Septem sapientium convivium

Plutarch’s account of the dinner of the seven wise men is a literary tour de force. Both Plato and Xenophon had composed similar accounts of such gatherings in their own time, and Plutarch himself has recorded in detail in his Symposiacs (or TableTalks) much of the conversation which was heard at such gatherings in his day. This is comparatively an easy task, but in the account of the dinner of the seven wise men Plutarch, who lived several centuries after Plato and Xenophon, deliberately set himself to compose an account of a meeting of people who lived a couple of centuries before Plato and Xenophon—at the dawn, almost, of authentic Greek history. There was a tradition, recorded by Plato in the Protagoras (p. 343 a) and by other writers, that the seven wise men had met at Delphi in connexion with the dedication of the two famous inscriptions on the temple of Apollo there, and there was an added tradition that they had later been entertained by Periander at Corinth. Besides this, many sayings of the wise men were traditionally current. With this material at hand, Plutarch composed his imaginative account of the dinner, adding other characters such as Neiloxenus and Aesop, and giving it a more intimate touch by introducing the feminine element in the persons of Melissa and

The title (Συμπόσιον τῶν ἐπτὰ σοφῶν) stands as No. 110 in the catalogue of Lamprias, and the essay is occasionally quoted or referred to by later Greek writers.

Plutarch names, as the seven wise men, Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Solon, Chilon, Cleobulus, and Anacharsis. Plato (Protagoras, 343 a) puts Myson in place of Anacharsis, and in other lists Periander is found in his stead. Pherecydes, Epimenides, and Peisistratus are the other candidates for a place in the list.

It seems fairly certain, Nicarchus, that the lapse of time will bring about much obscurity and complete uncertainty regarding actual events, if at the present time, in the case of events so fresh and recent, false accounts that have been concocted obtain credence. For, in the first place, the dinner was not a dinner of the Seven alone, as you and your friends have been told, but of more than twice that number, including myself; for I was on intimate terms with Periander by virtue of my profession,[*](He was apparently a seer versed in ritual purification; see infra, 149 D.) and I was also the host of Thales, for he stayed at my house by command of Periander. In the second place, your informant, whoever he was, did not report the conversation correctly; apparently he was not one of those at the dinner. However, since there is nothing that demands my attention just now, and old age is too untrustworthy to warrant postponing the narration, I will begin at the beginning, and tell you, without any omissions, the story which you all seem eager to hear.

Periander had arranged for the entertainment, not in the city but in the dining-hall in the vicinity of Lechaeum, close by the shrine of Aphrodite, in whose honour the sacrifice was offered that day. For Periander, ever since his mother’s love-affair which xv.2.p.351"/> had led to her self-destruction,[*](Cf. Parthenius, Love-affairs, 17.) had offered no sacrifice to Aphrodite, but now, for the first time, owing to certain dreams of Melissa’s, he had set about honouring and conciliating the goddess.

For each of the invited guests a carriage and pair, fashionably caparisoned, was brought to the door; for it was summer-time, and the whole length of the street even to the water’s edge was one mass of dust and confusion by reason of the great crowd of vehicles and people. Thales, however, when he saw the equipage at the door, smiled and dismissed it. And so we set out on foot, leaving the road and going through the fields in a leisurely fashion, and with us two was Neiloxenus of Naucratis, an able man, who had been on terms of intimacy with Solon and Thales and their group in Egypt. He, as it happened, had been sent a second time on a mission to Bias, the reason for which he did not know, save only that he suspected that he was bringing for Bias a second problem sealed up in a packet. His instructions were, that if Bias should give up trying to solve it, he should show the packet to the wisest among the Greeks.

It is a piece of good fortune for me, said Neiloxenus, to have found you all together here, and, as you see, I am bringing the packet with me to the dinner; and at the same time he showed it to us.

Thales began to laugh, and said, If it is anything bad, go to Priene [*](The home of Bias.) again! For Bias will have a solution for this, just as he had his own solution of the first problem.

What, said I, was the first problem?

The king, said he, sent to Bias an animal for

Not for this alone, said Neiloxenus, but he does not try to avoid, as the rest of you do, being a friend of kings and being called such. In your case, for instance, the king finds much to admire in you, and in particular he was immensely pleased with your method of measuring the pyramid, because, without making any ado or asking for any instrument, you simply set your walking-stick upright at the edge of the shadow which the pyramid cast, and, two triangles being formed by the intercepting of the sun’s rays, you demonstrated that the height of the pyramid bore the same relation to the length of the stick as the one shadow to the other.[*](Cf. Pliny, Natural History, xxxvi. 17 (82).) But, as I said, you have been unjustly accused of having an animosity against kings, and certain offensive pronouncements of yours regarding despots have been reported to him. For example, he was told that, when you were asked by Molpagoras the Ionian what was the most paradoxical thing you had ever seen, you replied, A despot that lived to be old.[*](Specifically ascribed to Thales by Plutarch, Moralia, 578 D; cf. also infra, 152 A.) And again he was told that on a certain convivial occasion there was a discussion about animals, and you maintained that of the wild animals the worst was the despot, and of the tame the flatterer.[*](Ascribed to Bias by Plutarch, Moralia, 61 C.) Now kings, although they would make out that they are altogether different from despots, do not take kindly to such remarks.

But the fact is, said Thales, that Pittacus is responsible for that statement, which was once made in jest with reference to Myrsilus. But, as for myself,

Engaging in such discourse as this along the way, we arrived at the house. Thales did not care to bathe, for we had already had a rub-down. So he visited and inspected the race-tracks, the trainingquarters of the athletes, and the beautifully kept park along the shore; not that he was ever greatly impressed by anything of the sort, but so that he should not seem to show disdain or contempt for Periander’s ambitious designs. As for the other guests, each one, after enjoying a rub-down or a bath, was conducted by the servants to the diningroom through the open colonnade.

Anacharsis was seated in the colonnade, and in front of him stood a girl who was parting his hair with her hands. This girl ran to Thales in a most open-hearted way, whereupon he kissed her

When I inquired about the girl and asked who she was, he replied, Have you not heard of the wise and far-famed Eumetis? Really, though, that is only her father’s name for her, and most people call her Cleobulina after her father.

I am sure, said Neiloxenus, that when you speak so highly of the maiden you must have reference to the cleverness and skill that she shows in her riddles; for it is a fact that some of her conundrums have even found their way to Egypt.

No indeed, said Thales, for these she uses like dice as a means of occasional amusement, and risks an encounter with all comers. But she is also possessed of wonderful sense, a statesman’s mind, and an amiable character, and she has influence with her father so that his government of the citizens has become milder and more popular.

Yes, said Neiloxenus, that must be apparent to anybody who observes her simplicity and lack of affectation. But what is the reason for her loving attentions to Anacharsis?

Because, replied Thales, he is a man of sound sense and great learning, and he has generously and readily imparted to her the system of diet and purging which the Scythians employ in treating their sick. And I venture to think that at this very moment, while she is bestowing this affectionate attention on the man, she is gaining some knowledge through further conversation with him.

We were already near the dining-room when

So then, said Thales, as the Egyptians say of the stars, when they gain or lose altitude in their courses, that they are growing better or worse than they were before, do you fear that the obscuration and degradation affecting you because of your place at table will be brought about in a similar way? And you will be contemptible when compared with the Spartan [*](A remark to like effect is assigned to Agesilaus in Moralia, 208 D, and to Damonidas in Moralia, 219 E. The idea is also credited to Aristippus by Diogenes Laertius, ii. 73.) who in a chorus was put by the director in the very last place, whereupon he exclaimed, Good! You have found out how this may be made a place of honour. When we have taken our places, continued Thales, we ought not to try to discover who has been placed above us, but rather how we may be thoroughly agreeable to those placed with us, by trying at once to discover in them something that may serve to initiate and keep up friendship, and, better yet, by harbouring no discontent but an open satisfaction in being placed next to such persons as

All this, said Alexidemus, is merely talk that means nothing. As a matter of fact, I observe that all you wise men too make it your aim in life to have honour shown you; and with that he passed by us and departed.

Thales, in answer to our look of astonishment at the man’s extraordinary conduct, said, A crazy fellow, and uncouth by nature; as an instance, when he was still a boy, some especially fine perfume was brought to Thrasybulus, and this the youngster emptied into a big wine-cooler, and on top of it poured strong wine, and drank it off, thus creating enmity instead of friendship for Thrasybulus.

Just then a servant made his way to us and said, Periander bids you, and Thales too, to take your friend here with you and inspect something which has just now been brought to him, to determine whether its birth is of no import whatever, or whether it is a sign and portent; at any rate, he himself seemed to be greatly agitated, feeling that it was a pollution and blot upon his solemn festival. With these words he conducted us to one of the rooms off the garden. Here a youth, a herdsman apparently, beardless as yet, and not bad-looking withal, unfolded a piece of leather, and showed us a newly-born creature which he asserted was the offspring of a mare. Its upper parts as far as the neck and arms were of human form, and the sound of its crying was just like that of newly-born infants, but the rest of its body was that of a horse. Neiloxenus merely exclaimed, God save us, and turned his face away;

Why not? said I, since this thing is a sign of strife and discord, Thales, and I fear that it may go so far as to affect even marriage and offspring, because, even before we have made full atonement for the first fault that moved the goddess to wrath, she plainly shows us, as you see, that there is a second.

To this Thales made no answer, but withdrew, laughing all the while. Periander met us at the door, and inquired about what we had seen; whereupon Thales left me and took his hand, saying, Whatever Diocles bids you do you will carry out at your own convenience, but my recommendation to you is that you should not employ such young men as keepers of horses, or else that you should provide wives for them. [*](Cf. Phaedrus, Fabulae iii. 3.)

It seemed to me that Periander, on hearing his words, was mightily pleased, for he burst out laughing and embraced Thales most affectionately. I think, Diocles, said Thales, that the sign has already had its fulfilment, for you see what a bad thing has happened to us in that Alexidemus would not dine with us!

When we had entered the dining-room, Thales, in a louder voice than usual, said, Where is the place at table to which the man objected? And when its position was pointed out to him he made his way to it, and placed himself and us there, at the same

Aesop too, as it happened, having been sent by Croesus only a short time before on a mission both to Periander and to the god at Delphi, was present at the dinner, seated on a low chair next to Solon, who occupied the place just above. Aesop said [*](Cf. No. 140 in the collection of fables that passes under the name of Aesop.): A Lydian mule caught sight of his own image reflected in a river, and, suddenly struck with admiration at the beauty and great size of his body, tossed his mane and started to run like a horse, but then, recalling that his sire was an ass, he soon stopped his running, and gave up his pride and animation.

Whereupon Chilon, dropping into Laconian dialect, remarked, It’s slow ye are, and ye’re running on like the mule.

Just then Melissa came in and took her place on the couch next to Periander, but Eumetis sat during the dinner. Then Thales, addressing himself to me (my place was just above that of Bias), said,Diocles, why do you not tell Bias at once that our guest from Naucratis has again come to him with a king’s problems, so that he may hear them stated while he is sober and circumspect?

Hear that! said Bias; this man has been trying for a long time to terrify me with such adjurations; but I know that Dionysus, besides being clever in other ways, is called the solver by virtue of wisdom, so I have no fears that if I become [*](Cf. No. 140 in the collection of fables that passes under the name of Aesop.)

In such repartee as this did those men indulge while dining; but to me, as I was noticing that the dinner was plainer than usual, there came the thought that the entertainment and invitation of wise and good men involves no expense, but rather curtails expense, since it does away with over-elaborate viands and imported perfumes and sweetmeats and the serving of costly wines, all of which were in fairly free use every day with Periander in his royal position and wealth and circumstance. But on this occasion he tried to make an impression on the men by simplicity and restraint in expenditure. Nor was this limited to these other matters, but he also made his wife put aside and out of sight her usual elaborate attire, and present herself inexpensively and modestly attired.

After the tables had been cleared away, and garlands distributed by Melissa, and we had poured libations, and the flute-girl, after playing a brief accompaniment for our libations, had withdrawn, then Ardalus, addressing Anacharsis, inquired if there were flute-girls among the Scythians.

He answered on the spur of the moment, No, nor grape-vines either,

When Ardalus again said,But the Scythians must have gods, he replied, Certainly, they have gods who understand the language of men; they are not like the Greeks, who, although they think they converse better than the Scythians, yet believe that the gods have more pleasure in listening to the sounds produced by bits of bone and wood.

Thereupon Aesop said, I would have you know,

That, without question, said Neiloxenus, is the reason for the complaint which the people of Busiris make against us of Naucratis; for we are already using asses’ bones for our flutes. But for them even to hear a trumpet is a sin, because they think it sounds like the bray of an ass; and you know, of course, that an ass is treated with contumely by the Egyptians on account of Typhon. [*](The Egyptian god Set presumably, a malignant deity, who was sometimes represented with features of an ass. Cf. for example, O. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte, pp. 102 and 409. Cf. also Plutarch, Moralia, 362 F, where the present statements are slightly expanded.)

There was a pause in the conversation, and Periander, noticing that Neiloxenus wanted to begin his remarks, but was hesitating, said, I am inclined to commend both states and rulers that take up the business of strangers first and of their own citizens afterwards; and now it seems to me that we should for a few minutes put a check on our own words, which are, as it were, in their own land where they are well known, and grant audience, as in a legislative sitting, to the royal communication from Egypt, which our excellent friend Neiloxenus has

Indeed, said Bias, in what place or company would a man more readily take the risk, if he must, of answering such questions, especially since the king has given instructions to begin with me, and after that the matter is to come round to all the rest of you?

As he said this Neiloxenus offered him the packet, but Bias bade him by all means to open it and read it aloud. The contents of the letter were to this effect:

Amasis, king of the Egyptians, to Bias, wisest of the Greeks.

The king of the Ethiopians is engaged in a contest in wisdom against me. Repeatedly vanquished in all else, he has crowned his efforts by framing an extraordinary and awful demand, bidding me to drink up the ocean. My reward, if I find a solution, is to have many villages and cities of his, and if I do not, I am to withdraw from the towns lying about Elephantine. I beg therefore that you will consider the question, and send back Neiloxenus without delay. And whatever is right for your friends or citizens to receive from us shall meet with no let or hindrance on my part.

After this had been read Bias did not wait long, but, after a few minutes of abstraction and a few words with Cleobulus, whose place was near his, he said, What is this, my friend from Naucratis? Do you mean to say that Amasis, who is king of so many people and possessed of such an excellent great country, will be willing, for the consideration of some insignificant and miserable villages, to drink up the ocean?

Neiloxenus answered with a laugh, Assume that he is willing, and consider what is possible for him to do.

Well, then, said Bias, let him tell the Ethiopian to stop the rivers which are now emptying into the ocean depths, while he himself is engaged in drinking up the ocean that now is; for this is the ocean with which the demand is concerned, and not the one which is to be.

As soon as Bias had said these words, Neiloxenus, for very joy, hastened to embrace and kiss him. The rest of the company also commended the answer, and expressed their satisfaction with it, and then Chilon said with a laugh, My friend, before the ocean disappears entirely in consequence of being drunk up, I beg that you sail back to your home in Naucratis and take word to Amasis not to be trying to find out how to make way with so much bitter brine, but rather how to render his government potable and sweet to his subjects; for in these matters Bias is most adept and a most competent instructor, and if Amasis will only learn them from him, he will have no further need of his golden foot-tub to impress the Egyptians,[*](The story of Amasis’s low birth and his rise to power is told by Herodotus, ii. 172.) but they will all show regard and affection for him if he is good, even though he be shown to be in his birth ten thousand times more lowly than at present.

Yes, indeed, said Periander, it surely is right and proper that we all contribute an offering of this sort to the king, each man in his turn, as Homer [*](Odyssey, xiii. 14.) has said. For to him these extra items would be more valuable than the burden of his mission, and as profitable for ourselves as anything could be.

Chilon thereupon said that it was only right that

The story is ridiculous, said I; for in such case Chilon ought first to renounce Lycurgus and all his laws, for Lycurgus revised completely the Spartan constitution.

Solon then, after a moment’s delay, said, In my opinion either a king, or a despot, would best gain repute if out of a monarchy he should organize a democracy for his people.

Next Bias said, If he should be the very first to conform to his country’s laws.

Following him Thales said that he accounted it happiness for a ruler to reach old age and die a natural death.

Fourth, Anacharsis said, If only he have sound sense.

Fifth, Cleobulus, If he trust none of his associates.

Sixth, Pittacus, If the ruler should manage to make his subjects fear, not him, but for him. [*](Plutarch cites a concrete case in his Life of Aratus, chap. xxv. (p. 1039 A).)

Chilon followed by saying that a ruler’s thoughts should never be the thoughts of a mortal, but of an immortal always.

When these sentiments had been expressed, we insisted that Periander himself should also say something. And he, not very cheerful, but with a hard set face, said, Well, I may add my view, that the opinions expressed, taken as a whole, practically divorce any man possessed of sense from being a ruler.

Whereupon Aesop, as though taking us to task, said, You ought, then, to have carried out this discussion by yourselves, and not, while professing to be counsellors and friends, to have made yourselves complainants against rulers.

Solon then, laying his hand on Aesop’s head and smiling the while, said, Don’t you think that anyone could make a ruler more moderate and a despot more reasonable if he could persuade them that it is better not to rule than to rule?

Who, he replied, would believe you in this matter in preference to the god who said, according to the oracle referring to you,

Yet it is a fact, said Solon, that even now the Athenians hearken to one herald and ruler only, and that one, the law, under their democratic constitution. You are clever in understanding ravens and jackdaws, but you have no true ear for the voice of equality, but think that, according to the god, the city which hearkens to one man fares the best, whereas in a social gathering you regard it as a virtue to have everybody talk and on every sort of subject.

Yes, said Aesop, that is because you have not yet written a law that slaves [*](Aesop, now received as an equal among people of the highest standing, had been a slave in his earlier years, and does not hesitate to joke about the fact.) shall not get drunk, which would be a similar law to fit this case, as at Athens you wrote a law that slaves shall not have any love-affair and shall not rub down like athletes. [*](A reason for the prohibition is given in Plutarch’s Life of Solon, chap. i. (p. 79 A).)

Solon laughed at this and Cleodorus the physician said, Nevertheless rubbing down dry is similar to talking when soaked with wine in that it is most agreeable.

And Chilon, interrupting, said, The more reason then for refraining from it.

I could swear, said Aesop, speaking again, that Thales appeared to bid a man to grow old as fast as possible. [*](So as to obtain happiness; Aesop twists Thales’ remark made a few moments before (supra, 152 A).)

Periander at this burst out laughing, and said, We are fittingly punished, Aesop, for becoming involved in other subjects before introducing all of those from Amasis, to which we gave precedence. I beg, Neiloxenus, that you will look at the rest of

Well, in truth, said Neiloxenus, the demand of the Ethiopian can hardly be called anything but a depressing cryptic dispatch, [*](Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 708, Archilochus, No. 89. The reference is to a well-known form of cipher message in use among the Spartans. A narrow leather thong was wrapped around a cylinder, and on the surface thus formed the message was written. When the thong was received it was applied to a duplicate cylinder kept by the recipient, and so the message was read.) to borrow a phrase from Archilochus, but your friend Amasis is more civilized and cultivated in proposing such questions; for he bade the king name the oldest thing, the most beautiful, the greatest, the wisest, the most common, and besides these, as I can attest, to name also the most helpful thing and the most harmful, and the strongest and the easiest.

Did the Ethiopian king give an answer and a solution for each of these questions?

Yes, in his way, said Neiloxenus, but you must judge for yourselves when you hear his answers. For my king holds it to be a very important matter not to be caught impugning the answers falsely; and likewise, if the respondent is making any slip in these, he would not have this pass unquestioned. I will read the answers of the Ethiopian as he gave them:

(a)What is the oldest thing? Time.

(b)What is the greatest? The universe.

(c)What is the wisest? Truth.

(d)What is the most beautiful? Light.

(e)What is most common? Death.

(f)What is most helpful? God.

(g)What is most harmful? An evil spirit.

(h) What is strongest? Fortune.

(i) What is easiest? Pleasure.

After this second reading, there was silence for a time, and then Thales asked Neiloxenus if Amasis had approved the answers. When Neiloxenus replied that Amasis had accepted some, but was much dissatisfied with others, Thales said, As a matter of fact there is not a thing in them that cannot be impugned, but they all contain gross errors and evidences of ignorance. For instance, in the very first one, how can time be the oldest thing if a part of it is past, a part present, and a part future? [*](Plutarch, Moralia, 1081 C-1082 D, argues at some length about the Stoic conception of time.) For the time which is to come would clearly be younger than events and persons that now are. And to hold that truth is wisdom seems to me no different from declaring that light is the eye. If he thought the light beautiful, as it really is, how did he come to overlook the sun itself? Among the others the answer about gods and evil spirits evinces boldness and daring, but the one about Fortune contains much bad logic; for Fortune would not be so fickle about abiding with one if it were the mightiest and strongest thing in existence. Nor is death, in fact, the most common thing; for it does not affect the living.[*](Probably an adaptation of one of Epicurus’s leading principles ο θάνατος οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, death is nothing to us, who are alive. Cf. Diogenes Laertius, x. 129, and Plutarch, Moralia, 37 A.) But, to avoid giving the impression of merely passing judgement upon the statements of others, let us compare answers of our own with his. And I offer myself as the first, if Neiloxenus so desires, to be questioned on each topic; and taking the questions

(a)What is the oldest thing?God, said Thales,for God is something that has no beginning.

(b)What is greatest?Space; for while the universe contains within it all else, this contains the universe.

(c)What is most beautiful?The Universe; for everything that is ordered as it should be is a part of it.

(d)What is wisest?Time; for it has discovered some things already, and shall discover all the rest.

(e)What is most common?Hope; for those who have nothing else have that ever with them.

(f)What is most helpful?Virtue; for it makes everything else helpful by putting it to a good use.

(g)What is most harmful?Vice; for it harms the greatest number of things by its presence.

(h)What is strongest?Necessity; for that alone is insuperable.

(i)What is easiest?To follow Nature’s course; because people often weary of pleasures.

When all had expressed their satisfaction with Thales, Cleodorus said, Asking and answering such questions is all right for kings. But the barbarian who would have Amasis drink up the ocean to do him honour needed the terse retort which Pittacus used to Alyattes, when the latter wrote and sent an overbearing command to the Lesbians. The only answer

Periander now entered into the conversation, and said, Nevertheless it is a fact, Cleodorus, that the ancient Greeks also had a habit of propounding such perplexing questions to one another. For we have the story that the most famous poets among the wise men of that time gathered at Chalcis to attend the funeral of Amphidamas. Now Amphidamas was a warrior who had given much trouble to the Eretrians, and had fallen in one of the battles for the possession of the Lelantine plain. But since the verses composed by the poets made the decision a difficult and troublesome matter because they were so evenly matched, and since the repute of the contestants, Homer and Hesiod, caused the judges much perplexity as well as embarrassment, the poets resorted to questionings of this sort, and Homer, as Lesches asserts,[*](Some MSS. make Lesches propound the question, and other traditions make Hesiod the questioner, to whom Homer replies. Cf. note c below.) propounded this: Tell me, O Muse, of events which never have happened aforetime, Nor in the future shall ever betide, and Hesiod answered quite off-hand: When round Zeus in his tomb rush the steeds with galloping hoof-beats, Crashing car against car, as they eagerly run for a trophy. And for this it is said that he gained the greatest admiration and won the tripod. [*](It is of interest to compare the long and variant account given in the Contest of Homer and Hesiod, a work of the second century A.D. which is usually included at the end of editions of Hesiod, also in the 5th vol. of the edition of Homer in the Oxford Classical Texts.)

But what difference is there, said Cleodorus, between things like this and Eumetis’s riddles?

Eumetis, to judge by her appearance, would have liked to give him an answer, but restrained herself with all modesty, and her face was covered with blushes. But Aesop, as though he would take her part, said, Is it not then even more ridiculous not to be able to solve these? Take, for instance, the one which she propounded to us a few minutes before dinner: Sooth I have seen a man with fire fasten bronze on another. [*](Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 440, Cleobulina, No. 1.) Could you tell me what this is?

No, said Cleodorus, and I don’t want to be told, either.

Yet it is a fact, said Aesop,that nobody knows this more perfectly than you, or does it better, either; and if you deny this, I have cupping-glasses to testify to it.

At this Cleodorus laughed; for of all the physicians of his time he was most given to the use of cuppingglasses, and it was largely owing to him that this form of treatment has come to have such repute.

Mnesiphilus the Athenian, [*](Mnesiphilus, according to Plutarch, Life of Themistocles, chap. ii. (p. 112 D), handed down the political wisdom of Solon to Themistocles. At any rate Herodotus, viii. 57, represents Mnesiphilus as advising Themistocles against withdrawing the Greek fleet from Salamis. Cf. also Plutarch, Moralia, 869 D-E.) a warm friend and admirer of Solon’s, said, I think it is no more than fair, Periander, that the conversation, like the wine, should not be apportioned on the basis of wealth or rank, but equally to all, as in a democracy, and that

It was accordingly agreed to do this, and Solon began by saying, But you, Mnesiphilus, as well as all the rest of the Athenians, have heard the opinion which I hold regarding government. However, if you wish to hear it again now, I think that a State succeeds best, and most effectively perpetuates democracy, in which persons uninjured by a crime, no less than the injured person, prosecute the criminal and get him punished.

Second was Bias, who said that the most excellent democracy was that in which the people stood in as much fear of the law as of a despot.

Following him Thales said that it was the one having citizens neither too rich nor too poor.

After him Anacharsis said that it was the one in which, all else being held in equal esteem, what is better is determined by virtue and what is worse by vice.

Fifth, Cleobulus said that a people was most righteous whose public men dreaded censure more than they dreaded the law.

Sixth, Pittacus said that it was where bad men are not allowed to hold office, and good men are not allowed to refuse it.

Chilon, turning to the other side,[*](Chilon, a rather strict Spartan (cf. 152 D supra), is impatient of opinions which suggest that the attitude of the people is more important than the law.) declared that the

Finally, Periander once more concluded the discussion with the decisive remark, that they all seemed to him to approve a democracy which was most like an aristocracy.

When this discussion had come to an end, I said that it seemed to me to be only fair that these men should tell us how a house should be managed. For, said I, but few persons are in control of kingdoms and states, whereas we all have to do with a hearth and home,

Aesop laughed and said, Not all, if you include also Anacharsis in our number; for not only has he no home, but he takes an immense pride in being homeless and in using a wagon, after the manner in which they say the sun makes his rounds in a chariot, occupying now one place and now another in the heavens.

And that, I would have you know, said Anacharsis, is precisely the reason why he solely or pre-eminently of all the gods is free and independent, and rules over all and is ruled by none, but is king, and holds the reins. Only you seem to have no conception of his chariot, how surpassing it is in beauty, and wondrous in size; else you would not, even in jest, have humorously compared it to ours. It seems to me, Aesop, that your idea of a home is limited to these protective coverings made of mortar, wood, and tiles, just as if you were to regard a snail’s shell, and not the creature itself, as a snail. Quite naturally, then, Solon gave you occasion to laugh, because, when he had looked over Croesus’s house with its costly furnishings, he did not instantly

Thereupon Solon said that the best home seemed to him to be where no injustice is attached to the acquisition of property, no distrust to keeping it, and no repentance to spending it.

Bias said, It is the home in which the head of the household, because of his own self, maintains the same character that he maintains outside of it because of the law.

Thales said, The home in which it is possible for the head of the household to have the greatest leisure.

Cleobulus said, If the head of the household have more who love him than fear him.

Pittacus said that the best home is that which needs nothing superfluous, and lacks nothing necessary.

Chilon said that the home ought to be most like to a State ruled by a king; and then he added that Lycurgus said to the man who urged him to establish a democracy in the State, Do you first create a democracy in your own house. [*](Repeated in Moralia, 189 E, 228 D, and Life of Lycurgus, chap. xix. (p. 52 A).)

When this discussion had come to its end, Eumetis withdrew, accompanied by Melissa. Then Periander drank to Chilon in a big beaker, and Chilon did the same to Bias, whereupon Ardalus arose, and addressing himself to Aesop, said, Won’t you send the cup over here to us, seeing that these people are sending it to and fro to one another as though it were the beaker of Bathycles,[*](Bathycles in his will left his beaker to the most helpful of the wise men. It was given to Thales, and he passed it on to another of the wise men, who in turn gave it to another until finally it came back to Thales again, and he dedicated it to Apollo. Cf. Diogenes Laertius, i. 28, and Plutarch, Life of Solon, chap. iv. (p. 80 E).) and are not giving anybody else a chance at it ?

And Aesop said, But this cup is not democratic either, since it has been resting all the time by Solon only.

Thereupon Pittacus, addressing Mnesiphilus, asked why Solon did not drink, but by his testimony was discrediting the verses in which he had written [*](Plutarch quotes these lines also in Moralia, 751 E, and Life of Solon, chap. xxxi. (p. 96 E); cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Gr. ii. p. 430, Solon, No. 26.)

Give me the tasks of the Cyprus-born goddess and Lord Dionysus, Yea, and the Muses besides; tasks which bring cheer among men.

Before the other could reply Anacharsis hastened to say, He is afraid of you, Pittacus, and that harsh law of yours in which you have decreed, If any man commit any offence when drunk, his penalty shall be double that prescribed for the sober. [*](Pittacus’s law is often referred to; for example, Aristotle, Politics, ii. 12, 13; Nicomachean Ethics, iii. 5, 8.)

And Pittacus said, But you at any rate showed such insolent disregard for the law, that last year, at the house of Alcaeus’s brother, you were the first to get drunk and you demanded as a prize a wreath of victory. [*](Cf. Athenaeus, 437 f.)

And why not? said Anacharsis. Prizes were offered for the man who drank the most, and I was the first’to get drunk; why should I not have demanded the reward of my victory? Else do you instruct me as to what is the aim in drinking much strong wine other than to get drunk.

When Pittacus laughed at this, Aesop told the following story: A wolf seeing some shepherds in a shelter eating a sheep, came near to them and said, What an uproar you would make if I were doing that!

Aesop, said Chilon, has very properly defended himself, for a few moments ago [*](Supra, 150 B.) he had his mouth stopped by us, and now, later, he sees that others have taken the words out of Mnesiphilus’s mouth; for it was Mnesiphilus who was asked for a rejoinder in defence of Solon.

And I speak, said Mnesiphilus, with full

When Mnesiphilus had said this, Chersias the poet [*](From Orchomenos in Boeotia; he is known only from this essay and Pausanias, ix. 38, 9-10, where two lines of his (?) are quoted.) (having been already absolved from the charge against him, and recently reconciled with Periander at Chilon’s solicitation) said, Is it to be inferred, then, that Zeus used to pour out the drink for the gods also in measured quantity, as Agamemnon did for his nobles, when the gods, dining with Zeus, drank to one another?

And Cleodorus said, But, Chersias, if certain doves [*](Homer, Od.xii. 62.) bring to Zeus his ambrosia, as you poets say, and with

Possibly, said Chersias, but since talk of household management has come up again, who among you will tell us about what was omitted? The topic omitted was, I think, the acquisition of some measure of property which shall be sufficient in itself and adequate.

But, said Cleobulus, for the wise the law has given the measure, but with reference to those of the baser sort I will tell a story of my daughter’s which she told her brother. She said that the moon wanted her mother to weave for her a garment to fit her measure; and the mother said, How can I weave it to fit your measure? For now I see you full and round, and at another time crescent-shaped, and at still another but little more than half your full size. And in the same way you see, my dear Chersias, there is no measure of possessions that can be applied to a foolish and worthless man. Sometimes he is one man and sometimes another in his needs, which vary according to his desires and fortunes; he is like Aesop’s dog, who, as our friend here says, in the winter-time curled up as closely as possible because he was so cold, and was minded to build himself a house, but when summer returned again, and he had stretched himself out to sleep, he appeared to himself so big that he thought it was neither a necessary nor a small task to construct a house large enough to contain him. Have you not often noticed also, Chersias, he continued, those detestable people who at one time restrict themselves to utterly small

As Chersias lapsed into silence, Cleodorus took up the conversation and said, But we see that the possessions which even you wise men have are distributed by unequal measure, if you be compared one with another.

And Cleobulus said, Yes, for the law, my good sir, like a weaver, assigns to each one of us so much as is fitting, reasonable, and suitable. And you, using reason as your law in prescribing diet, regimen, and drugs for the sick, do not apportion an equal amount to each one, but the proper amount in all cases.

Ardalus then joined in and said, Well, then, is there some law which commands that comrade of all of you, Solon’s foreign friend, Epimenides, to abstain from all other kinds of food, and by taking into his mouth a bit of the potent no-hunger, [*](A recipe (probably forged) for making this compound may be found in Tzetzes’ scholium on Hesiod, Works and Days, 41.) which he himself compounds, to go all day without luncheon and dinner?

This remark arrested the attention of the whole company, and Thales said jestingly that Epimenides showed good sense in not wishing to have the trouble of grinding his grain and cooking for himself like Pittacus. For, said he, when I was at Eresus, I heard the woman at whose house I stayed singing at the mill:

Grind, mill, grind; Yes, for Pittacus used to grind King of great Mytilene.

Solon said that he was surprised at Ardalus if he had not read the regulations governing the manner of living of the man in question, which are given in writing in Hesiod’s verses. For Hesiod is the one who first sowed in the mind of Epimenides the seeds of this form of nourishment, inasmuch as it was he who taught that one should seek to find

How in mallow and asphodel lies an immense advantage.[*](Hesiod, Works and Days, 41.)

Do you really think, said Periander, that Hesiod ever had any such idea in mind? Do you not rather think that, since he was always sounding the praises of frugality, he was also summoning us to the simplest of dishes as being the most pleasant? For the mallow is good eating, and the stalk of the asphodel is luscious; but these no-hunger and nothirst drugs (for they are drugs rather than foods), I understand, include in their composition a sweet gum and a cheese found among barbarian peoples, and a great many seeds of a sort hard to procure. How, then, can we concede to Hesiod his

Rudder on high in the smoke[*](Hesiod, Works and Days, 45, 46; quoted also in Moralia, 527 B. Cf. also Hesiod, Works and Days, 629.)

All the labours of oxen and stout-toiling mules be abolished,[*](Hesiod, Works and Days, 45, 46; quoted also in Moralia, 527 B. Cf. also Hesiod, Works and Days, 629.)

Not merely that, said Anacharsis, but both are commended as herbs that contribute to health also in greatest measure.

You are quite right, said Cleodorus; for it is clear that Hesiod has knowledge of medicine, since there is no lack of attention or experience shown in what he has to say about the daily course of life,[*](Hesiod, Works and Days, 405-821.) mixing wine,[*](Ibid. 368-9; 744-5 may be referred to.) the great value of water,[*](Ibid. 595, 737-741.) bathing,[*](Ibid. 736-741, 753.) women,[*](Ibid. 373-5, 699-705.) the proper time for intercourse,[*](Ibid. 735-6, 812.) and the way in which infants should sit.[*](Ibid. 750-2.) But it seems to me that Aesop with better right than Epimenides can declare himself the pupil of Hesiod. For the words of the hawk to the nightingale[*](Ibid. 203.) first suggested to Aesop the idea of this beautiful and ingenious wisdom uttered by many different tongues. But I should be glad to listen to Solon; for it is likely that he, having been associated with Epimenides for along time at Athens,[*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Solon, chap. xii. (p. 84 C).) has learned what experience of his or what sophistical argument induced him to resort to such a course of living.

Solon said, What need was there to ask him this? For it is plain that the next best thing to the greatest and highest of all good is to require the minimum amount of food; or is it not the general opinion that the greatest good is to require no food at all?j

Not mine by any means, said Cleodorus, if I must tell what lies in my mind, especially as a table

I took up the conversation as Cleodorus left off, and said, But there is another point you do not mention, that we banish sleep along with food; and with no sleep there can be no dream, and our most ancient and respected form of divination is gone for ever. Life will have a monotonous sameness, and we might say that the encasement of the soul in the body will lack all purpose and effect. The most, and the most important, of the bodily organs, tongue, teeth, stomach, and liver, are provided as instruments of nutrition, no one of them is inactive, nor is it framed for any other form of usefulness. So he who has no need of food has no need of a body either; and that again would mean having no need of himself! For it is with a body that each one of us exists. This then, said I, makes up the contributions which we offer to the belly; and if Solon or anybody else desires to impeach them in any way, we will listen.

Certainly, said Solon, let us not show ourselves to be less discriminating than the Egyptians, who cut open the dead body and expose it to the sun, and then cast certain parts of it into the river, and perform their offices on the rest of the body, feeling that this part has now at last been made clean. For this, in truth, it is which constitutes the pollution of our flesh and its bowels of Hell, as it were, teeming with frightful streams and wind, intermingled with burning fire and corpses.[*](This somewhat exaggerated description of the digestive tract is probably influenced by Homer Od. x. 513 and ix. 157, and Il. i. 52 and viii. 13.) For no living man feeds upon another living creature; nay, we put to death the animate creatures and destroy these things that grow in the ground, which also are partakers in life, in that they absorb food, and increase in size; and herein we do wrong. For anything that is changed from what it was by nature into something else is destroyed, and it undergoes utter corruption that it may become the food of another.[*](Cf. Lucretius, De rerum natura, iii. 701 ff.) But to refrain entirely from eating meat, as they record of Orpheus [*](Orpheus is said to have abstained from animal food (Euripides, Hippolytus, 992; Plato, Laws, p. 782 C).) of old, is rather a quibble than a way of avoiding wrong in regard to food. The one way of avoidance and of keeping oneself pure, from the point of view of righteousness, is to become sufficient unto oneself and to need nothing from any other source. But in the case of man or beast for whom God has made his own secure existence impossible without his doing injury to another, it may be said that in the nature which God has inflicted upon him lies the source of wrong. Would it not, then, be right and fair, my friend, in order to cut out injustice, to cut out also bowels and stomach and liver, which afford us no perception or craving for anything noble, but are

But Cleodorus imagines that there ought to be food, so that there may be tables and wine-bowls and sacrifices to Demeter and the Daughter. Then let the next man argue that it is but right and proper that there be battles and war, so that we may have fortifications and dockyards and arsenals, and may offer sacrifice to celebrate the slaying of an hundred foemen,[*](The explanation may be found in Pausanias, iv. 19; cf. also Plutarch, Moralia, 660 F and Life of Romulus, chap. xxv. (p. 33 D).) as they say is the custom among the Messenians. Still another man, I imagine, may enter

Since they eat no bread and drink no wine brightly sparkling, Therefore their bodies are bloodless, and they are called the Immortals.

This then, Nicarchus, is what was said on the subject of food.

While Solon was still speaking, Gorgus, Periander’s brother, came in; for it happened that, in consequence of certain oracles, he had been sent to Taenarum, in charge of a sacred mission to offer due sacrifice to Poseidon. After we had greeted him, and Periander had embraced and kissed him, Gorgus sat down beside his brother on the couch, and gave him a report intended apparently for him alone, and he, as he listened, seemed much affected at the story; for he appeared in some ways troubled, in some ways indignant, and oftentimes incredulous,

Thereupon Bias, interrupting, said, But Thales is responsible also for this sage remark, that one should not believe enemies even about things believable, and should believe friends even about things unbelievable; the name enemies he assigned, I think, to the wicked and foolish, and friends to the good and sensible. And so, Gorgus, he continued, it should be told to all, or rather, to compete with those newly invented dithyrambs,[*](Probably a covert reference to Arion as the inventor of the dithyramb (Herodotus, i. 23).) there should be heard the stronger notes of the story which your arrival has brought to us.

Gorgus then told us that his offering of the sacrifice had taken three days, and on the last day there was a dance and merry-making, lasting the whole night long, down by the shore. The moon was shining bright upon the sea; there was no wind, but a perfect calm and stillness, when, afar off, was seen a ripple coming towards land close by the promontory, attended by some foam and much noise from its rapid movement, so that they all ran down in amazement to the place where it was coming to shore. Before they could guess what was bearing down upon them so rapidly, dolphins were seen, some forming a dense encircling line, others leading the way to the smoothest part of the shore, and still others behind, forming, as it were, a rear-guard. In their midst,

We accordingly conducted him to a tent, since there was really nothing the matter with him, save that he seemed somewhat unstrung and wearied by the swiftness and rush of his ride, and we heard from him a story, incredible to all men except to us who with our own eyes had seen its conclusion. Arion said that some time ago he had resolved to leave Italy, and the receipt of a letter from Periander had only stimulated his desire the more, and when a Corinthian merchant-vessel appeared there, he had at once embarked and sailed away from that land. For three days they were favoured by a moderate breeze, and there came over Arion the feeling that the sailors were plotting to make away with him, and later he learned from the pilot, who secretly gave him the information, that they were resolved to do the deed that night. Helpless and at his wits’ end, he put into execution an impulse, divinely inspired, to adorn

When Arion had told all this, continued Gorgus, I asked him where he thought the ship would make harbour; and he replied that it would surely come to Corinth, but its arrival would be much later; for he thought that after he had thrown himself overboard in the evening, he had been carried a distance of not less than fifty or more miles, and a calm had fallen immediately. Gorgus went on to say that he had ascertained the name of the captain and of the pilot, and the ship’s emblem, and had sent out boats and soldiers to the landing-places to keep strict watch; moreover, he had brought Arion with him, carefully concealed, so that the guilty ones might not gain any premature information of his rescue from death, and make good their escape; and in fact the whole affair seemed like an event divinely directed, for his men were here just as he arrived, and he learned that the ship had been seized, and the traders and sailors arrested.

Accordingly Periander bade Gorgus to withdraw at once, and have these men put into prison where nobody should have access to them or tell them that Arion had been rescued.

Well! well! said Aesop, you all make fun of my jackdaws and crows if they talk with one another, and yet dolphins indulge in such pranks as this!

Let’s change the subject, Aesop, said I to him; more than a thousand years have elapsed since this dolphin story has been believed and committed to writing in Greek lands, even from the days of Ino and Athamas. [*](Ino also threw herself into the sea when the crazed Athamas was about to kill her, and was metamorphosed into the sea-goddess Leucothea.)

Solon here entered the conversation: Well, Diocles, let it be granted that these things are near to the gods and far beyond us; but what happened to Hesiod is human and within our ken. Very likely you have heard the story. [*](The story is referred to as early as Thucydides (iii. 96), and seems to have received some embellishments later. Of the many references to the story (which may be found in Wyttenbach’s note on the passage) perhaps the most interesting is in the Contest of Homer and Hesiod, lines 215-254 of Allen’s edition (in the Oxford Classical Texts, 1912), which also assigns names to the persons concerned in it.)

No, I have not, said I.

Well, it is really worth hearing, and so here it is. A man from Miletus, it seems, with whom Hesiod shared lodging and entertainment in Locris, had secret relations with the daughter of the man who entertained them; and when he was detected, Hesiod fell under suspicion of having known about the misconduct from the outset, and of having helped to conceal it, although he was in nowise guilty, but only the innocent victim of a fit of anger and prejudice. For the girl’s brothers killed him, lying in wait for him in the vicinity of the temple of Nemean Zeus in Locris, and with him they killed his servant whose name was Troilus. The dead bodies were