Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

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.[*](Cf. Moralia, 544 B, where the story is repeated in slightly different words.)

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. [*](Cf. Moralia, 458 F, where, however, the last remark is attributed to Antigonus the 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, [*](The Cyclops, Homer, Od. ix. 375.) and went his way. [*](Cf. Moralia, 557 B, where the story is repeated in fewer words.)