Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
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. [*](Cf. Moralia, 509 A.)
When Euripides threw his arms around the fair Agathon in the midst of an evening party and kissed
him, for all that Agathon was already bearded, Archelaus said to his friends, Do not be astonished; for even the autumn of the fair is fair.[*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Alcibiades, chap. i. (192 A); Moralia, 770 C; and Aelian, Varia Historia, xiii. 4. In all three places the remark is attributed to Euripides.)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. [*](Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 624, Timotheus, No. 14, or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L.C.L.), iii. p. 330, No. 28. Plutarch repeats the story in Moralia, 334 B.) he directed it towards Archelaus; whereupon Archelaus retorted upon him with this, 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.