A stranger professed that he would tell him privately and instruct him how to know beforehand those who were plotting against him, and Dionysus bade him speak; whereupon the stranger came close to him and said, Hand me a talent that you may give the impression that you have heard about the plotters’ secret signs;
and Dionysius gave it, pretending that he had heard, and marvelling at the man’s clever tactics.
To the man who inquired if he were at leisure he said, I hope that may never happen to me !
Hearing that two young men at a drinking party had said much that was slanderous about him and his rule, he invited them both to dinner. And when he saw that the one drank much and talked freely, and the other indulged in drink sparingly and with great circumspection, he let the former go free, holding him to be by nature a hard drinker and a slanderous talker when in his cups, but the latter he caused to be put to death, holding that this man was disaffected and hostile as the result of deliberate choice.
When some blamed him for honouring and But it is my wish that there shall be somebody more hated than myself.
When ambassadors from Corinth
Hearing that one of the citizens had some gold buried at his house he ordered the man to bring it to him. But when the man succeeded in keeping back a part of it, and later removed to another city and bought a farm, Dionysius sent for him, and bade him take the whole amount belonging to him, since he had now begun to use his wealth, and was no longer making a useful thing useless.
The Younger Dionysius used to say that he gave bed and board to many learned men, not because he felt any admiration for them, but because he wished through them to gain admiration for himself.
When Polyxenus, Yes, very likely by your words, but by your deeds I confute you; for you forsake your own affairs, and pay court to me and mine.
He was compelled to abdicate, and when a man said to him, What help have Plato and philosophy
his answer was: The power to submit to so great a change of fortune without repining.
On being asked how his father, who was a poor man and a private citizen, had gained control over the Syracusans, and how he, who held control, and was the son of a despot, had come to lose it, he said, My father embarked upon his venture at a time when democracy was hated, but I at a time when despotism was odious.
Being asked this same question by another man, My father bequeathed to me his kingdom, but not his luck.
Agathocles was the son of a potter. After he had made himself master of Sicily, and had been proclaimed king, he used to have drinking-cups of pottery placed beside those of gold, and as he pointed these out to the young men he would say, That is the sort of thing which I used to do formerly, but this is what I do now because of my diligence and fortitude.
When he was besieging a city, some of the people on the wall reviled him, saying, Potter, how are you going to pay your soldiers’ wages ?
But he, unruffled and smiling, said, If I take this town.
And after he had taken it by storm he sold the captives as slaves, and said, If you revile me again, what I have to say will be said to your masters.
One-eyed.
When the people of Ithaca complained of his sailors because they had put in at the island and had forcibly carried off some of the animals, he said, But your king carne to us, and not only took our flocks, but also blinded their shepherd,
When Dion, who expelled Dionysius from his kingdom, heard that a plot against him was being set on foot by Callippus, in whom he placed the greatest trust above all other friends, both those at home and those from abroad, he could not bring himself to investigate, but said, It is better to die than to live in a state of continual watchfulness not only against one’s enemies but also against one’s friends.
When Archelaus, at a convivial gathering, was asked for a golden cup by one of his acquaintances of a type not commendable for character, he bade the servant give it to Euripides; and in answer to the man’s look of astonishment, he said, It is true that you have a right to ask for it, but Euripides has a right to receive it even though he did not ask for it.
When a garrulous barber asked him, How shall I cut your hair ?
he said, In silence.
When Euripides threw his arms around the fair Agathon in the midst of an evening party and kissed Do not be astonished; for even the autumn of the fair is fair.
When Timotheus the harp-player had hopes of receiving a goodly sum, but received less, he plainly showed that he felt resentful towards Archelaus; and, once, as he was singing this brief line: Over the earth-born silver you rave.
That, however, is what you crave.
When somebody had thrown water upon him, and he was incited by his friends against the man, he said, But it was not upon me that he threw it, but upon the man he thought me to be.