HERE IT IS TOLD HOW ANTIGONUS REPROVED ALEXANDER FOR HAVING A CYTHERA
PLAYED FOR HIS DELIGHT
Antigonus, the teacher of Alexander, when one day the latter was having
a cythera played for his delight, took hold of the instrument and cast
it into the mud [23] and said these words: at your age it behoves you
to reign and not to play the cythera. For it may be said that luxury
debases the body and the country, as the sound of the cythera enfeebles
the soul. [24] Let him then be ashamed who should reign in virtue, and
instead delights in luxury.
King Porrus [25] who fought with Alexander ordered during a banquet
that the strings of a player’s cythera should be cut, saying: it is
better to cut than to play, for virtue departs with sweet sounds.