Now listen, my amazing friend, and observe how much more candidly we barbarians judge good men than you Greeks. In Argos and Mykenai there is not even a noble tomb to be seen of Orestes and Pylades, but in our country there is shown a temple raised to them in common, as was natural since they were comrades, and sacrifices are offered to them and all other honors. The fact that they were foreigners, not Scythians, does not in the least prevent their being adjudged good men. For we do not ask whence noble and good people come, and we bear them no grudge for working good deeds, even if they are not our friends. On the contrary we applaud their acts, and adopt them as countrymen on the strength of them. But what we chiefly wondered at and praised in these men was this, that they seemed to us to be the noblest pair of friends in the world, and authorized to lay down for the rest of mankind the principle that friends must share all fortunes, and thus win the reverence of the best of the Scythians.
Our ancestors inscribed an account of their
sufferings with each other, or for each other, on a
In this
picture we can see best how much tenderness
they showed for each other in the struggle with
the Scythians. For the artist has depicted each
careless of his own opponents, but warding off
attacks on his friend, and trying to receive the
missiles intended for him, thinking it nothing to
Toxaris, I see that the Scythians
have not only been great archers, and better
than other nations in warlike pursuits, but are
also the most persuasive orators in the world.
For though I was of the other opinion a while
ago, I now think you are quite right to deify
Whether we are juster and more
pious than the Greeks in these other matters,
such as our relations with our parents, is not a
point that I care to dispute with you at present;
but it is easy to show that Scythian friends are
far truer than Greek friends, and friendship is
made more of by us than by you. Now, by the
gods of the Greeks, do not take it ill if I tell you
some of the things I have noted in my long stay
among you. You seem to me to be able to discuss friendship, it is true, better than other people, but your practice of it is by no means worthy
of your preaching. In fact, you are perfectly satisfied when you have eulogized it and shown how
great a good it is, and in time of need you forsake your theories and make your escape somehow
Come, now, let us do something of this sort, if
it takes your fancy. Let us leave the friends of
old whom you or I could count out of the question; for under that head you would be rich in
them, summoning many credible poets to testify
to the friendship of Achilles and Patroklos, and
the camaraderie of Theseus and Peirithoos and
the others, singing them in metre with the most
beautiful language. But let us select a few from
our contemporaries and tell their exploits-I for
Scythia, you for Greece-and he who is victorious and able to produce the best friends will be
openly the better man, and will proclaim his the
better country, because he has won in a very noble
It is no joke, Toxaris, to venture single combat with a man like you for opponent, equipped with arguments so pointed and so apt. However, I will not basely leave the whole Greek cause in the lurch on such short notice and retire before you; for, seeing that so many Scythians, as your stories and ancient paintings show, of which you delivered such a vigorous account a little while ago, were worsted by two, it would be a great scandal if all the Greeks, so many nations and so many cities as they are, should lose their case by default to you. If this should happen, it would be fair to cut off, not my right hand, as your custom is, but my tongue. But shall we limit ourselves as to the number of friendly exploits, or shall he who is able to mention most have so much better chance of victory?
Oh dear, no. Let us agree that victory shall not lie in the number of exploits; but
if yours are better and more striking than mine,
though the same in number, they will, of course,
wound me more vitally, and I shall give way
sooner before their blows.
Very well. Let us agree how many are enough. Five apiece, it strikes me.
I think so, too. But first declare, and upon oath, that you will speak the very truth. Otherwise, to invent this kind of thing is no great job, and refutation would be difficult; but if you should take your oath it would be impious not to believe you.
We will swear, if you do not think an oath superfluous. But which of our gods do you Or will the God of Friendship do?
Certainly; but I will take our national oath when it is my turn to speak.
Then let Zeus, the God of Friendship, witness that all I shall tell you I speak either of my own knowledge or having learned from others, with all the exactitude in my power, and adding nothing of my own to the story.
[His first story celebrates the friendship of
Agathokles of Samos for Deinias of Ephesos.
Deinias was a very rich young man, who was
surrounded by evil companions, and soon wasted
his whole substance in riotous living. Thereupon Agathokles, a man of moderate means and
his friend from childhood, whose good advice
had made him insupportable in the heyday of
Deinias's prosperity, sold the house of his fathers
and handed over the proceeds to his friend. Deinias finally killed two persons in a disgraceful
I wish you were not on oath, Mnesippos, so that I might be at liberty to disbelieve your story. By your account this Agathokles is a true Scythian in friendship. I hope you are not going to tell of any one else like him.
Then hear about another, Euthydikos of Chalkis. Simylos, the ship-master of
Megara, told me the story, swearing that he had
seen the thing with his own eyes. He said he
was sailing from Italy to Athens early in the autumn, carrying passengers from various places,
and among these were Euthydikos and Damon
his friend, a Chalkidian like himself. They were
of the same age, but Euthydikos was strong and
robust, while Damon was pale and feeble and
seemed to be just recovering from a long illness.
Now, as far as Sicily, Simylos said, the voyage was
prosperous, but when they had passed through
the strait and come out into the Ionian Sea a
great storm fell upon them. It would be useless
to give the details-whelming waves and waterspouts and hail-storms and all the horrors of a
gale. But when they were just off Zakynthos,
When Euthydikos, who happened to have his clothes off
in bed, heard it, he threw himself into the sea,
got hold of Damon, who had already given upall this could be seen from a distance in the
bright moonlight—and swam along with him,
helping to keep him above water. Those on the
ship were eager to help them and full of pity for
their fate, but they could no nothing, running before such a gale. One thing only was possible,
and that they did; they threw overboard for
them a great number of corks and some puntingpoles, so that they might swim on one of these if
they chanced on it; and finally they threw over
the companion - ladder bodily, which was a large
one.
Consider, now, in Heaven's name, what stronger proof of affection a man could give to his
friend who had fallen by night into such a wild
Were they lost, Mnesippos, or were they saved by some miracle? I am greatly alarmed about them.
Be comforted. They were saved, and they are in Athens at this moment, pursuing philosophy. Simylos could only tell me what he saw that night, that the one fell overboard and the other leaped after him, and that they were swimming together as far as they could be seen in the night. But the sequel I learned from Euthydikos's friends. In the first place, they came upon some of the corks and supported themselves on these, swimming with difficulty; and later, towards daybreak, they saw the companion and swam to it, and, mounted on this, they swam easily the rest of the way to Zakynthos.
After these, who are not bad specimens in my
opinion, hear of a third man no whit worse than
they. Eudamidas of Corinth, himself a very poor
But the heirs to whom
these things were bequeathed came as soon as
they heard of it, and carried out the provisions of
the will. Now, Charixenes died only five days.
later, and Aretaios showed himself the best of
heirs by assuming both his own share and the
other's. He still supports Eudamidas's mother,
and the daughter he gave in marriage not long
He, too, is a noble man. But I admire far more the confidence which Eudamidas placed in his friends. He showed that he, too, would have done likewise for them, even if the duty had not been left him by will, and would have been the first to come as the unappointed heir of such a legacy.
You are right. But I will tell you
of a fourth, Zenothemis, the son of Charmoleos,
from Marseilles. He was pointed out to me in
Italy when I was there on an embassy from our
government, and he was a tall, handsome man,
and apparently rich. There sat beside him in
his carriage a woman who was hideous in every
way. Her right side, moreover, was withered,
and she had lost an eye. She was altogether deformed, a revolting scarecrow. On my expressing wonder that a man so handsome and in the
prime of life could endure to have such a woman
But Zenothemis, to whom he was pouring out
these griefs, said to him, “Cheer up, Menekrates.
You are not utterly destitute, nor will your daughter fail to find a bridegroom worthy of her race."
So saying, he took him by the hand, led him to
his house, and presented him with a share of his
Far from being ashamed
of his marriage, he seems to take pride in it,
showing that he despises bodily charms or blemishes and wealth and public opinion, but regards
only his friend Menekrates, who, he thinks, is
none the worse in respect of friendship because
of the condemnation of the Six Hundred. However, Fortune herself has rewarded his deeds in
this way this ugly woman bore him a most
beautiful child, and the other day his father took
him up and carried him into the senate, garlanded
We have the fifth case still to consider, and I
should not like to name another man and pass
over Demetrios of Sounion. This Demetrios
sailed to Egypt in company with Antiphilos of
Alopeke. They were friends from childhood,
being of the same age, and they lived together as
students in Egypt, Demetrios pursuing the Cynic
system under that famous sophist from Rhodes,
and Antiphilos studying medicine. It came to
pass after a while that Demetrios went into the
interior to see the Pyramids and the Memnon,
for he had heard of the Pyramids that, in spite of
their height, they throw no shadow, and of the
Memnon that it cries out at the rising of the sun.
Being desirous, then, of seeing the Pyramids and