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.
Roman Translations
When Cicero left the city after being banished 'from fire and water' by the law of his enemy P.
Clodius, he proceeded to Macedonia.
Most men did nothing to help him, because they were so afraid of the power of Clodius, but the quaestor Cn.
Plancius supported him with extreme kindness and loyalty.
In that year Plancius held the office of quaestor in Macedonia, under the praetor L.
Apuleius; and while Cicero was at Thessalonica, Plancius helped to protect him from any threat of treachery.
Therefore, after he had been restored Cicero recorded his gratitude to Plancius, amongst others, in the two speeches that he made in the assembly and in the senate.
This legal case arose from the elections for aediles, in which Plancius was elected, but among the unsuccessful candidates was Juventius Laterensis, a senator from a patrician family who was notable for his eloquence as well as his noble birth. It was Laterensis who now prosecuted Plancius for forming an illegal association - a detested crime and dangerous for defendants, because of the nominated jurors about whom we spoke before. Cicero's defence rests principally on [conjecture]: the orator maintains that Plancius {won the election} not by distributing bribes, but by the uprightness of his character and his distinguished achievements.
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[167] {Planc_85} L You said that you had not sent home any letters with accounts of your exploits; because my letter, which I sent to someone, had harmed me.
All this refers not to the defendant, but to Cicero himself, in response to the taunts of Laterensis. I know that he means the letter, as large as a full book, that Cicero sent to Pompeius about his achievements as consul. The letter seems to have been written in a rather arrogant way, so that Pompeius was considerably annoyed, because in his pompous boasting Cicero was suggesting that he was superior to all other famous leaders. Cicero tries to defend himself by saying that he informed Cn. Pompeius about the preservation of his homeland, and that he did not unreasonably boast about his own exploits. But in reality the letter did harm Cicero; because it had the effect, that Pompeius offered him no protection against the attacks of Clodius.
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ABOUT THE DEBTS OF MILO
[169] L [ T. Annius Milo, Q. Metellus Scipio ] and Hypsaeus [all sought to be elected consul in the same year] when P. Clodius Pulcher, the enemy of Milo, was a candidate for praetor. Clodius opposed the candidacy of Milo, and used many different corrupt practices to disrupt the elections; with the intention that Hypsaeus and Scipio should be appointed consuls, and Milo should be unsuccessful. At this time a meeting of the senate was held, at which P. Clodius made an aggressive and abusive speech, attacking not only Milo, but also M. Tullius. Clodius said that {Cicero} was corrupting the elections, because he had become very powerful as a result of his many achievements as a statesman; he alleged that armed gangs had threatened violence; and lastly he claimed that Milo had declared much smaller debts than he actually owed. According to the usual custom, Milo had declared that the total of his debts was six million sestertii. Clodius stated with great emphasis that {Milo} should not be allowed [to stand for the consulship], because he was likely to ransack the state treasuries to meet his large debts. But his accusations were rebutted in a speech by M. Cicero, who strongly supported Milo, in particular because he recalled that Milo as tribune of the plebs had helped him to regain his position in the state. How much Cicero hated P. Clodius, is obvious from the speeches in which he strongly denounced his life and morals. This speech is full of the insults, which they traded with each other. Before I start the commentary, I will explain the title, because I think it will be useful for readers [170] L to properly understand the title. The full title is: "An investigation about the debts of Milo. " However, there were several different types of investigation, as follows:
The delivery of an accusation, such as appears in the title of the speech, "To be used, if P. Clodius investigated him about the laws. " Someone was investigated about the laws, when the accuser inquired, whether the defendant had acted in all respects according to the laws.
Secondly, the investigation of witnesses, such as when M. Tullius investigated P. Vatinius, who was appearing as a witness. A speech, in which witnesses are discredited, is properly called an investigation.
Thirdly, the type of investigation that appears in this speech, as Sinnius Capito suggests, which is part of the duty and practice of a senator. When a senator had already stated his opinion in his turn, and another senator when asked for his opinion said something that could reasonably be contradicted, the former senator, although he had already stated his opinion, could be allowed to investigate, or refute, the other senator, by discrediting his opinion, as false and misleading in many respects. And because Clodius had spoken and claimed that Milo had declared smaller debts . . .
[Two pages missing. ]
. . . boldly trusting.
He turns the [statement] against Clodius, implying that humble obsequiousness of this kind could more accurately and convincingly be attributed to Clodius, who had discarded all the dignity of his rank when he abjectly begged Pompeius to receive him back into favour.
He is not ashamed? What would shame a man, who not only does not blush, but has not even got a proper face?
This is a vitriolic attack, in which he seeks to denounce not only Clodius' shamelessness, but also his notorious immorality or the ugliness of his face, because Clodius is said to have had an unpleasant appearance.
This is what the poor, the trouble-makers said: 'What a (? ) useless man! '
He reports the words of the rumour-mongers, who had praised Clodius for his great powers of determination, when he boldly opposed Pompeius, but later held him in contempt, when he humbled himself to achieve a reconciliation.
To speak disparagingly of, or rather to restrict the leading citizen to his home by violence and fear.
[171] L [In correction. ] As a type of [correction] he withdraws a word, in order to correct it. It is well known that P. Clodius plotted against Pompeius. Cicero mentions this in several earlier speeches, and states it most fully and plainly in his speech in defence of Milo.
That he would have to rewrite the tablets which he keeps in his entrance hall.
After Cicero was forced into exile, Clodius composed a sort of catalogue of the charges against him, and inscribed it on tablets which he set up in the entrance hall of his house. It is these tablets which Cicero seems to be talking about here, and he suggests that because they are untrue and misleading, they should be considered as worthless; and he has no reason to worry about the accusations, because his honesty had been vindicated by decrees of the senate, showing that he deserved to be restored {from exile}.
I think that you had three complaints about Milo: about his debts, about violence, and about electoral corruption. But you forgot to mention the desecration of religious rites, and the depraved fornication.
After making a [categorisation] into the same types of complaint, that Clodius had used against Milo, the orator adds these two extra categories, which obviously apply to his enemy {Clodius} . . .
[Four pages missing. ]
. . . opponents.
Now he moves onto a different theme: whether Milo attempted to use violence. He rebuts this accusation in a similar way, by turning all the suspicion and reproach back onto Clodius. The [arguments] are presented in such a way, as to clear Milo of guilt and embarrass his opponent.
That the saviour of the city should be expelled from it.
This is a most eloquent and strongly-worded harangue, as I said above, which accuses P. Clodius of violence; and indeed he never appears to have behaved in a peaceful or restrained fashion. But next . . . [when he begins to speak about Clodius' year as tribune] how subtly and expertly Cicero mentions his own exile! He does not mention it specifically or openly, but alludes to it by this general phrase. When he wants to say something in praise of himself, he says: "That the citizen, who is the author and guardian of the city's safety, peace, dignity and faith, should be expelled from it. " Because this was [boastful] Cicero refers to it [by suggestion] as if he was talking about someone else; and thus he avoids the impression of being arrogant and boastful.
[172] L He should be forced to remain within the walls {of his own home}.
Clodius seems to have plotted {to kill} Cn. Pompeius; therefore Cicero continues in a rhetorical fashion with praise of Pompeius, as follows:
Who set the bounds of the Roman empire, not at some region in the world, but in the heights of the sky.
{Cicero} added this [for emphasis], both to flatter Pompeius and to denounce Clodius as a public enemy, who would try to deprive the state of a man who was so useful to it.
Nor was he a cause of fear, when we withdrew.
He is clearly speaking about his exile, which he preferred to call a withdrawal rather than a punishment. Similarly, in his other speeches he preferred to give the impression that he had decided to leave, not because of fear or any recognition of guilt, but rather because he wanted to avoid an outbreak of armed violence in the state.
You brought these men from the Apennines to slaughter the citizens.
In all of this he is speaking {of Clodius} as an ally of Catilina, and therefore he mentions the Apennines, which {Catilina} had recently occupied with an army.
They struck both of the consuls with stones.
The consuls were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messalla. The main reason that the meeting of the senate had been summoned, was that P. Clodius had sent a gang of ruffians, to disrupt the elections for new consuls, in which Milo was a candidate.
You who, while many were watching, struck your head and slapped your thighs.
The behaviour of a crazy man . . .
[Two pages missing. ]
. . . names.
Wherever he goes, he brings blame upon defendants and jurymen.
As to defendants, the meaning is as follows: by speaking incompetently, he puts them in danger of being condemned. As to jurymen, we should understand it as follows: the prosecutions cause them disrepute and disgrace, because they are thought to have been swayed by bribes. Clodius had falsely asserted that the jurymen ought to be paid for their votes, when in fact he intended to pilfer the money for himself.
And you are not - as is your habit - postponing your {election} as praetor for another year.
He explains this more fully in his defence of Milo { Mil_24 }. Clodius had been a candidate in the elections for praetor, but when he realised that the elections would be delayed so much, that he would not be able to enter office on 1st January, he decided to withdraw his candidacy. Therefore, Cicero pretends that everyone was amazed that Clodius was not postponing his election as praetor in the current year also, just as he had already done in the previous year. {In these years} the elections were often disrupted by disputes between the magistrates
[173] L Nor will you be able to give the vote to those, to whom you have promised it.
[Menacingly] he threatens and proclaims that he will stay to oppose Clodius' plans, and will not go off as an envoy with Pompeius. P. Clodius seems to have proposed a law to give voting rights to freedmen, so that they would be included in the census with an equal status {to other citizens}.
Nor that abominable liberty.
The same law is mentioned in the speech in defence of Milo: "Whether [those supporters] of yours {take} from us all - I do not dare to say the rest. Imagine what might be the outcome of this law, when it is dangerous even to speak against it. " It was expected that [Clodius would pass] a law when he was praetor [to free] the slaves [of families].
Who can forget what you were like as a youth?
This is a [questioning] that is full of bitterness and contempt; it describes Clodius' character and reveals his morals. {Cicero} suggests that Clodius should be more despised than feared, because he is soiled with so many filthy vices. The rest does not need an explanation, because we have already spoken about it in the preceding comments.
And then again the pirates released you for a ransom - what else can I call those men, who let you go free after receiving a bribe?
He talks [metaphorically] about the jurors, who received a bribe to acquit Clodius when he was accused of sacrilege, as if they were pirates.
[At least 16 pages are missing. ]
[174] L . . . of nature - unless perhaps you think that a man's reputation depends on his appearance and shape, and not on his character.
[Definition from the opposite. ] He declares that a man's worth should be judged not from the appearance of his body, but from the quality of his character.
Then you had some terrors, which stuck out like complete horns.
[A metaphor] in which he describes P. Clodius as similar to a wild beast. Also, [as a metaphor]at the end of the [digression] he represents him with horns, which he once seemed to possess, but has now lost. The meaning of course is that Clodius should be despised rather than feared.
They did not {live to} see that the men, whom they had expelled, were restored to the state.
He quotes the examples of C. Gracchus and L. Saturninus, of whom the former was killed on the Aventine hill, and the latter was brought down from the Capitol with the praetor Glaucia and put to death. He means that after their deaths, P. Popilius, who had been forced to leave {Rome} by Gracchus, and Q. Metellus Numidicus, who had gone into exile to avoid the violence of L. Apuleius, were both restored to the state. Therefore Cicero boasts of his own good fortune, because he was restored while his enemy Clodius was still alive.
I yielded to the armed force either of your urban mob, or (as was believed at the time) of someone else.
The bitterness of the quarrel . . .
[18 lines missing. ]
. . . the uncertain belief that he had been received back into favour. But Tullius describes this carefully, in a very rhetorical way, so that no-one should think that Pompeius acknowledged {Clodius} as a good citizen, when he put an end to his quarrel with him. Cicero calls {Pompeius} "a very cautious man," whose safety depended not so much on Clodius' trustworthiness and innocence - which was non-existent - as on his own foresight, when he avoided being trapped by Clodius' plots.
End of: ["About the debts of Milo"]
IN DEFENCE OF ARCHIAS
[175] L . . . he particularly devoted himself to the study of poetry, and as it seems was pre-eminent in this form of literature. Therefore he was on friendly terms with some famous men, as M. Tullius states in the course of this speech. [ . . . (? ) when he came back with Lucullus, he went to live] in Heracleia, which was then an allied state, and was enrolled as a Heracleian citizen. Then the consuls Silvanus and Carbo passed a law, that that anyone who belonged to an allied people could obtain Roman citizenship, if only he was living in Italy at the time that the law was passed, and if he made an application to the praetor within sixty days. Licinius Archias was unable to provide the necessary evidence that he was entitled to Roman citizenship, because he was unable to prove that he had been enrolled as a citizen of Heracleia, after the records office of that city was burnt down during the civil war, and he had not declared his property in the census. Therefore he was prosecuted under the Lex Papia, which had been passed to detain those who falsely and illegally claimed Roman citizenship. {Cicero's} argument proceeds from conjecture, as to whether Archias was enrolled as a citizen of Heracleia, and whether he had done everything which was required of claimants from allied peoples. It lacks proof on many points, but depends on the evidence of the people of Heracleia and particularly - the theme that permeates the whole speech - on his reputation as a talented poet and a charming scholar. Apart from this conjecture, there is an argument that the excellence of his character would justify him being admitted as a Roman citizen, even if he had not been enrolled already.
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Plutarch: Sayings of kings and commanders
Pages 172 - 189
Although it was probably not written by Plutarch himself, this entertaining collection of sayings shares his desire to illustrate the character of great men. It contains quotations gathered from the Parallel Lives, as well as many from other sources.
Translated by E. Hinton of Witney, revised by W. Goodwin (1878). A few words and spellings have been changed. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. Click on the G symbols to go to the Greek text of each section.
G PLUTARCH WISHES PROSPERITY TO TRAJANUS THE EMPEROR.
[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.
G CYRUS. The Persians affect such as are hawk-nosed and think them most beautiful, because Cyrus, the most beloved of their kings, had a nose of that shape.
Cyrus said that those that would not do good for themselves ought to be compelled to do good for others; and that nobody ought to govern, unless he was better than those he governed.
When the Persians were desirous to exchange their hills and rocks for a plain and soft country, he would not suffer them, saying that both the seeds of plants and the lives of men resemble the soil they inhabit.
G DARIUS. Darius the father of Xerxes used to praise himself, saying that he became even wiser in battles and dangers.
When he laid a tax upon his subjects, he summoned his lieutenants, and asked them whether the tax was burdensome or not. When they told him it was moderate, he commanded them to pay half as much as was at first demanded.
[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.
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.
G 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.
G 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.
Being offended with the Babylonians, who rebelled, and having overcome them, he forbade them weapons, but commanded they should practise singing and playing on the flute, keep brothel-houses and taverns, and wear loose coats.
He refused to eat Attic figs that were brought to be sold, until he had conquered the country that produced them.
When he caught some 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.
G ARTAXERXES. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, surnamed Longimanus (or Long-hand) because he had one hand longer than the other, said, it was more princely to add than to take away.
He first gave leave to those that hunted with him, if they would and saw occasion, to throw their darts before him.
He also first ordained that punishment for his nobles who had offended, that they should be stripped and their garments scourged instead of their bodies ; and whereas then, hair should have been plucked out, that the same should be done to their turbans.
When Satibarzanes, his chamberlain, petitioned him in an unjust matter, and he understood he did it to gain thirty thousand 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.
G 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.
G 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.
[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.
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 !
G PARYSATIS. Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, advised him that would discourse freely with the king, to use words of fine linen.
G 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.
G 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.
G 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.
G 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.
G 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.
G COTYS. Cotys, when one gave him a leopard, gave him a lion for it.
He was naturally prone to anger, and severely punished the miscarriages of his servants. When a stranger brought him some earthen vessels, thin and brittle, but delicately shaped and admirably adorned with sculptures, he requited the stranger for them, and then brake them all in pieces, Lest ( said he) my passion should provoke me to punish excessively those that broke them.
G 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.
G 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.
As he was rubbing his horse, turning to the ambassadors of Philippus, he asked whether Philippus did so or not.
He took prisoner Ismenias, an excellent piper, and commanded him to play; and when others admired him, he swore it was more pleasant to hear a horse neigh.
G 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.
G 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.
He often marched the Syracusans out to plant their fields, as if it had been to war, that the country might be improved by husbandry, and they might not be corrupted by idleness.
When he demanded a sum of money of the citizens, and thereupon a tumult was raised, he told them he would but borrow it; and after the war was ended, he restored it to them again.
At a feast, when a harp was offered, and others one after another tuned it and played upon it, he sent for his horse, and with an easy agility leaped upon him.
G HIERON. Hieron, who succeeded Gelon in the tyranny, said he was not disturbed by any that freely spoke against him.
He judged that those that revealed a secret did an injury to those to whom they revealed it; for we hate not only those who tell, but them also that hear what would not have disclosed.
One upbraided him with his stinking breath, and he blamed his wife that never told him of it ; but she said, I thought all men smelt so.
To Xenophanes the Colophonian, who said he had much ado to maintain two servants, he replied: But Homerus, whom you disparage, maintains above ten thousand, although he is dead.
He fined Epicharmus the comedian, for speaking unseemly when his wife was by.
G 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.
In the beginning of his tyranny, the citizens rebelled and besieged him; and his friends advised him to resign the government, rather than to be taken and slain by them. But he, seeing a cook butcher an ox and the ox immediately fall down dead, said to his friends: Is it not a hateful thing, that for fear of so short a death we should resign so great a government!
When his son, whom he intended to make his successor in the government, had been detected in debauching a freeman's wife, he asked him in anger, When did you ever know me guilty of such a crime! But you, sir, replied the son, had not a tyrant for your father. Nor will you, said he, have a tyrant for your son, unless you mend your manners.
And another time, going into his son's house and seeing there abundance of silver and gold plate, he cried out: You are not capable of being a tyrant, who have made never a friend with all the plate I have given you.
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.
When his mother, being ancient, requested him to find a husband for her, I can, said he, overpower the laws of the city, but I cannot force the laws of Nature.
Although he punished other malefactors severely, he favoured such as stole clothes, that the Syracusans might forbear feasting and drunken clubs.
A certain person told him privately, he could show him a way how he might know beforehand such as conspired against him. Let us know, said he, going aside. [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.
Being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied: God forbid that it should ever befall me.
Hearing that two young men very much reviled him and his tyranny in their cups, he invited both of them to supper; and perceiving that one of them prattled freely and foolishly, but the other drank warily and sparing, he dismissed the first as a drunken fellow whose treason lay no deeper than his wine, and put the other to death as a disaffected and resolved traitor.
Some blaming him for rewarding and preferring a wicked man, and one hated by the citizens; I would have, said he, somebody hated more than myself.
When he gave presents to the ambassadors of Corinth, and they refused them because their law forbade them to receive gifts from a prince to whom they were sent in embassy, he said they did very ill to destroy the only advantage of tyranny, and to declare that it was dangerous to receive a kindness from a tyrant.
Hearing that a citizen had buried a quantity of gold in his house, he sent for it; and when the party removed to another city, and bought a farm with part of his treasure which he had concealed, Dionysius sent for him and bade him take back the rest, since he had now begun to use his money, and was no longer making a useful thing useless.
G 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.
When Polyxenus the logician told him he had baffled him; Yes, said he, in words, but I have caught you in deeds; for you, leaving your own fortune, attend me and mine.
When he was deposed from his government, and one asked him what he got by Plato and philosophy, he answered, That I may bear so great a change of fortune patiently.
Being asked how it came to pass that his father, a private and poor man, obtained the government of Syracuse, and he already possessed of it, and the son of a tyrant, lost it, - My father, said he, entered upon affairs when the democracy was hated, but I, when tyranny was become odious.
To another that asked him the same question, he replied: My father bequeathed to me his government, but not his fortune.
G 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.
As he was besieging a city, some from the walls reviling him, saying, Do you hear, potter, where will you have money to pay your soldiers ! - he gently answered, I'll tell you, if I take this city. And having taken it by storm, he sold the prisoners, telling them, If you reproach me again, I will complain to your masters.
Some inhabitants of Ithaca complained of his mariners, that making a descent on the island they had taken away some cattle; But your king, said he, came to Sicily, and did not only take away sheep, but put out the shepherd's eyes, and went his way.
G 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.
G ARCHELAUS. Archelaus, when one of his companions ( and none of the best) begged a golden cup of him, bade the boy give it Euripides ; and when the man wondered at him, You, said he, are worthy to ask, but he is worthy to receive it without asking.
A garrulous barber asked him how he would be trimmed. He answered, In silence.
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.
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.
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.
G 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.
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.
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.
After he had conquered Greece, some advised him to place garrisons in the cities. No, said he, I had rather be called merciful a great while, than lord a little while.
His friends advised him to banish 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.
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.
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.
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 ?
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.
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.
[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.
Being arbitrator between two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.
Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, What a life, said he, is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!
Designing to take a strong fort, which the scouts told him was exceeding difficult and impregnable, he asked whether it was so difficult that an ass could not come at it laden with gold.
Lasthenes the Olynthian and his friends being aggrieved, and complaining that some of Philippus' retinue called them traitors, These Macedonians, said he, are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade.
He exhorted his son to behave himself courteously toward the Macedonians, and to acquire influence with the people, while he could be affable and gracious during the reign of another.
He advised him also to make friends of men of interest in the cities, both good and bad, that afterwards he might make use of these, and suppress those.
To 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.
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.
Being invited to supper, he carried many he took up by the way along with him; and perceiving his host troubled (for his provision was not sufficient), he sent to each of his friends, and bade them reserve a place for the cake. They, believing and expecting it, ate little, and so the supper was enough for all.
It appeared he grieved much at the death of Hipparchus the Euboean. For when somebody said it was time for him to die, - For himself, said he, but he died too soon for me, preventing me by his death from returning him the kindness his friendship deserved.
Hearing that Alexander blamed him for having children by several women, Therefore, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ?
Awaking after he had overslept himself in the army; I slept, said he, securely, for Antipater watched.
Another time, being asleep in the day-time, while the 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.
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.
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.
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.
G 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 !
Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race; Yes, said he, if there were any kings there to run with me.
A wench being brought to lie with him late in the evening, he asked why she tarried so long. She answered, I stayed until my husband was abed; and he sharply reproved his pages, because through their carelessness he had almost committed adultery.
As he was sacrificing to the Gods liberally, and often offered frankincense, Leonidas his tutor standing by said, O son, thus generously will you sacrifice, when you have conquered the country that bears frankincense. And when he had conquered it, he sent him this letter: I have sent you an hundred talents of frankincense and cassia, that hereafter you may not be niggardly towards the Gods, when you understand I have conquered the country in which perfumes grow.
The night before he fought at the river Granicus, he exhorted the Macedonians to sup plentifully and to bring out all they had, as they were to sup the next day at the charge of their enemies.
Perillus, one of his friends, begged of him 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.
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.
Seeing at Miletus many statues of wrestlers that had overcome in the Olympic and Pythian games, And where, said he, were these lusty fellows when the barbarians assaulted your city ?
When Ada queen of Caria was ambitious often to send him sauces and sweetmeats delicately prepared by the best cooks and artists, he said, I have better confectioners of my own - my night-travelling for my breakfast, and my spare breakfast for my dinner.
All things being prepared for a fight, his captains asked him whether he had any thing else to command them. Nothing, said he, but that the Macedonians should shave their beards. Parmenion wondering at it, Do you not know, said he, there is no better hold in a fight than the beard ?
When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him ; I would accept it, said 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.
When he was going to fight for the world at Arbela, against ten hundred thousand enemies set in array against him, some of his friends came to him, and told him the discourse of the soldiers in their tents, who had agreed that nothing of the spoils should be brought into the treasury, but they would have all themselves. You tell me good news, said he, for I hear the discourse of men that intend to fight, and not to run away. Several of his soldiers came to him and said: O King! be of good courage, and fear not the multitude of your enemies, for they will not be able to endure the very stink of our sweat.
The army being marshalled, he saw a soldier fitting his thong to his javelin, and dismissed him as a useless fellow, for fitting his weapons when he should use them.
As he was reading a letter from his mother, containing secrets and accusations of Antipater, Hephaestion also ( as he was accustomed) read it along with him.
This legal case arose from the elections for aediles, in which Plancius was elected, but among the unsuccessful candidates was Juventius Laterensis, a senator from a patrician family who was notable for his eloquence as well as his noble birth. It was Laterensis who now prosecuted Plancius for forming an illegal association - a detested crime and dangerous for defendants, because of the nominated jurors about whom we spoke before. Cicero's defence rests principally on [conjecture]: the orator maintains that Plancius {won the election} not by distributing bribes, but by the uprightness of his character and his distinguished achievements.
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[167] {Planc_85} L You said that you had not sent home any letters with accounts of your exploits; because my letter, which I sent to someone, had harmed me.
All this refers not to the defendant, but to Cicero himself, in response to the taunts of Laterensis. I know that he means the letter, as large as a full book, that Cicero sent to Pompeius about his achievements as consul. The letter seems to have been written in a rather arrogant way, so that Pompeius was considerably annoyed, because in his pompous boasting Cicero was suggesting that he was superior to all other famous leaders. Cicero tries to defend himself by saying that he informed Cn. Pompeius about the preservation of his homeland, and that he did not unreasonably boast about his own exploits. But in reality the letter did harm Cicero; because it had the effect, that Pompeius offered him no protection against the attacks of Clodius.
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ABOUT THE DEBTS OF MILO
[169] L [ T. Annius Milo, Q. Metellus Scipio ] and Hypsaeus [all sought to be elected consul in the same year] when P. Clodius Pulcher, the enemy of Milo, was a candidate for praetor. Clodius opposed the candidacy of Milo, and used many different corrupt practices to disrupt the elections; with the intention that Hypsaeus and Scipio should be appointed consuls, and Milo should be unsuccessful. At this time a meeting of the senate was held, at which P. Clodius made an aggressive and abusive speech, attacking not only Milo, but also M. Tullius. Clodius said that {Cicero} was corrupting the elections, because he had become very powerful as a result of his many achievements as a statesman; he alleged that armed gangs had threatened violence; and lastly he claimed that Milo had declared much smaller debts than he actually owed. According to the usual custom, Milo had declared that the total of his debts was six million sestertii. Clodius stated with great emphasis that {Milo} should not be allowed [to stand for the consulship], because he was likely to ransack the state treasuries to meet his large debts. But his accusations were rebutted in a speech by M. Cicero, who strongly supported Milo, in particular because he recalled that Milo as tribune of the plebs had helped him to regain his position in the state. How much Cicero hated P. Clodius, is obvious from the speeches in which he strongly denounced his life and morals. This speech is full of the insults, which they traded with each other. Before I start the commentary, I will explain the title, because I think it will be useful for readers [170] L to properly understand the title. The full title is: "An investigation about the debts of Milo. " However, there were several different types of investigation, as follows:
The delivery of an accusation, such as appears in the title of the speech, "To be used, if P. Clodius investigated him about the laws. " Someone was investigated about the laws, when the accuser inquired, whether the defendant had acted in all respects according to the laws.
Secondly, the investigation of witnesses, such as when M. Tullius investigated P. Vatinius, who was appearing as a witness. A speech, in which witnesses are discredited, is properly called an investigation.
Thirdly, the type of investigation that appears in this speech, as Sinnius Capito suggests, which is part of the duty and practice of a senator. When a senator had already stated his opinion in his turn, and another senator when asked for his opinion said something that could reasonably be contradicted, the former senator, although he had already stated his opinion, could be allowed to investigate, or refute, the other senator, by discrediting his opinion, as false and misleading in many respects. And because Clodius had spoken and claimed that Milo had declared smaller debts . . .
[Two pages missing. ]
. . . boldly trusting.
He turns the [statement] against Clodius, implying that humble obsequiousness of this kind could more accurately and convincingly be attributed to Clodius, who had discarded all the dignity of his rank when he abjectly begged Pompeius to receive him back into favour.
He is not ashamed? What would shame a man, who not only does not blush, but has not even got a proper face?
This is a vitriolic attack, in which he seeks to denounce not only Clodius' shamelessness, but also his notorious immorality or the ugliness of his face, because Clodius is said to have had an unpleasant appearance.
This is what the poor, the trouble-makers said: 'What a (? ) useless man! '
He reports the words of the rumour-mongers, who had praised Clodius for his great powers of determination, when he boldly opposed Pompeius, but later held him in contempt, when he humbled himself to achieve a reconciliation.
To speak disparagingly of, or rather to restrict the leading citizen to his home by violence and fear.
[171] L [In correction. ] As a type of [correction] he withdraws a word, in order to correct it. It is well known that P. Clodius plotted against Pompeius. Cicero mentions this in several earlier speeches, and states it most fully and plainly in his speech in defence of Milo.
That he would have to rewrite the tablets which he keeps in his entrance hall.
After Cicero was forced into exile, Clodius composed a sort of catalogue of the charges against him, and inscribed it on tablets which he set up in the entrance hall of his house. It is these tablets which Cicero seems to be talking about here, and he suggests that because they are untrue and misleading, they should be considered as worthless; and he has no reason to worry about the accusations, because his honesty had been vindicated by decrees of the senate, showing that he deserved to be restored {from exile}.
I think that you had three complaints about Milo: about his debts, about violence, and about electoral corruption. But you forgot to mention the desecration of religious rites, and the depraved fornication.
After making a [categorisation] into the same types of complaint, that Clodius had used against Milo, the orator adds these two extra categories, which obviously apply to his enemy {Clodius} . . .
[Four pages missing. ]
. . . opponents.
Now he moves onto a different theme: whether Milo attempted to use violence. He rebuts this accusation in a similar way, by turning all the suspicion and reproach back onto Clodius. The [arguments] are presented in such a way, as to clear Milo of guilt and embarrass his opponent.
That the saviour of the city should be expelled from it.
This is a most eloquent and strongly-worded harangue, as I said above, which accuses P. Clodius of violence; and indeed he never appears to have behaved in a peaceful or restrained fashion. But next . . . [when he begins to speak about Clodius' year as tribune] how subtly and expertly Cicero mentions his own exile! He does not mention it specifically or openly, but alludes to it by this general phrase. When he wants to say something in praise of himself, he says: "That the citizen, who is the author and guardian of the city's safety, peace, dignity and faith, should be expelled from it. " Because this was [boastful] Cicero refers to it [by suggestion] as if he was talking about someone else; and thus he avoids the impression of being arrogant and boastful.
[172] L He should be forced to remain within the walls {of his own home}.
Clodius seems to have plotted {to kill} Cn. Pompeius; therefore Cicero continues in a rhetorical fashion with praise of Pompeius, as follows:
Who set the bounds of the Roman empire, not at some region in the world, but in the heights of the sky.
{Cicero} added this [for emphasis], both to flatter Pompeius and to denounce Clodius as a public enemy, who would try to deprive the state of a man who was so useful to it.
Nor was he a cause of fear, when we withdrew.
He is clearly speaking about his exile, which he preferred to call a withdrawal rather than a punishment. Similarly, in his other speeches he preferred to give the impression that he had decided to leave, not because of fear or any recognition of guilt, but rather because he wanted to avoid an outbreak of armed violence in the state.
You brought these men from the Apennines to slaughter the citizens.
In all of this he is speaking {of Clodius} as an ally of Catilina, and therefore he mentions the Apennines, which {Catilina} had recently occupied with an army.
They struck both of the consuls with stones.
The consuls were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messalla. The main reason that the meeting of the senate had been summoned, was that P. Clodius had sent a gang of ruffians, to disrupt the elections for new consuls, in which Milo was a candidate.
You who, while many were watching, struck your head and slapped your thighs.
The behaviour of a crazy man . . .
[Two pages missing. ]
. . . names.
Wherever he goes, he brings blame upon defendants and jurymen.
As to defendants, the meaning is as follows: by speaking incompetently, he puts them in danger of being condemned. As to jurymen, we should understand it as follows: the prosecutions cause them disrepute and disgrace, because they are thought to have been swayed by bribes. Clodius had falsely asserted that the jurymen ought to be paid for their votes, when in fact he intended to pilfer the money for himself.
And you are not - as is your habit - postponing your {election} as praetor for another year.
He explains this more fully in his defence of Milo { Mil_24 }. Clodius had been a candidate in the elections for praetor, but when he realised that the elections would be delayed so much, that he would not be able to enter office on 1st January, he decided to withdraw his candidacy. Therefore, Cicero pretends that everyone was amazed that Clodius was not postponing his election as praetor in the current year also, just as he had already done in the previous year. {In these years} the elections were often disrupted by disputes between the magistrates
[173] L Nor will you be able to give the vote to those, to whom you have promised it.
[Menacingly] he threatens and proclaims that he will stay to oppose Clodius' plans, and will not go off as an envoy with Pompeius. P. Clodius seems to have proposed a law to give voting rights to freedmen, so that they would be included in the census with an equal status {to other citizens}.
Nor that abominable liberty.
The same law is mentioned in the speech in defence of Milo: "Whether [those supporters] of yours {take} from us all - I do not dare to say the rest. Imagine what might be the outcome of this law, when it is dangerous even to speak against it. " It was expected that [Clodius would pass] a law when he was praetor [to free] the slaves [of families].
Who can forget what you were like as a youth?
This is a [questioning] that is full of bitterness and contempt; it describes Clodius' character and reveals his morals. {Cicero} suggests that Clodius should be more despised than feared, because he is soiled with so many filthy vices. The rest does not need an explanation, because we have already spoken about it in the preceding comments.
And then again the pirates released you for a ransom - what else can I call those men, who let you go free after receiving a bribe?
He talks [metaphorically] about the jurors, who received a bribe to acquit Clodius when he was accused of sacrilege, as if they were pirates.
[At least 16 pages are missing. ]
[174] L . . . of nature - unless perhaps you think that a man's reputation depends on his appearance and shape, and not on his character.
[Definition from the opposite. ] He declares that a man's worth should be judged not from the appearance of his body, but from the quality of his character.
Then you had some terrors, which stuck out like complete horns.
[A metaphor] in which he describes P. Clodius as similar to a wild beast. Also, [as a metaphor]at the end of the [digression] he represents him with horns, which he once seemed to possess, but has now lost. The meaning of course is that Clodius should be despised rather than feared.
They did not {live to} see that the men, whom they had expelled, were restored to the state.
He quotes the examples of C. Gracchus and L. Saturninus, of whom the former was killed on the Aventine hill, and the latter was brought down from the Capitol with the praetor Glaucia and put to death. He means that after their deaths, P. Popilius, who had been forced to leave {Rome} by Gracchus, and Q. Metellus Numidicus, who had gone into exile to avoid the violence of L. Apuleius, were both restored to the state. Therefore Cicero boasts of his own good fortune, because he was restored while his enemy Clodius was still alive.
I yielded to the armed force either of your urban mob, or (as was believed at the time) of someone else.
The bitterness of the quarrel . . .
[18 lines missing. ]
. . . the uncertain belief that he had been received back into favour. But Tullius describes this carefully, in a very rhetorical way, so that no-one should think that Pompeius acknowledged {Clodius} as a good citizen, when he put an end to his quarrel with him. Cicero calls {Pompeius} "a very cautious man," whose safety depended not so much on Clodius' trustworthiness and innocence - which was non-existent - as on his own foresight, when he avoided being trapped by Clodius' plots.
End of: ["About the debts of Milo"]
IN DEFENCE OF ARCHIAS
[175] L . . . he particularly devoted himself to the study of poetry, and as it seems was pre-eminent in this form of literature. Therefore he was on friendly terms with some famous men, as M. Tullius states in the course of this speech. [ . . . (? ) when he came back with Lucullus, he went to live] in Heracleia, which was then an allied state, and was enrolled as a Heracleian citizen. Then the consuls Silvanus and Carbo passed a law, that that anyone who belonged to an allied people could obtain Roman citizenship, if only he was living in Italy at the time that the law was passed, and if he made an application to the praetor within sixty days. Licinius Archias was unable to provide the necessary evidence that he was entitled to Roman citizenship, because he was unable to prove that he had been enrolled as a citizen of Heracleia, after the records office of that city was burnt down during the civil war, and he had not declared his property in the census. Therefore he was prosecuted under the Lex Papia, which had been passed to detain those who falsely and illegally claimed Roman citizenship. {Cicero's} argument proceeds from conjecture, as to whether Archias was enrolled as a citizen of Heracleia, and whether he had done everything which was required of claimants from allied peoples. It lacks proof on many points, but depends on the evidence of the people of Heracleia and particularly - the theme that permeates the whole speech - on his reputation as a talented poet and a charming scholar. Apart from this conjecture, there is an argument that the excellence of his character would justify him being admitted as a Roman citizen, even if he had not been enrolled already.
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Plutarch: Sayings of kings and commanders
Pages 172 - 189
Although it was probably not written by Plutarch himself, this entertaining collection of sayings shares his desire to illustrate the character of great men. It contains quotations gathered from the Parallel Lives, as well as many from other sources.
Translated by E. Hinton of Witney, revised by W. Goodwin (1878). A few words and spellings have been changed. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. Click on the G symbols to go to the Greek text of each section.
G PLUTARCH WISHES PROSPERITY TO TRAJANUS THE EMPEROR.
[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.
G CYRUS. The Persians affect such as are hawk-nosed and think them most beautiful, because Cyrus, the most beloved of their kings, had a nose of that shape.
Cyrus said that those that would not do good for themselves ought to be compelled to do good for others; and that nobody ought to govern, unless he was better than those he governed.
When the Persians were desirous to exchange their hills and rocks for a plain and soft country, he would not suffer them, saying that both the seeds of plants and the lives of men resemble the soil they inhabit.
G DARIUS. Darius the father of Xerxes used to praise himself, saying that he became even wiser in battles and dangers.
When he laid a tax upon his subjects, he summoned his lieutenants, and asked them whether the tax was burdensome or not. When they told him it was moderate, he commanded them to pay half as much as was at first demanded.
[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.
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.
G 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.
G 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.
Being offended with the Babylonians, who rebelled, and having overcome them, he forbade them weapons, but commanded they should practise singing and playing on the flute, keep brothel-houses and taverns, and wear loose coats.
He refused to eat Attic figs that were brought to be sold, until he had conquered the country that produced them.
When he caught some 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.
G ARTAXERXES. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, surnamed Longimanus (or Long-hand) because he had one hand longer than the other, said, it was more princely to add than to take away.
He first gave leave to those that hunted with him, if they would and saw occasion, to throw their darts before him.
He also first ordained that punishment for his nobles who had offended, that they should be stripped and their garments scourged instead of their bodies ; and whereas then, hair should have been plucked out, that the same should be done to their turbans.
When Satibarzanes, his chamberlain, petitioned him in an unjust matter, and he understood he did it to gain thirty thousand 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.
G 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.
G 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.
[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.
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 !
G PARYSATIS. Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, advised him that would discourse freely with the king, to use words of fine linen.
G 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.
G 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.
G 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.
G 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.
G 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.
G COTYS. Cotys, when one gave him a leopard, gave him a lion for it.
He was naturally prone to anger, and severely punished the miscarriages of his servants. When a stranger brought him some earthen vessels, thin and brittle, but delicately shaped and admirably adorned with sculptures, he requited the stranger for them, and then brake them all in pieces, Lest ( said he) my passion should provoke me to punish excessively those that broke them.
G 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.
G 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.
As he was rubbing his horse, turning to the ambassadors of Philippus, he asked whether Philippus did so or not.
He took prisoner Ismenias, an excellent piper, and commanded him to play; and when others admired him, he swore it was more pleasant to hear a horse neigh.
G 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.
G 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.
He often marched the Syracusans out to plant their fields, as if it had been to war, that the country might be improved by husbandry, and they might not be corrupted by idleness.
When he demanded a sum of money of the citizens, and thereupon a tumult was raised, he told them he would but borrow it; and after the war was ended, he restored it to them again.
At a feast, when a harp was offered, and others one after another tuned it and played upon it, he sent for his horse, and with an easy agility leaped upon him.
G HIERON. Hieron, who succeeded Gelon in the tyranny, said he was not disturbed by any that freely spoke against him.
He judged that those that revealed a secret did an injury to those to whom they revealed it; for we hate not only those who tell, but them also that hear what would not have disclosed.
One upbraided him with his stinking breath, and he blamed his wife that never told him of it ; but she said, I thought all men smelt so.
To Xenophanes the Colophonian, who said he had much ado to maintain two servants, he replied: But Homerus, whom you disparage, maintains above ten thousand, although he is dead.
He fined Epicharmus the comedian, for speaking unseemly when his wife was by.
G 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.
In the beginning of his tyranny, the citizens rebelled and besieged him; and his friends advised him to resign the government, rather than to be taken and slain by them. But he, seeing a cook butcher an ox and the ox immediately fall down dead, said to his friends: Is it not a hateful thing, that for fear of so short a death we should resign so great a government!
When his son, whom he intended to make his successor in the government, had been detected in debauching a freeman's wife, he asked him in anger, When did you ever know me guilty of such a crime! But you, sir, replied the son, had not a tyrant for your father. Nor will you, said he, have a tyrant for your son, unless you mend your manners.
And another time, going into his son's house and seeing there abundance of silver and gold plate, he cried out: You are not capable of being a tyrant, who have made never a friend with all the plate I have given you.
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.
When his mother, being ancient, requested him to find a husband for her, I can, said he, overpower the laws of the city, but I cannot force the laws of Nature.
Although he punished other malefactors severely, he favoured such as stole clothes, that the Syracusans might forbear feasting and drunken clubs.
A certain person told him privately, he could show him a way how he might know beforehand such as conspired against him. Let us know, said he, going aside. [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.
Being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied: God forbid that it should ever befall me.
Hearing that two young men very much reviled him and his tyranny in their cups, he invited both of them to supper; and perceiving that one of them prattled freely and foolishly, but the other drank warily and sparing, he dismissed the first as a drunken fellow whose treason lay no deeper than his wine, and put the other to death as a disaffected and resolved traitor.
Some blaming him for rewarding and preferring a wicked man, and one hated by the citizens; I would have, said he, somebody hated more than myself.
When he gave presents to the ambassadors of Corinth, and they refused them because their law forbade them to receive gifts from a prince to whom they were sent in embassy, he said they did very ill to destroy the only advantage of tyranny, and to declare that it was dangerous to receive a kindness from a tyrant.
Hearing that a citizen had buried a quantity of gold in his house, he sent for it; and when the party removed to another city, and bought a farm with part of his treasure which he had concealed, Dionysius sent for him and bade him take back the rest, since he had now begun to use his money, and was no longer making a useful thing useless.
G 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.
When Polyxenus the logician told him he had baffled him; Yes, said he, in words, but I have caught you in deeds; for you, leaving your own fortune, attend me and mine.
When he was deposed from his government, and one asked him what he got by Plato and philosophy, he answered, That I may bear so great a change of fortune patiently.
Being asked how it came to pass that his father, a private and poor man, obtained the government of Syracuse, and he already possessed of it, and the son of a tyrant, lost it, - My father, said he, entered upon affairs when the democracy was hated, but I, when tyranny was become odious.
To another that asked him the same question, he replied: My father bequeathed to me his government, but not his fortune.
G 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.
As he was besieging a city, some from the walls reviling him, saying, Do you hear, potter, where will you have money to pay your soldiers ! - he gently answered, I'll tell you, if I take this city. And having taken it by storm, he sold the prisoners, telling them, If you reproach me again, I will complain to your masters.
Some inhabitants of Ithaca complained of his mariners, that making a descent on the island they had taken away some cattle; But your king, said he, came to Sicily, and did not only take away sheep, but put out the shepherd's eyes, and went his way.
G 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.
G ARCHELAUS. Archelaus, when one of his companions ( and none of the best) begged a golden cup of him, bade the boy give it Euripides ; and when the man wondered at him, You, said he, are worthy to ask, but he is worthy to receive it without asking.
A garrulous barber asked him how he would be trimmed. He answered, In silence.
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.
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.
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.
G 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.
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.
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.
After he had conquered Greece, some advised him to place garrisons in the cities. No, said he, I had rather be called merciful a great while, than lord a little while.
His friends advised him to banish 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.
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.
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.
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 ?
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.
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.
[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.
Being arbitrator between two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.
Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, What a life, said he, is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!
Designing to take a strong fort, which the scouts told him was exceeding difficult and impregnable, he asked whether it was so difficult that an ass could not come at it laden with gold.
Lasthenes the Olynthian and his friends being aggrieved, and complaining that some of Philippus' retinue called them traitors, These Macedonians, said he, are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade.
He exhorted his son to behave himself courteously toward the Macedonians, and to acquire influence with the people, while he could be affable and gracious during the reign of another.
He advised him also to make friends of men of interest in the cities, both good and bad, that afterwards he might make use of these, and suppress those.
To 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.
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.
Being invited to supper, he carried many he took up by the way along with him; and perceiving his host troubled (for his provision was not sufficient), he sent to each of his friends, and bade them reserve a place for the cake. They, believing and expecting it, ate little, and so the supper was enough for all.
It appeared he grieved much at the death of Hipparchus the Euboean. For when somebody said it was time for him to die, - For himself, said he, but he died too soon for me, preventing me by his death from returning him the kindness his friendship deserved.
Hearing that Alexander blamed him for having children by several women, Therefore, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ?
Awaking after he had overslept himself in the army; I slept, said he, securely, for Antipater watched.
Another time, being asleep in the day-time, while the 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.
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.
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.
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.
G 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 !
Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race; Yes, said he, if there were any kings there to run with me.
A wench being brought to lie with him late in the evening, he asked why she tarried so long. She answered, I stayed until my husband was abed; and he sharply reproved his pages, because through their carelessness he had almost committed adultery.
As he was sacrificing to the Gods liberally, and often offered frankincense, Leonidas his tutor standing by said, O son, thus generously will you sacrifice, when you have conquered the country that bears frankincense. And when he had conquered it, he sent him this letter: I have sent you an hundred talents of frankincense and cassia, that hereafter you may not be niggardly towards the Gods, when you understand I have conquered the country in which perfumes grow.
The night before he fought at the river Granicus, he exhorted the Macedonians to sup plentifully and to bring out all they had, as they were to sup the next day at the charge of their enemies.
Perillus, one of his friends, begged of him 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.
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.
Seeing at Miletus many statues of wrestlers that had overcome in the Olympic and Pythian games, And where, said he, were these lusty fellows when the barbarians assaulted your city ?
When Ada queen of Caria was ambitious often to send him sauces and sweetmeats delicately prepared by the best cooks and artists, he said, I have better confectioners of my own - my night-travelling for my breakfast, and my spare breakfast for my dinner.
All things being prepared for a fight, his captains asked him whether he had any thing else to command them. Nothing, said he, but that the Macedonians should shave their beards. Parmenion wondering at it, Do you not know, said he, there is no better hold in a fight than the beard ?
When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him ; I would accept it, said 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.
When he was going to fight for the world at Arbela, against ten hundred thousand enemies set in array against him, some of his friends came to him, and told him the discourse of the soldiers in their tents, who had agreed that nothing of the spoils should be brought into the treasury, but they would have all themselves. You tell me good news, said he, for I hear the discourse of men that intend to fight, and not to run away. Several of his soldiers came to him and said: O King! be of good courage, and fear not the multitude of your enemies, for they will not be able to endure the very stink of our sweat.
The army being marshalled, he saw a soldier fitting his thong to his javelin, and dismissed him as a useless fellow, for fitting his weapons when he should use them.
As he was reading a letter from his mother, containing secrets and accusations of Antipater, Hephaestion also ( as he was accustomed) read it along with him.
