Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

When the cup of hemlock was already being handed to him, he was asked if he had any message for his son. I charge and exhort him, said he, not to cherish any ill feeling against the Athenians. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Phocion, chap. xxxvi. (758 D); Aelian, Varia Historia, xii. 49.)

Peisistratus, the despot of the Athenians, on a time when some of his friends had revolted and taken possession of Phyle, came to them carrying a bundle of bedding. When they asked what he meant by this, he said, To persuade you and get you away from here, or, if I cannot persuade you, to stay with you; that is why I have come prepared.

It was whispered to him regarding his mother that she was in love with a certain young man, and had secret meetings with him, but that the young man was afraid and generally asked to be excused. Whereupon Peisistratus invited him to dinner, and after he had dined asked him, How was it ? And when the young man said, Very pleasant, Peisistratus said, You shall have this pleasure every day if you are agreeable to my mother.