Why do they believe that the year belongs to Jupiter, but the months to Juno?
Is it because Jupiter and Juno rule the invisible, conceptual deities, but the sun and moon the visible deities? Now the sun makes the year and the moon the months; but one must not believe that the sun and moon are merely images of Jupiter and Juno, but that the sun is really Jupiter himself in his material form and in the same way the moon is Juno. This is the reason why the Romans apply the name Juno to our Hera, for the name means “young” or “junior,” so named from the moon. And they also call her Lucina, that is “brilliant” or “light-giving”; and they believe that she aids women in the pangs of childbirth, even as the moon:
On through the dark-blue vault of the stars,
Through the moon that brings forth quickly;
for women are thought to have easiest travail at the time of the full moon.
78 1 Why of birds is the one called “left-hand” a bird of good omen?
Is this not really true, but is it the peculiarity of the language which throws many off the track? For their word for “left” is sinistrum; “to permit” is sinere; and they say sine when they urge giving permission. Accordingly the bird which permits the augural action to be taken, that is, the avis sinisteria, the vulgar are not correct in assuming to be sinistra and in calling it so.
Or is it, as Dionysius says, that when Ascanius, son of Aeneas, was drawing up his army against Mezentius, and his men were taking the auspices, a flash of lightning, which portended victory, appeared on the left, and from that time on they observe this practice in divination? Or is it true, as certain other authorities affirm, that this happened to Aeneas? As a matter of fact, the Thebans, when they had routed and overpowered their enemies on the left wing at Leuctra, continued thereafter to assign to the left the chief command in all battles.
Or is it rather, as Juba declares, that as anyone looks eastward, the north is on the left, and some make out the north to be the right, or upper, side of the universe?
But consider whether it be not that the left is by nature the weaker side, and they that preside over auguries try to strengthen and prop its deficient powers by this method of equalization.
Or was it that they believed earthly and mortal matters to be antithetical to things heavenly and divine, and so thought that whatever was on the left for us the gods were sending forth from the right?
79 1 Why was it permitted to take up a bone of a man who had enjoyed a triumph, and had later died and been cremated, and carry it into the city and deposit it there, as Pyrrhon of Lipara has recorded?
Was it to show honour to the dead? In fact, to other men of achievement, as well as to generals, they granted, not only for themselves, but also for their descendants, the right to be buried in the Forum, 283 as they did to Valerius and to Fabricius; and they relate that when descendants of these men die and have been conveyed to the Forum, a lighted torch is placed beneath the body and then immediately withdrawn; thus they enjoy the honour without exciting envy, and merely confirm their prerogative.
80 1 Why was it that when they gave a public banquet for men who had celebrated a triumph, they formally invited the consuls and then sent word to them requesting them not to come to the dinner?
Was it because it was imperative that the place of honour at table and an escort home after dinner should be assigned to the man who had triumphed? But these honours can be given to no one else when the consuls are present, but only to them.
81 1 Why does not the tribune wear a garment with the purple border, although the other magistrates wear it?
Is it because he is not a magistrate at all? For tribunes have no lictors, nor do they transact business seated on the curule chair, nor do they enter their office at the beginning of the year as all the other magistrates do, nor do they cease from their functions when a dictator is chosen; but although he transfers every other office to himself, the tribunes alone remain, as not being officials but as holding some other position. Even as some advocates will not have it that a demurrer is a suit, but hold that its effect is the opposite of a suit; for a suit brings a case into court and obtains a judgement, while a demurrer takes it out of court and quashes it; in the same way they believe that the tribuneship is a check on officialdom and a position to offer opposition to magistracy rather than a magistracy. For its authority and power consist in blocking the power of a magistrate and in the abrogation of excessive authority.
Or one might expound these matters and others like them, if one were to indulge in the faculty of invention; but since the tribunate derives its origin from the people, the popular element in it is strong; and of much importance is the fact that the tribune does not pride himself above the rest of the people, but conforms in appearance, dress, and manner of life to ordinary citizens. Pomp and circumstance become the consul and the praetor; but the tribune, as Gaius Curio used to say, must allow himself to be trodden upon; he must not be proud of mien, nor difficult of access nor harsh to the multitude, but indefatigable on behalf of others and easy for the multitude to deal with. Wherefore it is the custom that not even the door of his house shall be closed, but it remains open both night and day as a haven of refuge for such as need it. The more humble he is in outward appearance, the more is he increased in power. They think it meet that he shall be available for the common need and be accessible to all, even as an altar; and by the honour paid to him they make his person holy, sacred, and inviolable. Wherefore if anything happen to him when he walks abroad in public, it is even customary for him to cleanse and purify his body as if it had been polluted.
82 1 Why are the rods of the praetors carried in bundles with axes attached?
Is it because this is a symbolic indication that the temper of the official should not be too quick or unrestrained? Or does the deliberate unfastening of the rods, which creates delay and postponement of his fit of temper, oftentimes cause him to change his mind about the punishment? Now since some badness is curable, but other badness is past remedy, the rods correct that which may be amended and the axes cut off the incorrigible.
83 1 When the Romans learned that the people called Bletonesii, a barbarian tribe, had sacrificed a man to the gods, why did they send for the tribal rulers with intent to punish them, but, when it was made plain that they had done thus in accordance with a certain custom, why did the Romans set them at liberty, but forbid the practice for the future? Yet they themselves, not many years before, had buried alive two men and two women, two of them Greeks, two Gauls, in the place called the Forum Boarium. It certainly seems strange that they themselves should do this, and yet rebuke barbarians on the ground that they were acting with impiety.
Did they think it impious to sacrifice men to the gods, but necessary to sacrifice them to the spirits? 284 Or did they believe that men who did this by tradition and custom were sinning, whereas they themselves did it by command of the Sibylline books? For the tale is told that a certain maiden, Helvia, was struck by lightning while she was riding on horseback, and her horse was found lying stripped of its trappings; and she herself was naked, for her tunic had been pulled far up as if purposely; and her shoes, her rings, and her head-dress were scattered apart here and there, and her open mouth allowed the tongue to protrude. The soothsayers declared that it was a terrible disgrace for the Vestal Virgins, that it would be bruited far and wide, and that some wanton outrage would be found touching the knights also. Thereupon a barbarian slave of a certain knight gave information against three Vestal Virgins, Aemilia, Licinia, and Marcia, that they had all been corrupted at about the same time, and that they had long entertained lovers, one of whom was Vetutius Barrus, the informer’s master. The Vestals, accordingly, were convicted and punished; but, since the deed was plainly atrocious, it was resolved that the priests should consult the Sibylline books. They say that oracles were found foretelling that these events would come to pass for the bane of the Romans, and enjoining on them that, to avert the impending disaster, they should offer as a sacrifice to certain strange and alien spirits two Greeks and two Gauls, buried alive on the spot.
84 1 Why do they reckon the beginning of the day from midnight?
Is it because the Roman State was based originally on a military organization and most of the matters that are of use on campaigns are taken up beforehand at night? Or did they make sunrise the beginning of activity, and night the beginning of preparation? For men should be prepared when they act, and not be making their preparations during the action, as Myson, who was fashioning a grain-fork in winter-time, is reported to have remarked to Chilon the Wise.
Or, just as noon is for most people the end of their transaction of public or serious business, even so did it seem good to make midnight the beginning? A weighty testimony to this is the fact that a Roman official does not make treaties or agreements after midday.
Or is it impossible to reckon the beginning and end of the day by sunset and sunrise? For if we follow the method by which most people formulate their definitions, by their perceptions, reckoning the first peep of the sun above the horizon as the beginning of day, and the cutting off of its last rays as the beginning of night, we shall have no equinox; but that night which we think is most nearly equal to the day will plainly be less than that day by the diameter of the sun. But then again the remedy which the mathematicians apply to this anomaly, decreeing that the instant when the centre of the sun touches the horizon is boundary between day and night, is a negation of plain fact; for the result will be that when there is still much light over the earth and the sun is shining upon us, we cannot admit that it is day, but must say that it is already night. Since, therefore, the beginning of day and night is difficult to determine at the time of the risings and settings of the sun because of the irrationalities which I have mentioned, there is left the zenith or the nadir of the sun to reckon as the beginning. The second is better; for from noon on the sun’s course is away from us to its setting, but from midnight on its course is towards us to its rising.
85 1 Why in the early days did they not allow their wives to grind grain or to cook?
Was it in memory of the treaty which they made with the Sabines? For when they had carried off the Sabines’ daughters, and later, after warring with the Sabines, had made peace, it was specified among the other articles of agreement that no Sabine woman should grind grain for a Roman or cook for him.
86 1 Why do men not marry during the month of May?
Is it because this month comes between April and June, 285 of which they regard April as sacred to Venus and June as sacred to Juno, both of them divinities of marriage; and so they put the wedding a little earlier or wait until later?
Or is it because in this month they hold their most important ceremony of purification, in which they now throw images from the bridge into the river, but in days of old they used to throw human beings? Wherefore it is the custom that the Flaminica, reputed to be consecrate to Juno, shall wear a stern face, and refrain from bathing and wearing ornaments at this time.
Or is it because many of the Latins make offerings to the departed in this month? And it is for this reason, perhaps, that they worship Mercury in this month and that the month derives its name from Maia.
Or is May, as some relate, named after the older (maior) and June after the younger generation (iunior)? For youth is better fitted for marriage, as Euripides also says:
Old age bids Love to take her leave for aye
And Aphroditê wearies of the old.
They do not, therefore, marry in May, but wait for June which comes next after May.
87 1 Why do they part the hair of brides with the point of a spear?
Does this symbolize the marriage of the first Roman wives by violence with attendant war, or do the wives thus learn, now that they are mated to brave and warlike men, to welcome an unaffected, unfeminine, and simple mode of beautification? Even as Lycurgus, by giving orders to make the doors and roofs of houses with the saw and the axe only, and to use absolutely no other tool, banished all over-refinement and extravagance.
Or does this procedure hint at the manner of their separation, that with steel alone can their marriage be dissolved?
Or is it that most of the marriage customs were connected with Juno? Now the spear is commonly held to be sacred to Juno, and most of her statues represent her as leaning on a spear, and the goddess herself is surnamed Quiritis; for the men of old used to call the spear curis; wherefore they further relate that Enyalius is called Quirinus by the Romans.
88 1 Why do they call the money expended upon public spectacles Lucar?
Is it because round about the city there are, consecrated to gods, many groves which they call luci, and they used to spend the revenue from these on the public spectacles?
89 1 Why do they call the Quirinalia the Feast of Fools?
Is it because, as Juba states, they apportioned that day to men who did not know their own kith and kin? Or was it granted to those who, because of some business, or absence from Rome, or ignorance, had not sacrificed with the rest of their tribe on the Fornacalia, that, on this day, they might take their due enjoyment of that festival?
285 e 90 Why is it that, when the sacrifice to Hercules takes place, they mention by name no other god, and why is a dog never seen within his enclosure, as Varro has recorded?
Do they make mention of no other god because they regard Hercules as a demigod? But, as some relate, even while he was still on earth, Evander erected an altar to him and brought him sacrifice. And of all animals he contended most with a dog, for it is a fact that this beast always gave him much trouble, Cerberus, for instance. And, to crown all, when Oeonus, Licymnius’s son, had been murdered by the sons of Hippocoön because of a dog, Hercules was compelled to engage in battle with them, and lost many of his friends and his brother Iphicles.
91 1 Why was it not permitted the patricians to dwell about the Capitoline?
Was it because Marcus Manlius, while he was dwelling there, tried to make himself king? They say that because of him the house of Manlius was bound by an oath that none of them should ever bear the name of Marcus.
Or does this fear date from early times? At any rate, although Publicola was a most democratic man, the nobles did not cease traducing him nor the commoners fearing him, until he himself razed his house, the situation of which was thought to be a threat to the Forum.
286 92 1 Why do they give a chaplet of oak leaves to the man who has saved the life of a citizen in time of war?
Is it because it is easy to find an abundance of oak leaves everywhere on a campaign?
Or is it because the chaplet is sacred to Jupiter and Juno, whom they regard as guardians of the city?
Or is the custom an ancient inheritance from the Arcadians, who have a certain kinship with the oak? for they are thought to have been the first men sprung from the earth, even as the oak was the first plant.
93 1 Why do they make most use of vultures in augury?
Because vultures are not much use for anything else! (Now back to Plutarch:)
Is it because twelve vultures appeared to Romulus at the time of the founding of Rome? Or is it because this is the least frequent and familiar of birds? For it is not easy to find a vulture’s nest, but these birds suddenly swoop down from afar; wherefore the sight of them is portentous.
Or did they learn this also from Hercules? If Herodorus tells the truth, Hercules delighted in the appearance of vultures beyond that of all other birds at the beginning of any undertaking, since he believed that the vulture was the most righteous of all flesh-eating creatures; for, in the first place, it touches no living thing, nor does it kill any animate creature, as do eagles and hawks and the birds that fly by night; but it lives upon that which has been killed in some other way. Then again, even of these it leaves its own kind untouched; for no one has ever seen a vulture feeding on a bird, as eagles and hawks do, pursuing and striking their own kind particularly. And yet, as Aeschylus says,
How can a bird that feeds on birds be pure?
And we may say that it is the most harmless of birds to men, since it neither destroys any fruit or plant nor injures any domesticated animal. But if, as the Egyptians fable, the whole species is female, and they conceive by receiving the breath of the East Wind, even as the trees do by receiving the West Wind, then it is credible that the signs from them are altogether unwavering and certain. But in the case of the other birds, their excitements in the mating season, as well as their abductions, retreats, and pursuits, have much that is disturbing and unsteady.
94 1 Why is the shrine of Aesculapius outside the city?
Is it because they considered it more healthful to spend their time outside the city than within its walls? In fact the Greeks, as might be expected, have their shrines of Asclepius situated in places which are both clean and high.
Or is it because they believe that the god came at their summons from Epidaurus, and the Epidaurians have their shrine of Asclepius not in the city, but at some distance?
Or is it because the serpent came out from the trireme into the island, and there disappeared, and thus they thought that the god himself was indicating to them the site for building?
95 1 Why is it the customary rule that those who are practising holy living must abstain from legumes?
Did they, like the followers of Pythagoras, religiously abstain from beans for the reasons which are commonly offered, and from vetch and chickpea, because their names (lathyros and erebinthos) suggest Lethê and Erebus?
Or is it because they make particular use of legumes for funeral feasts and invocations of the dead?
Or is it rather because one must keep the body clean and light for purposes of holy living and lustration? Now legumes are a flatulent food and produce surplus matter that requires much purgation.
Or is it because the windy and flatulent quality of the food stimulates desire?
96 1 Why do they inflict no other punishment on those of the Holy Maidens who have been seduced, but bury them alive?
Is it because they cremate their dead, and to use fire in the burial of a woman who had not guarded the holy fire in purity was not right?
Or did they believe it to be against divine ordinance to annihilate a body that had been consecrated by the greatest of lustral ceremonies, or to lay hands upon a holy woman? Accordingly they devised that she should die of herself; they conducted her underground into a chamber built there, in which had been placed a lighted lamp, a loaf of bread, and some milk and water. Thereafter they covered over the top of the chamber with earth. 287 And yet not even by this manner of avoiding the guilt have they escaped their superstitious fear, but even to this day the priests proceed to this place and make offerings to the dead.
97 1 Why is it that after the chariot-race on the Ides of December the right-hand trace-horse of the winning team is sacrificed to Mars, and then someone cuts off its tail, and carries it to the place called Regia and sprinkles its blood on the altar, while some come down from the street called the Via Sacra, and some from the Subura, and fight for its head?
Is it, as some say, that they believe Troy to have been taken by means of a horse; and therefore they punish it, since, forsooth, they are
Noble scions of Trojans commingled with children of Latins.
Or is it because the horse is a spirited, warlike, and martial beast, and they sacrifice to the gods creatures that are particularly pleasing and appropriate for them; and the winner is sacrificed because Mars is the specific divinity of victory and prowess?
Or is it rather because the work of the god demands standing firm, and men that hold their ground defeat those that do not hold it, but flee? And is swiftness punished as being the coward’s resource, and do they learn symbolically that there is no safety for those who flee?
98 1 Why do the censors, when they take office, do nothing else before they contract for the food of the sacred geese and the polishing of the statue?
Is it that they begin with the most trivial things, matters that require little expense or trouble?
Or is this a commemoration of an old debt of gratitude owed to these creatures for their services in the Gallic wars? For when in the night the barbarians were already climbing over the rampart of the Capitol, the geese perceived the invaders, although the dogs were asleep, and waked the guards by their clamour.
Or is it because the censors are guardians of the most important matters, and, since it is their duty to oversee and to busy themselves with sacred and State affairs and with the lives, morals, and conduct of the people, they immediately take into account the most vigilant of creatures, and at the same time by their care of the geese they urge the citizens not to be careless or indifferent about sacred matters?
But the polishing of the statue is absolutely necessary; for the red pigment, with which they used to tint ancient statues, rapidly loses its freshness.
99 1 Why is it that, if any one of the other priests is condemned and exiled, they depose him and elect another, but the augur, as long as he lives, even if they find him guilty of the worst offences, they do not deprive of his priesthood? They call “augurs” the men who are in charge of the omens.
Is it, as some say, because they wish no one who is not a priest to know the secrets of the holy rites?
Or, because the augur is bound by oaths to reveal the sacred matters to no one, are they unwilling to release him from his oath as would be the case eif he had been reduced to private status?
Or is “augur” a name denoting, not a rank or office, but knowledge and skill? Then to prevent a soothsayer from being a soothsayer would be like voting that a musician shall not be a musician, nor a physician a physician; for they cannot deprive him of his ability, even if they take away his title. They naturally appoint no successor since they keep the original number of augurs.
100 1 Why is it that on the Ides of August, formerly called Sextilis, all the slaves, female and male, keep holiday, and the Roman women make a particular practice of washing and cleansing their heads?
Do the servants have release from work because on this day King Servius was born from a captive maidservant? And did the washing of their heads begin with the slave-women, because of their holiday, and extend itself to free-born women?
101 1 Why do they adorn their children’s necks with amulets which they call bullae?
Was it, like many another thing, in honour of their wives, who had been made theirs by force, that they voted this also as a traditional ornament for the children born from them?
Or is it to honour the manly courage of Tarquin? For the tale is told that, while he was still but a boy, 288 in the battle against the combined Latin and Etruscan forces he charged straight into the enemy; and although he was thrown from his horse, he boldly withstood those that hurled themselves upon him, and thus gave renewed strength to the Romans. A brilliant rout of the enemy followed, sixteen thousand were killed, and he received this amulet as a prize of valour from his father the king.
Or did the Romans of early times account it not disreputable nor disgraceful to love male slaves in the flower of youth, as even now their comedies testify, but they strictly refrained from boys of free birth; and that they might not be in any uncertainty, even when they encountered them unclad, did the boys wear this badge?
Or is this a safeguard to insure orderly conduct, a sort of bridle on incontinence, that they may be ashamed to pose as men before they have put off the badge of childhood?
What Varro and his school say is not credible: that since boulê (counsel) is called bolla by the Aeolians, the boys put on this ornament as a symbol of good counsel.
But consider whether they may not wear it because of the moon. For the visible shape of the moon at the first quarter is not like a sphere, but like a lentil-seed or a quoit; and, as Empedocles thinks, so also is the matter of which the moon is composed.
102 1 Why do they name boys when they are nine days old, but girls when they are eight days old?
Does the precedence of the girls have Nature as its cause? It is a fact that the female grows up, and attains maturity and perfection before the male. As for the days, they take those that follow the seventh; for the seventh is dangerous for newly-born children in various ways and in the matter of the umbilical cord; for in most cases this comes away on the seventh day; but until it comes off, the child is more like a plant than an animal.
Or did they, like the adherents of Pythagoras, regard the even number as female and the odd number as male? For the odd number is generative, and, when it is added to the even number, it prevails over it. And also, when they are divided into units, the even number, like the female, yields a vacant space between, while of the odd number an integral part always remains. Wherefore they think that the odd is suitable for the male, and the even for the female.
Or is it that of all numbers nine is the first square from the odd and perfect triad, while eight is the first cube from the even dyad? Now a man should be four-square, eminent, and perfect; but a woman, like a cube, should be stable, domestic, and difficult to remove from her place. And this should be added, that eight is the cube of two and nine the square of three; women have two names, men have three.
103 1 Why do they call children of unknown fathers spurii?
Now the reason is not, as the Greeks believe and lawyers in court are wont to assert, that these children are begotten of some promiscuous and common seed; but Spurius is a first name like Sextus and Decimus and Gaius. They do not write first names in full, but by one letter, as Titus (T.) and Lucius (L.) and Marcus (M.); or by two, as Tiberius (Ti.) and Gnaeus (Cn.); or by three, as Sextus (Sex.) and Servius (Ser.). Spurius, then, is one of those written by two letters: Sp. And by these two letters they also denote children of unknown fathers, sine patre, that is “without a father”; by the s they indicate sine and by the patre. This, then, caused the error, the writing of the same abbreviation for sine patre and for Spurius.
I must state the other explanation also, but it is somewhat absurd: They assert that the Sabines use the word spurius for the pudenda muliebria, and it later came about that they called the child born of an unmarried, unespoused woman by this name, as if in mockery.
104 1 Why do they call Bacchus Liber Pater (“Free Father”)?
Is it because he is the father of freedom to drinkers? 289 For most people become bold and are abounding in frank speech when they in their cups. Or is it because he has provided the means for libations? Or is it derived, as Alexander asserts, from Dionysus Eleuthereus, so named from Eleutherae in Boeotia?
105 1 For what reason is it not the custom for maidens to marry on public holidays, but widows do marry at this time?
Is it, as Varro has remarked, that maidens are grieved over marrying, but older women are glad, and on a holiday one should do nothing in grief or by constraint?
Or is it rather because it is seemly that not a few should be present when maidens marry, but disgraceful that many should be present when widows marry? Now the first marriage is enviable; but the second is to be deprecated, for women are ashamed if they take a second husband while the first husband is still living, and they feel sad if they do so when he is dead. Wherefore they rejoice in a quiet wedding rather than in noise and processions. Holidays distract most people, so that they have no leisure for such matters.
Or, because they seized the maiden daughters of the Sabines at a holiday festival, and thereby became involved in war, did they come to regard it as ill-omened to marry maidens on holy days?
106 1 Why do the Romans reverence Fortuna Primigenia, or “First-born,” as one might translate it?
Is it because by Fortune, as they say, it befell Servius, born of a maidservant, to become a famous king of Rome? This is the assumption which the majority of Romans make.
Or is it rather because Fortune supplied the origin and birth of Rome?
Or does the matter have an explanation more natural and philosophic, which assumes that Fortune is the origin of everything, and Nature acquires its solid frame by the operation of Fortune, whenever order is created in any store of matter gathered together at haphazard.
107 1 Why do the Romans call the Dionysiac artists histriones?
Is it for the reason that Cluvius Rufus dhas recorded? For he states that in very ancient times, in the consulship of Gaius Sulpicius and Licinius Stolo, a pestilential disease arose in Rome and destroyed to a man all persons appearing on the stage. Accordingly, at the request of the Romans, there came many excellent artists from Etruria, of whom the first in repute and the one who for the longest time enjoyed success in their theatres, was named Hister; and therefore all actors are named histriones from him.
108 1 Why do they not marry women who are closely akin to them?
Do they wish to enlarge their relationships by marriage and to acquire many additional kinsmen by bestowing wives upon others and receiving wives from others?
Or do they fear the disagreements which arise in marriages of near kin, on the ground that these tend to destroy natural rights?
Or, since they observe that women by reason of their weakness need many protectors, were they not willing to take as partners in their household women closely akin to them, so that if their husbands wronged them, their kinsmen might bring them succour?
109 1 Why was it not permitted for the priest of Jupiter, whom they call the Flamen Dialis, to touch either flour or yeast?
Is it because flour is an incomplete and crude food? For neither has it remained what it was, wheat, nor has it become what it must become, bread; but it has both lost the germinative power of the seed and at the same time it has not attained to the usefulness of food. Wherefore also the Poet by a metaphor applied to barley-meal the epithet mylephatos, as if it were being killed or destroyed in the grinding.
Yeast is itself also the product of corruption, and produces corruption in the dough with which it is mixed; for the dough becomes flabby and inert, and altogether the process of leavening seems to be one of putrefaction; at any rate if it goes too far, it completely sours and spoils the flour.
110 1 Why is this priest also forbidden to touch raw flesh?
Is this custom intended to deter people completely from eating raw meat, or do they scrupulously repudiate flesh for the same reason as flour? 290 For neither is it a living creature nor has it yet become a cooked food. Now boiling or roasting, being a sort of alteration and mutation, eliminates the previous form; but fresh raw meat does not have a clean and unsullied appearance, but one that is repulsive, like a fresh wound.
111 1 Why did they bid the priest avoid the dog and the goat, neither touching them nor naming them?
Did they loathe the goat’s lasciviousness and foul odour, or did they fear its susceptibility to disease? For it is thought to be subject to epilepsy beyond all other animals, and to infect persons who eat it or touch it when it is possessed of the disease. The reason, they say, is the narrowness of the air passages, which are often suddenly contracted; this they deduce from the thinness of its voice. So also in the case of men, if they chance to speak during an epileptic fit, the sound they make is very like a bleat.
The dog has, perhaps, less of lasciviousness and foul odour. Some, however, assert that a dog may not enter either the Athenian acropolis nor the island of Delos because of its open mating, as if cattle and swine and horses mated within the walls of a chamber and not openly and without restraint! For these persons are ignorant of the true reason: because the dog is a belligerent creature they exclude it from inviolable and holy shrines, thereby offering a safe place of refuge for suppliants. Accordingly it is likely that the priest of Jupiter also, since he is, as it were, the animate embodiment and sacred image of the god, should be left free as a refuge for petitioners and suppliants, with no one to hinder them or to frighten them away. For this reason his couch was placed in the vestibule of his house, and anyone who fell at his knees had immunity from beating or chastisement all that day; and if any prisoner succeeded in reaching the priest, he was set free, and his chains they threw outside, not by the doors, but over the roof. So it would have been of no avail for him to render himself so gentle and humane, if a dog had stood before him frightening and keeping away those who had need of a place of refuge.
Nor, in fact, did the men of old think that this animal was wholly pure, for it was never sacrificed to any of the Olympian gods; and when it is sent to the cross-roads as a supper for the earth-goddess Hecatê, it has its due portion among sacrifices that avert and expiate evil. In Sparta they immolate puppies to the bloodiest of the gods, Enyalius; and in Boeotia the ceremony of public purification is to pass between the parts of a dog which has been cut in twain. The Romans themselves, in the month of purification, at the Wolf Festival, which they call the Lupercalia, sacrifice a dog. Hence it is not out of keeping that those who have attained to the office of serving the highest and purest god should be forbidden to make a dog their familiar companion and housemate.
112 1 For what reason was it forbidden the priest of Jupiter to touch ivy or to pass along a road overhung by a vine growing on a tree?
Is this second question like the precepts: “Do not eat seated on a stool,” “Do not sit on a peck measure,” “Do not step over a broom”? For the followers of Pythagoras did not really fear these things nor guard against them, but forbade other things through these. Likewise the walking under a vine had reference to wine, signifying that it is not right for the priest to get drunk; for wine is over the heads of drunken men, and they are oppressed and humbled thereby, when they should be above it and always master its pleasure, not be mastered by it.
Did they regard the ivy as an unfruitful plant, useless to man, and feeble, and because of its weakness needing other plants to support it, but by its shade and the sight of its green fascinating to most people? And did they therefore think that it should not be uselessly grown in their homes nor be allowed to twine about in a futile way, contributing nothing, since it is injurious to the plants forming its support? Or is it because it cleaves to the ground? 291 Wherefore it is excluded from the ritual of the Olympian gods, nor can any ivy be seen in the temple of Hera at Athens, or in the temple of Aphroditê at Thebes; but it has its place in the Agrionia and the Nyctelia, the rites of which are for the most part performed at night.
Or was this also a symbolic prohibition of Bacchic revels and orgies? For women possessed by Bacchic frenzies rush straightway for ivy and tear it to pieces, clutching it in their hands and biting it with their teeth; so that not altogether without plausibility are they who assert that ivy, possessing as it does an exciting and distracting breath of madness, deranges persons and agitates them, and in general brings on a wineless drunkenness and joyousness in those that are precariously disposed towards spiritual exaltation.
113 1 Why were these priests not allowed to hold office nor to solicit it, yet they have the service of a lictor and the right to a curule chair as an honour and a consolation for holding no office?
Is this similar to the conditions in some parts of Greece where the priesthood had a dignity commensurate with that of the kingship, and they appointed as priests no ordinary men?
Or was it rather that since priests have definite duties, whereas officials have duties which are irregular and undefined, if the occasions for these duties happened to coincide, it was impossible for the same man to be present at both, but oftentimes, when both duties were pressing, he had to neglect one of them and at one time commit impiety against the gods, and at another do hurt to his fellow-citizens?
Or did they observe that there is implicit in the government of men no less constraint than authority, and that the ruler of the people, as Hippocrates said of the physician, must see dreadful things and touch dreadful things and reap painful emotions of his own from the ills of other men? Did they, then, think it impious for a man to offer sacrifice to the gods, if he was concerned in pronouncing judgements and sentences of death upon citizens, and often upon kinsmen and members of his household, such as fell to the lot of Brutus?

## Greek questions

1. WHO WERE the “dusty-feet” and the “directors” in Epidaurus?
There were one hundred and eighty men who directed the State. From these they used to elect councillors whom they called “directors.” But the majority of the populace spent their life in the country. They were called “dusty-feet” a since, as one may conjecture, they were recognized by their dust-covered feet whenever they came down to the city.
2. Who was the “woman that rode on a donkey” at Cumae?
Any woman taken in adultery they used to bring into the market-place and set her on a certain stone in plain sight of everyone. In like manner they then proceeded to mount her upon a donkey, and when she had been led about the circuit of the entire city, she was required again to take her stand upon the same stone, and for the rest of her life to continue in disgrace, bearing the name “donkey-rider.” After this ceremony they believed that the stone was unclean and they used ritually to purify it.
The citizens of Cumae had also a certain office called the Guards. The man who held this office used to watch the prison most of the time, but he came to the nocturnal assemblies of the council and led out the kings by the hand and kept them out, until by secret ballot the council had decided on their case, whether they had done wrong or no.
3. Who is She that Kindles the Fire (hypekkaustria) a among the people of Soli?
This is the name which they give to the priestess of Athena because she performs certain sacrifices and ceremonies to avert evil.
4. Who were the Forgetful Ones (Amnemones) at Cnidus, and who was the Dismisser b (Aphester)?
They were wont to employ sixty men chosen from the nobles, and appointed for life, as overseers and preliminary advisers in matters of the greatest importance. They were called the Forgetful Ones, one might conjecture, because they could not be held to account for their actions; unless, indeed, it was because they were men who remembered many things. c He who asked them their opinions was the Dismisser.
5. Who are the “good” among the Arcadians and the Spartans?
When the Spartans had come to terms with the Tegeans, they made a treaty and set up in common a pillar by the Alpheius. On this, among other matters, was inscribed: “The Messenians must be expelled from the country; it shall not be lawful to make men good.” d Aristotle, e then, in explaining this, states that it means that no one shall be put to death because of assistance given to the Spartan party in Tegea.
6. Who is “he that selects barley” (krilhologos) among the Opuntians?
For sacrifices of very ancient origin most of the Greeks used to employ barley, which the citizens offered as first-fruits of the harvest. Accordingly they called the officer who presided at the sacrifices and brought these first-fruits the Barley-selector. They had two priests: one appointed for sacrifices to the gods, the other for sacrifices to the spirits.
7. What were the “floating clouds “?
They used to call clouds “floating” which particularly threatened rain and were in constant motion, as Theophrastus has stated in the fourth book of his Meteorology. The passage reads thus: “Since also these floating clouds and these compact clouds, which are immovable and very white in colour, exhibit a certain difference of substance which is filled neither with water nor with wind.”
8. Who is the “near-dweller” (platioiketas) among the Boeotians?
This is the name they give in the Aeolian dialect to persons who dwell in the next house or occupy adjoining property. signifying that they hold land near at hand. I shall add one phrase from the Edict of the Guardians of the Law, although there are several more … a
9. Who is the Consecrator (hosiōtēr) among the Delphians and why do they call one of the months “Bysios”? They call the victim that is sacrificed Consecrator whenever an Holy One a is appointed. There are five Holy Ones, who hold office for life; they do a great many things with the co-operation of the oracle-interpreters and with them take part in the holy rites, since they are thought to have descended from Deucalion.
The month “Bysios,” as many think, is the month of growth (physios); for it begins the spring and during it many plants spring up and come into bloom. But this is not the truth of the matter, for Delphians do not use b in place of ph (as Macedonians do who say “Bilip” and “balacros” and “Beronicê”), but in place of p; thus they naturally say “broceed” for “proceed” and “bainful” for “painful.” Accordingly “Bysios” is “pysios,” the month of oracular inquiry, in which men ask questions and obtain responses from the god; for this is the legitimate and traditional procedure. In this month, then, oracles used to be given and the seventh day of this month they consider the birthday of the god. b They call this day the day of Many Utterances (Polyphthoös) not because they then bake cakes (phthoïs), c but because it is a day when many inquire of the god and receive many oracles. For only recently have monthly oracles been given out to inquirers; formerly the prophetic priestess was wont to give responses but once a year on this day, as Callisthenes d and Anaxandrides have recorded.
10. What is the “sheep-escaper”?
It is one of the small plants that grow close to the ground, whose shoots the grazing animals attack, cutting off the tops and injuring them and so spoiling the growth. But when these plants grow up and gain some size and escape injury from the flocks which graze upon them, then they are called “sheep-escapers.” The evidence for this is Aeschylus. a
11. Who are the “Men repulsed by slings”?
Men from Eretria used to inhabit the island of Corcyra. But Charicrates sailed thither from Corinth with an army and defeated them in war; so the Eretrians embarked in their ships and sailed back home. Their fellow-citizens, however, having learned of the matter before their arrival, barred their return to the country and prevented them from disembarking by showering upon them missiles from slings. Since the exiles were unable either to persuade or to overcome their fellow-citizens, who were numerous and inexorable, they sailed to Thrace and occupied a territory in which, according to tradition, Methon, the ancestor of Orpheus, had formerly lived. So the Eretrians named their city Methonê, but they were also named by their neighbours the “Men repulsed by slings.”
12. Who was “Charilla” among the Delphians?
The Delphians celebrate three festivals one after the other which occur every eight b years, the first of which they call Septerion, the second Heroïs, and the third Charilla.
Now the Septerion seems to be a representation of Apollo’s fight with the Python and the flight to Tempê and pursuit that followed the battle. b Some indeed affirm that Apollo fled because he desired purification as a consequence of the slaughter he had done, others that he was following the wounded Python as he fled along the road which we now call the Sacred Way, and was only a little late for the monster’s death; for he overtook him when he had just died from the effects of the wound and had been buried by his son, whose name, as they say, was Aix. The Septerion, then, is a representation of these matters or certain matters of a similar nature. a
The greater part of the Heroïs has a secret import which the Thyiads b know; but from the portions of the rites that are performed in public one might conjecture that it represents the evocation of Semelê.
The story of Charilla which they relate is somewhat as follows: A famine following a drought oppressed the Delphians, and they came to the palace of their king with their wives and children and made supplication. The king gave portions of barley and legumes to the more notable citizens, for there was not enough for all. But when an orphaned girl, who was still but a small child, approached him and importuned him, he struck her with his sandal and cast the sandal in her face. But, although the girl was poverty-stricken and without protectors, she was not ignoble in character; and when she had withdrawn, she took off her girdle and hanged herself. As the famine increased and diseases also were added thereto, the prophetic priestess gave an oracle to the king that he must appease Charilla, the maiden who had slain herself. Accordingly, when they had discovered with some difficulty that this was the name of the child who had been struck, they performed a certain sacrificial rite combined with purification, which even now they continue to perform every eight years. For the king sits in state and gives a portion of barley-meal and legumes to everyone, alien and citizen alike, and a doll-like image of Charilla is brought thither. When, accordingly, all have received a portion, the king strikes the image with his sandal. The leader of the Thyiads picks up the image and bears it to a certain place which is full of chasms; there they tie a rope round the neck of the image and bury it in the place where they buried Charilla after she had hanged herself.
13. What is the “beggar’s meat” among the Aenianians?
There have been several migrations of the Aenianians. For first, when they inhabited the region about the Dotian plain, they were expelled by the Lapiths to Aethicia. a From there they proceeded to take possession of the region of Molossia about the river Auas, from which they received the name Parauaei. After this they took possession of Cirrha. There, when they had stoned to death Oenoclus, a their king, at the command of the god, they descended to the country about the Inachus, which was inhabited by Inachians and Achaeans. Since an oracle had declared that if the Inachians gave away any part of their country, they should lose it all, and that if the Aenianians received any part of the land from willing givers, they should gain possession of it, Temon, a notable man among the Aenianians, donned rags and wallet and came to the Inachians in the guise of a beggar. In scorn and mockery their king gave him a clod of earth, which Temon accepted, placed within his wallet, and was evidently satisfied with the gift; for he straightway withdrew without asking for anything more. The Inachian elders were astonished, but, recalling the oracle, they went to the king and told him not to make light of the fellow nor to let him get away. Temon, then, perceiving their intent, hastened his flight and made his escape after vowing a hecatomb to Apollo.
After this affair the two kings engaged in single combat, and Phemius, king of the Aenianians, observing the Inachian king, Hyperochus, advancing to meet him accompanied by a dog, said that Hyperochus was acting unfairly in bringing on a second combatant. But while Hyperochus was driving off the dog and had his back turned, Phemius hit him with a stone and killed him. The Aenianians gained possession of the country, driving out the Inachians together with the Achaeans, and they revere that stone as sacred, and sacrifice to it and cover it round about with the fat of the sacrificial victim; and whenever they pay the hecatomb to Apollo, they sacrifice a bull to Zeus; and they set aside a select portion of the flesh for the descendants of Temon, and this they call the “beggar’s meat.”
14. Who are the “Coliadae” among the inhabitants of Ithaca and what is the phagilos?
After the slaughter of the suitors the relatives of the dead men rose up against Odysseus; but Neoptolemus was sent for by both parties to act as arbiter. a He adjudged that Odysseus should depart from the country and be exiled for homicide from Cephallenia, Zacynthus, and Ithaca; and that the companions and the relatives of the suitors should recompense Odysseus each year for the injuries which they had done to his estate. Odysseus accordingly departed to Italy; but the recompense he formally transferred to his son, and ordered the inhabitants of Ithaca to pay it to him. The recompense consisted of barley, wine, honeycombs, olive-oil, salt, and beasts for sacrifice that were older than phagiloi; according to Aristotle’s a statement, a lamb is a phagilos. Now Telemachus bestowed freedom upon Eumaeus and his associates, and incorporated them among the citizens; and the clan of the Coliadae is descended from Eumaeus, and that of the Bucolidae from Philoetius. b
15. What is “the wooden dog” among the Locrians?
Locrus was the son of Physcius, the son of Amphictyon. The son of Locrus and Cabyê was Opus. His father quarrelled with Opus and taking many of the citizens with him he went to seek an oracle concerning a colony. The god told him to found a city where he should chance to be bitten by a wooden dog, and, as he was crossing to the other sea, he trod upon a dog-brier. c Greatly troubled by the wound, he spent several days there, during which he explored the country and founded the cities Physcus and Oeantheia and the other cities which the so-called Ozolian Locrians inhabited.
Some say that the Locrians are called Ozolian because of Nessus; others say that it is because of the serpent Python, since their bodies were washed up by the sea and rotted away in the country of the Locrians. But some say that these men wear fleeces and goatskins and for the most part spend their time with herds of goats, and thus became evil-smelling. a But some, on the contrary, assert that, since the country has many flowers, it acquired its name from sweet odour. Among these is also Archytas b of Amphissa, for he has written thus:
Lovely Macyna, wreathed with clusters of grapes and fragrant with perfume.
16. What is it that the Megarians call aphabroma?
When Nisus, from whom Nisaea acquired its name, was king, he took a wife from Boeotia, Habrotê, daughter of Onchestus, the sister of Megareus, a woman who, as it appears, was both exceptionally intelligent and remarkably discreet. When she died, the Megarians mourned her with one accord, and Nisus, wishing that her memory and her repute should be established everlastingly, ordered the women of the city to wear the garment that she used to wear; and because of her he called the garment aphabroma. Even the god seems to have furthered the repute of this woman, for often, when the Megarian women wished to make a change in their raiment, he prevented them by an oracle.
17. What is the “spear-friend”?
In days of old the Megarid used to be settled in village communities with the citizens divided into five groups. They were called Heraeïs, Piraeïs, [paragraph continues] Megareis, Cynosureis, and Tripodiscioi. Although the Corinthians brought about a civil war among them, for the Corinthians were ever plotting to get Megara under their control, none the less, because of their fair-mindedness, they conducted their wars in a civilized and a kinsmanly way. For no one did any harm at all to the men working in the fields, and when anyone was captured, he but needed to pay a certain specified ransom; this his captors received after they had set him free, and did not collect it earlier; but he who took a prisoner conducted the man to his house and, after sharing with him salt and food, sent him home. He, accordingly, who brought his ransom, was highly regarded and continued thenceforward to be a friend of his captor; and, as a consequence of his capture by the spear, he was now called “spear-friend.” But anyone who failed to pay the ransom was held in disrepute as dishonest and faithless, not only among his enemies, but also among his fellow-citizens.
18. What is “return-interest”? a
When the Megarians had expelled Theagenes, b their despot, for a short time they were sober and sensible in their government. But later when the popular leaders poured a full and heady draught of freedom for them, as Plato c says, they were completely corrupted and, among their shocking acts of misconduct toward the wealthy, the poor would enter their homes and insist upon being entertained and banqueted sumptuously. But if they did not receive what they demanded, they would treat all the household with violence and insult. Finally they enacted a decree whereby they received back again the interest which they chanced to have paid to their creditors, calling the measure “return-interest.”
19. Which is the Anthedon to which the utterance of the prophetic priestess refers:
Drink wine turbid with lees, since thou dwellest not in Anthedon,
for Anthedon in Boeotia is not rich in wine?
In days of old they used to call Calaureia by the name of Eirenê, from the woman Eirenê who, as legend has it, was born of Poseidon and Melantheia, the daughter of the Alpheius. But later, when the companions of Anthus and Hypera settled there, they called the island Anthedonia and Hypereia. According to Aristotle a the oracle ran as follows:
Drink wine turbid with lees, since thou dwellest not in Anthedon, No, nor in Hypera holy; for wine without lees thou didst drink there.
[paragraph continues] This, then, is Aristotle’s version. But Mnasigeiton says that Anthus, the brother of Hypera, disappeared from home while he was still a child, and that Hypera, while she was wandering about in search of him, came to Pherae to the house of Acastus, where it chanced that Anthus was the slave appointed to be cupbearer. While they were feasting the boy recognized his sister, as he was bearing her cup to her, and said to her softly
Drink wine turbid with lees, since thou dwellest not in Anthedon.
20. What is it that is called in Prienê “the darkness by the Oak”?
When the Samians and the Prienians were at war with each other, on the other occasions they suffered injuries and inflicted injuries to a moderate degree only; but when a great battle took place, the people of Prienê slew one thousand Samians. Six years later they engaged the Milesians at a place called the Oak, and lost practically all the best and the foremost of their citizens. At this time also the sage Bias was sent on an embassy from Prienê to Samos and won high repute. For the women of Prienê this was a cruel experience and a pitiable calamity, and it became established as a curse and an oath in the most important matters to swear by “the darkness by the Oak,” because of the fact that there their sons, their fathers, and their husbands had been slaughtered. a
21. Who are they that are called “burners” among the Cretans?
They relate that the Tyrrhenians who, at the time when they inhabited Lemnos and Imbros, carried off the daughters and wives of the Athenians from Brauron, later, when they had been expelled from there, came to Sparta and consorted with the women of the country even to the begetting of children. But again, as the result of suspicions and false accusations, they were forced to leave the Spartan country. With their children and wives they effected a landing in Crete with Pollis and Delphus as their leaders. b There, while they were fighting the possessors of the island, they suffered many of the men who had been slain in the battles to lie unburied, because at first they had no leisure to bury them because of the war and the danger, and later because they shrank from touching corpses that had been decomposed and putrefied by the lapse of time. Accordingly Pollis devised certain honours, privileges, and immunities, and some of these he bestowed on the priests of the gods, others upon them that buried the dead. These honours he put in the keeping of the spirits of the underworld in order that they might continue for ever irrevocable. The one class received the name of priests, and the other that of “burners.”
Then Pollis made a division by lot with Delphus, and they governed separate and independent states; and, along with other humane provisions which they enjoyed, they had freedom from the injuries which the other Cretans are wont to inflict upon one another through stealthy plundering and pillaging. For to the Tyrrhenian communities they do no injury, nor do they steal anything from them or dispossess them of anything.
22. What is the “Children’s Tomb” among the Chalcidians?
Cothus and Aeclus, the sons of Xuthus, came to Euboea to dwell at a time when the Aeolians possessed the greater part of the island. It had been prophesied to Cothus that he should have great success and get the better of his enemies if he bought the land. When he had landed on the island with a few men, he encountered little children playing by the sea. So he joined in their play, and in a kindly spirit showed them many playthings from foreign lands. But when he saw that the children were desirous of having them for their own, he refused to give them unless he too should receive some earth from the children. So they picked up some from the ground and gave it to Cothus, and then, taking the playthings, departed. But the Aeolians discovered what had happened, and, when their enemies sailed against them, they made away with the children under stress of anger and grief. The children were buried beside the road which leads from the city to the Euripus, and the place is called the Children’s Tomb.
23. Who is the “Associate-founder” (mixarchagetas) at Argos, and who are the “Averters” (elasioi)?
They call Castor the Associate-founder, and think that he is buried in Argive territory, but Polydeuces they reverence as one of the Olympians. Persons who have the reputed ability to turn away attacks of epilepsy they call Averters, and these are thought to be of the descendants of Alexida, the daughter of Amphiaraüs.
24. What is that which is called an enknisma (a roast) among the Argives? a
It is the custom for those who have lost a relative or an intimate friend to sacrifice to Apollo b immediately after the mourning, and again thirty days later to Hermes. For they believe that, just as the earth receives the bodies of the dead, even so Hermes receives their souls. They give barley to the priest of Apollo and receive some meat of the sacrificial victim; and when they have put out their fire, since they believe it to be polluted, and have relighted it from the hearth of others, they proceed to roast this flesh which they call enknisma.
25. What is an alastor, an aliterios, a palamnaeos?
We certainly must not believe those who say that persons who, during a famine, set a watch upon the miller and plunder him are called aliterioi. a But he who has done unforgettable (alesta) things, b things that will be remembered for a long time, is called alastor; and he whom it were well to avoid (aleuasthai) and to guard against because of his wickedness is called aliterios. These things, according to the statement of Socrates, c they have written on tablets of bronze.
26. What is the intent of the custom by which the maidens who serve as an escort for the men who lead the bull from Aenis to Cassiopaea chant until they reach the boundary,
Never may ye return to the well-loved soil of your homeland? d
When the Aenianians had been driven out of their country by the Lapiths, e they dwelt first of all about Aethicia, and later about Molossia and Cassiopaea. But, since they had no benefit from the country, and, in addition, had to deal with ungentle peoples on their borders, they came to the Cirrhaean plain under the leadership of Oenoclus, their king. But great droughts befell them there, and, as it is related, in accordance with an oracle they stoned [paragraph continues] Oenoclus. a Then they wandered on and came to this country which they now possess, a goodly country, productive of all manner of crops; wherefore it is with good reason that they pray to the gods that they may not return again to their ancient fatherland, but may remain here in prosperity.
27. Why is it that among the Rhodians a herald does not enter the shrine of the hero Ocridion?
Is it because Ochimus affianced his daughter Cydippê to Ocridion? But Cercaphus, who was the brother of Ochimus, was in love with the maiden and persuaded the herald (for it used to be the custom to use heralds to fetch the brides), when he should receive Cydippê, to bring her to him. When this had been accomplished, Cercaphus fled with the maiden; but later, when Ochimus had grown old, Cercaphus returned to his home again. But the custom became established among the Rhodians that a herald should not approach the shrine of Ocridion because of the wrong that had been done.
28. Why is it that among the inhabitants of Tenedos a flute-player may not enter the shrine of Tenes, nor may anyone mention Achilles’ name within the shrine?
Is it that, when Tenes’ stepmother b falsely accused him of wishing to lie with her, Molpus the flute-player bore false witness against him, and because of this it came about that Tenes had to flee to Tenedos with his sister? But as for Achilles, it is said that his mother Thetis straitly forbade him to kill Tenes, since [paragraph continues] Tenes was honoured by Apollo; and she commissioned one of the servants to be on guard, and to remind Achilles lest he should unwittingly slay Tenes. But when Achilles was overrunning Tenedos and was pursuing Tenes’ sister, who was a beautiful maiden, Tenes met him and defended his sister; and she escaped, though Tenes was slain. When he had fallen, Achilles recognized him, and slew the servant because he had, although present, not reminded him; and he buried Tenes where his shrine now stands and neither does a flute-player enter it nor is Achilles mentioned there by name.
29. Who is the “Seller” among the Epidamnians?
The Epidamnians were neighbours of the Illyrians and perceived that such of their citizens as associated with the Illyrians were becoming corrupted; and, since they feared a revolution, they used to select one of the most reputable of their fellow-citizens each year to conduct such commercial dealings and barters. This man visited the barbarians and provided them with a market and an opportunity for all the citizens to display what they had to sell: thus he was called the “Seller.”
30. What is the “Beach of Araenus” in Thrace?
When the Andrians and Chalcidians sailed to Thrace to settle there, they jointly seized the city of Sanê, which was betrayed to them; but when they learned that the barbarians had abandoned Acanthus, they sent out two scouts. When these were approaching the city, they perceived that the enemy had all fled; so the Chalcidian ran forward to take possession of the city for Chalcis, but the Andrian, since he could not cover the distance so rapidly as his rival, hurled his spear, and when it was firmly implanted in the city gates, he called out in a loud voice that by his spear the city had been taken into prior possession for the children of the Andrians. As a result of this a dispute arose, and, without going to war, they agreed to make use of Erythraeans, Samians, and Parians as arbitrators concerning the whole matter. But when the Erythraeans and the Samians gave their vote in favour of the Andrians, and the Parians in favour of the Chalcidians, the Andrians, in the neighbourhood of this place, made a solemn vow against the Parians that they would never give a woman in marriage to the Parians nor take one from them. And for this reason they called the place the Beach of Araenus, a although it had formerly been named the Serpent’s Beach.
31. Why is it that at the Thesmophoria the Eretrian women cook their meat, not by fire, but by the rays of the sun; and why do they not call upon Calligeneia? b
Is it because it happened that the captive women whom Agamemnon was bringing home from Troy were celebrating the Thesmophoria at this place, but when conditions for sailing suddenly appeared favourable, they put out to sea leaving behind them the sacrifice uncompleted?
32. Who are the Perpetual Sailors among the Milesians?
When the despots associated with Thoas and Damasenor had been overthrown, two political parties came into control of the city, one of which was called Plutis, the other Cheiromacha. c When, accordingly, the men of influence gained the upper hand and brought matters into the control of their party, they used to deliberate about matters of the greatest importance by embarking in their ships and putting out to a considerable distance from the land. But when they had come to a final decision, they sailed back; and because of this they acquired the appellation of Perpetual Sailors.
33. Why do the Chalcidians call the neighbourhood of the Beacon “the Young Men’s Club”?
They relate that Nauplius, when he was being pursued by the Achaeans, came as a suppliant to the Chalcidians; and on the one hand he defended himself in regard to the indictment brought against him, and on the other hand brought a counter-charge against the Achaeans. The Chalcidians had no intention of surrendering him; but, since they were afraid that he might be slain by treachery, they gave him a guard of young men in the prime of their youth and stationed them in this place, where they lived together and at the same time served as a guard for Nauplius.
34. Who was the man that slew an ox for a his benefactor?
Anchored off the island of Ithaca was a pirate vessel in which there chanced to be an old man with earthenware jars containing pitch. By chance a ferryman of Ithaca, by name Pyrrhias, put off to the ship and rescued the old man without asking for any reward, but because he had been persuaded by the old man and pitied him. He did, however, accept some of the jars, for the old man bade him do so. But when the pirates had departed and there was nothing to fear, the old man led Pyrrhias to the jars, and in them showed him much gold and silver mixed with the pitch. So Pyrrhias, suddenly becoming rich, treated the old man well in various ways, and also slew an ox for him. Wherefore men make use of this as a proverbial expression: “No one but Pyrrhias has slain an ox for his benefactor.”
35. Why was it the custom for the Bottiaean maidens to chant as they danced, “Let us go to Athens “?
They relate that the Cretans in accordance with a vow sent a consecrated offering of men to Delphi; but the men who had been sent, when they saw that there was no abundance there, set out from Delphi to found a colony. They settled first in Iapygia, but later occupied this region of Thrace. There were some Athenians included among them; for it appears that Minos did not destroy the young persons whom the Athenians sent him for tribute, but kept them by him as servants. Accordingly, some who were descended from these Athenians and had come to be considered Cretans were included in this company sent to Delphi. Wherefore the daughters of the Bottiaeans, in remembrance of their lineage, were wont to sing in their festivals, “Let us go to Athens.”
36. Why is it that the women of the Eleans, when they sing hymns to Dionysus, call upon him to come to them “with the foot of a bull” b? The hymn c runs as follows: Come, O hero Dionysus, To thy Elean holy Temple, with the Graces, To thy temple With thy bull’s foot hasting.
[paragraph continues] Then they chant twice the refrain: “O worthy bull.”
Is it because some address the god as “kine-born” or as “bull “? Or by “ox-foot” do they mean “with thy mighty foot,” even as the Poet used “ox-eyed” a to signify “large-eyed,” and “bully” b for “loudmouthed”?
Or is it rather because the foot of the bull is harmless, but the part that bears horns is harmful, and thus they call upon the god to come in a gentle and painless manner?
Or is it because many believe that the god was the pioneer in both ploughing and sowing?
37. Why do the people of Tanagra have before their city an Achilleum, that is, a place bearing this name? For it is related that Achilles actually had more enmity than friendship for the city, since he carried off Stratonicê, the mother of Poemander, and slew Acestor, the son of Ephippus. c
While the territory of Tanagra was still inhabited in village communities, Poemander, the father of Ephippus, had been besieged by the Achaeans in the place called Stephon, because of his unwillingness to join their expedition. d But he abandoned that stronghold by night and fortified Poemandria. e [paragraph continues] Polycrithus the master-builder, however, who was present, spoke slightingly of the fortifications and, in derision, leaped over the moat. Poemander was enraged and hastened to throw at him a great stone which had been hidden there from ancient days, set aside for use in the ritual of the Nyctelia. a This stone Poemander snatched up in his ignorance, and hurled. He missed Polycrithus, but slew his son Leucippus. According to the law, therefore, he had to depart from Boeotia and become a suppliant at a stranger’s hearth. But this was not easy, since the Achaeans had invaded the territory of Tanagra. Accordingly he sent his son Ephippus to appeal to Achilles. Ephippus, by his persuasive words, brought to his father Achilles, as well as Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, and Peneleös, the son of Hippalcmas, all of them interrelated. Poemander was escorted by them to Chalcis, and there at the house of Elephenor he was purified of the murder. Therefore he honoured these heroes and set apart sacred precincts for them all, and of these the precinct of Achilles has still kept its name.
38. Who are the “Psoloeis” and who the “Oleiae” among the Boeotians?
They relate that the daughters of Minyas, Leucippê and Arsinoê and Alcathoê, becoming insane, conceived a craving for human flesh, and drew lots for their children. b The lot fell upon Leucippê to contribute her son Hippasus to be torn to pieces, and their husbands, who put on ill-favoured garments for very grief and sorrow, were called “Grimy” (Psoloeis); but the Minyads themselves were called “Oleiae,” that is to say, ‘Murderesses.’ And even to-day the people of Orchomenus give this name to the women descended from this family; and every year, at the festival of Agrionia, a there takes place a flight and pursuit of them by the priest of Dionysus with sword in hand. Any one of them that he catches he may kill, and in my time the priest Zoïlus killed one of them. But this resulted in no benefit for the people of Orchomenus; but Zoïlus fell sick from some slight sore and, when the wound had festered for a long time, he died. The people of Orchomenus also found themselves involved in some suits for damages and adverse judgements; wherefore they transferred the priesthood from Zoïlus’s family and chose the best man from all the citizens to fill the office.
39. Why do the Arcadians stone persons who voluntarily enter the Lycaeon; but if such persons enter through ignorance, they send them away to Eleutherae?
Is it because they were released and set free that this story gained credence, and is the expression “to Free Town” (Eleutherae) of the same sort as “to the land of Sans Souci” and “you will come to the Seat of Satisfaction”?
Or is it in accordance with the legend, since Eleuther and Lebadus were the only sons of Lycaon that had no share in the abomination prepared for Zeus, b but instead they fled to Boeotia, and there is community of citizenship between the people of Lebadeia and the Arcadians, and do they accordingly send away to Eleutherae those who involuntarily enter the inviolate sanctuary of Zeus?
Or is it as Architimus a relates in his Arcadian History, that certain men who entered through ignorance were handed over by the Arcadians to the Phliasians, and by the Phliasians to the Megarians, and, as they were being conducted from Megara to Thebes, they were stopped near Eleutherae b by rain and thunder and other signs from heaven? Whence, in fact, some assert that the place acquired the name of Eleutherae.
The tale, however, that no shadow is cast by a person who enters the Lycaeon is not true, although it has acquired widespread credence. c Is it because the air turns to clouds, and lowers darkly upon those who enter? Or is it because he that enters is condemned to death, and the followers of Pythagoras declare that the spirits of the dead cast no shadow, d neither do they blink? Or is it because it is the sun which causes shadow, but the law deprives him that enters of the sunlight?
This too they relate allegorically: he that enters is called a “deer.” Wherefore, when Cantharion the Arcadian deserted to the Eleans while they were at war with the Arcadians, and with his booty crossed the inviolate sanctuary, even though he fled to Sparta after peace had been made, the Spartans surrendered him to the Arcadians, since the god ordered them to give back “the deer.”
40. Who was the hero Eunostus in Tanagra, and why may no women enter his grove?
Eunostus was the son of Elieus, who was the son of Cephisus, and Scias. They relate that he acquired his name because he was brought up by the nymph Eunosta. Handsome and righteous as he was, he was no less virtuous and ascetic. They say that Ochnê, his cousin, one of the daughters of Colonus, became enamoured of him; but when Eunostus repulsed her advances and, after upbraiding her, departed to accuse her to her brothers, the maiden forestalled him by doing this very thing against him. She incited her brothers, Echemus, Leon, and Bucolus, to kill Eunostus, saying that he had consorted with her by force. They, accordingly, lay in ambush for the young man and slew him. Then Elieus put them in bonds; but Ochnê repented, and was filled with trepidation and, wishing to free herself from the torments caused by her love, and also feeling pity for her brothers, reported the whole truth to Elieus, and he to Colonus. And when Colonus had given judgement, Ochnê’s brothers were banished, and she threw herself from a precipice, as Myrtis, a the lyric poetess of Anthedon, has related.
But the shrine and the grove of Eunostus were so strictly guarded against entry and approach by women that, often, when earthquakes or droughts or other signs from heaven occurred, the people of Tanagra were wont to search diligently and to be greatly concerned lest any woman might have approached the place undetected; and some relate, among them Cleidamus, a man of prominence, that Eunostus met them on his way to the sea to bathe because a woman had set foot within the sacred precinct. And Diodes a also, in his treatise upon the Shrines of Heroes, quotes a decree of the people of Tanagra concerning the matters which Cleidamus reported.
41. From what cause was a river in Boeotia in the vicinity of Eleon called Scamander?
Deïmachus, the son of Eleon and a companion of Heracles, took part in the expedition against Troy. But since, as it appears, the war was dragging on, he welcomed to his quarters Glaucia, the daughter of Scamander, who had fallen in love with him, and got her with child; then he himself fell in fighting against the Trojans. But Glaucia, fearing detection, fled for refuge, and told Heracles of her love and of her association with Deïmachus. And he, both through pity for the woman, and for joy that the stock of a brave man who was his close friend should thus survive, took Glaucia on board his fleet; and when she gave birth to a son, he brought both the child and the mother, and delivered them to Eleon in Boeotia. The child was named Scamander, and he became the king of the country; and he named the Inachus river Scamander after himself, and the stream near by he called Glaucia from his mother. The spring Acidusa he named after his wife; and from her he had three daughters whom even to this day they honour under the name of the “Maidens.”
42. Whence arose the proverbial saying, “This is valid”?
When Deinon of Tarentum, a brave soldier, was general, his fellow-citizens voted to reject a certain proposal of his. When the herald reported the prevailing majority, he held up his right hand and said, “But this is stronger.” This is Theophrastus’s a version of the story; but Apollodorus has a supplementary version, that when the herald of the Tarentines proclaimed, “These are in the majority,” Deinon said, “But these are better!” and validated the vote of the minority.
43. For what reason was the city of the Ithacans called Alalcomenae?
Because Anticleia, while yet a virgin, was violated by Sisyphus and conceived Odysseus. This is related by several authorities b; but Ister c of Alexandria in his Commentaries has in addition recorded that when Anticlea had been given in marriage to Laërtes and was being conducted to his home, she gave birth to Odysseus near the Alalcomenium in Boeotia. And for this reason, as though referring the name to that of a mother-city, he states that the city in Ithaca acquired its name.
44. Who were the “solitary eaters” in Aegina?
Of the Aeginetans who were engaged in the war against Troy many perished in the battles there, but even more were destroyed by the storm on the return-voyage. So there were but few who survived, and when their relatives had welcomed them home, and observed that the other citizens were in mourning and sorrow, they deemed it proper neither to rejoice nor to sacrifice to the gods openly; but secretly and separately in their own houses they received with feasting and good cheer those who had reached home in safety. They themselves waited upon their fathers and kinsmen, their brothers and relatives, and no one outside the family was allowed to enter. It is, then, in imitation of this that they hold a sacrifice to Poseidon, which is called thiasoi, a in which they feast by themselves in silence for sixteen days, and no slave is present. Then, when they have celebrated the Aphrodisia, they terminate the festival. For this reason they are called “solitary eaters.”
45. Why is it that the statue of the Labrandean Zeus in Caria is fashioned holding an axe, but not a sceptre or a thunderbolt?
Because when Heracles had slain Hippolytê, together with her other arms he took her axe and gave it as a present to Omphalê. The Lydian kings who succeeded Omphalê used to carry it as a part of the sacred regalia, handing it down one to the other until it came to Candaules. He deemed it of little worth and gave it to one of his Companions b to carry. But when Gyges c revolted and was at war with Candaules, Arselis came from Mylasa with an army as an ally for Gyges and slew both Candaules and his Companion and brought the axe to Caria together with the other spoils. He therefore constructed a statue of Zeus and placed the axe in its hand, and called the god Labrandeus; for the Lydians call the axe labrys. a
46. Why is it that the people of Tralles call vetch “purifier” and make particular use of it for expiations and purifications?
Is it because the Leleges and Minyae in days of old drove them out and took possession of their city and their land, and because later the Trallians returned and prevailed, and as many of the Leleges as had not been slain nor had fled away, but had been left behind there because of their destitution and weakness — of these they took no account either of their life or of their death, and they established a law that any Trallian who killed a Minyan or a Lelegian should be free from pollution when he had measured out a bushel of vetch to the relatives of the murdered man?
47. Why is there a proverb among the Eleans “to suffer more terribly than Sambicus”?
The story is told that a certain Sambicus, an Elean, at the head of a numerous group of confederates, cut many pieces from the bronze votive statues in Olympia and sold them, and finally he despoiled the shrine of Artemis the Guardian. This is in Elis and is called the Aristarcheum. Immediately, then, after this sacrilege, he was caught and tortured for a year, being interrogated about each of his confederates in turn; and in this manner he died and the proverb arose from his sufferings. 48. Why at Sparta is a shrine of Odysseus built near the shrine of the daughters of Leucippus?
Erginus, one of the descendants of Diomedes, was persuaded by Temenus to steal the Palladium from Argos; this he did with the knowledge and help of Leagrus, who was one of Temenus’s friends. But later Leagrus became incensed at Temenus and removed to Sparta, taking the Palladium with him. The Spartan kings received it eagerly, and gave it a place near the shrine of the daughters of Leucippus, and they sent to Delphi to obtain an oracle concerning its safety and preservation. When the god gave oracle that one of those who had purloined the Palladium should be made its guardian, the Spartans constructed there the shrine of Odysseus, especially since, because of his marriage with Penelopê, a they reckoned that this hero had close relations with their city.
49. Why is it the custom for the women of Chalcedon, whenever they encounter strange men, and especially officials, to veil one cheek?
The Chalcedonians were involved in a war against the Bithynians, to which they were provoked by all kinds of reasons. When Zeipoetes became king of Bithynia, the Chalcedonians, in full force and with the addition of Thracian allies, devastated the country with fire and sword. When Zeipoetes attacked them near the so-called Phalion, they fought badly through rashness and lack of discipline, and lost over eight thousand soldiers. It was only because Zeipoetes granted an armistice to please the Byzantines that they were not completely annihilated at that time. Since, then, there was a great scarcity of men throughout the city, most of the women were forced to consort with freedmen and resident aliens. But those women who preferred to have no husband at all rather than a marriage of this sort, themselves conducted whatever business they needed to transact with the judges or the officials, drawing aside one part of the veil that covered their faces. And the married women, for very shame, followed the example of these, who, they felt, were better than themselves, and also changed to a similar custom.
50. Why is it that the Argives drive their sheep to the precinct of Agenor when they wish to mate them?
Is it because Agenor took most excellent care of his sheep and acquired more flocks than any other king?
51. Why is it that Argive children in a certain festival call themselves, in jest, “Pear-throwers “?
Is it because the first men that were led down by Inachus from the mountains to the plain lived, as they say, on wild pears? They also say that wild pears were first discovered by the Greeks in the Peloponnesus at a time when that country was still called Apia, a wherefore wild pears were named apioi.
52. What is the reason why the Eleans lead their mares outside the boundaries of their country to mate them with asses? b
Is it because of all kings Oenomaüs was the most fond of horses, and, since he particularly loved this animal, he laid many terrible curses upon any that should thus mate horses in Elis; and it is in fear of that curse that they endeavour to keep clear of it?
53. Why was it the custom among the Cnossians for those who borrowed money to snatch it?
Was it that if they defaulted they might be liable to the charge of violence, and so be punished the more?
54. What is the reason why in Samos they invoke the Aphroditê of Dexicreon?
Is it because a sorcerer Dexicreon, making use of a rite of purification, freed the women of Samos from the unbridled licentiousness in which they indulged because of their great luxury and wantonness?
Or is it because Dexicreon was a shipmaster and sailed to Cyprus on a trading voyage, and, when he was about to freight his ship, Aphroditê bade him put into it water and nothing else, and set sail as quickly as possible? He obeyed and, putting much water aboard the ship, sailed away; after a time the wind died down and the ship was becalmed in the open sea. To the other merchants and shipmasters, who were athirst, he sold the water and amassed much money. Wherefore he fashioned an image of the goddess and called it by his own name. If this is really true, it appears that the goddess wished not to make one man rich, but to save the lives of many through one man.
55. Why is it that whenever the Samians are engaged in sacrificing to Hermes the Giver of Joy they allow whoever so desires to steal from them and filch their clothes? Because in obedience to an oracle they changed their abode from Samos to Mycalê and supported themselves by piracy there for ten years; and after this they sailed again to Samos and overcame their enemies.
56. From what does the place Panhaema on the island of Samos derive its name?
Is it because the Amazons sailed from the country of the Ephesians a across to Samos when they were endeavouring to escape from Dionysus? But he built boats and crossed over and, joining battle, slew many of them near this place, which the spectators in amazement called Panhaema b because of the vast quantity of blood shed there. And of the elephants c some are said to have been slain near Phloeum, and their bones are pointed out there; but some relate that Phloeum also was cleft by them as they uttered a loud and piercing cry.
57. For what reason is the great hall in Samos called the Hall of Fetters?
After the murder of Demoteles and the dissolution of his monarchic government the Land-owners d controlled the State, and at this time the Megarians made an expedition against the Perinthians, who were colonists of the Samians; as it is related, they brought with them fetters for their captives. When the Land-owners learned of this, they dispatched aid to the Perinthians with all speed, appointing nine generals and manning thirty ships. Two of these ships, as they were sailing out, were destroyed by a thunderbolt in front of the harbour; but the generals kept on with the others, defeated the Megarians, and took six hundred of them alive. Elated by their victory, they conceived the project of overthrowing the oligarchy of the Land-owners at home. Now the officials in charge of the government had provided an occasion for undertaking this, by writing to the generals to bring back the captive Megarians bound in their own fetters. The generals, accordingly, took the letter, and secretly showed it to certain of the Megarians and persuaded them to join with themselves and free the city. When they took counsel together concerning the deed, they decided to knock loose the rings that fastened the fetters, and in this condition to put them on the legs of the Megarians, holding them up with thongs to their girdles, so that the fetters might not slip down and fall off when their legs became relaxed in walking. Having thus equipped the men and given a sword to each, they sailed back to Samos and disembarked, and there they led the Megarians through the market-place to the council-chamber, where practically all the Land-owners were sitting together. Then, at a given signal, the Megarians fell upon them and slew them. When the city had thus been freed, they made citizens of those Megarians who so desired; and they constructed a great building and dedicated the fetters there; and from this the building was called the Hall of Fetters.
58. Why is it that among the Coans the priest of Heracles at Antimacheia dons a woman’s garb, and fastens upon his head a woman’s head-dress before he begins the sacrifice?
Heracles, putting out with his six ships from Troy, encountered a storm; and when his other ships had been destroyed, with the only one remaining he was driven by the gale to Cos. He was cast ashore upon the Laceter, as the place is called, with nothing salvaged save his arms and his men. Now he happened upon some sheep and asked for one ram from the shepherd. This man, whose name was Antagoras, was in the prime of bodily strength, and bade Heracles wrestle with him; if Heracles could throw him, he might carry off the ram. And when Heracles grappled with him, the Meropes came to the aid of Antagoras, and the Greeks to help Heracles, and they were soon engaged in a mighty battle. In the struggle it is said that Heracles, being exhausted by the multitude of his adversaries, fled to the house of a Thracian woman; there, disguising himself in feminine garb, he managed to escape detection. But later, when he had overcome the Meropes in another encounter, and had been purified, he married Chalciopê and assumed a gay-coloured raiment. Wherefore the priest sacrifices on the spot where it came about that the battle was fought, and bridegrooms wear feminine raiment when they welcome their brides.
59. Whence came the clan of “Wagon-rollers” among the Megarians?
In the time of the unbridled democracy which brought about both the return-interest a and the temple sacrilege, a sacred mission of Peloponnesians passed through the Megarid, on its way to Delphi and had encamped, as chance dictated, in their wagons, with their wives and children, in Aegeiri beside the lake. But the boldest spirits among the Megarians, inflamed with wine, in their insolence and savagery rolled back the wagons and pushed them into the lake, so that many members of the mission were drowned. Now because of the unsettled state of their government the Megarians took no notice of the crime; but the Amphictyonic Assembly, since the mission was sacred, took cognizance of the matter and punished some of the guilty men with banishment and others with death. The descendants of these men were called “Wagon-rollers.”

## Greek and Roman parallel stories

[Parall. min. 0] 305 The greater part of mankind think that tales of ancient events are inventions and myths because of the incredible elements which they contain. But since I have discovered that similar events have happened in this modern era, I have singled out crises of Roman history; and, to parallel each ancient happening, I have subjoined a more modern instance. I have also recorded my authorities.
[Parall. min. 1] 1 1 Datis, the Persian satrap, came to Marathon, a plain of Attica, with an army of three hundred thousand, encamped there, and declared war on the inhabitants of the country. The Athenians, however, contemning the barbarian host, sent out nine thousand men, and appointed as generals Cynegeirus, Polyzelus, Callimachus, and Miltiades. When this force had engaged the enemy, Polyzelus, having seen a supernatural vision, lost his sight, and became blind. Callimachus was pierced with so many spears that, dead though he was, he stood upright; and Cynegeirus, seizing hold of a Persian ship that was putting out to sea, had his hand chopped off.
[Parall. min. 1b] Hasdrubal the king seized Sicily and declared war on the Romans. Metellus was elected general by the Senate and was victor in the battle in which Lucius Glauco, a patrician, seizing hold of Hasdrubal’s ship, lost both his hands. This Aristeides the Milesian relates in the first book of his Sicilian History; from him Diodorus Siculus learned the facts.
[Parall. min. 2] 2 1 Xerxes with five million men anchored near Artemisium and declared war on the inhabitants. The Athenians were in confusion and sent Agesilaüs, the brother of Themistocles, as a spy, although his father Neocles had seen in a dream his son deprived of both his hands. Agesilaüs, arriving among the barbarians in Persian garb, slew Mardonius, one of the king’s bodyguards, supposing him to be Xerxes. He was arrested by the bystanders and led in bonds to the king. The aforesaid king was about to offer sacrifice at the altar of the Sun, and Agesilaüs placed his right hand upon the altar; and when he had endured the cruel torture without a groan, he was freed from his bonds, whereupon he declared, “All we Athenians are men of this sort; if you do not believe me, I will place my left hand also on the altar.” Xerxes was frightened and gave command that he be kept under guard. This Agatharchides the Samian relates in the second book of his Persian History.
[Parall. min. 2b] Porsenna, king of the Etruscans, made a foray on the other side of the river Tiber and warred against the Romans; he intercepted the abundant supply of grain and oppressed the aforesaid with famine. The senate was in confusion; but Mucius one of the nobles, with the consuls’ authorization, took four hundred men of his own age in civilian dress, and crossed the river. He observed one of the tyrant’s bodyguards distributing provisions to the officers and, supposing him to be Porsenna, killed him. When he was led to the king, he put forth his right hand into the sacrificial fire; 306 and dissembling his torments with a stout heart, he said with a smile, “Ruffian, I am free, whether you will or no. Know that there are against you even now in your camp four hundred of us that seek to slay you.” Porsenna was frightened, and made a truce with the Romans. This Aristeides the Milesian relates in the third book of his Histories.
[Parall. min. 3] 3 1 When Argives and Spartans were contending for the Thyreatis, the Amphictyonic Assembly decreed that three hundred of each should fight, and the country should belong to the victors. The Spartans accordingly made Othryades their general, and the Argives made Thersander theirs. In the battle two of the Argives survived, Agenor and Chromius, who brought to their city the report of their victory. But when the battlefield was deserted, Othryades revived and, supporting himself on spear-shafts broken in two, despoiled and stripped the corpses of their shields; and when he had erected a trophy, he wrote with his own blood upon it: ‘To Zeus, Guardian of Trophies.’ And when the two peoples still disputed over the victory, the Amphictyonic Assembly, after a personal inspection of the battlefield, decided in favour of the Spartans. Thus Chrysermus in the third book of his Peloponnesian History.
[Parall. min. 3b] The Romans in a war with the Samnites elected Postumius Albinus general. He was ambushed at a place called the Caudine Forks (it is a very narrow pass) and lost three legions, and himself fell mortally wounded. But in the dead of night he revived for a little and despoiled the enemy’s corpses of their shields. With these he set up a trophy and, dipping his hand in his blood, wrote upon it: “The Romans from the Samnites to Jupiter Feretrius.” But Maximus, surnamed the Glutton, was dispatched as general and when he had come to the place and had seen the trophy, he gladly accepted the omen. He attacked the enemy and conquered, and taking their king prisoner, sent him to Rome. Thus Aristeides the Milesian in the third book of his Italian Histories.
[Parall. min. 4] 4 1 When the Persians were marching with five million men against Greece, Leonidas was sent by the Spartans to Thermopylae with three hundred men. While they were eating and drinking there, the barbarian host attacked them; and when Leonidas saw the barbarians, he said, “Eat your lunch now as if you were to dine in the other world.” And when he rushed against the barbarians, and was pierced by many a spear, he made his way up to Xerxes and snatched off his crown. When he was dead the barbarian king cut out his heart and found it covered with hair. So Aristeides in the first book of his Persian History.
[Parall. min. 4b] When the Romans were at war with the Carthaginians, they dispatched three hundred men and Fabius Maximus as their general. He attacked the enemy and lost all his men, but he himself, although mortally wounded, with a mad rush reached Hannibal and knocked down his crown, and so died with him. This Aristeides the Milesian relates.
[Parall. min. 5] 5 1 At the city of Celaenae in Phrygia the earth yawned open, together with a heavy rain, and dragged down many homesteads with their inhabitants into the depths. Midas the king received an oracle that if he should throw his most precious possession into the abyss, it would close. He cast in gold and silver, but this availed nothing. But Anchurus, the son of Midas, reasoning that there is nothing in life more precious than a human life, embraced his father and his wife Timothea, and rode on his horse into the abyss. When the earth had closed, Midas made an altar of Idaean Zeus golden by a touch of his hand. This altar becomes of stone at that time of the year when this yawning of the earth occurred; but when this limit of time has passed, it is seen to be golden. So Callisthenes in the second book of his Metamorphoses.
[Parall. min. 5b] Because of the wrath of Jupiter Tarpeius the Tiber coursed through the middle of the Forum, broke open a very large abyss and engulfed many houses. An oracle was given that this would end if they threw in their precious possession. As they were casting in gold and silver, 307 Curtius, a youth of noble family, apprehended the meaning of the oracle, and, reasoning that human life is more precious, he hurled himself on horseback into the abyss, and saved his people from their miseries. So Aristeides in the fortieth book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 6] 6 1 When the captains that accompanied Polyneices were feasting, an eagle swooped down and carried the spear of Amphiaraüs up to a height and then let it drop. The spear became fixed in the earth and was changed into a laurel. The next day, when the captains were fighting, at that very spot Amphiaraüs was swallowed up with his chariot, where now is the city that is called Harma. So Trisimachus in the third book of his Founding of Cities.
[Parall. min. 6b] When the Romans were fighting against Pyrrhus of Epeirus, Aemilius Paulus received an oracle that he should be victorious if he would build an altar where he should see a man of the nobles with his chariot swallowed up in an abyss. Three days later Valerius Conatus in a dream saw a vision which commanded him to don his priestly raiment (he was, in fact, an expert augur). When he had led forth his men and slain many of the enemy, he was swallowed up by the earth. Aemilius built an altar, gained a victory, and sent back an hundred and sixty turreted elephants to Rome. The altar delivers oracles at that time of year when Pyrrhus was vanquished. This Critolaüs relates in the third book of his Epeirote History.
[Parall. min. 7] 7 1 Pyraechmes, king of the Euboeans, was at war with the Boeotians. Heracles, while still a youth, vanquished him. He tied Pyraechmes to colts, tore his body into two parts, and cast it forth unburied. The place is called “Colts of Pyraechmes.” It is situated beside the river Heracleius, and it gives forth a sound of neighing when horses drink of it. So in the third book of Concerning Rivers.
[Parall. min. 7b] Tullus Hostilius, King of the Romans, waged war with the Albans, whose king was Metius Fufetius. And Tullus repeatedly postponed battle. But the Albans, assuming his defeat, betook themselves to feasting and drinking. When they were overcome by wine, Tullus attacked them, and, tying their king to two colts, tore him apart. So Alexarchus in the fourth book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 8] 8 1 Philip wished to plunder Methonê and Olynthus and, while he was attempting to force a crossing at the Sandanus river, his eye was pierced by an arrow from the bow of a certain Olynthian named Aster, who uttered these words:
[Parall. min. 8b] Aster to Philip sends this deadly shaft.
[Parall. min. 8c] But Philip swam back to his friends and was saved, although he lost his eye. So Callisthenes in the third book of his Macedonian History.
[Parall. min. 8d] Porsenna, king of the Etruscans, made a foray on the other side of the river Tiber and warred against the Romans, and, by intercepting their abundant supply of grain, he oppressed the aforesaid with famine. But Horatius Cocles, who was elected general, took possession of the Wooden Bridge and checked the barbarian horde that sought to cross. But as he was being worsted by the enemy, he ordered his subordinates to cut down the bridge, and so thwarted the barbarian horde that sought to cross. When his eye was struck by an arrow, he threw himself into the river and swam across to his friends. So Theotimus in the second book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 9] 9 1 The story of Icarius who entertained Dionysus: Eratosthenes in his Erigonê.
[Parall. min. 9b] Saturn, when once he was entertained by a farmer who had a fair daughter named Entoria, seduced her and begat Janus, Hymnus, Faustus, and Felix. He then taught Icarius the use of wine and viniculture, and told him that he should share his knowledge with his neighbours also. When the neighbours did so and drank more than is customary, they fell into an unusually deep sleep. Imagining that they had been poisoned, they pelted Icarius with stones and killed him; and his grandchildren in despair ended their lives by hanging themselves. 308 When a plague had gained a wide hold among the Romans, Apollo gave an oracle that it would cease if they should appease the wrath of Saturn and the spirits of those who had perished unlawfully. Lutatius Catulus, one of the nobles, built for the god the precinct which lies near the Tarpeian Rock. He made the upper altar with four faces, either because of Icarius’s grandchildren or because the year has four parts; and he designated a month January. Saturn placed them all among the stars. The others are called harbingers of the vintage, but Janus rises before them. His star is to be seen just in front of the feet of Virgo. So Critolaüs in the fourth book of his Phaenomena.
[Parall. min. 10] 10 1 When the Persians were plundering Greece, Pausanias, the Spartan general, accepted five hundred talents of gold from Xerxes and intended to betray Sparta. But when he was detected, Agesilaüs, his father, helped to pursue him to the temple of Athena of the Brazen House; the father walled up the doors of the shrine with bricks and killed his son by starvation. His mother also cast his body forth unburied. So Chrysermus in the second book of his Histories.
[Parall. min. 10b] The Romans in their war with the inhabitants of Latium elected Publius Decius general. A certain poor, but noble, youth named Cassius Brutus wished to open the gates at night for a stated sum of money. He was detected and fled to the temple of Minerva Auxiliaria. Cassius Signifer, his father, shut him in, killed him by starvation, and cast him forth unburied. So Cleitonymus in his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 11] 11 When Darius the Persian had fought with Alexander at the Granicus, and had lost seven satraps and five hundred and two scythe-bearing chariots, he intended to attack again on the next day. But Ariobarzanes, his son, who was kindly disposed toward Alexander, promised to betray his father. But the father fell into a rage and cut off his head. So Aretades of Cnidus in the third book of his Macedonian History.
[Parall. min. 11b] Brutus, unanimously elected consul, drove into exile Tarquin the Proud, who was comporting himself despotically. Tarquin went to the Etruscans and began to wage war against the Romans. But Tarquin’s sons wished to betray their father. But they were detected, and Tarquin cut off their heads. So Aristeides the Milesian in his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 12] 12 1 Epameinondas, the Theban general, when he was waging war against the Spartans, returned home at the season of the elections, giving orders to his son Stesimbrotus not to engage the enemy. But the Spartans learned of Epameinondas’s absence and taunted the youth with lack of manliness. He became indignant and, forgetting his father’s command, engaged the enemy and conquered. But his father being deeply offended, crowned the youth and cut off his head. This Ctesiphon relates in the third book of his Boeotian History.
[Parall. min. 12b] When the Romans were engaged in war against the Samnites, they appointed Manlius, called Imperiosus, general. As he was journeying to Rome for the consular elections, he ordered his son not to engage the enemy. But the Samnites learned of this and insultingly called the youth a nobody. He was provoked and defeated them, but Manlius cut off his head. This Aristeides the Milesian relates.
[Parall. min. 13] 13 1 Heracles failed in his suit for Iolê’s hand and sacked Oechalia. Iolê threw herself down from the wall; but it came about, since her garment was billowed out by the wind, that she suffered no harm. This Nicias of Mallus relates.
[Parall. min. 13b] When the Romans were warring against the Etruscans, they elected Valerius Torquatus general. When he beheld the king’s daughter, whose name was Clusia, he asked the Etruscan for his daughter; but when he failed to obtain her, he attempted to sack the city. Clusia threw herself down from the battlements; 309 but by the foresight of Venus her garment billowed out, and she came safely to the ground. The general violated her, and for all these reasons was banished by public decree of the Romans to Corsica, an island off Italy. So Theophilus in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 14] 14 1 When the Carthaginians and Siceliots were negotiating an alliance against the Romans, Vesta was the only divinity to whom Metellus, the general, did not sacrifice. She, accordingly, sent a contrary wind against his ships. Gaius Julius, the augur, said that it would abate if Metellus should sacrifice his daughter. Forced by necessity, he brought forward his daughter Metella. But Vesta took pity, substituted a heifer, transported the maiden to Lanuvium, and appointed her priestess of the serpent that is worshipped by the people there. So Pythocles in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 14b] The like fate of Iphigeneia at Aulis in Boeotia Menyllus relates in the first book of his Boeotian History.
[Parall. min. 15] 15 1 Brennus, king of the Gauls, when he was ravaging Asia, came to Ephesus and fell in love with a maiden Demonicê. She promised to satisfy his desires and also to betray Ephesus, if he would give her the Gauls’ bracelets and feminine ornaments. But Brennus required his soldiers to throw into the lap of the avaricious woman the gold which they were wearing. This they did, and she was buried alive by the abundance of gold. This Cleitophon relates in the first book of his Gallic History.
[Parall. min. 15b] Tarpeia, one of the maidens of honourable estate, was the guardian of the Capitol when the Romans were warring against the Sabines. She promised Tatius that she would give him entry to the Tarpeian Rock if she received as pay the necklaces which the Sabines wore for adornment. The Sabines understood the import and buried her alive. So Aristeides the Milesian in his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 16] 16 1 When a war between the Tegeans and the Pheneans had continued for a long time, dit was agreed to send triplet brothers to determine the victory by their fighting. The Tegeans accordingly chose to represent them the sons of Rheximachus, and the Pheneans the sons of Demostratus. When battle was joined, two of Rheximachus’s sons were slain. But the third, Critolaüs by name, by a stratagem succeeded in surviving his two brothers. For he devised the ruse of simulated flight, and so killed one after another of his pursuers. And when he came home all the rest rejoiced with him; but his sister Demodicê alone did not rejoice, for he had slain her betrothed, Demodicus. Critolaüs, smarting under such undeserved treatment, killed her. He was prosecuted for murder by his mother, but was acquitted of the charge. So Demaratus in the second book of his Arcadian History.
[Parall. min. 16b] When the Romans and the Albans were at war, they chose triplets as their champions, the Albans the Curiatii, the Romans the Horatii. When the battle was joined, the Curiatii killed two of their opponents; but the survivor made use of simulated flight to help him, and killed one after another of his pursuers. Amid the universal rejoicing his sister Horatia alone did not rejoice with him; for he had slain her betrothed, Curiatius. So Horatius killed his sister. This Aristeides the Milesian narrates in his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 17] 17 1 When the shrine of Athena in Ilium was in flames, Ilus rushed up and seized the Palladium, a statue which had fallen from heaven, and was blinded: for the Palladium might not be looked upon by man. But later, when he had placated the goddess, he regained his sight. So Dercyllus in the first book of his Foundations of Cities.
[Parall. min. 17b] When Antylus, one of the noblemen, was on his way to the outskirts of the city, he was checked by crows which struck at him with their wings. Frightened by the omen, he returned to Rome. 310 He saw that the shrine of Vesta was on fire, seized the Palladium, and was blinded. But later he regained his sight when he had placated the goddess. So Aristeides the Milesian in his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 18] 18 1 When the Thracians were at war with the Athenians, they received an oracle that they would be victorious if they should spare Codrus; but Codrus took a scythe and, in the guise of a poor man, went to meet the enemy. He slew one and was killed by the second, and thus the Athenians gained the victory. So Socrates in the second book of his Thracian History.
[Parall. min. 18b] When Publius Decius, a Roman, was warring against the Albans, he saw in a dream that, if he should die, his death would bring strength to the Romans. He went into the thick of the battle, slew many, and was himself slain. In like manner did his son Decius also save the Romans in the war against the Gauls. So Aristeides the Milesian.
[Parall. min. 19] 19 1 To Dionysus alone did Cyanippus, a Syracusan, omit to sacrifice. The god was angry and cast upon him a fit of drunkenness, in which he violated his daughter Cyanê in a dark place. She took off his ring and gave it to her nurse to be a mark of recognition. When the Syracusans were oppressed by a plague, and the Pythian god pronounced that they should sacrifice the impious man to the Averting Deities, the rest had no understanding of the oracle; but Cyanê knew, and seized her father by the hair and dragged him forth; and when she had herself cut her father’s throat, she killed herself upon his body in the same manner. So Dositheüs in the third book of his Sicilian History.
[Parall. min. 19b] When the Bacchanalian revels were being celebrated at Rome, Aruntius, who had been from birth a water-drinker, set at naught the power of the god. But Dionysus cast a fit of drunkenness upon him, and he violated his daughter Medullina. But she recognized from a ring his relationship and devised a plan wiser than her years; making her father drunk, and crowning him with garlands, she led him to the altar of Divine Lightning, and there, dissolved in tears, she slew the man who had plotted against her virginity. So Aristeides in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 20] 20 When Erechtheus was at war with Eumolpus, he learned that he would conquer if he sacrificed his daughter before the battle, and, communicating this to his wife Praxithea, he sacrificed his daughter. Euripides records this in the Erechtheus.
[Parall. min. 20b] When Marius was fighting the Cimbri and was being worsted, he saw in a dream that he would conquer if he sacrificed his daughter before the battle; for he had a daughter Calpurnia. Since he placed his fellow-citizens before the ties of nature, he did the deed and won the victory. And even to this day there are two altars in Germany which at that time of year send forth the sound of trumpets. So Dorotheüs in the fourth book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 21] 21 1 Cyanippus, a Thessalian by birth, used continually to go forth to hunt, but his wife, whom he had but lately wed, suspected him of intimacy with another woman, because of his habit of frequently passing the night in the forest, and she followed on the track of Cyanippus. Hiding herself in a thicket, she awaited events. But some branches were shaken by her movements, and the dogs, thinking that she was a wild animal, rushed upon her and tore to pieces the loving wife like a brute beast. Cyanippus was a witness of this unexpected event and slew himself. So the poet Parthenius.
[Parall. min. 21b] In Sybaris, a city of Italy, a young man Aemilius, greatly admired for his beauty, was very fond of hunting. But his wife, whom he had but lately wed, thought that he was consorting with another woman and entered the dell. The trees were shaken by her movements and the dogs rushed upon her and tore her to pieces; and her husband slew himself. So Cleitonymus in the second book of his History of Sybaris.
[Parall. min. 22] 22 1 Through the wrath of Aphroditê, Smyrna, the daughter of Cinyras, fell in love with her father, and revealed to her nurse 311 the all-compelling force of her love. The nurse led on her master by a trick; for she declared that a neighbouring maiden was in love with him and was too modest to approach him openly; and Cinyras consorted with her. But on one occasion, wishing to learn the identity of his mistress, he called for a light; but when he saw her, sword in hand he pursued this most wanton woman. But by the foresight of Aphroditê she was changed into the tree that bears her name. So Theodorus in his Metamorphoses.
[Parall. min. 22b] Through the wrath of Venus, Valeria Tusculanaria fell in love with her father Valerius, and imparted her secret to her nurse. The nurse deceived her master by a trick, saying that there was someone who was too modest to consort with him openly, but that she was a maiden of the neighbourhood. The father, sodden with wine, kept calling for a light; but the nurse was quick enough to wake the daughter, who went to the country, since she was with child. Once on a time she threw herself down from a cliff, but the child still lived. Returning home, she found her pregnancy inescapable, and in due time gave birth to Aegipan, called in the Roman tongue Silvanus. But Valerius, in a fit of despair, hurled himself down the same cliff. So Aristeides the Milesian in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 23] 23 1 After the sack of Troy Diomedes was cast upon on the Libyan coast where Lycus was king, whose custom it was to sacrifice strangers to his father Ares. But Callirhoê, the king’s daughter, fell in love with Diomedes and betrayed her father: loosing Diomedes from his bonds, she saved him. But he, without regard for his benefactor, sailed away, and she ended her life with a halter. So Juba in the third book of his Libyan History.
[Parall. min. 23b] Calpurnius Crassus, one of the noblemen who had campaigned with Regulus, was dispatched against the Massylians to sack a certain stronghold by name Garaetium, a place difficult to capture. He was taken captive and was destined to be sacrificed to Saturn; but Bisaltia, daughter of the king, fell in love with him, betrayed her father, and gave her lover the victory. But when he returned home, the maiden slew herself. So Hesianax in the third book of his Libyan History.
[Parall. min. 24] 24 1 Priam sent away Polydorus with gold to Thrace to his son-in law Polymestor, because the city was on the point of being sacked. But, after its capture, Polymestor killed the child that he might gain the gold. Hecuba, however, came to the country and, tricking him with the promise of gold, put out his eyes with her own hands, assisted by the captive women. So Euripides the tragedian.
[Parall. min. 24b] When Hannibal was ravaging Campania, Lucius Tiberis placed his son Rustius together with his possessions in the hands of Valerius Gestius, who was his son-in law; but Hannibal was victorious. When the Campanian heard this, through his love of money he violated the rights of nature and slew the child. But when Tiberis was journeying through the country-side and came upon the body of his son, he sent to his son-in law, pretending that he would show him treasures; but when he came, Tiberis put out his eyes and nailed him to a cross. So Aristeides in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 25] 25 1 Telamon led out to hunt Phocus, the beloved son of Aeacus by his wife Psamathê. When a boar appeared, Telamon threw his spear at his hated brother and killed him. But his father drove him into exile. So Dorotheüs in the first book of his Metamorphoses.
[Parall. min. 25b] Gaius Maximus had two sons, Similius and Rhesus, of whom this Rhesus, whom he begat from Ameria out of wedlock, killed his brother during a hunt; and when he returned home, he declared that the mischance was accidental, not deliberate. But his father recognized the truth and banished him. So Aristocles in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 26] 312 26 1 Ares consorted with Althaea and begat Meleager. . . . So Euripides in his Meleager.
[Parall. min. 26b] Septimius Marcellus, who was wedded to Silvia, was much given to hunting. Mars, in the guise of a shepherd, violated the young bride, and got her with child. He acknowledged his identity and gave her a spear-shaft, declaring that with it the life of her child that was to be born was inseparably united. She duly bore for Septimius a son Tuscinus. Now the only divinity that Mamercus neglected when he was sacrificing to the gods for a bountiful harvest was Ceres, and she sent a wild boar. But Tuscinus assembled many huntsmen, slew it band presented the head and the hide to his affianced bride; but Scymbrates and Muthias, his mother’s brothers, took them away from the maiden. Tuscinus was enraged and slew his kinsmen, but his mother burned the spear-shaft. So Menyllus in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 27] 27 1 Telamon, the son of Aeacus and Endeïs, came to Euboea, violated the daughter of Alcothoüs, Eriboea and escaped by night. But when her father discovered the matter and suspected someone of the citizens, he gave the girl to one of his guardsmen to be cast into the sea. But the guardsman took pity on her, and sold her into slavery. When the ship on which she was put in at Salamis, Telamon bought her, and she bore Ajax. So Aretades the Cnidian in the second book of his History of the Islands.
[Parall. min. 27b] Lucius Troscius had by Patris a daughter Florentia. Calpurnius, a Roman, violated her, and Lucius delivered over the maiden to be thrown into the sea. But she was pitied by the guardsman and sold into slavery; and by chance her ship put in at Italy, Calpurnius bought her, and had from her Contruscus.
[Parall. min. 28] 28 1 Aeolus, king of the Etruscans, begat from Amphithea six daughters and the like number of sons. Macareus, the youngest, for love violated one of his sisters and she became pregnant. Her plight was discovered and her father sent her a sword; she judged herself a law-breaker and made away with herself. Macareus also did likewise. So Sostratus in the second book of his Etruscan History.
[Parall. min. 28b] Papirius Tolucer married Julia Pulchra and begat six daughters and the like number of sons. The eldest, Papirius Romanus, fell in love with his sister Canulia and got her with child. Their father learned of it and sent his daughter a sword. She killed herself; Romanus also did the same. So Chrysippus in the first book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 29] 29 1 Aristonymus of Ephesus, the son of Demostratus, hated women and used to consort with an ass; and in due time the ass gave birth to a very beautiful maiden, Onoscelis by name. So Aristocles in the second book of his Strange Events.
[Parall. min. 29b] Fulvius Stellus hated women and used to consort with a mare and in due time the mare gave birth to a beautiful girl and they named her Epona. She is the goddess that is concerned with the protection of horses. So Agesilaüs in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 30] 30 1 The people of Sardis, when they were engaged in war against the people of Smyrna, encamped round about the walls, and sent word through ambassadors that they would never retire unless the people of Smyrna would agree to let their wives consort with them. The Smyrnaeans, because of the compelling necessity, were in a fair way to suffer grievously; but there was a certain maid-servant to one of the better class who ran up to her master Philarchus and said, “You must dress up the maid-servants and send them in place of free-born women.” And this, in fact, they did. The men of Sardis were quite exhausted by the serving-maids, and so were taken captive; whence even now the people of Smyrna have a festival called Eleutheria 313 in which the maid-servants wear the adornments of free women. So Dositheüs in the third book of his Lydian History.
[Parall. min. 30b] When Atepomarus, king of the Gauls, was at war with the Romans, he said he would never retire unless the Romans should surrender their wives for intercourse. But the Romans, on the advice of their maid-servants, sent slave-women; and the barbarians, exhausted by unremitting intercourse, fell asleep. But Rhetana (for she had been the author of this advice), by taking hold of a wild fig-tree, climbed upon the wall and informed the consuls; and the Romans attacked and conquered. From this the Servants’ Festival takes its name. So Aristeides the Milesian bin the first book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 31] 31 1 When the Athenians were engaged in a war against Eumolpus, and their supply of food was insufficient, Pyrander, the treasurer of the public funds, secretly reduced the unit of measure and distributed food very sparingly. But his countrymen suspected that he was a traitor and stoned him to death. So Callisthenes in the third book of his Thracian History.
[Parall. min. 31b] When the Romans were waging war against the Gauls, and their supply of food was insufficient, Cinna secretly reduced the distribution of grain to the people. But the Romans stoned him to death on the suspicion that he had designs on the kingship. So Aristeides in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 32] 32 1 During the Peloponnesian War Peisistratus of Orchomenus hated the aristocracy and strongly favoured the poorer citizens. The members of the Council plotted to kill him; they cut him up into bits, thrust these into the folds of their garments, and scraped the earth clean. But the crowd of commoners caught a suspicion of this deed and hurried to the Council. Tlesimachus, however, the younger son of the king, was privy to the plot and drew the crowd away from the assembly by declaring that he had seen his father, endowed with more than mortal stature, being swiftly borne toward mount Pisa and thus the crowd was deceived. So Theophilus in the second book of his Peloponnesian History.
[Parall. min. 32b] Because of the wars with neighbouring States the Roman Senate had done away with the distribution of grain to the people; but Romulus the king could not brook this, restored the dole to the people, and punished many of the more prominent men. They slew him in the Senate, cut him into bits, and thrust these into the folds of their garments; but the Roman people ran with fire to the Senate-house. Julius Proculus, however, one of the prominent men, declared that on a mountain he had seen Romulus with greater stature than any mortal’s and that he had become a god. The Romans believed him and withdrew. So Aristobulus in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 33] 33 1 Pelops, the son of Tantalus and Euryanassa, married Hippodameia and begat Atreus and Thyestes; but by the nymph Danaïs he had Chrysippus, ewhom he loved more than his legitimate sons. But Laïus the Theban conceived a desire for him and carried him off; and, although he was arrested by Thyestes and Atreus, he obtained mercy from Pelops because of his love. But Hippodameia tried to persuade Atreus and Thyestes to do away with Chrysippus, since she knew that he would be a contestant for the kingship; but when they refused, she stained her hands with the pollution. For at dead of night, when Laïus was asleep, she drew his sword, wounded Chrysippus, and fixed the sword in his body. Laïus was suspected because of the sword, but was saved by Chrysippus, who, though half-dead, acknowledged the truth. Pelops buried Chrysippus and banished Hippodameia. So Dositheüs in his Descendants of Pelops.
[Parall. min. 33b] Ebius Tolieix married Nuceria and had from her two sons; and he had also, from a freedwoman, Firmus, conspicuous for his beauty, whom he loved more than his legitimate sons. Nuceria was disposed to hate her stepson and tried to persuade her sons to kill him; but when they righteously refused, she herself effected the murder. 314 By night she drew the sword of Firmus’s body-guard and mortally wounded the boy as he slept, leaving the sword behind in his body. The guard was suspected, but the boy told the truth. Ebius buried his son and banished his wife. So Dositheüs in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 34] 34 1 Theseus, who was actually the son of Poseidon, begat a son Hippolytus from Hippolytê the Amazon and took a second wife, Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, who thus became a stepmother. Phaedra fell in love with her stepson, and sent her nurse to him; but he left Athens and, coming to Troezen, devoted himself to hunting. But when the wanton woman failed to obtain her cherished desire, she indited a false letter against the chaste youth and ended her life with a halter. Theseus believed the letter and asked from Poseidon the destruction of Hippolytus as fulfilment of one of the three wishes which he had as a concession from Poseidon. The god sent a bull to confront Hippolytus as he was driving along the shore in his chariot and terrified the horses, which crushed Hippolytus.
[Parall. min. 34b] Comminius Super of Laurentum begat a son Comminius from the nymph Egeria and took a second wife Gidica, who thus became a stepmother. She fell in love with her stepson and, failing to obtain her desire, put an end to her life with a halter, leaving behind her a lying letter. Comminius read the accusations, believed the invidious charge, and called upon Neptune, who placed a bull in the youth’s path as he was riding in a chariot; and the young man’s horses ran away with him and killed him. So Dositheüs in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 35] 35 1 When a plague had overspread Sparta, the god gave an oracle that it would cease if they sacrificed a noble maiden each year. Once when Helen had been chosen by lot and had been led forward adorned for the sacrifice, an eagle swooped down, snatched up the sword, carried it to the herds of cattle, and let it fall on a heifer; wherefore the Spartans refrained from the slaying of maidens. So Aristodemus in his Third Collection of Fables.
[Parall. min. 35b] When a plague had gained a wide hold on the city of Falerii, and many perished of it, an oracle was given that the terror would abate if they sacrificed a maiden to Juno each year. This superstitious practice persisted and once, as a maiden chosen by lot, Valeria Luperca, had drawn the sword, an eagle swooped down, snatched it up, and placed a wand tipped with a small hammer upon the sacrificial offerings; but the sword the eagle cast down upon a certain heifer which was grazing near the shrine. The maiden understood the import: she sacrificed the heifer, took up the hammer, and went about from house to house, tapping the sick lightly with her hammer and rousing them, bidding each of them to be well again; whence even to this day this mystic rite is performed. So Aristeides in the nineteenth book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 36] 36 1 Phylonomê, the daughter of Nyctimus and Arcadia, was wont to hunt with Artemis; but Ares, in the guise of a shepherd, got her with child. She gave birth to twin children and, fearing her father, cast them into the Erymanthus; but by some divine providence they were borne round and round without peril, and found haven in the trunk of a hollow oak-tree. A wolf, whose den was in the tree, cast her own cubs into the stream and suckled the children. A shepherd, Gyliphus, was witness of this event and, taking up the children, reared them as his own, and named them Lycastus and Parrhasius, the same that later succeeded to the throne of Arcadia. So Zopyrus of Byzantium in the third book of his Histories.
[Parall. min. 36b] Amulius, being despotically disposed toward his brother Numitor, killed his brother’s son Aenitus in hunting, and his daughter Silvia, or Ilia, he made a priestess of Juno. But Mars got Silvia with child. She gave birth to twins and acknowledged the truth to the despot; he became frightened and threw both the children into the water by the banks of the Tiber. 315 But they found a haven at a place where was the den of a wolf which had recently whelped. She abandoned her cubs and suckled the children. A shepherd Faustus was witness of this event and reared the children; he named them Remus and Romulus, who became the founders of Rome. So Aristeides the Milesian in his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 37] 37 1 After the capture of Troy Agamemnon together with Cassandra was slain. But Orestes was reared in the house of Strophius, and took vengeance on the murderers of his father. So Pyrander in the fourth book of his Peloponnesian History.
[Parall. min. 37b] Fabius Fabricianus, a kinsman of Fabius Maximus, sacked Tuxium, the chief city of the Samnites, band sent to Rome the statue of Venus Victrix, which was held in honour among the Samnites. His wife Fabia, debauched by a certain handsome youth whose name was Petronius Valentinus, slew her husband by treachery. But a daughter Fabia rescued from danger her brother Fabricianus, who was still a young child, and sent him away secretly to be reared elsewhere. When he reached manhood he slew his mother and her lover, and was absolved from guilt by the senate. This Dositheüs relates in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 38] 38 1 Busiris, the son of Poseidon and Anippê, daughter of the Nile, with treacherous hospitality was wont to sacrifice such persons as passed his way. But there came upon him vengeance for those that had perished by his hand. For Heracles attacked him with his club and slew him. So Agathon of Samos.
[Parall. min. 38b] When Hercules was driving through Italy the cattle of Geryon, he was entertained by king Faunus, the son of Mercury, who was wont to sacrifice his guests to the god that was his father. But when he attacked Hercules, he was slain. So Dercyllus in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 39] 39 1 Phalaris, the tyrant of Agrigentum, used to inflict most cruel torture upon the strangers that passed his way. Perillus, a bronze-founder by trade, made a bronze heifer and gave it to the king that he might burn the strangers in it alive. But Phalaris on this one occasion proved himself a just man and threw into it the artisan; the heifer seemed to give forth a sound of bellowing. So in the second book of Causes.
[Parall. min. 39b] In Segesta, a city of Sicily, there lived a certain cruel despot, Aemilius Censorinus, who used to reward with gifts those who invented more novel forms of torture; and a certain Arruntius Paterculus constructed a horse of bronze and gave it as a gift to the aforesaid that he might cast the citizens therein. But on this occasion, for the first time, the despot behaved in a just manner and thrust first the giver of the gift into the horse, so that he himself should be the first to experience the torment which he had devised for others. Then he seized the man and hurled him from the Tarpeian Rock. It is believed that those who rule with great cruelty are called Aemilii from this Aemilius. So Aristeides in the fourth book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 40] 40 1 Evenus, the son of Ares and Steropê, married Alcippê, the daughter of Oenomaüs, and begat a daughter Marpessa, whom he endeavoured to keep a virgin. Idas, the son of Aphareus, seized her from a band of dancers and fled. Her father gave chase; but, since he could not capture them, he hurled himself into the Lycormas river and became immortal. So Dositheüs in the first book of his Aetolian History.
[Parall. min. 40b] Annius, king of the Etruscans, had a beautiful daughter named Salia, whom he endeavoured to keep a virgin. But Cathetus, one of the nobles, saw the maiden at play and fell in love with her; nor could he control his passion, but seized her and set out with her for Rome. Her father gave chase, but since he could not capture them, he leaped into the river Pareüsium, and from him its name was changed to Anio. And Cathetus consorted with Salia and begat Latinus and Salius, from whom the most noble patricians traced their descent. So Aristeides the Milesian, and also Alexander Polyhistor in the third book of his Italian History.
[Parall. min. 41] 41 1 Hegesistratus, an Ephesian, having murdered one of his kinsmen, fled to Delphi, and inquired of the god where he should make his home. And Apollo answered: “Where you shall see rustics dancing, garlanded with olive-branches.” 316 When he had come to a certain place in Asia and had observed farmers garlanded with olive-leaves and dancing, there he founded a city and called it Elaeüs. So Pythocles the Samian in the third book of his Treatise on Husbandry.
[Parall. min. 41b] When Telegonus, the son of Odysseus and Circê, was sent to search for his father, he was instructed to found a city where he should see farmers garlanded and dancing. When he had come to a certain place in Italy, and had observed rustics garlanded with twigs of oak (prininoi) and diverting themselves with dancing, he founded a city, and from the coincidence named it Prinistum, which the Romans, by a slight change, call Praenestê. So Aristocles relates in the third book of his Italian History.

## On the fortune of the Romans

[De fort. Rom. 1] 316 C 1 Virtue and Fortune, who have often engaged in many great contests, are now engaging each other in the present contest, which is the greatest of all; for in this they are striving for a decision regarding the hegemony of Rome, to determine whose work it is and which of them created such a mighty power. For to her who is victorious this will be no slight testimonial, but rather a defence against accusation. For Virtue is accused of being a fair thing, but unprofitable; Fortune of being a thing inconstant, but good. Virtue’s labours, they say, are fruitless, Fortune’s gifts untrustworthy. Who, then, will not declare, when Rome shall have been added to the achievements of one of the contestants, either that Virtue is a most profitable thing dif she has done such good to good men, or that Good Fortune is a thing most steadfast if she has already preserved for so long a time that which she has bestowed?
[De fort. Rom. 1b] The poet Ion in his prose works observes that Fortune is a thing very dissimilar to Wisdom, and yet she becomes the creator of things very similar: they both bring increase and added honours to men, they lead them on to high repute, to power, to dominion. What need to be tedious by enumerating the many examples? Even Nature herself, who creates and produces all things for us, some think to be Fortune, others Wisdom. Wherefore our present discourse does, in a measure, bestow a fair and enviable dignity upon Rome, if we raise the question over her, even as we do over earth and sea, heaven and stars, whether she has come to her present state by Fortune or by Forethought.
[De fort. Rom. 2] 2 1 I believe myself to be right in suspecting that, even if Fortune and Virtue are engaged in a direct and continual strife and discord with each other, yet, at least for such a welding together of dominion and power, it is likely that they suspended hostilities and joined forces; and by joining forces they co-operated in completing this most beautiful of human works. Even as Plato asserts that the entire universe arose from fire and earth as the first and necessary elements, that it might become visible and tangible, earth contributing to it weight and stability, and fire contributing colour, form, and movement; but the medial elements, water and air, by softening and quenching the dissimilarity of both extremes, united them and brought about the composite nature of Matter through them; in this way, then, in my opinion, did Time lay the foundation for the Roman State and, with the help of God, so combine and join together Fortune and Virtue 317 that, by taking the peculiar qualities of each, he might construct for all mankind a Hearth, in truth both holy and beneficent, a steadfast cable, a principle abiding for ever, “an anchorage from the swell and drift,” as Democritus says, amid the shifting conditions of human affairs. For even as the physicists assert that the world was in ancient days not a world nor were the atoms willing to coalesce and mix together and bestow a universal form upon Nature, but, since the atoms, which were yet small and were being borne hither and thither, kept eluding and escaping incorporation and entanglement, and the larger, close-compacted atoms were already engaging in terrific struggles and confusion among themselves, there was pitching and tossing, and all things were full of destruction and drift and wreckage until such time as the earth, by acquiring magnitude from the union of the wandering atoms, somehow came to be permanently abiding herself, and provided a permanent abode in herself and round about herself for the other elements; even so, while the mightiest powers and dominions among men were being driven about as Fortune willed, and were continuing to collide one with another because no one held the supreme power, but all wished to hold it, the continuous movement, drift, and change of all peoples remained without remedy, until such time as Rome acquired strength and growth, and had attached to herself not only the nations and peoples within her own borders, but also royal dominions of foreign peoples beyond the seas, and thus the affairs of this vast empire gained stability and security, since the supreme government, which never knew reverse, was brought within an orderly and single cycle of peace; for though Virtue in every form was inborn who contrived these things, yet great Good Fortune was also joined therewith, as it will be possible to demonstrate as the discourse proceeds.
[De fort. Rom. 3] 3 1 And now, methinks, from my lofty look-out, as it were, from whence I survey the matter in hand, I can descry Fortune and Virtue advancing to be judged and tried one against the other. The gait of Virtue is unhurried, her gaze unwavering; yet the flush of ambition lends to her countenance some intimation regarding the contest. She follows far behind Fortune, who makes great haste, and in a throng conducting her and guarding her person are
[De fort. Rom. 3b] Heroes slain in the conflict, wearing their blood-stained armour,
[De fort. Rom. 3c] men befouled with wounds in front, dripping blood with sweat commingled, trampling upon battered spoils. Is it your desire that we inquire what men are these? They declare themselves to be the Fabricii, the Camilli, the Decii, the Cincinnati, the Fabii Maximi, the Claudii Marcelli, and the Scipios. I see also Gaius Marius showing anger at Fortune, and yonder Mucius Scaevola is exhibiting his burning hand and crying, “Do you graciously attribute this also to Fortune?” And Marcus Horatius, the hero of the battle by the Tiber, weighed down by Etruscan shafts and showing his limping limb, cries aloud from the deep whirl of the waters, “Then am I also maimed by Fortune’s will?” Of such character is Virtue’s choir that advances to the lists,
[De fort. Rom. 3d] Sturdy contender in arms, baleful to all that oppose.
[De fort. Rom. 4] 4 1 But swift is the pace of Fortune, bold is her spirit, and most vaunting her hopes; she outstrips Virtue and is close at hand. She does not raise herself in the air on light pinions, nor advance “poised on tip-toe above a globe,” in precarious and hesitant posture, and then depart from sight. But even as the Spartans say that Aphroditê, as she crossed the Eurotas, put aside her mirrors and ornaments and her magic girdle, and took a spear and shield, adorning herself to please Lycurgus, even so Fortune, when she had deserted the Persians and Assyrians, had flitted lightly over Macedonia, and had quickly shaken off Alexander, made her way through Egypt and Syria, conveying kingships here and there; and turning about, she would often exalt the Carthaginians. 318 But when she was approaching the Palatine and crossing the Tiber, it appears that she took off her wings, stepped out of her sandals, and abandoned her untrustworthy and unstable globe. Thus did she enter Rome, as with intent to abide, and in such guise is she present to day, as though ready to meet her trial.
[De fort. Rom. 4b] For stubborn she is not,
as Pindar says,
Nor is the rudder double that she plies;
but rather is she
The sister of Good Order and persuasion, and
The daughter of Foresight,
[De fort. Rom. 4c] as Alcman describes her lineage. And she holds that celebrated Horn of Plenty in her hand, filled not with fruits of everlasting bloom, but as many as are the products of the whole earth band of all the seas, rivers, mines and harbours, these does she pour forth in unstinted abundance. Not a few splendid and distinguished men are seen in her company: Numa Pompilius from the Sabine country and Priscus from Tarquinii, whom as adventitious and foreign kings she set upon the throne of Romulus; and Aemilius Paulus, leading back his army without a wound from Perseus and the Macedonians, triumphing for a tearless victory, magnifies Fortune. There magnifies her also the aged Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, borne to his grave by four sons of consular rank, Quintus Baliaricus, Lucius Diadematus, Marcus Metellus, Gaius Caprarius, and by two sons-in law of consular rank, and by grandsons made distinguished by illustrious deeds and offices. Aemilius Scaurus, a novus homo, was raised by her from a humble station and a humbler family to be enrolled as the first man of the Senate. Cornelius Sulla she took up and elevated from the embraces of his mistress, Nicopolis, and designated him for a monarchy and dictatorship which ranked far above the Cimbrian triumphs and the seven consulships of Marius. Sulla used openly to declare himself, together with his exploits, to be the adopted child of Fortune, loudly asserting in the words of Sophocles’ Oedipus,
[De fort. Rom. 4d] And Fortune’s son I hold myself to be.
[De fort. Rom. 4e] In the Latin tongue he was called Felix, but for the Greeks he wrote his name thus: Lucius Cornelius Sulla Epaphroditus. And the trophies at my home in Chaeroneia and those of the Mithridatic Wars are thus inscribed, quite appropriately; for not “Night,” as Menander has it, but Fortune has the “greater share in Aphroditê.”
[De fort. Rom. 5] 5 1 Might one, then, after proffering this as a suitable introduction, bring on the Romans once more as witnesses in behalf of Fortune, on the ground that they assigned more to Fortune than to Virtue? At least, it was only recently and after many years that Scipio Numantinus built a shrine of Virtue in Rome; later Marcellus built what is called the Temple of Virtue and Honour; and Aemilius Scaurus, who lived in the time of the Cimbrian Wars, built the shrine of Mens (Mind) so called, which might be considered a Temple of Reason. For at this time rhetoric, sophistry, and argumentation had already found their way into the City; and people were beginning to magnify such pursuits. But even to this day they have no shrine of Wisdom or Prudence or Magnanimity or Constancy or Moderation. But of Fortune there are splendid and ancient shrines, all but coeval with the first foundations of the City. For the first to build a temple of Fortune was Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa and king fourth in line from Romulus. He, perchance, it was who added the title of Fortis to Fortuna; for in Fortune Manly Fortitude shares most largely in the winning of victory. They erected a temple of Fortuna Muliebris before the time of Camillus, when, through the offices of their women, they had turned back Marcius Coriolanus, who was leading the Volsci against the City. For a delegation of women, together with his mother and his wife, went to the hero and besought him and gained their request that he spare the City and lead away the foreign army. 319 It is said that at this time, when the statue of Fortune was consecrated, it spoke and said, “Women of the City, you have dedicated me by the holy law of Rome.”
[De fort. Rom. 5b] And it is a fact that Furius Camillus likewise, when he had quenched the Gallic conflagration and had removed Rome from the balance and scales when her price was being weighed in gold, founded no shrine of Good Counsel or of Valour, but a shrine of Report and Rumour by New Street, where, as they assert, before the war there came to Marcus Caedicius, as he was walking by night, a voice which told him to expect in a short time a Gallic war.
[De fort. Rom. 5c] The Fortune whose temple is by the river they call Fortis, that is, strong or valiant or manly, as having the power to conquer everything. And her temple they have built in the Gardens bequeathed by Caesar to the People, since they believed that he also reached his most exalted position through good fortune, as he himself has testified.
[De fort. Rom. 6] 6 1 Yet I should hesitate to say of Gaius Caesar that he was raised to his most exalted position by good fortune, if he had not himself testified to this. For when on the fourth day of January he put out from Brundisium in pursuit of Pompey, though it was the time of the winter solstice, yet he crossed the sea in safety; for Fortune postponed the season. But when he found that Pompey had a compact and numerous army on land and a large fleet on the sea, and was well entrenched with all his forces, while he himself had a force many times smaller, and since his army with Antony and Sabinus was slow in coming, he had the courage to go on board a small boat and put out to sea in the guise of a servant, unrecognized by the captain and the pilot. But there was a violent commotion where heavy surge from without encountered the current of the river, and Caesar, seeing the pilot changing his course, removed the cloak from his head and, revealing himself, said, “Go on, good sir, be brave and fear nothing! But entrust your sails to Fortune and receive her breeze, confident because you bear Caesar and Caesar’s Fortune.” Thus firmly was he convinced that Fortune accompanied him on his voyages, his travels, his campaigns, his commands; Fortune’s task it was to enjoin calm upon the sea, summer weather upon the winter-time, speed upon the slowest of men, courage upon the most dispirited, and (more unbelievable than these) to enjoin flight upon Pompey, and upon Ptolemy the murder of his guest, that Pompey should fall and Caesar should escape the stain of his blood.
[De fort. Rom. 7] 7 1 What then? Caesar’s son, who was the first to be styled Augustus, and who ruled for fifty-four years, when he was sending forth his grandson to war, did he not pray to the goddess to bestow upon the young man the courage of Scipio, the popularity of Pompey, and his own Fortune, thus recording Fortune as the creator of himself, quite as though he were inscribing the artist’s name on a great monument? For it was Fortune that imposed him upon Cicero, Lepidus, Pansa, Hirtius, and Mark Antony, and by their displays of valour, their deeds, victories, fleets, wars, armies, raised him on high to be the first of Roman citizens; and she cast down these men, through whom he had mounted, and left him to rule alone. It was, in fact, for him that Cicero governed the State, that Lepidus commanded armies, that Pansa conquered, that Hirtius fell, that Antony played the wanton. For I reckon even Cleopatra as a part of Caesar’s Fortune, on whom, as on a reef, even so great a commander as Antony was wrecked and crushed that Caesar might rule alone. The tale is told of Caesar and Antony that, when there was much familiarity and intimacy between them, they often devoted their leisure to a game of ball or dice or even to fights of pet birds, such as quails or cocks; and Antony always retired from the field defeated. It is further related that one of his friends, who prided himself on his knowledge of divination, was often wont to speak freely to him and admonish him, 320 “Sir, what business have you with this youth? Avoid him! Your repute is greater, you are older, you govern more men, you have fought in wars, you excel in experience; but your Guardian Spirit fears this man’s Spirit. Your Fortune is mighty by herself, but abases herself before his. Unless you keep far away from him, your Fortune will depart and go over to him!
[De fort. Rom. 8] 8 1 But enough! For such important testimonies from her witnesses has Fortune to support her. But we must also introduce the testimony of the very events of history, taking as the beginning of our account the beginning of Rome. To begin with, who would not at once declare touching the birth, the preservation, the nurture, the development of Romulus, that Fortune laid the foundations, and that Virtue finished the building? In the first place, then, it appears that the circumstances surrounding the origin and the birth of the very founders and builders of Rome were of a marvellous good fortune. For their mother is said to have consorted with a god; and even as they relate that Heracles was conceived during a long night (for the day was retarded in contrariety to nature, and the sun delayed), so regarding the generation and conception of Romulus they record that the sun was eclipsed and came into exact conjunction with the moon at the time when Mars, a god, consorted with the mortal Silvia. And this same thing, they say, happened to Romulus also at the very time of his translation from this life; for they relate that he disappeared during an eclipse of the sun on the Capratine Nones, on which day, even to the present time, they hold high festival.
[De fort. Rom. 8b] Later, when the children were born and the despot gave orders to do away with them, by the decree of Fortune no barbarous or savage servant but a compassionate and humane man received them, with the result that he did not kill them; but there was a margin of the river, bordering upon a green meadow, shaded round about with lowly shrubs; and here the servant deposited the infants near a certain wild fig-tree, to which people later gave the name Ruminalis. Then a she-wolf, that had newly whelped, with her dugs distended and overflowing with milk because her young had perished, being herself in great need of relief, circled around the infants and then gave them suck, thus ridding herself of the pain caused by the milk as if it had been a second birth-pang. And a bird sacred to Mars, which they call the woodpecker, visited them and, perching near on tiptoe, would, with its claw, open the mouth of each child in turn and place therein a morsel, sharing with them a portion of its own food. Wherefore they named this wild fig-tree Ruminalis, from the teat (ruma) which the wolf offered to the children as she crouched beside the tree. And for a long time the people who dwelt near this place preserved the custom of never exposing any of the new-born infants, but they acknowledged and reared them all, in honour of Romulus’s experience and the similarity of the children’s case with his.
[De fort. Rom. 8c] And, in truth, the fact that they were not discovered while they were being reared and educated in Gabii, and that it was unknown that they were the sons of Silvia and the grandchildren of king Numitor surely appears to have been a furtive and shrewd device of Fortune, so that they might not, because of their lineage, be put to death before performing their tasks, but that they might in their very successes be discovered, by bringing to notice their noble qualities as tokens by which to recognize their high birth.
[De fort. Rom. 8d] At this point there occurs to me the remark of a great and prudent general, Themistocles, which was made to certain of the generals who came into favour at Athens after him and felt that they deserved to be rated above him. He said that the Day-After contended with the Feast- Day, saying that the Feast- Day was full of wearying tasks and labours, but on the Day-After men enjoyed in quiet all things that had been made ready. Then the Feast- Day said, “What you say is true; but if I had not been, where would you be?” “And so,” said Themistocles, “if I had not been at the time of the Persian Wars, what benefit would now come from you?” And this, methinks, is what Fortune says to the Virtue of Romulus: “Brilliant and mighty are your deeds, and in very truth you have proved yourself to be divine in blood and birth. 321 But do you observe how far you fall behind me? For if, at the time of his birth, I had not accompanied him in a helpful and humane guise, but had deserted and abandoned the infants, how could you have come into being and whence had you derived such lustre? If on that occasion there had not come to them a female beast swollen with the abundance and the burden of her milk, and in need of some creature to be fed rather than of something to yield her sustenance, but if instead there had come some utterly savage and ravening creature, would not even now these fair palaces and temples, theatres, promenades, fora, and public buildings be herdsmen’s huts and folds of shepherds who paid homage to some man of Alba or Etruria or Latium as their lord?” The beginning, as every one knows, is of supreme importance in everything, and particularly in the founding and building of a city; and this Fortune provided, since she had preserved and protected the founder. For Virtue made Romulus great, but Fortune watched over him until he became great.
[De fort. Rom. 9] 9 1 And in truth, it is generally agreed that a marvellous good Fortune guided the reign of Numa which endured for so many years. For the tale that a certain Egeria, a dryad and a wise divinity, consorted in love with the man, and helped him in instituting and shaping the government of his State, is perhaps somewhat fabulous. For other mortals who are said to have attained divine marriages and to have been beloved of goddesses, men like Peleus and Anchises, Orion and Emathion, by no means lived through their lives in a satisfactory, or even painless, manner. On the contrary, it appears likely that Numa had Good Fortune as his true wife, counsellor, and colleague; and she took the city in charge when it was being carried hither and yon amid the enmity and fierceness of bordering tribes and neighbours, as in the midst of turbulent billows of a troubled sea and was inflamed by countless struggles and dissensions; and she calmed those opposing passions and jealousies as though they had been but gusts of wind. Even as they relate that the sea, when it has received the brood of halcyons in the stormy season, keeps them safe and assists in their nurture, even such a calm in the affairs of Rome, free from war or pestilence or danger or terror, Fortune caused to overspread and surround the city, and thus afforded the opportunity to a newly settled and sorely shaken people to take root and to establish their city on a firm foundation where it might grow in quiet, securely and unhindered. It is as with a merchantman or a trireme, which is constructed by blows and with great violence, and is buffeted by hammers and nails, bolts and saws and axes, and, when it is completed, it must remain at rest and grow firm for a suitable period of time until its bonds hold tight and its fastenings have acquired affinity; but if it be launched while its joinings are still damp and slippery, these will all be loosened when they are racked by the waves, and will admit the sea. Even so the first ruler and artificer of Rome, in organizing the city from rustics and shepherds, as though building up from a stout keel, took upon himself no few labours, nor of slight moment were the wars and dangers that he withstood in warding off, of necessity, those who opposed the creation and foundation of Rome.
[De fort. Rom. 9b] But he who was the second to take over the State gained time by good fortune to consolidate and make assured the enlargement of Rome; for much peace did he secure for her and much quiet. But if at that time a Porsenna had pressed hard upon the city and had erected an Etruscan stockade and a camp beside the new walls which were still moist and unstable, or if from the Marsi had come some rebellious chief filled with warlike frenzy, or some Lucanian, incited by envy and love of strife, a man contentious and warlike, as later was Mutilus or the bold Silo or Sulla’s last antagonist, Telesinus, arming all Italy at any time one preconcerted signal, as it were — if one of these had sounded his trumpets round about Numa, the lover of wisdom, while he was sacrificing and praying, the early beginnings of the City would not have been able to hold out against such a mighty surge and billow, 322 nor would they ever have increased to such a goodly and numerous people. But as it is, it seems likely that the peace of Numa’s reign was a provision to equip them for their subsequent wars, and that the people, like an athlete, having, during a period of forty-three years following the contests of Romulus’s time, trained themselves in quiet and made their strength staunch enough to cope in battle with those who later arrayed themselves against them. For they relate that no famine nor pestilence nor failure of crops nor any unseasonable occurrence in either summer or winter vexed Rome during that time, as if it were not a wise human counsel, but divine Fortune that was Rome’s guardian during those crucial days. Therefore at that time the double door of Janus’s temple was shut, which the Romans call the Portal of War; for it is open when there is war, but closed when peace has been made. But after Numa died it was opened, since the war with the Albans had broken out. Then countless of the wars followed in continuous succession until again, after four hundred and eighty years, it was closed in the peace following the Punic War, when Gaius Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls. After this year it was again opened and the wars continued until Caesar’s victory at Actium. Then the arms of Rome were idle for a time, but not for long; for the tumults caused by the Cantabri and Gaul, breaking forth at the same time with the Germans, disturbed the peace. These facts are added to the record as proofs of Numa’s good fortune.
[De fort. Rom. 10] 10 1 And even the kings who succeeded Numa honoured Fortune as the head and foster-parent of Rome and, as Pindar has it, truly the “Prop of the State.” And Servius Tullius, the man who of all kings most increased the power of his people, and introduced a well-regulated government and imposed order upon both the holding of elections and military procedure, and became the first censor and overseer of the lives and decorum of the citizens, and held the highest repute for courage and wisdom, of his own initiative attached himself to Fortune and bound his sovereignty fast to her, with the result that it was even thought that Fortune consorted with him, descending into his chamber through a certain window which they now call the Porta Fenestella. He, accordingly, built on the Capitoline a temple of Fortune which is now called the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia (which one might translate as “First- Born”) and the Temple of Fortuna Obsequens, which some think means “obedient” and others “gracious.” However, I prefer to abandon the Latin nomenclature, and shall endeavour to enumerate in Greek the different functions of the shrines of Fortune.
[De fort. Rom. 10b] There is, in fact, a shrine of Private Fortune on the Palatine, and the shrine of the Fowler’s Fortune which, even though it be a ridiculous name, yet gives reason for reflexion on metaphorical grounds, as if she attracted far-away objects and held them fast when they come into contact with her. Beside the mossy Spring, as it is called, 323 there is even yet a temple of Virgin Fortune; and on the Esquiline a shrine of Regardful Fortune. In the Angiportus Longus there is an altar of Fortune of Good Hope; and there is also beside the altar of Venus of the Basket a shrine of the Men’s Fortune. And there are countless other honours and appellations of Fortune, the greater part of which Servius instituted; for he knew that “Fortune is of great moment, or rather, she is everything in human affairs,” and particularly since he himself, through good fortune, had been promoted from the family of a captive enemy to the kingship.
[De fort. Rom. 10c] For, when the town of Corniculum was taken by the Romans, a captive maiden Ocrisia, whose fortune could not obscure either her beauty or her character, was given to be a slave to Tanaquil, the wife of king Tarquin; and a certain dependent, one of these whom the Romans call clientes, had her to wife; from these parents Servius was born. Others deny this, but assert that Ocrisia was a maiden who took the first-fruits and the libations on all occasions from the royal table and brought them to the hearth; and once on a time when she chanced, as usual, to be casting the offerings upon the fire, suddenly, as the flames died down, the member of a man rose up out of the hearth; and this the girl, greatly frightened, told to Tanaquil only. Now Tanaquil was an intelligent and understanding woman, and she decked the maiden in garments such as become a bride, and shut her up in the room with the apparition, for she judged it to be of a divine nature.
[De fort. Rom. 10d] Some declare that this love was manifested by the Lar of the house, others that it was by Vulcan. At any rate, it resulted in the birth of Servius, and, while he was still a child, his head shone with a radiance very like the gleam of lightning. But Antias and his school say not so, but relate that when Servius’s wife Gegania lay dying, in the presence of his mother he fell into a sleep from dejection and grief; and as he slept, his face was seen by the women to be surrounded by the gleam of fire. This was a token of his birth from fire and an excellent sign pointing to his unexpected accession to the kingship, which he gained after the death of Tarquin, by the zealous assistance of Tanaquil. Inasmuch as he of all kings is thought to have been naturally the least suited to monarchy and the least desirous of it, he who was minded to resign the kingship, but was prevented from doing so; for it appears that Tanaquil on her death-bed made him swear that he would remain in power and would ever set before him the ancestral Roman form of government. Thus to Fortune wholly belongs the kingship of Servius, which he received contrary to his expectations and retained against his will.
[De fort. Rom. 11] 11 That we may not, however, appear to be retreating and withdrawing from illuminating and perspicuous testimonials into the dim past, as into a place of darkness, let us now leave the kings and transfer our discourse to the most notable deeds and the most celebrated wars. And in these wars, who would not acknowledge that much daring and courage was needed and also, as Timotheüs has it,
[De fort. Rom. 11b] Shame, the helpmate of warring Valour?
Yet the smooth flow of events and the impelling swiftness of Rome’s progress to so high a pinnacle of power and expansion demonstrates to all who reason aright that the progress of Rome’s sovereignty was not brought about by the handiwork and urging of human beings, but was speeded on its way by divine escort and the fair wind of Fortune. Trophy upon trophy arises, triumph meets triumph, and the first blood, while still warm on their arms, is overtaken and washed away by a second flood. They count their victories, not by the multitude of corpses and spoils, but by captive kingdoms, by nations enslaved, by islands and continents added to their mighty realm. In one battle Philip lost Macedonia, with one stroke Antiochus was forced to withdraw from Asia, by one defeat the Carthaginians lost Africa. 324 One man in the swift onset of one campaign added to the Roman dominion Armenia, Pontus, the Euxine, Syria, Arabia, the Albanians, the Iberians, and all the territory to the Caucasus and the Hyrcanians; thrice did the Ocean which encircles the inhabited world see him victorious, for in Africa he drove back the Numidians to the strands of the southern sea; even as far as the Atlantic Ocean, he subdued Iberia, which had joined in the distemper of Sertorius; the kings of the Albanians were pursued until he brought them to a halt near the Caspian Sea. All these successes he won through enjoying the Fortune of the Roman commonwealth; then he was overthrown by his own fate.
[De fort. Rom. 11c] But the great Guardian Spirit of Rome sent a favouring breeze, not for one day, nor at its height for a brief time only, like the Macedonian, nor but a land breeze, like the Spartan, nor but a sea breeze, like the Athenian, nor late to rise, like the Persian, nor quick to cease, like the Carthaginian; but this Spirit, from its first creation, grew in maturity, in might, and in polity together with the City, and remained constant to it on land and on sea, in war and in peace, against foreigners, against Greeks. This it was that dissipated and exhausted in the confines of Italy, like a mountain torrent, Hannibal the Carthaginian, since no fresh aid flowed to him from home because of jealousy and political enmities. This it was that separated and kept apart by great intervals of space and time the armies of the Cimbri and of the Teutons, that Marius might avail to fight each of them in turn, and that three hundred thousand men of irresistible and invincible arms might not simultaneously invade and overwhelm Italy. Through the agency of this Spirit Antiochus was fully occupied while war was being waged against Philip, and Philip had been vanquished and was falling when Antiochus was making his venture; the Sarmatian and Bastarnian wars restrained Mithridates during the time when the Marsian war was blazing up against Rome; suspicion and jealousy kept Tigranes from Mithridates while Mithridates was brilliantly successful, but he joined himself to Mithridates only to perish with him in defeat.
[De fort. Rom. 12] 12 1 And why not admit that Fortune also retrieved the city in times of the greatest danger? When the Gauls were encamped round about the Capitol and were besieging the citadel,
[De fort. Rom. 12b] Baneful the plague that she brought on the host, and the people were dying.
[De fort. Rom. 12c] And as for the Gauls’ nocturnal assault, though they were noticed by none, yet Fortune and Chance brought about the discovery.
[De fort. Rom. 12d] Concerning this assault of the Gauls it will perhaps not be unseasonable to give some additional details, however briefly. After the great defeat of the Romans at the river Allia, some in their flight found a haven in Rome and filled the people with consternation and terror, and caused them to scatter far and wide, although a few went to the Capitol and prepared to stand a siege. Others, immediately after their defeat, gathered together at Veii and appointed as dictator Furius Camillus, whom the people in their prosperity and lofty pride had rejected and deposed because he had become involved in a suit concerning the appropriation of public property. But now, cowed and humbled after their defeat, they were for recalling him, and offered to hand over to him the supreme command, accountable to no one. Accordingly, that he might not be thought to be obtaining office because of the crisis, but in accordance with the law, and that he should not, as if he had given up all hope for the city, be elected by soldiery in a canvass of the remnants of the army, now scattered and wandering, it was necessary that the senators on the Capitoline should vote upon the matter after they had been informed of the decision of the soldiers. Now there was a certain Gaius Pontius, a brave man, who, by volunteering personally to report these resolutions to Senate on the Capitol, took upon himself great danger. For the way led through the midst of the enemy, who encompassed the citadel with sentries and palisades. When, accordingly, he had come by night to the river, 325 he bound broad strips of cork beneath his breast and, entrusting his body to the buoyancy of this support, committed himself to the stream. Encountering a gentle current which bore him slowly down stream, he reached the opposite bank in safety, and, climbing out of the river, advanced toward the senate void of lights, inferring from the darkness and quiet that no one was there. Clinging to the precipitous cliff and entrusting himself to the support of sloping and circuitous ways and jagged surfaces of the rock which would allow a foothold or afford a clutch for his hand, he reached the top of the rock; he was received by the sentries, and made known to those within the decision of the army, band having obtained the decree of the Senate, he returned again to Camillus.
[De fort. Rom. 12e] The next day one of the barbarians was wandering idly about this place, when he saw in one spot prints of feet and marks of slipping, and in another the bruising and tearing off of the grass, which grew on the earth of the cliff, and marks of the zigzag dragging and pulling up of a body; and this he told to the others. They, thinking that the way was pointed out to them by their enemies, attempted to rival them; and waiting till the very dead of night, they made the ascent, unnoticed not only by the sentinels, but also by the dogs which shared guard duty and formed the outpost, but then were overcome by sleep.
[De fort. Rom. 12f] Rome’s Fortune, however, did not lack a voice capable of revealing and declaring such a great mischance. Sacred geese were kept near the temple of Juno for the service of the goddess. Now by nature this bird is easily disturbed and frightened by noise; and at this time, since they were neglected, because dire want oppressed the garrison, their sleep was light, and was made uncomfortable by hunger, with the result that they were at once aware of the enemy as they showed themselves above the edge of the cliff. The geese hissed at them and rushed at them impetuously, and at the sight of arms, became even more excited, and filled the place with piercing and discordant clamour. By this the Romans were aroused, and, when they comprehended what had happened, they forced back their enemies and hurled them over the precipice. And even to this day, in memory of these events, there are borne in solemn procession a dog impaled on a stake, but a goose perched in state upon a costly coverlet in a litter.
[De fort. Rom. 12g] This spectacle exhibits the might of Fortune and the ease with which, whenever she busies herself and takes command, she provides from unexpected sources against all emergencies by implanting intelligence in the unreasoning and senseless, and prowess and daring in the craven. For who would not, truly, be struck with astonishment and amazement when he has come to learn and has embraced in his consideration the former dejection of the city and her present prosperity, and has looked upon the splendour of her temples, the richness of her votive offerings, the rivalry of her arts and crafts, the ambitious efforts of subject cities, the crowns of dependent kings, and all things which the earth contributes and the sea and islands, continents, rivers, trees, living creatures, plains, mountains, mines, the first-fruits of everything, vying for beauty in the aspect and grace that adorns this place? And then comes the thought: how near did all this come to not being created and to not existing at all! When all things else were overcome by fire and frightful darkness and gloom, by foreign swords and murderous rage, it was poor, irrational, and timorous creatures that contributed the beginning of deliverance; and those great heroes and commanders, the Manlii, the Servilii, the Postumii, the Papirii, the founders of future illustrious houses, whom naught separated from death, geese aroused to make defence for the god of their fathers and for their fatherland. But if it be true, as Polybius has recorded in his second book, concerning the Gauls who had at this time seized Rome, that, when news suddenly came to them that their domains at home were in danger of being lost to them at the hands of neighbouring barbarians who had invaded their land and were masters of it, they concluded a treaty of peace with Camillus and withdrew — 326 if this be true, then there can be no contention with Fortune that she was not the cause of Rome’s preservation, by distracting the enemy, or rather, by abstracting them from Rome quite unexpectedly.
[De fort. Rom. 13] 13 1 But what need is there to dwell on these matters, which offer nothing certain or definite because of the confusion of the events of Roman history and the destruction of contemporary chronicles, as Livy has recorded? Certainly the later events, plainer and clearer as they are, exhibit Fortune’s benignity; and to Fortune I ascribe also the death of Alexander, a man who by great good luck and lofty aspirations, was sweeping swiftly through the world blike a shooting star from East to West, and was already allowing the lustre of his arms to gleam upon Italy, since the destruction of Alexander the Molossian near Pandosia at the hands of the Bruttians and Lucanians served him as pretext for the campaign. But truly that love of glory which led him against all mankind embraced both an emulous desire for sovereignty and a wish to rival and to pass beyond the limits of Dionysus’s and Heracles’ expeditions. He learned that Rome’s power and courage was arrayed for the protection of Italy like a firm-set battle-line; for some account of their illustrious name and fame was often transmitted to him, as of athletes thoroughly practised in countless wars.
[De fort. Rom. 13b] Not without spilling of blood could this matter, I deem, have been settled,
[De fort. Rom. 13c] had the great aspirations of these two unconquered peoples with their invincible arms clashed with each other. For in numbers at this time the Romans were no fewer than an hundred and thirty thousand men; and every one of them was warlike and intrepid,
[De fort. Rom. 13d] Knowing on horseback
How to do battle with men, and even, if need be, dismounted.

## On the fortune or the virtue of Alexander

[De Alex. fort. 1.1] I 326 11 This is Fortune’s discourse, who declares that Alexander is her own characteristic handiwork, and hers alone. But some rejoinder must be made on behalf of philosophy, or rather on Alexander’s behalf, who would be vexed and indignant if he should be thought to have received as a pure gift, even at the hands of Fortune, the supremacy which he won at the price of much blood and of wounds that followed one after another; and
[De Alex. fort. 1.1b] Many a night did he spend without sleeping, Many a blood-stained day did he pass amid combats unceasing,
[De Alex. fort. 1.1c] against irresistible forces and innumerable tribes, against impassable rivers and mountain fastnesses whose summit no arrow could reach, furthered by wise counsels, steadfast purpose, manly courage, and a prudent heart.
[De Alex. fort. 1.2] 2 1 I think that if Fortune should try to inscribe her name on his successes, he would say to her, “Slander not my virtues, nor take away my fair name by detraction. Darius was your handiwork: he who was a slave and courier of the king, him did you make the mighty lord of Persia; and Sardanapalus, upon whose head you placed the royal diadem, though he spent his days in carding purple wool. But I, through my victory at Arbela, went up to Susa, and Cilicia opened the way for me into the broad land of Egypt; but to Cilicia I came by way of the Granicus, which I crossed, using as a bridge the dead bodies of Mithridates and Spithridates. Adorn yourself, proud Fortune, and vaunt your dominion over kings that never felt a wound nor shed a drop of blood. For they have been Fortune’s favourites, 327 men such as Ochus was and Artaxerxes, whom at the very hour of their birth you placed upon the throne of Cyrus. But my body bears many a token of an opposing Fortune and no ally of mine. First, among the Illyrians, my head was wounded by a stone and my neck by a cudgel. Then at the Granicus my head was cut open by an enemy’s dagger, at Issus my thigh was pierced by the sword. Next at Gaza my ankle was wounded by an arrow, my shoulder was dislocated, and I whirled heavily round and round. Then at Maracanda the bone of my leg was split open by an arrow. There awaited me towards the last also the buffetings I received among the Indians and the violence of famines. Among the Aspasians my shoulder was wounded by an arrow, and among the Gandridae my leg. Among the Mallians, the shaft of an arrow sank deep into my breast and buried its steel; and I was struck in the neck by a cudgel, when the scaling-ladders which we had moved up to the walls were battered down; and Fortune cooped me up alone, favouring ignoble barbarians and not illustrious adversaries with such an exploit. But if Ptolemy had not held his shield above me, and Limnaeus taking his stand before me had not fallen, a target for ten thousand shafts, and if my Macedonians had not overthrown the wall with spirit and main force, then that nameless village in a foreign land must needs have become the tomb of Alexander.”
[De Alex. fort. 1.3] 3 1 Moreover, there were the trials of the campaign itself: storms, droughts, deep rivers, the heights of the Birdless Rock, the monstrous shapes of savage beasts, an uncivilized manner of life, the constant succession of petty kings and their repeated treachery. Then there were also the difficulties before his expedition: Greece was still gasping over Philip’s wars; Thebes staggering to her feet after her fall, was shaking the dust of Chaeroneia from her arms, and Athens was stretching forth a helping hand to join with Thebes. All Macedonia was festering with revolt and looking toward Amyntas and the children of Aëropus; the Illyrians were again rebelling, and trouble with the Scythians was impending for their Macedonian neighbours, who were in the throes of political change; Persian gold flowed freely through the hands of the popular leaders everywhere, and helped to rouse the Peloponnesus; Philip’s treasuries were bare of money, and in addition there was owing a loan of two hundred talents (as Onesicritus records). In such poverty and in circumstances fraught with such uncertainty, a stripling, scarcely older than a boy, had the daring to hope for Babylon and Susa; nay more, to conceive the project of dominion over all the world, relying only on the thirty thousand foot and four thousand cavalry which were his; for, according to Aristobulus, that was the full extent of their number. But King Ptolemy puts them at thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse, Anaximenes at forty-three thousand foot, fifty-five hundred horse. And the great and glorious war-chest which Fortune had ready for him was only seventy talents, as Aristobulus says, though Duris says it was provision for only thirty days.
[De Alex. fort. 1.4] 4 1 Was, then, Alexander ill-advised and precipitate in setting forth with such humble resources to acquire so vast an empire? By no means. For who has ever put forth with greater or fairer equipment than he: greatness of soul, keen intelligence, self-restraint, and manly courage, with which Philosophy herself provided him for his campaign? Yes, the equipment that he had from Aristotle his teacher when he crossed over into Asia was more than what he had from his father Philip. But although we believe those who record that Alexander once said that the Iliad and the Odyssey accompanied him as equipment for his campaigns, since we hold Homer in reverence, yet are we to contemn anyone who asserts that the works of Homer accompanied him as a consolation after toil and as a pastime for sweet leisure, 328 but that his true equipment was philosophic teaching, and treatises on Fearlessness and Courage, and Self-restraint also, and Greatness of Soul? For of course it is obvious that Alexander wrote nothing on the subject of either syllogisms or axioms, nor did he have the opportunity of sharing the walks in the Lyceum, or of discussing propositions in the Academy. For it is by these criteria that those define philosophy who regard it as a theoretical rather than a practical pursuit. And yet even Pythagoras wrote nothing at all, nor did Socrates, nor Arcesilaüs, nor Carneades, who were all most notable among philosophers. Nor were these philosophers continuously occupied with such tremendous wars, bnor with spreading civilization among foreign princes, nor in establishing Grecian cities among savage nations, nor did they go on and on, instructing lawless and ignorant tribes in the principles of law and peace; but, even though they had leisure, they relinquished the writing of philosophy to sophists. Whence, then, comes our belief that they were true philosophers? Surely from what they said, or from the manner of life which they led, or from the principles which they taught. By these criteria let Alexander also be judged! For from his words, from his deeds, and from the instruction which he imparted, it will be seen that he was indeed a philosopher.
[De Alex. fort. 1.5] 5 1 And first, if you will, consider a matter entirely contrary to the general belief, and compare Alexander’s pupils with those of Plato and Socrates. Plato and Socrates taught pupils of splendid natural endowment who spoke the same language; so that, even if the pupils understood nothing else, at least they understood the Greek tongue. And even so, Plato and Socrates did not win over many. But their pupils, such as Critias and Alcibiades and Cleitophon, were prone to spew the good word forth, as a horse the curbing bit, and turned them to other ways.
[De Alex. fort. 1.5b] But if you examine the results of Alexander’s instruction, you will see that he educated the Hyrcanians to respect the marriage bond, and taught the Arachosians to till the soil, and persuaded the Sogdians to support their parents, not to kill them, and the Persians to revere their mothers and not to take them in wedlock. O wondrous power of Philosophic Instruction, that brought the Indians to worship Greek gods, and the Scythians to bury their dead, not to devour them! We admire Carneades’ power, which made Cleitomachus, formerly called Hasdrubal, and a Carthaginian by birth, adopt Greek ways. We admire the character of Zeno, which persuaded Diogenes the Babylonian to be a philosopher. But when Alexander was civilizing Asia, Homer was commonly read, and the children of the Persians, of the Susianians, and of the Gedrosians learned to chant the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides. And although Socrates, when tried on the charge of introducing foreign deities, lost his cause to the informers who infested Athens, yet through Alexander Bactria and the Caucasus learned to revere the gods of the Greeks. Plato wrote a book on the One Ideal Constitution, but because of its forbidding character he could not persuade anyone to adopt it; but Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and sowed all Asia with Grecian magistracies, and thus overcame its uncivilized and brutish manner of living. Although few of us read Plato’s Laws, yet hundreds of thousands have made use of Alexander’s laws, and continue to use them. Those who were vanquished by Alexander are happier than those who escaped his hand; for these had no one to put an end to the wretchedness of their existence, while the victor compelled those others to lead a happy life. Therefore it is even more just to apply Themistocles’ saying to the nations conquered by Alexander. For, when Themistocles in exile had obtained great gifts from Artaxerxes, and had received three cities to pay him tribute, one to supply his bread, another his wine, and a third his meat, he exclaimed, “My children, we should be ruined now, had we not been ruined before.” Thus Alexander’s new subjects would not have been civilized, had they not been vanquished; Egypt would not have its Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia its Seleuceia, nor Sogdiana its Prophthasia, nor India its Bucephalia, nor the Caucasus a Greek city hard by; 329 for by the founding of cities in these places savagery was extinguished and the worse element, gaining familiarity with the better, changed under its influence. If, then, philosophers take the greatest pride in civilizing and rendering adaptable the intractable and untutored elements in human character, and if Alexander has been shown to have changed the savage natures of countless tribes, it is with good reason that he should be regarded as a very great philosopher.
[De Alex. fort. 1.6] 6 1 Moreover, the much-admired Republic of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic sect, may be summed up in this one main principle: that all the inhabitants of this world of ours should not live differentiated by their respective rules of justice into separate cities and communities, but that we should consider all men to be of one community and one polity, and that we should have a common life and an order common to us all, even as a herd that feeds together and shares the pasturage of a common field. This Zeno wrote, giving shape to a dream or, as it were, shadowy picture of a well-ordered and philosophic commonwealth; but it was Alexander who gave effect to the idea. For Alexander did not follow Aristotle’s advice to treat the Greeks as if he were their leader, and other peoples as if he were their master; to have regard for the Greeks as for friends and kindred, but to conduct himself toward other peoples as though they were plants or animals; for to do so would have been to cumber his leadership with numerous battles and banishments and festering seditions. But, as he believed that he came as a heaven-sent governor to all, and as a mediator for the whole world, those whom he could not persuade to unite with him, he conquered by force of arms, and he brought together into one body all men everywhere, uniting and mixing in one great loving-cup, as it were, men’s lives, their characters, their marriages, their very habits of life. He bade them all consider as their fatherland the whole inhabited earth, as their stronghold and protection his camp, as akin to them all good men, and as foreigners only the wicked; they should not distinguish between Grecian and foreigner by Grecian cloak and targe, or scimitar and jacket; but the distinguishing mark of the Grecian should be seen in virtue, and that of the foreigner in iniquity; clothing and food, marriage and manner of life they should regard as common to all, being blended into one by ties of blood and children.
[De Alex. fort. 1.7] 7 1 Now Demaratus the Corinthian, one of Philip’s intimate friends, when he had seen Alexander in Susa, exclaimed with tears of joy that all the Greeks who had died before that hour had been deprived of a great joy, since they had not seen Alexander seated on the throne of Darius. But I swear that for my part I feel no envy because of this spectacle toward them that saw it, for it was but the handiwork of Fortune, and the lot of other kings as well. But methinks I would gladly have been a witness of that fair and holy marriage-rite, when he brought together in one golden-canopied tent an hundred Persian brides and an hundred Macedonian and Greek bridegrooms, united at a common hearth and board. He himself, crowned with garlands, was the first to raise the marriage hymn as though he were singing a song of truest friendship over the union of the two greatest and most mighty peoples; for he, of one maid the bridegroom, and at the same time of all the brides the escort, as a father and sponsor united them in the bonds of wedlock. Indeed at this sight I should have cried out for joy, “O dullard Xerxes, stupid fool that spent so much fruitless toil to bridge the Hellespont! This is the way that wise kings join Asia with Europe; it is not by beams or rafts, nor by lifeless and unfeeling bonds, but by the ties of lawful love and chaste nuptials and mutual joy in children that they join the nations together.”
[De Alex. fort. 1.8] 8 1 Considering carefully this order of affairs, Alexander did not favour the Median raiment, but preferred the Persian, for it was much more simple than the Median. Since he deprecated the unusual and theatrical varieties of foreign adornment, 330 such as the tiara and the full-sleeved jacket and trousers, he wore a composite dress adapted from both Persian and Macedonian fashion, as Eratosthenes has recorded. As a philosopher what he wore was a matter of indifference, but as sovereign of both nations and benevolent king he strove to acquire the goodwill of the conquered by showing respect for their apparel, so that they might continue constant in loving the Macedonians as rulers, and might not feel hate toward them as enemies. Conversely it were the mark of an unwise and vainglorious mind to admire greatly a cloak of uniform colour and to be displeased by a tunic with a purple border, or again to disdain those things and to be struck with admiration for these, bholding stubbornly, in the manner of an unreasoning child, to the raiment in which the custom of his country, like a nurse, had attired him.
[De Alex. fort. 1.8b] When men hunt wild animals, they put on the skins of deer, and when they go to catch birds, they dress in tunics adorned with plumes and feathers; they are careful not to be seen by bulls when they have on red garments, nor by elephants when dressed in white; for these animals are provoked and made savage by the sight of these particular colours. But if a great king, in taming and mollifying headstrong and warring nations, just as in dealing with animals, succeeded in soothing and stilling them cby wearing a garb familiar to them and by following their wonted manner of life, thereby conciliating their rough natures and smoothing their sullen brows, can men impeach him? Must they not rather wonder at his wisdom, since by but a slight alteration of his apparel he made himself the popular leader of all Asia, conquering their bodies by his arms, but winning over their souls by his apparel?
[De Alex. fort. 1.8c] And yet men marvel at the disciple of Socrates, Aristippus, that whether he wore a threadbare cloak or a fine Milesian robe he retained his gentility in either; but they impeach Alexander because, although paying due respect to his own national dress, he did not disdain that of his conquered subjects in establishing the beginnings of a vast empire. For he did not overrun Asia like a robber nor was he minded to tear and rend it, as if it were booty and plunder bestowed by unexpected good fortune, after the manner in which Hannibal later descended upon Italy, or as earlier the Treres descended upon Ionia and the Scythians upon Media. But Alexander desired to render all upon earth subject to one law of reason and one form of government and to reveal all men as one people, and to this purpose he made himself conform. But if the deity that sent down Alexander’s soul into this world of ours had not recalled him quickly, one law would govern all mankind, and they all would look toward one rule of justice as though toward a common source of light. But as it is, that part of the world which has not looked upon Alexander has remained without sunlight.
[De Alex. fort. 1.9] 9 1 Therefore, in the first place, the very plan and design of Alexander’s expedition commends the man as a philosopher in his purpose not to win for himself luxury and extravagant living, but to win for all men concord and peace and community of interests.
[De Alex. fort. 1.9b] And, in the second place, let us examine his sayings too, since it is by their utterances that the souls of other kings and potentates also best reveal their characters. The elder Antigonus remarked to a certain sophist who put in his hands a treatise on justice, “You are a fool to say anything about justice when you see me smiting other people’s cities.” The despot Dionysius remarked that one should trick children with dice, but men with oaths. Upon the tomb of Sardanapalus is written,
[De Alex. fort. 1.9c] These are still mine — what I ate, and my wanton love-frolics.
[De Alex. fort. 1.9d] Who would not own that by these several sayings are revealed Sardanapalus’s love of pleasure, Dionysius’s impiety, and Antigonus’s injustice and greed? But if you subtract from Alexander’s sayings his crown, his relationship with Ammon, and his noble birth, 331 they will appear to you as the utterances a Socrates or a Plato or a Pythagoras. Let us, then, pay no heed to the proud boasts which the poets inscribed upon his portraits and statues, studying, as they were, to portray, not Alexander’s moderation, but his power:
[De Alex. fort. 1.9e] Eager to speak seems the statue of bronze, up to Zeus as it gazes:
“Earth I have set under foot; Zeus, keep Olympus yourself.”
[De Alex. fort. 1.9f] And another man makes Alexander say, “I am the son of Zeus.” These expressions, then, as I have said, the poets addressed to Alexander in flattery of his good fortune.
[De Alex. fort. 1.9g] But of the genuine sayings of Alexander we might first review those of his youth. Since he was the swiftest of foot of all the young men of his age, his comrades urged him to enter the Olympic games. He asked if the competitors were kings, and when his friends replied that they were not, he said that the contest was unfair, for it was one in which a victory would be over commoners, but a defeat would be the defeat of a king.
[De Alex. fort. 1.9h] When the thigh of his father Philip had been pierced by a spear in battle with the Triballians, and Philip, although he escaped with his life, was vexed with his lameness, Alexander said, “Be of good cheer, father, and go on your way rejoicing, that at each step you may recall your valour.” Are not these the words of a truly philosophic spirit which, because of its rapture for noble things, already revolts against mere physical encumbrances? How, then, think you, did he glory in his own wounds, remembering by each part of his body affected a nation overcome, a victory won, the capture of cities, the surrender of kings? He did not cover over nor hide his scars, but bore them with him openly as symbolic representations, graven on his body, of virtue and manly courage.
[De Alex. fort. 1.10] 10 1 And in the same spirit if ever there chanced to be in hours of ease or at a banquet a comparison of the verses of Homer, each man choosing his favourite line, Alexander always judged this verse to be the greatest of all:
[De Alex. fort. 1.10b] Both things is he: both a goodly king and a warrior mighty.
[De Alex. fort. 1.10c] This praise, which at the time it was written another had received, Alexander conceived to be a law for himself, so that he said of Homer that in this same verse he had honoured the manly courage of Agamemnon and prophesied that of Alexander. Accordingly when he had crossed the Hellespont, he went to see the site of Troy, imagining to himself the heroic deeds enacted there; and when one of the natives of the country promised to give him the lyre of Paris, if he wished it, Alexander said, “Of his lyre I have no need; for I already possess Achilles’ lyre to the accompaniment of which, as he rested from his labours,
[De Alex. fort. 1.10d] he sang the famed deeds of heroes.
But the lyre of Paris gave forth an altogether weak and womanish strain to accompany his love songs.” Thus it is the mark of a truly philosophic soul to be in love with wisdom and to admire wise men most of all, and this was more characteristic of Alexander than of any other king. His attitude toward Aristotle has already been stated; and it is recorded by several authors that he considered the musician Anaxarchus the most valuable of all his friends, that he gave ten thousand gold pieces to Pyrrhon of Elis the first time he met him, that he sent to Xenocrates, the friend of Plato, fifty talents as a gift, and that he made Onesicritus, the pupil of Diogenes the Cynic, chief pilot of his fleet.
[De Alex. fort. 1.10e] But when he came to talk with Diogenes himself in Corinth, he was so awed and astounded with the life and the worth of the man that often, when remembrance of the philosopher came to him, he would say, “If I were not Alexander, I should be Diogenes,” that is to say: “If I did not actively practise philosophy, I should apply myself to its theoretical pursuit.” He did not say, “If I were not a king, I should be Diogenes,” nor “If I were not rich and an Argead”; 332 for he did not rank Fortune above Wisdom, nor a crown and royal purple above the philosopher’s wallet and threadbare gown. But he said, “If I were not Alexander, I should be Diogenes”; that is to say: “If it were not my purpose to combine foreign things with things Greek, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of Greek justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me, Diogenes, that I imitate Heracles, and emulate Perseus, band follow in the footsteps of Dionysus, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Greeks should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Caucasus. Even there it is said that there are certain holy men, a law unto themselves, who follow a rigid gymnosophy and give all their time to God; they are more frugal than Diogenes since they have no need of a wallet. For they do not store up food, since they have it ever fresh and green from the earth; the flowing rivers give them drink and they have fallen leaves and grassy earth to lie upon. Because of me even those faraway sages shall come to know of Diogenes, and he of them. And I also, like Diogenes, must alter the standard of coinage and stamp foreign states with the impress of Greek government.”
[De Alex. fort. 1.11] 11 Very well. Do Alexander’s actions, then, reveal the caprice of Fortune, the violence of war, the might of conquest, or do they rather reveal the great courage and justice, the great restraint and mildness together with the decorous behaviour and intelligence, of one who did all things with sober and sane judgement? For, by Heaven, it is impossible for me to distinguish his several actions and say that this betokens his courage, this his humanity, this his self-control, but everything he did seems the combined product of all the virtues; for he confirms the truth of that principle of the Stoics which declares that every act which the wise man performs is an activity in accord with every virtue; and although, as it appears, one particular virtue performs the chief rôle in every act, yet it but heartens on the other virtues and directs them toward the goal. Certainly one may observe that in Alexander the warlike is also humane, the mild also manly, the liberal provident, the irascible placable, the amatory temperate, his relaxation not idle, and his labours not without recreation. Who but he combined festivals with wars, campaigns with revels, Bacchic rites and weddings and nuptial songs with sieges and battle-fields? Who was ever more hostile to wrongdoers or kinder to the unfortunate? Who more stern to his opponents or more indulgent to petitioners?
[De Alex. fort. 1.11b] It occurs to me to introduce here an incident touching Porus. For when Porus was brought as a captive before Alexander, the conqueror asked how he should treat him. “Like a king, Alexander,” said Porus. When Alexander asked again if there were nothing else, “No,” said he, “for everything is included in that word.” And it naturally occurs to me also to exclaim over each of Alexander’s deeds, “Like a philosopher!” For in this is included everything. He became enamoured of Roxanê, the daughter of Oxyartes, as she danced among the captive maidens; yet he did not offer any violence to her, but made her his wife. “Like a philosopher!” When he saw Darius pierced through by javelins, he did not offer sacrifice nor raise the paean to indicate that the long war had come to an end; but he took off his own cloak and threw it over the corpse as though to conceal the divine retribution that waits upon the lot of kings. “Like a philosopher!” Once when he was reading a confidential letter from his mother, and Hephaestion, who, as it happened, was sitting beside him, was quite openly reading it too, Alexander did not stop him, 333 but merely placed his own signet-ring on Hephaestion’s lips, sealing them to silence with a friend’s confidence. “Like a philosopher!” For if these actions be not those of a philosopher, what others are?
[De Alex. fort. 1.12] 12 1 But let us compare the actions of men who are admitted to be philosophers. Socrates forbore when Alcibiades spent the night with him. But when Philoxenus, the governor of the coast-lands of Asia Minor, wrote to Alexander that there was in Ionia a youth, the like of whom for bloom and beauty did not exist, and inquired in his letter whether he should send the boy on to him, Alexander wrote bitterly in reply, “Vilest of men, what deed of this sort have you ever been privy to in my past that now you would flatter me with the offer of such pleasures?” We admire Xenocrates because he would not accept the gift of fifty talents which Alexander sent him. But shall we not admire the giving of it? Or do we think that he who does not welcome a gift and he who bestows it are not at one in their contempt for money? Because of philosophy Xenocrates had no need of wealth and because of philosophy Alexander had need of wealth that he might lavish it upon such men. How many times has Alexander said this when forcing an attack amid a shower of missiles? And yet we believe that all men are endowed with the capacity to form right judgements. For Nature of herself is prone to lead men toward the Good. But philosophers differ from common persons in having their powers of judgement strong and firm to face danger, since the common man is not fortified by conceptions such as these: “Best is one omen” and “Death is the end for all men”; but crises destroy all his calculations in the face of danger, and the fantastic imaginings of perils close at hand dispel his powers of judgement. For not only does “fear,” as Thucydides says, “drive out memory,” but it also drives out every purpose and ambition and impulse, unless philosophy has drawn her cords about them.
[De Alex. fort. 2.1] II 333 1 1 Yesterday we forgot, it seems, to remark that the age of Alexander had the good fortune to produce both many artistic achievements and many men of great talent. Perhaps, however, this was not part of Alexander’s good fortune, but rather that of the artists, to have obtained as witness and spectator of their achievements the man who was both best able to judge of their success and to reward them most liberally. At any rate, it is said that, when Archestratus, a poet of a later age, who, though an accomplished writer, was passing his days in poverty and neglect, someone remarked to him, “If you had been born in Alexander’s time, for every verse he would have given you a Cyprus or a Phoenicia.” And I think that the foremost of the artists of that age became so, not because they lived in Alexander’s day, but through what Alexander did for them. For a good climate and a lightness of the surrounding air produces a bountiful harvest; and likewise the favour, esteem, and benignity shown by a king evokes a rich increase in the arts and in men of talent. And, conversely, through jealousy and parsimony or emulous rivalry on the part of monarchs all artistic production is quenched and perishes.
[De Alex. fort. 2.1b] Thus the despot Dionysius, as the story goes, while listening to a celebrated harper, engaged to give him a talent. Next day, when the man asked for the fulfilment of the promise, Dionysius said, “Yesterday I was delighted with your performance, 334 and during the time that you were singing I also delighted you with hopes! The result is that at that very time you were receiving full pay for the pleasure you gave by having your pleasure too!”
[De Alex. fort. 2.1c] Alexander, the tyrant of Pherae (this last should be his only appellation; he should not be permitted to disgrace the name of Alexander), as he watched a tragic actor, felt himself much moved to pity through enjoyment of the acting. He jumped up, therefore, and left the theatre at a rapid pace, exclaiming that it would be a dreadful thing, if, when he was slaughtering so many citizens, he should be seen to weep over the sufferings of Hecuba and Polyxena. And he came near visiting punishment upon the actor because the man had softened his heart, as iron in the fire.
[De Alex. fort. 2.1d] Archelaüs was thought to be somewhat niggardly in his favours, and Timotheüs liked to hint at this by often chanting this refrain:
[De Alex. fort. 2.1e] Over the earth-born silver you rave.
[De Alex. fort. 2.1f] But Archelaüs, with some wit, chanted in reply:
That, however, is what you crave.
Ateas, the Scythian king, took the flute-player Ismenias captive, and ordered him to play at a banquet. The rest were delighted, and applauded, but Ateas swore his horse’s neighing was sweeter to his ear. So far from the Muses’ habitation did he allow his ears to dwell, and his soul he kept in the mangers, better attuned to hear, not horses’ neigh, but asses’ bray! At the court of monarchs such as these what advancement or esteem could there be for Art, or for Poetry and Music of excellence? Nor, again, could artistic endeavour flourish at the court of those who wish to be rival performers in these arts, and thus through malice and ill-will suppress the true artists. Such a prince was Dionysius (to use him again as an example), who threw the poet Philoxenus into the stone-quarries; for when Dionysius ordered him to correct a tragedy of his, Philoxenus cancelled the whole piece from the very beginning to the final flourish.
[De Alex. fort. 2.1g] Philip also was in these matters somewhat more petty and childish than became him, since he had acquired his knowledge late in life. Thus they tell the tale that Philip once argued with a certain harp-player about the technique of his instrument, and even thought he was confuting the man; but the harp-player smiled gently and said, “God forbid, your Majesty, that you should ever fall so low as to know more of these matters than I.”
[De Alex. fort. 2.2] 2 1 But Alexander, knowing well in what matters he should be merely a spectator and listener, and in what he should play the chief rôle, trained himself always to be formidable in arms, and, in the words of Aeschylus,
[De Alex. fort. 2.2b] Sturdy contender in arms, baleful to all that oppose.
[De Alex. fort. 2.2c] This art he inherited from his ancestors, the Aeacidae, and from Heracles; but upon the other arts he freely bestowed honour without jealousy according to their worth and artistic excellence; but he was not so easily carried away by the pleasure they gave him as to try to imitate them. The tragic actors of his time were the group that centred about Thettalus and Athenodorus. At the contest of these two, the kings of Cyprus defrayed the expenses of the performance and Alexander’s most celebrated generals served as judges. When Athenodorus won, “I would rather,” said Alexander, “have lost half my kingdom than see Thettalus defeated.” However, he did not intercede with the judges nor find fault with the judgement, since he felt that, while he must be superior to all men, yet he must submit to Justice.
[De Alex. fort. 2.2d] The comic actors of his time were the group that centred about Lycon of Scarpheia. When Lycon inserted in one of his comedies a begging verse, Alexander laughed and gave him ten talents.
[De Alex. fort. 2.2e] Various harp-players also were his friends, among them Aristonicus, who came to Alexander’s aid in a certain battle, and was slain, fighting gloriously. Therefore Alexander ordered to be made and set up at Delphi a bronze statue of him, with lyre in hand and spear advanced; thereby he not only honoured this particular man, but also paid tribute to Music herself, in the belief that she is a creator of true men and, in particular, that she fills with inspiration and impetuousness those who are truly her foster-children. 335 For once upon a time, when Antigenides was playing on his flute the Chariot Song, Alexander became so transported, and his spirit so inflamed by the strains, that he leapt up and laid hands upon the weapons that lay near, and thus confirmed the testimony of the Spartans who used to sing,
[De Alex. fort. 2.2f] The noble playing of the lyre is meet to match the sword.
[De Alex. fort. 2.2g] Apelles the painter and Lysippus the sculptor also lived in the time of Alexander. The former painted “Alexander wielding the Thunderbolt” so vividly and with so natural an expression, that men said that, of the two Alexanders, Alexander, son of Philip, was invincible, but the Alexander of Apelles was inimitable. And when Lysippus modelled his first statue of Alexander which represented him looking with his face turned towards the heavens (as indeed Alexander often did look, with a slight inclination of his head to one side), someone engraved these verses on the statue, not without some plausibility,
[De Alex. fort. 2.2h] Eager to speak seems the statue of bronze, up to Zeus as it gazes
“Earth I have set under foot: Zeus, keep Olympus yourself!”
[De Alex. fort. 2.2i] Wherefore Alexander gave orders that Lysippus only should make statues of him. For Lysippus was, it seemed, the only one that revealed in the bronze Alexander’s character and in moulding his form portrayed also his virtues. The others wished to imitate the flexing of his neck and liquid softness of his eyes, but were unable to preserve his virile and leonine expression.
[De Alex. fort. 2.2j] Among the other artists at his court was Stasicrates the master-sculptor, not seeking to make something flowery or pleasant or lifelike to look upon, but employing a magnificence in workmanship and design worthy of a king’s munificence. He followed Alexander into Asia and found fault with the paintings, sculptures, and moulded likenesses that had been made of him, on the ground that they were the works of timid and ignoble artists. “But I, your Majesty,” said he, “have conceived the project of placing your likeness in living and imperishable material, with roots that are everlasting and weight immovable and unshakable. For Mount Athos in Thrace, in that part where is its highest and most conspicuous summit, has well-proportioned surfaces and heights, limbs and joints and proportions that suggest the human form. When it has been properly carved and worked into shape, it can be called Alexander’s statue, and Alexander’s statue it will be; with its base set in the sea, in its left hand it will encompass and hold a city with ten thousand inhabitants, and with its right pour from a bowl of libation an ever-flowing river down into the sea. But as for gold and bronze, ivory, wooden timbers, and dyes, which make those paltry images that can be bought and sold, stolen, or melted down, let us reject them all!” Alexander listened to his words and admired but declined with thanks the lofty designs and the boldness of the artist. “But,” said he, “let Athos remain as it is. It is enough that it be the memorial of the arrogance of one king; but my imprint the Caucasus shall show and the Emodian range and the Tanaïs and the Caspian Sea; these will be the image of my deeds.
[De Alex. fort. 2.3] 3 1 But imagine, pray, that such a work had been completed and made evident to men’s eyes. Is there anyone who could look upon it and suppose that the form, the arrangement, and the appearance were created by Fortune and Accident? No one, I think. What of Apelles’ “Wielder of the Thunderbolt”? What of the statue which takes its name from the Spear? Shall we admit, then, that greatness in a statue cannot, without the help of Art, be created by Fortune’s profuse provision of gold and bronze and ivory and much rich material, but is it possible that a great man, or rather the greatest man of all that have ever lived, without the help of Virtue, was perfected through Fortune’s supplying him with arms and money, foot and horse? 336 But for him who has not learned how to use these things they are a danger, not a strength and enrichment, but a means of proving his weakness and pettiness. For Antisthenes was right when he said, “We should pray that our enemies be provided with all good things, except courage; for thus these good things will belong, not to their owners, but to those that conquer them.” Therefore they say that Nature also for defence has caused horns, wonderful for their size and jagged points, to grow upon the deer, the most cowardly of all animals; and therein does Nature teach us that strength and arms are of no benefit to such as have not the courage to stand their ground. Thus also Fortune, by frequently bestowing on cowards and fools military forces and dominions, in which they disgrace themselves, emblazons and commends Virtue as the one quality that constitutes the greatness and beauty of man. For if indeed, as Epicharmus says,
[De Alex. fort. 2.3b] Mind has sight and Mind has hearing;
but
All things else are deaf and blind;
[De Alex. fort. 2.3c] then it happens that these are really lacking in reason. For our perceptive faculties seem to respond to their own special stimuli; but the fact that it is mind which aids us and mind which emblazons our deeds, and it is mind that conquers and overpowers and plays the monarch, and that “all things else,” since they are “blind and deaf” and soulless, mislead and burden and disgrace their possessors, if Virtue be not present, is a truth which may be gleaned from history.
[De Alex. fort. 2.3d] Now of the two monarchs Semiramis and Sardanapalus, in whose hands were placed the same power and dominion, Semiramis, though a woman, equipped great expeditions, armed her ranks, established the Babylonian Empire, and sailed about the Persian Gulf subduing the Ethiopians and Arabs. But Sardanapalus, though born a man, spent his days at home carding purple wool, sitting with his knees drawn up in front of him among his concubines; and when he died, they made a stone statue of him dancing in a barbaric fashion and apparently snapping his fingers above its head. They engraved upon it: “Eat, drink, and sport with love; all else is naught.”
[De Alex. fort. 2.3e] When Crates saw a golden statue of Phrynê the courtesan dstanding at Delphi, he cried out that it stood there as a monument to Greek licentiousness; and thus if one examine either the life or the tomb of Sardanapalus (for I think there is no difference between them), one would say that they are a monument to the bounty of Fortune. But if this be so, shall we allow Fortune to lay hold upon Alexander after Sardanapalus, and to lay claim to Alexander’s greatness and power? For what greater gift did she bestow on him than those which other monarchs received at her hands: arms, horses, missiles, money, guardsmen? Let Fortune endeavour to make an Aridaeus great by these, if she can, or an Ochus or Oarses eor Tigranes the Armenian, or the Bithynian Nicomedes. Of these Tigranes cast down his crown before the feet of Pompey and ignominiously received back his kingdom, which had become the spoil of war. But Nicomedes shaved his head and put on the freedman’s cap and proclaimed himself an emancipated slave of the Roman people.
[De Alex. fort. 2.4] 4 1 Shall we say, then, that Fortune makes men petty, timid, and abject in spirit? Yet it is not right for anyone to charge baseness to misfortune, or courage and intelligence to good fortune; but Fortune was magnified by Alexander’s reign, for in him she was illustrious, invincible, magnanimous, inoffensive, and humane. Then, immediately after Alexander’s decease, Leosthenes said that his forces, as they wandered here and there and fell foul of their own efforts, were like the Cyclops after his blinding, groping about everywhere with his hands, which were directed at no certain goal; even thus did that vast throng roam about with no safe footing, blundering through want of a leader. Or rather, in the manner of dead bodies, after the soul departs, when they are no longer held together by natural forces, but undergo dispersion and dissolution, and finally are dissipated and disappear altogether; even so Alexander’s forces, having lost him, maintained a gasping, agitated, and fevered existence 337 through men like Perdiccas, Meleager, Seleucus, and Antigonus, who, as it were, provided still a warm breath of life and blood that still pulsed and circulated. But at length the host wasted away and perished, generating about itself maggots, as it were, of ignoble kings and rulers in their last death-struggle. This, then, it is likely that Alexander himself meant when he rebuked Hephaestion for quarrelling with Craterus: “What,” said he, “will be your power and your achievements if someone deprive you of Alexander?” But I, for my part, shall not hesitate to say this very thing to the Fortune that presided over Alexander’s career: “What is your greatness or your repute? Where is your power or your invincibility, if someone deprive you of Alexander?” That is to say, “If someone deprive you of your skill in arms, your munificent use of riches, your self-restraint in expending them, your boldness against your foes in battle, your mildness towards the vanquished? Make another great, if you can; but one that shall not be generous with his substance, nor court danger in the front ranks, nor give honour to his friends, nor feel pity for his captives, nor be temperate in his pleasures, nor sleepless in crises, nor placable in his victories, nor humane amid his successes. What man is great in the exercise of power, if folly and wickedness attend him? Take away virtue from the fortunate man and in everything he is petty; in acts of generosity, through parsimony; in hard tasks, through softness; in religion, through superstition; towards the good, through envy; among men, through cowardice; among women, through wantonness.” Just as inexpert artisans, who construct large pedestals for petty offerings, make the smallness of the offerings noticeable, so Fortune, whenever she elevates a petty character by acts that have a certain pomp and circumstance, makes the more conspicuous and disgraceful the blundering and instability that result from a shallow character.
[De Alex. fort. 2.5] 5 1 Wherefore greatness lies, not in the possession of good things, but in our use of them, dsince even infant children inherit their fathers’ kingdoms and dominions, even as Charillus, whom Lycurgus carried in his swaddling-clothes into the common dining-hall and proclaimed king of Sparta in place of himself. Assuredly it was not the child who was great, but he who surrendered to the child its paternal rights, and did not keep them for himself nor take them away.
[De Alex. fort. 2.5b] But who could have made Aridaeus great, whom, differing no whit from a child, only that his swaddling-clothes were royal purple, Meleager set on the throne of Alexander? And indeed it was well that he did so, that for a few days it might be observed how it is that men rule by right of virtue and how by gift of Fortune. For in succession to a real competitor for sovereignty Meleager introduced a mere actor, eor rather, did a mute figure wearing a crown parade across the stage, as it were, of the inhabited world.
[De Alex. fort. 2.5c] Even a woman can carry a burden if a man impose it upon her.
[De Alex. fort. 2.5d] Conversely, however, one might affirm that it lies within the strength of even a woman or a child to take up and impose the gifts of power and wealth and sovereignty. The eunuch Bagoas took up the kingship of Persia and bestowed it upon Oarses and Darius. But the ability to sustain and administer great authority when one has received it, and not to be crushed or turned from one’s purpose by the weight and the magnitude of one’s activities, is the mark of a man who possesses virtue, sense, and intelligence. This virtue Alexander possessed, whom some accuse of drunkenness and a passion for wine! But he was truly a great man, for in his conduct of affairs he was sober, nor was he made drunk nor led to revelling by authority and power; but others, when they get but a small portion, or even a taste, of power are unable to control themselves:
[De Alex. fort. 2.5e] Bad men, when gorged with wealth, or chancing on
Some honours in the State, caper and prance
When luck, unhoped for, to their house has come.
[De Alex. fort. 2.5f] 338 Cleitus, when he had scuttled three or four Greek triremes at Amorgos, caused himself to be proclaimed Poseidon and carried a trident. Demetrius, to whom Fortune added the little that she was able to subtract from Alexander’s power, allowed himself to be called “The Heaven-descended,” and the subject states did not send ambassadors to him, but “Sacred Deputies,” and his replies they spoke of as “Oracles.” Lysimachus, who obtained possession of the regions adjoining Thrace, the mere outskirts of the kingdom of Alexander, as it were, reached such a pitch of arrogance and boldness as to say, “The Byzantines now come to me when I am touching Heaven with my spear.” But Pasiades of Byzantium, who was present, said, “Let us be off, lest he make a hole in the sky with his spear-point!”
[De Alex. fort. 2.5g] And yet why should anyone mention these men who might have some legitimate ground for pride because of Alexander, when even Clearchus, after he became despot of Heracleia, used to carry a thunderbolt, and named one of his sons Thunderer? And Dionysius the younger styled himself the son of Apollo in the inscription:
[De Alex. fort. 2.5h] Sprung from a Dorian mother by union with Phoebus Apollo.
[De Alex. fort. 2.5i] And Dionysius’s father killed ten thousand or more citizens, and, led on by envy, betrayed his brother to the enemy, cnor could he wait for his already aged mother to die a few days later, but strangled her; yet in one of his tragedies he wrote these words:
[De Alex. fort. 2.5j] The mother of foul wrong is tyranny!
[De Alex. fort. 2.5k] Notwithstanding, of his daughters he named one Virtue, another Temperance, a third Justice. And yet other persons publicly styled themselves Benefactors, Conquerors, Saviours, or The Great; but no one would be able to tell the tale of their marriages one after another, like the matings of horses, as they spent their days with no restraint amid herds of women, their corruption of boys, their beating of drums in the company of emasculated men, their daily dicing, their flute-playing in the public theatres, the night that was too short for them at their dinners, and the day at their breakfasts.
[De Alex. fort. 2.6] 6 1 But Alexander took his breakfast at daybreak seated; he dined late in the evening; he drank only after sacrificing to the gods; he played dice with Medius when he had a fever; he played games while travelling, at the same time also learning to wield a bow and mount a chariot. For himself he married Roxanê, the only woman he ever loved; but Stateira, the daughter of Darius, he married for imperial and political reasons, since the union of the two races was highly advantageous. But as for the other Persian women, he was as much their superior in self-control as in valour he was superior to Persian men. For he looked at no woman against her will and those that he looked at he passed by more readily than those that he did not look at; and although he bore himself humanely toward all other persons, it was toward fair youth alone that he conducted himself haughtily. He would not listen to a single word in praise of the beauty of the wife of Darius, who was a very handsome woman; but when she died, he graced her funeral with such a royal pomp and bewailed her death so feelingly that his self-control was questioned amid his display of humanity, and his goodness incurred the charge of wrongdoing. For Darius was disturbed by suspicion of Alexander’s power and youth; for he also was still one of those who believed Alexander’s victory to be through Fortune. But when he had tested the matter from every angle, and recognized the truth, “Then,” said he, “the lot of the Persians is not so utterly wretched, nor will anyone say that we are altogether cowardly or unmanly in that we have been overcome by such a man. But for my part I pray the gods for fair fortune and for might in war, that I may surpass Alexander in bestowing favours; and I am possessed by an ambitious and emulous desire to prove myself more humane than Alexander. But if my power be spent, do thou, O Zeus, ancestral god of the Persians, and ye other gods that guard our kingship, grant that none other than Alexander take his seat upon the throne of Cyrus.” This was Darius’s way of adopting Alexander, invoking the gods as witnesses.
[De Alex. fort. 2.7] 339 7 Thus do men prevail through Virtue. Ascribe to Fortune, if you will, Arbela and the Cilician victory and his other deeds of violence and war: Fortune battered down the walls of Tyre for him; Fortune opened the way to Egypt; through Fortune Halicarnassus fell, and Miletus was captured, and Mazaeus left the Euphrates unguarded, and the Babylonian plain was strewn with corpses. But at least it was not in any way Fortune’s gift that he was temperate, nor was it because of Fortune that he was self-controlled, nor did Fortune lock his soul and keep it impregnable to pleasure and invulnerable to desire; in fact, these were the qualities by which he defeated Darius himself. The rest were but defeats of arms and horses, bbattles, slaughters and routs of men. But the truly great and indisputable defeat Darius suffered: he yielded in virtue and greatness of soul, in prowess and justice, and marvelled at Alexander’s invincibility in pleasure, in toil, in the bestowal of favours. It is true that Tarrias, son of Deinomenes, and Antigenes of Pallenê, and Philotas, the son of Parmenion, were also invincible at least amid shields, pikes, battle-cries, and the clash of arms; but towards pleasures and women and gold and silver they were no better than their captives. In fact, when Alexander was freeing the Macedonians from debt and paying creditors for everybody, Tarrias csaid falsely that he was a debtor, and produced at the bank a person who asserted that he was Tarrias’s creditor; later, when he was detected, he was ready to commit suicide had not Alexander, coming to know of this, exculpated him, and allowed him to keep the money; for the king remembered that when Philip was assaulting Perinthus, Tarrias, although his eye was pierced by a missile, would not submit nor suffer the shaft to be extracted until they had routed the enemy.
[De Alex. fort. 2.7b] Antigenes joined himself with those who were being sent back to Macedonia because of sickness or wounds, and had himself enrolled among them; but when, however, it was discovered that he had nothing wrong with him, but was feigning some infirmity, and it was seen that he was a stout fighting man dwhose body was covered with wounds, the matter vexed Alexander. When he asked the reason for such conduct, Antigenes confessed that he was in love with Telesippa, and was accompanying her to the sea, since he could not be left behind if she went away. “Whose is she?” asked Alexander, “and to whom must we speak?” Antigenes replied that she was free-born. “Then,” said Alexander, “let us persuade her with promises and presents to remain behind.” So ready was he with an excuse for every lover rather than for himself.
[De Alex. fort. 2.7c] And further, Philotas, the son of Parmenion, had in his licentiousness the nurse, as it were, of all his ills. For among the captives taken at Damascus was a courtesan from Pella, by name Antigona. Ere this she had crossed over to Samothrace, and there had been taken captive by Autophradates. She was comely enough to look upon and, after Philotas had attached himself to her, she had complete possession of him. Indeed that man of iron was so softened that he was not in control of his reasoning powers amid his pleasures, but unlocked and brought forth many of his secrets for the woman: “What was that famed Philip, were it not for Parmenion? What was this Alexander, were it not for Philotas? Where his Ammon, and where his serpents, if we do not wish it so?” These words Antigona reported to an intimate friend of hers among the women, and she reported them to Craterus; Craterus brought Antigona herself secretly to Alexander, who did not touch her person, but restrained himself and, working secretly through her, he discovered the whole of Philotas’s plans. And for a period of more than seven years Alexander never revealed his suspicion; not in his cups, the reputed drunkard! not in anger, this man of fiery temper! not to a friend, this man who trusted Hephaestion in everything and shared everything with him! 340 In fact it is recorded that once, when he had broken the seal of a confidential letter from his mother and was reading it silently to himself, Hephaestion quietly put his head beside Alexander’s and read the letter with him; Alexander could not bear to stop him, but took off his ring and placed the seal on Hephaestion’s lips.
[De Alex. fort. 2.8] 8 1 But one might grow weary in the enumeration of these matters by which Alexander is shown to have made the most honourable and the most regal use of his authority. And even though he became great through Fortune, he is even greater in that he made good use of his Fortune. And the more we praise his Fortune the more shall we exalt his Virtue by reason of which he became worthy of his Fortune.
[De Alex. fort. 2.8b] Now, however, I shall proceed at once to the first steps in his advancement and the beginnings of his power, and I shall examine in those matters the rôle played by Fortune, by reason of which men assert that Alexander became great through the instrumentality of Fortune. In Heaven’s name! Why do they not assert this of one that never felt a wound nor lost a drop of blood nor ever served in war, whom the neighing of a horse placed upon the throne of Cyrus, even as the first Darius, the son of Hystaspes? Or of Xerxes, whom a king, flattered by his wife, as Darius was flattered by Atossa, set upon the throne? Did the royal diadem come to Alexander’s doors, as to Oarses through the machinations of Bagoas, who stripped from him the garb of a courier and put upon him the royal raiment and the tiara that ever stands erect? Was he suddenly and unexpectedly chosen by lot and thus came to rule the inhabited world, as at Athens the Thesmothetae and Archons attain their office?
[De Alex. fort. 2.8c] Would you learn how it is that men come to the throne by choice of Fortune? Once upon a time among the Argives the family of Heracleidae became extinct, from which family it was their ancestral custom to select the Argive kings. When in their search they made inquiry of the god at Delphi, he replied that an eagle would show them; and a few days later an eagle appeared on high and, swooping down, alighted on the house of Aegon, and Aegon was chosen king.
[De Alex. fort. 2.8d] Again in Paphos when the reigning king was seen to be unjust and wicked, Alexander expelled him and searched for another, dsince the family of Cinyradaea appeared to be already passing away or extinct. However, they told him that there still survived one poor and obscure person, who eked out a forsaken existence in a certain garden. Men were sent to fetch him and, when they arrived, he was found watering his garden-plots; and he was much perturbed when the soldiers laid hands on him and ordered him to come with them. He was brought before Alexander and, dressed as he was in a single cheap garment, he was proclaimed king, and received the royal purple, and became one of those who are styled the king’s “Companions.” His name was Abdalonymus. Thus does shifting Fortune create kings, change their raiment, and quickly and easily alter the status of men who expect nothing of the sort, and do not even hope for it.
[De Alex. fort. 2.9] 9 1 But what greatness did Alexander acquire beyond his just merits, what without sweat, what without blood, what without a price, what without labour? He drank rivers fouled with blood, crossed streams bridged by dead bodies, through hunger ate the first grass that he saw, dug through nations buried in deep snow and cities built beneath the earth, sailed over a battling sea; and as he traversed the parching strands of Gedrosia and Arachosia, it was in the sea, not on the land, that first he saw a living plant.
[De Alex. fort. 2.9b] If to Fortune, as to a human being, one might present Frankness in Alexander’s behalf, would she not say, “When and where did you ever vouchsafe a way for the exploits of Alexander? What fortress did he ever capture by your help without the shedding of blood? What city unguarded or what regiment unarmed did you deliver into his hands? What king was found to be indolent, or what general negligent, or what watchman asleep at the gate? But no river was easy to cross, no storm was moderate, no summer’s heat was without torment. 341 Betake yourself to Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, or to Artaxerxes, the brother of Cyrus; depart to Ptolemy Philadelphus! Their fathers, while yet alive, proclaimed them kings; they won battles that did not cost a tear; they made merry all their lives in processions and theatres; and every one of them, because of good fortune, grew old upon the throne.
[De Alex. fort. 2.9c] “But in the case of Alexander, though I were to mention nothing else, behold his body gashed with wounds tip to toe, bruised all over, smitten at the hands of his enemies
[De Alex. fort. 2.9d] Now with the spear, now the sword, now with mighty masses of boulders.
[De Alex. fort. 2.9e] On the banks of the Granicus his helmet was cleft through to his scalp by a sword; at Gaza his shoulder was wounded by a missile; at Maracanda his shin was so torn by an arrow that by the force of the blow the larger bone was broken and extruded. Somewhere in Hyrcania his sight was dimmed, and for many days he was haunted by the fear of blindness. Among the Assacenians his ankle was wounded by an Indian arrow; that was the time when he smilingly said to his flatterers, ‘this that you see is blood, not
[De Alex. fort. 2.9f] Ichor, that which flows from the wounds of the blessed immortals.’
[De Alex. fort. 2.9g] At Issus he was wounded in the thigh with a sword, as Chares states, by Darius the king, who had come into hand-to hand conflict with him. Alexander himself wrote of this simply, and with complete truth, in a letter to Antipater: ‘I myself happened,’ he writes, ‘to be wounded in the thigh by a dagger. But nothing untoward resulted from the blow either immediately or later.’ Among the Mallians he was wounded in the breast by an arrow three feet long, which penetrated his breastplate, and someone rode up under him, and struck him in the neck, as Aristobulus relates. When he had crossed the Tanaïs against the Scythians and had routed them, he pursued them on horseback an hundred and fifty stades, though he was grievously distressed with diarrhoea.
[De Alex. fort. 2.10] 10 1 “Well done, Fortune! You exalt Alexander and make him great by running him through from every side, by making him lose his footing, dby laying open every portion of his body. Not like Athena before Menelaüs did you guide the missile to the stoutest parts of his armour, and by breastplate, belt, and kilt take away the intensity of the blow, which only grazed his body with force enough to cause blood to flow; but you exposed to the missiles the vital portions of Alexander’s body unprotected, you drove home the blows through his very bones, you circled around his body, you laid siege to his eyes and his feet, you hindered him in pursuing his foes, you endeavoured to strip him of his victories, you upset his expectations.”
[De Alex. fort. 2.10b] No other king seems to me to have felt the hand of Fortune more heavily upon him, even though on many it has fallen harshly and malignantly. But like a thunderbolt it cut down the other rulers, and destroyed them; toward Alexander, however, fortune’s ill-will became but contentious and quarrelsome and hard to overpower, even as it was toward Heracles. For what manner of Typhons or monstrous giants did she not raise up to oppose him? Whom of his foes did she not fortify with a vast supply of weapons or deep rivers or jagged cliffs or the might of beasts from foreign lands? But if Alexander’s thought had not been set on high emprise, if it had not derived its impelling force from great Virtue, and had not refused to submit to defeat in its wrestling with Fortune, would he not have grown tired and weary of marshalling and arming his forces, weary of his sieges and pursuits famid unnumbered revolts, desertions, and riots of subject peoples, defections of kings, against Bactria, Maracanda, Sogdiana, as if he were cutting off the heads of a hydra which ever grew again in renewed wars among these faithless and conspiring peoples?
[De Alex. fort. 2.11] 11 I shall be thought to be making a strange statement, yet what I shall say is true: it was because of Fortune that Alexander all but lost the repute of being the son of Ammon! For what offspring of the gods could have toiled through such hazardous, toilsome, and painful Labours save only Heracles, the son of Zeus? 342 But it was one arrogant man who imposed upon Heracles the task of capturing lions, of pursuing wild boars, of frightening off birds so that he might not have time to go about performing greater deeds, such as punishing men like Antaeus and stopping creatures like Busiris from their abominable murders. But upon Alexander it was Virtue who laid the kingly and god-like Labour, the end and aim of which was not gold, carried about by countless camels, nor Persian luxury, banquets, and women, nor the wine of Chalybon, nor the fish of Hyrcania, but to order all men by one law and to render them submissive to one rule accustomed to one manner of life. The desire which he cherished to accomplish this task was implanted in him from childhood, and was fostered and increased with the years that passed. Once, when ambassadors came from the Persian king to Philip, who was not at home, Alexander, while he entertained them hospitably, asked no childish questions, as the others did, about the vine of gold, or the Hanging Gardens, or how the Great King was arrayed; but he was completely engrossed with the most vital concerns of the dominion, asking how large was the Persian army; where the king stationed himself in battle (even as the famed Odysseus asked
[De Alex. fort. 2.11b] Where are his arms that he wields in the battle, and where are his horses?);
[De Alex. fort. 2.11c] cand which roads were the shortest for travellers going inland from the sea — so that the strangers were astounded and said, “This boy is a ‘great king’; our king is only wealthy.” But after Philip’s end, when Alexander was eager to cross over and, already absorbed in his hopes and preparations, was hastening to gain a hold upon Asia, Fortune, seizing upon him, blocked his way, turned him about, dragged him back, and surrounded him with countless distractions and delays. First she threw into the utmost commotion the barbarian elements among his neighbours, and contrived wars with the Illyrians and Triballians. By these wars he was drawn from his Asiatic projects as far away as the portion of Scythia that lies along the Danube; dwhen, by sundry manoeuvres, he had subjugated all this territory with much danger and great struggles, he was again eager and in haste for the crossing. Again, however, Fortune stirred up Thebes against him, and thrust in his pathway a war with Greeks, and the dread necessity of punishing, by means of slaughter and fire and sword, men that were his kith and kin, a necessity which had a most unpleasant ending.
[De Alex. fort. 2.11d] After this he crossed with provision for thirty days, as Phylarchus relates; but Aristobulus says, with seventy talents. He divided the greater part of his possessions at home and his royal revenues among his friends; Perdiccas alone would take nothing when Alexander offered, but asked, “What are you leaving for yourself, Alexander?” And when Alexander replied, “High hopes!”, “Then,” said Perdiccas, “we shall also share in these; for it is not right to take your possessions, but right to wait in expectation of those of Darius.”
[De Alex. fort. 2.12] 12 1 What, then, were the hopes on which Alexander relied when he crossed into Asia? Not a force counted by means of a wall that would hold a city of 10,000 men, nor fleets that sailed through mountains, nor scourges or fetters, insane and barbaric implements for chastising the sea; but externally they were the great ambition in his little army, mutual rivalry of hot youth, competition for repute and excellence among his Companions. And within himself he had his own high hopes, freverence for the gods, fidelity towards his friends, frugality, self-control, experience, fearlessness toward death, high courage, humanity, affability, integrity of character, constancy in counsel, quickness in execution, the height of good repute, and a disposition to gain his end in everything honourable. For not appropriately nor convincingly did Homer employ a combination of three similes in his comparison describing the fair appearance of Agamemnon:
[De Alex. fort. 2.12b] 343 Like in his eyes and his head unto Zeus who delighteth in thunder,
Like unto Ares in waist, and in breadth of his chest to Poseidon.
[De Alex. fort. 2.12c] But if the god who begat Alexander made his natural endowment an harmoniously joined combination of many virtues, may we not say that he possessed the high spirit of Cyrus, the discretion of Agesilaüs, the intelligence of Themistocles, the experience of Philip, the daring of Brasidas, the eloquence and statesmanship of Pericles? And, to compare him with the men of still more ancient days, he was more self-restrained than Agamemnon; for Agamemnon set a captive woman above his wedded wife, but Alexander, even before his marriage, kept aloof from his captives. He was more magnanimous than Achilles; for Achilles gave back the body of Hector for a small ransom, but Alexander buried Darius at great expense; Achilles, when he had become reconciled, accepted gifts and recompense from his friends to requite him for ceasing from his Wrath, but Alexander enriched his enemies by conquering them. He was more reverent than Diomedes; for Diomedes was ready to fight with gods, but Alexander believed the gods to be the authors of all success. He was more deeply mourned by his relatives than was Odysseus; for Odysseus’ mother died of grief, but the mother of Alexander’s foe, for the goodwill she bore him, shared his death.
[De Alex. fort. 2.13] 13 1 In short, if Solon’s statesmanship also was due to Fortune, and if Miltiades’ generalship, and Aristeides’ justice were but the result of Fortune, then surely there is no work of Virtue in these men, but it is a name only, talk based on appearance, pervading their lives to no purpose, a figment of the sophists and legislators. But if every one of these men and of others like them became poor or rich, weak or strong, ugly or handsome, lived to a ripe old age or met an untimely death through Fortune, or if each one of them proved himself a great general, a great lawgiver, or great in government and statesmanship through Virtue and Reason, then consider Alexander and compare him with them all. Solon brought about a cancellation of debts in Athens which he called the “Relief from Burdens” (Seisachtheia); but Alexander himself paid the debts which his men owed to their creditors. Pericles collected tribute from the Greeks and with the money adorned the Acropolis with temples; but Alexander captured the riches of barbarians and sent them to Greece with orders that ten thousand talents be used to construct temples for the gods. Brasidas’s dash along the shore to Methonê through the armed host of the enemy amid showers of missiles made him renowned in Greece; but that daring leap of Alexander in the country of the Oxydrachae, incredible to them that hear of it and fearful to them that saw it, when he hurled himself down from the walls into the midst of the enemy, who received him with spears and arrows and naked swords — with what may one compare it, save with the levin bolt that breaks and flashes in the midst of a hurricane, like the apparition of Phoebus that darted down to earth, gleaming round about with flaming armour. The enemy at first were amazed and affrighted and retired with trembling fear; but a moment later, when they saw that he was but one man attacking many, they made a stand against him.
[De Alex. fort. 2.13b] There indeed Fortune made manifest great and splendid results of her kindliness toward Alexander, when she cast him into an insignificant foreign town and shut him in and fenced him round about! And when his men were earnestly trying to bring help from without and were attempting to scale the walls, Fortune, by breaking and shattering their ladders, took away their foothold and hurled them from the walls. And of the three men who alone were quick enough to grasp the wall and, throwing themselves down inside, to take their stand beside the king, Fortune straightway snatched up one and made away with him before he could strike a blow; and a second, pierced through by many arrows, was only so far from death that he could see and perceive his king’s danger. 344 But the charges and shouting of the Macedonians were unavailing for they had no machines nor engines with them; but in their zeal they tried to hack the walls with their swords, and were forced to break them off with their bare hands, and all but bite their way through.
[De Alex. fort. 2.13c] But the king, who was Fortune’s favourite, and was always guarded and personally protected by her, was caught within like a wild beast in the toils, alone and without succour; nor was he struggling for Susa or Babylon, nor to capture Bactria, nor to vanquish the great Porus; for in great and glorious conflicts, even though men fail, disgrace, at least, can find no place. But so contentious and malicious was Fortune, so greatly did she favour barbarians and hate Alexander, that she tried to destroy not only his body and his life, but also, in so far as she could, to destroy his repute and to wipe out his fair fame. For it were not a terrible thing for Alexander to fall and lie buried beside the Euphrates or the Hydaspes, nor ignoble to meet death by coming into close combat with Darius or in confronting the horses and swords and battle-axes of the Persians as they fought to defend their king, nor to be overthrown while he bestrode the walls of Babylon and to fall from his high hope. Thus fell Pelopidas and Epameinondas; their death was a death belonging to Virtue, not to misfortune, engaged as they were in such a high emprise. But of what sort was the deed of Fortune, who is now under scrutiny? Was it not that on the farthest outposts of a land beside a foreign river within the walls of an obscure hamlet, which surrounded and hid away from sight the lord and master of the inhabited world, he should perish, smitten and stricken by ignominious weapons and whatever else lay at hand? For his head was wounded through his helmet by an axe, and someone shot an arrow through his breastplate so that it penetrated the bones of his breast and was lodged there firmly, while the shaft protruded and hampered him and the iron point was four fingers broad and five fingers long. But — the extreme of all the dangers he confronted — while he was defending himself against those who had attacked him in front, the archer who shot him had plucked up courage to approach him with a sword, but Alexander with his dagger was too quick for the man and knocked him down and killed him; but while he was thus occupied, someone ran out from a mill, and gave him a blow on the neck with a cudgel from behind; this confused his senses, and his head swam. But Virtue was by his side and in him she engendered daring, and in his companions strength and zeal. For men like Limnaeus and Ptolemy and Leonnatus and all those who had surmounted the wall or had broken through it took their stand before him and were a bulwark of Virtue, exposing their bodies in the face of the foe and even their lives for the goodwill and love they bore their king. Surely it is not due to Fortune that the companions of good kings risk their lives and willingly die for them; but this they do through a passion for Virtue, even as bees, as if under the spell of love-charms, approach and closely surround their sovereign.
[De Alex. fort. 2.13d] What spectator, then, who might without danger to himself have been present at that scene, would not exclaim that he was witnessing the mighty contest of Fortune and Virtue; that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Greeks were holding out beyond their ability? And if the enemy gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the Greeks prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? These were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, fsince Fortune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp.
[De Alex. fort. 2.13e] Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads. But this was no help to Alexander; for he had been hurried from the field, arrow and all, and he had the shaft in his vitals; the arrow was as a bond or bolt holding his breastplate to his body. 345 And when they tried forcibly to pull it out of the wound by the roots, as it were, the iron would not budge, since it was lodged in the bony part of the breast in front of the heart. They did not dare to saw off the protruding portion of the shaft, since they were afraid that the bone might be split by the jarring and cause excruciating pain, and that an internal haemorrhage might result. But when Alexander perceived their great perplexity and hesitation, he himself tried with his dagger to cut off the arrow close to his breastplate; but his hand was unsteady and affected by a torpid languor from the inflammation of the wound. Accordingly with encouraging words he urged those that were unwounded to take hold and not to be afraid; band he railed at some who were weeping and could not control themselves, others he branded as deserters, since they had not the courage to come to his assistance. And he cried aloud to his Companions, “Let no one be faint-hearted even for my sake! For it will not be believed that I do not fear death, if you fear death for me!”

## Were the Athenians more famous in war or in wisdom?

[De glor. Ath. 1] 345 1 1 . . . .Thus rightly spoke the great Themistocles to the generals who succeeded him, for whom he had opened a way for their subsequent exploits by driving out the barbarian host and making Greece free. And rightly will it be spoken also to those who pride themselves on their writings; for if you take away the men of action, you will have no men of letters. Take away Pericles’ statesmanship, and Phormio’s trophies for his naval victories at Rhium, and Nicias’s valiant deeds at Cythera and Megara and Corinth, Demosthenes’ Pylos, and Cleon’s four hundred captives, Tolmides’ circumnavigation of the Peloponnesus, and Myronides’ victory over the Boeotians at Oenophyta — take these away and Thucydides is stricken from your list of writers. Take away Alcibiades’ spirited exploits in the Hellespontine region, and those of Thrasyllus by Lesbos, and the overthrow by Theramenes of the oligarchy, Thrasybulus and Archinus and the uprising of the Seventy from Phylê against the Spartan hegemony, and Conon’s restoration of Athens to her power on the sea — Etake these away and Cratippus is no more.
[De glor. Ath. 1b] Xenophon, to be sure, became his own history by writing of his generalship and his successes and recording that it was Themistogenes the Syracusan who had compiled an account of them, his purpose being to win greater credence for his narrative by referring to himself in the third person, thus favouring another with the glory of the authorship. But all the other historians, men like Cleitodemus, Diyllus, Philochorus, Phylarchus, have been for the exploits of others what actors are for plays, exhibiting the deeds of the generals and kings, and merging themselves with their characters as tradition records them, in order that they might share in a certain effulgence, so to speak, and splendour. For there is reflected from the men of action upon the men of letters an image of another’s glory, which shines again there, since the deed is seen, as in a mirror, through the agency of their words.
[De glor. Ath. 2] 2 1 This city, as we all know, has been the mother and kindly nurse of many other arts, some of which she was the first to discover and reveal, while to others she gave added strength and honour and advancement; not least of all, painting was enhanced and embellished by her. 346 For Apollodorus the painter, the first man to discover the art of mixing colours and chiaroscuro, was an Athenian. Upon his productions is inscribed:
[De glor. Ath. 2b] It were easier that you blame than try to make the same.
[De glor. Ath. 2c] Euphranor, Nicias, Asclepiodorus, and Panaenus, the brother of Pheidias, some of them painted conquering generals, others battles, and still others the heroes of old. As, for example, Euphranor compared his own Theseus with that of Parrhasius, saying that Parrhasius’s Theseus had fed on roses, but his on beef; for in truth Parrhasius’s portrait has a certain delicacy and subtlety in its execution, and it does somewhat resemble Theseus; but someone, on seeing Euphranor’s Theseus, exclaimed, not inaptly,
[De glor. Ath. 2d] Race of the great-hearted hero Erechtheus, whom once Athena
Nurtured, the daughter of Zeus.
[De glor. Ath. 2e] Euphranor has painted also, not without some animation, the cavalry battle against Epameinondas at Mantineia. The action came about in this way: Epameinondas the Theban, after the battle of Leuctra, was greatly elated, and conceived the desire to trample upon the prostrate Sparta, and grind her pride and self-esteem into the dust. And first he attacked with an army of seventy thousand, pillaged the Spartans’ territory, and persuaded the Perioeci to revolt from them. Then he challenged to battle the forces that were drawn up in the vicinity of Mantineia; but when they did not wish or even dare to risk an engagement, but continued to await reinforcements from Athens, he broke camp by night and, without being observed by anybody, descended into Lacedaemon and almost succeeded, by a sudden attack, in capturing and occupying the city, which was without defenders. But when the Spartan allies perceived this, and aid for the city quickly arrived, he retired as though he were again about to turn to plundering and devastating the countryside. But when he had thus deceived his enemies and quieted their suspicions, he set forth by night from Laconia and, rapidly traversing the intervening territory, appeared to the Mantineans unexpectedly, while they also were engaged in discussing the right moment for sending aid to Sparta, and ordered the Thebans to arm straightway for the attack. Accordingly the Thebans, who took great pride in their skill at arms, advanced to the attack and encircled the city walls. There was consternation among the Mantineans, and shouting and running hither and thither, since they were unable to repulse this assembled force which was bursting upon them like a torrent, nor did any thought of possible succour occur to their minds. At this crucial and fateful moment the Athenians were descending from the heights to the plain of Mantineia, with no knowledge of this turn of fortune or of the keenness of the struggle, but were proceeding leisurely on their journey. However, when one of the Mantineans ran out with report of the danger, Ealthough the Athenians were few in comparison with the great numbers of their enemy, and although they were weary from their march, and none of their other allies was at hand, nevertheless they straightway took their places in battle-array with almost their whole number, while the cavalry donned their armour and rode ahead of the rest, and under the very gates and the wall of the city engaged in a sharp cavalry encounter; the Athenians prevailed and rescued Mantineia from the clutches of Epameinondas.
[De glor. Ath. 2f] This was the action which Euphranor depicted, and in his portrayal of the battle one may see the clash of conflict and the stout resistance abounding in boldness and courage and spirit. But I do not think you would award judgement to the painter in comparison with the general, nor would you bear with those who prefer the picture to the trophy of victory, or the imitation to the actuality.
[De glor. Ath. 3] 3 1 Simonides, however, calls painting inarticulate poetry and poetry articulate painting: for the actions which painters portray as taking place at the moment literature narrates and records after they have taken place. 347 Even though artists with colour and design, and writers with words and phrases, represent the same subjects, they differ in the material and the manner of their imitation; and yet the underlying end and aim of both is one and the same; the most effective historian is he who, by a vivid representation of emotions and characters, makes his narration like a painting. Assuredly Thucydides is always striving for this vividness in his writing, since it is his desire to make the reader a spectator, as it were, and to produce vividly in the minds of those who peruse his narrative the emotions of amazement and consternation which were experienced by those who beheld them. For he tells how Demosthenes is drawing up the Athenians at the very edge of the breakwater at Pylos, and Brasidas is urging on his pilot to beach the ship, and is hurrying to the landing-plank, and is wounded and falls fainting on the forward-deck; and the Spartans are fighting an infantry engagement from the sea, while the Athenians wage a naval battle from the land. Again, in his account of the Sicilian expedition: “The armies of both sides on the land, as long as the fighting at sea is evenly balanced, are enduring an unceasing struggle and tension of mind” because of their battling forces; and “because of the continued indecisiveness of the struggle they accompany it in an extremity of fear, Cwith their very bodies swaying in sympathy with the opinion of the outcome.” Such a description is characterized by pictorial vividness both in its arrangement and in its power of description; so, if it be unworthy to compare painters with generals, let us not compare historians either.
[De glor. Ath. 3b] Again, the news of the battle of Marathon Thersippus of Eroeadae brought back, as Heracleides Ponticus relates; but most historians declare that it was Eucles who ran in full armour, hot from the battle, and, bursting in at the doors of the first men of the State, could only say, “Hail! we are victorious!” and straightway expired. Yet this man came as a self-sent messenger regarding a battle in which he himself had fought; but suppose that some goatherd or shepherd upon a hill or a height had been a distant spectator of the contest and had looked down upon that great event, too great for any tongue to tell, and had come to the city as a messenger, a man who had not felt a wound nor shed a drop of blood, and yet had insisted that he have such honours as Cynegeirus received, or Callimachus, or Polyzelus, because, forsooth, he had reported their deeds of valour, their wounds and death; would he not have been thought of surpassing impudence? Why, as we are told, the Spartans merely sent meat from the public commons to the man who brought glad tidings of the victory in Mantineia which Thucydides describes! And indeed the compilers of histories are, as it were, reporters of great exploits who are gifted with the faculty of felicitous speech, and achieve success in their writing through the beauty and force of their narration; and to them those who first encountered and recorded the events are indebted for a pleasing retelling of them. We may be sure that such writers are lauded also merely through being remembered and read because of the men who won success; for the words do not create the deeds, but because of the deeds they are also deemed worthy of being read.
[De glor. Ath. 4] 4 1 Poetry also has won favour and esteem because it utters words which match the deeds, as Homer says,
[De glor. Ath. 4b] Many the lies that he spoke, but he made them all to seem truthful.
[De glor. Ath. 4c] The story is also told that one of Menander’s intimate friends said to him, “The Dionysian Festival is almost here, Menander; haven’t you composed your comedy?” Menander answered, “By heaven, I have really composed the comedy: the plot’s all in order. But I still have to fit the lines to it.” For even poets considered the subject matter more necessary and vital than the words.
[De glor. Ath. 4d] When Pindar was still young, and prided himself on his felicitous use of words, Corinna warned him that his writing lacked refinement, since he did not introduce myths, which are the proper business of poetry, but used as a foundation for his work unusual and obsolete words, extensions of meaning, paraphrases, lyrics and rhythms, which are mere embellishments of the subject matter. 348 So Pindar, giving all heed to her words, composed the famous lyric:
[De glor. Ath. 4e] Ismenus, or Melia of the golden distaff,
Or Cadmus, or the holy race of men that were sown,
Or the mighty strength of Heracles,
Or the gladsome worship of Dionysus.
[De glor. Ath. 4f] He showed it to Corinna, but she laughed and said that one should sow with the hand, not with the whole sack. For in truth Pindar had confused and jumbled together a seed-mixture, as it were, of myths, and poured them into his poem. That poetry concerns itself with the composition of mythological matters Plato also has stated. A myth aims at being a false tale, resembling a true one; wherefore it is far removed from actual events,B if a tale is but a picture and an image of actuality, and a myth is but a picture and image of a tale. And thus those who write of imaginative exploits lag as far behind historians as persons who tell of deeds come short of those that do them.
[De glor. Ath. 5] 5 1 Athens, to be sure, possessed no famous writer of either epic or melic poetry; for Cinesias seems to have been an infelicitous dithyrambic poet. He was himself without family or fame but, jeered and mocked by the comic poets, he acquired his share in unfortunate notoriety. And for the dramatic poets, the Athenians considered the writing of comedy so undignified and vulgar a business that there was a law forbidding any member of the Areopagus to write comedies. But tragedy blossomed forth and won great acclaim, becoming a wondrous entertainment for the ears and eyes of the men of that age, and, by the mythological character of its plots, and the vicissitudes which its characters undergo, it effected a deception wherein, as Gorgias records, “he who deceives is more honest than he who does not deceive, and he who is deceived is wiser than he who is not deceived.” For he who deceives is more honest, because he has done what he has promised to do; and he who is deceived is wiser, because the mind which is not insensible to fine perceptions is easily enthralled by the delights of language.
[De glor. Ath. 5b] What profit, then, did these fine tragedies bring to Athens to compare with the shrewdness of Themistocles which provided the city with a wall, with the diligence of Pericles which adorned the Acropolis, Dwith the liberty which Miltiades bestowed, with the supremacy to which Cimon advanced her? If in this manner the wisdom of Euripides, the eloquence of Sophocles, and the poetic magnificence of Aeschylus rid the city of any of its difficulties or gained for her any brilliant success, it is but right to compare their tragedies with trophies of victory, to let the theatre rival the War Office, and to compare the records of dramatic performances with the memorials of valour.
[De glor. Ath. 6] 6 1 Is it, then, your pleasure that we introduce the men themselves bearing the emblems and badges of their achievements, and assign to each their proper entrance? Then from this entrance let the poets approach, speaking and chanting to the accompaniment of flutes and lyres,
[De glor. Ath. 6b] Nor speak not a word of evil sound, and keep clear the way for our chorus,
[De glor. Ath. 6c] Whoever in words like these is unskilled and whose mind is not free from uncleanness,
[De glor. Ath. 6d] Who never has sung and never has danced in the rites of the noble Muses,
[De glor. Ath. 6e] Nor has ever been trained in the Bacchic rites of the tongue of bull-eating Cratinus!
[De glor. Ath. 6f] Let them bring with them their equipment, their masks and altars, their stage machinery, their revolving changes of scene, and the tripods that commemorate their victories. Let their tragic actors accompany them, men like Nicostratus and Callippides, Mynniscus, Theodorus, and Polus, who robe Tragedy and bear her litter, as though she were some woman of wealth; or rather, let them follow on as though they were painters and gilders and dyers of statues. Let there be provided also a bounteous outlay for stage furnishings, supernumeraries, sea-purple robes, stage machinery, as well as dancing-masters and bodyguards, an intractable crowd. It was in reference to all this that a Spartan not ineptly remarked that the Athenians were making a great mistake in wasting their energies on amusements, that is to say, in lavishing on the theatre what would pay for great fleets and would support armies in the field. 349 For, if we reckon up the cost of each tragedy, the Athenian people will be seen to have spent more on productions of Bacchae, Phoenissae, Oedipuses, and Antigones, and the woes of Medea and Electra, than they spent in fighting for their supremacy and for their liberty against the barbarians. For the generals often ordered their men to bring along uncooked rations when they led them forth to battle; and the commanders, I can swear, after providing barley-meal and a relish of onions and cheese for the rowers, would embark them on the triremes. But the men who paid for the choruses gave the choristers eels and tender lettuces, roast-beef and marrow, and pampered them for a long time while they were training their voices and living in luxury. The result for the defeated choregoi was to be held in contumely and ridicule; but to the victors belonged a tripod, which was, as Demetrius says, not a votive offering to commemorate their victory, but a last oblation of their wasted livelihood, an empty memorial of their vanished estates. Such are the returns paid by the poetic art and nothing more splendid ever comes from it.
[De glor. Ath. 7] 7 1 But let us now review the generals in their turn, as they make entrance from the other side; and at their approach those who have had no part in deeds of valour or political life or campaigns must in very truth “speak not a word of evil sound and clear the way,” whoever there be that lacks courage for such deeds as theirs and “whose mind is not free from uncleanness, nor has ever been trained in the Bacchic rites” that are the handiwork of Miltiades, bane of Medes, and Themistocles, slayer of Persians. This is the rebel-rout of the god of war, with battalions on land and squadrons on sea, laden with mingled spoils and trophies:
[De glor. Ath. 7b] Hearken, Alala, daughter of War,
Thou prelude of clashing spears, thou to whom are offered
Heroes in the holy sacrifice of death,
[De glor. Ath. 7c] as Epameinondas the Theban cried, when he and his men were dedicating themselves to the noblest and most resplendent of struggles for their native land, the graves of their fathers, and their holy shrines. I seem to see their victories advancing, not dragging along a bull or a goat as their prize, nor garlanded with ivy and redolent of the lees of Dionysus; but whole cities are theirs, and islands, and even continents, temples costing a thousand talents, and colonies of vast population; and they are garlanded with all manner of trophies and spoils. Their ornaments and emblems are buildings like the Parthenon one hundred feet in length, southern Long Walls, dockyards, Propylaea, Chersonese, and Amphipolis. Marathon leads forward the Victory of Miltiades, and Salamis does the same for Themistocles’ Victory, poised upon the wreckage of a thousand ships. Cimon’s Victory brings an hundred Phoenician ships from the Eurymedon, and the Victory of Demosthenes and Cleon brings from Sphacteria the captive shield of Brasidas and his soldiers in chains. Conon’s Victory fortifies the city with new walls, while that of Thrasybulus leads back from Phylê the people restored to freedom. Alcibiades’ Victories revive the city laid prostrate by her failure in Sicily. From the struggles of Neileus and Androclus about Lydia and Caria Greece came to see that Ionia was rising. If you inquire of the other Victories in turn what good came to the State from each, one will reply Lesbos, another Samos, another Cyprus, another the Euxine, another five hundred triremes, another ten thousand talents, to say nothing of the glory and the trophies which they won. These are the things which the city celebrates in her festivals, for these she sacrifices to the gods, not for the dramatic victories of Aeschylus and Sophocles. Nor is the day celebrated when Carcinus was successful with his Aëropê, or Astydamas with his Hector, but even yet the State celebrates the victory at Marathon on the sixth of Boëdromion. On the sixteenth of this month they pour a libation of wine in memory of Chabrias’s victory at Naxos. On the twelfth they used to sacrifice thank-offerings for the recovery of their liberty, for on that day the exiles returned from Phylê. On the third they won the battle of Plataeae. The sixteenth of Munichion they dedicated to Artemis, for on that day the goddess shone with full moon upon the Greeks as they were conquering at Salamis. 350 The conflict at Mantineia has made the twelfth of Scirophorion more sacred; for in this battle, when the other allies were overpowered and routed, it was that Athenians alone who defeated the force opposed to them and erected a trophy taken from the victorious enemy. These are the things which have uplifted Athens to heights of glory and greatness; it was for these that Pindar addressed Athens as
[De glor. Ath. 7d] The mainstay of Greece,
not because she had guided the Greeks aright with the tragedies of Phrynichus and Thespis, but because, as he himself says, first at Artemisium
[De glor. Ath. 7e] Sons of the Athenians laid the far-shining foundation of freedom.
And when at Salamis and Mycalê and Plataeae they had firmly established, as in adamant, the liberty of Greece, they handed it down to all mankind.
[De glor. Ath. 8] 8 1 But the compositions of the poets we may affirm to be but a childish pastime; orators, however, have some claim when compared with generals; wherefore with good reason Aeschines asserts derisively that Demosthenes declares that he will enter a suit for possession on behalf of the Speakers’ Platform against the War Office. Is it, then, right to prefer Hypereides’ Plataean oration to Aristeides’ victory at Plataea? Or Lysias’s speech against the Thirty to Thrasybulus’s and Archinus’s slaughter of those tyrants? Or Aeschines’ oration against Timarchus’s wanton ways to Phocion’s expedition to Byzantium, by which he prevented the sons of Athenian allies from becoming victims of the wantonness and drunken lust of Macedonians? Or with the crowns which the Athenian people in common received when they had given freedom to Greece shall we compare Demosthenes’ oration On the Crown? For in this speech the orator has made this matter exceedingly perspicuous and intelligible in taking his oath “by the memory of those of our ancestors who risked their lives for us at Marathon,” not by the teachers who in the schools gave them as youths their early training.
[De glor. Ath. 8b] Wherefore the State has given public burial not to men like Isocrates, Antiphon, and Isaeus, but to these men, whose remains she has taken in her embrace; and these men it was that the orator deified in his oath when he swore by men whose example he was not following. But Isocrates, although he had declared that those who had risked their lives at Marathon and fought as though their souls were not their own, and although he had hymned their daring and their contempt of life, himself (so they say), when he was already an old man, replied to someone who asked him how he was getting on, “Even as does a man over ninety years of age who considers death the greatest of evils.” For he had not grown old sharpening his sword nor whetting his spear-point nor polishing his helmet nor campaigning nor pulling at the oar, but in glueing together and arranging antitheses, balanced clauses, and inflexional similarities, Eall but smoothing off and proportioning his periods with chisel and file. How could this person do other than fear the clash of arms and the impact of phalanxes, he who feared to let vowel collide with vowel, or to utter a phrase whose balance was upset by the lack of a single syllable? For Miltiades set forth for Marathon, joined battle the next day, and returned victorious with his army to the city; and Pericles, when he had subdued the Samians in nine months, was prouder of his achievement than was Agamemnon, who captured Troy in the tenth year. But Isocrates consumed almost twelve years in writing his Panegyric; and during this period he took part in no campaigns, nor served on any embassy, nor founded any city, nor was dispatched as commander of a fleet, although this era brought forth countless wars. But while Timotheus was freeing Euboea, and Chabrias with his fleet was fighting at Naxos, and Iphicrates near Lechaeum was cutting to pieces the Spartan division, and the Athenian people, having liberated every city, 351 bestowed upon Greece equal suffrage with themselves, Isocrates sat at home remodelling a book with mere words, as long a time as sufficed for Pericles to erect the Propylaea and his temples a hundred feet long. Yet Cratinus pokes fun even at Pericles for his slowness in accomplishing his undertakings, and remarks somewhat as follows about his Middle Wall:
[De glor. Ath. 8c] Pericles in his talk makes the wall to advance,
By his acts he does nothing to budge it.
[De glor. Ath. 8d] But consider the petty spirit of this sophist, which caused the ninth part of his life to be spent on the composition of one speech. Is it, then, greatly worth our while to compare the speeches of the orator Demosthenes with the deeds of Demosthenes the general? To compare the speech Against Conon for assault and battery with Demosthenes’ trophies won at Pylos? To compare the speech directed at Arethusius on the slaves with Demosthenes’ reduction of the Spartans to slavery? The orator’s age when he wrote his speeches against his guardians was the same as that of Alcibiades when he united the Mantineans and Eleans against Sparta. And indeed Demosthenes’ public orations have this wonderful characteristic: in the Philippics he spurs his countrymen on to action and he praises the action of Leptines.

## Isis and Osiris

[De Is. et Os. 1] 351 1 All good things, my dear Clea, sensible men must ask from the gods; and especially do we pray that from those mighty gods we may, in our quest, gain a knowledge of themselves, so far as such a thing is attainable by men. For we believe that there is nothing more important for man to receive, or more ennobling for God of His grace to grant, than the truth. God gives to men the other things for which they express a desire, but of sense and intelligence He grants them only a share, inasmuch as these are His especial possessions and His sphere of activity. For the Deity is not blessed by reason of his possession of gold and silver, nor strong because of thunder and lightning, but through knowledge and intelligence. Of all the things that Homer said about the gods, he has expressed most beautifully this thought:
[De Is. et Os. 1b] Both, indeed, were in lineage one, and of the same country,
Yet was Zeus the earlier born and his knowledge was greater.
[De Is. et Os. 1c] Thereby the poet plainly declares that the primacy of Zeus is nobler since it is elder in knowledge and in wisdom. I think also that a source of happiness in the eternal life, which is the lot of God, is that events which come to pass do not escape His prescience. But if His knowledge and meditation on the nature of Existence should be taken away, then, to my mind, His immortality is not living, but a mere lapse of time.
[De Is. et Os. 2] 2 1 Therefore the effort to arrive at the Truth, and especially the truth about the gods, is a longing for the divine. For the search for truth requires for its study and investigation the consideration of sacred subjects, and it is a work more hallowed than any form of holy living or temple service; and, not least of all, it is well-pleasing to that goddess whom you worship, a goddess exceptionally wise and a lover of wisdom, to whom, as her name at least seems to indicate, knowledge and understanding are in the highest degree appropriate. For Isis is a Greek word, and so also is Typhon, her enemy, who is conceited, as his name implies, because of his ignorance and self-deception. He tears to pieces and scatters to the winds the sacred writings, which the goddess collects and puts together and gives into the keeping of those that are initiated into the holy rites, since this consecration, by a strict regimen and by abstinence from many kinds of food and from the lusts of the flesh, 352 curtails licentiousness and the love of pleasure, and induces a habit of patient submission to the stern and rigorous services in shrines, the end and aim of which is the knowledge of Him who is the First, the Lord of All, the Ideal One. Him does the god urge us to seek, since He is near her and with her and in close communion. The name of her shrine also clearly promises knowledge and comprehension of reality; for it is named Iseion, to indicate that we shall comprehend reality if in a reasonable and devout frame of mind we pass within the portals of her shrines.
[De Is. et Os. 3] 3 1 Moreover, many writers have held her to be the daughter of Hermes, and many others the daughter of Prometheus, because of the belief that Prometheus is the discoverer of wisdom and forethought, and Hermes the inventor of grammar and music. For this reason they call the first of the Muses at Hermopolis Isis as well as Justice: for she is wise, as I have said, and discloses the divine mysteries to those who truly and justly have the name of “bearers of the sacred vessels” and “wearers of the sacred robes.” These are they who within their own soul, as though within a casket, bear the sacred writings about the gods clear of all superstition and pedantry; and they cloak them with secrecy, thus giving intimation, some dark and shadowy, some clear and bright, of their concepts about the gods, intimations of the same sort as are clearly evidenced in the wearing of the sacred garb. For this reason, too, the fact that the deceased votaries of Isis are decked with these garments is a sign that these sacred writings accompany them, and that they pass to the other world possessed of these and of naught else. It is a fact, Clea, that having a beard and wearing a coarse cloak does not make philosophers, nor does dressing in linen and shaving the hair make votaries of Isis; but the true votary of Isis is he who, when he has legitimately received what is set forth in the ceremonies connected with these gods, uses reason in investigating and in studying the truth contained therein.
[De Is. et Os. 4] 4 1 It is true that most people are unaware of this very ordinary and minor matter: the reason why the priests remove their hair and wear linen garments. Some persons do not care at all to have any knowledge about such things, while others say that the priests, because they revere the sheep, abstain from using its wool, as well as its flesh; and that they shave their heads as a sign of mourning, and that they wear their linen garments because of the colour which the flax displays when in bloom, and which is like to the heavenly azure which enfolds the universe. But for all this there is only one true reason, which is to be found in the words of Plato: “for the Impure to touch the Pure is contrary to divine ordinance.” No surplus left over from food and no excrementitious matter is pure and clean; and it is from forms of surplus that wool, fur, hair, and nails originate and grow. So it would be ridiculous that these persons in their holy living should remove their own hair by shaving and making their bodies smooth all over, and then should put on and wear the hair of domestic animals. We should believe that when Hesiod said,
[De Is. et Os. 4b] Cut not the sere from the green when you honour the gods with full feasting,
Paring with glittering steel the member that hath the five branches,
[De Is. et Os. 4c] he was teaching that men should be clean of such things when they keep high festival, and they should not amid the actual ceremonies engage in clearing away and removing any sort of surplus matter. But the flax springs from the earth which is immortal; fit yields edible seeds, and supplies a plain and cleanly clothing, which does not oppress by the weight required for warmth. It is suitable for every season and, as they say, is least apt to breed lice; but this topic is treated elsewhere.
[De Is. et Os. 5] 5 1 The priests feel such repugnance for things that are of a superfluous nature that they not only eschew most legumes, as well as mutton and pork, which leave a large residuum, but they also use no salt with their food during their periods of holy living. For this they have various other reasons, but in particular the fact that salt, by sharpening the appetite, makes them more inclined to drinking and eating. To consider salt impure, because, as Aristagoras has said, when it is crystallizing many minute creatures are caught in it and die, is certainly silly.
[De Is. et Os. 5b] 353 It is said also that they water the Apis from a well of his own, and keep him away from the Nile altogether, not that they think the water unclean because of the crocodile, as some believe; for there is nothing which the Egyptians hold in such honour as the Nile. But the drinking of the Nile water is reputed to be fattening and to cause obesity. They do not want Apis to be in this condition, nor themselves either; but rather they desire that their bodies, the encasement of their souls, shall be well adjusted and light, and shall not oppress and straiten the divine element by the predominance and preponderance of the mortal.
[De Is. et Os. 6] 6 1 As for wine, those who serve the god in Heliopolis bring none at all into the shrine, bsince they feel that it is not seemly to drink in the day-time while their Lord and King is looking upon them. The others use wine, but in great moderation. They have many periods of holy living when wine is prohibited, and in these they spend their time exclusively in studying, learning, and teaching religious matters. Their kings also were wont to drink a limited quantity prescribed by the sacred writings, as Hecataeus has recorded; and the kings are priests. The beginning of their drinking dates from the reign of Psammetichus; before that they did not drink wine nor use it in libation as something dear to the gods, thinking it to be the blood of those who had once battled against the gods, and from whom, when they had fallen and had become commingled with the earth, they believed vines to have sprung. This is the reason why drunkenness drives men out of their senses and crazes them, inasmuch as they are then filled with the blood of their forbears. These tales Eudoxus says in the second book of his World Travels are thus related by the priests.
[De Is. et Os. 7] 7 1 As for sea-fish, all Egyptians do not abstain from all of them, but from some kinds only; as, for example, the inhabitants of Oxyrhynchus abstain from those that are caught with a hook; for, inasmuch as they revere the fish called oxyrhynchus (the pike), they are afraid that the hook may be unclean, since an oxyrhynchus may have been caught with it. The people of Syenê abstain from the phagrus (the sea-bream); for this fish is reputed to appear with the oncoming of the Nile, and to be a self-sent messenger, dwhich, when it is seen, declares to a glad people the rise of the river. The priests, however, abstain from all fish; and on the ninth day of the first month, when every one of the other Egyptians eats a broiled fish in front of the outer door of his house, the priests do not even taste the fish, but burn them up in front of their doors. For this practice they have two reasons, one of which is religious and curious, and I shall discuss it at another time, since it harmonizes with the sacred studies touching Osiris and Typhon; the other is obvious and commonplace, in that it declares that fish is an unnecessary and superfluous food, and confirms the words of Homer, who, in his poetry, represents neither the Phaeacians, who lived amid a refined luxury, nor the Ithacans, who dwelt on an island, as making any use of fish, nor did even the companions of Odysseus, while on such a long voyage and in the midst of the sea, until they had come to the extremity of want. In fine, these people hold the sea to be derived from purulent matter, and to lie outside the confines of the world and not to be a part of it or an element, but a corrupt and pestilential residuum of a foreign nature.
[De Is. et Os. 8] 8 1 Nothing that is irrational or fabulous or prompted by superstition, as some believe, has ever been given a place in their rites, but in them are some things that have moral and practical values, and others that are not without their share in the refinements of history or natural science, as, for example, that which has to do with the onion. For the tale that Dictys, the nurseling of Isis, in reaching for a clump of onions, fell into the river and was drowned is extremely incredible. But the priests keep themselves clear of the onion and detest it and are careful to avoid it, because it is the only plant that naturally thrives and flourishes in the waning of the moon. It is suitable for neither fasting nor festival, because in the one case it causes thirst and in the other tears for those who partake of it.
[De Is. et Os. 8b] In like manner they hold the pig to be an unclean animal, because it is reputed to be most inclined to mate in the waning of the moon, and because the bodies of those who drink its milk break out with leprosy and scabrous itching. 354 The story which they relate at their only sacrifice and eating of a pig at the time of the full moon, how Typhon, while he was pursuing a boar by the light of the full moon, found the wooden coffin in which lay the body of Osiris, which he rent to pieces and scattered, they do not all accept, believing it to be a misrepresentation, even as many other things are.
[De Is. et Os. 8c] Moreover, they relate that the ancient Egyptians put from them luxury, and self-indulgence, to such a degree that they used to say that there was a pillar standing in the temple at Thebes which had inscribed upon it curses against Meinis, their king, who was the first to lead the Egyptians to quit their frugal, thrifty, and simple manner of living. It is said also that Technactis, the father of Bocchoris, when he was leading his army against the Arabians, because his baggage was slow in arriving, found pleasure in eating such common food as was available, and afterwards slept soundly on a bedding of straw, and thus became fond of frugal living; as the result, he invoked a curse on Meinis, and, with the approval of the priests, had a pillar set up with the curse inscribed upon it.
[De Is. et Os. 9] 9 1 The kings were appointed from the priests or from the military class, since the military class had eminence and honour because of valour, and the priests because of wisdom. But he who was appointed from the military class was at once made one of the priests and a participant in their philosophy, cwhich, for the most part, is veiled in myths and in words containing dim reflexions and adumbrations of the truth, as they themselves intimate beyond question by appropriately placing sphinxes before their shrines to indicate that their religious teaching has in it an enigmatical sort of wisdom. In Saïs the statue of Athena, whom they believe to be Isis, bore the inscription: “I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered.”
[De Is. et Os. 9b] Moreover, most people believe that Amoun is the name given to Zeus in the land of the Egyptians, a name which we, with a slight alteration, pronounce Ammon. But Manetho of Sebennytus dthinks that the meaning “concealed” or “concealment” lies in this word. Hecataeus of Abdera, however, says that the Egyptians use this expression one to another whenever they call to anyone, for the word is a form of address. When they, therefore, address the supreme god, whom they believe to be the same as the Universe, as if he were invisible and concealed, and implore him to make himself visible and manifest to them, they use the word “Amoun”; so great, then, was the circumspection of the Egyptians in their wisdom touching all that had to do with the gods.
[De Is. et Os. 10] 10 1 Witness to this also are the wisest of the Greeks: Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, who came to Egypt and consorted with the priests; and in this number some would include Lycurgus also. Eudoxus, they say, received instruction from Chonuphis of Memphis, Solon from Sonchis of Saïs, and Pythagoras from Oenuphis of Heliopolis. Pythagoras, it seems, was greatly admired, and he also greatly admired the Egyptian priests, and, copying their symbolism and occult teachings, incorporated his doctrines in enigmas. As a matter of fact most of the Pythagorean precepts do not at all fall short of the writings that are called hieroglyphs; such, for example, as these: “Do not eat upon a stool”; “Do not sit upon a peck measure”; “Do not lop off the shoots of a palm-tree”; “Do not poke a fire with a sword within the house.”
[De Is. et Os. 10b] For my part, I think also that their naming unity Apollo, duality Artemis, the hebdomad Athena, and the first cube Poseidon, bears a resemblance to the statues and even to the sculptures and paintings with which their shrines are embellished. For their King and Lord Osiris they portray by means of an eye and a sceptre; 355 there are even some who explain the meaning of the name as “many-eyed” on the theory that os in the Egyptian language means “many” and iri “eye”; and the heavens, since they are ageless because of their eternity, they portray by a heart with a censer beneath. In Thebes there were set up statues of judges without hands, and the statue of the chief justice had its eyes closed, to indicate that justice is not influenced by gifts or by intercession.
[De Is. et Os. 10c] The military class had their seals engraved with the form of a beetle; for there is no such thing as a female beetle, but all beetles are male. They eject their sperm into a round mass which they construct, since they are no less occupied in arranging for a supply of food than in preparing a place to rear their young.
[De Is. et Os. 11] 11 Therefore, Clea, whenever you hear the traditional tales which the Egyptians tell about the gods, their wanderings, dismemberments, and many experiences of this sort, you must remember what has been already said, and you must not think that any of these tales actually happened in the manner in which they are related. The facts are that they do not call the dog by the name Hermes as his proper name, but they bring into association with the most astute of their gods that animal’s watchfulness and wakefulness and wisdom, since he distinguishes between what is friendly and what is hostile by his knowledge of the one and his ignorance of the other, as Plato remarks. Nor, again, do they believe that the sun rises as a new-born babe from the lotus, but they portray the rising of the sun in this manner to indicate allegorically the enkindling of the sun from the waters. So also Ochus, the most cruel and terrible of the Persian kings, who put many to death and finally slaughtered the Apis and ate him for dinner in the company of his friends, the Egyptians called the “Sword”; and they call him by that name even to this day in their list of kings. But manifestly they do not mean to apply this name to his actual being; they but liken the stubbornness and wickedness in his character to an instrument of murder. If, then, you listen to the stories about the gods in this way, accepting them from those who interpret the story reverently and philosophically, and if you always perform and observe the established rites of worship, and believe that no sacrifice that you can offer, no deed that you may do will be more likely to find favour with the gods than your belief in their true nature, you may avoid superstition which is no less an evil than atheism.
[De Is. et Os. 12] 12 1 Here follows the story related in the briefest possible words with the omission of everything that is merely unprofitable or superfluous:
[De Is. et Os. 12b] They say that the Sun, when he became aware of Rhea’s intercourse with Cronus, invoked a curse upon her that she should not give birth to a child in any month or year; but Hermes, being enamoured of the goddess, consorted with her. Later, playing at draughts with the moon, he won from her the seventieth part of each of her periods of illumination, and from all the winnings he composed five days, and intercalated them as an addition to the three hundred and sixty days. The Egyptians even now call these five days intercalated and celebrate them as the birthdays of the gods. They relate that on the first of these days Osiris was born, and at the hour of his birth a voice issued forth saying, “The Lord of All advances to the light.” But some relate that a certain Pamyles, while he was drawing water in Thebes, heard a voice issuing from the shrine of Zeus, which bade him proclaim with a loud voice that a mighty and beneficent king, Osiris, had been born; and for this Cronus entrusted to him the child Osiris, which he brought up. It is in his honour that the festival of Pamylia is celebrated, a festival which resembles the phallic processions. On the second of these days Arueris was born whom they call Apollo, and some call him also the elder Horus. On the third day Typhon was born, but not in due season or manner, but with a blow he broke through his mother’s side and leapt forth. On the fourth day Isis was born in the regions that are ever moist; and on the fifth Nephthys, to whom they give the name of Finality and the name of Aphroditê, and some also the name of Victory. There is also a tradition that Osiris and Arueris were sprung from the Sun, Isis from Hermes, 356 and Typhon and Nephthys from Cronus. For this reason the kings considered the third of the intercalated days as inauspicious, and transacted no business on that day, nor did they give any attention to their bodies until nightfall. They relate, moreover, that Nephthys became the wife of Typhon; but Isis and Osiris were enamoured of each other and consorted together in the darkness of the womb before their birth. Some say that Arueris came from this union and was called the elder Horus by the Egyptians, but Apollo by the Greeks.
[De Is. et Os. 13] 13 1 One of the first acts related of Osiris in his reign was to deliver the Egyptians from their destitute and brutish manner of living. This he did by showing them the fruits of cultivation, by giving them laws, and by teaching them to honour the gods. Later he travelled over the whole earth civilizing it without the slightest need of arms, but most of the peoples he won over to his way by the charm of his persuasive discourse combined with song and all manner of music. Hence the Greeks came to identify him with Dionysus.
[De Is. et Os. 13b] During his absence the tradition is that Typhon attempted nothing revolutionary because Isis, who was in control, was vigilant and alert; but when he returned home Typhon contrived a treacherous plot against him and formed a group of conspirators seventy-two in number. He had also the co-operation of a queen from Ethiopia who was there at the time and whose name they report as Aso. Typhon, having secretly measured Osiris’s body and having made ready a beautiful chest of corresponding size artistically ornamented, caused it to be brought into the room where the festivity was in progress. The company was much pleased at the sight of it and admired it greatly, whereupon Typhon jestingly promised to present it to the man who should find the chest to be exactly his length when he lay down in it. They all tried it in turn, but no one fitted it; then Osiris got into it and lay down, and those who were in the plot ran to it and slammed down the lid, which they fastened by nails from the outside and also by using molten lead. Then they carried the chest to the river and sent it on its way to the sea through the Tanitic Mouth. Wherefore the Egyptians even to this day name this mouth the hateful and execrable. Such is the tradition. They say also that the date on which this deed was done was the seventeenth day of Athyr, when the sun passes through Scorpion, and in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Osiris; but some say that these are the years of his life and not of his reign.
[De Is. et Os. 14] 14 1 The first to learn of the deed and to bring to men’s knowledge an account of what had been done were the Pans and Satyrs who lived in the region around Chemmis, and so, even to this day, the sudden confusion and consternation of a crowd is called a panic. Isis, when the tidings reached her, at once cut off one of her tresses and put on a garment of mourning in a place where the city still bears the name of Kopto. Others think that the name means deprivation, for they also express “deprive” by means of “koptein.” But Isis wandered everywhere at her wits’ end; no one whom she approached did she fail to address, and even when she met some little children she asked them about the chest. As it happened, they had seen it, and they told her the mouth of the river through which the friends of Typhon had launched the coffin into the sea. Wherefore the Egyptians think that little children possess the power of prophecy, and they try to divine the future from the portents which they find in children’s words, especially when children are playing about in holy places and crying out whatever chances to come into their minds.
[De Is. et Os. 14b] They relate also that Isis, learning that Osiris in his love had consorted with her sister through ignorance, in the belief that she was Isis, and seeing the proof of this in the garland of melilote which he had left with Nephthys, sought to find the child; for the mother, immediately after its birth, had exposed it because of her fear of Typhon. And when the child had been found, after great toil and trouble, with the help of dogs which led Isis to it, it was brought up and became her guardian and attendant, receiving the name of Anubis, and it is said to protect the gods just as dogs protect men.
[De Is. et Os. 15] 15 1 Thereafter Isis, as they relate, learned 357 that the chest had been cast up by the sea near the land of Byblus and that the waves had gently set it down in the midst of a clump of heather. The heather in a short time ran up into a very beautiful and massive stock, and enfolded and embraced the chest with its growth and concealed it within its trunk. The king of the country admired the great size of the plant, and cut off the portion that enfolded the chest (which was now hidden from sight), and used it as a pillar to support the roof of his house. These facts, they say, Isis ascertained by the divine inspiration of Rumour, and came to Byblus and sat down by a spring, all dejection and tears; she exchanged no word with anybody, save only that she welcomed the queen’s maidservants and treated them with great amiability, plaiting their hair for them band imparting to their persons a wondrous fragrance from her own body. But when the queen observed her maidservants, a longing came upon her for the unknown woman and for such hairdressing and for a body fragrant with ambrosia. Thus it happened that Isis was sent for and became so intimate with the queen that the queen made her the nurse of her baby. They say that the king’s name was Malcander; the queen’s name some say was Astartê, others Saosis, and still others Nemanûs, which the Greeks would call Athenaïs.
[De Is. et Os. 16] 16 1 They relate that Isis nursed the child by giving it her finger to suck instead of her breast, and in the night she would burn away the mortal portions of its body. She herself would turn into a swallow and flit about the pillar with a wailing lament, until the queen who had been watching, when she saw her babe on fire, gave forth a loud cry and thus deprived it of immortality. Then the goddess disclosed herself and asked for the pillar which served to support the roof. She removed it with the greatest ease and cut away the wood of the heather which surrounded the chest; then, when she had wrapped up the wood in a linen cloth and had poured perfume upon it, she entrusted it to the care of the kings; and even to this day the people of Byblus venerate this wood which is preserved in the shrine of Isis. Then the goddess threw herself down upon the coffin with such a dreadful wailing that the younger of the king’s sons expired on the spot. The elder son she kept with her, and, having placed the coffin on board a boat, she put out from land. Since the Phaedrus river toward the early morning fostered a rather boisterous wind, the goddess grew angry and dried up its stream.
[De Is. et Os. 17] 17 1 In the first place where she found seclusion, when she was quite by herself, they relate that she opened the chest and laid her face upon the face within and caressed it and wept. The child came quietly up behind her and saw what was there, and when the goddess became aware of his presence, she turned about and gave him one awful look of anger. The child could not endure the fright, and died. Others will not have it so, but assert that he fell overboard into the sea from the boat that was mentioned above. He also is the recipient of honours because of the goddess; for they say that the Maneros of whom the Egyptians sing at their convivial gatherings is this very child. Some say, however, that his name was Palaestinus or Pelusius, and that the city founded by the goddess was named in his honour. They also recount that this Maneros who is the theme of their songs was the first to invent music. But some say that the word is not the name of any person, but an expression belonging to the vocabulary of drinking and feasting: “Good luck be ours in things like this!”, and that this is really the idea expressed by the exclamation “maneros” whenever the Egyptians use it. In the same way we may be sure that the likeness of a corpse which, as it is exhibited to them, is carried around in a chest, is not a reminder of what happened to Osiris, as some assume; but it is to urge them, as they contemplate it, to use and to enjoy the present, since all very soon must be what it is now and this is their purpose in introducing it into the midst of merry-making.
[De Is. et Os. 18] 18 1 As they relate, Isis proceeded to her son Horus, who was being reared in Buto, and bestowed the chest in a place well out of the way; but Typhon, who was hunting by night in the light of the moon, happened upon it. 358 Recognizing the body he divided it into fourteen parts and scattered them, each in a different place. Isis learned of this and sought for them again, sailing through the swamps in a boat of papyrus. This is the reason why people sailing in such boats are not harmed by the crocodiles, since these creatures in their own way show either their fear or their reverence for the goddess.
[De Is. et Os. 18b] The traditional result of Osiris’s dismemberment is that there are many so called tombs of Osiris in Egypt; for Isis held a funeral for each part when she had found it. Others deny this and assert that she caused effigies of him to be made and these she distributed among the several cities, pretending that she was giving them his body, in order that he might receive divine honours in a greater number of cities, band also that, if Typhon should succeed in overpowering Horus, he might despair of ever finding the true tomb when so many were pointed out to him, all of them called the tomb of Osiris.
[De Is. et Os. 18c] Of the parts of Osiris’s body the only one which Isis did not find was the male member, for the reason that this had been at once tossed into the river, and the lepidotus, the sea-bream, and the pike had fed upon it; and it is from these very fishes the Egyptians are most scrupulous in abstaining. But Isis made a replica of the member to take its place, and consecrated the phallus, in honour of which the Egyptians even at the present day celebrate a festival.
[De Is. et Os. 19] 19 1 Later, as they relate, Osiris came to Horus from the other world and exercised and trained him for the battle. After a time Osiris asked Horus what he held to be the most noble of all things. When Horus replied, “To avenge one’s father and mother for evil done to them,” Osiris then asked him what animal he considered the most useful for them who go forth to battle; and when Horus said, “A horse,” Osiris was surprised and raised the question why it was that he had not rather said a lion than a horse. Horus answered that a lion was a useful thing for a man in need of assistance, but that a horse served best for cutting off the flight of an enemy and annihilating him. When Osiris heard this he was much pleased, since he felt that Horus had now an adequate preparation. It is said that, as many were continually transferring their allegiance to Horus, Typhon’s concubine, Thueris, also came over to him; and a serpent which pursued her was cut to pieces by Horus’s men, and now, in memory of this, the people throw down a rope in their midst and chop it up.
[De Is. et Os. 19b] Now the battle, as they relate, lasted many days and Horus prevailed. Isis, however, to whom Typhon was delivered in chains, did not cause him to be put to death, but released him and let him go. Horus could not endure this with equanimity, be laid hands upon his mother and wrested the royal diadem from her head; but Hermes put upon her a helmet like unto the head of a cow.
[De Is. et Os. 19c] Typhon formally accused Horus of being an illegitimate child, but with the help of Hermes to plead his cause it was decided by the gods that he also was legitimate. Typhon was then overcome in two other battles. Osiris consorted with Isis after his death, and she became the mother of Harpocrates, untimely born and weak in his lower limbs.
[De Is. et Os. 20] 358 20 These are nearly all the important points of the legend, with the omission of the most infamous of the tales, such as that about the dismemberment of Horus and the decapitation of Isis. There is one thing that I have no need to mention to you: if they hold such opinions and relate such tales about the nature of the blessed and imperishable (in accordance with which our concept of the divine must be framed) and if such deeds and occurrences actually took place, then
[De Is. et Os. 20b] Much there is to spit and cleanse the mouth,
[De Is. et Os. 20c] as Aeschylus has it. But the fact is that you yourself detest those persons who hold such abnormal and outlandish opinions about the gods. That these accounts do not, in least, resemble the sort of loose fictions and frivolous fabrications which poets and writers of prose evolve from themselves, after the manner of spiders, interweaving and extending their unestablished first thoughts, but that these contain narrations of certain puzzling events and experiences, you will of yourself understand. Just as the rainbow, according to the account of the mathematicians, is a reflection of the sun, and owes its many hues to the withdrawal of our gaze from the sun and our fixing it on the cloud, 359 so the somewhat fanciful accounts here set down are but reflections of some true tale which turns back our thoughts to other matters; their sacrifices plainly suggest this, in that they have mourning and melancholy reflected in them; and so also does the structure of their temples, which in one portion are expanded into wings and into uncovered and unobstructed corridors, and in another portion have secret vesting-rooms in the darkness under ground, like cells or chapels; and not the least important suggestion is the opinion held regarding the shrines of Osiris, whose body is said to have been laid in many different places. For they say that Diochites is the name given to a small town, on the ground that it alone contains the true tomb; and that the prosperous and influential men among the Egyptians are mostly buried in Abydos, since it is the object of their ambition to be buried in the same ground with the body of Osiris. In Memphis, however, they say, the Apis is kept, being the image of the soul of Osiris, whose body also lies there. The name of this city some interpret as “the haven of the good” and others as meaning properly the “tomb of Osiris.” They also say that the sacred island by Philae at all other times is untrodden by man and quite unapproachable, and even birds do not alight on it nor fishes approach it; yet, at one special time, the priests cross over to it, and perform the sacrificial rites for the dead, and lay wreaths upon the tomb, which lies in the encompassing shade of a persea-tree, which surpasses in height any olive.
[De Is. et Os. 21] 21 1 Eudoxus says that, while many tombs of Osiris are spoken of in Egypt, his body lies in Busiris; for this was the place of his birth; moreover, Taphosiris requires no comment, for the name itself means “the tomb of Osiris.” I pass over the cutting of wood, the rending of linen, and the libations that are offered, for the reason that many of their secret rites are involved therein. In regard not only to these gods, but in regard to the other gods, save only those whose existence had no beginning and shall have no end, the priests say that their bodies, after they have done with their labours, have been placed in the keeping of the priests and are cherished there, but that their souls shine as the stars in the firmament, and the soul of Isis is called by the Greeks the Dog-star, but by the Egyptians Sothis, and the soul of Horus is called Orion, and the soul of Typhon the Bear. Also they say that all the other Egyptians pay the agreed assessment for the entombment of the animals held in honour, but that the inhabitants of the Theban territory only do not contribute because they believe in no mortal god, but only in the god whom they call Kneph, whose existence had no beginning and shall have no end.
[De Is. et Os. 22] 22 1 Many things like these are narrated and pointed out, and if there be some who think that in these are commemorated the dire and momentous acts and experiences of kings and despots who, by reason of their pre-eminent virtue or might, laid claim to the glory of being styled gods, and later had to submit to the vagaries of fortune, then these persons employ the easiest means of escape from the narrative, and not ineptly do they transfer the disrepute from the gods to men; and in this they have the support of the common traditions. The Egyptians, in fact, have a tradition that Hermes had thin arms and big elbows, that Typhon was red in complexion, Horus white, and Osiris dark, as if they had been in their nature but mortal men. Moreover, they give to Osiris the title of general, and the title of pilot to Canopus, from whom they say that the star derives its name; falso that the vessel which the Greeks call Argo, in form like the ship of Osiris, has been set among the constellations in his honour, and its course lies not far from that of Orion and the Dog-star; of these the Egyptians believe that one is sacred to Horus and the other to Isis.
[De Is. et Os. 23] 23 1 I hesitate, lest this be the moving of things immovable and not only “warring against the long years of time,” as Simonides has it, but warring, too, against “many a nation and race of men” who are possessed by a feeling of piety towards these gods, and thus we should not stop short of transplanting such names from the heavens to the earth, 360 and eliminating and dissipating the reverence and faith implanted in nearly all mankind at birth, opening wide the great doors to the godless throng, degrading things divine to the human level, and giving a splendid licence to the deceitful utterances of Euhemerus of Messenê, who of himself drew up copies of an incredible and non-existent mythology, and spread atheism over the whole inhabited earth by obliterating the gods of our belief and converting them all alike into names of generals, admirals, and kings, who, forsooth, lived in very ancient times and are recorded bin inscriptions written in golden letters at Panchon, which no foreigner and no Greek had ever happened to meet with, save only Euhemerus. He, it seems, made a voyage to the Panchoans and Triphyllians, who never existed anywhere on earth and do not exist!
[De Is. et Os. 24] 24 1 However, mighty deeds of Semiramis are celebrated among the Assyrians, and mighty deeds of Sesostris in Egypt, and the Phrygians, even to this day, call brilliant and marvellous exploits “manic” because Manes, one of their very early kings, proved himself a good man and exercised a vast influence among them. Some give his name as Masdes. Cyrus led the Persians, and Alexander the Macedonians, in victory after victory, almost to the ends of the earth; yet these have only the name and fame of noble kings. “But if some, elated by a great self-conceit,” as Plato says, “with souls enkindled with the fire of youth and folly accompanied by arrogance,” have assumed to be called gods and to have temples dedicated in their honour, yet has their repute flourished by a brief time, and then, convicted of vain-glory and imposture,
[De Is. et Os. 24b] Swift in their fate, like to smoke in the air, rising upward they flitted,
[De Is. et Os. 24c] and now, like fugitive slaves without claim to protection, they have been dragged from their shrines and altars, and have nothing left to them save only their monuments and their tombs. Hence the elder Antigonus, when a certain Hermodotus in a poem proclaimed him to be “the Offspring of the Sun and a god,” said, “the slave who attends to my chamber-pot is not conscious of any such thing!” Moreover, Lysippus the sculptor was quite right in his disapproval of the painter Apelles, because Apelles in his portrait of Alexander had represented him with a thunderbolt in his hand, whereas he himself had represented Alexander holding a spear, the glory of which no length of years could ever dim, since it was truthful and was his by right.
[De Is. et Os. 25] 25 1 Better, therefore, is the judgment of those who hold that the stories about Typhon, Osiris, and Isis, are records of experiences of neither gods nor men, but of demigods, ewhom Plato and Pythagoras and Xenocrates and Chrysippus, following the lead of early writers on sacred subjects, allege to have been stronger than men and, in their might, greatly surpassing our nature, yet not possessing the divine quality unmixed and uncontaminated, but with a share also in the nature of the soul and in the perceptive faculties of the body, and with a susceptibility to pleasure and pain and to whatsoever other experience is incident to these mutations, and is the source of much disquiet in some and of less in others. For in demigods, as in men, there are divers degrees of virtue and vice. The exploits of the Giants and Titans celebrated among the Greeks, the lawless deeds of a Cronus, the stubborn resistance of Python against Apollo, the flights of Dionysus, and the wanderings of Demeter, do not fall at all short of the exploits of Osiris and Typhon and other exploits which anyone may hear freely repeated in traditional story. So, too, all the things which are kept always away from the ears and eyes of the multitude by being concealed behind mystic rites and ceremonies have a similar explanation.
[De Is. et Os. 26] 26 1 As we read Homer, we notice that in many different places he distinctively calls the good “god-like” 361 and “peers of the gods” and “having prudence gained from the gods,” but that the epithet derived from the demigods (or daemons) he uses of the worthy and worthless alike; for example:
[De Is. et Os. 26b] Daemon-possessed, come on! Why seek you to frighten the Argives
Thus?
[De Is. et Os. 26c] and again
When for the fourth time onward he came with a rush, like a daemon;
and
Daemon-possessed, in what do Priam and children of Priam
Work you such ill that your soul is ever relentlessly eager
Ilium, fair-built city, to bring to complete desolation?
[De Is. et Os. 26d] The assumption, then, is that the demigods (or daemons) have a complex and inconsistent nature and purpose; wherefore Plato assigns to the Olympian gods right-hand qualities and odd numbers, and to the demigods the opposite of these. Xenocrates also is of the opinion that such days as are days of ill omen, and such festivals as have associated with them either beatings or lamentations or fastings or scurrilous language or ribald jests have no relation to the honours paid to the gods or to worthy demigods, but he believes that there exist in the space about us certain great and powerful natures, obdurate, however, and morose, which take pleasure in such things as these, and, if they succeed in obtaining them, resort to nothing worse.
[De Is. et Os. 26e] Then again, Hesiod calls the worthy and good demigods “holy deities” and “guardians of mortals” and
[De Is. et Os. 26f] Givers of wealth, and having therein a reward that is kingly.
Plato calls this class of beings an interpretative and ministering class, midway between gods and men, in that they convey thither the prayers and petitions of men, and thence they bring hither the oracles and the gifts of good things.
[De Is. et Os. 26g] Empedocles says also that the demigods must pay the penalty for the sins that they commit and the duties that they neglect:
Might of the Heavens chases them forth to the realm of the Ocean;
Ocean spews them out on the soil of the Earth, and Earth drives them
Straight to the rays of the tireless Sun, who consigns them to Heaven’s
Whirlings; thus one from another receives them, but ever with loathing;
[De Is. et Os. 26h] until, when they have thus been chastened and purified, they recover the place and position to which they belong in accord with Nature.
[De Is. et Os. 27] 27 1 Stories akin to these and to others like them they say are related about Typhon; how that, prompted by jealousy and hostility, he wrought terrible deeds and, by bringing utter confusion upon all things, filled the whole Earth, and the ocean as well, with ills, and later paid the penalty therefor. But the avenger, the sister and wife of Osiris, after she had quenched and suppressed the madness and fury of Typhon, was not indifferent to the contests and struggles which she had endured, nor to her own wanderings nor to her manifold deeds of wisdom and many feats of bravery, nor would she accept oblivion and silence for them, but she intermingled in the most holy rites portrayals and suggestions and representations of her experiences at that time, and sanctified them, both as a lesson in godliness and an encouragement for men and women who find themselves in the clutch of like calamities. She herself and Osiris, translated for their virtues from good demigods into gods, as were Heracles and Dionysus later, not incongruously enjoy double honours, both those of gods and those of demigods, and their powers extend everywhere, but are greatest in the regions above the earth and beneath the earth. In fact, men assert that Pluto is none other than Serapis and that Persephonê is Isis, even as Archemachus of Euboea has said, and also Heracleides Ponticus who holds the oracle in Canopus to be fan oracle of Pluto.
[De Is. et Os. 28] 28 1 Ptolemy Soter saw in a dreamb the colossal statue of Pluto in Sinopê, not knowing nor having ever seen how it looked, and in his dream the statue bade him convey it with all speed to Alexandria. He had no information and no means of knowing where the statue was situated, but as he related the vision to his friends there was discovered for him a much travelled man by the name of Sosibius, who said that he had seen in Sinopê just such a great statue as the king thought he saw. Ptolemy, therefore, sent Soteles and Dionysius, who, after a considerable time and with great difficulty, and not without the help of divine providence, 362 succeeded in stealing the statue and bringing it away. When it had been conveyed to Egypt and exposed to view, Timotheus, the expositor of sacred law, and Manetho of Sebennytus, and their associates, conjectured that it was the statue of Pluto, basing their conjecture on the Cerberus and the serpent with it, and they convinced Ptolemy that it was the statue of none other of the gods but Serapis. It certainly did not bear this name when it came for Sinope, but, after it had been conveyed to Alexandria, it took to itself the name which Pluto bears among the Egyptians, that of Serapis. Moreover, since Heracleitus the physical philosopher says, “The same are Hades and Dionysus, to honour whom they rage and rave,” people are inclined to come to this opinion. In fact, those who insist that the body is called Hades, since the soul is, as it were, deranged and inebriate when it is in the body, are too frivolous in their use of allegory. It is better to identify Osiris with Dionysus and Serapis with Osiris, who received this appellation at the time when he changed his nature. For this reason Serapis is a god of all peoples in common, even as Osiris is; and this they who have participated in the holy rites well know.
[De Is. et Os. 29] 29 1 It is not worth while to pay any attention to the Phrygian writings, in which it is said that Serapis was the son of Heracles, and Isis was his daughter, and Typhon was the son of Alcaeus, who also was a son of Heracles; nor must we fail to contemn Phylarchus, who writes that Dionysus was the first to bring from India into Egypt two bulls, and that the name of one was Apis and of the other Osiris. But Serapis is the name of him who sets the universe in order, and it is derived from “sweep” (sairein), which some say means “to beautify” and “to put in order.” As a matter of fact, these statements of Phylarchus are absurd, but even more absurd are those put forth by those who say that Serapis is no god at all, but the name of the coffin of Apis; and that there are in Memphis certain bronze gates called the Gates of Oblivion and Lamentation, which are opened when the burial of Apis takes place, and they give out a deep and harsh sound; and it is because of this that we lay hand upon anything of bronze that gives out a sound. More moderate is the statement of those who say that the derivation is from “shoot” (seuesthai) or “scoot” (sousthai), meaning the general movement of the universe. Most of the priests say that Osiris and Apis are conjoined into one, thus explaining to us and informing us that we must regard Apis as the bodily image of the soul of Osiris. But it is my opinion that, if the name Serapis is Egyptian, it denotes cheerfulness and rejoicing, and I base this opinion on the fact that Egyptians call their festival of rejoicing sairei. In fact, Plato says that Hades is so named because he is a beneficent and gentle god towards those who have come to abide with him. Moreover, among the Egyptians many others of the proper names are real words; for example, that place beneath the earth, to which they believe that souls depart after the end of this life, they call Amenthes, the name signifying “the one who receives and gives.” Whether this is one of those words which came from Greece in very ancient times and were brought back again we will consider later, but for the present let us go on to discuss the remainder of the views now before us.
[De Is. et Os. 30] 30 1 Now Osiris and Isis changed from good minor deities into gods. But the power of Typhon, weakened and crushed, but still fighting and struggling against extinction, they try to console and mollify by certain sacrifices; but again there are times when, fat certain festivals, they humiliate and insult him by assailing red-headed men with jeering, and by throwing an ass over the edge of a precipice, as the people of Kopto do, because Typhon had red hair and in colour resembled an ass. The people of Busiris and Lycopolis do not use trumpets at all, because these make a sound like an ass; and altogether they regard the ass as an unclean animal dominated by some higher power because of its resemblance to Typhon, and when they make cakes at their sacrifices in the month of Paÿni and of Phaophi they imprint upon them the device of an ass tied by a rope. 363 Moreover, in the sacrifice to the Sun they enjoin upon their worshippers not to wear any golden ornaments nor to give fodder to an ass. It is plain that the adherents of Pythagoras hold Typhon to be a daemonic power; for they say that he was born in an even factor of fifty-six; and the dominion of the triangle belongs to Hades, Dionysus, and Ares, that of the quadrilateral to Rhea, Aphroditê, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera, that of the dodecagon to Zeus, that of a polygon of fifty-six sides to Typhon, as Eudoxus has recorded.
[De Is. et Os. 31] 31 1 The Egyptians, because of their belief that Typhon was of a red complexion, also dedicate to sacrifice such of their neat cattle as are of a red colour, but they conduct the examination of these so scrupulously that, if an animal has but one hair black or white, they think it wrong to sacrifice it; for they regard as suitable for sacrifice not what is dear to the gods but the reverse, namely, such animals as have incarnate in them souls of unholy and unrighteous men who have been transformed into other bodies. For this reason they invoke curses on the head of the victim and cut it off, and in early times they used to throw it into the river, but now they sell it to aliens. Upon the neat animal intended for sacrifice cthose of the priests who were called “Sealers” used to put a mark; and their seal, as Castor records, bore an engraving of a man with his knee on the ground and his hands tied behind his back, and with a sword at his throat. They think, as has been said, that the ass reaps the consequences of his resemblance because of his stupidity and his lascivious behaviour no less than because of his colour. This is also the reason why, since they hated Ochus most of all the Persian kings because he was a detested and abominable ruler, they nicknamed him “the Ass”; and he remarked, “But this Ass will feast upon your Bull,” and slaughtered Apis, as Deinon has recorded. But those who relate that Typhon’s flight from the battle was made on the back of an ass and lasted for seven days, and that after he had made his escape, he became the father of sons, Hierosolymus and Judaeus, are manifestly, as the very names show, attempting to drag Jewish traditions into the legend.
[De Is. et Os. 32] 32 1 Such, then, are the possible interpretations which these facts suggest. But now let us begin over again, and consider first the most perspicuous of those who have a reputation for expounding matters more philosophically. These men are like the Greeks who say that Cronus is but a figurative name for Chronus (Time), Hera for Air, and that the birth of Hephaestus symbolises the change of Air into Fire. And thus among the Egyptians such men say that Osiris is the Nile consorting with the Earth, which is Isis, and that the sea is Typhon into which the Nile discharges its waters and is lost to view and dissipated, esave for that part which the earth takes up and absorbs and thereby becomes fertilized.
[De Is. et Os. 32b] There is also a religious lament sung over Cronus. The lament is for him that is born in the regions on the left, and suffers dissolution in the regions on the right; for the Egyptians believe that the eastern regions are the face of the world, the northern the right, and the southern the left. The Nile, therefore, which runs from the south and is swallowed up by the sea in the north, is naturally said to have its birth on the left and its dissolution on the right. For this reason the priests religiously keep themselves aloof from the sea, and call salt the “spume of Typhon”; and one of the things forbidden them is to set salt upon a table; also they do not speak to pilots, because these men make use of the sea, and gain their livelihood from the sea. This is also not the least of the reasons why they eschew fish, and they portray hatred by drawing the picture of a fish. At Saïs in the vestibule of the temple of Athena was carved a babe and an aged man, and after this a hawk, and next a fish, and finally an hippopotamus. The symbolic meaning of this was: “O ye that are coming into the world and departing from it, God hateth shamelessness.” The babe is the symbol of coming into the world and the aged man the symbol of departing from it, and by a hawk they indicate God, by the fish hatred, as has already been said, because of the sea, and by the hippopotamus shamelessness; 364 for it is said that he kills his sire and forces his mother to mate with him. That saying of the adherents of Pythagoras, that the sea is a tear of Cronus, may seem to hint at its impure and extraneous nature.
[De Is. et Os. 33] Let this, then, be stated incidentally, as a matter of record that is common knowledge. 33 1 But the wiser of the priests call not only the Nile Osiris and the sea Typhon, but they simply give the name of Osiris to the whole source and faculty creative of moisture, believing this to be the cause of generation and the substance of life-producing seed; and the name of Typhon they give to all that is dry, fiery, and arid, in general, and antagonistic to moisture. Therefore, because they believe that he was personally of a reddish sallow colour, they are not eager to meet men of such complexion, nor do they like to associate with them.
[De Is. et Os. 33b] Osiris, on the other hand, according to their legendary tradition, was dark, because water darkens everything, earth and clothes and clouds, when it comes into contact with them. In young people the presence of moisture renders their hair black, while greyness, like a paleness as it were, is induced by dryness in those who are passing their prime. Also the spring-time is vigorous, prolific, and agreeable; but the autumn, since it lacks moisture, is inimical to plants and cunhealthful for living creatures.
[De Is. et Os. 33c] The bull kept at Heliopolis which they call Mneuis, and which is sacred to Osiris (some hold it to be the sire of Apis), is black and has honours second only to Apis. Egypt, moreover, which has the blackest of soils, they call by the same name as the black portion of the eye, “Chemia,” and compare it to a heart; for it is warm and moist and is enclosed by the southern portions of the inhabited world and adjoins them, like the heart in a man’s left side.
[De Is. et Os. 34] 34 1 They say that the sun and moon do not use chariots, but boats in which to sail round in their courses; and by this they intimate that the nourishment and origin of these heavenly bodies is from moisture. They think also that Homer, like Thales, had gained his knowledge from the Egyptians, when he postulated water as the source and origin of all things; for, according to them, Oceanus is Osiris, and Tethys is Isis, since she is the kindly nurse and provider for all things. In fact, the Greeks call emission apousia and coition synousia, and the son (hyios) from water (hydor) and rain (hysai); Dionysus also they call Hyes since he is lord of the nature of moisture; and he is no other than Osiris. In fact, Hellanicus seems to have heard Osiris pronounced Hysiris by the priests, for he regularly spells the name in this way, deriving it, in all probability, efrom the nature of Osiris and the ceremony of finding him.
[De Is. et Os. 35] 35 1 That Osiris is identical with Dionysus who could more fittingly know than yourself, Clea? For you are at the head of the inspired maidens of Delphi, and have been consecrated by your father and mother in the holy rites of Osiris. If, however, for the benefit of others it is needful to adduce proofs of this identity, let us leave undisturbed what may not be told, but the public ceremonies which the priests perform in the burial of the Apis, when they convey his body on an improvised bier, do not in any way come short of a Bacchic procession; for they fasten skins of fawns about themselves, and carry Bacchic wands and indulge in shoutings and movements exactly as do those who are under the spell of the Dionysiac ecstasies. For the same reason many of the Greeks make statues of Dionysus in the form of a bull; and the women of Elis invoke him, praying that the god may come with the hoof of a bull; and the epithet applied to Dionysus among the Argives is “Son of the Bull.” They call him up out of the water by the sound of trumpets, at the same time casting into the depths a lamb as an offering to the Keeper of the Gate. The trumpets they conceal in Bacchic wands, as Socrates has stated in his treatise on The Holy Ones. Furthermore, the tales regarding the Titans and the rites celebrated by night agree with the accounts of the dismemberment of Osiris and his revivification and regenesis. 365 Similar agreement is found too in the tales about their sepulchres. The Egyptians, as has already been stated, point out tombs of Osiris in many places, and the people of Delphi believe that the remains of Dionysus rest with them close beside the oracle; and the Holy Ones offer a secret sacrifice in the shrine of Apollo whenever the devotees of Dionysus wake the God of the Mystic Basket. To show that the Greeks regard Dionysus as the lord and master not only of wine, but of the nature of every sort of moisture, it is enough that Pindar be our witness, when he says
[De Is. et Os. 35b] May gladsome Dionysus swell the fruit upon the trees,
The hallowed splendour of harvest time.
[De Is. et Os. 35c] For this reason all who reverence Osiris are prohibited from destroying a cultivated tree or blocking up a spring of water.
[De Is. et Os. 36] 36 1 Not only the Nile, but every form of moisture they call simply the effusion of Osiris; and in their holy rites the water jar in honour of the god heads the procession. And by the picture of a rush they represent a king and the southern region of the world, and the rush is interpreted to mean the watering and fructifying of all things, and in its nature it seems to bear some resemblance to the generative member. Moreover, when they celebrate the festival of the Pamylia which, as has been said, is of a phallic member, they expose and carry about a statue of which the male member is triple; for the god is the Source, and every source, by its fecundity, multiplies what proceeds from it; and for “many times” we have a habit of saying “thrice,” cas, for example, “thrice happy,” and
[De Is. et Os. 36b] Bonds, even thrice as many, unnumbered,
[De Is. et Os. 36c] unless, indeed, the word “triple” is used by the early writers in its strict meaning; for the nature of moisture, being the source and origin of all things, created out of itself three primal material substances, Earth, Air and Fire. In fact, the tale that is annexed to the legend to the effect that Typhon cast the male member of Osiris into the river, and Isis could not find it, but constructed and shaped a replica of it, and ordained that it should be honoured and borne in processions, plainly comes round to this doctrine, that the creative and germinal power of the god, at the very first, acquired moisture as its substance, and through moisture combined with whatever was by nature capable of participating in generation.
[De Is. et Os. 36d] There is another tale current among the Egyptians that Apopis, brother of the Sun, made war upon Zeus, and that because Osiris espoused Zeus’s cause and helped him to overthrow his enemy, Zeus adopted Osiris as his son and gave him the name of Dionysus. It may be demonstrated that the legend contained in this tale has some approximation to truth so far as Nature is concerned; for the Egyptians apply the name “Zeus” to the wind, and whatever is dry or fiery is antagonistic to this. This is not the Sun, but it has some kinship with the Sun; and the moisture, eby doing away with the excess of dryness, increases and strengthens the exhalations by which the wind is fostered and made vigorous.
[De Is. et Os. 37] 37 1 Moreover, the Greeks are wont to consecrate the ivy to Dionysus, and it is said that among the Egyptians the name for ivy is chenosiris, the meaning of the name being, as they say, “the plant of Osiris.” Now, Ariston, the author of Athenian Colonization, happened upon a letter of Alexarchus, in which it is recorded that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Isis, and is called not Osiris, but Arsaphes, spelled with an “a,” the name denoting virility. Hermaeus, too, makes this statement in the first volume of his book The Egyptians; for he says that Osiris, properly interpreted, means “sturdy.” I leave out of account Mnaseas’s annexation of Dionysus, Osiris, and Serapis to Epaphus, as well as Anticleides’ statement that Isis was the daughter of Prometheus and was wedded to Dionysus. The fact is that the peculiarities already mentioned regarding the festival and sacrifices carry a conviction more manifest than any testimony of authorities.
[De Is. et Os. 38] 38 1 Of the stars the Egyptians think that the Dog-star is the star of Isis, because it is the bringer of water. 366 They also hold the Lion in honour, and they adorn the doorways of their shrines with gaping lions’ heads, because the Nile overflows
[De Is. et Os. 38b] When for the first time the Sun comes into conjunction with Leo.
[De Is. et Os. 38c] As they regard the Nile as the effusion of Osiris, so they hold and believe the earth to be the body of Isis, not all of it, but so much of it as the Nile covers, fertilizing it and uniting with it. From this union they make Horus to be born. The all-conserving and fostering Hora, that is the seasonable tempering of the surrounding air, is Horus, who they say was brought up by Leto in the marshes round about Buto; for the watery and saturated land best nurtures bthose exhalations which quench and abate aridity and dryness.
[De Is. et Os. 38d] The outmost parts of the land beside the mountains and bordering on the sea the Egyptians call Nephthys. This is why they give to Nephthys the name of “Finality,” and say that she is the wife of Typhon. Whenever, then, the Nile overflows and with abounding waters spreads far away to those who dwell in the outermost regions, they call this the union of Osiris with Nephthys, which is proved by the upspringing of the plants. Among these is the melilotus, by the wilting and failing of which, as the story goes, Typhon gained knowledge of the wrong done to his bed. So Isis gave birth to Horus in lawful wedlock, but Nephthys bore Anubis clandestinely. However, in the chronological lists of the kings they record that Nephthys, after her marriage to Typhon, was at first barren. If they say this, not about a woman, but about the goddess, they must mean by it the utter barrenness and unproductivity of the earth resulting from a hard-baked soil.
[De Is. et Os. 39] 39 1 The insidious scheming and usurpation of Typhon, then, is the power of drought, which gains control and dissipates the moisture which is the source of the Nile and of its rising; and his coadjutor, the Queen of the Ethiopians, signifies allegorically the south winds from Ethiopia; for whenever these gain the upper hand over the northerly or Etesian winds which drive the clouds towards Ethiopia, and when they prevent the falling of the rains which cause the rising of the Nile, then Typhon, being in possession, blazes with scorching heat; and having gained complete mastery, he forces the Nile in retreat to draw back its waters for weakness, and, flowing at the bottom of its almost empty channel, to proceed to the sea. The story told of the shutting up of Osiris in the chest seems to mean nothing else than the vanishing and disappearance of water. Consequently they say that the disappearance of Osiris occurred in the month of Athyr, at the time when, owing to the complete cessation of the Etesian winds, the Nile recedes to its low level and the land becomes denuded. As the nights grow longer, the darkness increases, and the potency of the light is abated and subdued. Then among the gloomy rites which the priests perform, they shroud the gilded image of a cow with a black linen vestment, and display her as a sign of mourning for the goddess, inasmuch as they regard both the cow and the earth as the image of Isis; and this is kept up for four days consecutively, beginning with the seventeenth of the month. The things mourned for are four in number: first, the departure and recession of the Nile; second, the complete extinction of the north winds, as the south winds gain the upper hand; third, the day’s growing shorter than the night; and, to crown all, the denudation of the earth together with the defoliation of the trees and shrubs at this time. On the nineteenth day they go down to the sea at night-time; and the keepers of the robes and the priests bring forth the sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water which they have taken up, and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found. Then they knead some fertile soil with the water and mix in spices and incense of a very costly sort, and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they clothe and adorn, thus indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water.
[De Is. et Os. 40] 40 1 When Isis recovered Osiris and was watching Horus grow up 367 as he was being made strong by the exhalations and mists and clouds, Typhon was vanquished but not annihilated; for the goddess who holds sway over the Earth would not permit the complete annihilation of the nature opposed to moisture, but relaxed and moderated it, being desirous that its tempering potency should persist, because it was not possible for a complete world to exist, if the fiery element left it and disappeared. Even if this story were not current among them, one would hardly be justified in rejecting that other account, to the effect that Typhon, many ages ago, held sway over Osiris’s domain; for Egypt used to be all a sea, and, for that reason, beven to day it is found to have shells in its mines and mountains. Moreover, all the springs and wells, of which there are many, have a saline and brackish water, as if some stale dregs of the ancient sea had collected there.
[De Is. et Os. 40b] But, in time, Horus overpowered Typhon; that is to say, there came on a timely abundance of rain, and the Nile forced out the sea and revealed the fertile land, which it filled out with its alluvial deposits. This has support in the testimony of our own observation; for we see, even to day, as the river brings down new silt and advances the land, that the deep waters gradually recede and, as the bottom gains in height by reason of the alluvial deposits, the water of the sea runs off from these. We also note that Pharos, which Homer knew as distant a day’s sail from Egypt, is now a part of it; not that the island has extended its area by rising, or has come nearer to the land, but the sea that separated them was obliged to retire before the river, as the river reshaped the land and made it to increase.
[De Is. et Os. 40c] The fact is that all this is somewhat like the doctrines promulgated by the Stoics about the gods; for they say that the creative and fostering spirit is Dionysus, the truculent and destructive is Heracles, the receptive is Ammon, that which pervades the Earth and its products is Demeter and the Daughter, and that which pervades the Sea is Poseidon.
[De Is. et Os. 41] 367 41 But the Egyptians, by combining with these physical explanations some of the scientific results derived from astronomy, think that dby Typhon is meant the solar world, and by Osiris the lunar world; they reason that the moon, because it has a light that is generative and productive of moisture, is kindly towards the young of animals and the burgeoning plants, whereas the sun, by its untempered and pitiless heat, makes all growing and flourishing vegetation hot and parched, and, through its blazing light, renders a large part of the earth uninhabitable, and in many a region overpowers the moon. For this reason the Egyptians regularly call Typhon “Seth,” which, being interpreted, means “overmastering and compelling.” They have a legend that Heracles, making his dwelling in the sun, is a companion for it in its revolutions, as is the case also with Hermes and the moon. In fact, the actions of the moon are like actions of reason and perfect wisdom, whereas those of the sun are like beatings administered through violence and brute strength. The Stoics assert that the sun is kindled and fed from the sea, but that for the moon the moving waters from the springs and lakes send up a sweet and mild exhalation.
[De Is. et Os. 42] 42 1 The Egyptians have a legend that the end of Osiris’s life came on the seventeenth of the month, on which day it is quite evident to the eye that the period of the full moon is over. Because of this the Pythagoreans call this day “the Barrier,” and utterly abominate this number. For the number seventeen, coming in between the square sixteen and the oblong rectangle eighteen, which, as it happens, are the only plane figures that have their perimeters equal their areas, bars them off from each other and disjoins them, and breaks up the ratio of eight to eight and an eighth by its division into unequal intervals.
[De Is. et Os. 42b] Some say that the years of Osiris’s life, others that the years of his reign, were twenty-eight; 368 for that is the number of the moon’s illuminations, and in that number of days does she complete her cycle. The wood which they cut on the occasions called the “burials of Osiris” they fashion into a crescent-shaped coffer because of the fact that the moon, when it comes near the sun, becomes crescent-shaped and disappears from our sight. The dismemberment of Osiris into fourteen parts they refer allegorically to the days of the waning of that satellite from the time of the full moon to the new moon. bAnd the day on which she becomes visible after escaping the solar rays and passing by the sun they style “Incomplete Good”; for Osiris is beneficent, and his name means many things, but, not least of all, an active and beneficent power, as they put it. The other name of the god, Omphis, Hermaeus says means “benefactor” when interpreted.
[De Is. et Os. 43] 43 1 They think that the risings of the Nile have some relation to the illuminations of the moon; for the greatest rising, in the neighbourhood of Elephantinê, is twenty-eight cubits, which is the number of its illuminations that form the measure of each of its monthly cycles; the rising in the neighbourhood of Mendes and Xoïs, which is the least, is six cubits, corresponding to the first quarter. The mean rising, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, when it is normal, is fourteen cubits, corresponding to the full moon.
[De Is. et Os. 43b] The Apis, they say, is the animate image of Osiris, and he comes into being when a fructifying light thrusts forth from the moon and falls upon a cow in her breeding-season. Wherefore there are many things in the Apis that resemble features of the moon, his bright parts being darkened by the shadowy. Moreover, at the time of the new moon in the month of Phamenoth they celebrate a festival to which they give the name of “Osiris’s coming to the Moon,” and this marks the beginning of the spring. Thus they make the power of Osiris to be fixed in the Moon, and say that Isis, since she is generation, is associated with him. For this reason they also call the Moon the mother of the world, and they think that she has a nature both male and female, as she is receptive and made pregnant by the Sun, but she herself in turn emits and disseminates into the air generative principles. For, as they believe, the destructive activity of Typhon does not always prevail, but oftentimes is overpowered by such generation and put in bonds, and then at a later time is again released and contends against Horus, who is the terrestrial universe; and this is never completely exempt either from dissolution or from generation.
[De Is. et Os. 44] 44 1 There are some who would make the legend an allegorical reference to matters touching eclipses; for the Moon suffers eclipse only when she is full, with the Sun directly opposite to her, and she falls into the shadow of the Earth, as they say Osiris fell into his coffin. Then again, the Moon herself obscures the Sun and causes solar eclipses, always on the thirtieth of the month; ehowever, she does not completely annihilate the Sun, and likewise Isis did not annihilate Typhon.
[De Is. et Os. 44b] When Nephthys gave birth to Anubis, Isis treated the child as if it were her own; for Nephthys is that which is beneath the earth and invisible, Isis that which is above the earth and visible; and the circle which touches these, called the horizon, being common to both, has received the name Anubis, and is represented in form like a dog; for the dog can see with his eyes both by night and by day alike. And among Egyptians Anubis is thought to possess this faculty, which is similar to that which Hecatê is thought to possess among the Greeks, for Anubis is a deity of the lower world as well as a god of Olympus. Some are of the opinion that Anubis is Cronus. For this reason, inasmuch as he generates all things out of himself and conceives all things within himself, he has gained the appellation of “Dog.” There is, therefore, a certain mystery observed by those who revere Anubis; in ancient times the dog obtained the highest honours in Egypt; but, when Cambyses had slain the Apis and cast him forth, nothing came near the body or ate of it save only the dog; and thereby the dog lost his primacy and his place of honour above that of all the other animals.
[De Is. et Os. 45] There are some who give the name of Typhon to the Earth’s shadow, into which they believe the moon slips when it suffers eclipse. 45 1 369 Hence it is not unreasonable to say that the statement of each person individually is not right, but that the statement of all collectively is right; for it is not drought nor wind nor sea nor darkness, but everything harmful and destructive that Nature contains, which is to be set down as a part of Typhon. The origins of the universe are not to be placed in inanimate bodies, according to the doctrine of Democritus and Epicurus, nor yet is the Artificer of undifferentiated matter, according to the Stoic doctrine, one Reason, and one Providence which gains the upper hand and prevails over all things. The fact is that it is impossible for anything bad whatsoever to be engendered where God is the Author of all, bor anything good where God is the Author of nothing; for the concord of the universe, like that of a lyre or bow, according to Heracleitus, is resilient if disturbed; and according to Euripides,
[De Is. et Os. 45b] The good and bad cannot be kept apart,
But there is some commingling, which is well.
[De Is. et Os. 45c] Wherefore this very ancient opinion comes down from writers on religion and from lawgivers to poets and philosophers; it can be traced to no source, but it carried a strong and almost indelible conviction, and is in circulation in many places among barbarians and Greeks alike, not only in story and tradition but also in rites and sacrifices, to the effect that the Universe is not of itself suspended aloft cwithout sense or reason or guidance, nor is there one Reason which rules and guides it by rudders, as it were, or by controlling reins, but, inasmuch as Nature brings, in this life of ours, many experiences in which both evil and good are commingled, or better, to put it very simply, Nature brings nothing which is not combined with something else, we may assert that it is not one keeper of two great vases who, after the manner of a barmaid, deals out to us our failures and successes in mixture, but it has come about, as the result of two opposed principles and two antagonistic forces, one of which guides us along a straight course to the right, while the other turns us aside and backward, that our life is complex, and so also is the universe; and if this is not true of the whole of it, dyet it is true that this terrestrial universe, including its moon as well, is irregular and variable and subject to all manner of changes. For if it is the law of nature that nothing comes into being without a cause, and if the good cannot provide a cause for evil, then it follows that Nature must have in herself the source and origin of evil, just as she contains the source and origin of good.
[De Is. et Os. 46] 46 1 The great majority and the wisest of men hold this opinion: they believe that there are two gods, rivals as it were, the one the Artificer of good and the other of evil. There are also those who call the better one a god and the other a daemon, eas, for example, Zoroaster the sage, who, they record, lived five thousand years before the time of the Trojan War. He called the one Oromazes and the other Areimanius; and he further declared that among all the things perceptible to the senses, Oromazes may best be compared to light, and Areimanius, conversely, to darkness and ignorance, and midway between the two is Mithras: for this reason the Persians give to Mithras the name of “Mediator.” Zoroaster has also taught that men should make votive offerings and thank-offerings to Oromazes, and averting and mourning offerings to Areimanius. They pound up in a mortar a certain plant called omomi at the same time invoking Hades and Darkness; then they mix it with the blood of a wolf that has been sacrificed, and carry it out and cast it into a place where the sun never shines. In fact, they believe that some of the plants belong to the good god and others to the evil daemon; so also of the animals they think that dogs, fowls, and hedgehogs, for example, belong to the good god, but that water-rats belong to the evil one; therefore the man who has killed the most of these they hold to be fortunate.
[De Is. et Os. 47] 47 1 However, they also tell many fabulous stories about their gods, such, for example, as the following: Oromazes, born from the purest light, and Areimanius, born from the darkness, are constantly at war with each other; 370 and Oromazes created six gods, the first of Good Thought, the second of Truth, the third of Order, and, of the rest, one of Wisdom, one of Wealth, and one the Artificer of Pleasure in what is Honourable. But Areimanius created rivals, as it were, equal to these in number. Then Oromazes enlarged himself to thrice his former size, and removed himself as far distant from the Sun as the Sun is distant from the Earth, and adorned the heavens with stars. One star he set there before all others as a guardian and watchman, the Dog-star. Twenty-four other gods he created and placed in an egg. But those created by Areimanius, who were equal in number to the others, pierced through the egg and made their way inside; hence evils are now combined with good. But a destined time shall come when it is decreed that Areimanius, engaged in bringing on pestilence and famine, shall by these be utterly annihilated and shall disappear; and then shall the earth become a level plain, and there shall be one manner of life and one form of government for a blessed people who shall all speak one tongue. Theopompus says that, according to the sages, one god is to overpower, and the other to be overpowered, each in turn for the space of three thousand years, and afterward for another three thousand years they shall fight and war, and the one shall undo the works of the other, and finally Hades shall pass away; then shall the people be happy, and neither shall they need to have food nor shall they cast any shadow. And the god, who has contrived to bring about all these things, shall then have quiet and shall repose for a time, no long time indeed, but for the god as much as would be a moderate time for a man to sleep.
[De Is. et Os. 48] Such, then, is the character of the mythology of the sages. 48 1 The Chaldeans declare that of the planets, which they call tutelary gods, two are beneficent, two maleficent, and the other three are median and partake of both qualities. The beliefs of the Greeks are well known to all; they make the good part to belong the Olympian Zeus and the abominated part to Hades, and they rehearse a legend that Concord is sprung from Aphroditê and Ares, the one of whom is harsh and contentious, and the other mild and tutelary.
[De Is. et Os. 48b] Observe also that the philosophers are in agreement with these; for Heracleitus without reservation styles War “the Father and King and Lord of all,” and he says that when Homer prays that
[De Is. et Os. 48c] Strife may vanish from the ranks of the gods and of mortals,
he fails to note that he is invoking a curse on the origin of all things, since all things originate from strife and antagonism; also Heracleitus says that the Sun will not transgress his appropriate bounds, otherwise the stern-eyed maidens, ministers of Justice, will find him out.
[De Is. et Os. 48d] Empedocles calls the beneficent principle “friendship” or “friendliness,” and oftentimes he calls Concord “sedate of countenance”; the worse principle he calls “accursed quarreling” and “blood-stained strife.”
[De Is. et Os. 48e] The adherents of Pythagoras include a variety of terms under these categories: under the good they set Unity, the Determinate, the Permanent, the Straight, the Odd, the Square, the Equal, the Right-handed, the Bright; under the bad they set Duality, the Indeterminate, the Moving, the Curved, the Even, the Oblong, the Unequal, the Left-handed, the Dark, on the supposition that these are the underlying principles of creation. For these, however, Anaxagoras postulates Mind and Infinitude, Aristotle Form and Privation, and Plato, in many passages, as though obscuring and veiling his opinion, names the one of the opposite principles “Identity” and the other “Difference”; but in his Laws, when he had grown considerably older, he asserts, not in circumlocution or symbolically, but in specific words, that the movement of the Universe is actuated not by one soul, but perhaps by several, and certainly by not less than two, and of these the one is beneficent, and the other is opposed to it and the artificer of things opposed. Between these he leaves a certain third nature, not inanimate nor irrational nor without the power to move of itself, as some think, 371 but with dependence on both those others, and desiring the better always and yearning after it and pursuing it, as the succeeding portion of the treatise will make clear, in the endeavour to reconcile the religious beliefs of the Egyptians with this philosophy.
[De Is. et Os. 49] 49 1 The fact is that the creation and constitution of this world is complex, resulting, as it does, from opposing influences, which, however, are not of equal strength, but the predominance rests with the better. Yet it is impossible for the bad to be completely eradicated, since it is innate, in large amount, in the body and likewise in the soul of the Universe, and is always fighting a hard fight against the better. So in the soul Intelligence and reason, the Ruler and Lord of all that is good, is Osiris, band in earth and wind and water and the heavens and stars that which is ordered, established, and healthy, as evidenced by season, temperatures, and cycles of revolution, is the efflux of Osiris and his reflected image. But Typhon is that part of the soul which is impressionable, impulsive, irrational and truculent, and of the bodily part the destructible, diseased and disorderly as evidenced by abnormal seasons and temperatures, and by obscurations of the sun and disappearances of the moon, outbursts, as it were, and unruly actions on the part of Typhon. And the name “Seth,” by which they call Typhon, denotes this; it means “the overmastering” and “overpowering,” and it means in very many instances “turning back,” and again “overpassing.” Some say that one of the companions of Typhon was Bebon, but Manetho says that Bebon was still another name by which Typhon was called. The name signifies “restraint” or “hindrance,” as much as to say that, when things are going along in a proper way and making rapid progress towards the right end, the power of Typhon obstructs them. 50 1 For this reason they assign to him the most stupid of the domesticated animals, the ass, and of the wild animals, the most savage, the crocodile and the hippopotamus.
[De Is. et Os. 49b] In regard to the ass we have already offered some explanation. At Hermopolis they point out a statue of Typhon in the form of an hippopotamus, on whose back is poised a hawk fighting with a serpent. By the hippopotamus they mean to indicate Typhon, and by the hawk a power and rule, which Typhon strives to win by force, oftentimes without success, being confused by his wickedness and creating confusion. For this reason, when they offer sacrifice on the seventh day of the month Tybi, which they call the “Coming of Isis from Phoenicia,” they imprint on their sacred cakes the image of an hippopotamus tied fast. In the town of Apollonopolis it is an established custom for every person without exception to eat of a crocodile; and on one day they hunt as many as they can and, after killing them, cast them down directly opposite the temple. And they relate that Typhon escaped Horus by turning into a crocodile, and they would make out that all animals and plants and incidents that are bad and harmful are the deeds and parts and movements of Typhon.
[De Is. et Os. 51] 51 1 Then again, they depict Osiris by means of an eye and a sceptre, the one of which indicates forethought and the other power, much as Homer in calling the Lord and King of all “Zeus supreme and counsellor” appears by “supreme” to signify his prowess and by “counsellor” his careful planning and thoughtfulness. They also often depict this god by means of a hawk; for this bird is surpassing in the keenness of his vision and the swiftness of its flight, and is wont to support itself with the minimum amount of food. It is said also in flying over the earth to cast dust upon the eyes of unburied dead; and whenever it settles down beside the river to drink it raises its feather upright, and after it has drunk it lets this sink down again, by which it is plain that the bird is safe and has escaped the crocodile, for if it be seized, the feather remains fixed upright as it was at the beginning.
[De Is. et Os. 51b] Everywhere they point out statues of Osiris in human form of the ithyphallic type, on account of his creative and fostering power; and they clothe his statues in a flame-coloured garment, 372 since they regard the body of the Sun as a visible manifestation of the perceptible substance of the power for good. Therefore it is only right and fair to contemn those who assign the orb of the Sun to Typhon, to whom there attaches nothing bright or of a conserving nature, no order nor generation nor movement possessed of moderation or reason, but everything the reverse; moreover, the drought, by which he destroys many of the living creatures and growing plants, is not to be set down as the work of the Sun, but rather as due to the fact that the winds and waters in the earth and the air are not seasonably tempered when the principle of the disorderly and unlimited power gets out of hand and quenches the exhalations.
[De Is. et Os. 52] 52 1 In the sacred hymns of Osiris they call upon him who is hidden in the arms of the Sun; and on the thirtieth of the month Epiphi they celebrate the birthday of the Eyes of Horus, at the time when the Moon and the Sun are in a perfectly straight line, since they regard not only the Moon but also the Sun as the eye and light of Horus.
[De Is. et Os. 52b] On the waning of the month Phaophi they conduct the birthday of the Staff of the Sun following upon the autumnal equinox, and by this they declare, as it were, that he is in need of support and strength, since he becomes lacking in warmth and light, and undergoes decline, and is carried away from us to one side.
[De Is. et Os. 52c] Moreover, at the time of the winter solstice they lead the cow seven times around the temple of the Sun and this circumambulation is called the Seeking for Osiris, since the Goddess in the winter-time yearns for water; so many times do they go around, because in the seventh month the Sun completes the transition from the winter solstice to the summer solstice. It is said also that Horus, the son of Isis, offered sacrifice to the Sun first of all on the fourth day of the month, as is written in the records entitled the Birthdays of Horus.
[De Is. et Os. 52d] Every day they make a triple offering of incense to the Sun, dan offering of resin at sunrise, of myrrh at midday, and of the so called cyphi at sunset; the reason which underlies each one of these offerings I will describe later. They think that by means of all these they supplicate and serve the Sun. Yet, what need is there to collect many such things? There are some who without reservation assert that Osiris is the Sun and is called the Dog-star (Sirius) by the Greeks even if among the Egyptians the addition of the article has created some ambiguity in regard to the name; and there are those who declare that Isis is none other than the Moon; for this reason it is said that the statues of Isis that bear horns are imitations of the crescent moon, and in her dark garments are shown the concealments and the obscurations in which she in her yearning pursues the Sun. For this reason also they call upon the Moon in love affairs, and Eudoxus asserts that Isis is a deity who presides over love affairs. These people may lay claim to a certain plausibility, but no one should listen for a moment to those who make Typhon to be the Sun.
[De Is. et Os. 53] 372 But now let us take up again the proper subject of our discussion. 53 1 Isis is, in fact, the female principle of Nature, and is receptive of every form of generation, in accord with which she is called by Plato the gentle nurse and the all-receptive, and by most people has been called by countless names, since, because of the force of Reason, she turns herself to this thing or that and is receptive of all manner of shapes and forms. She has an innate love for the first and most dominant of all things, which is identical with the good, and this she yearns for and pursues; but the portion which comes from evil she tries to avoid and to reject, for she serves them both as a place and means of growth, but inclines always towards the better and offers to it opportunity to create from her and to impregnate her with effluxes and likenesses in which she rejoices and is glad that she is made pregnant and teeming with these creations. For creation is the image of being in matter, and the thing created is a picture of reality.
[De Is. et Os. 54] 373 54 It is not, therefore, out of keeping that they have a legend that the soul of Osiris is everlasting and imperishable, but that his body Typhon oftentimes dismembers and causes to disappear, and that Isis wanders hither and yon in her search for it, and fits it together again; for that which really is and is perceptible and good is superior to destruction and change. The images from it with which the sensible and corporeal is impressed, and the relations, forms, and likenesses which this take upon itself, like impressions of seals in wax, are not permanently lasting, but disorder and disturbance overtakes them, bbeing driven hither from the upper reaches, and fighting against Horus, whom Isis brings forth, beholden of all, as the image of the perceptible world. Therefore it is said that he is brought to trial by Typhon on the charge of illegitimacy, as not being pure nor uncontaminated like his father, reason unalloyed and unaffected of itself, but contaminated in his substance because of the corporeal element. He prevails, however, and wins the case when Hermes, that is to say Reason, testifies and points out that Nature, by undergoing changes of form with reference to the perceptible, duly brings about the creation of the world. The birth of Apollo from Isis and Osiris, while these gods were still in the womb of Rhea, has the allegorical meaning that before this world was made visible and its rough material was completely formed by reason, it was put to the test by Nature and brought forth of itself the first creation imperfect. This is the reason why they say that this god was born in the darkness a cripple, and they call him the elder Horus; for there was then no world, but only an image and outline of a world to be.
[De Is. et Os. 55] 55 1 But this Horus is himself perfected and complete; but he has not done away completely with Typhon, but has taken away his activity and strength. Hence they say that at Kopto the statue of Horus holds in one hand the privy members of Typhon, and they relate a legend that Hermes cut out the sinews of Typhon, and used them as strings for his lyre, dthereby instructing us that Reason adjusts the Universe and creates concord out of discordant elements, and that it does not destroy but only cripples the destructive force. Hence this is weak and inactive here, and combines with the susceptible and changeable elements and attaches itself to them, becoming the artificer of quakes and tremblings in the earth, and of droughts and tempestuous winds in the air, and of lightning-flashes and thunderbolts. Moreover, it taints waters and winds with pestilence, and it runs forth wanton even as far as the moon, oftentimes confounding and darkening the moon’s brightness; according to the belief and account of the Egyptians, Typhon at one time smites the eye of Horus, and at another time snatches it out and swallows it, and then later gives it back again to the Sun. By the smiting, they refer allegorically to the monthly waning of the moon, and by the crippling, to its eclipse, which the Sun heals by shining straight upon it as soon as it has escaped the shadow of the earth.
[De Is. et Os. 56] 56 1 The better and more divine nature consists of three parts: the conceptual, the material, and that which is formed from these, which the Greeks call the world. Plato is wont to give to the conceptual the name of idea, example, or father, and to the material the name of mother or nurse, or seat and place of generation, and to that which results from both the name of offspring or generation.
[De Is. et Os. 56b] One might conjecture that the Egyptians hold in high honour the most beautiful of the triangles, since they liken the nature of the Universe most closely to it, as Plato in the Republic seems to have made use of it in formulating his figure of marriage. This triangle has its upright of three units, its base of four, 374 and its hypotenuse of five, whose power is equal to that of the other two sides. The upright, therefore, may be likened to the male, the base to the female, and the hypotenuse to the child of both, and so Osiris may be regarded as the origin, Isis as the recipient, and Horus as perfected result. Three is the first perfect odd number: four is a square whose side is the even number two; but five is in some ways like to its father, and in some ways like to its mother, being made up of three and two. And panta (all) is a derivative of pente (five), and they speak of counting as “numbering by fives.” Five makes a square of itself, as many as the letters of the Egyptian alphabet, and as many as the years of the life of the Apis.
[De Is. et Os. 56c] Horus they are wont to call also Min, which means “seen”; for the world is something perceptible and visible, and Isis is sometimes called Muth, and again Athyri or Methyer. By the first of these names they signify “mother,” by the second the mundane house of Horus, the place and receptacle of generation, as Plato has it, and the third is compounded of “full” and “cause”; for the material of the world is full, and is associated with the good and pure and orderly.
[De Is. et Os. 57] 57 It might appear that Hesiod, in making the very first things of all to be Chaos and Earth and Tartarus and Love, did not accept any other origins but only these, if we transfer the names somewhat and assign to Isis the name of Earth and to Osiris the name of Love and to Typhon the name of Tartarus; for the poet seems to place Chaos at the bottom as a sort of region that serves as a resting-place for the Universe.
[De Is. et Os. 57b] This subject seems in some wise to call up the myth of Plato, which Socrates in the Symposium gives at some length in regard to the birth of Love, saying that Poverty, wishing for children, insinuated herself beside Plenty while he was asleep, and having become pregnant by him, gave birth to Love, who is of a mixed and utterly variable nature, inasmuch as he is the son of a father who is good and wise and self-sufficient in all things, but of a mother who is helpless and without means and because of want always clinging close to another and always importunate over another. For Plenty is none other than the first beloved and desired, the perfect and self-sufficient; and Plato calls raw material Poverty, utterly lacking of herself in the Good, but being filled from him and always yearning for him and sharing with him. The World, or Horus, which is born of these, is not eternal nor unaffected nor imperishable, but, ebeing ever reborn, contrives to remain always young and never subject to destruction in the changes and cycles of events.
[De Is. et Os. 58] 58 1 We must not treat legend as it were history at all, but we should adopt that which is appropriate in each legend in accordance with its verisimilitude. Whenever, therefore, we speak of material we must not be swept away to the opinions of some philosophers, and conceive of an inanimate and indifferentiated body, which is of itself inert and inactive. The fact is that we call oil the material of perfume and gold the material of a statue, and these are not destitute of all differentiation. We provide the very soul and thought of Man as the basic material of understanding and virtue for Reason to adorn and to harmonize, and some have declared the Mind to be a place for the assembling of forms and for the impression of concepts, as it were.
[De Is. et Os. 59] Some think the seed of Woman is not a power or origin, but only material and nurture of generation. To this thought we should cling fast and conceive that this Goddess also who participates always with the first God and is associated with him in the love of the fair and lovely things about him is not opposed to him, 375 but, just as we say that an honourable and just man is in love if his relations are just, and a good woman who has a husband and consorts with him we say yearns for him; thus we may conceive of her as always clinging close to him and being importunate over him and constantly filled with the most dominant and purest principles. 59 1 But where Typhon forces his way in and seizes upon the outermost areas, there we may conceive of her as seeming sad, and spoken of as mourning, and that she seeks for the remains and scattered members of Osiris and arrays them, receiving and hiding away the things perishable, bfrom which she brings to light again the things that are created and sends them forth from herself.
[De Is. et Os. 59b] The relations and forms and effluxes of the god abide in the heavens and in the stars; but those things that are distributed in susceptible elements, earth and sea and plants and animals, suffer dissolution and destruction and burial, and oftentimes again shine forth and appear again in their generations. For this reason the fable has it that Typhon cohabits with Nephthys and that Osiris has secret relations with her; for the destructive power exercises special dominion over the outermost part of matter which they call Nephthys or Finality. But the creating and conserving power distributes to this only a weak and feeble seed, which is destroyed by Typhon, except so much as Isis takes up and preserves and fosters and makes firm and strong.
[De Is. et Os. 60] 60 1 In general this god is the better, as both Plato and Aristotle conceive. The creative and conserving element of Nature moves toward him and toward existence while the annihilating and destructive moves away from him towards non-existence. For this reason they call Isis by a name derived from “hastening” (hiemai) with understanding, or being borne onward (pheromai), since she is an animate and intelligent movement; for the name is not a foreign name, but, just as all the gods have a name in common derived from two words, “visible” (theaton) and “rushing” (theon), din the same way this goddess, from her understanding and her movement, we call her Isis and the Egyptians call her Isis. So also Plato says that the men of ancient times made clear the meaning of “essence” (ousia) by calling it “sense” (isia). So also he speaks of the intelligence and understanding as being a carrying and movement of mind hasting and being carried onward; and also comprehension and good and virtue they attribute to those things which are ever flowing and in rapid motion, just as again, on the other hand, by means of antithetical names they vilified evil; for example, that which hinders and binds fast and holds and checks Nature from hasting and going they called baseness, or “ill-going” (kak-ia), and helplessness or “difficulty of going” (apor-ia), and cowardice or “fear of going” (deil-ia), and distress or “not going” (an-ia).
[De Is. et Os. 61] 61 1 Osiris has a name made up from “holy” (hosion) and “sacred” (hieron); for he is the combined relation of the things in the heavens and in the lower world, the former of which it was customary for people of olden time to call sacred and the latter to call holy. But the relation which discloses the things in the heavens and belongs to the things which tend upward is sometimes named Anubis and sometimes Hermanubis as belonging in part to the things above and in part to the things below. For this reason they sacrifice to him on the one hand a white cock and on the other hand one of saffron colour, regarding the former things as simple and clear, and the others as combined and variable.
[De Is. et Os. 61b] There is no occasion to be surprised at the revamping of these words into Greek. The fact is that countless other words went forth in company with those who migrated from Greece, and persist even to this day as strangers in strange lands; fand, when the poetic art would recall some of these into use, those who speak of such words as strange or unusual falsely accuse it of using barbarisms. Moreover, they record that in the so called books of Hermes it is written in regard to the sacred names that they call the power which is assigned to direct the revolution of the Sun Horus, but the Greeks call it Apollo; and the power assigned to the wind some call Osiris and others Serapis; 376 and Sothis in Egyptian signifies “pregnancy” (cyesis) or “to be pregnant” (cyein): therefore in Greek, with a change of accent, the star is called the Dog-star (Cyon), which they regard as the special star of Isis. Least of all is there any need of being very eager in learning about these names. However, I would rather make a concession to the Egyptians in regard to Serapis than in regard to Osiris; for I regard Serapis as foreign, but Osiris as Greek, and both as belonging to one god and one power.
[De Is. et Os. 62] 62 1 Like these also are the Egyptian beliefs; for they oftentimes call Isis by the name of Athena, expressive of some such idea as this, “I came of myself,” which is indicative of self-impelled motion. Typhon, as has been said, is named Seth and Bebon and Smu, and these names would indicate some forcible and preventive check or opposition or reversal.
[De Is. et Os. 62b] Moreover, they call the loadstone the bone of Horus, and iron the bone of Typhon, as Manetho records. For, as the iron oftentimes acts as if it were being attracted and drawn toward the stone, and oftentimes is rejected and repelled in the opposite direction, in the same way the salutary and good and rational movement of the world at one time, by persuasion, attracts and draws toward itself and renders more gentle that harsh and Typhonian movement, and then again it gathers itself together and reverses it and plunges it into difficulties.
[De Is. et Os. 62c] Moreover, Eudoxus says that the Egyptians have a mythical tradition in regard to Zeus that, because his legs were grown together, he was not able to walk, and so, for shame, tarried in the wilderness; but Isis, by severing and separating those parts of his body, provided him with means of rapid progress. This fable teaches by its legend that the mind and reason of the god, fixed amid the unseen and invisible, advanced to generation by means of motion.
[De Is. et Os. 63] 63 1 The sistrum (rattle) also makes it clear that all things in existence need to be shaken, or rattled about, and never to cease from motion but, as it were, to be waked up and agitated when they grow drowsy and torpid. They say that they avert and repel Typhon by means of the sistrums, indicating thereby that when destruction constricts and checks Nature, generation releases and arouses it by means of motion.
[De Is. et Os. 63b] The upper part of the sistrum is circular and its circumference contains the four things that are shaken; for that part of the world which undergoes reproduction and destruction is contained underneath the orb of the moon, and all things in it are subjected to motion and to change through the four elements: fire, earth, water, and air. At the top of the circumference of the sistrum they construct the figure of a cat with a human face, and at the bottom, below the things that are shaken, the face of Isis on one side, and on the other the face of Nephthys. By these faces they symbolize birth and death, for these are the changes and movements of the elements; and by the cat they symbolize the moon because of the varied colouring, nocturnal activity, and fecundity of the animal. For the cat is said to bring forth first one, then two and three and four and five, thus increasing the number by one until she reaches seven, so that she brings forth in all twenty-eight, the number also of the moon’s illuminations. Perhaps, however, this may seem somewhat mythical. But the pupils in the eye of the cat appear to grow large and round at the time of the full moon, and to become thin and narrow at the time of the wanings of that heavenly body. By the human features of the cat is indicated the intelligence and the reason that guides the changes of the moon.
[De Is. et Os. 64] 64 1 To put the matter briefly, it is not right to believe that water or the sun or the earth or the sky is Osiris or Isis; or again that fire or drought or the sea is Typhon, but simply if we attribute to Typhon whatever there is in these 377 that is immoderate and disordered by reason of excesses or defects; and if we revere and honour what is orderly and good and beneficial as the work of Isis and as the image and reflection and reason of Osiris, we shall not be wrong. Moreover, we shall put a stop to the incredulity of Eudoxus and his questionings how it is that Demeter has no share in the supervision of love affairs, but Isis has; and the fact that Dionysus cannot cause the Nile to rise, nor rule over the dead. For by one general process of reasoning do we come to the conclusion that these gods have been assigned to preside over every portion of what is good; and whatever there is in nature that is fair and good exists entirely because of them, inasmuch as Osiris contributes the origins, and Isis receives them band distributes them.
[De Is. et Os. 65] 65 1 In this way we shall undertake to deal with the numerous and tiresome people, whether they be such as take pleasure in associating theological problems with the seasonal changes in the surrounding atmosphere, or with the growth of the crops and seed-times and ploughing; and also those who say that Osiris is being buried at the time when the grain is sown and covered in the earth and that he comes to life and reappears when plants begin to sprout. For this reason also it is said that Isis, when she perceived that she was pregnant, put upon herself an amulet on the sixth day of the month Phaophi; and about the time of the winter solstice she gave birth to Harpocrates, cimperfect and premature, amid the early flowers and shoots. For this reason they bring to him as an offering the first-fruits of growing lentils, and the days of his birth they celebrate after the spring equinox. When the people hear these things, they are satisfied with them and believe them, deducing the plausible explanation directly from what is obvious and familiar.
[De Is. et Os. 66] 66 1 And there is nothing to fear if, in the first place, they preserve for us our gods that are common to both peoples and do not make them to belong to the Egyptians only, and do not include under these names the Nile alone and the land which the Nile waters, and do not assert that the marshes and the lotus are the only work of God’s hand, and if they do not deny the great gods to the rest of mankind that possess no Nile nor Buto nor Memphis. But as for Isis, and the gods associated with her, all peoples own them and are familiar with them, although they have learned not so very long ago to call some of them by the names which come from the Egyptians; yet they have from the beginning understood and honoured the power which belongs to each one of them.
[De Is. et Os. 66b] In the second place, and this is a matter of greater importance, they should exercise especial heed and caution lest they unwittingly erase and dissipate things divine into winds and streams and sowings and ploughings, developments of the earth and changes of the seasons, as do those who regard wine as Dionysus and flame as Hephaestus. And Cleanthes says somewhere that the breath of air which is carried (pheromenon) through the crops and then suffers dissolution (phoneuomenon) is Phersephone; and a certain poet has written with reference to the reapers,
[De Is. et Os. 66c] Then when the sturdy youth come to sever the limbs of Demeter.
[De Is. et Os. 66d] The fact is that these persons do not differ at all from those who regard sails and ropes and anchor as a pilot, warp and woof as a weaver, a cup or an honey mixture or barley gruel as a physician. But they create in men fearful atheistic opinions by conferring the names of gods upon natural objects which are senseless and inanimate, and are of necessity destroyed by men when they need to use them.
[De Is. et Os. 67] It is impossible to conceive of these things as being gods in themselves; f 67 for God is not senseless nor inanimate nor subject to human control. As a result of this we have come to regard as gods those who make use of these things and present them to us and provide us with things everlasting and constant. Nor do we think of the gods as different gods among different peoples, nor as barbarian gods and Greek gods, nor as southern and northern gods; but, just as the sun and the moon and the heavens and the earth and the sea are common to all, but are called by different names by different peoples, so for that one rationality which keeps all these things in order 378 and the one Providence which watches over them and the ancillary powers that are set over all, there have arisen among different peoples, in accordance with their customs, different honours and appellations. Thus men make use of consecrated symbols, some employing symbols that are obscure, but others those that are clearer, in guiding the intelligence toward things divine, though not without a certain hazard. For some go completely astray and become engulfed in superstition; and others, while they fly from superstition as from a quagmire, on the other hand unwittingly fall, as it were, over a precipice into atheism.
[De Is. et Os. 68] 378 68 Wherefore in the study of these matters it is especially necessary that we adopt, as our guide in these mysteries, the reasoning that comes from philosophy, and consider reverently beach one of the things that are said and done, so that, to quote Theodorus, who said that while he offered the good word with his right hand some of his auditors received it in their left, we may not thus err by accepting in a different spirit the things that the laws have dictated admirably concerning the sacrifices and festivals. The fact that everything is to be referred to reason we may gather from the Egyptians themselves; for on the nineteenth day of the first month, when they are holding festival in honour of Hermes, they eat honey and a fig; and as they eat they say, “A sweet thing is Truth.” The amulet of Isis, which they traditionally assert that she hung about her neck, is interpreted “a true voice.” And Harpocrates is not to be regarded as an imperfect and an infant god, nor some deity or other that protects legumes, but as the representative and corrector of unseasoned, imperfect, and inarticulate reasoning about the gods among mankind. For this reason he keeps his finger on his lips in token of restrained speech or silence. In the month of Mesorê they bring to him an offering of legumes and say, “The tongue is luck, the tongue is god.” Of the plants in Egypt they say that the persea is especially consecrated to the goddess because its fruit resembles a heart and its leaf a tongue. The fact is that nothing of man’s usual possessions is more divine than reasoning, especially reasoning about the gods; and nothing has a greater influence toward happiness. For this reason we give instructions to anyone who comes down to the oracle here to think holy thoughts and to speak words of good omen. But the mass of mankind act ridiculously in their processions and festivals in that they proclaim at the outset the use of words of good omen, but later they both say and think the most unhallowed thoughts about the very gods.
[De Is. et Os. 69] 69 1 How, then, are we to deal with their gloomy, solemn, and mournful sacrifices, if it be not proper either to omit the customary ceremonials or to confound and confuse our opinions about the gods by unwarranted suspicions? Among the Greeks also many things are done which are similar to the Egyptian ceremonies in the shrines of Isis, and they do them at about the same time. At Athens the women fast at the Thesmophoria sitting upon the ground; and the Boeotians move the halls of the Goddess of Sorrow and name that festival the Festival of Sorrow, since Demeter is in sorrow because of her Daughter’s descent to Pluto’s realm. This month, in the season of the Pleiades, is the month of seeding which the Egyptians call Athyr, the Athenians Pyanepsion, and the Boeotians Damatrius. Theopompus records that the people who live toward the west believe that the winter is Cronus, the summer Aphroditê, and the spring Persephonê, and that they call them by these names and believe that from Cronus and Aphroditê all things have their origin. The Phrygians, believing that the god is asleep in the winter and awake in the summer, sing lullabies for him in the winter and in the summer chants to arouse him, after the manner of bacchic worshippers. The Paphlagonians assert that in the spring he bestirs himself and sets himself free again.
[De Is. et Os. 70] 70 1 The season of the year also gives us a suspicion that this gloominess is brought about because of the disappearance from our sight of the crops and fruits that people in days of old did not regard as gods, but as necessary and important contributions of the gods toward the avoidance of a savage and a bestial life. 379 At the time of year when they saw some of the fruits vanishing and disappearing completely from the trees, while they themselves were sowing others in a mean and poverty-stricken fashion still, scraping away the earth with their hands and again replacing it, committing the seeds to the ground with uncertain expectation of their ever appearing again or coming to fruition, they did many things like persons at a funeral in mourning for their dead. Then again, even as we speak of the man who buys the books of Plato as “buying Plato,” and of the man who represents the poems of Menander as “acting Menander,” even so those men of old did not refrain from calling by the names of the gods the gifts and creations of the gods, bhonouring and venerating them because of the need which they had for them. The men of later times accepted this blindly, and in their ignorance referred to the gods the behaviour of the crops and the presence and disappearance of necessities, not only calling them the births and deaths of the gods, but even believing that they are so; and thus they filled the minds with absurd, unwarranted, and confused opinions although they had before their eyes the absurdity of such illogical reasoning. Rightly did Xenophanes of Colophon insist that the Egyptians, cif they believed them to be gods, should not lament them; but if they lamented them, they should not believe them to be gods. Is it anything but ridiculous amid their lamentations to pray that the powers may cause their crops to sprout again and bring them to perfection in order that they again be consumed and lamented? 71 1 This is not quite the case: but they do lament for their crops and they do pray to the gods, who are the authors and givers, that they produce and cause to grow afresh other new crops to take the place of those that are undergoing destruction. Hence it is an excellent saying current among philosophers that they that have not learned to interpret rightly the sense of words are wont to bungle their actions. For example, there are some among the Greeks who have not learned nor habituated themselves to speak of the bronze, the painted, and the stone effigies as statues of the gods and dedications in their honour, but they call them gods; and then they have the effrontery to say that Lachares stripped Athena, that Dionysius sheared Apollo of the golden locks, and that Jupiter Capitolinus was burned and destroyed in the Civil War, and thus they unwittingly take over and accept the vicious opinions that are the concomitants of these names.
[De Is. et Os. 70b] This has been to no small degree the experience of the Egyptians in regard to those animals that are held in honour. In these matters the Greeks are correct in saying and believing that the dove is the sacred bird of Aphroditê, that the serpent is sacred to Athena, the raven to Apollo, and the dog to Artemis — as Euripides says,
[De Is. et Os. 70c] Dog you shall be, pet of bright Hecatê.
[De Is. et Os. 70d] But the great majority of the Egyptians, in doing service to the animals themselves and in treating them as gods, have not only filled their sacred offices with ridicule and derision, but this is the least of the evils connected with their silly practices. There is engendered a dangerous belief, which plunges the weak and innocent into sheer superstition, and in the case of the more cynical and bold, goes off into atheistic and brutish reasoning. Wherefore it is not inappropriate to rehearse in some detail what seem to be the facts in these matters.
[De Is. et Os. 72] 72 1 The notion that the gods, in fear of Typhon, changed themselves into these animals, fconcealing themselves, as it were, in the bodies of ibises, dogs, and hawks, is a play of fancy surpassing all the wealth of monstrous fable. The further notion that as many of the souls of the dead as continue to exist are reborn into these animals only is likewise incredible. Of those who desire to assign to this some political reason some relate that Osiris, on his great expedition, divided his forces into many parts, which the Greeks call squads and companies, and to them all he gave standards in the form of animals, 380 each of which came to be regarded as sacred and precious by the descendants of them who had shared in the assignment. Others relate that the later kings, to strike their enemies with terror, appeared in battle after putting on gold and silver masks of wild beasts’ heads. Others record that one of these crafty and unscrupulous kings, having observed that the Egyptians were by nature light-minded and readily inclined to change and novelty, but that, because of their numbers, they had a strength that was invincible and very difficult to check when they were in their sober senses and acted in concert, communicated to them and planted among them an everlasting superstition, a ground for unceasing quarrelling. For he enjoined on different peoples to honour and revere different animals; and inasmuch as these animals conducted themselves with enmity and hostility toward one another, one by its nature desiring one kind of food and another another, the several peoples were ever defending their own animals, and were much offended if these animals suffered injury, and thus they were drawn on unwittingly by the enmities of the animals until they were brought into open hostility with one another. Even to day the inhabitants of Lycopolis are the only people among the Egyptians that eat a sheep; for the wolf, whom they hold to be a god, also eats it. And in my day the people of Oxyrhynchus caught a dog and sacrificed it and ate it up as if it had been sacrificial meat, because the people of Cynopolis were eating fish known as the oxyrhynchus or pike. As a result of this they became involved in war and inflicted much harm upon each other; and later they were both brought to order through chastisement by the Romans.
[De Is. et Os. 73] 73 1 Many relatea that the soul of Typhon himself was divided among these animals. The legend would seem to intimate that all irrational and brutish nature belongs to the portion of the evil deity, and in trying to soothe and appease him they lavish attention and care upon these animals. If there befall a great and severe drought that brings on in excess either fatal diseases or other unwonted and extraordinary calamities, the priests, under cover of darkness, in silence and stealth, lead away some of the animals that are held in honour; and at first they but threaten and terrify the animals, but if the drought still persists, they consecrate and sacrifice them, as if, forsooth, this were a means of punishing the deity, or at least a mighty rite of purification in matters of the highest importance! The fact is that in the city of Eileithiya they used to burn men alive, as Manetho has recorded; they called them Typhonians, and by means of winnowing fans they dissipated and scattered their ashes. But this was performed publicly and at a special time in the dog-days. The consecrations of the animals took place at indeterminate times with reference to the circumstances; and thus they are unknown to the multitude, except when they hold the animals’ burials, and then they display some of the other sacred animals and, in presence of all, cast them into the grave together, thinking thus to hurt and to curtail Typhon’s satisfaction. The Apis, together with a few other animals, seems to be sacred to Osiris; but to Typhon they assign the largest number of animals. If this account is true, I think it indicates that the object of our inquiry concerns those which are commonly accepted and whose honours are universal: for example, the ibis, the hawk, the cynocephalus, and the Apis himself, as well as the Mendes, for thus they call the goat in Mendes.
[De Is. et Os. 74] 74 1 There remain, then, their usefulness and their symbolism; of these two, some of the animals share in the one, and many share in both. It is clear that the Egyptians have honoured the cow, the sheep, and the ichneumon because of their need for these animals and their usefulness. Even so the people of Lemnos hold larks in honour because they seek out the eggs of the locust and destroy them; and so the people of Thessaly honour storks, because, when their land produced many snakes, the storks appeared and destroyed them all. For this reason they passed a law that whoever killed a stork should be banished from the country. The Egyptians also honoured the asp, the weasel, and the beetle, since they observed in them certain dim likenesses of the power of the gods, 381 like images of the sun in drops of water. There are still many people who believe and declare that the weasel conceives through its ear and brings forth its young by way of the mouth, and that this is a parallel of the generation of speech. The race of beetles has no female, but all the males eject their sperm into a round pellet of material which they roll up by pushing it from the opposite side, just as the sun seems to turn the heavens in the direction opposite to its own course, which is from west to east. They compare the asp to lightning, bsince it does not grow old and manages to move with ease and suppleness without the use of limbs.
[De Is. et Os. 75] 75 1 The crocodile, certainly, has acquired honour which is not devoid of a plausible reason, but he is declared to be a living representation of God, since he is the only creature without a tongue; for the Divine Word has no need of a voice, and
[De Is. et Os. 75b] through noiseless ways advancing, guides
By Justice all affairs of mortal men.
[De Is. et Os. 75c] They say that the crocodile is the only animal living in the water which has a thin and transparent membrane extending down from his forehead to cover up his eyes, so that he can see without being seen; and this prerogative belongs also unto the First God. In whatever part of the land the female crocodile lays her eggs, well she knows that this is destined to mark the limit of the rise of the Nile; for the females, being unable to lay their eggs in the water and afraid to lay them far from it, have such an accurate perception of the future that they make use of the oncoming river as a guide in laying their eggs and in keeping them warm; and thus they preserve them dry and untouched by the water. They lay sixty eggs and hatch them in the same number of days, and those crocodiles that live longest live that number of years: the number sixty is the first of measures for such persons as concern themselves with the heavenly bodies.
[De Is. et Os. 75d] Of the animals that are held in honour for both reasons, mention has already been made of the dog. The ibis, which kills the deadly creeping things, was the first to teach men the use of medicinal purgations when they observed her employing clysters and being purged by herself. The most strict of the priests take their lustral water for purification from a place where the ibis has drunk: for she does not drink water if it is unwholesome or tainted, nor will she approach it. By the spreading of her feet, in their relation to each other and to her bill, she makes an equilateral triangle. Moreover the variety and combination of her black feathers with her white picture the moon in its first quarter.
[De Is. et Os. 75e] There is no occasion for surprise that the Egyptians were so taken with such slight resemblances; for the Greeks in their painted and sculptured portrayals of the gods made use of many such. For example, in Crete there was a statue of Zeus having no ears; for it is not fitting for the Ruler and Lord of all to listen to anyone. Beside the statue of Athena Pheidias placed the serpent and in Elis beside the statue of Aphroditê the tortoise, to indicate that maidens need watching, and that for married women staying at home and silence is becoming. The trident of Poseidon is a symbol of the Third Region where the sea holds sway, for it has been assigned to a demesne of less importance than the heavens and the air. For this reason they thus named Amphitritê and the Tritons.
[De Is. et Os. 75f] The Pythagoreans embellished also numbers and figures with the appellations of the gods. The equilateral triangle they called Athena, born from the head and third-born, because it is divided by three perpendiculars drawn from its three angles. The number one they called Apollo because of its rejection of plurality and because of the singleness of unity. The number two they called “Strife,” and “Daring,” and three they called “Justice,” for, although the doing of injustice and suffering from injustice are caused by deficiency and excess, Justice, by reason of its equality, intervenes between the two. 382 The so called sacred quaternion, the number thirty-six, was, so it is famed, the mightiest of oaths, and it has been given the name of “World” since it is made up of the first four even numbers and the first four odd numbers added together.
[De Is. et Os. 76] 76 1 If, then, the most noted of the philosophers, observing the riddle of the Divine in inanimate and incorporeal objects, have not thought it proper to treat anything with carelessness or disrespect, even more do I think that, in all likelihood, we should welcome those peculiar properties existent in natures which possess the power of perception and have a soul and feeling and character. It is not that we should honour these, but that through these we should honour the Divine, since they are clearer mirrors of the Divine by their nature also, so that we should regard them as the instrument or device of the God who orders all things. And in general we must hold it true that nothing inanimate is superior to what is animate, and nothing without the power of perception is superior to that which has that power — no, not even if one should heap together all the gold and emeralds in the world. The Divine is not engendered in colours or in forms or in polished surfaces, but whatsoever things have no share in life, things whose nature does not allow them to share therein, have a portion of less honour than that of the dead. But the nature that lives and sees and has within itself the source of movement and a knowledge of what belongs to it and what belongs to others, has drawn to itself an efflux and portion of beauty from the Intelligence “by which the Universe is guided,” as Heracleitus has it. Wherefore the Divine is no worse represented in these animals than in works of bronze and stone which are alike subject to destruction and disfiguration, and by their nature are void of all perception and comprehension. This, then, is what I most approve in the accounts that are given regarding the animals held in honour.
[De Is. et Os. 77] 77 1 As for the robes, those of Isis are variegated in their colours; for her power is concerned with matter which becomes everything and receives everything, light and darkness, day and night, fire and water, life and death, beginning and end. But the robe of Osiris has no shading or variety in its colour, but only one single colour like to light. For the beginning is combined with nothing else, and that which is primary and conceptual is without admixture; wherefore, when they have once taken off the robe of Osiris, they lay it away and guard it, unseen and untouched. But the robes of Isis they use many times over; for in use those things that are perceptible and ready at hand afford many disclosures of themselves and opportunities to view them as they are changed about in various ways. But the apperception of the conceptual, the pure, and the simple, shining through the soul like a flash of lightning, affords an opportunity to touch and see it but once. For this reason Plato and Aristotle call this part of philosophy the epoptic or mystic part, inasmuch as those who have passed beyond these conjectural and confused matters of all sorts by means of Reason proceed by leaps and bounds to that primary, simple, and immaterial principle; and when they have somehow attained contact with the pure truth abiding about it, they think that they have the whole of philosophy completely, as it were, within their grasp.
[De Is. et Os. 78] 78 1 This idea at the present time the priests intimate with great circumspection in acquitting themselves of this religious secret and in trying to conceal it: that this god Osiris is the ruler and king of the dead, nor is he any other than the god that among the Greeks is called Hades and Pluto. But since it is not understood in which manner this is true, it greatly disturbs the majority of people who suspect that the holy and sacred Osiris truly dwells in the earth and beneath the earth, fwhere are hidden away the bodies of those that are believed to have reached their end. But he himself is far removed from the earth, uncontaminated and unpolluted and pure from all matter that is subject to destruction and death; but for the souls of men here, which are compassed about by bodies and emotions, there is no association with this god except in so far as they may attain to a dim vision of his presence by means of the apperception which philosophy affords. But when these souls are set free and migrate 383 into the realm of the invisible and the unseen, the dispassionate and the pure, then this god becomes their leader and king, since it is on him that they are bound to be dependent in their insatiate contemplation and yearning for that beauty which is for men unutterable and indescribable. With this beauty Isis, as the ancient story declares, is for ever enamoured and pursues it and consorts with it and fills our earth here with all things fair and good that partake of generation.
[De Is. et Os. 79] This which I have thus far set forth comprises that account which is most befitting the gods. 79 1 If, as I have promised, I must now speak of the offerings of incense which are made each day, one should first consider that bthis people always lays the very greatest stress upon those practices which are conducive to health. Especially in their sacred services and holy living and strict regimen the element of health is no less important than that of piety. For they did not deem it proper to serve that which is pure and in all ways unblemished and unpolluted with either bodies or souls that were unhealthy and diseased. Since, then, the air, of which we make the greatest use and in which we exist, has not always the same consistency and composition, but in the night-time becomes dense and oppresses the body and brings the soul into depression and solicitude, as if it had become befogged and heavy, therefore, immediately upon arising, they burn resin on their altars, revivifying and purifying the air by its dissemination, and fanning into fresh life the languished spirit innate in the body, inasmuch as the odour of resin contains something forceful and stimulating.
[De Is. et Os. 79b] Again at midday, when they perceive that the sun is forcibly attracting a copious and heavy exhalation from the earth and is combining this with the air, they burn myrrh on the altars; for the heat dissolves and scatters the murky and turgid concretions in the surrounding atmosphere. In fact, physicians seem to bring relief to pestilential affections by making a large blazing fire, for this rarefies the air. But the rarefication is more effective if they burn fragrant woods, such as that of the cypress, the juniper, and the pine. At any rate, they say that Acron, the physician in Athens at the time of the great plague, won great repute by prescribing the lighting of a fire beside the sick, and thereby he helped not a few. Aristotle says that fragrant exhalations from perfumes and flowers and meadows are no less conducive to health than to pleasure, inasmuch as by their warmth and lightness they gently relax the brain, which is by nature cold and frigid. If it is true that among the Egyptians they call myrrh “bal,” and that this being interpreted has the particular meaning “the dissipation of repletion,” then this adds some testimony to our account of the reason for its use.
[De Is. et Os. 80] 80 1 Cyphi is a compound composed of sixteen ingredients: honey, wine, raisins, cyperus, resin, myrrh, aspalathus, seselis, mastich, bitumen, rush, sorrel, and in addition to these both the junipers, of which they call one the larger and one the smaller, cardamum, and calamus. These are compounded, not at random, but while the sacred writings are being read to the perfumers as they mix the ingredients. As for this number, even if it appears quite clear that it is the square of a square and is the only one of the numbers forming a square that has its perimeter equal to its area, and deserves to be admired for this reason, yet it must be said that its contribution to the topic under discussion is very slight. Most of the materials that are taken into this compound, inasmuch as they have aromatic properties, give forth a sweet emanation and a beneficent exhalation, by which the air is changed, and the body, being moved gently and softly by the current, acquires a temperament conducive to sleep; and the distress and strain of our daily carking cares, as if they were knots, these exhalations relax and loosen without the aid of wine. 384 The imaginative faculty that is susceptible to dreams it brightens like a mirror, and makes it clearer no less effectively than did the notes of the lyre which the Pythagoreans used to employ before sleeping as a charm and a cure for the emotional and irrational in the soul. It is a fact that stimulating odours often recall the failing powers of sensation, and often again lull and quiet them when their emanations are diffused in the body by virtue of their ethereal qualities; even as some physicians state that sleep supervenes when the volatile portion of our food, gently permeating the digestive tract and coming into close contact with it, bproduces a species of titillation.
[De Is. et Os. 80b] They use cyphi as both a potion and a salve; for taken internally it seems to cleanse properly the internal organs, since it is an emollient. Apart from this, resin and myrrh result from the action of the sun when the trees exude them in response to the heat. Of the ingredients which compose cyphi, there are some which delight more in the night, that is, those which are wont to thrive in cold winds and shadows and dews and dampness. For the light of day is single and simple, and Pindar says that the sun is seen “through the deserted aether.” But the air at night is a composite mixture made up of many lights and forces, even as though seeds from every star were showered down into one place. Very appropriately, therefore, they burn resin and myrrh in the daytime, for these are simple substances and have their origin from the sun; but the cyphi, since it is compounded of ingredients of all sorts of qualities, they offer at nightfall.

## The E at Delphi

(In the Pronaos of the temple at Delphi the visitor was confronted by certain inscriptions (γράμματα): ‘Know thyself’— ‘Nothing too much’— ‘Go bail and woe is at hand’ — all exhortations to wisdom or prudence (Plato, Charmides, 163-4). To these is to be added, on the sole authority of Plutarch’s Dialogue, the letter E, pronounced EI.)
THE SPEAKERS
AMMONIUS, the Platonist philosopher, Plutarch’s teacher.LAMPRIAS, Plutarch’s brother.PLUTARCH.THEON, a literary friend.EUSTROPHUS, an Athenian.NICANDER, a priest of the temple.
[De E 1] I. a day or two ago, dear Serapion, I met with some rather good lines, addressed, Dicaearchus thinks, to Archelaus by Euripides:
[De E 1b] No gifts, my wealthy friend, from humble me;You’ll think me fool, or think I did but beg.
[De E 1c] He who out of his narrow store offers trifles to men of great possessions, confers no favour; no one believes that he gives something for nothing, and he gets credit for a jealous and ungenerous temper. Now surely as money presents fall far below those of literature and learning, so there is beauty in giving these, and beauty in claiming a return in kind. At any rate, I am sending to you, and so to my friends down there, some of our Pythian Dialogues, as a sort of first-fruits; and in doing so, confess that I expect others from you, and more and better ones, since you enjoy a great city and abundant leisure, with many books and discussions of every sort. Well, then, our kind Apollo, in the oracles which he gives his consultants, seems to solve the problems of life and to find a remedy, while problems of the intellect he actually suggests and propounds to the born love of wisdom in the soul, thus implanting an appetite which leads to truth. Among other instances, this is made clear as to the consecration of the letter ‘E’. We may well guess that it was not by chance, or by lot, that, along among the letters, it received pre-eminence in the God’s house, and took rank as a sacred offering and a show object. No, the officials of the God in early times, when they came to speculate, either saw in it a special and extraordinary virtue, or found it a symbol for something else of serious importance, and so adopted it. I had often myself avoided the question and quietly declined it when raised in the school. However, I was lately surprised by my sons in earnest discussion with certain strangers, who were just starting from Delphi; it was not decent to put them off with excuses, they were so anxious to receive some account. We sat down near the temple, and I began to raise questions with myself, and to put others to them; and the place, and what they said, reminded me of a discussion which we heard a long time ago from Ammonius and others, at the time of Nero’s visit, when the same problem had been stated in the same way.
[De E 2] II. That the God is no less philosopher than he is prophet appeared to all to come out directly from the exposition which Ammonius gives us of each of his names. He is ‘Pythian’ (The Inquirer) to those who are beginning to learn and to inquire; ‘Delian’ (The Clear One) and ‘Phanaean’ to those who are already getting something clear and a glimmering of the truth; ‘Ismenian’ (The Knowing) to those who possess the knowledge; ‘Leschenorian’ (God of Discourse) when they are in active enjoyment of dialectical and philosophic intercourse. ‘Now since,’ he continued, ‘Philosophy embraces inquiry, wonder, and doubt, it seems natural that most of the things relating to the God should have been hidden away in riddles, and should require some account of their purpose, and an explanation of the cause. For instance, in the case of the undying fire, why the only woods used here are pine for burning and laurel for fumigation; again, why two Fates are here installed, whereas their number is everywhere else taken as three; why no woman is allowed to approach the place of the oracles; questions about the tripod, and the rest. These problems when suggested to persons not altogether wanting in reason and soul, lure them on, and challenge them to inquire, to listen, and to discuss. Look again at those inscriptions, KNOW THYSELF and NOTHING TOO MUCH; how many philosophic inquiries have they provoked! What a multitude of arguments has sprung up out of each, as from a seed! Not one of them I think is more fruitful in this way than the subject of our present inquiry.’
[De E 3] III. When Ammonius had said this, my brother Lamprias spoke: ‘After all, the account which we have heard of the matter is simple enough and quite short. They say that the famous Wise Men, also called by some “Sophists”, were properly only five, Chilon, Thales, Solon, Bias, and Pittacus. But Cleobulus, tyrant of Lindos, and, later on, Periander of Corinth, men with no wisdom or virtue in them, but forcing public opinion by influence, friends, and favours, thrust themselves into the list of the wise, and disseminated through Greece maxims and sayings resembling the utterances of the five. Then the five were vexed, but did not choose to expose the imposture, or to have an open quarrel on the matter of title, and to fight it out with such powerful persons. They met here by themselves; and after discussing the matter, dedicated the letter which is fifth in the alphabet, and also as a number signifies five, thus making their own protest before the God, that they were five, discarding and rejecting the seventh and the sixth, as having no part or lot with themselves. That this account is not beside the mark may be recognized by any one who has heard the officials of the temple naming the golden “E” as that of Livia the wife of Cæsar, the brazen one as that of the Athenians, whereas the original and oldest letter, which is of wood, is to this day called that “Of the Wise Men”, as having been offered of all in common, not of any one of them.’
[De E 4] IV. Ammonius gave a quiet smile; he had a suspicion that Lamprias had been giving us a view of his own, making up history and legend at discretion. Some one else said that it was like the nonsense which they had heard from the Chaldæan stranger a day or so before; that there were seven letters which were vowels, seven stars that have an independent motion and are unattached to the heavens; moreover that ‘E’ is the second vowel from the beginning, and the sun the second planet, after the moon, and that all Greeks, or nearly all, identify Apollo with the sun.
[De E 4b] ‘But all that’, he said, ‘is pernicious nonsense. Lamprias, however, has, probably without knowing it, made a move which stirs up all who have to do with the temple against his view. What he told us was unknown to any of the Delphians; they used to give the regular guides’ account, that neither the appearance nor the sound of the letter has any significance, but only the name.’
[De E 5] V. ‘No, the Delphic Officials’, said Nicander the priest, speaking for them, ‘believe that it is a vehicle, a form assumed by the petition addressed to the God; it has a leading place in the questions of those who consult him, and inquire, If they shall conquer; If they shall marry; If it is advisable to sail; If to farm; If to travel. The God in his wisdom would bow out the dialecticians when they think that nothing practical comes of the “If” part with its clause attached; he admits as practical, in his sense of the word, all questions so attached. Then, since it is our personal concern to question him as prophet, but a general concern to pray to him as God, they hold that the letter embraces the virtue of prayer no less than that of inquiry; “O, If I might!” says every one who prays, as Archiolochus,
[De E 5b] If it might be mine, prevailing, Neobule’s hand to touch!
[De E 5c] When If-so-be is used, the latter part is dragged in (compare Sophron’s “Bereaved of children, I trow”, or Homer’s “As I will break thy might, I trow”). But If gives the sense of prayer sufficiently.’
[De E 6] VI. When Nicander had finished, our friend Theon, whom I am sure you know, asked Ammonius whether Dialectic might speak freely, after the insulting remarks to which she had been treated. Ammonius told him to speak out on her behalf. ‘That the God is a master of Dialectic,’ Theon said, ‘is shown clearly by most of his oracles; for you will grant that the solution of puzzles belongs to the same person as their invention. Again, as Plato used to say, when a response was given that the altar at Delos should be doubled, a matter requiring the most advanced geometry, the God was not merely enjoining this, but was also putting his strong command upon the Greeks to practice geometry. Just so, when the God puts out ambiguous oracles, he is exalting and establishing Dialectic, as essential to the right understanding of himself. You will grant again, that in Dialectic this conjunctive particle has great force, because it formulates the most logical of all sentences. This is certainly the “conjunctive”, seeing that the other animals know the existence of things, but man alone has been gifted by nature with the power of observing and discerning their sequence. That “it is day” and “it is light” we may take it that wolves and dogs and birds perceive. But “if it is day it is light”, is intelligible only to man; he alone can apprehend antecedent and consequent, the enunciation of each and their connexion, their mutual relation and difference, and it is in these that all demonstration has its first and governing principle. Since then Philosophy is concerned with truth, and the light of truth is demonstration, and the principle of demonstration is the conjunctive proposition, the faculty which includes and produces this was rightly consecrated by the wise men to that God who is above all things a lover of truth. Also, the God is a prophet, and prophetic art deals with that future which is to come out of things present or things past. Nothing comes into being without a cause, nothing is known beforehand without a reason. Things which come into being follow things which have been, things which are to be follow things which now are coming into being, all bound in one continuous chain of evolution. Therefore he who knows how to link causes together into one, and combine them into a natural process, can also declare beforehand things
[De E 6b] Which are, which shall be, and which were of old.
[De E 6c] Homer did well in putting the present first, the future next, and the past last. Inference starts with the present, and works by the force of the conjunction: “If this is, that was its antecedent”, “If this is, that will be”. As we have said, the technical and logical requirement is knowledge of consequence; sense supplies the minor premiss. Hence, though it may perhaps seem a petty thing to say, I will not shrink from it; the real tripod of truth is the logical process which assumes the relation of consequent to antecedent, then introduces the fact, and so establishes the conclusion. If the Pythian God really finds pleasure in music, and in the voices of swans, and the tones of the lyre, what wonder is it that as a friend to Dialectic, he should welcome and love that part of speech which he sees philosophers use more, and more often, than any other. So Hercules, when he had not yet loosed Prometheus, nor yet conversed with the sophists Chiron and Atlas, but was young and just a Boeotian, first abolished Dialectic, made a mock at the “If the first then the second”, and bethought him to remove the tripod by force, and to try conclusions with the God for his art. At any rate, as time went on, he also appears to have become a great prophet and a great dialectician.’
[De E 7] VII. When Theon had done, I think it was Eustrophus of Athens who addressed us: ‘Do you see with what a will Theon backs Dialectic? He has only to put on the lion’s skin! Now then for you who put down under number all things in one mass, all natures and principles divine as well as human, and take it to be leader and lord in all that is beautiful and honourable! It is n time for you to keep quiet; offer to the god a first-fruits of your dear Mathematics, if you think that “E” rises above the other letters, not in its own right by power or shape, or by its meaning as a word, but as the honoured symbol of an absolutely great and sovereign number, the “Pempad”, from which the Wise Men took their verb “to count”. Eustrophus was not jesting when he said this to us; he said it because I was at the time passionately devoted to Mathematics, though soon to find the value of the maxim, ‘NOTHING TOO MUCH’, having joined the Academy.
[De E 8] VIII. So I said that Eustrophus’ solution of the problem by number was excellent. ‘For since,’ I continued, ‘when all number is divided into even and odd, unity alone is in its effect common to both, and therefore, if added to an odd number makes it even, and vice versa; and since even numbers start with two, odd numbers with three, and five is produced by combination of these, it has rightly received honour as the product of first principles, and it has further been called “Marriage”, because even resembles the female, odd the male. For when we divide the several numbers into equal segments, the even parts asunder perfectly, and leaves inside a sort of recipient principle or space; if the odd is treated the same way, a middle part is always left over, which is generative. Hence the odd is the more generative, and when brought into combination invariably prevails; in no combination does it give an even result, but in all cases an odd. Moreover, when each is applied to itself and added, the difference is shown. Even with even never gives odd, or passes out of its proper nature; it wants the strength to produce anything different. Odd numbers with odd yield even numbers in plenty because of their unfailing fertility. The other powers of numbers and their distinctions cannot be now pursued in detail. However, the Pythagoreans called five “Marriage”, as produced by the union of the first male number and the first female. From another point of view it has been called “Nature”, because when multiplied into itself it ends at last in itself. For as Nature takes a grain of wheat, and in the intermediate stages of growth gives forms and shapes in abundance, through which she brings her work to perfection, and, after them all, shows us again a grain of wheat, thus restoring the beginning in the end of the whole process, so it is with numbers. When other numbers are multiplied into themselves they end in different numbers after being squared; only those formed of five or six recover and preserve themselves every time. Thus six times six gives thirty-six, five times five twenty-five. And again, a number formed of six does this only once, in the single case of being squared. Five has the same property in multiplication, and also a special property of its own when added to itself; it produces alternately itself or ten, and that to infinity. For this number mimics the principle which orders all things. As Heraclitus tells us that Nature successively produces the universe out of herself and herself out of the universe, bartering “fire for things and things for fire, as goods for gold and gold for goods”, even so it is with the Pempad. In union with itself, it does not by its nature produce anything imperfect or foreign. All its changes are defined; it either produces itself or the Decad, either the homogeneous or the perfect.
[De E 9] IX. ‘Then if any one ask “What is all this to Apollo?” Much, we will answer, not to Apollo only but also to Dionysus, who has no less to do with Delphi than has Apollo. Now we hear theologians saying or singing, in poems or in plain prose, that the God subsists indestructible and eternal, and that, by force of some appointed plan and method, he passes through changes of his person; at one time he sets fire to Nature and so makes all like unto all, at another passes through all phases of difference — shapes, sufferings, powers — at the present time, for instance, he becomes “Cosmos”, and that is his most familiar name. The wiser people disguise from the vulgar the change into fire, and call him “Apollo” from his isolation, “Phoebus” from his undefiled purity. As for his passage and distribution into waves and water, and earth, and stars, and nascent plants and animals, they hint at the actual change undergone as a rending and dismemberment, but name the God himself Dionysus or Zagreus or Nyctelius or Isodaites. Deaths too and vanishings do they construct, passages out of life and new births, all riddles and tales to match the changes mentioned. So they sing to Dionysus dithyrambic strains, charged with sufferings and a change wherein are wanderings and dismemberment. For Aeschylus says:
[De E 9b] In mingled cries the dithyramb should ring, With Dionysus revelling, its King.
[De E 9c] ‘But Apollo has the Pæan, a set and sober music. Apollo is ever ageless and young; Dionysus has many forms and many shapes as represented in paintings and sculpture, which attribute to Apollo smoothness and order and a gravity with no admixture, to Dionysus a blend of sport and sauciness with seriousness and frenzy:
[De E 9d] God that sett’st maiden’s blood Dancing in frenzied mood, Blooming with pageantry! Evoe! we cry
[De E 9e] ‘So do they summon him, rightly catching the character of either change. But since the periods of change are not equal, that called “satiety” being longer, that of “stint” shorter, they here preserve a proportion, and use the Pæan with their sacrifice for the rest of the year, but at the beginning of winter revive the dithyramb, and stop the Pæan, and invoke this God instead of the other, supposing that this ratio of three to one is that of the “Arrangement” to the “Conflagration”.
[De E 10] X. ‘But perhaps this has been drawn out at too great length for the present opportunity. This much is clear, that they do associate the pempad with the God, as it now produces its own self like fire, and again produces the Decad out of itself like the universe. Now take music, which the God favours so highly: are we not to suppose that this number has its share here?
[De E 10b] ‘Most of the science of harmonies, to put it in a word, is concerned with consonances. That these are five and no more is proved by reason, as against the man who is all for strings and holes, and wants to explore these points irrationally by the senses: they all have their origin in numerical ratios. The ratio of the fourth is four to three, of the fifth three to two, of the octave two to one, of the octave and fifth three to one, of the double octave four to one. The additional consonance which writers of harmony introduce under the name of octave and fourth, does not merit admission, being extra-metrical; to admit it would be to indulge the irrational side of our sense of hearing, and to violate reason, or law. Passing by then five arrangements of tetrachords, and the first five “tones”, or “tropes”, or “harmonies”, whichever name is right, by variations of which, made higher or lower, the remaining scales, high and low, are produced, is it not true that, though intervals are many, indeed infinite, the principles of melody are five only, quarter tone, half tone, tone, tone and a half, double tone? In sounds no other interval of high and low, be it smaller or greater, can be used for melody.
[De E 11] XI. ‘Passing over many similar points, I will’, I said, ‘adduce Plato, who, in discussing the question of a single universe, says that if there are others besides ours, and it is not alone, then the whole number of them is five and no more; not but that, if ours is the only universe in being, as Aristotle also thinks, even this one is in a fashion composite and formed out of five; one of earth, one of water, a third of fire, and a fourth of air, while the fifth is called heaven or light or air, or by others “fifth essence” to which alone of all bodies circular motion is natural, not due to force or other accidental cause. Therefore it is that Plato, observing the five perfect figures of Nature — Pyramid, Cube, Octahedron, Eicosahedron, and Dodecahedron — assigned them to the elements, each to each.
[De E 12] XII. ‘There are some who appropriate to the same elements our own senses, also five in number. Touch, as they see, is resistent and earthy. Taste takes in properties by moisture in the things tasted. Air when struck becomes audible voice or sound. There remain two: smell, the object of our olfactory sense, is an exhalation engendered by heat, and so resembles a fire; sight is akin to air and light, which give it a luminous passage, so there is a commixture of both which is sympathetic. Besides these, the animal has no other sense, and the universe no other substance, which is simple and not blended. A marvellous apportionment of the five to the five!’
[De E 13] Here, I think, I paused, and after an interval I went on: ‘What has happened to us, Eustrophus? We have almost forgotten Homer, as if he had not been the first to divide the universe into five parts, assigning the three in the middle to the extremes, Olympus and earth, one the limit of what is below, the other of what is above. “We must cry back”, as Euripides says. Now those who exalt the number four as the basis of the genesis of every body, make out a fairly good case. For every solid body possesses length, breadth, and depth; but length presupposes a point as an unit; the line is called length without breadth, and is length; the movement of a line in breadth produces a plane surface, and that is three; add depth, and we get to a solid with four factors. Any one can see that the number four carries Nature up to this point, that is, to the formation of a complete body, which may be touched, weighed, or struck; there it has left her, wanting in what is greatest. For that which has no soul is, in plain terms, orphaned and incomplete and fit for nothing, unless it be employed by soul. But the movement or disposition which sets soul therein — a change introducing a fifth factor — restores to Nature her completeness, its rational basis is as much more commanding than that of the Tetrad as the animal is above the inanimate. Further, the symmetry and potency of the whole five prevails, so as not to allow the animate to form classes without limit, but gives five types for all living things. There are Gods, we know, and dæmons, and heroes, and after these, fourth in all, the race of men: fifth, and last, the irrational order of brutes. Again, if you make a natural division of the soul itself, the first and least distinct principle is that of growth; second is that of sense, then comes appetite, then the spirited part; when it has reached the power of reasoning and perfected its nature, it stays at rest in the fifth stage as its upper limit.
[De E 14] XIV. ‘Now as this number five has powers so many and so great, its origin is also noble: not the process already described, out of the numbers two and three, but that given by the combination of the first principle of number with the first square. The first principle is unity, the first square is four; from these as from idea and limited substance, comes five. Or, if it be really correct, as some hold, to reckon unity as a square, being a power of itself and working out to itself, then the Pempad is formed out of the first two squares, and so has not missed noble birth and that the highest.
[De E 15] XV. ‘My most important point’, I went on, ‘may, I fear, bear hardly on Plato, just as he said that Anaxagoras “was hardly used by the name of Selene”, when he had wished to appropriate the theory of her illumination, really a very old one. Are not these Plato’s words, in the Cratylus?’ ‘They certainly are’, said Eustrophus, ‘but I fail to see the resemblance.’ ‘Very well then; you know, I suppose, that in the Sophist he proves that the supreme principles are five: being, identity, difference, and after these, as fourth and fifth, movement and position. But in the Philebus he divides on a different plan. He distinguishes the unlimited and the limited, from whose combination comes the origin of all being. The cause of combination he takes to be a fourth. The fifth, whereby things so mingled are again parted and distinguished, he has left us to guess. I conjecture that those on the one list are figures of those on the other; to being corresponds that which becomes, to motion the unlimited; to position the limited, to identity the combining principle, to difference that which distinguishes. But if the two sets are different, yet, on one view as on the other, there would be five classes, and five modes of difference. Some early inquirer, it will surely be said, saw into this before Plato, and consecrated two “E’s” to the God, as a manifestation and symbol of the number of all things. But further, having perceived that the good also takes shape under five heads, firstly moderation, secondly symmetry, thirdly mind, fourthly the sciences and arts and true opinions which relate to soul, fifthly every pleasure which is pure and unmingled with what causes pain, he there leaves off, merely suggesting the Orphic verse,
[De E 15b] In the sixth order let the strain be stayed!
[De E 16] XVI. ‘Having said so much’, I went on, to you all, I will sing one short stave to Nicander and “his cunning men”.
‘On the sixth day of the new moon, when the Pythia is introduced into Prytaneum by one person, the first of your three castings of lot is a single one, namely the five: the three against the two.’ ‘It is so,’ said Nicander, ‘but the reason may not be disclosed to others.’ ‘Then’, I answered with a smile, ‘until such time as we become priests, and the God allows us to know the truth, this much and no more shall be added to what we have to say about the Pempad.’ Such, so far as I remember, was the end of the arithmetical or mathematical reasons for extolling the letter ‘E’.
[De E 17] XVII. Ammonius, as one who himself gave Mathematics no mean place in Philosophy, was pleased at the course the conversation was taking, and said: ‘It is not worth our while to answer our young friends with too absolute accuracy on these points; I will only observe that any one of the numbers will provide not a few points for those who choose to sing its praises. Why speak about the others? Apollo’s holy “Seven” will take up all one day before we have exhausted its powers. Are we then to show the Seven Wise Men at odds with common usage, and “the time which runs”, and to suppose that they ousted the “Seven” from its pre-eminence before the God, and consecrated the “Five” as perhaps more appropriate?
[De E 17b] ‘My own view is that the letter signifies neither number, nor order, nor conjunction, nor any other omitted part of speech; it is a complete and self-operating mode of addressing the God; the word once spoken brings the speaker into apprehension of his power. The God, as it were, addresses each of us, as he enters, with his “KNOW THYSELF”, which is at least as good as “Hail”. We answer the God back with “EI” (Thou Art), rendering to him the designation which is true and has no lie in it, and alone belongs to him, and to no other, that of BEING.
[De E 18] XVIII. ‘For we have, really, no part in real being; all mortal nature is in a middle state between becoming and perishing, and presents but an appearance, a faint unstable image, of itself. If you strain the intellect, and wish to grasp this, it is as with water; compress it too much and force it violently into one space as it tries to flow through, and you destroy the enveloping substance; even so when the reason tries to follow out too closely the clear truth about each particular thing in a world of phase and change, it is foiled, and rests either on the becoming of that thing or on its perishing; it cannot apprehend anything which abides or really is. “It is impossible to go into the same river twice”, said Heraclitus; no more can you grasp mortal being twice, so as to hold it. So sharp and so swift its change; it scatters and brings together again, nay not again, no nor afterwards; even while it is being formed it fails, it approaches, and it its gone. Hence becoming never ends in being, for the process never leaves off, or is stayed. From seed it produces, in its constant changes, an embryo, then an infant, then a child; in due order a boy, a young man; then a man, an elderly man, an old man; it undoes the former becomings and the age which has been, to make those which come after. yet we fear (how absurdly!) a single death, we who have died so many deaths, and yet are dying. For it is not only that, as Heraclitus would say, “death of fire is birth of air”, and “death of air is birth of water”; the thing is much clearer in our own selves. The man in his strength is destroyed when the old man comes into being, the young man was destroyed for the man in his strength to be, so the boy for the young man, the babe for the boy. He of yesterday has died unto him of to-day; he of to-day is dying unto him of to-morrow. No one abides, no one is; we that come into being are many, while matter is driven around, and then glides away, about some one appearance and a common mould. Else how is it, if we remain the same, that the things in which we find pleasure now are different from those of a former time; that we love, hate, admire, and censure different things; that our words are different and our feelings; that our look, our bodily form, our intellect are not the same now as then? If a man does not change, these various conditions are unnatural; if he does change, he is not the same man. But if he is not the same man, he is not at all; his so-called being is simply change and new birth of man out of man. In our ignorance of what being is, sense falsely tells us that what appears is.
[De E 19] XIX. ‘What then really is? That which is eternal, was never brought into being, is never destroyed, to which no time ever brings change. Time is a thing which moves and takes the fashion of moving matter, which ever flows or is a sort of leaky vessel which holds destruction and becoming. Of time we use the words “afterwards”, “before”, “shall be”, and “has been”, each on its face an avowal of not being. For, in this question of being, to say of a thing which has not yet come into being, or which has already ceased from being, that “it is”, is silly and absurd. When we strain to the uttermost our apprehension of time, and say “it is at hand”, “it is here”, or “now”, a rational development of the argument brings it all to nothing. “Now” is squeezed out into the future or into the past, as though we should try to see a point, which of necessity passes away to right or left. But if the case be the same with Nature, which is measured, as with time which measures, nothing in it abides or really is. All things are coming into being, or being destroyed, even while we measure them by time. Hence it is not permissible, even in speaking of that which is, to say that “it was”, or “it shall be”; these all are inclinations, transitions, passages, for of permanent being there is none in Nature.
[De E 20] XX. ‘But the God IS, we are bound to assert, he is, with reference to no time but to that age wherein is no movement, or time, or duration; to which nothing is prior or subsequent; no future, no past, no elder, no younger, which by one long “now” has made the “always” perfect. Only with reference tot his that which really is, is; it has not come into being, it is not yet to be, it did not begin, it will not cease. Thus then we ought to hail him in worship, and thus to address him as “Thou Art”, aye, or in the very words of some of the old people, “Ei Hen”, “Thou art one thing”. For the Divine is not many things, in the sense in which each one of us is made up of ten thousand different and successive states, a scrap-heap of units, a mob of individuals. No, that which is must be one, as that is which is one is. Variety, any difference in being, passes to one side to produce that which is not. Therefore the first of the names of the God, and the second, and the third. “Apollo” (Not-many) denies plurality and excludes multitude. Ἴητος means one and one only; Phoebus, we know, is a word by which the ancients expressed that which is clean and pure, even as to this day the Thessalians, when their priests pass their solemn days in strict seclusion outside the temple, apply to them a verb formed from Phoebus. Now The One is transparent and pure, pollution comes by commixture of this with that, just as Homer, you remember, says of ivory dyed red that it is stained, and dyers say of mingled pigments that they are destroyed, and call the process “destruction”. Therefore it is the property of that which is indestructible and pure to be one and without admixture.
[De E 21] XXI. ‘There are those who think that Apollo and the sun are the same; we hail them and love them for the fair name they give, and it is fitting to do so; for they associate their idea of the God with that which they honour and desire more than all other things which they know. But now that we see them dreaming of the God in the fairest of nightly visions, let us rise and encourage them to mount yet higher, to contemplate him in a dream of the day, and to see his own being. Let them pay honour also to the image of him and worship the principle of increase which is about it; so far as what is of sense can lead to what is of mind, a moving body to that which abides, it allows presentments and appearances of his kind and blessed self to shine through after a fashion. But as to transitions and changes in himself, that he now discharges fire, and so is drawn up, as they put it, or again presses down and strains himself into earth and sea, winds and animals, and all the strange passages into animals and also plants, piety forbids us so much as to hear them. Otherwise the God will be a greater trifler than the boy in Homer, for ever playing with the universe the game which the boy plays with a pile of sand, which is heaped together and sucked away under his hand; moulding the universe when there is none, and again destroying it when it has come into being. The opposite principle which we find in the universe, whatever its origin, is that which binds beings together and prevails over the corporeal weakness tending to destruction. To my thinking the word “EI” is confronted with this false view, and testifies to the God that THOU ART, meaning that no shift or change has place in him, but that such things belong to some other God, or rather to some Spirit set over Nature in its perishing and becoming, whether to effect either process or to undergo it. This appears from the names, in themselves opposite and contradictory. He is called Apollo, another is called Pluto; he is Delius (apparent), the other Aidoneus (invisible); he is Phoebus (bright), the other Skotios (full of darkness); by his side are the Muses, and Memory, with the other are Oblivion and Silence; he is Theorius and Phanæus, the other is “King of dim Night and ineffectual Sleep.” The other is
[De E 21b] Of all the Gods to men the direst foe.
[De E 21c] Whereas of him Pindar has pleasantly said:
Well tried and mildest found, to men who live and die.
[De E 21d] so Euripides was right:
[De E 21e] Draughts to the dead out-poured, Songs which our bright-haired lord Apollo hath abhorred.
[De E 21f] And still earlier Stesichorus:
Jest and song Apollo owns, Let Hades keep his woes and groans.
[De E 21g] Sophocles again, in his actual assignment of instruments to each, is quite clear, thus:
[De E 21h] Nor harp nor lyre to wailing strains is dear,
[De E 21i] for it was quite late, indeed only the other day, that the flute ventured to let itself speak “on themes of joy”; in early times it trailed along in mourning, nor was its service therein much esteemed or very cheerful; then there came a general confusion. It was specially by mingling things which were of Gods with those which were of dæmons that the distinction of the instruments was lost. Anyhow, the phrase “KNOW THYSELF” seems to stand in a sort of antithesis to the letter “E”, and yet, again, to accord with it. The letter is an appeal, a cry raised in awe and worship to the God, as being throughout all eternity; the phrase is a reminder to mortal man of his own nature and of his weakness.’

## Oracles at Delphi no longer given in verse

I. THE SPEAKERS
[De Pyth. or. 1] BASILOCLES, a citizen of Delphi
PHILINUS, a friend, perhaps also of Delphi
Bas. “You have made it late in the evening, Philinus, by escorting your guest about amongst the dedicated things: I lost all patience in waiting for you both.”
[De Pyth. or. 1b] Phil. “Yes, Basilocles, we strolled along slowly — sowing words as we went, and forthwith ‘reaping words with strife’, that sprung up and emerged along our path, like the crop of the Dragon’s Teeth, spiteful and contentious words.”
[De Pyth. or. 1c] Bas. “Will it then be necessary to ask one of those who were there at the time, or are you willing yourself to oblige us and repeat your conversation? and tell us who were the speakers?”
[De Pyth. or. 1d] Phil. “That task, it seems, is mine, for you won’t find the others easily; I saw most of them going up again to the Corcium and the Lycoreia, in company with the visitor.”
[De Pyth. or. 1e] Bas. “How fond our visitor is of seeing the sites, and how extravagantly fond of hearing stories!”
[De Pyth. or. 1f] Phil. “Rather, fond of history, and willing to learn; and not so much to be admired for these two qualities, as for gentleness combined with elegance of manner, and then an incredulity and a fondness for disputation — the result of intelligence — with nothing in it ill-tempered or stubborn: so that after being a little while in his company you exclaim, ‘The child of a good father!’ [Plato Republic ] You are surely acquainted with Diogenianus, that best of men?
[De Pyth. or. 1g] Bas. “I have not seen him; but I have met many who greatly approve of his conversation and character, and say just the same things of him as you do of the youth. But what was the occasion of this discussion of yours?”
PHILINUS NARRATES THEIR CONVERSATION
[De Pyth. or. 2] II. THE SPEAKERS
PHILINUS
DIOGENIANUS, a young visitor from Pergamum, son of Diogenianus
THEON, a literary friend.
SERAPION, Athenian poet.
BOETHUS, a geometrician, nearly a converted Epicurean.
Two guides to the Temple of Delphi.
Phil. “The guides were going through their regular spiel, paying no heed to our entreaties that they cut short their long stories and their reading of every single inscription, whatever its interest. The appearance and artistic merit of the statues did not so much attract the notice of the visitor, who had no doubt seen many fine things of the sort elsewhere. But he admired the color of the bronze, which was not like dirt nor like verdigris, but shone with a dark blue dye, so as to contribute considerably to the effect of the statues of the admirals (for there he had begun his tour), standing as they did, sea-like in color, and truly men of the ocean deep. Was there, he asked, some special mode of alloying and preparing the bronze used by the ancient artificers, like the tempering of swords, on the loss of which skill, bronze was exempted from the uses of war? For we know,” he continued, “that Corinthian bronze acquired its beauty of color not through any art, but through accident, when a fire consumed a house containing a little gold and silver and a great quantity of bronze; all which being mixed and melted together; and the whole thing took its name from bronze, the preponderating metal.”
[De Pyth. or. 2b] Theon broke in: “We have heard a different story, with a bit of mischief in it. A Corinthian bronze-worker found a chest containing a hoard of gold. Fearing detection, he chipped it off little by little, quietly mixing the bits with bronze; the result was a marvellous blend, which he sold at a high price, as people were delighted with its color and beauty. However, the one story is as mythical as the other; what we may suppose is that some method was known of mixing and preparing, much as now they alloy gold with silver, producing a peculiar and rare, and to my mind a sickly and pallid effect, a perversion with no beauty in it.”
[De Pyth. or. 3] III. Diog.”What then has been the cause, do you think, of the color of these bronzes?”
[De Pyth. or. 3b] Theon “Here is a case in which, of the first and primal elements of Nature — namely, Fire, Earth, Air Water — none comes near to, or has to do with, bronze, except only air: clearly then, air is the agent; from its constant presence and contact the bronze gets its exceptional quality, or perhaps
[De Pyth. or. 3c] τουτί μὲν ᾔδη πρὶν Θέογνιν γεγονέναιThus much you knew before Theognis was,
[De Pyth. or. 3d] as the comic poet has it. But what you want to learn, Diogenianus, is perhaps the nature of the air, and the property in virtue of which repeated contact has thus colored the bronze?” Diogenianus said that it was; “And I too,” continued Theon; “my young friend, let us continue our quest together; and first, if you will agree, ask why olive oil produces a more copious rust on the metal than other liquids. It does not, of course, actually make the deposit, because it is pure and uncontaminated when applied.”
[De Pyth. or. 3e] Diog. “Certainly not; the real cause appears to me to be something different; the oil is fine, pure, and transparent, so the rust when it meets it is specially evident, whereas with other liquids rust becomes invisible.”
[De Pyth. or. 3f] Theon “Excellent, my young friend, that is prettily put. But consider also, if you please, the cause given by Aristotle.”
[De Pyth. or. 3g] Diog. “I do please. Aristotle says that rust, when it comes into contact with other liquids, passes invisibly through and is dispersed, because the particles are irregular and fine; whereas in dense oil it is held together and permanently condensed. If, then, we can come to some such hypothesis ourselves, we shall not be entirely at a loss for a spell to charm away this difficulty.”
[De Pyth. or. 4] IV. We encouraged him and agreed, and Theon went on to say that the air of Delphi is thick and close of texture, with a tenseness caused by reflection from the hills and their resistance, but is also fine and biting, as seems to be proved by the facts of digestion of food. The tenuity allows it to enter bronze, and to scrape up from it much solid rust, which rust again is held up and compressed, because the density of the air does not allow it a passage through; but the deposit breaks out, because it is so copious, and takes on a bright rich hue at the surface. This we applauded, but the visitor remarked that either hypothesis was sufficient for the argument.
[De Pyth. or. 4b] Diog. “The fineness will be found to be in contradiction to the density you speak of, but there is no necessity to assume it. The bronze, as it ages, exhales or throws off rust by its own inherent action; the density holds together and solidifies the rust, and makes it apparent because of its quantity.”
[De Pyth. or. 4c] Theon broke in, “What is to prevent the same thing being both fine and dense, as silks or fine linen stuffs, of which Homer says
[De Pyth. or. 4d] καιροσέων δ᾽ ὀθονῶν ἀπολείβεται ὑγρόν ἔλαιον,And from the close-spun weft the trickling oil will fall,
[De Pyth. or. 4e] [Od. .: *] where he indicates the minute and delicate workmanship of the fabric by the fact that the oil would not remain, but trickled or glided off, the fineness at once and the density refusing it passage. And again, the scraping up of the rust is not the only purpose served by the tenuity of the air; it also makes the color itself pleasanter to the eye and brighter, mingling lustre with the azure of the blue.”
[De Pyth. or. 5] V. Here there was an interval of silence; the guides were getting back to their routine speeches. A certain oracle given in verse was mentioned — I think it was one about the reign of Aegon the Argive — when Diogenianus observed that he had often been surprised at the badness and common quality of the verse in which oracles are delivered. yet the God is Choirmaster of the Muses, and eloquent language is no less his function than beauty of ode for tune, and he should have a voice far above that of Homer and Hesiod in verse. And yet we have the greater part of the oracles a tissue of bad taste, both in diction and in metre. Then Serapion the poet of Athens, said
[De Pyth. or. 5b] Serap. “Then do we really believe that these verses are the God’s, yet venture to say that they fall behind Homer and Hesiod in beauty? Shall we not rather take them as the best and most beautiful in poetry, and revise our judgement of them, as prejudiced by familiarity with a bad standard?”
[De Pyth. or. 5c] At this point Boethus the geometer — you know him, already well on his way into the Epicurean camp — broke in.
Boeth. “Have you ever heard the story of Pauson the painter?”
Serap. “No, I have not.”
Boeth. “Well, it’s certainly worth hearing. It seems that he had contracted to paint a horse rolling, and not galloping. The buyer was indignant; so Pauson laughed and turned the canvas upside down, with the result that the lower parts became the upper, and there was the horse rolling, not galloping. So it is, Bion tells us, with certain syllogisms when converted. Thus some will tell us not that the oracles are quite beautiful because they are the God’s, but that they are not the God’s because they are bad! That point may be left unsettled. But that the verses used in the oracles are bad poetry,” he continued, “is made clear also in your judgement, my dear Serapion, isn’t it so? For you write poems which are severe and philosophical in subject, but in force, grace, and diction are more like the work of Homer and Hesiod than like the utterances of the Pythia!”
[De Pyth. or. 6] VI. Serap. “Yes, we are sick, Boethus, sick in ear, and sick in eye. Luxury and softness have accustomed us to think things beautiful as they are more sweet, and call them so. Soon we shall actually be finding fault with the Pythia because she does not speak with a more thrilling voice than Glauce the singing-girl, or use costly ointments, or put on purple robes to go down into the sanctuary, or burn on her censer cassia, mastic, and frankincense, rather than her own barley and bay leaves. Do you not see,” he went on, “what grace the songs of Sappho have, how they charm and soothe the hearers, while the Sibyl ‘with raving mouth,’ as Heraclitus says, ‘utters words with no laugher, no adornment, no perfumes,’ yet makes her voice carry to ten thousand years, because of the God. And Pindar tells us that Cadmus heard from the God ‘right music’, not sweet music, or delicate music, or twittering music. What is passionless and pure gives no admission to pleasure; she was cast out in this very place, together with pain; and the most of her has dribbled away, it seems, into the ears of men.”
[De Pyth. or. 7] VII. When Serapion had done, Theon smiled.
Theon “Serapion has paid his usual tribute to his own proclivities, making capital out of the turn which the conversation had taken about pain and pleasure! But for us, Boethus, even if these verses are inferior to Homer, let us never suppose that the God has composed them; he only gives the initial impulse according to the capacity of each prophetess. Why, suppose the answers had to be written, not spoken. I do not think we should suppose that the letters were made by God, and find fault with the calligraphy as below royal standard. The strain is not the God’s, but the woman’s, and so with the voice and the phrasing and the metre; he only provides the fantasies, and puts light into her soul to illuminate the future; for that is what inspiration is. To put it plainly, there is no escaping you prophets of Epicurus — yes, you too, Boethus, are drifting that way — you blame those old prophetesses because they used bad poetry, and you also blame those of today because they use no poetry, and speak the first words which come, that they may not be assailed for delivering headless, hollow, crop-tailed lines.”
[De Pyth. or. 7b] Diog. “Do not jest, in Heaven’s name, no! but help us to solve the problem, which interests us all. There is no one who is not in search of a rational account of the fact that the oracle has ceased to use metre and poetry.”
[De Pyth. or. 7c] Theon “But right now, my young friend, we seemed to be doing a shabby turn by the guides, keeping them from their proper duties. Suffer them first to do their office; afterwards we shall discuss in peace whatever you wish.”
[De Pyth. or. 8] VIII. Our round had now brought us in front of the statue of Hiero the tyrant. Most of the stories the foreign visitor knew well, but he good-naturedly lent his ear to them. But at last, when he heard that a certain bronze pillar given by Hiero, which had been standing upright, fell of its own accord on the very day when Hiero died at Syracuse, he showed surprise. I set myself to remember similar instances, such as the notable one of Hiero the Spartan, how before his death at Leuctra the eyes fell out of his statue, and the gold stars disappeared which Lysander had dedicated after the naval battle of Aegospotami. And then the stone statue of Lysander himself broke out into such a growth of weeds and grass that the face was hidden. At the time of the Athenian disaster in Syracuse, the golden berries kept dropping off from the palm trees, and crows chipped the shield on the figure of Pallas. Again, the crown of the Cnidians, which Philomelus, tyrant of Phocis, had given to Pharsalia the dancing girl, caused her death, as she was playing near the temple of Apollo in Metapontum, after she had removed from Greece into Italy: for young men made a rush for the crown and in their struggle with one another for the gold, they tore her limb from limb. Now Aristotle used to say that Homer is the only poet who made “words which stir, because of their energy.” But I would say that there have been votive offerings sent here which have movement in a high degree, and help the God’s foreknowledge to signify things; that none of them is void or without feeling, but all are full of Divinity.
[De Pyth. or. 8b] Boeth. “Very good! So it is not enough to shut the God into a mortal body once every month. We will also knead him into every morsel of stone and brass, to show that we do not choose to hold Fortune, or Spontaneity, a sufficient author of such occurrences.”
[De Pyth. or. 8c] Phil. “Then in your opinion,” I said, “each of the occurrences looks like Fortune or Spontaneity; and it seems probable to you that the atoms glided forth, and were dispersed, and swerved, not sooner and not later, but at the precise moment when each of the dedicators was to fare worse or better. Epicurus helps you now by what he said or wrote three hundred years ago; but the God, unless he take and shut himself up in all things, and be mingled with all, cannot, you think, initiate movement, or cause change of condition in anything which is.”
[De Pyth. or. 9] IX. Such was my answer to Boethus, and to the same effect about the Sibyl and her utterances. For when we stood near the rock by the Council Chamber, on which the first Sibyl is said to have been seated on her arrival from Helicon, where she had been brought up by the Muses (though others says that she came from the Maleans, and was the daughter of Lamia the daughter of Poseidon), Serapion remembered the verses in which she hymned herself; how she will never cease from prophesying, even after death, but will herself go round in the moon, being turned into what we call the “bright face”, while her breath is mingled with the air and borne about in rumours and voices for ever and ever; and her body within the earth is transformed, so that from it spring grass and weeds, the pasture of sacred cattle, which have in their inward parts all the colours, shapes and qualities by which men obtain forecasts of future things. Here Boethus made his derision still more evident.
[De Pyth. or. 9b] The foreign visitor observed that, although these things have a mythical appearance, yet the prophecies are attested by many uprootings and removals of Greek cities, inroads of barbarian hordes, and the overthrow of dynasties.
[De Pyth. or. 9c] Diog. “These still recent troubles at Cumae and Dicæarchia, were they not long ago foretold in the songs of the Sibyl; so that Time was only discharging his debts in the fires which have burst out of mountains, the boiling seas, the masses of burning rocks tossed aloft by the winds, the ruin of cities many and great, so that if you visit them in broad daylight you cannot get a clear idea of the site, the ground being covered with confused ruins? It is hard to believe that such things have happened at all, let alone that they were predicted long ago — unless with divine assistance.”
[De Pyth. or. 10] X. Boeth. “My good Sir; what does happen in Nature which is not Time paying his debts? Of all the strange, unexpected things, by land or sea, among cities and men, is there any which some one might not foretell, and then, after it has happened, find himself right? Yet this is hardly foretelling at all; it is telling, rather it is tossing or scattering words into the infinite, with no principle in them. They wander about, and sometimes Fortune meets them and falls in with them; but it is all chance. It is one thing, I think, when what has been foretold happens, and quite another when what will happen is foretold. Any statement made about things then non-existent contains intrinsic error; it has no right to await the confirmation which comes from accident; nor is it any true proof of having foretold with knowledge that the thing happened after it was foretold; for Infinity will bring all things. No, the ‘good guesser’, whom the proverb has announced to be the best prophet, is like a man who hunts on the tail of the future, by the help of the plausible. These Sibyls and Bacises threw into the sea, that is, into time, without having any real clue, nouns and verbs about troubles and occurrences of every description. Some of these prophecies came about, but they were lies; and what is now pronounced is a lie like them, even if, later on, it should happen to turn out true.”
[De Pyth. or. 11] XI. When Boethus had finished, Serapion spoke.
Serap. “The case is quite fairly put by Boethus against prophecies so indefinitely worded as those he mentions, with no basis of circumstance: ‘If victory has been foretold to a general, he has conquered; If the destruction of a city, it is overthrown.’ But where not only the thing which is to happen is stated, but also the how, the when, after what event, with whose help, then it is not a guess at things which will perhaps be, but a clear prediction of things which will certainly be. Here are the lines with reference to the lameness of Agesilaus:
[De Pyth. or. 11b] Sure though thy feet, proud Sparta, have a care,A lame king’s reign may see thee trip — Beware! Troubles unlooked for long shall vex thy shore, And rolling Time his tide of carnage pour.
[De Pyth. or. 11c] “And then again those about the island which the sea threw up off Thera and Therasia, and upon the war between Philip and the Romans:
[De Pyth. or. 11d] When Trojan race the victory shall win From Punic foe, lo! wonders shall begin; Unearthly fires from out the sea shall flash, Whirlwinds toss stones aloft, and thunder crash, An isle unnamed,unknown, shall stand upright, The weak shall beat the stronger in the fight.
[De Pyth. or. 11e] “What happened within a short time — that the Romans mastered the Carthaginians, and brought the war with Philip to a finish, that Philip met the Aetolians and Romans in battle and was defeated, and lastly, that an island rose out of the depths of the sea, with much fire and boiling waves — could not all be set down to chance and spontaneous occurrence. Why, the order emphasizes the foreknowledge, and so does the time predicted to the Romans, some five hundred years before the event, as that in which they were to be at war with all the races at once, which meant the war with the slaves after their revolt. In all this nothing is unascertainable, the story is not left in dim light to be groped out with reference to Fortune ‘in Infinity’, it gives many securities, and is open to trial, it points the road which the destined event is to tread. For I do not think that any one will say that the agreement with the details as foretold was accidental. Otherwise, what prevents some one else from saying that Epicurus did not write his Leading Principles for our use, Boethus, but that the letters fell together by chance and just spontaneously, and so the book was finished off?”
[De Pyth. or. 12] XII. While we were talking thus, we were moving forward. In the store-house of the Corinthians we were looking at the golden palm tree, the only remnant of their offerings, when the frogs and water-snakes embossed round the roots caused much surprise to Diogenianus, and for the matter of that, to us. For the palm tree is not, like many others, a marshy or water-loving plant, nor have frogs anything specially to do with the Corinthians. Thus they must be a symbolical or canting device of that city, just as the men of Selinus are said to have dedicated a golden plant of parsley (σέλινον), and those of Tenedos the axe, because of the crabs found round the place which they call Asterium, the only ones, it appears, with the brand of an axe on the shell. Yet the God himself is supposed to have a partiality for crows and swans and wolves and hawks, for anything rather than beasts like crabs. Serapion observed that the artist intended a veiled hint at the sun drawing his aliment and origin from exhalations out of moist plants, whether he had it from Homer,
[De Pyth. or. 12b] ἠέλιος δ’ ἀπόρουσε λιπὼν περικαλλέα λίμνηνLeaving the beauteous lake, the great sun scaled the brazen sky
[De Pyth. or. 12c] or whether he had seen the sun painted by the Egyptians as a new-born child seated on a lotus. I laughed:
Phil. “Where have you got to again, my good Sir, thrusting the Stoa in here, and quietly slipping into our discussion their ‘Conflagrations’ and ‘Exhalations’? Thessalian women fetch the sun and the moon down to us, but you are assuming that they are first born and then watered out of earth and its waters. Plato dubbed man a ‘heavenly plant’, rearing himself up from a root on high, namely his head; but you laugh down Empedocles when he tells us how the sun, having been brought into being by reflection of heavenly light around the earth,
[De Pyth. or. 12d] ἀνταυγεῖν πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἀταρβήτοισι προσώποιςBeams back upon Olympus undismayed!
[De Pyth. or. 12e] Yet, on your own showing, the sun is a creature or plant of the marshes, naturalized by you in the country of frogs or water-snakes. However, all this may be reserved for the Stoics and their tragedies; here we have the incidental works of the artists, and let us examine them incidentally. In many respects they are clever people, but they have not in all cases avoided coldness and elaboration. Just as the man who designed Apollo with the cock in his hand meant to suggest the early morning hour when dawn is coming, so here the frogs may be taken for a symbol of the spring season when the sun begins to have power over the air and to break up winter; always supposing that, with you, we are to reckon Apollo and the sun one God, not two.”
[De Pyth. or. 12f] Serap. “What? do you not agree? do you hold the sun to be different from Apollo?”
Phil. “As different as the moon from the sun; only she does not hide the sun often or from all the world, whereas the sun has made, we may almost say, all the world ignorant of Apollo, diverting thought by sensation, to the apparition from the real.”
[De Pyth. or. 13] XIII. Next Serapion asked the guide the real reason why they call the chamber not after Cypselus, the Dedicator, but after the Corinthians. When they were silent, being, as I privately believe, at a loss for reason, I laughed, and said “What can these men possibly know or remember, utterly dazed as they must be by our high celestial talk? Why, it was only just now that we heard them saying that, after the tyranny was overthrown, the Corinthians wished to inscribe the golden statue at Pisa, and also this treasure-house, with the name of the city. So the Delphians granted it as a right, and agreed; but the Corinthians passed a vote to exclude the Eleians, who had shown jealousy of them, from the Isthmian meetings, and from that time to this there has been no competitor from Elis. The murder of the Molionidæ by Hercules near Cleonæ has nothing to do with the exclusion of the Eleians, though some think that it has. On the contrary, it would have been for them to exclude the Corinthians if that had been the cause of the conflict.” Such were my remarks.
[De Pyth. or. 14] XIV. When we passed the chamber of the Acanthians and Brasidas, the guide showed us a place where iron obelisks to Rhodopis the courtesan once used to stand. Diogenianus showed annoyance.
[De Pyth. or. 14b] Diog. “So it was felt to be the duty of the same state both to find a place for Rhodopis to deposit the tithes of her earnings and to put Aesop, her fellow slave, to death!”
Serap. “Bless you, friend; why so vexed at that? Carry your eyes upwards, and behold among the generals and kings the golden Mnesarete, which Crates called a standing trophy of the lewdness of the Greeks.”
[De Pyth. or. 14c] Diog. “Was it then about Phryne that Crates said that?”
[De Pyth. or. 14d] Serap. “Yes it was; her name was Mnesarete, but she took on that of Phryne [toad] as a nickname because of her yellow skin. Many names, it would seem, are concealed by nicknames. There was Polyxena, mother of Alexander, afterwards said to have been called Myrtale and Olympias and Stratonice. Then Eumetis of Rhodes is to this day called by most people Cleobuline, after her father; and Herophile of Erythræ, when she showed a prophetic gift, was addressed as Sibylla. You will hear the grammarians telling us that Leda was named Mnesinoe, and Orestes Achæus. But how do you propose,” he continued, looking hard at Theon, “to get rid of the charge as to Phryne?”
[De Pyth. or. 15] XV. Theon smiled quietly: “In this way: a counter-charge against you for raking up the pettiest of the Greek misdoings. For as Socrates, when entertained in the house of Callias, makes war upon the ointment only, but looks on all the dancing and tumbling and kisses and buffoonery, and holds his tongue, so you, it seems to me, want to exclude from the temple a poor woman who made an unworthy use of her charms; but when you see the God encompassed by first-fruits and tithes of murder, war, and rapine, and his temple loaded with Greek spoils and booty, you show no disgust; you have no pity for the Greeks when you read on the beautiful offerings such deeply disgraceful inscriptions as ‘Brasidas and the Acanthians from the Athenians’, ‘Athenians from Corinthians’, ‘Phocians from Thessalians’, ‘Orneatans from Sicyonians’, and ‘Amphictyones from Phocians’. So Praxiteles, it seems, was one person who offended Crates by finding room for his mistress to stand here, whereas Crates ought to have commended him for placing beside those golden kings a golden courtesan, a strong rebuke to wealth as having nothing wonderful or worshipful about it. It would be good if kings and rulers were to set up in the God’s house offerings to Justice, to Temperance and Magnanimity, not to golden and delicate Abundance, in which even the very foulest lives have their share.”
[De Pyth. or. 16] XVI. “You forget to mention,” said one of our guides, “how Crœsus had sculpted a golden figure of his baker-woman and dedicated it here.”
[De Pyth. or. 16b] Theon “Yes; but that was not to flout the temple with his luxury of wealth, but for a good and righteous cause. The story is that Alyattes, father of Crœsus, married a second wife and brought up a second family. This woman fomented a plot against Crœsus, giving poison to the baker and telling her to knead a loaf with it and serve it to Crœsus. The baker told Crœsus in secret and set the loaf before the second wife’s children. And so, when Crœsus became king, he requited the baker-woman’s service in away which made the God a witness, and moreover did a good turn to him. Hence, it is quite proper to honour and love any such offering from cities as that from the Opuntians. When the Phocian tyrants had melted up many of the gold and silver offerings and struck coined money, which they distributed among the cities, the Opuntians collected all the silver they could find, and sent a large jar to be consecrated here to the God. I commend the Myrinæans also, and the Apollonians, who sent hither sheaves of gold, and even more highly the Eretrians and Magnesians, who endowed the God with firstfruits of men, as being the giver of crops and also ancestral, the god of their fathers; racial, the creator of men; and the friend of man. Whereas I blame the Megarians, because they were almost alone in setting up the God holding a lance; this was after the battle in which they defeated and expelled the Athenians who were holding their city, after the Persian wars. Later on, however, they offered to him a golden plectrum, referring it, as it appears, to Scythinus, who says of the lyre:
[De Pyth. or. 16c] ἣν ἁρμόζεταιΖηνὸς εὐειδὴς Ἀπόλλων, πᾶσαν ἀρχῆν καὶ τέλοςσυλλαβλων: ἔχει δὲ παμπὸν πλῆκτρον ἡλίου φάοςwhich the son of Zeus Wears, the comely God Apollo, gathering first and last in one, And he holds a golden harp-quill flashing as the very sun.
[De Pyth. or. 17] XVII. Serapion wanted to put in some further remark on this, when the stranger said:
[De Pyth. or. 17b] Dion. “It is delightful to listen to such speeches as we have heard, but I feel myself obliged to claim fulfillment of the original promise, that we should hear the cause which has made the Pythia cease to prophesy in epic or other verse. So, if it be your pleasure, let us leave to another time the remainder of the sights, sit down where we are, and hear about that. For it is this more than anything else which militates against the credibility of the oracle; for it must be one of two things: either the Pythia does not get near the spot where the Divinity is, or the current is altogether exhausted, and the power has failed.”
[De Pyth. or. 17c] Accordingly we went round and seated ourselves on the southern plinth of the temple, in view of the temple of Earth and the spring of water, which made Boethus at once observe that the very place where the problem was raised lent itself to the stranger’s case. For here was a temple of the Muses where the exhalation rises from the fountain; from which fountain they drew the water used for the lustrations, as Simonides has it:
[De Pyth. or. 17d] ἔνθα χερίβεσσιν ἀπύνεται τὸ Μουσᾶνκαλλικόμοων ὑπένρθεν ἁγνὸν ὕδωρ.Whence is drawn for holy washings Water of the Muses bright.
[De Pyth. or. 17e] And again, in a rather more affected strain, the same poet addresses Clio:
ἁγνᾶν ἐπίσκοπον χερνίβων,Chaste guardian of our lustrations
and goes on to say
[De Pyth. or. 17f] πολύλιστον ἀρυόντεσσινἀχρυσόπεπλον . . .εὐῶδες ἀμβροσίων ἐκ μυχῶνἐρανὸν ὕδωρ λαβεῖν.Goddess sought in many a vow By no golden robe encumbered, hear thy servants drawing now Water, fragrant and delightful, from ambrosial depths below.
[De Pyth. or. 17g] So Eudoxus was wrong in believing those who have made out that this was called ‘Water of Styx’. But they installed the Muses as guardians of prophecy and wardens of the place, by the fountain and the temple of Earth where the oracle used to be, some say, because the responses were given in metre and in lyric strains. And some say further that here the heroic metre was first heard:
[De Pyth. or. 17h] συμφέρετε πρερά τ᾽, οἰωνοις, κηρόη τε, μέλισσαι.Bring in your feathers, ye birds; ye bees, bring wax at his bidding.
[De Pyth. or. 17i] Later Earth became inferior to the God and lost her august position.
[De Pyth. or. 18] XVIII. Serapion responded, “More reasonable, that, Boethus, and more in tune with the Muses. For we ought not to fight against the God, nor to remove, along with his prophecy, his Providence and Godhead also, but rather to seek fresh solutions for apparent contradictions, and never to surrender the reverent belief of our fathers.”
[De Pyth. or. 18b] Phil. “Excellent Serapion! you are right. We are not abandoning Philosophy, as cleared out of the way and done for, because once upon a time philosophers put out their dogmas and theories in verse, as Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Empedocles, Thales, whereas later on they gave it up, and have now all given it up — except you! In your hands Poetry is returning home to Philosophy, and clear and noble is the strain in which she rallies our young people. Astronomy again: she was not lowered in the hands of Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristyllus, Hipparchus, all writing in prose, whereas Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales used metre, if we assume that Thales really wrote the Astronomy attributed to him. And Pindar himself confesses that he is quite at a loss about the neglect of verse in his own day, and is astonished .... It is neither out of the way nor absurd for us to seek out the causes of such changes; but to dismiss any of the arts and sciences altogether, because there is some alteration or variation in their details or delivery, is totally unfair.”
[De Pyth. or. 19] XIX. Theon “And yet those instances have involved really great variations and novelties, whereas of the oracles given here we know many in prose even in old days, and those on no trifling matters. When the Lacedæmonians consulted the God after their war with the Athenians, as Thucydides tells us, he promised them victory and mastery, and that “he himself will help them, invited or uninvited”. And again, that if they did not restore Pleistonax, they should plough with a silver share. When the Athenians consulted the God about their expedition in Sicily, he directed them to bring the priestess of Erythræ to Athens; now the woman’s name was ‘Quiet’. When Deinomenes of Sicily inquired about his sons, the answer was that all three should reign as tyrants. ‘And the worse for them,’ rejoined Deinomenes. ‘That too,’ added the God, and added it to the response. You know that Gelo had the dropsy and Hiero the stone, while they reigned; Thrasybulus, the third son, was involved in revolutions and wars and soon lost his throne. Then Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, after putting many others to death in cruel and unlawful ways, at last killed Timarchus, who had come to him from Athens with money, after receiving him with hospitality and kindness; he thrust his body into a basket and threw it into the sea. This he did by the hands of Cleander of Aegina, and no one else knew about it. Afterwards, when he was in sore trouble, he sent his brother Cleotimus to consult the oracle secretly about his own flight and retirement to another land. The God answered that he granted exile to Procles, and retirement either to the place where he had ordered his Aeginetan friend to lodge the basket, or to where the stag sheds his horn. The tyrant understood the God to bid him fling himself into the sea, or to buy himself underground (for the stag buries his horn deep out of sight when it falls off). He waited a short time, but when his affairs became desperate he sought exile. But the friends of Timarchus caught him and slew him, casting the corpse into the sea.
[De Pyth. or. 19b] “Now comes the strongest instance: the statutes by which Lycurgus regulated the Lacedæmonian constitution were given to him in prose. So Alyrius, Herodotus, Philochorus, and Ister, the men who most zealously set about collecting metrical prophecies, have written down oracular responses which were not in metre; and Theopompus, who was exceptionally interested in the oracle, administered a vigorous rebuke to those who held that the Pythia did not prophesy in metre in those days; yet, when he wanted to prove the point, he found an exceedingly small number of such answers, which shows that the others, even at that early time, were put forth in prose.
[De Pyth. or. 20] XX. “Some oracles, however, still give their answers in metre; and one of them has become famous. There is in Phocis a temple of Hercules Woman- Hater, where the practice is for the consecrated priest not to associate with a woman during his year of office. So they appoint comparatively old men to the priesthood. However, not very long ago, the office was accepted by a young man of good character, but ambitious, and in love with a young woman. At first he restrained himself and avoided her; but one day, when he was resting after wine and dancing, she burst in and he yielded. Then, in his fear and confusion, he fled to the oracle, and proceeded to ask the God about his offence, and whether it admitted of excuse or expiation. He received his reply:
[De Pyth. or. 20b] ἅπαντα ἀναγκαῖα συγχωρεῖ θεὀς.All needful business doth the God allow.
[De Pyth. or. 20c] All the same, if it be granted that nothing is prophesied in our own day, otherwise than in metre, the difficulty will be so much greater about the ancients, who sometimes employed metre for the responses, sometimes not. There is nothing strange, my young friend, in either one or the other, so long as we hold sound, pure views about the God, and do not suppose that it is himself who formerly used to compose the verses, or who now speaks through the Pythia, giving answers as it were through a mask.
[De Pyth. or. 21] XXI. “However, it is worth our while to pursue this inquiry at greater length another time. For the present, let us remember our results, which are briefly these: Body uses ;many instruments, soul uses body and parts, soul has been brought into being as the instrument of God. The excellence of an instrument is to imitate most closely the power which uses it, with all its own natural power, and to reproduce the effect of his essential thought, but to exhibit it, not pure and passionless and free from error, as it was in the creative artist, but with a large admixture of foreign element. For in itself it is invisible to us, but appearing ‘other’ and through another medium it is saturated with the nature of that medium. I pass over wax and gold and silver and copper, and all other varieties of moulded substance, which take on one common form of impressed likeness, but add to the copy each its distinct specialty.
[De Pyth. or. 21b] I pass over the myriad distortions of images and reflections from a single form in mirrors, plane, hollow, or convex. For nothing seems better to reproduce the type, no instrument more obediently to use its own nature, than the moon. Yet taking from the sun his bright and fiery rays, she does not transmit them so to us: mingled with herself they change colour and also take on a different power; the heat wholly disappeared, and the light fails from weakness before it reaches us. I think you know the saying found in Heraclitus, that ‘the sovereign whose seat is at Delphi, speaks not, nor conceals, but signifies’. Take and add then to what is here so well said, the conception that the God of this place employs the Pythia for the hearing as the sun employs the moon for the seeing. He shows and reveals his own thoughts, but shows them mingled in their passage through a mortal body, and a soul which cannot remain at rest or present itself to the exciting power unexcited and inwardly composed, but which boils and surges and is involved in the stirrings and troublesome passions from within.
[De Pyth. or. 21c] As whirlpools do not keep a steady hold on bodies borne round and round, and also downwards, since an outer force carries them round, but they sink down of their own nature, so that there is a compound spiral movement, of a confused and distorted kind, even so what we call inspiration seems to be a mixture of two impulses, and the soul is stirred by two forces, one of which it is a passive recipient, one form its own nature. We see that inanimate and stationary bodies cannot be used or forced contrary to their own nature, that a cylinder cannot be moved as if it were a sphere or a cube, that a lyre cannot be played like a flute or a trumpet like a harp, but that the artistic use of a thing is no other than the natural use. Is it possible, then, that the animate and self-moving, which has both impulse and reason, can be treated in any other way than is agreeable to the habit, force or natural condition which is already existent within it? Can an unmusical mind be excited like a musical, or an unlettered mind be moved by literature, a mind untrained in reasoning, whether speculative or disciplinary, by logic? It is not to be spoken of.
[De Pyth. or. 22] XXII. “Again, Homer is my witness: he assumes that nothing, so to speak, is brought about without a God; he does not, however, describe the God as using all things for all ends, but according to the art or faculty which each possesses. For do you not see, dear Diogenianus, that Athena, when she wants to persuade the Achæans, calls in Odysseus; when to wreck th truce, she looks for Pandarus; when to rout the Trojans, she approaches Diomedes? Why? because Diomedes is a sturdy man and a fighter, Pandarus an archer and a food, Odysseus a clever speaker and a sensible man. For Homer was not of the same mind as Pindar, if it was Pindar who wrote
[De Pyth. or. 22b] Sail on a crate, if God so choose ‘twill swim.
[De Pyth. or. 22c] He knew that different faculties and natural gifts are appointed for different ends; each is moved in its own way, even if the moving force be one for all. As then the force cannot move that which walks so as to make it fly, nor that which lisps to speak clearly, nor the thin voice to be melodious — why, Battus himself was sent as colonist of Libya to get his voice, because he lisped and had a thin voice, but withal was a kingly, statesmanlike, prudent man — even so, it is impossible for one who has no letters and knows no verse to talk like a poet. And so she who now serves the God has been born as respectably as any man here, and has lived as good and orderly a life; but having been reared in the house of small farmer folk, she brings nothing with her from art or from practice or faculty whatsoever, as she goes down into the sanctuary. As Xenophon thinks that the bride should step into her husband’s home having seen as little as may be, and heard as little, so she, ignorant and untried in almost all things, and a true virgin in soul, is associated with the God. Yet we, who think that the God, when he ‘signifies’, uses the cries of herons and wrens and ravens, and never ask that they, as the messengers and heralds of the God, should put things into clear rational phrases, do nevertheless ask that the Pythia should use a voice and style as though from the Thymele, not unembellished and plain, but with metre and elevation, and trills, and verbal metaphors, and a flute accompaniment!
[De Pyth. or. 23] XXIII. “What shall we say then about her older predecessors? Not one thing, I think, but several. In the first place, as has been already said, they, too, for the most part, used to give the responses in prose. In the second place, those times produced temperaments and natural conditions which offered an easy and convenient channel for the stream of poetry, to which were at once superadded, in one and another, an eagerness, an impulse, a preparation of soul, all resulting in a readiness which needed but a slight initial movement from without to give the imagination a turn. So it was that not only were astronomers and philosophers drawn, as Philinus says, in their several directions, but also, when men were mellow with wine and sentiment, some undercurrent of pity or joy would come, and they would glide into a song-like voice; drinking parties were filled with amorous strains and songs, books with poems in writing. When Euripides wrote:
[De Pyth. or. 23b] ποιητῆν ἄραἜρως διδάσκει, κἂν ἄμουσος ᾖ τὸ πρίνLove can teach, he makesA poet of a stranger to the Muse.
he did not mean that Love implants a faculty for poetry or music; the faculty is there already, but Love stirs and warms what was latent and idle. Or are we to say, Sir Stranger, that no one now loves, that Love has gone by the heels, because there is no who, to quote Pindar,
[De Pyth. or. 23c] ῥίμφα παιδείουςτοξεύει μελιγάρυας ὕμνουςScatters with easy grace The vocal shafts of love and joy?
[De Pyth. or. 23d] That is absurd. Loves there are and many of them, and they master men; but when they associate with souls which have no natural turn for music, they drop the flute and the lyre, yet are vocal still and fiery through and through, as much as of old. It is an unhallowed thing to say, and an unfair, that the Academy was loveless, or the choir of Socrates and Plato; yet, while we have their love dialogues to read, they have left no poems. Why not declare at once that Sappho was the only woman who ever loved, if you are to say that Sibylla alone had the gift of prophecy, or Aristonica, and the others who delivered themselves in verse? As Chæremon used to say,
[De Pyth. or. 23e] ὁ μὲν γὰρ οἶνος τοῖς τρόποις κεράννυταιWine mingles with the moods of them that drink,
and the prophetic inspiration, like that of love, uses the faculty which is subjected to it, and stirs its recipients according to the nature of each.
[De Pyth. or. 24] XXIV. “Not but that, if we look also into the subject of the God and his foreknowledge, we shall see that the change has taken place for the better. For the use of language is like exchange in coined money. Here also it is familiarity which gives currency, the purchasing power varies with the times. There was a day when metres, tunes, odes were the coins of language in us; all History and Philosophy, in a word, every feeling and action which called for a more solemn utterance, were drawn to poetry and music. It is not only that now but few understand, and they with effort, whereas then all the world were listeners, and all felt pleasure in what was sung,
[De Pyth. or. 24b] μηλοβόται τ᾽ ἀρόται τ᾽ ὀρνιχολόχοι τεwho fats his flock Who ploughs the soil, who snares the wingèd game,
as Pindar has it. More than that, there was an aptitude for poetry, most men used the lyre and the ode to rebuke, to encourage, to frame myths and proverbs; also hymns to the Gods, prayers, thanksgivings, were composed in metre and song, as genius or practice enabled them to do. And so it was with prophecy; the God did not grudge it ornament and grace, or drive from hence into disgrace the honoured Muse of the tripod; he rather led her on, awakening and welcoming poetic natures; he gave them visions from himself, he lent his aid to draw out pomp and eloquence as being fitting and admirable things. Then there was a change in human life, affecting men both in fortune and in genius. Expediency banished what was superfluous, top-knots of gold were dropped, rich robes discarded; probably too clustering curls were shorn off, and the buskin discontinued. It was not a bad training, to set the beauty of frugality against that of profusion, to account what was plain and simple, a better ornament than the pompous and elaborate. So it was with language: it changed with the times, and shared the general break-up. History got down from its coach, and dropped metre. Truth was best sifted out from Myth in prose; Philosophy welcomed clearness, and found it better to instruct than to astonish, so she pursued her inquiry in plain language. The God made the Pythia leave off calling her own fellow townsmen ‘fire-burners’, the Spartans ‘serpent-eaters’, men ‘mountaineers’, rivers ‘mountain-drainers’. He cleared the oracle of epic verses, unusual words, circumlocutions, and vagueness, and so prepared the way to converse with his consultants just as law converse with states, as kings address subjects, as disciples hear their masters speak, so framing language as to be intelligible and convincing.
[De Pyth. or. 25] XXV. “For it should be clearly understood that the God is, in the words of Sophocles,
[De Pyth. or. 25b] σοφοῖς μὲν αἰνικτῆρα θεσφάτων ἀεί,σκαιοῖς δὲ φαῦλον κἀν βραχεῖ διδάσκαλονUnto the wise a riddling prophet aye,to silly souls a teacher plain and brief.
[De Pyth. or. 25c] The same turn of things which brought clearness brought also a new standard of belief; it shared the general change. Whereas of old that which was not familiar or common, but, in plain words, contorted and over-phrased, was ascribed by the many to an implied Divinity, and received with awe and reverence; in later times men were content to learn things clearly and easily with no pomp or artifice; they began to find fault with the poetical setting of the oracles, not only as a hindrance to the perception of truth, because it mingled indistinctions and shadow with the meaning, but also because by this time they were getting to mistrust metaphors, riddles, and ambiguities, as so many holes or hiding-places provided for him who should trip in his prophecy, that he might step into them and secure his retreat. You might have heard it told by many, how certain persons with a turn for poetry still sit about the place of oracles, waiting to catch the utterances, and then weaving verses, metres, rhythms, according to occasion, as a sort of vehicle. As to your Onomacrituses, and Herodotuses, and Cinæthons, and the censures which they brought upon the oracles, by importing tragedy and pomp where they were out of place, I let the charge pass and won’t join in the attack on them. Most, however, of the discredit which attached so copiously to poetry came from the gang of soothsayers and scamps who strolled around the ceremonies of the Great Mother and of Serapis, with their mummeries and tricks, turning verses out of their own heads, or taking them at random from handbooks, for servant boys and silly girls, and such as are best attracted by metre and a poetic cast of words; from all which causes poetry seemed to put herself at the service of cheats and jugglers and lying prophets, and was lost to truth and to the tripod.
[De Pyth. or. 26] XXVI. “Thus I should not be surprised to find that the old people sometimes required a certain ambiguity, circumlocution, indistinctness. For it was not then a case of ‘A’ approaching the oracle with a question, if you please, about the purchase of a slave, or ‘B’ about business; powerful states, haughty kings and tyrants would consult the God on public affairs, men whom it did not answer the officials of his temple to vex and provoke by letting them hear what they did not wish to hear. For the God does not obey Euripides, who sets up as a lawgiver with
[De Pyth. or. 26b] Φοῖβον ἀνθρώποις μόνονχρῆν θεσπιῳδεῖνPhoebus, none but he,May give men prophecies.
[De Pyth. or. 26c] He uses mortal men as ministers and prophets, whom it is his duty to make his care, and to protect, lest they perish at the hands of the bad while serving him. He does not then choose to conceal the truth; what he used to do was to give a twist to its manifestation, which, like a beam of light, is refracted more than once in its passage, and is parted into many rays as it becomes poetry, and so to remove whatever in it was harsh and hard. Tyrants might thus be left in ignorance, and enemies not forewarned. For them he threw a veil in the innuendoes and ambiguities which hid the meaning from others, but he did not elude the intelligence of the actual consultants who gave their whole mind to the answers. Hence, now that things have changed, it is sheer folly to criticize and find fault with the God because he thinks right to give his aid no longer n the same manner but in another.
[De Pyth. or. 27] “Another thing is this: Language receives no greater advantage from a poetical form than this, that a meaning which is wrapped and bound in metre is more easily remembered and grasped. Now in those days much memory was required. Many things used to be explained orally; local indications, the times when things were to be done, rites of Gods across the seas, secret burying-places of heroes, hard to be discovered by those setting off for lands far from Greece. You know about Chius and Cretinus, and Nesichus, and Phalanthus, and many other leaders of expeditions, how many clues they needed to find the proper place appointed to each for settlement, while some of them missed the way, as did Battus. He thought that he would be turned out, not understanding what the place was to which he had been sent; then he came a second time loudly complaining. Then the God answered:
[De Pyth. or. 27b] αἰ τὺ ἐμεῦ Λιβύαν μαλοτρόφον οἶσθας ἄρειον,μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐλθόντος, ἄγαν ἄγαμαι σοφίην σευ Thou that hast never been there, if thou know’st Libya the sheepland Better than I that have been, then wonderful wise is they wisdom.
[De Pyth. or. 27c] And thus he sent him out again.
Then Lysander entirely failed to make out the hill Orchalides, otherwise called Alopecus, and the river Hoplites,
[De Pyth. or. 27d] γῆς τε δράκονθ᾽ ὑϊὸν δόλιον κατόπισθεν ἰόνταAlso the dragon, earthborn, in craftiness coming behind thee.
[De Pyth. or. 27e] and was defeated in battle and slain in those very spots by Neochorus, a man of Haliartus, who bore on his shield the device of a serpent. There are many such answers given to the old people, all hard to grasp and remember, which I need not give you at length, since you know them.
[De Pyth. or. 28] XXVIII. “Our present settled condition, out of which the questions now put to the God arise, I welcome and accept. There is great peace and tranquility, war has been made to cease, there are no wanderings in exile, no revolutions, no tyrannies, no other plagues or ills in Greece asking for potent and extraordinary remedies. But when there is nothing complicated or mysterious, or dangerous, only questions on petty popular matters, like school themes, ‘whether I should marry’, ‘whether I should sail’, ‘whether I should lend’, and the most serious responses given to states concern harvests and cattle-breeding and public health; in such circumstances, to clothe the answers in metre, or to devise circumlocutions, to introduce strange words on questions calling for a plain, concise answer, is what an ambitions sophist might do, bedizening the oracle for his glory. But the Pythia is a lady in herself, and when she descends thither and is in the presence of the God, she cares for truth rather than for glory, or for the praise or blame of men.
[De Pyth. or. 29] XXIX. “So perhaps ought we too to feel. As it is, in a sort of agony of fear, lest the place should lose its reputation of three thousand years, and a few persons should think lightly of it and cease to visit the oracle, for all the world as if it were a sophist’s school, we apologize, and make up reasons and theories about things which we neither know now ought to know. We smooth the critic down, and try to persuade him, whereas we ought to bid him be gone —
[De Pyth. or. 29b] αὐτῷ γἀρ οἱ πρῶτον ἀνιηρότερον ἒσταιHe shall first suffer in a loss not light —
[De Pyth. or. 29c] if that is the view which he takes of the God; for if we welcome and admire what the Wise Men of old days have written up: ‘Know Thyself’ and ‘Nothing too much’, not least because of the brevity which includes in a small compass a close hammer-beaten sense, we cannot blame the oracles because they mostly use concise, plain, direct phrases. It is with sayings like those of the Wise Men as with streams compressed into a narrow channel; there is no distinctness or transparency to the eye of the mind, but if you look into what has been written or said about them ;by those who have wished to learn the full meaning of each, you will not easily find longer treaties elsewhere. The language of the Pythia illustrates what mathematicians mean by calling a straight line the shortest between the same points; it makes no bending, or curve, or doubling or ambiguity; it lies straight towards truth; it takes risks, its good faith is open to examination, and it has never yet been found wrong; it has filled the shrine with offerings from Barbarians and Greeks, and has beautified it with noble buildings and Amphictyonic fittings. Why, you see for yourselves many buildings added which were not here formerly, many restored which were ruinous or destroyed. As new trees spring up by the side of those in vigorous bearing, so the Pylæa flourishes together with Delphi and is fed upon the same meat; the plenty of the one causes the other to take on shapeliness and figure and a beauty of temples, and halls of meeting and fountains of water, such as it never had in the thousand years before. Now those who dwell about Galaxius in Boeotia felt the manifest presence of the God in the abundance and more than abundance of milk:
[De Pyth. or. 29d] προβάτων γᾶρ ἐκ πάντων κελάρυξεν,ὡς ἀπὸ κρηνᾶν φέρτατον ὕδωρ,θηλᾶν γάλα τοὶ δ᾽ ἐπίμπλεν ἐσσύμενοι πίθουςἀσκὸς δ’ οὐδέ τις ἀμφορεὺς ἐλίνυεν δόμοις,πέλλαι γὰρ ξύλιναι πίθοι τε πλῆσθεν ἅπαντεςFrom all the kine and every flock, Plenteous as water from the rock, Came welling, gurgling on its way The milk that day. Hot foot they hied them to the task, To fill the pail, to fill the cask; No pot or pan had holiday; Wine-skin or flagon, none might stay Within, that day.
[De Pyth. or. 29e] But to us he gives tokens bright and stronger and more evident than these, in having, after the days of drought, of desertion and poverty, brought us plenty, splendour, and reputation. True, I am well pleased with myself for anything which my own zeal or service may have contributed to this result in support of Polycrates and Petraeus, well pleased too with him who has been our leader in this policy, to whose thought and planning most of the improvements are due; but it is wholly impossible that so great, so vast a change could have been effected in this short time by merely human care, with no God present here or lending his Divinity to the place of the oracle.
[De Pyth. or. 30] XXX. “But as in those days there were some who found fault with the responses for obliquity and want of clearness, so now there are those who criticize them as too simple, which is childishness indeed and rank stupidity! For as children show more glee and satisfaction at the sight of rainbows or haloes or comets than in that of the sun or of the moon, so do these people regret the riddles, allegories, and metaphors which are so many modes of refraction of prophetic art in a mortal and fanciful medium. And if they do not fully inquire into the cause of the change, they go away having passed judgement against the God, rather than against ourselves or themselves, for having a power of thought which is too feeble to attain to his counsels.”

## The obsolescence of oracles

[De def. or. 1] 409 1 THE story is told, my dear Terentius Priscus, that certain eagles or swans, flying from the uttermost parts of the earth towards its centre, met in Delphi at the omphalus, as it is called; and at a later time Epimenides of Phaestus put the story to test by referring it to the god and upon receiving a vague and ambiguous oracle said,
[De def. or. 1b] Now do we know that there is no mid-centre of earth or of ocean;
Yet if there be, it is known to the gods, but is hidden from mortals.
[De def. or. 2] Now very likely the god repulsed him from his attempt to investigate an ancient myth 410 as though it were a painting to be tested by the touch. 2 Yet a short time before the Pythian games, which were held when Callistratus was in office in our own day, it happened that two revered men coming from opposite ends of the inhabited earth met together at Delphi, Demetrius the grammarian journeying homeward from Britain to Tarsus, and Cleombrotus of Sparta, who had made many excursions in Egypt and about the land of the Cave-dwellers, and had sailed beyond the Persian Gulf; his journeyings were not for business, but he was fond of seeing things and of acquiring knowledge; he had wealth enough, and felt that it was not of any great moment to have more than enough, and so he employed his leisure for such purposes; he was getting together a history to serve as a basis for a philosophy that had as its end and aim theology, as he himself named it. He had recently been at the shrine of Ammon, and it was plain that he was not particularly impressed by most of the things there, but in regard to the ever-burning lamp he related a story told by the priests which deserves special consideration; it is that the lamp consumes less and less oil each year, and they hold that this is a proof of a disparity in the years, which all the time is making one year shorter in duration than its predecessor; for it is reasonable that in less duration of time the amount consumed should be less.
[De def. or. 3] 3 1 The company was surprised at this, and Demetrius went so far as to say that it was ridiculous to try in this way to draw great conclusions from small data, not, as Alcaeus puts it, “painting the lion from a single claw,” but with a wick and lamp postulating a mutation in the heavens and the universe, and doing away completely with mathematical science.
[De def. or. 3b] “Neither of these things,” said Cleombrotus, “will disturb these men; certainly they will not concede any superior accuracy to the mathematicians, since it is more likely that a set period of time, in movements and cycles so far away, should elude mathematical calculation than that the measurement of the oil should elude the very men who were always giving careful attention to the anomaly and watching it closely because of its strangeness. Besides, Demetrius, not to allow that small things are indication of great stands directly in the way of many arts; for it will result in taking away from us the demonstration of many facts and the prognostication of many others. Yet you people try to demonstrate to us also a matter of no small importance: that the heroes of old shaved their bodies with a razor, because you met with the word ‘razor’ in Homer; also that they lent money on interest because Homer somewhere says that ‘a debt is owing, not recent nor small,’ the assumption being that ‘owing’ signifies ‘accumulating.’ And again when Homer speaks of the night as ‘swift,’ you cling to the expression with great satisfaction and say that it means this: that the Earth’s shadow is by him called conical, being caused by a spherical body; and as for the idea that medical science can predict a pestilential summer by a multitude of spiders’ webs or by the fig-leaves in the spring when they are like crows’ feet, who of those that insist that small things are not indications of great will allow this to go unchallenged? Who will endure that the magnitude of the sun be measured by reference to a quart or a gill, or that, in the sun-dial here, the inclination of the acute angle which its shadow makes with the level plane be called the measurement of the elevation of the ever-visible pole above the horizon? This was what one might hear from the priests of the prophetic shrine there; so some other rejoinder must be offered to them, if we would make for the sun the wonted order of its course immutable, in accord with the tradition of the ages.”
[De def. or. 4] 4 1 Thereupon Ammonius the philosopher, who was present, exclaimed, “Not for the sun only, but for the whole heavens. For the sun’s course in passing from solstice to solstice 411 must inevitably become shorter and not continue to be so large a part of the horizon as the mathematicians say it is, since the southern portion is constantly subject to a contracting movement, which brings it closer to the northern portion; and so our summer must become shorter and its temperature lower, as the sun turns about within narrower limits and touches fewer parallels of latitude at the solstitial points; moreover, the phenomenon observed at Syenê, where the upright rods on the sun-dials cast no shadow at the time of the summer solstice, is bound to be a thing of the past; many of the fixed stars must have gone below the horizon, and some of them must be touching one another, or have become coalescent, as the space separating them has disappeared! But if, on the other hand, they are going to assert that, while all the other bodies are without change, the sun displays irregularity in its movements, they will not be able to state the cause of the acceleration which affects the sun alone among so many bodies, and they will throw into confusion almost all the celestial mechanics, and into complete confusion those relating to the moon, so that they will have no need of measures of oil to prove the difference. In fact, the eclipses will prove it, as the sun more frequently casts a shadow on the moon and the moon on the earth; the other facts are clear, and there is no need to disclose in further detail the imposture in the argument.”
[De def. or. 4b] “But,” said Cleombrotus, “I myself actually saw the measure; for they had many of them to show, and that of this past year failed to come up to the very oldest by not a little.”
[De def. or. 4c] “Then,” said Ammonius, taking up the argument again, “this fact has escaped the notice of the other peoples among whom ever-burning fires have been cherished and kept alive for a period of years which might be termed infinite? But on the assumption that the report is true, is it not better to assign the cause to some coldness or moisture in the air by which the flame is made to languish, and so very likely does not take up nor need very much to support it? Or, quite the reverse, may we assign the cause to spells of dryness and heat? In fact, I have heard people say before this regarding fire, that it burns better in the winter, being strongly compacted and condensed by the cold; whereas in warm, dry times it is very weak and loses its compactness and intensity, and if it burns in the sunlight, it does even worse, and takes hold of the fuel without energy, and consumes it more slowly. Best of all, the cause might be assigned to the oil itself; for it is not unlikely that in days of old it contained incombustible material and water, being produced from young trees; but that later, being ripened on full-grown trees and concentrated, it should, in an equal quantity, show more strength and provide a better fuel, if the people at Ammon’s shrine must have their assumption preserved for them in spite of its being so strange and unusual.”
[De def. or. 5] 5 1 When Ammonius had ceased speaking, I said, “Won’t you rather tell us all about the oracle, Cleombrotus? For great was the ancient repute of the divine influence there, but at the present time it seems to be somewhat evanescent.”
[De def. or. 5b] As Cleombrotus made no reply and did not look up, Demetrius said, “There is no need to make any inquiries nor to raise any questions about the state of affairs there, when we see the evanescence of the oracles here, or rather the total disappearance of all but one or two; but we should deliberate the reason why they have become so utterly weak. What need to speak of others, when in Boeotia, which in former times spoke with many tongues because of its oracles, the oracles have now failed completely, even as if they were streams of flowing water, and a great drought in prophecy has overspread the land? For nowhere now except in the neighbourhood of Lebadeia has Boeotia aught to offer to those who would draw from the well-spring of prophecy. As for the rest, 412 silence has come upon some and utter desolation upon others. And yet at the time of the Persian Wars many had gained a high repute, that of Ptoan Apollo no less than that of Amphiaraüs; Mys, as it seems, made trial of both. The prophetic priest of this oracle, accustomed in former times to use the Aeolic dialect, on that occasion took the side of the barbarians and gave forth an oracle such that no one else of those present comprehended it, but only Mys himself, since it is quite clear from the inspired language then used by the prophetic priest that it is not for barbarians ever to receive a word in the Greek tongue subservient to their command.
[De def. or. 5c] “The minion who was sent to the oracle of Amphiaraüs had, in his sleep there, a vision of the servant of the god who appeared to him and tried first to eject him by word of mouth, alleging that the god was not there; then next he tried to push him away with his hands, and, when the man persisted in staying, btook up a large stone and smote him on the head. All this was in harmony, as it were, with events to come; for Mardonius was vanquished while the Greeks were led, not by a king, but by a guardian and deputy of a king; and he fell, struck by a stone just as the Lydian dreamed that he was struck in his sleep.
[De def. or. 5d] “That time, too, was the most flourishing period of the oracle at Tegyrae, which place also by tradition is the birthplace of the god; and of the two streams of water that flow past it, the inhabitants even to this day call the one ‘Palm’ and the other ‘Olive.’ Now in the Persian Wars, when Echecrates was the prophetic priest, the god prophesied for the Greeks victory and might in war; and in the Peloponnesian War, when the people of Delos had been driven out of their island, an oracle, it is said, was brought to them from Delphi directing them to find the place where Apollo was born, and to perform certain sacrifices there. While they were wondering and questioning the mere possibility that the god had been born, not in their island, but somewhere else, the prophetic priestess told them in another oracle that a crow would show them the spot. So they went away and, when they reached Chaeroneia, they heard the woman who kept their inn conversing about the oracle with some strangers who were on their way to Tegyrae. The strangers, as they were leaving, bade good-bye to the woman and called her by her name, which actually was ‘Crow.’ Then the Delians understood the meaning of the oracle and, having offered sacrifice in Tegyrae, they found a way to return home a short time thereafter. There have been also more recent manifestations than these at these oracles, but now the oracles are no more; so it is well worth while, here in the precinct of the Pythian god, to examine into the reason for the change.”
[De def. or. 6] 6 1 Proceeding onward from the temple, we had by this time reached the doors of the Cnidian Clubhouse. Accordingly we passed inside, and there we saw sitting and waiting for us the friends to whom we were going. There was quiet among the other people there because of the hour, as they were engaged in taking a rub-down or else watching the athletes. Then Demetrius with a smile said, “ ‘Shall I tell you a falsehood or speak out the truth?’ You seem to have on hand nothing worth considering; for I see that you are sitting about quite at your ease and with faces quite relaxed.”
[De def. or. 6b] “Yes,” said Heracleon of Megara in reply, “for we are not investigating which of the two lambdas in the verb ‘hurl’ is the one that it loses in the future tense; nor from what positives the adjectives ‘worse’ and ‘better’ and ‘worst’ and ‘best’ are formed; for these and similar problems may set the face in hard lines, but the others it is possible to examine in a philosophic spirit, without knitting the brows, and to investigate quietly without any fierce looks or any hard feelings against the company.”
[De def. or. 6c] “Then permit us to come in,” said Demetrius, “and with us a subject which has naturally occurred to us, one which is related to the place and concerns of all of us on account of the god; and beware of knitting your brows when you attack it!”
[De def. or. 7] 7 1 When, accordingly, we had joined their company and seated ourselves among them and Demetrius had laid the subject before them, 413 up sprang at once the Cynic Didymus, by nickname Planetiades, and, striking the ground two or three times with his staff, cried out, “Aha! a difficult matter to decide and one requiring much investigation is that which you have come bringing to us! It is indeed a wonder, when so much wickedness has been disseminated upon earth that not only Modesty and Righteous Indignation, as Hesiod said long ago, have deserted the life of mankind, but that Divine Providence also has gathered up its oracles and departed from every place! Quite the contrary, I propose that you discuss how it happens that the oracle here has not also given out, and Heracles for a second time, or some other god, has not wrested away the tripod which is constantly being occupied with shameful and impious questions which people propound to the god, some of whom try to make a test of him as though his wisdom were an affectation, while others put questions about treasures or inheritances or unlawful marriages; so Pythagoras is proved to be utterly wrong in asserting that men are at their best when they approach the gods. Thus those maladies and emotions of the soul which it would be good to disclaim and conceal in the presence of an older man, they bring naked and exposed before the god.”
[De def. or. 7b] He would have said more, but Heracleon seized hold of his cloak, and I, being about as intimate with him as anybody, said, “Cease provoking the god, my dear Planetiades; for he is of a good and mild disposition,
[De def. or. 7c] And towards mortal men he hath been judged the most gentle,
[De def. or. 7d] as Pindar says. And whether he be the sun or the lord and father of the sun and of all that lies beyond our vision, it is not likely that he should deny his utterance to people of the present day because of their unworthiness, when he is responsible for their birth and nurture and their existence and power to think; nor is it likely withal that Providence, like a benign and helpful mother, who does everything for us and watches over us, should cherish animosity in the matter of prophecy only, and take away that from us after having given it to us at the beginning, as if the number of wicked men included among a larger population were not larger at that earlier time when the oracles were established in many places in the inhabited world! Come, sit down again and make a ‘Pythian truce’ with evil, which you are wont to chastise with words every day, and join us in seeking some other reason for what is spoken of as the obsolescence of oracles; but keep the god benign and provoke him not to wrath.”
[De def. or. 7e] What I had said was so far effective that Planetiades went out through the door without another word.
[De def. or. 8] 8 1 There was quiet for a moment, and then Ammonius, addressing himself to me, said, “See what it is that we are doing, Lamprias, and concentrate your thoughts on our subject so that we shall not relieve the god of responsibility. The fact is that the man who holds that the obsolescence of such of the oracles as have ceased to function has been brought about by some other cause and not by the will of a god gives reason for suspecting that he believes that their creation and continued existence was not due to the god, but was brought about in some other way. For prophecy is something created by a god, and certainly no greater or more potent force exists to abolish and obliterate it. Now I do not like what Planetiades said, and one of the reasons is the inconsistency which it creates regarding the god, who in one way turns away from wickedness and disavows it, and again in another way welcomes its presence; just as if some king or despot should shut out bad men at certain doors and let them in at others and have dealings with them.
[De def. or. 8b] Now moderation, adequacy, excess in nothing, and complete self-sufficiency are above all else the essential characteristics of everything done by the gods; and if anyone should take this fact as a starting-point, and assert that 414 Greece has far more than its share in the general depopulation which the earlier discords and wars have wrought throughout practically the whole inhabited earth, and that to day the whole of Greece would hardly muster three thousand men-at arms, which is the number that the one city of the Megarians sent forth to Plataeae (for the god’s abandoning of many oracles is nothing other than his way of substantiating the desolation of Greece), in this way such a man would give some accurate evidence of his keenness in reasoning. For who would profit if there were an oracle in Tegyrae, as there used to be, or at Ptoüm, where during some part of the day one might possibly meet a human being pasturing his flocks?
[De def. or. 8c] And regarding the oracle here at Delphi, the most ancient in time and the most famous in repute, men record that for a long time it was made desolate and unapproachable by a fierce creature, a serpent; they do not, however, put the correct interpretation upon its lying idle, but quite the reverse; for it was the desolation that attracted the creature rather than that the creature caused the desolation. But when Greece, since God so willed, had grown strong in cities and the place was thronged with people, they used to employ two prophetic priestesses who were sent down in turn; and a third was appointed to be held in reserve. But to day there is one priestess and we do not complain, for she meets every need. There is no reason, therefore, to blame the god; the exercise of the prophetic art which continues at the present day is sufficient for all, and sends away all with their desires fulfilled.
[De def. or. 8d] Agamemnon, for example, used nine heralds and, even so, had difficulty in keeping the assembly in order because of the vast numbers; but here in Delphi, a few days hence, in the theatre you will see that one voice reaches all. In the same way, in those days, prophecy employed more voices to speak to more people, but to day, quite the reverse, we should needs be surprised at the god if he allowed his prophecies to run to waste, like water, or to echo like the rocks with the voices of shepherds and flocks in waste places.”
[De def. or. 9] 9 1 When Ammonius had said this and I remained silent, Cleombrotus, addressing himself to me, said, “Already you have conceded this point, that the god both creates and abolishes these prophetic shrines.”
[De def. or. 9b] “No indeed,” said I, “my contention is that no prophetic shrine or oracle is ever abolished by the instrumentality of the god. He creates and provides many other things for us, and upon some of these Nature brings destruction and disintegration; or rather, the matter composing them, being itself a force for disintegration, often reverts rapidly to its earlier state and causes the dissolution of what was created by the more potent instrumentality; and it is in this way, I think, that in the next period there are dimmings and abolitions of the prophetic agencies; for while the god gives many fair things to mankind, he gives nothing imperishable, so that, as Sophocles puts it, ‘the works of gods may die, but not the gods.” Their presence and power wise men are ever telling us we must look for in Nature and in Matter, where it is manifested, the originating influence being reserved for the Deity, as is right. Certainly it is foolish and childish in the extreme to imagine that the god himself after the manner of ventriloquists (who used to be called ‘Eurycleis,’ but now ‘Pythones’) enters into the bodies of his prophets and prompts their utterances, employing their mouths and voices as instruments. For if he allows himself to become entangled in men’s needs, he is prodigal with his majesty and he does not observe the dignity and greatness of his preeminence.”
[De def. or. 10] 10 1 “You are right,” said Cleombrotus; “but since it is hard to apprehend and to define in what way and to what extent Providence should be brought in as an agent, those who make the god responsible for nothing at all and those make him responsible for all things alike go wide of moderation and propriety. They put the case well who say that Plato, by his discovery of the element underlying all created qualities, which is now called ‘Matter’ and ‘Nature,’ has relieved philosophers of many great perplexities; 415 but, as it seems to me, those persons have resolved more and greater perplexities who have set the race of demigods midway between gods and men, and have discovered a force to draw together, in a way, and to unite our common fellowship — whether this doctrine comes from the wise men of the cult of Zoroaster, or whether it is Thracian and harks back to Orpheus, or is Egyptian, or Phrygian, as we may infer from observing that many things connected with death and mourning in the rites of both lands are combined in the ceremonies so fervently celebrated there. Among the Greeks, Homer, moreover, appears to use both names in common band sometimes to speak of the gods as demigods; but Hesiod was the first to set forth clearly and distinctly four classes of rational beings: gods, demigods, heroes, in this order, and, last of all, men; and as a sequence to this, apparently, he postulates his transmutation, the golden race passing selectively into many good divinities, and the demigods into heroes.
[De def. or. 10b] “Others postulate a transmutation for bodies and souls alike; in the same manner in which water is seen to be generated from earth, air from water, and fire from air, as their substance is borne upward, even so from men into heroes and from heroes into demigods the better souls obtain their transmutation. But from the demigods ca few souls still, in the long reach of time, because of supreme excellence, come, after being purified, to share completely in divine qualities. But with some of these souls it comes to pass that they do not maintain control over themselves, but yield to temptation and are again clothed with mortal bodies and have a dim and darkened life, like mist or vapour.
[De def. or. 11] 11 “Hesiod thinks that with the lapse of certain periods of years the end comes even to the demigods; for, speaking in the person of the Naiad, he indirectly suggests the length of time with these words:
[De def. or. 11b] Nine generations long is the life of the crow and his cawing,
Nine generations of vigorous men. Lives of four crows together
Equal the life of a stag, and three stages the old age of a raven;
Nine of the lives of the raven the life of the Phoenix doth equal;
Ten of the Phoenix we Nymphs, fair daughters of Zeus of the aegis.
[De def. or. 11c] Those that do not interpret ‘generation’ well make an immense total of this time; but it really means a year, so that the sum of the life of these divinities is nine thousand, seven hundred and twenty years, less than most mathematicians think, and more than Pindar has stated when he says that the Nymphs live
[De def. or. 11d] Allotted a term as long as the years of a tree,
and for this reason he calls them Hamadryads.”
[De def. or. 11e] While he was still speaking Demetrius, interrupting him, said, “How is it, Cleombrotus, that you can say that the year has been called a generation? For neither of a man ‘in his vigour’ nor ‘in his eld,’ as some read the passage, is the span of human life such as this. Those who read ‘in their vigour’ make a generation thirty years, in accord with Heracleitus, a time sufficient for a father to have a son who is a father also; but again those who write ‘in their eld’ and not ‘in their vigour’ assign an hundred and eight years to a generation; for they say that fifty-four marks the limit of the middle years of human life, a number which is made up of the first number, the first two plane surfaces, two squares and two cubes, numbers which Plato as took in the Generation of the Soul. The whole matter as stated by Hesiod seems to contain a veiled reference to the ‘Conflagration,’ when the disappearance of all liquids will most likely be accompanied by the extinction of the Nymphs,
[De def. or. 11f] Who in the midst of fair woodlands,
Sources of rivers, and grass-covered meadows have their abiding.”
[De def. or. 12] 12 1 “Yes,” said Cleombrotus, “I hear this from many persons, and I observe that the Stoic “Conflagration,’ just as it feeds on the verses of Heracleitus and Orpheus, is also seizing upon those of Hesiod. 416 But I cannot brook this talk of universal destruction; and such impossibilities, in recalling to our minds these utterances, especially those about the crow and the stag, must be allowed to revert upon those that indulge in such exaggeration. Does not a year include within itself the beginning and the end of ‘all things which the Seasons and the Earth make grow,’ and is it not foreign to men’s ways to call it a ‘generation’? As a matter of fact you yourselves surely agree that Hesiod by the word ‘generation’ means a man’s life. Is not that so?”
[De def. or. 12b] “Yes,” said Demetrius.
[De def. or. 12c] “And this fact also is clear,” said Cleombrotus, “that often the measure and the things measured are called by the same name, as, for example, gill, quart, gallon, and bushel. In the same way, then, in which we call unity a number, being, as it is, the smallest number and the first; so the year, which we use as the first measure of man’s life, Hesiod has called by the same name as the thing measured, a ‘generation.’ The fact is that the numbers which those other persons produce have none of those notable and conspicuous qualities which may be inherent in numbers. The number nine thousand, seven hundred and twenty has been produced by adding together the first four numbers and multiplying them by four, or by multiplying four by ten. Either process gives forty, and when this is multiplied five times by three it gives the specified number. But concerning these matters there is no need for us to disagree with Demetrius. In fact, even if the period of time in which the soul of the demigod or hero changes its life be longer or shorter, determinate or indeterminate, none the less the proof will be there on the basis which he desires, fortified by clear testimony from ancient times, that in the confines, as it were, between gods and men there exist certain natures susceptible to human emotions and involuntary changes, whom it is right that we, like our fathers before us, should regard as demigods, and, calling them by that name, should reverence them.
[De def. or. 13] 13 1 “As an illustration of this subject, Xenocrates, the companion of Plato, demployed the order of the triangles; the equilateral he compared to the nature of the gods, the scalene to that of man, and the isosceles to that of the demigods; for the first is equal in all its lines, the second unequal in all, and the third is partly equal and partly unequal, like the nature of the demigods, which has human emotions and godlike power. Nature has placed within our ken perceptible images and visible likenesses, the sun and the stars for the gods, and for mortal men beams of light, comets, and meteors, a comparison which Euripides has made in the verses:
[De def. or. 13b] He that but yesterday was vigorous
Of frame, even as a star from heaven falls,
Gave up in death his spirit to the air.
[De def. or. 13c] But there is a body with complex characteristics which actually parallels the demigods, namely the moon; and when men see that she, by her being consistently in accord with the cycles through which those beings pass, is subject to apparent wanings and waxings and transformations, some call her an earth-like star, others a star-like earth, and others the domain of Hecatê, who belongs both to the earth and to the heavens. Now if the air that is between the earth and the moon were to be removed and withdrawn, the unity and consociation of the universe would be destroyed, since there would be an empty and unconnected space in the middle; and in just the same way those who refuse to leave us the race of demigods make the relations of gods and men remote and alien by doing away with the ‘interpretative and ministering nature,’ as Plato has called it; or else they force us to a disorderly confusion of all things, in which we bring the god into men’s emotions and activities, drawing him down to our needs, as the women of Thessaly are said to draw down the moon. 417 This cunning deceit of theirs, however, gained credence among women when the daughter of Hegetor, Aglaonicê, who was skilled in astronomy, always pretended at the time of an eclipse of the moon that she was bewitching it and bringing it down. But as for us, let us not listen to any who say that there are some oracles not divinely inspired, or religious ceremonies and mystic rites which are disregarded by the gods; and on the other hand let us not imagine that the god goes in and out and is present at these ceremonies and helps in conducting them; but let us commit these matters to those ministers of the gods to whom it is right to commit them, as to servants and clerks, and let us believe that demigods are guardians of sacred rites of the gods and prompters of the Mysteries, while others go about as avengers of arrogant and grievous cases of injustice. Still others Hesiod has very impressively addressed as
[De def. or. 13d] Holy
Givers of wealth, and possessing in this a meed that is kingly,
[De def. or. 13e] implying that doing good to people is kingly. For as among men, so also among the demigods, there are different degrees of excellence, and in some there is a weak and dim remainder of the emotional and irrational, a survival, as it were, while in others this is excessive and hard to stifle. Of all these things there are, in many places, sacrifices, ceremonies, and legends which preserve and jealously guard vestiges and tokens embodied here and there in their fabric.
[De def. or. 14] 14 1 “Regarding the rites of the Mysteries, in which it is possible to gain the clearest reflections and adumbrations of the truth about the demigods, ‘let my lips be piously sealed,’ as Herodotus says; but as for festivals and sacrifices, which may be compared with ill-omened and gloomy days, in which occur the eating of raw flesh, rending of victims, fasting, and beating of breasts, and again in many places scurrilous language at the shrines, and
[De def. or. 14b] Frenzy and shouting of throngs in excitement
With tumultuous tossing of heads in the air,
[De def. or. 14c] I should say that these acts are not performed for any god, but are soothing and appeasing rites for the averting of evil spirits. Nor is it credible that the gods demanded or welcomed the human sacrifices of ancient days, nor would kings and generals have endured giving over their children and submitting them to the preparatory rites and cutting their throats to no purpose save that they felt they were propitiating and offering satisfaction to the wrath and sullen temper of some harsh and implacable avenging deities, or to the insane and imperious passions of some who had not the power or desire to seek satisfaction in a natural and normal way. But as Heracles laid siege to Oechalia for the sake of a maiden, so powerful and impetuous divinities, in demanding a human soul which is incarnate within a mortal body, bring pestilences and failures of crops upon States and stir up wars and civil discords, until they succeed in obtaining what they desire. To some, however, comes the opposite; for example, when I was spending a considerable time in Crete, I noticed an extraordinary festival being celebrated there in which they exhibit the image of a man without a head, and relate that this used to be Molus, father of Meriones, and that he violated a young woman; and when he was discovered, he was without a head.
[De def. or. 15] 15 1 “As for the various tales of rapine and wanderings of the gods, their concealments and banishment and servitude, which men rehearse in legend and in song, all these are, in fact, not things that were done to the gods or happened to them, but to the demigods; and they are kept in memory because of the virtues and power of these beings; nor did Aeschylus speak devoutly when he said
[De def. or. 15b] Holy Apollo, god from heaven banned;
nor Admetus in Sophocles,
My cock it was that sent him to the mill.
[De def. or. 15c] But the greatest error in regard to the truth is that of the theologians of Delphi who think that the god once had a battle here with a serpent for the possession of the oracle, and they permit poets and prose-writers to tell of this in their competitions in the theatres, 418 whereby they bear specific testimony against the most sacred of the rites that they perform.”
[De def. or. 15d] At this Philip the historian, who was present, expressed surprise, and inquired against what hallowed rites Cleombrotus thought that the competition bore testimony. “These,” said Cleombrotus, “which have to do with the oracle here, and in which the city recently initiated all the Greeks west of Thermopylae and extended the rites as far as Tempê. For the structure which is erected here near the threshing-floor every eight years is not a nest-like serpent’s den, but a copy of the dwelling of a despot or king. The onset upon it, which is made in silence through the way called ‘Dolon’s Way,’ by which the Labyadae with lighted torches conduct the boy, who must have two parents living, and, after, applying fire to the structure and upsetting the table, flee through the doors of the temple without looking back; and finally the wanderings and servitude of the boy and the purifications that take place at Tempê — all prompt a suspicion of some great and unholy deed of daring. For it is utterly ridiculous, my good friend, that Apollo, after slaying a brute creature, should flee to the ends of Greece in quest of purification and, after arriving there, should offer some libations and perform those ceremonies which men perform in the effort to placate and mollify the wrath of spirits whom men call the ‘unforgetting avengers,’ as if they followed up the memories of some unforgotten foul deeds of earlier days. And as for the story which I have heard before about this flight and the removal to another place, it is dreadfully strange and paradoxical, but if it has any vestige of truth in it, let us not imagine that what was done in those days about the oracle was any slight or common affair. But that I may not seem to be doing what is described by Empedocles as
[De def. or. 15e] Putting the heads of myths together,
Bringing no single path to perfection,
[De def. or. 15f] permit me to add to what was said at the outset the proper conclusion, for we have already come to it. Let this statement be ventured by us, following the lead of many others before us, that coincidently with the total defection of the guardian spirits assigned to the oracles and prophetic shrines, occurs the defection of the oracles themselves; and when the spirits flee or go to another place, the oracles themselves lose their power, but when the spirits return many years later, the oracles, like musical instruments, become articulate, since those who can put them to use are present and in charge of them.”
[De def. or. 16] 16 1 When Cleombrotus had expounded these matters, Heracleon said, “there is no unsanctified or irreligious person present, or anyone who holds opinions about the gods that are out of keeping with ours; but let us ourselves be stringently on our guard lest we unwittingly try to support the argument with extraordinary and presumptuous hypotheses.”
[De def. or. 16b] “That is a very good suggestion,” said Philip, “but which of the theses of Cleombrotus makes you the most uncomfortable?”
“That it is not the gods,” said Heracleon, “who are in charge of the oracles, since the gods ought properly to be freed of earthly concerns; but that it is the demigods, ministers of the gods, who have them in charge, seems to me not a bad postulate; but to take, practically by the handful, from the verses of Empedocles sins, rash crimes, and heaven-sent wanderings, and to impose them upon the demigods, and to assume that their final fate is death, just as with men, I regard as rather too audacious and uncivilized.”
[De def. or. 16c] Cleombrotus was moved to ask Philip who the young man was and whence he came; and after learning his name and his city he said, “It is not unwittingly, Heracleon, that we have become involved in strange arguments; but it is impossible, when discussing important matters, to make any progress in our ideas towards the probable truth without employing for this purpose important principles. But you unwittingly take back what you concede; for you agree that these demigods exist, 419 but by your postulating that they are not bad nor mortal you no longer keep them; for in what respect do they differ from gods, if as regards their being they possess immortality and as regards their virtues freedom from all emotion or sin?”
[De def. or. 17] 17 1 As Heracleon was reflecting upon this in silence, Philip said, “Not only has Empedocles bequeathed to us bad demigods, Heracleon, but so also have Plato, Xenocrates, and Chrysippus; and, in addition, Democritus, by his prayer that he may meet with ‘propitious spirits,’ clearly recognized that there is another class of these which is perverse and possessed of vicious predilections and impulses.
[De def. or. 17b] “As for death among such beings, I have heard the words of a man who was not a fool nor an impostor. The father of Aemilianus the orator, to whom some of you have listened, was Epitherses, who lived in our town and was my teacher in grammar. He said that once upon a time in making a voyage to Italy he embarked on a ship carrying freight and many passengers. It was already evening when, near the Echinades Islands, the wind dropped, and the ship drifted near Paxi. Almost everybody was awake, and a good many had not finished their after-dinner wine. Suddenly from the island of Paxi was heard the voice of someone loudly calling Thamus, so that all were amazed. Thamus was an Egyptian pilot, not known by name even to many on board. Twice he was called and made no reply, but the third time he answered; and the caller, raising his voice, said, ‘When you come opposite to Palodes, announce that Great Pan is dead.’ On hearing this, all, said Epitherses, were astounded and reasoned among themselves whether it were better to carry out the order or to refuse to meddle and let the matter go. Under the circumstances Thamus made up his mind that if there should be a breeze, he would sail past and keep quiet, but with no wind and a smooth sea about the place he would announce what he had heard. So, when he came opposite Palodes, and there was neither wind nor wave, Thamus from the stern, looking toward the land, said the words as he had heard them: ‘Great Pan is dead.’ Even before he had finished there was a great cry of lamentation, not of one person, but of many, mingled with exclamations of amazement. As many persons were on the vessel, the story was soon spread abroad in Rome, and Thamus was sent for by Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius became so convinced of the truth of the story that he caused an inquiry and investigation to be made about Pan; and the scholars, who were numerous at his court, conjectured that he was the son born of Hermes and Penelopê.”
[De def. or. 17c] Moreover, Philip had several witnesses among the persons present who had been pupils of the old man Aemilianus.
[De def. or. 18] 18 1 Demetrius said that among the islands lying near Britain were many isolated, having few or no inhabitants, some of which bore the names of divinities or heroes. He himself, by the emperor’s order, had made a voyage for inquiry and observation to the nearest of these islands which had only a few inhabitants, holy men who were all held inviolate by the Britons. Shortly after his arrival there occurred a great tumult in the air and many portents; violent winds suddenly swept down and lightning-flashes darted to earth. When these abated, the people of the island said that the passing of someone of the mightier souls had befallen. “For,” said they, “as a lamp when it is being lighted has no terrors, but when it goes out is distressing to many, so the great souls have a kindling into life that is gentle and inoffensive, but their passing and dissolution often, as at the present moment, fosters tempests and storms, and often infects the air with pestilential properties.” 420 Moreover, they said that in this part of the world there is one island where Cronus is confined, guarded while he sleeps by Briareus; for his sleep has been devised as a bondage for him, and round about him are many demigods as attendants and servants.
[De def. or. 19] 19 1 Cleombrotus here took up the conversation and said, “I too have similar stories to tell, but it is sufficient for our purpose that nothing contravenes or prevents these things from being so. Yet we know,” he continued, “that the Stoics entertain the opinion that I mention, not only against the demigods, but they also hold that among the gods, who are so very numerous, there is only one who is eternal and immortal, band the others they believe have come into being, and will suffer dissolution.
[De def. or. 19b] “As for the scoffing and sneers of the Epicureans which they dare to employ against Providence also, calling it nothing but a myth, we need have no fear. We, on the other hand, say that their ‘Infinity’ is a myth, which among so many worlds has not one that is directed by divine reason, but will have them all produced by spontaneous generation and concretion. If there is need for laughter in philosophy, we should laugh at these spirits, dumb, blind, and soulless, which they shepherd for boundless cycles of years, and which make their returning appearance everywhere, some floating away from the bodies of persons still living, others from bodies long ago burned or decayed, whereby these philosophers drag witlessness and obscurity into the study of natural phenomena; but if anyone asserts that such demigods exist, not only for physical reasons, but also for logical reasons, and that they have the power of self-preservation and continued life a long time, then these philosophers feel much aggrieved.”
[De def. or. 20] 20 1 After these remarks Ammonius said, “It seems to me that Theophrastus was right in his pronouncement. What, in fact, is there to prevent our accepting an utterance that is impressive and most highly philosophical? For if it be rejected, it does away with many things which are possible but cannot be proved; and if it be allowed as a principle, it brings in its train many things that are impossible or non-existent. The one thing that I have heard the Epicureans say dwith reference to the demigods introduced by Empedocles is that it is not possible, if they are bad and sinful, that they should be happy and of long life, inasmuch as vice has a large measure of blindness and the tendency to encounter destructive agencies, so that argument of theirs is silly. For by this reasoning Epicurus will be shown to be a worse man than Gorgias the sophist, and Metrodorus worse than Alexis the comic poet; for Alexis lived twice as long as Metrodorus and Gorgias more than a third as long again as Epicurus. It is in another sense that we speak of virtue as something strong, and vice as something weak, not with reference to permanence or dissolution of the body. For example, many of the animals that are sluggish in movement and slow in their reactions and many that are lascivious and ungovernable live a longer time than the quick and the clever. Therefore they do not well who make God’s eternal existence to be the result of watchfulness and the thrusting aside of destructive agencies. No, immunity from emotion and destruction ought to reside in the blessed Being, and should require no activity on His part. Perhaps, however, to speak thus with reference to people that are not present does not show great consideration. So fit is right that Cleombrotus should resume the topic which he discontinued a few moments ago about the migration and flight of the demigods.”
[De def. or. 21] 21 1 Then Cleombrotus continued, “I shall be surprised if it does not appear to you much more strange than what has already been said. Yet it seems to be close to the subject of natural phenomena and Plato has given the key-note for it, not by an unqualified pronouncement, but as the result of a vague concept, cautiously suggesting also the underlying idea in an enigmatic way; but, for all that, there has been loud disparagement of him on the part of other philosophers. 421 But there is set before us for general use a bowl of myths and stories combined, and where could one meet with more kindly listeners for testing these stories, even as one tests coins from foreign lands? So I do not hesitate to favour you with a narrative about a man, not a Greek, whom I had great difficulty in finding, and then only by dint of long wanderings, and after paying large sums for information.
[De def. or. 21b] It was near the Persian Gulf that I found him, where he holds a meeting with human beings once every year; and there I had an opportunity to talk with him and met with a kindly reception. The other days of his life, according to his statement, he spends in association with roving nymphs and demigods. He was the handsomest man I ever saw in personal appearance band he never suffered from any disease, inasmuch as once each month he partook of the medicinal and bitter fruit of a certain herb. He was practised in the use of many tongues; but with me, for the most part, he spoke a Doric which was almost music. While he was speaking, a fragrance overspread the place, as his mouth breathed forth a most pleasant perfume. Besides his learning and his knowledge of history, always at his command, he was inspired to prophesy one day in each year when he went down to the sea and told of the future.
[De def. or. 21c] Potentates and kings’ secretaries would come each year and depart. He made most account of Delphi and there was none of the stories told of Dionysus or of the rites performed here of which he had not heard; these too he asserted were the momentous experiences of the demigods and so, plainly, were those which had to do with the Python. And upon the slayer of that monster was not imposed an exile of eight full years, nor, following this, was he exiled to Tempê; but after he was expelled, he fared forth to another world, and later, returning from there, after eight cycles of the Great Years, pure and truly the ‘Radiant One,’ he took over the oracle which had been guarded during this time by Themis. Such also, he said, were the stories about Typhons and Titans; battles of demigods against demigods had taken place, followed by the exile of the vanquished, or else judgement inflicted by a god upon the sinners, as, for example, for the sin which Typhon is said to have committed in the case of Osiris, or Cronus in the case of Uranus; and the honours once paid to these deities have become quite dim to our eyes or have vanished altogether when the deities were transferred to another world.
[De def. or. 21d] In fact, I learn that the Solymi, who live next to the Lycians, paid especial honour to Cronus. But when he had slain their rulers, Arsalus, Dryus, and Trosobius, he fled away from that place to some place or other, where they cannot say; and then he ceased to be regarded, but Arsalus and those connected with him are called the ‘stern gods,’ and the Lycians employ their names in invoking curses both in public and in private. Many accounts similar to these are to be had from theological history. But, as that man said, if we call some of the demigods by the current name of gods, that is no cause for wonder; for each of them is wont to be called after that god with whom he is allied and from whom he has derived his portion of power and honour. In fact, among ourselves one of us is Dius, another Athenaeus, another Apollonius or Dionysius or Hermaeus; but only some of us have, by chance, been rightly named; the majority have received names derived from the gods which bear no relation to the persons, but are only a travesty.”
[De def. or. 22] 22 1 Cleombrotus said nothing more, and his account appeared marvellous to all. But when Heracleon inquired in what way this was related to Plato and how he had given the key-note for this topic, Cleombrotus said, “You well remember that he summarily decided against 422 an infinite number of worlds, but had doubts about a limited number; and up to five he conceded a reasonable probability to those who postulated one world to correspond to each element, but for himself, he kept to one. This seems to be peculiar to Plato, for the other philosophers conceived a fear of plurality, feeling that if they did not limit matter to one world, but went beyond one, an unlimited and embarrassing infinity would at once fasten itself upon them.”
[De def. or. 22b] “But,” said I, “did your far-away friend set a limit to the number of worlds, as Plato did, or did you not go so far as to sound him on this point when you had your interview with him?”
[De def. or. 22c] “Was it not likely,” said Cleombrotus, “that on anything touching these matters, if on nothing else, I should be an inquisitive and eager listener, when he so graciously put himself at my disposal and gave me the opportunity? He said that the worlds are not infinite in number, nor one, nor five, but one hundred and eighty-three, arranged in the form of a triangle, each side of the triangle having sixty worlds; of the three left over each is placed at an angle, and those that are next to one other are in contact and revolve gently as in a dance. The inner area of the triangle is the common hearth of all, and is called the Plain of Truth, in which the accounts, the forms, and the patterns of all things that have come to pass and of all that shall come to pass rest undisturbed; and round about them lies Eternity, whence Time, like an ever-flowing stream, is conveyed to the worlds. Opportunity to see and to contemplate these things is vouchsafed to human souls once in ten thousand years if they have lived goodly lives; and the best of the initiatory rites here are but a dream of that highest rite and initiation; and the words of our philosophic inquiry are framed to recall these fair sights there — else is our labour vain. This,” said he, “is the tale I heard him recite quite as though it were in some rite of mystic initiation, but without offering any demonstration or proof of what he said.”
[De def. or. 23] 23 1 Then I, addressing Demetrius, said, “How do the verses about the suitors run, when they are marvelling at Odysseus as he handles the bow?” And when Demetrius had recalled them to my mind, I said, “It occurs to me to say this of your far-away friend:
[De def. or. 23b] Surely he liked to see, or else was given to filching
[De def. or. 23c] beliefs and tales of all sorts. He had ranged widely in literature and was no foreigner, but a Greek by birth, and replete with Greek culture to a high degree. The number of his worlds convicts him, since it is not Egyptian nor Indian, but Dorian and from Sicily, being the idea of a man of Himera named Petron. Petron’s own treatise I have never read nor am I sure that a copy is now extant; but Hippys of Rhegium, whom Phanias of Eresus mentions, records that this was the opinion and the account of it given by Petron: that there are one hundred and eighty-three worlds in contact with one another according to element; but what this is, ‘to be in contact according to element,’ he does not explain further nor subjoin any plausible proof.”
[De def. or. 23d] Demetrius, joining in, said, “What plausible proof could there be in matters of this sort in which even Plato, without stating anything reasonable or plausible, simply set down his own account?”
[De def. or. 23e] “But,” said Heracleon, “we hear you grammarians attributing this view to Homer fon the ground that he distributed the universe into five worlds: the heavens, the water, the air, the earth, and Olympus. Of these he leaves two to be held in common, the earth for all below and Olympus for all above, and the three that lie between were assigned to the three gods. In this wise Plato also, apparently, associated the fairest and foremost forms and figures with the different divisions of the universe, and called them five worlds, 423 one of earth, one of water, one of air, one of fire, and last of all, the one which includes all of these, the world of the dodecahedron, of wide expanse and many turnings, to which he assigned a form appropriate to the cycles and movements of the soul.”
[De def. or. 23f] “Why,” said Demetrius, “do we call up Homer in the present instance? Enough of legends! Plato, however, is very far from calling the five different divisions of the world five different worlds; and in those passages again, in which he contends against those who postulate an infinite number of worlds, he says that his opinion is that this world is the only-begotten and beloved of God, having been created out of the corporeal whole, entire, complete, and sufficient unto itself. Wherefore one might well be surprised that he, in stating the truth himself, has supplied others with a source for a doctrine that is unconvincing and lacking in reason. For not to defend the idea of a single world implied somehow an assumption of the infinity of the whole universe; but to make the worlds definitely just so many, neither more nor less than five, is altogether contrary to reason and devoid of all plausibility — unless,” he added, with a glance at me, “you have anything to say.”
[De def. or. 23g] “It appears,” said I, “that we have already discontinued our discussion about oracles, feeling it to be completed, and are now taking up another topic just as large.”
[De def. or. 23h] “Not discontinued that topic,” said Demetrius, “but not passing over this one which claims our attention. We will not spend much time on it, but only touch upon it long enough to inquire into its plausibility; and then we will follow up the original proposition.”
[De def. or. 24] 24 1 “In the first place, then,” said I, “the considerations that prevent our making an infinite number of worlds do not preclude our making more than one. For it is possible for God and prophecy and Providence to exist in more worlds than one, and for the incidence of chance to be reduced to the very smallest limits, while the vast majority of things and those of the highest importance attain to genesis and transmutation in a quite orderly sequence, none of which things does infinity, by its nature, admit. Then again it is more consistent with reason that the world should not be the only-begotten of God and quite alone. For He, being consummately good, is lacking in none of the virtues, and least of all in those which concern justice and friendliness; for these are the fairest and are fitting for gods. Nor is it in the nature of God to possess anything to no purpose or for no use. Therefore there exist other gods and other worlds outside, in relation with which He exercises the social virtues. For not in relation with Himself nor with any part of Himself is there any exercise of justice or benevolence or kindness, but only in relation with others. Thus it is not likely that this world, friendless, neighbourless, and unvisited, swings back and forth in the infinite void, since we see that Nature includes individual things in classes and species, like seeds in pods and envelopes. For there is nothing in the whole list of existing things for which there is not some general designation, nor does anything that does not possess certain qualities, either in common with others or solely by itself, obtain such an appellation. Now the world is not spoken of as having qualities in common with others. It has its qualities, therefore, solely by itself, by virtue of the difference when it is compared with other things which are akin to it and similar in appearance, since it has been created with such qualities as it possesses. If in all creation such a thing as one man, one horse, one star, one god, one demigod does not exist, what is there to prevent creation from having, not one world, but more than one? For he who says that creation has but one land and one sea overlooks a matter which is perfectly plain, the doctrine of similar parts; for we divide the earth into parts which bear similar names, and the sea likewise. A part of the world, however, is not a world, but something combined from the differing elements in Nature.
[De def. or. 25] 424 25 1 “Again, as for the dread which some people especially have felt, and so use up the whole of matter on the one world, so that nothing may be left over outside to disturb the structure of it by resisting or striking it — this fear of theirs is unwarranted. For if there are more worlds than one, and each of them has received, as its meet portion, substance and matter having a restricted measure and limit, then there will be nothing left unplaced or unorganized, an unused remnant, as it were, to crash into them from the outside. For the law of reason over each world, having control over the matter assigned to each, will not allow anything to be carried away from it nor to wander about and crash into another world, nor anything from another world to crash into it, because Nature has neither unlimited and infinite magnitude nor irrational and disorganized movement.
[De def. or. 25b] Even if any emanation is carried from some worlds to others, it is certain to be congenial, agreeable, and to unite peaceably with all, like the rays of starlight and their blending; and the worlds themselves must experience joy in gazing at one another with kindly eyes; and for the many good gods in each, they must provide opportunities for visits and a friendly welcome. Truly in all this there is nothing impossible or fabulous or contrary to reason unless, indeed, because of Aristotle’s statements some persons shall look upon it with suspicion as being based on physical grounds. For if each of the bodies has its own particular space, as he asserts, the earth must of necessity turn toward the centre from all directions and the water be above it, settling below the lighter elements because of its weight. If, therefore, there be more worlds than one, it will come to pass that in many places the earth will rest above the fire and the air, and in many places below them; and the air and the water likewise, in some places existing in positions in keeping with nature and in other places in positions contrary to nature.
[De def. or. 26] As this, in his opinion, is impossible, the inference is that there are neither two worlds nor more, but only this one, composed of the whole of matter and resting firmly in keeping with Nature, as befits the diversity of its bodies. 26 All this, however, has been put in a way that is more plausible than true. Look at it in this way, my dear Demetrius,” said I; “when he says of the bodies that some have a motion towards the centre and downwards, others away from the centre and upwards, and others around the centre and in a circular path, in what relation does he take the centre? Certainly not in relation to the void, for according to him it does not exist. And according to those for whom it does exist, it has no centre, just as it has no point where it begins or where it ends; for these are limitations, and the infinite has no limitations.
[De def. or. 26b] And if a man could force himself, by reasoning, to dare the concept of a violent motion of the infinite, what difference, if referred to this, is created for the bodies in their movements? For in the void there is no power in the bodies, nor do the bodies have a predisposition and an impetus, by virtue of which they cling to the centre and have a universal tendency in this one direction. It is equally difficult, in the case of inanimate bodies and an incorporeal and undifferentiated position, to conceive of a movement created from the bodies or an attraction created by the position. Thus one conclusion is left: when the centre is spoken of it is not with reference to any place, but with reference to the bodies. For in this world of ours, which has a single unity in its organization from numerous dissimilar elements, these differences necessarily create various movements towards various objects.
[De def. or. 26c] Evidence of this kind is found in the fact that everything, when it undergoes transformation, changes its position coincidently with the change in its substance. For example, dispersion distributes upwards and round about the matter rising from the centre and condensation and consolidation press it down towards the centre and drive it together.
[De def. or. 27] 27 1 “On this topic it is not necessary to use more words at present. The truth is that whatever cause one may postulate as the author of these occurrences and changes, that cause will keep each of the worlds together within itself; 425 for each world has earth and sea, and each has its own centre and occurrences that affect its component bodies; it has its own transmutations and a nature and power which preserves each one and keeps it in place. In what lies beyond, whether it be nothing or an infinite void, no centre exists, as has been said; and if there are several worlds, in each one is a centre which belongs to it alone, with the result that the movements of its bodies are its own, some towards it, some away from it, and some around it, quite in keeping with the distinctions which these men themselves make. But anyone who insists that, while there are many centres, the heavy substances are impelled from all sides towards one only, does not differ at all from him who insists that, while there are many men, the blood from all shall flow together into a single vein and the brains of all shall be enveloped in a single membrane, deeming it a dreadful thing in the case of natural bodies if all the solids shall not occupy one place only and the fluids also only one place. Such a man as that will be abnormal, and so will he be who is indignant if everything constituting a whole has its own parts, of which it makes use in their natural arrangement and position in every case. For that would be preposterous, and so too if anybody called that a world which had a moon somewhere inside it; as well call that a man who carries his brains in his heels or his heart in his head! But to make more worlds than one, each separate from the other, and to delimit and distinguish the parts belonging to each to go with the whole is not preposterous. For the land and the sea and the heavens in each will be placed to accord with nature, as is fitting; and each of the worlds has its above and below and its round about and centre, not with reference to another world or the outside, but in itself and with reference to itself.
[De def. or. 28] 28 1 “As for the stone which some assume to exist in the regions outside the world, it does not readily afford a concept regarding either its fixity or its motion. For how is it either to remain fixed, if it has weight, or to move towards the world like other heavy substances when it is no part of the world and has no place in the order of its being? and embraced in another world and bound up with it ought not to raise any question as to how it comes about that it does not break away from the whole and transfer itself to our world, because we see the nature and the tension under which each of the parts is held secure. For if we take the expressions ‘below’ and ‘above’ as referring, not to the world, but outside of it, we shall become involved in the same difficulties as Epicurus, who would have all his atoms move to places under our feet, as if either the void had feet, or infinity granted us to conceive of ‘below’ and ‘above’ within itself! Wherefore we may well wonder at Chrysippus, or rather be quite unable to understand what possessed him to assert that the world has been firmly set in the centre and that its substance, having pre-empted the central place from time eternal, thereby gains the greatest help towards its permanence, and that is as much as to say its immunity from destruction. This is actually what he says in the fourth book of his work on Things Possible, where he indulges in a day-dream of a central place in the infinite and still more preposterously ascribes the cause of the permanence of the world to the non-existent centre; yet in other works he has often said that substance is regulated and held together by its movements towards its own centre and away from its own centre.
[De def. or. 29] 29 1 “Then again, who could feel alarm at the other notions of the Stoics, who ask how there shall continue to be one Destiny and one Providence, and how there shall not be many supreme gods bearing the name of Zeus or Zen, if there are more worlds than one? For, in the first place, if it is preposterous that there should be many supreme gods bearing this name, then surely these persons’ ideas will be far more preposterous; for they make an infinite number of suns and moons and Apollos and Artemises and Poseidons in the infinite cycle of worlds. But the second point is this: what is the need that there be many gods bearing the name of Zeus, if there be more worlds than one, and that there should not be in each world, 426 a god possessing sense and reason, such as the one who among us bears the name of Lord and Father of all? Or again, what shall prevent all worlds from being subject to the Destiny and Providence of Zeus, and what shall prevent his overseeing and directing them all in turn and supplying them all with first principles, material sources, and schemes of all that is being carried out? Do we not in this world of ours often have a single body composed of separate bodies, as, for example, an assembly of people or an army or a band of dancers, each one of whom has the contingent faculty of living, thinking, and learning, as Chrysippus believes, while in the whole universe, that there should be ten worlds, or fifty, or an hundred even, living under one reasoned plan, and organized under one government, is an impossibility? Yet such an organization is altogether appropriate for the gods. For we must not make them unable to go out, like the queens in a hive of bees, nor keep them imprisoned by enclosing them with matter, or rather fencing them about with it, as those do who make the gods to be atmospheric conditions, or regard them as powers of waters or of fire blended therewith, and bring them into being at the same time with the world, and burn them up with it, since they are not unconfined and free like drivers of horses or pilots of ships, but, just as statues are riveted and welded to their bases, so they are enclosed and fastened to the corporeal; and are partners with it even unto destruction, dissolution, and transmutation, of whatsoever sort may befall.
[De def. or. 30] 30 1 “That other concept is, I think, more dignified and sublime, that the gods are not subject to outside control, but are their own masters, even as the twin sons of Tyndareüs come to the aid of men who are labouring in the storm,
[De def. or. 30b] Soothing the oncoming raging sea,
Taming the swift-driving blasts of the winds,
[De def. or. 30c] not, however, sailing on the ships and sharing in the danger, but appearing above and rescuing; so, in the same way, one or another of the gods visits now this world and now that, led thither by pleasure in the sight, and co-operates with Nature in the directing of each. The Zeus of Homer turned his gaze not so very far away from the land of Troy towards the Thracian regions and the wandering tribes about the Danube; but the real Zeus has a fair and fitting variety of spectacles in numerous worlds, not viewing the infinite void outside nor concentrating his mind upon himself and nothing else, as some have imitated, but surveying from above the many works of gods and men and the movements and courses of the stars in their cycles. In fact, the Deity is not averse to changes, but has a very great joy therein, to judge, if need be, by the alternations and cycles in the heavens among the bodies that are visible there. Infinity is altogether senseless and unreasoning, and nowhere admits a god, but in all relations it brings into action the concept of chance and accident. But the Oversight and Providence in a limited group and number of worlds, when compared with that which has entered one body and become attached to one and reshapes and remodels it an infinite number of times, seems to me to contain nothing involving less dignity or greater labour.”
[De def. or. 31] 31 1 Having spoken at this length, I stopped. Philip, after no long interval, said, “That the truth about these matters is thus or otherwise is not for me to assert. But if we eliminate the god from one world, there is the question why we make him the creator of only five worlds and no more, and what is the relation of this number to the great mass of numbers; and I feel that I would rather gain a knowledge of this than of the meaning of the E dedicated here. For the number five represents neither a triangle nor a square, nor is it a perfect number nor a cube, nor does it seem to present any other subtlety for those who love and admire such speculations. Its derivation from the number of elements, at which the Master hinted darkly, is in every way hard to grasp and gives no clear intimation of the plausibility which must have drawn him on to assert 427 that it is likely that when five bodies with equal angles and equal sides and enclosed by equal areas are engendered in matter the same number of worlds should at once be perfected from them.”
[De def. or. 32] 32 1 “Yes,” said I, “Theodorus of Soli seems to follow up the subject not ineptly in his explanations of Plato’s mathematical theories. He follows it up in this way: a pyramid, an octahedron, an icosahedron, and a dodecahedron, the primary figures which Plato predicates, are all beautiful because of the symmetries and equalities in their relations, and nothing superior or even like to these has been left for Nature to compose and fit together. It happens, however, that they do not all have one form of construction, nor have they all a similar origin, but the pyramid is the simplest and smallest, while the dodecahedron is the largest and most complicated. Of the remaining two the icosahedron is more than double the octahedron in the number of its triangles. For this reason it is impossible for them all to derive their origin from one and the same matter. For those that are simple and small and more rudimentary in their structure would necessarily be the first to respond to the instigating and formative power, and to be completed and acquire substantiality earlier than those of large parts and many bodies, from which class comes the dodecahedron, which requires more labour for its construction. Hence it follows that the only primal body is the pyramid, and not one of the others, since by their nature they are outdistanced by it coming into being. Accordingly, the remedy which exists for this strange state of affairs consists in the division and separation of matter into five worlds, one where the pyramid shall acquire substantiality first, another for the octahedron, and another for the icosahedron; then from the one that first acquires substantiality in each world the rest will have their origin, since a transmutation for everything into everything takes place according to the adaptability of parts to fit together, as Plato himself has indicated, going into the details of nearly all cases. But for us it will suffice to acquire the knowledge in brief form. Since air is formed when fire is extinguished, we must observe the behaviour of each of the generative elements and their transmutations. The generative elements of fire are the pyramid, composed of twenty-four primary triangles, and likewise for air the octahedron, composed of forty-eight of the same. Therefore one element of air is produced from two corpuscles of fire combined and united; and that of air again, when divided, is separated into two corpuscles of fire, and again, when compressed and condensed, it goes off into the form of water. The result is that in every case the one which first acquires substantiality always affords the others a ready means of coming into being through transmutation; and it is not one alone that first exists, but another in a different environment is endowed with movement, which takes the lead and forestalls the others in coming into being, and thus the name of being first is kept by all.”
[De def. or. 33] 33 1 “Manfully and zealously,” said Ammonius, “have these matters been worked out by Theodorus; but I should be surprised if it should not appear that he has made use of assumptions which nullify each other. For he insists that all the five shall not undergo construction at the same time, but the simplest always, which requires the least trouble to construct, shall first issue forth into being. Then, as a corollary to this, and not conflicting with it, he lays down the principle that not all matter brings forth the simplest and most rudimentary form first, but that sometimes the ponderous and complex forms, in the time of their coming into being, are earlier in arising out of matter. But apart from this, five bodies having been postulated as primary, and on the strength of this the number of worlds being put as the same, he adduces probability with reference to four only; the cube he has taken off the board, as if he were playing a game with counters, since, because of its nature, it cannot transmute itself into them nor confer upon them the power of transmutation into itself, 428 inasmuch as the triangles are not homologous triangles. For in the others the common triangle which underlies them all is the half-triangle; but in this, and peculiar to it alone, is the isosceles triangle, which makes no convergence towards the other nor any conjunction that would unify the two. If, therefore, there are five bodies and five worlds, and in each one body only has precedence in coming into being, then where the cube has been the first to come into being, there will be none of the others, since, because of its nature, it cannot transmute itself into any one of them. I leave out of account the fact that they make the element of the dodecahedron, as it is called, something else and not that scalene from which Plato constructs the pyramid and the octahedron and the icosahedron. So,” added Ammonius, laughing, “either you must solve these problems or else contribute something of your own concerning this difficulty in which we all find ourselves involved.”
[De def. or. 34] 34 1 “For the present, at least,” said I, “I have nothing more plausible to offer; but perhaps it is better to submit to examination on views of one’s own rather than on another’s. I repeat, therefore, what I said at the beginning, that if two natures be postulated, one evident to the senses, subject to change in creation and dissolution, carried now here now there, while the other is essentially conceptual and always remains the same, it is a dreadful thing that, while the conceptual nature has been parcelled out and has variety within itself, we should feel indignant and annoyed if anyone does not leave the corporeal and passive nature as a unity knit together and converging upon itself, but separates and parts it. For it is surely fitting that things permanent and divine should hold more closely together and escape, so far as may be, all segmentation and separation. But even on these the power of Differentiation has laid its hand and has wrought in things conceptual dissimilarities in reasons and ideas, which are vaster than the separations in location. Wherefore Plato, opposing those who declare for the unity of the whole, says that these five things exist: Being, Identity, Differentiation, and, to crown all, Movement and Rest. Granted, then, that these five exist, it is not surprising if each of these five corporeal elements has been made into a copy and image of each of them respectively, not unmixed and unalloyed, but it is because of the fact that each of them participates most in its corresponding faculty. The cube is patently a body related to rest because of the security and stability of its plane surfaces. In the pyramid everybody may note its fiery and restless quality in the simplicity of its sides and the acuteness of its angles. The nature of the dodecahedron, which is comprehensive enough to include to figures, may well seem to be a model with reference to all corporeal being. Of the remaining two, the icosahedron shares in the nature of Differentiation mostly, and the octahedron in that of Identity. For this reason the octahedron contributed air, which in a single form holds all being in its embrace, and the icosahedron water, which by admixture assumes the greatest variety of qualities. If, therefore, nature demands an equal distribution in all things, there is a reasonable probability that the worlds which have been created are neither more nor less in number than the patterns, so that each pattern in each world may have the leading rank and power just as it has acquired it in the construction of the primary bodies.
[De def. or. 35] 35 1 “However, let this be a comfort for him that wonders because we divide Nature into so many classes in its generation and transmutation. But here is another matter which I ask you all to consider, and to give your undivided attention to it: of those numbers which come at the very first (I mean the number one and the indeterminate duality), the second, being the element underlying all formlessness and disarrangement, has been called infinity; but the nature of the number one limits and arrests what is void and irrational and indeterminate in infinity, gives it shape, and renders it in some way tolerant and receptive of definition, which is the next step after demonstration regarding things perceptible. 429 Now these first principles make their appearance at the beginning in connexion with number; rather, however, larger amounts are not number at all unless the number one, created from the illimitability of infinity, like a form of matter, cuts off more on one side and less on the other.
[De def. or. 35b] Then, in fact, any of the larger amounts becomes number through being delimited by the number one. But if the number one be done away with, once more the indeterminate duality throws all into confusion, and makes it to be without rhythm, bounds, or measure. Inasmuch as form is not the doing away with matter, but a shaping and ordering of the underlying matter, it needs must be that both these first principles be existent in number, band from this has arisen the first and greatest divergence and dissimilarity. For the indeterminate first principle is the creator of the even, and the better one of the odd. Two is the first of the even numbers and three the first of the odd; from the two combined comes five, which in its composition is common to both numbers and in its potentiality is odd. For when the perceptible and corporeal was divided into several parts because of the innate necessity of differentiation, that number had to be neither the first even nor the first odd, but the third number, which is formed from these two, so that it might be produced from both the primary principles, that which created the even and that which created the odd, because it was not possible for the one to be divorced from the other; for each possesses the nature and the potentiality of a first principle.
[De def. or. 35c] So when the two were paired, the better one prevailed over the indeterminate as it was dividing the corporeal and checked it; and when matter was being distributed to the two, it set unity in the middle and did not allow the whole to be divided into two parts, but there has been created a number of worlds by differentiation of the indeterminate and by its being carried in varying directions; yet the power of Identity and Limitation has had the effect of making that number odd, but the kind of odd that did not permit Nature to progress beyond what is best. If the number one were unalloyed and pure, matter would not have any separation at all; but since it has been combined with the dividing power of duality, it has had to submit to being cut up and divided, but there it stopped, the even being overpowered by the odd.
[De def. or. 36] 36 1 “It was for this reason that among the people of olden time it was the custom to call counting ‘numbering by fives.’ I think also that ‘panta’ (all) is derived from ‘pente’ (five) in accord with reason, inasmuch as the pentad is a composite of the first numbers. As a matter of fact, when the others are multiplied by other numbers, the result is a number different from themselves; but the pentad, if it be taken an even number of times, makes ten exactly; and if an odd number of times, it reproduces itself. I leave out of account the fact that it is the first composite of the first two squares, unity and the tetrad; and that it is the first whose square is equal to the two immediately preceding it, making with them the most beautiful of the right-angled triangles; and it is the first to give the ratio 1½ : 1. However, perhaps these matters have not much relation to the subject before us; but there is another matter more closely related, and that is the dividing power of this number, by reason of its nature, and the fact that Nature does distribute most things by fives. For example, she has allotted to ourselves five senses and five parts to the soul: physical growth, perception, appetite, fortitude, and reason; also five fingers on each hand, and the most fertile seed when it is divided five times, for there is no record that a woman ever had more than five children together at one birth. The Egyptians have a tradition that Rhea gave birth to five gods, an intimation of the genesis of the five worlds from one single Matter; and in the universe the surface of the earth is divided among five zones, and the heavens by five circles, two arctic, two tropic, and the equator in the middle. 430 Five, too, are the orbits of the planets, if the Sun and Venus and Mercury follow the same course. The organization of the world also is based on harmony, just as a tune with us is seen to depend on the five notes of the tetrachord; lowest, middle, conjunct, disjunct, and highest; and the musical intervals are five: quarter-tone, semitone, tone, tone and a half, and double tone. Thus it appears that Nature takes a greater delight in making all things in fives than in making them round, as Aristotle has said.
[De def. or. 37] 37 1 “ ‘Why, then,’ someone will say, ‘did Plato refer the number of his five worlds to the five geometric figures, saying that God used up the fifth construction on the universe in completing this embellishment?’ Further on, where he suggests the question about there being more worlds than one, whether it is proper to speak of one or of five as in truth naturally existent, it is clear that he thinks that the idea started from this source. If, therefore, we must apply reasonable probability to his conception, let us consider that the variations in movement necessarily follow close upon the variations in the bodies and their shapes, as he himself teaches when he makes it plain that whatever is disunited or united changes its place at the same time with the alternation of its substance. For example, if fire is generated from air by the breaking up of the octahedron and its resolution into pyramids, or again if air is generated from fire by its being forced together and compressed into an octahedron, it is not possible for it to stay where it was before, but it escapes and is carried to some other place, forcing its way out and contending against anything that blocks its course or keeps it back.
[De def. or. 37b] What takes place he describes more clearly by a simile, saying that in a manner like to ‘grain and chaff being tossed about and winnowed by the fans and other tools used in cleaning the grain’ the elements toss matter about and are tossed about by it; and like always draws near to like, some things occupying one place and others another, before the universe becomes completely organized out of the elements. Thus, when matter was in that state in which, in all probability, is the universe from which God is absent, the first five properties, having tendencies of their own, were at once carried in different directions, not being completely or absolutely separated, because, when all things were amalgamated, the inferior always followed the superior in spite of Nature. For this reason they produced in the different kinds of bodies, as these were carried some in one direction and others in another, an equal number of separate divisions with intervals between them, one not of pure fire, but fiery, another not of earth by itself alone, but earthy; and above all, in keeping with the close association of air with water, they contrived, as has been said, that these should come away filled with many foreign elements.
[De def. or. 37c] It was not the Deity who parted substance and caused it to rest in different places, but, after it had been parted by its own action and was being carried in diverse ways in such great disarray, he took it over and set it in order and fitted it together by the use of proportions and means. Then, after establishing Reason in each as a governor and guardian, he created as many worlds as the existing primal bodies. Let this, then, be an offering for the gratification of Plato on Ammonius’s account, but as for myself, I should not venture to assert regarding the number of worlds that they are just so many; but the opinion that sets their number at more than one, and yet not infinite, but limited in amount, I regard as no more irrational than either of the others, when I observe the dispersiveness and divisibility implicit by nature in Matter, and that it neither abides as a unit nor is permitted by Reason to progress to infinity. 431 But if in any other place we have recalled the Academy to our mind, let us do so here as well, and divest ourselves of excessive credulity and, as if we were in a slippery place in our discussion about infinity, let us merely keep a firm footing.”
[De def. or. 38] 38 1 When I had said this, Demetrius remarked, “Lamprias gives the right advice; for
[De def. or. 38b] The gods make us to slip by many forms
not ‘of tricks,’ as Euripides says, but of facts, whenever we make bold to pronounce opinions about such matters as if we understood them. ‘But the discussion must be carried back,’ as the same writer says, to the assumption made at the beginning. For what was said then, that when the demigods withdraw and forsake the oracles, these lie idle and inarticulate like the instruments of musicians, raises another question of greater import regarding the causative means and power which they employ to make the prophetic priests and priestesses possessed by inspiration and able to present their visions. For it is not possible to hold that the desertion by the demigods is the reason for the silence of the oracles unless we are convinced as to the manner in which the demigods, by having the oracles in their charge and by their presence there, make them active and articulate.”
[De def. or. 38c] Here Ammonius joined in and said, “Do you really think that the demigods are aught else than souls that make their rounds, ‘in mist apparelled,’ as Hesiod says? To my mind the difference between man and man in acting tragedy or comedy is the difference between soul and soul arrayed in a body suitable for its present life. It is, therefore, not at all unreasonable or even marvellous that souls meeting souls should create in them impressions of the future, exactly as we do not convey all our information to one another through the spoken word, but by writing also, or merely by a touch or a glance, we give much information about what has come to pass and intimation of what is to come. Unless it be, Lamprias, that you have another story to tell. For not long ago a rumour reached us about your having had a long talk on these subjects with strangers at Lebadeia, but the man who told of it could recall none of it with exactness.”
[De def. or. 38d] “You need not be surprised,” said I, “since many activities and distractions occurring in the midst of it, because it was a day for oracles and sacrifice, made our conversation desultory and disconnected.”
[De def. or. 38e] “But now,” said Ammonius, “you have listeners with nothing to distract them and eager to seek and gain information on this point or that; all strife and contention is banished and a sympathetic hearing and freedom of statement, as you observe, is granted for all that may be said.”
[De def. or. 39] 39 1 As the others also joined in the request, I, after a moment of silence, continued, “As a matter of fact, Ammonius, by some chance you happen to be the one who provided the opening and approach for what was said on that occasion. For if the souls which have been severed from a body, or have had no part with one at all, are demigods according to you and the divine Hesiod,
[De def. or. 39b] Holy dwellers on earth and the guardian spirits of mortals,
[De def. or. 39c] why deprive souls in bodies of that power by virtue of which the demigods possess the natural faculty of knowing and revealing future events before they happen? For it is not likely that any power or portion accrues to souls when they have left the body, if they did not possess them before; but the souls always possess them; only they possess them to a slight degree while conjoined with the body, some of them being completely imperceptible and hidden, others weak and dim, and about as ineffectual and slow in operation as persons that try to see in a fog or to move about in water, and requiring much nursing and restoring of the functions that properly belong to them and the removal and clearing away of the covering which hides them. Just as the sun does not become bright when it bursts through the clouds, but is bright always, 432 and yet in a fog appears to us indistinct and dim, even so the soul does not acquire the prophetic power when it goes forth from the body as from a cloud; it possesses that power even now, but is blinded by being combined and commingled with the mortal nature. We ought not to feel surprised or incredulous at this when we see in the soul, though we see naught else, that faculty which is the complement of prophecy, and which we call memory, and how great an achievement is displayed in preserving and guarding the past, or rather what has been the present, since nothing of all that has come to pass has any existence or substantiality, because the very instant when anything comes to pass, that is the end of it — of actions, words, experiences alike; for Time like an everflowing stream bears all things onward. But this faculty of the soul lays hold upon them, I know not how, and invests with semblance and being things not now present here. The oracle given to the Thessalians about Arnê bade them note
[De def. or. 39d] A deaf man’s hearing, a blind man’s sight.
[De def. or. 39e] But memory is for us the hearing of deeds to which we are deaf and the seeing of things to which we are blind. Hence, as I said, it is no wonder that, if it has command over things that no longer are, it anticipates many of those which have not yet come to pass, since these are more closely related to it, and with these it has much in common; for its attachments and associations are with the future, and it is quit of all that is past and ended, save only to remember it.
[De def. or. 40] 40 1 “Souls therefore, all possessed of this power, which is innate but dim and hardly manifest, nevertheless oftentimes disclose its flower and radiance in dreams, and some in the hour of death, when the body becomes cleansed of all impurities and attains a temperament adapted to this end, a temperament through which the reasoning and thinking faculty of the souls is relaxed and released from their present state as they range amid the irrational and imaginative realms of the future. It is not true, as Euripides says, that
[De def. or. 40b] The best of seers is he that guesses well;
[De def. or. 40c] no, the best of seers is the intelligent man, following the guidance of that in his soul which possesses sense and which, with the help of reasonable probability, leads him on his way. But that which foretells the future, like a tablet without writing, is both irrational and indeterminate in itself, but receptive of impressions and presentiments through what may be done to it, and inconsequently grasps at the future when it is farthest withdrawn from the present. Its withdrawal is brought about by a temperament and disposition of the body as it is subjected to a change which we call inspiration. Often the body of itself alone attains this disposition. Moreover the earth sends forth for men streams of many other potencies, some of them producing derangement, diseases, or deaths; others helpful, benignant, and beneficial, as is plain from the experience of persons who have come upon them. But the prophetic current and breath is most divine and holy, whether it issue by itself through the air or come in the company of running waters; for when it is instilled into the body, it creates in souls an unaccustomed and unusual temperament, the peculiarity of which it is hard to describe with exactness, but analogy offers many comparisons. It is likely that by warmth and diffusion it opens up certain passages through which impressions of the future are transmitted, just as wine, when its fumes rise to the head, reveals many unusual movements and also words stored away and unperceived.
[De def. or. 40d] For Bacchic rout
And frenzied mind contain much prophecy,
[De def. or. 40e] according to Euripides, when the soul becomes hot and fiery, and throws aside the caution that human intelligence lays upon it, and thus often diverts and extinguishes the inspiration.
[De def. or. 41] 41 1 “At the same time one might assert, not without reason, that a dryness engendered with the heat subtilizes the spirit of prophecy and renders it ethereal and pure; for this is ‘the dry soul,’ as Heracleitus has it. Moisture not only dulls sight and hearing, 433 but when it touches mirrors and combines with air, it takes away their brightness and sheen. But again the very opposite of this may not be impossible: that by a sort of chilling and compacting of the spirit of inspiration the prophetic element in the soul, as when steel is dipped in cold water, is rendered tense and keen. And further, just as tin when alloyed with copper, which is loose and porous in texture, binds it together and compacts it, and at the same time makes it brighter and cleaner, even so there is nothing to prevent the prophetic vapour, which contains some affinity and relationship to souls, from filling up the vacant spaces and cementing all together by fitting itself in. For one thing has affinity and adaptability for one thing, another for another, just as the bean seems to further the dyeing of purple and sodium carbonate that of scarlet, when mixed with the dye;
[De def. or. 41b] All in the linen is blended the splendour of glorious scarlet,
[De def. or. 41c] as Empedocles has said. But regarding the Cydnus and the sacred sword of Apollo in Tarsus we used to hear you say, my dear Demetrius, that the Cydnus will cleanse no steel but that, and no other water will cleanse that sword. There is a similar phenomenon at Olympia, where they pile the ashes against the altar and make them adhere all around by pouring on them water from the Alpheius; but, although they have tried the waters of other rivers, there is none with which they can make the ashes cohere and stay fixed in their place.
[De def. or. 42] 42 1 “It is not, therefore, anything to excite amazement if, although the earth sends up many streams, it is only such as these that dispose souls to inspiration and impressions of the future. Certainly the voice of legend also is in accord with my statement; for they record that here the power hovering about this spot was first made manifest when a certain shepherd fell in by accident and later gave forth inspired utterances, which those who came into contact with him at first treated with disdain; but later, when what he had foretold came to pass, they were amazed. The most learned of the people of Delphi still preserve the tradition of his name, which they say was Coretas. But I incline most to the opinion that the soul acquires towards the prophetic a close and intimate connexion of the sort that vision has towards light, which possesses similar properties. For, although the eye has the power of vision, there is no function for it to perform without light; and so the prophetic power of the soul, like an eye, has need of something kindred to help to kindle it and stimulate it further. Hence many among earlier generations regarded Apollo and the Sun as one and the same god; but those who understood and respected fair and wise analogy conjectured that as body is to soul, vision to intellect, and light to truth, so is the power of the sun to the nature of Apollo; and they would make it appear that the sun is his offspring and progeny, being for ever born of him that is for ever. For the sun kindles and promotes and helps to keep in activity the power of vision in our perceptive sense, just as the god does for the power of prophecy in the soul.
[De def. or. 43] 43 1 “Those, however, who had reached the conclusion that the two are one and the same god very naturally dedicated the oracle to Apollo and Earth in common, thinking that the sun creates the disposition and temperament in the earth from which the prophet-inspiring vapours are wafted forth. As Hesiod, then, with a better understanding than some philosophers, spoke of the Earth itself as
[De def. or. 43b] Of All the unshaken foundation,
so we believe it to be everlasting and imperishable. But in the case of the powers associated with the earth it is reasonable that there should come to pass disappearances in one place and generation in another place, and elsewhere shifting of location and, from some other source, changes in current, and that such cycles should complete many revolutions within it in the whole course of time, as we may judge from what happens before our eyes. For in the case of lakes and rivers, and even more frequently in hot springs, there have occurred disappearances and complete extinction in some places, and in others a stealing away, as it were, and sinking under ground; 434 later they came back, appearing after a time in the same places or flowing out from below somewhere near. We know also of the exhaustion of mines, some of which have given out recently, as for example the silver mines of Attica and the copper ore in Euboea from which the cold-forged sword-blades used to be wrought, as Aeschylus has said,
[De def. or. 43c] Euboean sword, self-sharpened, in his hand.
[De def. or. 43d] And it is no long time since the rock in Euboea ceased to yield, among its other products, soft petrous filaments like yarn. I think some of you have seen towels, nets, and women’s head-coverings from there, which cannot be burned by fire; but if any become soiled by use, their owners throw them into a blazing fire and take them out bright and clear. To day all this has disappeared, and there are scarcely any attenuated fibres or hairs, as it were, running through the mines.
[De def. or. 44] 44 1 “And yet the school of Aristotle would make it appear that exhalation is the author of all these changes that have taken place in the earth, and that things of this nature must of necessity follow with it in disappearing, changing their locality, and bursting forth once more in full vigour. Plainly the same sober opinion is to be held regarding the spirits that inspire prophecy; the power that they possess is not everlasting and ageless, but is subject to changes. For excessive rains most likely extinguish them, and they probably are dispersed by thunderbolts, and especially, when the earth is shaken beneath by an earthquake and suffers subsidence and ruinous confusion in its depths, the exhalations shift their site or find completely blind outlets, as in this place they say that there are still traces of that great earthquake which overthrew the city. And in Orchomenos they relate that a pestilence raged and many persons died of it, and the oracle of Teiresias became altogether obsolescent and even to this day remains idle and mute. And if a like fate has befallen those in Cilicia, as we have been told, there is nobody, Demetrius, who could give us more certain information than you.”
[De def. or. 45] 45 1 “I do not know,” said Demetrius, “the state of affairs there at present; for as you all know, I have been out of the country for a long time now. But, when I was there, both the oracle of Mopsus and that of Amphilochus were still flourishing. I have a most amazing thing to tell as the result of my visit to the oracle of Mopsus. The ruler of Cilicia was himself still of two minds towards religious matters. This, I think, was because his skepticism lacked conviction, for in all else he was an arrogant and contemptible man. Since he kept about him certain Epicureans, who, because of their admirable nature-studies, forsooth, have an arrogant contempt, as they themselves aver, for all such things as oracles, he sent in a freedman, like a spy into the enemy’s territory, arranging that he should have a sealed tablet, on the inside of which was written the inquiry without anyone’s knowing what it was. The man accordingly, as is the custom, passed the night in the sacred precinct and went to sleep, and in the morning reported a dream in this fashion: it seemed to him that a handsome man stood beside him who uttered just one word ‘Black’ and nothing more, and was gone immediately. The thing seemed passing strange to us, and raised much inquiry, but the ruler was astounded and fell down and worshipped; then opening the tablet he shoed written there the question: ‘Shall I sacrifice to you a white bull or a black?’ The result was that the Epicureans were put to confusion, and the ruler himself not only duly performed the sacrifice, but ever after revered Mopsus.”
[De def. or. 46] 46 1 When Demetrius had told this tale he lapsed into silence. But I, wishing to crown, as it were, the discussion, glanced again towards Philip and Ammonius who were sitting side by side. They seemed to me to be desirous of saying something to us, and again I checked myself. Then Ammonius said, “Philip also has some remarks to make, Lamprias, about what has been said; for he himself thinks, as most people do, that Apollo is not a different god, but is the same as the sun. 435 But my difficulty is greater and concerns greater matters. I do not know how it happened, but a little time ago we yielded to logic in wresting here the prophetic art from the gods and transferring it merely to the demigods. But now it seems to me that we are thrusting out these very demigods, in their turn, and driving them away from the oracle and the tripod here, when we resolve the origin of prophecy, or rather its very being and power, into winds and vapours and exhalations. For these temperings and heatings and hardenings that have been spoken of serve only the more to withdraw repute from the gods band suggest in regard to the final cause some such conclusion as Euripides makes his Cyclops employ:
[De def. or. 46b] The earth perforce, whether it will or no,
Brings forth the grass to fat my grazing flocks.
[De def. or. 46c] But there is one difference: he says that he does not offer them in sacrifice to the gods, but to himself and to his ‘belly, greatest of divinities,’ whereas we offer both sacrifices and prayers as the price for our oracles. What possesses us to do so, if our souls carry within themselves the prophetic power, and it is some particular state of the air or its currents which stirs this to activity? And what is the significance of the libations poured over the victims and the refusal to give responses unless the whole victim from the hoof-joints up is seized with a trembling and quivering, as the libation is poured over it? Shaking the head is not enough, as in other sacrifices, but the tossing and quivering must extend to all parts of the animal alike accompanied by a tremulous sound; and unless this takes place they say that the oracle is not functioning, and do not even bring in the prophetic priestess. Yet it is only on the assumption that they ascribe the cause almost entirely to a god or a demigod that it is reasonable for them to act and to believe thus; but on the basis of what you say it is not reasonable. For the presence of the exhalation, whether the victim be excited or not, will produce the inspiration and will dispose the soul auspiciously, not only the soul of the priestess, but that of any ordinary person with whom it may come into contact. Wherefore it is silly to employ one woman alone for the purpose of the oracles and to give her trouble by watching her to keep her pure and chaste all her life. As a matter of fact, this Coretas, who the people of Delphi say was the first, because he fell in, to supply any means of knowing about the power with which the place is endowed, was not, I think, any different from the rest of the goatherds and shepherds, if so be that this is not a fable or a fabrication as I, for one, think it is. When I take into account the number of benefactions to the Greeks for which this oracle has been responsible, both in wars and in the founding of cities, in cases of pestilence and failure of crops, I think it is a dreadful thing to assign its discovery and origin, not to God and Providence, but to chance and accident. But regarding these matters,” he added, “I wish that Lamprias would say something to us. Will you wait?”
[De def. or. 46d] “Certainly I will,” said Philip, “and so will all who are here. For what you have said has set us all thinking.”
[De def. or. 47] 47 1 Then I, addressing myself to him, said, “Not only has it set me thinking, Philip, but it has filled me with confusion, if, in the presence of so many men such as you all are, I seem, in contradiction to my years, to give myself airs over the plausibility of my argument and to upset or disturb any of the briefs regarding the Deity which have been conceived in truth and in piety. I shall defend myself by citing Plato as my witness and advocate in one. That philosopher found fault with Anaxagoras, the one of early times, because he was too much wrapped up in the physical causes and was always following up and pursuing the law of necessity as it was worked out in the behaviour of bodies, and left out of account the purpose and the agent, which are better causes and origins. Plato himself was the first of the philosophers, or the one most prominently engaged in prosecuting investigations of both sorts, to assign to God, on the one hand, the origin of all things that are in keeping with reason, and on the other hand, not to divest matter of the causes necessary for whatever comes into being, 436 but to realize that the perceptible universe, even when arranged in some such orderly way as this, is not pure and unalloyed, but that it takes its origin from matter when matter comes into conjunction with reason. Observe first how it is with the artists. Take as our first example the far-famed stand and base for the mixing-bowl here which Herodotus has styled the ‘bowl-holder’; it came to have as its material causes fire and steel and softening by means of fire and tempering by means of water, without which there is no expedient by which this work could be produced; but art and reason supplied for it the more dominant principle which set all these in motion and operated through them. And, indeed, the author and creator of these likenesses and portraits here stands recorded in the inscription:
[De def. or. 47b] Thasian by race and descent, Aglaophon’s son Polygnotus
Painted the taking of Troy, showing her citadel’s sack;
[De def. or. 47c] so that it may be seen that he painted them. But without pigments ground together, losing their own colour in the process, nothing could achieve such a composition and sight. Does he, then, who is desirous of getting hold of the material cause, as he investigates and explains the behaviour of the red earth of Sinopê and the changes to which it is subject when mixed with yellow ochre, or of the light-coloured earth of Melos when mixed with lamp-black, take away the repute of the artist? And he that goes into the details of the hardening and the softening of steel, how it is relaxed by the fire, and becomes pliant and yielding for those who forge and fashion it, and then, plunged anew into clear water, is contracted and compacted by the coldness because of the softness and looseness of texture previously engendered by the fire, and acquires a tenseness and firmness which Homer has called ‘the brawn of steel’ — does such an investigator any the less preserve intact for the artist the credit for the creation of the work? I think not. In fact there are some who question the properties of medicinal agents, but they do not do away with medical science. And thus when Plato declared that we see by the commingling of the irradiation from our eyes with the light of the sun, and that we hear by the vibration of the air, he certainly did not mean by this to abrogate the fundamental fact that it is according to the design of Reason and Providence that we have been endowed with sight and hearing.
[De def. or. 48] 48 1 “To sum up, then: while every form of creation has, as I say, two causes, the very earliest theological writers and poets chose to heed only the superior one, uttering over all things that come to pass this common generality:
[De def. or. 48b] Zeus the beginning, Zeus in the midst, and from Zeus comes all being;
[De def. or. 48c] but as yet they made no approach towards the compelling and natural causes. On the other hand the younger generation which followed them, and are called physicists or natural philosophers, reverse the procedure of the older school in their aberration from the beautiful and divine origin, and ascribe everything to bodies and their behaviour, to clashes, transmutations, and combinations. Hence the reasoning of both parties is deficient in what is essential to it, since the one ignores or omits the intermediate and the agent, the other the source and the means. He who was the first to comprehend clearly both these points and to take, as a necessary adjunct to the agent that creates and actuates, the underlying matter, which is acted upon, clears us also of all suspicion of wilful misstatement. The fact is that we do not make the prophetic art godless or irrational when we assign to it as its material the soul of a material human being, and assign the spirit of inspiration and the exhalation as an instrument or plectrum for playing on it.
[De def. or. 49] For, in the first place, the earth, which generates the exhalation, and the sun, which endows the earth with all its power of tempering and transmutation, are, by the usage of our fathers, gods for us. Secondly, if we leave demigods as overseers, watchmen, and guardians of this tempered constitution, as if it were a kind of harmony, slackening here and tightening there on occasion, 437 taking from it its too distracting and disturbing elements and incorporating those that are painless and harmless to the users, we shall not appear to be doing anything irrational or impossible. 49 Nor again, in offering the preliminary sacrifice to learn the god’s will and in putting garlands on victims or pouring libations over them, are we doing anything to contradict this reasoning. For when the priests and holy men say that they are offering sacrifice and pouring the libation over the victim and observing its movements and its trembling, of what else do they take this to be a sign save that the god is in his holy temple?
[De def. or. 49b] For what is to be offered in sacrifice must, both in body and in soul, be pure, unblemished, and unmarred. Indications regarding the body it is not at all difficult to perceive, but they test the soul by setting meal before the bulls and peas before the boars; and the animal that does not eat of this they think is not of sound mind. In the case of the goat, they say, cold water gives positive proof; for indifference and immobility against being suddenly wet is not characteristic of a soul in a normal state. But for the most part, even if it be firmly established that the trembling is a sign of the god’s being in his holy temple and the contrary a sign of his not being there, I cannot see what difficulty in my statements results therefrom. For every faculty duly performs its natural functions better or worse concurrently with some particular time; and if that time escapes our ken, it is only reasonable that the god should give sign of it.
[De def. or. 50] 50 1 “I think, then, that the exhalation is not in the same state all the time, but that it has recurrent periods of weakness and strength. Of the proof on which I depend I have as witnesses many foreigners and all the officials and servants at the shrine. It is a fact that the room in which they seat those who would consult the god is filled, not frequently or with any regularity, but as it may chance from time to time, with a delightful fragrance coming on a current of air which bears it towards the worshippers, as if its source were in the holy of holies; and it is like the odour which the most exquisite and costly perfumes send forth. It is likely that this efflorescence is produced by warmth or some other force engendered there. If this does not seem credible, you will at least all agree that the prophetic priestess herself is subjected to differing influences, varying from time to time, which affect that part of her soul with which the spirit of inspiration comes into association, and that she does not always keep one temperament, like a perfect concord, unchanged on every occasion. For many annoyances and disturbances of which she is conscious, and many more unperceived, lay hold upon her body and filter into her soul; and whenever she is replete with these, it is better that she should not go there and surrender herself to the control of the god, when she is not completely unhampered (as if she were a musical instrument, well strung and well tuned), but is in a state of emotion and instability. Wine, for example, does not always produce the same state of intoxication in the toper, nor the music of the flute the same state of exaltation in the votary; but the same persons are roused now to less, now to more, extravagant conduct by the Bacchic revels or stimulated by the wine, as the temperament within them becomes different. But especially does the imaginative faculty of the soul seem to be swayed by the alterations in the body, and to change as the body changes, a fact which is clearly shown in dreams; for at one time we find ourselves beset in our dreams by a multitude of visions of all sorts, and at another time again there comes a complete calmness and rest free from all such fancies. We ourselves know of Cleon here from Daulia and that he asserts that in all the many years he has lived he has never had a dream; and among the older men the same thing is told of Thrasymedes of Heraea. The cause of this is the temperament of the body, just as that of persons who are prone to melancholy, at the other extreme, is subject to a multitude of dreams and visions; wherefore they have the repute of possessing the faculty of dreaming straight; for since they turn now to this and now to that in their imagery, 438 like persons who shoot many arrows, they often manage to hit the mark.
[De def. or. 51] 51 1 “Whenever, then, the imaginative and prophetic faculty is in a state of proper adjustment for attempering itself to the spirit as to a drug, inspiration in those who foretell the future is bound to come; and whenever the conditions are not thus, it is bound not to come, or when it does come to be misleading, abnormal, and confusing, as we know in the case of the priestess who died not so long ago. As it happened, a deputation from abroad had arrived to consult the oracle. The victim, it is said, remained unmoved and unaffected in any way by the first libations; but the priests, in their eagerness to please, went far beyond their wonted usage, band only after the victim had been subjected to a deluge and nearly drowned did it at last give in. What, then, was the result touching the priestess? She went down into the oracle unwillingly, they say, and half-heartedly; and at her first responses it was at once plain from the harshness of her voice that she was not responding properly; she was like a labouring ship and was filled with a mighty and baleful spirit. Finally she became hysterical and with a frightful shriek rushed towards the exit and threw herself down, with the result that not only the members of the deputation fled, but also the oracle-interpreter Nicander and those holy men that were present. However, after a little, they went in and took her up, still conscious; and she lived on for a few days.
[De def. or. 51b] “It is for these reasons that they guard the chastity of the priestess, and keep her life free from all association and contact with strangers, and take the omens before the oracle, thinking that it is clear to the god when she has the temperament and disposition suitable to submit to the inspiration without harm to herself. The power of the spirit does not affect all persons nor the same persons always in the same way, but it only supplies an enkindling and an inception, as has been said, for them that are in a proper state to be affected and to undergo the change. The power comes from the gods and demigods, but, for all that, it is not unfailing nor imperishable nor ageless, lasting into that infinite time by which all things between earth and moon become wearied out, according to our reasoning. And there are some who assert that the things above the moon also do not abide, but give out as they confront the everlasting and infinite, and undergo continual transmutations and rebirths.
[De def. or. 52] 52 1 “These matters,” I added, “I urge upon you for your frequent consideration, as well as my own, in the belief that they contain much to which objections might be made, and many suggestions looking to a contrary conclusion, all of which the present occasion does not allow us to follow out. So let them be postponed until another time, and likewise the question which Philip raises about the Sun and Apollo.”