A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Μέτων), a citizen of Tarentum, who, when the decree was proposed for calling in the assistance of Pyrrhus, came into the assembly of the people, in the garb of a reveller, and accompanied by a flute-player, as if just come from a banquet. When the people laughed at him and

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called out to him to sing them a song, he answered, " You are right to encourage men to sing and make merry now while they can, for when Pyrrhus is arrived we shall have to lead a very different sort of life." By this artifice he produced a great effect upon the assembly; but the decree was nevertheless carried. (Plut. Pyrrh. 13; Dio Cass. Fr. Vat. 45, p. 169, ed. Mai; Dionys. A. R. 17.13, 14.)

[E.H.B]