Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Hinton, Edward, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.

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 todeath, 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 fcr 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.

M.’ CURIUS. When some blamed M.’ Curius for distributing but a small part of a country he took from the enemy, and preserving the greater part for the commonwealth, he prayed there might be no Roman who would think that estate little which was enough to maintain him. The Samnites after an overthrow came to him to offer him gold, and found him boiling rape-roots. He answered the Samnites that he that could sup so wanted no gold, and that he had rather rule over those who had gold than have it himself.

C. FABRICIUS. C. Fabricius, hearing Pyrrhus had overthrown the Romans, told Labienus, it was Pyrrhus, not the Epirots, that beat the Romans. He went to treat about exchange of prisoners with Pyrrhus, who offered him a great sum of gold, which he refused. The next day Pyrrhus commanded a very large elephant should secretly be placed behind Fabricius, and discover himself by roaring; whereupon Fabricius turned and smiled, saying, I was not astonished either at your gold yesterday or at your beast to-day. Pyrrhus invited him to tarry with him, and to accept of the next command under him: That, said he, will be inconvenient for you; for, when the Epirots know us both, they will rather have me for their king than you. When Fabricius was consul, Pyrrhus’s physician sent him a letter, wherein he promised him that, if he commanded him, he would poison Pyrrhus. Fabricius sent the letter to Pyrrhus, and bade him conclude that he was a very bad judge both of friends and enemies. The plot was discovered; Pyrrhus hanged his physician, and sent the Roman prisoners he had taken without ransom as a present to Fabricius. He, however, refused to accept them, but returned the like number, lest he might seem to receive a reward. Neither did he disclose the conspiracy out of kindness to Pyrrhus, but that the Romans might not seem to kill him by treachery, as if they despaired to conquer him in open war.

FABIUS MAXIMUS. Fabius Maximus would not fight, but chose to spin away the time with Hannibal,—who wanted both money and provision for his army,—by pursuing and facing him in rocky and mountainous places. When many laughed at him and called him Hannibal’s schoolmaster, he took little notice of them, but pursued his own design, and told his friends: He that is afraid of scoffs and reproaches is more a coward than he that flies from the enemy. When Minucius, his fellow-consul,

upon routing a party of the enemy, was highly extolled as a man worthy of Rome; I am more afraid, said he, of Minucius’s success than of his misfortune. And not long after he fell into an ambush, and was in danger of perishing with his forces, until Fabius succored him, slew many of the enemy, and brought him off. Whereupon Hannibal told his friends: Did I not often presage that cloud on the hills would some time or other break upon us? After the city received the great overthrow at Cannae, he was chosen consul with Marcellus, a daring person and much desirous to fight Hannibal, whose forces, if nobody fought him, he hoped would shortly disperse and be dissolved. Therefore Hannibal said, he feared fighting Marcellus less than Fabius who would not fight. He was informed of a Lucanian soldier that frequently wandered out of the camp by night after a woman he loved, but otherwise an admirable soldier; he caused his mistress to be seized privately and brought to him. When she came, he sent for the soldier and told him: It is known you lie out a nights, contrary to the law; but your former good behavior is not forgotten, therefore your faults are forgiven to your merits. Henceforwards you shall tarry with me, for I have your surety. And he brought out the woman to him. Hannibal kept Tarentum with a garrison, all but the castle; and Fabius drew the enemy far from it, and by a stratagem took the town and plundered it. When his secretary asked what was his pleasure as to the holy images, Let us leave, said he, the Tarentines their offended Gods. When M. Livius, who kept a garrison in the castle, said he took Tarentum by his assistance, others laughed at him; but said Fabius, You say true, for if you had not lost the city, I had not retook it. When he was ancient, his son was consul, and as he was discharging his office publicly with many attendants, he met him on horseback. The young man

sent a sergeant to command him to alight; when others were at a stand, Fabius presently alighted, and running faster than for his age might be expected, embraced his son. Well done, son, said he, I see you are wise, and know whom you govern, and the grandeur of the office you have undertaken.

SCIPIO THE ELDER. Scipio the Elder spent on his studies what leisure the campaign and government would allow him, saying, that he did most when he was idle. When he took Carthage by storm, some soldiers took prisoner a very beautiful virgin, and came and presented her to him. I would receive her, said he, with all my heart, if I were a private man and not a governor. While he was besieging the city of Badia, wherein appeared above all a temple of Venus, he ordered appearances to be given for actions to be tried before him within three days in that temple of Venus; and he took the city, and was as good as his word. One asked him in Sicily, on what confidence he presumed to pass with his navy against Carthage. He showed him three hundred disciplined men in armor, and pointed to a high tower on the shore; There is not one of these, said he, that would not at my command go to the top of that tower, and cast himself down headlong. Over he went, landed, and burnt the enemy’s camp, and the Carthaginians sent to him, and covenanted to surrender their elephants, ships, and a sum of money. But when Hannibal was sailed back from Italy, their reliance on him made them repent of those conditions. This coming to Scipio’s ear, Nor will I, said he, stand to the agreement if they will, unless they pay me five thousand talents more for sending for Hannibal. The Carthaginians, when they were utterly overthrown, sent ambassadors to make peace and league with him; he bade those that came return immediately, as refusing to hear them before they brought

L. Terentius with them, a good man, whom the Carthaginians had taken prisoner. When they brought him, he placed him in the council next himself, on the judgment-seat, and then he transacted with the Carthaginians and put an end to the war. And Terentius followed him when he triumphed, wearing the cap of one that was made free; and when he died, Scipio gave wine mingled with honey to those that were at the funeral, and performed other funeral rites in his honor. But these things were done afterwards. King Antiochus, after the Romans invaded him, sent to Scipio in Asia for peace; That should have been done before, said he, not now when you have received a bridle and a rider. The senate decreed him a sum of money out of the treasury, but the treasurers refused to open it on that day. Then, said he, I will open it myself, for the moneys with which I filled it caused it to be shut. When Paetilius and Quintus accused him of many crimes before the people,—On this very day, said he, I conquered Hannibal and Carthage; I for my part am going with my crown on to the Capitol to sacrifice; and let him that pleaseth stay and pass his vote upon me. Having thus said, he went his way; and the people followed him, leaving his accusers declaiming to themselves.

T. QUINCTIUS. T. Quinctius was eminent so early, that before he had been tribune, praetor, or aedile, he was chosen consul. Being sent as general against Philip, he was persuaded to come to a conference with him. And when Philip demanded hostages of him, because he was accompanied with many Romans while the Macedonians had none but himself; You, said Quinctius, have created this solitude for yourself, by killing your friends and kindred. Having overcome Philip in battle, he proclaimed in the Isthmian games that the Grecians were free and to be governed by their own laws. And the Grecians redeemed all the Roman prisoners that in Hannibal’s days

were sold for slaves in Greece, each of them with two hundred drachms, and made him a present of them; and they followed him in Rome in his triumph, wearing caps on their heads such as they use to wear who are made free. He advised the Achaeans, who designed to make war upon the Island Zacynthus, to take heed lest, like a tortoise, they should endanger their head by thrusting it out of Peloponnesus. When King Antiochus was coming upon Greece with great forces, and all men trembled at the report of his numbers and equipage, he told the Achaeans this story: Once I dined with a friend at Chalcis, and when I wondered at the variety of dishes, said my host, All these are pork, only in dressing and sauces they differ. And therefore be not you amazed at the king’s forces, when you hear talk of spearmen and men-at-arms and choice footmen and horse-archers, for all these are but Syrians, with some little difference in their weapons. Philopoemen, general of the Achaeans, had good store of horses and men-at-arms, but could not tell what to do for money; and Quinctius played upon him, saying, Philopoemen had arms and legs, but no belly; and it happened his body was much after that shape.

CNEUS DOMITIUS. Cneus Domitius,—whom Scipio the Great sent in his stead to attend his brother Lucius in the war against Antiochus,—when he had viewed the enemy’s army, and the commanders that were with him advised him to set upon them presently, said to them: We shall scarce have time enough now to kill so many thousands, plunder their baggage, return to our camp, and refresh ourselves too; but we shall have time enough to do all this to-morrow. The next day he engaged them, and slew fifty thousand of the enemy.

PUBLIUS LICINIUS. Publius Licinius, consul and general, being worsted in a horse engagement by Perseus king of Macedon, with what were slain and what were took prisoners,

lost two thousand eight hundred men. Presently after the fight, Perseus sent ambassadors to make peace and league with him; and although he was overcome, yet he advised the conqueror to submit himself and his affairs to the pleasure of the Romans.

PAULUS AEMILIUS. Paulus Aemilius, when he stood for his second consulship, was rejected. Afterwards, the war with Perseus and the Macedonians being prolonged by the. ignorance and effeminacy of the commanders, they chose him consul. I thank, said he, the people for nothing; they choose me general, not because I want the office, but because they want an officer. As he returned from the hall to his own house, and found his little daughter Tertia weeping, he asked her what she cried for? Perseus, said she (so her little dog was called), is dead. Luckily hast thou spoken, girl, said he, and I accept the omen. When he found in the camp much confident prating among the soldiers, who pretended to advise him and busy themselves as if they had been all officers, he bade them be quiet and only whet their swords, and leave other things to his care.

He ordered night-guards should be kept without swords or spears, that they might resist sleep, when they had nothing wherewith to resist the enemy. He invaded Macedonia by the way of the mountains; and seeing the enemy drawn up, when Nasica advised him to set upon them presently, he replied: So I should, if I were of your age; but long experience forbids me, after a march, to fight an army marshalled regularly. Having overcome Perseus, he feasted his friends for joy of the victory, saying, it required the same skill to make an army very terrible to the enemy, and a banquet very acceptable to our friends. When Perseus was taken prisoner, he told Paulus that he would not be led in triumph. That, said he, is as you please,—meaning he might kill himself. He found an infinite quantity

of money, but kept none for himself; only to his son-in-law Tubero he gave a silver bowl that weighed five pounds, as a reward of his valor; and that, they say, was the first piece of plate that belonged to the Aemilian family. Of the four sons he had, he parted with two that were adopted into other families; and of the two that lived with him, one of them died at the age of fourteen years, but five days before his triumph; and five days after the triumph, at the age of twelve years died the other. When the people that met him bemoaned and compassionated his calamities, Now, said he, my fears and jealousies for my country are over, since Fortune hath discharged her revenge for our success on my house, and I have paid for all.