His shield no emblem bears; his generous soul
Wishes to be, not to appear, the best;
While the deep furrows of his noble mind
Harvests of wise and prudent counsel bear.[112]
And when they were pronounced in the theatre, all turned their eyes
upon Aristides.
PERICLES. Whenever he entered on his command as general, while he was
putting on his war-cloak, he used thus to bespeak himself: Remember,
Pericles, you govern freemen, Grecians, Athenians. He advised the
Athenians to demolish Aegina, as a dangerous eyesore to the haven of
Piraeus. To a friend that wanted him to bear false witness and to bind
the same with an oath, he said: I am a friend only as far as the altar.
When he lay on his death-bed, he blessed himself that no Athenian ever
went into mourning upon his account.
ALCIBIADES. Alcibiades while he was a boy, wrestling in a ring, seeing
he could not break his adversary’s hold, bit him by the hand; who cried
out, You bite like a woman. Not so, said he, but like a lion. He had a
very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut
off his tail, that, said he, the Athenians may have this story to tell
of me, and may concern themselves no farther with me. Coming into a
school, he called for Homer’s Iliads; and when the master told him he
had none of Homer’s works, he gave him a box on the ear, and went his
way. He came to Pericles’s gate, and being told he was busy a preparing
his accounts to be given to the people of Athens, Had he not better,
said he, contrive how he might give no account at all? Being summoned
by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, he absconded,
saying, that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might
fly for it. But, said one, will you not trust your country with your
cause? No, said he, nor my mother either, lest she mistake and cast a
black pebble instead of a white one. When he heard death was decreed
to him and his associates, Let us convince them, said he, that we are
alive. And passing over to Lacedaemon, he stirred up the Decelean war
against the Athenians.
LAMACHUS. Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he
would do so no more, Sir, said he, in war there is no room for a second
miscarriage.
IPHICRATES. Iphicrates was despised because he was thought to be a
shoemaker’s son. The exploit that first brought him into repute was
this: when he was wounded himself, he caught up one of the enemies and
carried him alive and in his armor to his own ship. He once pitched his
camp in a country belonging to his allies and confederates, and yet he
fortified it exactly with a trench and bulwark. Said one to him, What
are ye afraid of? Of all speeches, said he, none is so dishonorable
for a general, as I should not have thought it. As he marshalled his
army to fight with barbarians, I am afraid, said he, they do not
know Iphicrates, for his very name used to strike terror into other
enemies. Being accused of a capital crime, he said to the informer:
O fellow! what art thou doing, who, when war is at hand, dost advise
the city to consult concerning me, and not with me? To Harmodius,
descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled him for his mean
birth, My nobility, said he, begins in me, but yours ends in you. A
rhetorician asked him in an assembly, who he was that he took so much
upon him,—horseman, or footman, or archer, or shield-bearer. Neither
of them, said he, but one that understands how to command all those.
TIMOTHEUS. Timotheus was reputed a successful general, and some that
envied him painted cities falling under his net of their own accord,
while he was asleep. Said Timotheus, If I take such cities when I am
asleep, what do you think I shall do when I am awake? A confident
commander showed the Athenians a wound he had received. But I, said
he, when I was your general in Samos, was ashamed that a dart from an
engine fell near me. The orators set up Chares as one they thought fit
to be general of the Athenians. Not to be general, said Timotheus, but
to carry the general’s baggage.
CHABRIAS. Chabrias said, they were the best commanders who best
understood the affairs of their enemies. He was once indicted for
treason with Iphicrates, who blamed him for exposing himself to danger,
by going to the place of exercise, and dining at his usual hour. If
the Athenians, said he, deal severely with us, you will die all foul
and gut-foundered; I’ll die clean and anointed, with my dinner in my
belly. He was wont to say, that an army of stags, with a lion for their
commander, was more formidable than an army of lions led by a stag.
HEGESIPPUS. When Hegesippus, surnamed Crobylus (i.e. _Top-knot_),
instigated the Athenians against Philip, one of the assembly cried
out, You would not persuade us to a war? Yes, indeed, would I, said
he, and to mourning clothes and to public funerals and to funeral
speeches, if we intend to live free and not submit to the pleasure of
the Macedonians.
PYTHEAS. Pytheas, when he was a young man, stood forth to oppose the
decrees made concerning Alexander. One said: Have you, young man, the
confidence to speak in such weighty affairs? And why not? said he:
Alexander, whom you voted a God, is younger than I am.
PHOCION. Phocion the Athenian was never seen to laugh or cry. In an
assembly one told him, You seem to be thoughtful, Phocion. You guess
right, said he, for I am contriving how to contract what I have to
say to the people of Athens. The Oracle told the Athenians, there was
one man in the city of a contrary judgment to all the rest; and the
Athenians in a hubbub ordered search to be made, who this should be.
I, said Phocion, am the man; I alone am pleased with nothing the common
people say or do. Once when he had delivered an opinion which pleased
the people, and perceived it was entertained by a general consent,
he turned to his friend, and said: Have I not unawares spoken some
mischievous thing or other? The Athenians gathered a benevolence for a
certain sacrifice; and when others contributed to it, he being often
spoken to said: I should be ashamed to give to you, and not to pay this
man,—pointing to one of his creditors. Demosthenes the orator told
him, If the Athenians should be mad, they would kill you. Like enough,
said he, me if they were mad, but you if they were wise. Aristogiton
the informer, being condemned and ready to be executed in prison,
entreated that Phocion would come to him. And when his friends would
not suffer him to go to so vile a person; And where, said he, would you
discourse with Aristogiton more pleasantly? The Athenians were offended
with the Byzantines, for refusing to receive Chares into their city,
who was sent with forces to assist them against Philip. Said Phocion,
You ought not to be displeased with the distrust of your confederates,
but with your commanders that are not to be trusted. Whereupon he was
chosen general, and being trusted by the Byzantines, he forced Philip
to return without his errand. King Alexander sent him a present of a
hundred talents; and he asked those that brought it, what it should
mean that, of all the Athenians, Alexander should be thus kind to him.
They answered, because he esteemed him alone to be a worthy and upright
person. Pray therefore, said he, let him suffer me to seem as well as
to be so. Alexander sent to them for some ships, and the people calling
for Phocion by name, bade him speak his opinion. He stood up and told
them: I advise you either to conquer yourselves, or else to side with
the conqueror. An uncertain rumor happened, that Alexander was dead.
Immediately the orators leaped into the pulpit, and advised them to
make war without delay; but Phocion entreated them to tarry awhile
and know the certainty: For, said he, if he is dead to-day, he will
be dead to-morrow, and so forwards. Leosthenes hurried the city into
a war, with fond hopes conceited at the name of liberty and command.
Phocion compared his speeches to cypress-trees; They are tall, said
he, and comely, but bear no fruit. However, the first attempts were
successful; and when the city was sacrificing for the good news, he was
asked whether he did not wish he had done this himself. I would, said
he, have done what has been done, but have advised what I did. When the
Macedonians invaded Attica and plundered the seacoasts, he drew out
the youth. When many came to him and generally persuaded him by all
means to possess himself of such an ascent, and thereon to marshal his
army, O Hercules! said he, how many commanders do I see, and how few
soldiers? Yet he fought and overcame, and slew Nicion, the commander
of the Macedonians. But in a short time the Athenians were overcome,
and admitted a garrison sent by Antipater. Menyllus, the governor of
that garrison, offered money to Phocion, who was enraged thereby and
said: This man is no better than Alexander; and what I refused then I
can with less honor receive now. Antipater said, of the two friends he
had at Athens, he could never persuade Phocion to accept a present, nor
could he ever satisfy Demades with presents. When Antipater requested
him to do some indirect thing or other, Antipater, said he, you cannot
have Phocion for your friend and flatterer too. After the death of
Antipater, democracy was established in Athens, and the assembly
decreed the death of Phocion and his friends. The rest were led weeping
to execution; but as Phocion passed silently, one of his enemies met
him and spat in his face. But he turned himself to the magistrates,
and said, Will nobody restrain this insolent fellow? One of those that
were to suffer with him lamented and took on: Why, Euippus, said he,
are you not pleased that you die with Phocion? When the cup of hemlock
was brought to him, being asked whether he had any thing to say to
his son; I command you, said he, and entreat you not to think of any
revenge upon the Athenians.
PISISTRATUS. Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, when some of his party
revolted from him and possessed themselves of Phyle, came to them
bearing his baggage on his back. They asked him what he meant by it.
Either, said he, to persuade you to return with me, or if I cannot
persuade you, to tarry with you; and therefore I come prepared
accordingly. An accusation was brought to him against his mother, that
she was in love and used secret familiarity with a young man, who
out of fear for the most part refused her. This young man he invited
to supper, and as they were at supper asked him how he liked his
entertainment. He answered, Very well. Thus, said he, you shall be
treated daily, if you please my mother. Thrasybulus was in love with
his daughter, and as he met her, kissed her; whereupon his wife would
have incensed him against Thrasybulus. If, said he, we hate those that
love us, what shall we do to them that hate us?—and he gave the maid
in marriage to Thrasybulus. Some lascivious drunken persons by chance
met his wife, and used unseemly speech and behavior to her; but the
next day they begged his pardon with tears. As for you, said he, learn
to be sober for the future; but as for my wife, yesterday she was not
abroad at all. He designed to marry another wife, and his children
asked him whether he could blame them for any thing. By no means, said
he, but I commend you, and desire to have more such children as you
are.
DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS. Demetrius Phalereus persuaded King Ptolemy to get
and study such books as treated of government and conduct; for those
things are written in books which the friends of kings dare not advise.
LYCURGUS. Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian brought long hair into fashion
among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome
more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one
that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, Pray, said he, do
you first set up a democracy in your own house. He ordained that
houses should be built with saws and axes only, thinking they would be
ashamed to bring plate, tapestry, and costly tables into such pitiful
houses. He forbade them to contend at boxing or in the double contest
of boxing and wrestling, that they might not accustom themselves to
be conquered, no, not so much as in jest. He forbade them also to war
often against the same people, lest they should make them the more
warlike. Accordingly, many years after, when Agesilaus was wounded,
Antalcidas told him the Thebans had rewarded him worthily for teaching
and accustoming them to war, whether they would or no.
CHARILLUS. King Charillus, being asked why Lycurgus made so few laws,
answered, They who use few words do not need many laws. When one of the
Helots behaved rather too insolently towards him, By Castor and Pollux,
said he, I would kill you, were I not angry. To one that asked him why
the Spartans wore long hair, Because, said he, of all ornaments that is
the cheapest.
TELECLUS. King Teleclus, when his brother inveighed against the
citizens for not giving him that respect which they did to the king,
said to him, No wonder, you do not know how to bear injury.
THEOPOMPUS. Theopompus, to one that showed him the walls of a city and
asked him if they were not high and beautiful, answered, No, not even
if they are built for women.
ARCHIDAMUS. Archidamus, in the Peloponnesian war, when his allies
requested him to appoint them their quota of tributes, replied, War has
a very irregular appetite.
BRASIDAS. Brasidas caught a mouse among his dried figs, which bit him,
and he let it go. Whereupon, turning to the company, Nothing, said
he, is so small which may not save itself, if it have the valor to
defend itself against its aggressors. In a fight he was shot through
his shield, and plucking the spear out of his wound, with the same he
slew his adversary. When he was asked how he came to be wounded, My
shield, said he, betrayed me. It was his fortune to be slain in battle,
as he endeavored to liberate the Grecians that were in Thrace. These
sent an embassy to Lacedaemon, which made a visit to his mother, who
first asked them whether Brasidas died honorably. When the Thracians
praised him, and affirmed that there would never be such another man,
My friends, said she, you are mistaken; Brasidas indeed was a valiant
man, but Lacedaemon hath many more valiant men than he.
AGIS. King Agis said, The Lacedaemonians are not wont to ask how many,
but where the enemy are. At Mantinea he was advised not to fight the
enemy that exceeded him in number. It is necessary, said he, for him to
fight with many, who would rule over many. The Eleans were commended
for managing the Olympic games honorably. What wonder, said he, do they
do, if one day in four years they do justice? When the same persons
enlarged in their commendation, What wonder is it, said he, if they use
justice honorably, which is an honorable thing? To a lewd person, that
often asked who was the best man among the Spartans, he answered, He
that is most unlike you. When another asked what was the number of the
Lacedaemonians,—Sufficient, said he, to defend themselves from wicked
men. To another that asked him the same question, If you should see
them fight, said he, you would think them to be many.
LYSANDER. Dionysius the Tyrant presented Lysander’s daughters with rich
garments, which he refused to accept, saying he feared they would seem
more deformed in them. To such as blamed him for managing much of his
affairs by stratagems, which was unworthy of Hercules from whom he was
descended, he answered, Where the lion’s skin will not reach, it must
be pieced with the fox’s. When the citizens of Argos seemed to make out
a better title than the Lacedaemonians to a country that was in dispute
between them, drawing his sword, He that is master of this, said he,
can best dispute about bounds of countries. When the Lacedaemonians
delayed to assault the walls of Corinth, and he saw a hare leap out of
the trench; Do you fear, said he, such enemies as these, whose laziness
suffers hares to sleep on their walls? To an inhabitant of Megara, that
in a parley spoke confidently unto him, Your words, said he, want the
breeding of the city.
AGESILAUS. Agesilaus said that the inhabitants of Asia were bad freemen
and good servants. When they were wont to call the king of Persia
the Great King, Wherein, said he, is he greater than I, if he is not
more just and wise than I am? Being asked which was better, valor or
justice, he answered, We should have no need of valor, if we were
all just. When he broke up his camp suddenly by night in the enemy’s
country, and saw a lad he loved left behind by reason of sickness,
and weeping, It is a hard thing, said he, to be pitiful and wise at
the same time. Menecrates the physician, surnamed Jupiter, inscribed
a letter to him thus: Menecrates Jupiter to King Agesilaus wisheth
joy. And he returned in answer: King Agesilaus to Menecrates wisheth
his wits. When the Lacedaemonians overcame the Athenians and their
confederates at Corinth, and he heard the number of the enemies that
were slain; Alas, said he, for Greece, who hath destroyed so many of
her men as were enough to have conquered all the barbarians together.
He had received an answer from the Oracle of Jupiter in Olympia, which
was to his satisfaction. Afterwards the Ephori bade him consult Apollo
in the same case; and to Delphi he went, and asked that God whether
he was of the same mind with his father. He interceded for one of his
friends with Idrieus of Caria, and wrote to him thus: If Nicias has not
offended, set him free; but if he is guilty, set him free for my sake;
by all means set him free. Being exhorted to hear one that imitated
the voice of a nightingale, I have often, said he, heard nightingales
themselves. The law ordained that such as ran away should be disgraced.
After the fight at Leuctra, the Ephori, seeing the city void of men,
were willing to dispense with that disgrace, and empowered Agesilaus to
make a law to that purpose. But he standing in the midst commanded that
after the next day the laws should remain in force as before. He was
sent to assist the king of Egypt, with whom he was besieged by enemies
that outnumbered his own forces; and when they had entrenched their
camp, the king commanded him to go out and fight them. Since, said he,
they intend to make themselves equal to us, I will not hinder them.
When the trench was almost finished, he drew up his men in the void
space, and so fighting with equal advantage he overcame them. When he
was dying, he charged his friends that no fiction or counterfeit (so he
called statues) should be made for him; For if, said he, I have done
any honorable exploit, that is my monument; but if I have done none,
all your statues will signify nothing.
ARCHIDAMUS. When Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, beheld a dart to
be shot from an engine newly brought out of Sicily, he cried out, O
Hercules! the valor of man is at an end.
AGIS THE YOUNGER. Demades said, the Laconians’ swords were so small,
that jugglers might swallow them. That may be, said Agis, but the
Lacedaemonians can reach their enemies very well with them. The Ephori
ordered him to deliver his soldiers to a traitor. I will not, said he,
entrust him with strangers, who betrayed his own men.
CLEOMENES. To one that promised to give him hardy cocks, that would die
fighting, Prithee, said he, give me cocks that will kill fighting.
PAEDARETUS. Paedaretus, when he was not chosen among the Three Hundred
(which was the highest office and honor in the city), went away
cheerfully and smiling, saying, he was glad if the city had three
hundred better citizens than himself.
DAMONIDAS. Damonidas, being placed by him that ordered the chorus in
the last rank of it, said: Well done, you have found a way to make this
place also honorable.
NICOSTRATUS. Archidamus, general of the Argives, enticed Nicostratus
to betray a fort, by promises of a great sum, and the marriage of what
Lacedaemonian lady he pleased except the king’s daughters. He answered,
that Archidamus was none of the offspring of Hercules, for he went
about to punish wicked men, but Archidamus to corrupt honest men.
EUDAEMONIDAS. Eudaemonidas beholding Xenocrates, when he was old, in
the Academy reading philosophy to his scholars, and being told he was
in quest of virtue, asked: And when does he intend to practise it?
Another time, when he heard a philosopher arguing that only the wise
man can be a good general, This is a wonderful speech, said he, but he
that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets.
ANTIOCHUS. Antiochus being Ephor, when he heard Philip had given the
Messenians a country, asked whether he had granted them that they
should be victorious when they fought for that country.
ANTALCIDAS. To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians unlearned,
Therefore we alone, said Antalcidas, have learned no mischief of
you. To another Athenian that told him, Indeed, we have often driven
you from the Cephissus, he replied, But we never drove you from the
Eurotas. When a Sophist was beginning to recite the praise of Hercules;
And who, said he, ever spoke against him?
EPAMINONDAS. No panic fear ever surprised the army of the Thebans while
Epaminondas was their general. He said, to die in war was the most
honorable death, and the bodies of armed men ought to be exercised,
not as wrestlers, but in a warlike manner. Wherefore he hated fat
men, and dismissed one of them, saying, that three or four shields
would scarce serve to secure his belly, which would not suffer him
to see his members. He was so frugal in his diet that, being invited
by a neighbor to supper, and finding there dishes, ointments, and
junkets in abundance, he departed immediately, saying: I thought you
were sacrificing, and not displaying your luxury. When his cook gave
an account to his colleagues of the charges for several days, he was
offended only at the quantity of oil; and when his colleagues wondered
at him, I am not, said he, troubled at the charge, but that so much
oil should be received into my body. When the city kept a festival,
and all gave themselves to banquets and drinking, he was met by one of
his acquaintance unadorned and in a thoughtful posture. He wondering
asked him why he of all men should walk about in that manner. That all
of you, said he, may be drunk and revel securely. An ill man, that
had committed no great fault, he refused to discharge at the request
of Pelopidas; when his miss entreated for him, he dismissed him,
saying: Whores are fitting to receive such presents, and not generals.
The Lacedaemonians invaded the Thebans, and oracles were brought to
Thebes, some that promised victory, others that foretold an overthrow.
He ordered those to be placed on the right hand of the judgment seat,
and these on the left. When they were placed accordingly, he rose up
and said: If you will obey your commanders and unanimously resist your
enemies, these are your oracles,—pointing to the better; but if you
play the cowards, those,—pointing to the worser. Another time, as he
drew nigh to the enemy, it thundered, and some that were about him
asked him what he thought the Gods would signify by it. They signify,
said he, that the enemy is thunderstruck and demented, since he pitches
his camp in a bad place, when he was nigh to a better. Of all the
happy and prosperous events that befell him, he said that in this he
took most satisfaction, that he overcame the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra
while his father and mother, that begot him, were living. Whereas he
was wont to appear with his body anointed and a cheerful countenance,
the day after that fight he came abroad meanly habited and dejected;
and when his friends asked him whether any misfortune had befallen
him, No, said he, but yesterday I was pleased more than became a wise
man, and therefore to-day I chastise that immoderate joy. Perceiving
the Spartans concealed their disasters, and desiring to discover the
greatness of their loss, he did not give them leave to take away
their dead altogether, but allowed each city to bury its own; whereby
it appeared that above a thousand Lacedaemonians were slain. Jason,
monarch of Thessaly, was at Thebes as their confederate, and sent two
thousand pieces of gold to Epaminondas, then in great want; but he
refused the gold, and when he saw Jason, he said: You are the first to
commit violence. And borrowing fifty drachms of a citizen, with that
money to supply his army he invaded Peloponnesus. Another time, when
the Persian king sent him thirty thousand darics, he chid Diomedon
severely, asking him whether he sailed so far to bribe Epaminondas;
and bade him tell the king, as long as he wished the prosperity of
the Thebans, Epaminondas would be his friend gratis, but when he was
otherwise minded, his enemy. When the Argives were confederates with
the Thebans, the Athenian ambassadors then in Arcadia complained of
both, and Callistratus the orator reproached the cities with Orestes
and Oedipus. But Epaminondas stood up and said: We confess there hath
been one amongst us that killed his father, and among the Argives one
that killed his mother; but we banished those that did such things,
and the Athenians entertained them. To some Spartans that accused the
Thebans of many and great crimes, These indeed, said he, are they that
have put an end to your short dialect. The Athenians made friendship
and alliance with Alexander the tyrant of Pherae, who was an enemy to
the Thebans, and who had promised to furnish them with flesh at half
an obol a pound. And we, said Epaminondas, will supply them with wood
to that flesh gratis; for if they grow meddlesome, we will make bold
to cut all the wood in their country for them. Being desirous to keep
the Boeotians, that were grown rusty by idleness, always in arms, when
he was chosen their chief magistrate, he used to exhort them, saying:
Yet consider what you do, my friends; for if I am your general, you
must be my soldiers. He called their country, which was plain and open,
the stage of war, which they could keep no longer than their hands
were upon their shields. Chabrias, having slain a few Thebans near
Corinth, that engaged too hotly near the walls, erected a trophy, which
Epaminondas laughed at, saying, it was not a trophy, but a statue of
Trivia, which they usually placed in the highway before the gates. One
told him that the Athenians had sent an army into Peloponnesus adorned
with new armor. What then? said he, doth Antigenidas sigh because
Telles hath got new pipes? (Now Antigenidas was an excellent piper, but
Telles a vile one.) Understanding his shield-bearer had taken a great
deal of money from a prisoner, Come, said he, give me the shield, and
buy you a victualling-house to live in; for now you are grown rich
and wealthy, you will not hazard your life as you did formerly. Being
asked whether he thought himself or Chabrias or Iphicrates the better
general, It is hard, said he, to judge while we live. After he returned
out of Laconia, he was tried for his life, with his fellow-commanders,
for continuing Boeotarch four months longer than the law allowed. He
bade the other commanders lay the blame upon him, as if he had forced
them, and for himself, he said, his actions were his best speech; but
if any thing at all were to be answered to the judges, he entreated
them, if they put him to death, to write his fault upon his monument,
that the Grecians might know that Epaminondas compelled the Thebans
against their will to plunder and fire Laconia,—which in five hundred
years before had never suffered the like,—to build Messene two
hundred and thirty years after it was sacked, to unite the Arcadians,
and to restore liberty to Greece; for those things were done in that
expedition. Whereupon the judges arose with great laughter, and refused
even to receive the votes against him. In his last fight, being wounded
and carried into his tent, he called for Diaphantes and after him for
Iollidas; and when he heard they were slain, he advised the Thebans
to make their peace with the enemy, since they had never a general
left them; as by the event proved true. So well did he understand his
countrymen.
PELOPIDAS. Pelopidas, Epaminondas’s colleague, when his friends told
him that he neglected a necessary business, that was the gathering of
money, replied: In good deed money is necessary for this Nicomedas,
pointing to a lame man that could not go. As he was going out to fight,
his wife beseeched him to have a care of himself. To others you may
give this advice, said he; but a commander and general you must advise
that he should save his countrymen. A soldier told him, We are fallen
among the enemies. Said he, How are we fallen among them, more than
they among us? When Alexander, the tyrant of Pherae, broke his faith
and cast him into prison, he reviled him; and when the other told him
he did but hasten his death, That is my design, said he, that the
Thebans may be exasperated against you, and be revenged on you the
sooner. Thebe, the wife of the tyrant, came to him, and told him she
wondered to see him so merry in chains. He answered, he wondered more
at her, that she could endure Alexander without being chained. When
Epaminondas caused him to be released, he said: I thank Alexander, for
I have now found by trial that I have not only courage to fight, but to
die.