Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Hinton, Edward, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.

ANTIGONUS. Antigonus exacted money severely. When one told him that Alexander did not do so, It may be so, said he; Alexander reaped Asia, and I but glean after him.

Seeing some soldiers playing at ball in head-pieces and breast-plates, he was pleased, and sent for their officers, intending to commend them; but when he heard the officers were drinking, he bestowed their commands on the soldiers. When all men wondered that in his old age his government was mild and easy; Formerly, said he, I sought for power, but now for glory and good-will. To Philip his son, who asked him in the presence of many when the army would march, What, said he, are you afraid that you only should not hear the trumpet? The same young man being desirous to quarter at a widow’s house that had three handsome daughters, Antigonus called the quartermaster to him: Prithee, said he, help my son out of these straits. Recovering from a slight disease, he said: No harm; this distemper puts me in mind not to aim at great things, since we are mortal. Hermodotus in his poems called him Son of the Sun. He that attends my close-stool, said he, sings me no such song. When one said, All things in kings are just and honorable,—Indeed, said he, for barbarian kings; but for us only honorable things are honorable, and only just things are just. Marsyas his brother had a cause depending, and requested him it might be examined at his house. Nay, said he, it shall be heard in the judgment-hall, that all may hear whether we do exact justice or not. In the winter being forced to pitch his camp where necessaries were scarce, some of his soldiers reproached him, not knowing he was near. He opened the tent with his cane, saying: Woe be to you, unless you get you farther off when you revile me. Aristodemus, one of his friends, supposed to be a cook’s son, advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. Thy words, said he, Aristodemus, smell of the apron. The Athenians, out of a respect to him, gave one of his servants the freedom of their city. And I would not, said he, have any Athenian whipped by my command. A youth, scholar to Anaximenes the rhetorician,

spoke in his presence a prepared and studied speech; and he asking something which he desired to learn, the youth was silent. What do you say, said he, is all that you have said written in your table-book? When he heard another rhetorician say, The snow-spread season makes the country fodder spent; Will you not stop, said he, prating to me as you do to the rabble? Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of him. That, said he, is too little for a king to give. Why then, said the other, give me a talent. And that, said he, is too much for a Cynic (or for a dog) to receive. Sending his son Demetrius with ships and land-forces to make Greece free; Glory, said he, from Greece, as from a watch-tower, will shine throughout the world. Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said: Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers, when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon? Antagoras replied: Do you think, O King, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers? After he had seen in a dream Mithridates mowing a golden harvest, he designed to kill him, and acquainted Demetrius his son with his design, making him swear to conceal it. But Demetrius, taking Mithridates aside and walking with him by the seaside, with the pick of his spear wrote on the shore, Fly, Mithridates; which he understanding, fled into Pontus, and there reigned until his death.

DEMETRIUS. Demetrius, while he was besieging Rhodes, found in one of the suburbs the picture of Ialysus made by Protogenes the painter. The Rhodians sent a herald to him, beseeching him not to deface the picture. I will sooner, said he, deface my father’s statues, than such a picture. When he made a league with the Rhodians, he left behind him an engine, called the City Taker, that it might be a memorial of his magnificence and of their courage.

When the Athenians rebelled, and he took the city, which had been distressed for want of provision, he called an assembly and gave them corn. And while he made a speech to them concerning that affair, he spoke improperly; and when one that sat by told him how the word ought to be spoken, he said: For this correction I bestow upon you five thousand bushels more.

ANTIGONUS THE SECOND. Antigonus the Second—when his father was a prisoner, and sent one of his friends to admonish him to pay no regard to any thing that he might write at the constraint of Seleucus, and to enter into no obligation to surrender up the cities—wrote to Seleucus that he would give up his whole kingdom, and himself for an hostage, that his father might be set free. Being about to fight by sea with the lieutenants of Ptolemy, and the pilot telling him the enemy outnumbered him in ships, he said: But how many ships do you reckon my presence to be worth? Once when he gave ground, his enemies pressing upon him, he denied that he fled; but he betook himself (as he said) to an advantage that lay behind him. To a youth, son of a valiant father, but himself no very great soldier, petitioning he might receive his father’s pay; Young man, said he, I pay and reward men for their own, not for their fathers’ valor. When Zeno of Citium, whom he admired beyond all philosophers, died, he said, The theatre of my actions is fallen.

LYSIMACHUS. Lysimachus, when he was overcome by Dromichaetas in Thrace and constrained by thirst, surrendered himself and his army. When he was a prisoner, and had drunk; O Gods, said he, for how small a satisfaction have I made myself a slave from a king! To Philippides the comedian, his friend and companion, he said: What have I that I may impart to you? He answered, What you please, except your secrets.