89 Κλεόβουλος Εὐαγόρου Λίνδιος, ὡς δὲ Δοῦρις, Κάρ ἔνιοι δὲ εἰς Ἡρακλέα ἀναφέρειν τὸ γένος αὐτόν· ῥώμῃ δὲ καὶ κάλλει διαφέρειν, μετασχεῖν τε τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ φιλοσοφίας. Γενέσθαι τε αὐτῷ θυγατέρα Κλεοβουλίνην, αἰνιγμάτων ἑξαμέτρων ποιήτριαν, ἧς μέμνηται καὶ Κρατῖνος ἐν τῷ ὁμωνύμῳ δράματι, πληθυντικῶς ἐπιγράψας. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἀνανεώσασθαι αὐτὸν κτισθὲν ὑπὸ Δαναοῦ. Οὗτος ἐποίησεν ᾄσματα καὶ γρίφους εἰς ἔπη τρισχίλια. Καὶ τὸ ἐπίγραμμά τινες τὸ ἐπὶ Μίδᾳ τοῦτόν φασι ποιῆσαι·
Χαλκῆ παρθένος εἰμί, Μίδα δ’ ἐπὶ σήματι κεῖμαι.
Ἔστ’ ἂν ὕδωρ τε νάῃ καὶ δένδρεα μακρὰ τεθήλῃ,
89. Cleobulus, the son of Euagoras, was born at Lindus, but according to Duris he was a Carian. Some say that he traced his descent back to Heracles, that he was distinguished for strength and beauty, and was acquainted with Egyptian philosophy. He had a daughter Cleobuline, who composed riddles in hexameters; she is mentioned by Cratinus, who gives one of his plays her name, in the plural form Cleobulinae. He is also said to have rebuilt the temple of Athena which was founded by Danaus.
He was the author of songs and riddles, making some 3000 lines in all.
The inscription on the tomb of Midas is said by some to be his:
I am a maiden of bronze and I rest upon Midas’s tomb. So long as water shall flow and tall trees grow, and the sun shall rise and shine,
90 Ἠέλιός τ’ ἀνιὼν λάμπῃ, λαμπρά τε σελήνη,
καὶ ποταμοί γε ῥέωσιν, ἀνακλύζῃ δὲ θάλασσα,
αὐτοῦ τῇδε μένουσα πολυκλαύτῳ ἐπὶ τύμβῳ,
ἀγγελέω παριοῦσι, Μίδας ὅτι τῇδε τέθαπται.
Φέρουσι δὲ μαρτύριον Σιμωνίδου ᾆσμα, ὅπου φησί·
Τίς κεν αἰνήσειε νόῳ πίσυνος Λίνδου ναέταν Κλεόβουλον
ἀενάοις ποταμοῖς ἄνθεσί τ’ εἰαρινοῖς
ἀελίου τε φλογὶ χρυσέας τε σελάνας
καὶ θαλασσαίαισι δίνῃς ἀντιθέντα μένος στάλας;
ἅπαντα γάρ ἐστι θεῶν ἥσσω· λίθον δὲ
καὶ βρότεοι παλάμαι θραύοντι· μωροῦ φωτὸς ἅδε βουλά.
Οὐ γὰρ εἶναι Ὁμήρου τὸ ἐπίγραμμα, πολλοῖς ἔτεσι προέχοντος, φασί, τοῦ Μίδα. Φέρεται δ’ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς Παμφίλης Ὑπομνήμασι. Καὶ αἴνιγμα τοῖον·
90. and the bright moon, and rivers shall run and the sea wash the shore, here abiding on his tearsprinkled tomb I shall tell the passers-by – Midas is buried here.
The evidence they adduce is a poem of Simonides in which he says:
Who, if he trusts his wits, will praise Cleobulus the dweller at Lindus for opposing the strength of a column to everflowing rivers, the flowers of spring, the flame of the sun, and the golden moon and the eddies of the sea? But all things fall short of the might of the gods; even mortal hands break marble in pieces; this is a fool’s devising.
The inscription cannot be by Homer, because he lived, they say, long before Midas.
The following riddle of Cleobulus is preserved in Pamphila’s collection:
91 Εἷς ὁ πατήρ, παῖδες δυοκαίδεκα. Τῶν δὲ ἑκάστῳ
παῖδες δὶς τριάκοντα διάνδιχα εἶδος ἔχουσαι·
αἱ μὲν λευκαὶ ἔασιν ἰδεῖν, αἱ δ’ αὖτε μέλαιναι·
ἀθάνατοι δέ τ’ ἐοῦσαι, ἀποφθινύθουσιν ἅπασαι.
Ἔστι δ’ ὁ ἐνιαυτός. Τῶν δὲ ᾀδομένων εὐδοκίμησεν αὐτοῦ τάδε·
Ἀμουσία τὸ πλέον μέρος ἐν βροτοῖσι
λόγων τε πλῆθος· ἀλλ’ ὁ καιρὸς ἀρκέσει.
Φρόνει τι κεδνόν· μὴ μάταιος ἄχαρις γινέσθω.
Ἔφη δὲ δεῖν συνοικίζειν τὰς θυγατέρας, παρθένους μὲν τὴν ἡλικίαν τὸ δὲ φρονεῖν γυναῖκας· ὑποδεικνὺς ὅτι δεῖ παιδεύεσθαι καὶ τὰς παρθένους. Ἔλεγέ τε τὸν φίλον δεῖν εὐεργετεῖν, ὅπως μᾶλλον ᾖ φίλος· τὸν δὲ ἐχθρὸν φίλον ποιεῖν.
91. One sire there is, he has twelve sons, and each of these has twice thirty daughters different in feature; some of the daughters are white, the others again are black; they are immortal, and yet they all die.
And the answer is, “The year.”
Of his songs the most popular are: It is want of taste that reigns most widely among mortals and multitude of words; but due season will serve. Set your mind on something good. Do not become thoughtless or rude. He said that we ought to give our daughters to their husbands maidens in years but women in wisdom; thus signifying that girls need to be educated as well as boys. Further, that we should render a service to a friend to bind him closer to us, and to an enemy in order to make a friend of him. For we have to guard against the censure of friends and the intrigues of enemies.
92 Φυλάσσεσθαι γὰρ τῶν μὲν φίλων τὸν ψόγον, τῶν δὲ ἐχθρῶν τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. Καὶ ὅταν τις ἐξίῃ τῆς οἰκίας, ζητείτω πρότερον τί μέλλει πράσσειν· καὶ ὅταν εἰσέλθῃ πάλιν, ζητείτω τί ἔπραξε. Συνεβούλευέ τε εὖ τὸ σῶμα ἀσκεῖν· φιλήκοον εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόλαλον· φιλομαθῆ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀμαθῆ· γλῶσσαν εὔφημον ἴσχειν· ἀρετῆς οἰκεῖον εἶναι, κακίας ἀλλότριον· ἀδικίαν φεύγειν· πόλει τὰ βέλτιστα συμβουλεύειν· ἡδονῆς κρατεῖν· βίᾳ μηδὲν πράττειν· τέκνα παιδεύειν· ἐχθρὰν διαλύειν. Γυναικὶ μὴ φιλοφρονεῖσθαι, μηδὲ μάχεσθαι, ἀλλοτρίων παρόντων· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄνοιαν, τὸ δὲ μανίαν σημαίνει. Οἰκέτην πάροινον μὴ κολάζειν, δοκεῖν γὰρ παροινεῖν. Γαμεῖν ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων· ἂν γὰρ ἐκ τῶν κρειττόνων λάβῃς, φησί, δεσπότας κτήσῃ τοὺς συγγενέας.
92. When anyone leaves his house, let him first inquire what he means to do; and on his return let him ask himself what he has effected. Moreover, he advised men to practise bodily exercise; to be listeners rather than talkers; to choose instruction rather than ignorance; to refrain from ill-omened words; to be friendly to virtue, hostile to vice; to shun injustice; to counsel the state for the best; not to be overcome by pleasure; to do nothing by violence; to educate their children; to put an end to enmity. Avoid being affectionate to your wife, or quarrelling with her, in the presence of strangers; for the one savours of folly, the other of madness. Never correct a servant over your wine, for you will be thought to be the worse for wine. Mate with one of your own rank; for if you take a wife who is superior to you, her kinsfolk will become your masters.
93 Μὴ ἐπιγελᾶν τοῖς σκωπτομένοις· ἀπεχθήσεσθαι γὰρ τούτοις. Εὐτυχῶν μὴ ἴσθι ὑπερήφανος· ἀπορήσας μὴ ταπεινοῦ. Τὰς μεταβολὰς τῆς τύχης γενναίως ἐπίστασο φέρειν. Ἐτελεύτησε δὲ γηραιός, ἔτη βιοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα· καὶ αὐτῷ ἐπεγράφη·
Ἄνδρα σοφὸν Κλεόβουλον ἀποφθίμενον καταπενθεῖ
ἥδε πάτρα Λίνδος πόντῳ ἀγαλλομένη.
Ἀπεφθέγξατο· μέτρον ἄριστον. Καὶ Σόλωνι ἐπέστειλεν οὕτω·
Κλεόβουλος Σόλωνι
Πολλοὶ μέν τιν ἔασιν ἕταροι καὶ οἶκος πάντη· φαμὶ δὲ ἐγὼν
ποτανεστάταν ἐσεῖσθαι Σόλωνι τὰν Λίνδον δαμοκρατεομέναν. Καὶ ἁ
νᾶσος πελαγία, ἔνθα οἰκέοντι οὐδὲν δεινὸν ἐκ Πεισιστράτω. Καὶ τοὶ
ἕταροι δὲ ἑκάστοθεν πὰρ τὺ βασοῦνται.
Περίανδρος
93. When men are being bantered, do not laugh at their expense, or you will incur their hatred. Do not be arrogant in prosperity; if you fall into poverty, do not humble yourself. Know how to bear the changes of fortune with nobility.
He died at the ripe age of seventy; and the inscription over him is:
Here the wise Rhodian, Cleobulus, sleeps,
And o’er his ashes sea-proud Lindus weeps.
His apophthegm was: Moderation is best. And he wrote to Solon the following letter:
Cleobulus to Solon
“You have many friends and a home wherever you go; but the most suitable for Solon will, say I, be Lindus, which is governed by a democracy. The island lies on the high seas, and one who lives here has nothing to fear from Pisistratus. And friends from all parts will come to visit you.”
94 Περίανδρος Κυψέλου Κορίνθιος ἀπὸ τοῦ τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν γένους. Οὗτος γήμας Λυσίδην, ἣν αὐτὸς Μέλισσαν ἐκάλει, τὴν Προκλέους τοῦ Ἐπιδαυρίων τυράννου καὶ Ἐρισθενείας τῆς Ἀριστοκράτους παιδός, ἀδελφῆς δὲ Ἀριστοδήμου θυγατέρα, οἳ σχεδὸν πάσης Ἀρκαδίας ἐπῆρξαν, ὥς φησιν Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς ἐν τῷ Περὶ ἀρχῆς, παῖδας ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐποίησε δύο, Κύψελον καὶ Λυκόφρονα· τὸν μὲν νεώτερον συνετόν, τὸν δὲ πρεσβύτερον ἄφρονα. Χρόνῳ δὴ ὑπ’ ὀργῆς βαλὼν ὑποβάθρῳ ἢ λακτίσας τὴν γυναῖκα ἔγκυον οὖσαν ἀπέκτεινε, πεισθεὶς διαβολαῖς παλλακίδων, ἃς ὕστερον ἔκαυσε.
Τόν τε παῖδα ἀπεκήρυξεν εἰς Κέρκυραν λυπούμενον ἐπὶ τῇ μητρί, ᾧ ὄνομα Λυκόφρων.
94. Periander, the son of Cypselus, was born at Corinth, of the family of the Heraclidae. His wife was Lysida, whom he called Melissa. Her father was Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, her mother Eristheneia, daughter of Aristocrates and sister of Aristodemus, who together reigned over nearly the whole of Arcadia, as stated by Heraclides of Pontus in his book On Government . By her he had two sons, Cypselus and Lycophron, the younger a man of intelligence, the elder weak in mind.
95 Ἤδη δὲ ἐν γήρᾳ καθεστὼς μετεπέμπετο αὐτὸν ὅπως παραλάβῃ τὴν τυραννίδα· ὃν φθάσαντες οἱ Κερκυραῖοι διεχρήσαντο. Ὅθεν ὀργισθεὶς ἔπεμψε τοὺς παῖδας αὐτῶν πρὸς Ἀλυάττην ἐπ’ ἐκτομῇ· προσσχούσης δὲ τῆς νεὼς Σάμῳ, ἱκετεύσαντες τὴν Ἥραν ὑπὸ τῶν Σαμίων διεσώθησαν.
Καὶ ὃς ἀθυμήσας ἐτελεύτησεν, ἤδη γεγονὼς ἔτη ὀγδοήκοντα. Σωσικράτης δέ φησι πρότερον Κροίσου τελευτῆσαι αὐτὸν ἔτεσι τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἑνί, πρὸ τῆς τεσσαρακοστῆς ἐνάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος. Τοῦτον Ἡρόδοτος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ξένον φησὶν εἶναι Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλησίων τυράννῳ.
95. However, after some time, in a fit of anger, he killed his wife by throwing a footstool at her, or by a kick, when she was pregnant, having been egged on by the slanderous tales of concubines, whom he afterwards burnt alive.
When the son whose name was Lycophron grieved for his mother, he banished him to Corcyra. And when well advanced in years he sent for his son to be his successor in the tyranny; but the Corcyraeans put him to death before he could set sail. Enraged at this, he dispatched the sons of the Corcyraeans to Alyattes that he might make eunuchs of them; but, when the ship touched at Samos, they took sanctuary in the temple of Hera, and were saved by the Samians.
Periander lost heart and died at the age of eighty. Sosicrates’ account is that he died fortyone years before Croesus, just before the 49th Olympiad. Herodotus in his first book says that he was a guest-friend of Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus.
96 Φησὶ δὲ Ἀρίστιππος ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ παλαιᾶς τρυφῆς περὶ αὐτοῦ τάδε, ὡς ἄρα ἐρασθεῖσα ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ Κράτεια συνῆν αὐτῷ λάθρα· καὶ ὃς ἥδετο. Φανεροῦ δὲ γενομένου βαρὺς πᾶσιν ἐγένετο διὰ τὸ ἀλγεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ φωρᾷ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἔφορος ἱστορεῖ ὡς εὔξαιτο, εἰ νικήσειεν Ὀλύμπια τεθρίππῳ, χρυσοῦν ἀνδριάντα ἀναθεῖναι· νικήσας δὲ καὶ ἀπορῶν χρυσίου, κατά τινα ἑορτὴν ἐπιχώριον κεκοσμημένας ἰδὼν τὰς γυναῖκας πάντα ἀφείλετο τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἔπεμψε τὸ ἀνάθημα.
Λέγουσι δέ τινες ὡς θελήσας αὐτοῦ τὸν τάφον μὴ γνωσθῆναι, τοιοῦτόν τι ἐμηχανήσατο. Δυσὶν ἐκέλευσε νεανίσκοις, δείξας τινὰ ὁδόν, ἐξελθεῖν νύκτωρ καὶ τὸν ἀπαντήσαντα ἀνελεῖν καὶ θάψαι· ἔπειτα βαδίζειν ἄλλους τε κατὰ τούτων τέτταρας, καὶ ἀνελόντας θάψαι· πάλιν τε κατὰ τούτων πλείονας. Καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸς τοῖς πρώτοις ἐντυχὼν ἀνῃρέθη. Κορίνθιοι δὲ ἐπί τι κενοτάφιον ἐπέγραψαν αὐτῷ τόδε·
96. Aristippus in the first book of his work On the Luxury of the Ancients accuses him of incest with his own mother Crateia, and adds that, when the fact came to light, he vented his annoyance in indiscriminate severity. Ephorus records his now that, if he won the victory at Olympia in the chariot-race, he would set up a golden statue. When the victory was won, being in sore straits for gold, he despoiled the women of all the ornaments which he had seen them wearing at some local festival. He was thus enabled to send the votive offering.
There is a story that he did not wish the place where he was buried to be known, and to that end contrived the following device. He ordered two young men to go out at night by a certain road which he pointed out to them; they were to kill the man they met and bury him. He afterwards ordered four more to go in pursuit of the two, kill them and bury them; again, he dispatched a larger number in pursuit of the four. Having taken these measures, he himself encountered the first pair and was slain. The Corinthians placed the following inscription upon a cenotaph:
97 Πλούτου καὶ σοφίης πρύτανιν πατρὶς ἥδε Κόρινθος
κόλποις ἀγχιάλοις γῆ Περίανδρον ἔχει.
Ἔστι καὶ ἡμῶν·
Μή ποτε λυπήσῃ σε τὸ μή σε τυχεῖν τινος· ἀλλὰ
τέρπεο πᾶσιν ὁμῶς οἷσι δίδωσι θεός.
Καὶ γὰρ ἀθυμήσας ὁ σοφὸς Περίανδρος ἀπέσβη,
οὕνεκεν οὐκ ἔτυχεν πρήξιος ἧς ἔθελεν.
Τούτου ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ Μηδὲν χρημάτων ἕνεκα πράττειν· δεῖν γὰρ τὰ κερδαντὰ κερδαίνειν. Ἔποίησε δὲ καὶ ὑποθήκας εἰς ἔπη δισχίλια. Εἶπέ τε τοὺς μέλλοντας ἀσφαλῶς τυραννήσειν τῇ εὐνοίᾳ δορυφορεῖσθαι, καὶ μὴ τοῖς ὅπλοις. Καί ποτε ἐρωτηθεὶς διὰ τί τυραννεῖ, ἔφη, « Ὅτι καὶ τὸ ἑκουσίως ἀποστῆναι καὶ τὸ ἀφαιρεθῆναι κίνδυνον φέρει. » Ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ τάδε· καλὸν ἡσυχία· ἐπισφαλὲς προπέτεια· κέρδος αἰσχρόν· <...> δημοκρατία κρεῖττον τυραννίδος·
97. In mother earth here Periander lies,
The prince of sea-girt Corinth rich and wise.
My own epitaph on him is:
Grieve not because thou hast not gained thine end,
But take with gladness all the gods may send;
Be warned by Periander’s fate, who died
Of grief that one desire should be denied.
To him belongs the maxim: Never do anything for money; leave gain to trades pursued for gain. He wrote a didactic poem of 2000 lines. He said that those tyrants who intend to be safe should make loyalty their bodyguard, not arms. When some one asked him why he was tyrant, he replied, “Because it is as dangerous to retire voluntarily as to be dispossessed.” Here are other sayings of his: Rest is beautiful. Rashness has its perils. Gain is ignoble. Democracy is better than tyranny. Pleasures are transient, honours are immortal.
98 αἱ μὲν ἡδοναὶ φθαρταί, αἱ δὲ τιμαὶ ἀθάνατοι· εὐτυχῶν μὲν μέτριος ἴσθι, δυστυχῶν δὲ φρόνιμος· φίλοις εὐτυχοῦσι καὶ ἀτυχοῦσι ὁ αὐτὸς ἴσθι· ὃ ἂν ὁμολογήσῃς, διατήρει· λόγων ἀπορρήτων ἐκφορὰν μὴ ποιοῦ· μὴ μόνον τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μέλλοντας κόλαζε.
Οὗτος πρῶτος δορυφόρους ἔσχε, καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰς τυραννίδα μετέστησε· καὶ οὐκ εἴα ἐν ἄστει ζῆν τοὺς βουλομένους, καθά φησιν Ἔφορος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης. Ἤκμαζε δὲ περὶ τὴν τριακοστὴν ὀγδόην Ὀλυμπιάδα, καὶ ἐτυράννησεν ἔτη τετταράκοντα.
Σωτίων δὲ καὶ Ἡρακλείδης καὶ Παμφίλη ἐν τῷ πέμπτῳ τῶν Ὑπομνημάτων δύο φασὶ Περιάνδρους γεγονέναι, τὸν μὲν τύραννον, τὸν δὲ σοφὸν καὶ Ἀμβρακιώτην.
98. Be moderate in prosperity, prudent in adversity. Be the same to your friends whether they are in prosperity or in adversity. Whatever agreement you make, stick to it. Betray no secret. Correct not only the offenders but also those who are on the point of offending.
He was the first who had a bodyguard and who changed his government into a tyranny, and he would let no one live in the town without his permission, as we know from Ephorus and Aristotle.
He flourished about the 38th Olympiad and was tyrant for forty years.
Sotion and Heraclides and Pamphila in the fifth book of her Commentaries distinguish two Perianders, one a tyrant, the other a sage who was born in Ambracia.
99 Τοῦτο καὶ Νεάνθης φησὶν ὁ Κυζικηνός, ἀνεψιούς τε εἶναι ἀλλήλοις. Καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης μὲν τὸν Κορίνθιόν φησιν εἶναι τὸν σοφόν· Πλάτων δὲ οὔ φησιν.
Τούτου ἐστί· Μελέτη τὸ πᾶν. Ἤθελε δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν διορύξαι. Φέρεται δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπιστολή·
Περίανδρος τοῖς Σοφοῖς
Πολλὰ χάρις τῷ Πυθοῖ Ἀπόλλωνι τοῦ εἰς ἓν ἐλθόντας εὑρεῖν. Ἀξοῦντί
τε καὶ ἐς Κόρινθον ταὶ ἐμαὶ ἐπιστολαί. Ἐγὼν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀποδέχομαι, ὡς ἴστε
αὐτοί, ὅτι δαμοτικώτατα. Πεύθομαι ὡς πέρυτι ἐγένετο ὑμῶν ἁλία παρὰ
τὸν Λυδὸν ἐς Σάρδεις. Ἤδη ὦν μὴ ὀκνεῖτε καὶ παρ’ ἐμὲ φοιτῆν τὸν
Κορίνθου τύραννον. Ὑμᾶς γὰρ καὶ ἄσμενοι ὄψονται Κορίνθιοι φοιτεῦντας
ἐς οἶκον τὸν Περιάνδρου.
Περίανδρος Προκλεῖ
99. Neanthes of Cyzicus also says this, and adds that they were near relations. And Aristotle maintains that the Corinthian Periander was the sage; while Plato denies this.
His apophthegm is: Practice makes perfect. He planned a canal across the Isthmus.
A letter of his is extant:
Periander to the Wise Men
“Very grateful am I to the Pythian Apollo that I found you gathered together; and my letters will also bring you to Corinth, where, as you know, I will give you a thoroughly popular reception. I learn that last year you met in Sardis at the Lydian court. Do not hesitate therefore to come to me, the ruler of Corinth. The Corinthians will be pleased to see you coming to the house of Periander.”
Periander to Procles
100 Ἐμὶν μὲν ἀκούσιον τᾶς δάμαρτος τὸ ἄγος· τὺ δὲ ἑκὼν τῷ παιδί με ἄπο θυμοῦ ποιήσαις ἀδικεῖς. Ἢ ὦν παῦσον τὰν ἀπήνειαν τῶ παιδός, ἢ ἐγὼν τὺ ἀμυνοῦμαι. Καὶ γὰρ δὴν καὶ αὐτὸς ποινὰς ἔτισα τὶν τᾷ θυγατρί, συγκατακαύσαις αὐτᾷ τὰ πασᾶν Κορινθιᾶν εἵματα.
Ἔγραψε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Θρασύβουλος οὕτω·
Θρασύβουλος Περιάνδρῳ
Τῷ μὲν κήρυκι σεῦ οὐδὲν ὑπεκρινάμην· ἀγαγὼν δὲ αὐτὸν ἐς λήιον,
τοὺς ὑπερφυέας τῶν ἀσταχύων ῥάβδῳ παίων ἀπεθέριζον, ὁμαρτέοντος
ἐκείνου. Καί σοι ἀναγγελέει εἰ ἐπέροιο ὅ τι μευ ἀκούσειεν ἢ ἴδοι. Σὺ δὲ
ποίει οὕτως, ἤν γ’ ἐθέλῃς καρτύνασθαι τὴν αἰσυμνητίην· τοὺς ἐξόχους
τῶν πολιτέων ἐξαίρειν, ἤν τέ τις ἐχθρός τοι φαίνηται, ἤν τε μή. Ὕποπτος
γὰρ ἀνδρὶ αἰσυμνήτῃ καὶ τῶν τις ἑτάρων.
Ανάχαρσις
100. “The murder of my wife was unintentional; but yours is deliberate guilt when you set my son’s heart against me. Either therefore put an end to my son’s harsh treatment, or I will revenge myself on you. For long ago I made expiation to you for your daughter by burning on her pyre the apparel of all the women of Corinth.”
There is also a letter written to him by Thrasybulus, as follows:
Thrasybulus to Periander
“I made no answer to your herald; but I took him into a cornfield, and with a staff smote and cut off the over-grown ears of corn, while he accompanied me. And if you ask him what he heard and what he saw, he will give his message. And this is what you must do if you want to strengthen your absolute rule: put to death those among the citizens who are pre-eminent, whether they are hostile to you or not. For to an absolute ruler even a friend is an object of suspicion.”
101 Ἀνάχαρσις ὁ Σκύθης Γνούρου μὲν ἦν υἱός, ἀδελφὸς δὲ Καδουίδα τοῦ Σκυθῶν βασιλέως, μητρὸς δὲ Ἑλληνίδος· διὸ καὶ δίγλωττος ἦν. Οὗτος ἐποίησε τῶν τε παρὰ τοῖς Σκύθαις νομίμων καὶ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἰς εὐτέλειαν βίου καὶ τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον ἔπη ὀκτακόσια. Παρέσχε δὲ καὶ ἀφορμὴν παροιμίας διὰ τὸ παρρησιαστὴς εἶναι, τὴν ἀπὸ Σκυθῶν ῥῆσιν.
Λέγει δὲ αὐτὸν Σωσικράτης ἐλθεῖν εἰς Ἀθήνας κατὰ τὴν τεσσαρακοστὴν ἑβδόμην Ὀλυμπιάδα ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Εὐκράτους. Ἕρμιππος δὲ πρὸς τὴν Σόλωνος οἰκίαν ἀφικόμενον τῶν θεραπόντων τινὶ κελεῦσαι μηνῦσαι ὅτι παρείη πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἀνάχαρσις καὶ βούλοιτο αὐτὸν θεάσασθαι, ξένος τε, εἰ οἷόν τε, γενέσθαι.
101. Anacharsis the Scythian was the son of Gnurus and brother of Caduidas, king of Scythia. His mother was a Greek, and for that reason he spoke both languages. He wrote on the institutions of the Greeks and the Scythians, dealing with simplicity of life and military matters, a poem of 800 lines. So outspoken was he that he furnished occasion for a proverb, “To talk like a Scythian.”
Sosicrates makes him come to Athens about the 47th Olympiad in the archonship of Eucrates. Hermippus relates that on his arrival at the house of Solon he told one of the servants to announce that Anacharsis had come and was desirous of seeing him and, if possible, of becoming his guest.
102 Καὶ ὁ θεράπων εἰσαγγείλας ἐκελεύσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Σόλωνος εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ, ὅτιπερ ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις πατρίσι ξένους ποιοῦνται. Ἔνθεν ὁ Ἀνάχαρσις ἑλὼν ἔφη νῦν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι εἶναι καὶ προσήκειν αὐτῷ ξένους ποιεῖσθαι. Ὁ δὲ καταπλαγεὶς τὴν ἑτοιμότητα εἰσέφρησεν αὐτὸν καὶ μέγιστον φίλον ἐποιήσατο.
Μετὰ χρόνον δὲ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν Σκυθίαν καὶ δοκῶν τὰ νόμιμα παραλύειν τῆς πατρίδος πολὺς ὢν ἐν τῷ ἑλληνίζειν, τοξευθεὶς ἐν κυνηγεσίῳ πρὸς τἀδελφοῦ τελευτᾷ, εἰπὼν διὰ μὲν τὸν λόγον ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος σωθῆναι, διὰ δὲ τὸν φθόνον ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἀπολέσθαι. Ἔνιοι δὲ τελετὰς Ἑλληνικὰς ἐπιτελοῦντα διαχρησθῆναι. Καὶ ἔστιν ἡμῶν εἰς αὐτόν·
102. The servant delivered his message and was ordered by Solon to tell him that men as a rule choose their guests from among their own countrymen. Then Anacharsis took him up and said that he was now in his own country and had a right to be entertained as a guest. And Solon, struck with his ready wit, admitted him into his house and made him his greatest friend.
103 Ἐς Σκυθίην Ἀνάχαρσις ὅτ’ ἤλυθε, πολλὰ πλανηθεὶς
πάντας ἔπειθε βιοῦν ἤθεσιν Ἑλλαδικοῖς.
Τὸν δ’ ἔτι μῦθον ἄκραντον ἐνὶ στομάτεσσιν ἔχοντα
πτηνὸς ἐς ἀθανάτους ἥρπασεν ὦκα δόναξ.
Οὗτος τὴν ἄμπελον εἶπε τρεῖς φέρειν βότρυς· τὸν πρῶτον ἡδονῆς· τὸν δεύτερον μέθης· τὸν τρίτον ἀηδίας. Θαυμάζειν δὲ ἔφη πῶς παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀγωνίζονται μὲν οἱ τεχνῖται, κρίνουσι δὲ οἱ μὴ τεχνῖται. Ἐρωτηθεὶς πῶς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτό τις φιλοπότης, « Εἰ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν, » εἶπεν, « ἔχοι τὰς τῶν μεθυόντων ἀσχημοσύνας. » Θαυμάζειν τε ἔλεγε πῶς οἱ Ἕλληνες νομοθετοῦντες κατὰ τῶν ὑβριζόντων, τοὺς ἀθλητὰς τιμῶσιν ἐπὶ τῷ τύπτειν ἀλλήλους. Μαθὼν τέτταρας δακτύλους εἶναι τὸ πάχος τῆς νεώς, τοσοῦτον ἔφη τοῦ θανάτου τοὺς πλέοντας ἀπέχειν.
103. After a while Anacharsis returned to Scythia, where, owing to his enthusiasm for everything Greek, he was supposed to be subverting the national institutions, and was killed by his brother while they were out hunting together. When struck by the arrow he exclaimed, “My reputation carried me safe through Greece, but the envy it excited at home has been my ruin.” In some accounts it is said that he was slain while performing Greek rites.
Here is my own epitaph upon him:
Back from his travels Anacharsis came,
To hellenize the Scythians all aglow;
Ere half his sermon could their minds inflame,
A wingèd arrow laid the preacher low.
It was a saying of his that the vine bore three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the next of intoxication, and the third of disgust. He said he wondered why in Greece experts contend in the games and non-experts award the prizes. Being asked how one could avoid becoming a toper, he answered, “By keeping before your eyes the disgraceful exhibition made by the drunkard.” Again, he expressed surprise that the Greek lawgivers should impose penalties on wanton outrage, while they honour athletes for bruising one another. After ascertaining that the ship’s side was four fingers’ breadth in thickness, he remarked that the passengers were just so far from death.
104 Τὸ ἔλαιον μανίας φάρμακον ἔλεγε διὰ τὸ ἀλειφομένους τοὺς ἀθλητὰς ἐπιμαίνεσθαι ἀλλήλοις. « Πῶς, » ἔλεγεν, « ἀπαγορεύοντες τὸ ψεύδεσθαι ἐν ταῖς καπηλείαις φανερῶς ψεύδονται; » Καὶ θαυμάζειν φησὶ πῶς Ἕλληνες ἀρχόμενοι μὲν ἐν μικροῖς πίνουσι, πλησθέντες δὲ ἐν μεγάλοις. Ἑπιγράφεται δὲ αὐτοῦ ταῖς εἰκόσι· γλώσσης, γαστρός, αἰδοίων κρατεῖν. Ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ εἰσὶν ἐν Σκύθαις αὐλοί, εἶπεν, « Ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ἄμπελοι. » Ἐρωτηθεὶς τίνα τῶν πλοίων εἰσὶν ἀσφαλέστερα, ἔφη, « Τὰ νενεωλκημένα. » Καὶ τοῦτο ἔφη θαυμασιώτατον ἑωρακέναι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ὅτι τὸν μὲν καπνὸν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι καταλείπουσι, τὰ δὲ ξύλα εἰς τὴν πόλιν κομίζουσι. Ἐρωτηθεὶς πότεροι πλείους εἰσίν, οἱ ζῶντες ἢ οἱ νεκροί, ἔφη, « Τοὺς οὖν πλέοντας ποῦ τίθης; » Ὀνειδιζόμενος ὑπὸ Ἀττικοῦ ὅτι Σκύθης ἐστίν, ἔφη, « Ἀλλ’ ἐμοῦ μὲν ὄνειδος ἡ πατρίς, σὺ δὲ τῆς πατρίδος. »
104. Oil he called a drug which produced madness, because the athletes when they anoint themselves with it are maddened against each other. How is it, he asked, that the Greeks prohibit falsehood and yet obviously tell falsehoods in retail trade? Nor could he understand why at the beginning of their feasts they drink from small goblets and when they are “full” from large ones. The inscription on his statues is: “Bridle speech, gluttony, and sensuality.” Being asked if there were flutes in Scythia, he replied, “No, nor yet vines.” To the question what vessels were the safest his reply was, “Those which have been hauled ashore.” And he declared the strangest thing he had seen in Greece to be that they leave the smoke on the mountains and convey the fuel into the city. When some one inquired which were more in number, the living or the dead, he rejoined, “In which category, then, do you place those who are on the seas?” When some Athenian reproached him with being a Scythian, he replied, “Well, granted that my country is a disgrace to me, you are a disgrace to your country.”
105 Ἑρωτηθεὶς τί ἐστιν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθόν τε καὶ φαῦλον, ἔφη, « Γγλῶσσα. » Κρεῖττον ἔλεγεν ἕνα φίλον ἔχειν πολλοῦ ἄξιον ἢ πολλοὺς μηδενὸς ἀξίους. Τὴν ἀγορὰν ὡρισμένον ἔφη τόπον εἰς τὸ ἀλλήλους ἀπατᾶν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν. Ὑπὸ μειρακίου παρὰ πότον ὑβρισθεὶς ἔφη, « Μειράκιον, ἐὰν νέος ὢν τὸν οἶνον οὐ φέρῃς, γέρων γενόμενος ὕδωρ οἴσεις. »
Εὗρε δ’ εἰς τὸν βίον ἄγκυράν τε καὶ κεραμικὸν τροχόν, ὥς τινες.
Καὶ ἐπέστειλεν ὧδε·
Ἀνάχαρσις Κροίσῳ
Ἐγώ, βασιλεῦ Λυδῶν, ἀφῖγμαι εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων,
διδαχθησόμενος ἤθη τὰ τούτων καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα. Χρυσοῦ δ’ οὐδὲν
δέομαι, ἀλλ’ ἀπόχρη με ἐπανήκειν ἐς Σκύθας ἄνδρα ἀμείνονα. Ἥκω γοῦν
ἐς Σάρδεις, πρὸ μεγάλου ποιούμενος ἐν γνώμῃ τοι γενέσθαι.
Μύσων
105. To the question, “What among men is both good and bad?” his answer was “The tongue.” He said it was better to have one friend of great worth than many friends worth nothing at all. He defined the market as a place set apart where men may deceive and overreach one another. When insulted by a boy over the wine he said, “If you cannot carry your liquor when you are young, boy, you will be a water carrier when you are old.”
According to some he was the inventor of the anchor and the potter’s wheel.
To him is attributed the following letter:
Anacharsis to Croesus
“I have come, O King of the Lydians, to the land of the Greeks to be instructed in their manners and pursuits. And I am not even in quest of gold, but am well content to return to Scythia a better man. At all events here I am in Sardis, being greatly desirous of making your acquaintance.”
106 Μύσων Στρύμωνος, ὥς φησι Σωσικράτης Ἕρμιππον παρατιθέμενος, τὸ γένος Χηνεύς, ἀπὸ κώμης τινὸς Οἰταϊκῆς ἢ Λακωνικῆς, σὺν τοῖς ἑπτὰ καταριθμεῖται. Φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ τυράννου πατρὸς εἶναι. Λέγεται δὴ πρός τινος Ἀναχάρσιδος πυνθανομένου εἴ τις αὐτοῦ σοφώτερος εἴη, τὴν Πυθίαν εἰπεῖν ἅπερ προείρηται ἐν τῷ Θαλοῦ βίῳ ὑπὲρ Χίλωνος.
Οἰταῖον τινά φημι Μύσωνα ἐν Χηνὶ γενέσθαι
σοῦ μᾶλλον πραπίδεσσιν ἀρηρότα πευκαλίμῃσι.
Πολυπραγμονήσαντα δὲ ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν κώμην καὶ εὑρεῖν αὐτὸν θέρους ἐχέτλην ἀρότρῳ προσαρμόττοντα, καὶ εἰπεῖν, « Ἀλλ’, ὦ Μύσων, οὐχ ὥρα νῦν ἀρότρου. » « Καὶ μάλα, » εἶπεν, « ὥστε ἐπισκευάζειν. »
106. Myson was the son of Strymon, according to Sosicrates, who quotes Hermippus as his authority, and a native of Chen, a village in the district of Oeta or Laconia; and he is reckoned one of the Seven Sages. They say that his father was a tyrant. We are told by some one that, when Anacharsis inquired if there were anyone wiser than himself, the Pythian priestess gave the response which has already been quoted in the Life of Thales as her reply to a question by Chilon:
Myson of Chen in Oeta; this is he
Who for wiseheartedness surpasseth thee.
His curiosity aroused, Anacharsis went to the village in summer time and found him fitting a share to a plough and said, “Myson, this is not the season for the plough.” “It is just the time to repair it,” was the reply.
107 Ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν χρησμὸν οὕτως ἔχειν φασί, « Ἠτεῖόν τινά φημι· » καὶ ζητοῦσι τί ἐστιν ὁ Ἠτεῖος. Παρμενίδης μὲν οὖν δῆμον εἶναι Λακωνικῆς, ὅθεν εἶναι τὸν Μύσωνα. Σωσικράτης δ’ ἐν Διαδοχαῖς, ἀπὸ μὲν πατρὸς Ἠτεῖον εἶναι, ἀπὸ δὲ μητρὸς Χηνέα. Εὐθύφρων δ’ ὁ Ἡρακλείδου τοῦ Ποντικοῦ, Κρῆτά φησιν εἶναι· Ἠτείαν γὰρ πόλιν εἶναι Κρήτης. Ἀναξίλαος δ’ Ἀρκάδα.
Μέμνηται δ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἱππῶναξ εἰπών·
Καὶ Μύσων ὃν Ὡπόλλων
ἀνεῖπεν ἀνδρῶν σωφρονέστατον πάντων.
Ἀριστόξενος δέ φησιν ἐν τοῖς σποράδην οὐ πόρρω Τίμωνος αὐτὸν καὶ Ἀπημάντου γεγονέναι· μισανθρωπεῖν γάρ.
107. Others cite the first line of the oracle differently, “Myson of Chen in Etis,” and inquire what “Myson of Etis” means. Parmenides indeed explains that Etis is a district in Laconia to which Myson belonged. Sosicrates in his Successions of Philosophers makes him belong to Etis on the father’s side and to Chen on the mother’s. Euthyphro, the son of Heraclides of Pontus, declares that he was a Cretan, Eteia being a town in Crete. Anaxilaus makes him an Arcadian.
Myson is mentioned by Hipponax, the words being:
And Myson, whom Apollo’s self proclaimed
Wisest of all men.
Aristoxenus in his Historical Gleanings says he was not unlike Timon and Apemantus, for he was a misanthrope.
108 Ὀφθῆναι γοῦν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι μόνον ἐπ’ ἐρημίας γελῶντα· ἄφνω δέ τινος ἐπιστάντος καὶ πυθομένου διὰ τί μηδενὸς παρόντος γελᾷ, φάναι, « Δι’ αὐτὸ τοῦτο. » Φησὶ δ’ Ἀριστόξενος ὅτι ἔνθεν καὶ ἄδοξος ἦν, ὅτι μηδὲ πόλεως, ἀλλὰ κώμης, καὶ ταῦτα ἀφανοῦς. Ὅθεν διὰ τὴν ἀδοξίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ αὐτοῦ τινας Πεισιστράτῳ περιθεῖναι τῷ τυράννῳ, χωρὶς Πλάτωνος τοῦ φιλοσόφου. Μέμνηται γὰρ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὗτος ἐν τῷ Πρωταγόρᾳ, ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου θεὶς αὐτόν.
Ἔφασκε δὲ μὴ ἐκ τῶν λόγων τὰ πράγματα ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων τοὺς λόγους ζητεῖν· οὐ γὰρ ἕνεκα τῶν λόγων τὰ πράγματα συντελεῖσθαι, ἀλλ’ ἕνεκα τῶν πραγμάτων τοὺς λόγους. Κατέστρεψε δὲ βιοὺς ἔτη ἑπτὰ καὶ ἐνενήκοντα.
Επιμενίδης
108. At any rate he was seen in Lacedaemon laughing to himself in a lonely spot; and when some one suddenly appeared and asked him why he laughed when no one was near, he replied, “That is just the reason.” And Aristoxenus says that the reason why he remained obscure was that he belonged to no city but to a village and that an unimportant one. Hence because he was unknown, some writers, but not Plato the philosopher, attributed to Pisistratus the tyrant what properly belonged to Myson. For Plato mentions him in the Protagoras , reckoning him as one of the Seven instead of Periander.
He used to say we should not investigate facts by the light of arguments, but arguments by the light of facts; for the facts were not put together to fit the arguments, but the arguments to fit the facts.
He died at the age of ninety-seven.
109 Ἐπιμενίδης, καθά φησι Θεόπομπος καὶ ἄλλοι συχνοί, πατρὸς μὲν ἦν Φαιστίου, οἱ δὲ Δωσιάδα, οἱ δὲ Ἀγησάρχου. Κρὴς τὸ γένος ἀπὸ Κνωσοῦ, καθέσει τῆς κόμης τὸ εἶδος παραλλάσσων. Οὗτός ποτε πεμφθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς ἀγρὸν ἐπὶ πρόβατον, τῆς ὁδοῦ κατὰ μεσημβρίαν ἐκκλίνας ὑπ’ ἄντρῳ τινὶ κατεκοιμήθη ἑπτὰ καὶ πεντήκοντα ἔτη. Διαναστὰς δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐζήτει τὸ πρόβατον, νομίζων ἐπ’ ὀλίγον κεκοιμῆσθαι. Ὡς δὲ οὐχ εὕρισκε, παρεγένετο εἰς τὸν ἀγρόν, καὶ μετεσκευασμένα πάντα καταλαβὼν καὶ παρ’ ἑτέρῳ τὴν κτῆσιν, πάλιν ἧκεν εἰς ἄστυ διαπορούμενος. Κἀκεῖ δὲ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ εἰσιὼν οἰκίαν περιέτυχε τοῖς πυνθανομένοις τίς εἴη, ἕως τὸν νεώτερον ἀδελφὸν εὑρὼν τότε ἤδη γέροντα ὄντα, πᾶσαν ἔμαθε παρ’ ἐκείνου τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
109. Epimenides, according to Theopompus and many other writers, was the son of Phaestius; some, however, make him the son of Dosiadas, others of Agesarchus. He was a native of Cnossos in Crete, though from wearing his hair long he did not look like a Cretan. One day he was sent into the country by his father to look for a stray sheep, and at noon he turned aside out of the way, and went to sleep in a cave, where he slept for fifty-seven years. After this he got up and went in search of the sheep, thinking he had been asleep only a short time. And when he could not find it, he came to the farm, and found everything changed and another owner in possession. Then he went back to the town in utter perplexity; and there, on entering his own house, he fell in with people who wanted to know who he was. At length he found his younger brother, now an old man, and learnt the truth from him.
110 Γνωσθεὶς δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι θεοφιλέστατος εἶναι ὑπελήφθη.
Ὅθεν καὶ Ἀθηναίοις τότε λοιμῷ κατεχομένοις ἔχρησεν ἡ Πυθία καθῆραι τὴν πόλιν· οἱ δὲ πέμπουσι ναῦν τε καὶ Νικίαν τὸν Νικηράτου εἰς Κρήτην, καλοῦντες τὸν Ἐπιμενίδην. Καὶ ὃς ἐλθὼν Ὀλυμπιάδι τεσσαρακοστῇ ἕκτῃ ἐκάθηρεν αὐτῶν τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἔπαυσε τὸν λοιμὸν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον. Λαβὼν πρόβατα μελανά τε καὶ λευκὰ ἤγαγε πρὸς τὸν Ἄρειον πάγον. Κἀκεῖθεν εἴασεν ἰέναι οἷ βούλοιντο, προστάξας τοῖς ἀκολούθοις ἔνθα ἂν κατακλίνοι αὐτῶν ἕκαστον, θύειν τῷ προσήκοντι θεῷ· καὶ οὕτω λῆξαι τὸ κακόν. Ὅθεν ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν κατὰ τοὺς δήμους τῶν Ἀθηναίων βωμοὺς ἀνωνύμους, ὑπόμνημα τῆς τότε γενομένης ἐξιλάσεως. Οἱ δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν εἰπεῖν τοῦ λοιμοῦ τὸ Κυλώνειον ἄγος σημαίνειν τε τὴν ἀπαλλαγήν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀποθανεῖν δύο νεανίας, Κρατῖνον καὶ Κτησίβιον, καὶ λυθῆναι τὴν συμφοράν.
110. So he became famous throughout Greece, and was believed to be a special favourite of heaven.
Hence, when the Athenians were attacked by pestilence, and the Pythian priestess bade them purify the city, they sent a ship commanded by Nicias, son of Niceratus, to Crete to ask the help of Epimenides. And he came in the 46th Olympiad, purified their city, and stopped the pestilence in the following way. He took sheep, some black and others white, and brought them to the Areopagus; and there he let them go whither they pleased, instructing those who followed them to mark the spot where each sheep lay down and offer a sacrifice to the local divinity. And thus, it is said, the plague was stayed. Hence even to this day altars may be found in different parts of Attica with no name inscribed upon them, which are memorials of this atonement. According to some writers he declared the plague to have been caused by the pollution which Cylon brought on the city and showed them how to remove it. In consequence two young men, Cratinus and Ctesibius, were put to death and the city was delivered from the scourge.
111 Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τάλαντον ἐψηφίσαντο δοῦναι αὐτῷ καὶ ναῦν τὴν ἐς Κρήτην ἀπάξουσαν αὐτόν. Ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν ἀργύριον οὐ προσήκατο· φιλίαν δὲ καὶ συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο Κνωσίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων.
Καὶ ἐπανελθὼν ἐπ’ οἴκου μετ’ οὐ πολὺ μετήλλαξεν, ὥς φησι Φλέγων ἐν τῷ Περὶ μακροβίων βιοὺς ἔτη ἑπτὰ καὶ πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν· ὡς δὲ Κρῆτες λέγουσιν, ἑνὸς δέοντα τριακόσια· ὡς δὲ Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος ἀκηκοέναι φησί, τέτταρα πρὸς τοῖς πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν.
Ἐποίησε δὲ Κουρήτων καὶ Κορυβάντων γένεσιν καὶ θεογονίαν, ἔπη πεντακισχίλια, Ἀργοῦς ναυπηγίαν τε καὶ Ἰάσονος εἰς Κόλχους ἀπόπλουν ἔπη ἑξακισχίλια πεντακόσια.
111. The Athenians voted him a talent in money and a ship to convey him back to Crete. The money he declined, but he concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance between Cnossos and Athens.
So he returned home and soon afterwards died. According to Phlegon in his work On Longevity he lived one hundred and fifty-seven years; according to the Cretans two hundred and ninety-nine years. Xenophanes of Colophon gives his age as 154, according to hearsay.
He wrote a poem On the Birth of the Curetes and Corybantes and a Theogony , 5000 lines in all; another on the building of the Argo and Jason’s voyage to Colchis in 6500 lines.
112 Συνέγραψε δὲ καὶ καταλογάδην περὶ θυσιῶν καὶ τῆς ἐν Κρήτῃ πολιτείας καὶ περὶ Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδαμάνθυος εἰς ἔπη τετρακισχίλια. Ἱδρύσατο δὲ καὶ παρ’ Ἀθηναίοις τὸ ἱερὸν τῶν Σεμνῶν θεῶν, ὥς φησι Λόβων ὁ Ἀργεῖος ἐν τῷ Περὶ ποιητῶν. Λέγεται δὲ καὶ πρῶτος οἰκίας καὶ ἀγροὺς καθῆραι καὶ ἱερὰ ἱδρύσασθαι. Εἰσὶ δ’ οἳ μὴ κοιμηθῆναι αὐτὸν λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ χρόνον τινὰ ἐκπατῆσαι ἀσχολούμενον περὶ ῥιζοτομίαν.
Φέρεται δ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Σόλωνα τὸν νομοθέτην, περιέχουσα πολιτείαν ἣν διέταξε Κρησὶ Μίνως. Ἀλλὰ Δημήτριος ὁ Μάγνης ἐν τοῖς Περὶ ὁμωνύμων ποιητῶν τε καὶ συγγραφέων διελέγχειν πειρᾶται τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὡς νεαρὰν καὶ μὴ τῇ Κρητικῇ φωνῇ γεγραμμένην, Ἀτθίδι δὲ καὶ ταύτῃ νέᾳ. Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ ἄλλην εὗρον ἐπιστολὴν ἔχουσαν οὕτως·
Ἐπιμενίδης Σόλωνι
112. He also compiled prose works On Sacrifices and the Cretan Constitution , also On Minos and Rhadamanthus , running to about 4000 lines. At Athens again he founded the temple of the Eumenides, as Lobon of Argos tells us in his work On Poets . He is stated to have been the first who purified houses and fields, and the first who founded temples. Some are found to maintain that he did not go to sleep but withdrew himself for a while, engaged in gathering simples.
There is extant a letter of his to Solon the lawgiver, containing a scheme of government which Minos drew up for the Cretans. But Demetrius of Magnesia, in his work on poets and writers of the same name, endeavours to discredit the letter on the ground that it is late and not written in the Cretan dialect but in Attic, and New Attic too. However, I have found another letter by him which runs as follows:
Epimenides to Solon
113 Θάρρει, ὦ ἑταῖρε. Αἰ γὰρ ἔτι θητευόντεσσιν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ μὴ
εὐνομημένοις ἐπεθήκατο Πεισίστρατος, εἶχέ κα τὰν ἀρχὰν ἀεί,
ἀνδραποδιξάμενος τὼς πολιήτας· νῦν δὲ οὐ κακὼς ἄνδρας δουλῶται· τοὶ
μεμνάμενοι τᾶς Σόλωνος μανύσιος ἀλγιόντι πεδ’ αἰσχύνας οὐδὲ
ἀνεξοῦνται τυραννούμενοι. Ἀλλ’ αἴ κα Πεισίστρατος κατασχέθῃ τὰν
πόλιν, οὐ μὰν ἐς παῖδας τήνω ἔλπομαι τὸ κράτος ἵξεσθαι· δυσμάχανον
γὰρ ἀνθρώπως ἐλευθεριάξαντας ἐν τεθμοῖς ἀρίστοις δούλως ἦμεν. Τὺ δὲ
μὴ ἀλᾶσθαι, ἀλλ’ ἕρπε ἐς Κρήτην ποθ’ ἁμέ. Τουτᾶ γὰρ οὐκ ἐσεῖταί τιν
δεινὸς ὁ μόναρχος· αἰ δέ πη ἐπ’ ἀλατείᾳ ἐγκύρσωντί τοι τοὶ τήνω φίλοι,
δειμαίνω μή τι δεινὸν πάθῃς.
113. “Courage, my friend. For if Pisistratus had attacked the Athenians while they were still serfs and before they had good laws, he would have secured power in perpetuity by the enslavement of the citizens. But, as it is, he is reducing to subjection men who are no cowards, men who with pain and shame remember Solon’s warning and will never endure to be under a tyrant. But even should Pisistratus himself hold down the city, I do not expect that his power will be continued to his children; for it is hard to contrive that men brought up as free men under the best laws should be slaves. But, instead of going on your travels, come quietly to Crete to me; for here you will have no monarch to fear, whereas, if some of his friends should fall in with you while you are travelling about, I fear you may come to some harm.’
114 Καὶ οὗτος μὲν ὧδε. Φησὶ δὲ Δημήτριός τινας ἱστορεῖν ὡς λάβοι παρὰ Νυμφῶν ἔδεσμά τι καὶ φυλάττοι ἐν χηλῇ βοός· προσφερόμενός τε κατ’ ὀλίγον μηδεμιᾷ κενοῦσθαι ἀποκρίσει μηδὲ ὀφθῆναί ποτε ἐσθίων. Μέμνηται αὐτοῦ καὶ Τίμαιος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ. Λέγουσι δέ τινες ὅτι Κρῆτες αὐτῷ θύουσιν ὡς θεῷ· φασὶ γὰρ καὶ <προ>γνωστικώτατον γεγονέναι. Ἰδόντα γοῦν τὴν Μουνιχίαν παρ’ Ἀθηναίοις ἀγνοεῖν φάναι αὐτοὺς ὅσων κακῶν αἴτιον ἔσται τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον αὐτοῖς· ἐπεὶ κἂν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτὸ διαφορῆσαι· ταῦτα ἔλεγε τοσούτοις πρότερον χρόνοις. Λέγεται δὲ ὡς καὶ πρῶτος αὐτὸν Αἰακὸν λέγοι, καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις προείποι τὴν ὑπ’ Ἀρκάδων ἅλωσιν προσποιηθῆναί τε πολλάκις ἀναβεβιωκέναι.
114. This is the tenor of the letter. But Demetrius reports a story that he received from the Nymphs food of a special sort and kept it in a cow’s hoof; that he took small doses of this food, which was entirely absorbed into his system, and he was never seen to eat. Timaeus mentions him in his second book. Some writers say that the Cretans sacrifice to him as a god; for they say that he had superhuman foresight. For instance, when he saw Munichia, at Athens, he said the Athenians did not know how many evils that place would bring upon them; for, if they did, they would destroy it even if they had to do so with their teeth. And this he said so long before the event. It is also stated that he was the first to call himself Aeacus; that he foretold to the Lacedaemonians their defeat by the Arcadians; and that he claimed that his soul had passed through many incarnations.
115 Θεόπομπος δ’ ἐν τοῖς Θαυμασίοις, κατασκευάζοντος αὐτοῦ τὸ τῶν Νυμφῶν ἱερὸν ῥαγῆναι φωνὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, Ἐπιμενίδη, μὴ Νυμφῶν, ἀλλὰ Διός· Κρησί τε προειπεῖν τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων ἧτταν ὑπ’ Ἀρκάδων, καθάπερ προείρηται· καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐλήφθησαν πρὸς Ὀρχομενῷ.
Γηρᾶσαί τ’ ἐν τοσαύταις ἡμέραις αὐτὸν ὅσαπερ ἔτη κατεκοιμήθη· καὶ γὰρ τοῦτό φησι Θεόπομπος. Μυρωνιανὸς δὲ ἐν Ὁμοίοις φησὶν ὅτι Κούρητα αὐτὸν ἐκάλουν Κρῆτες· καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ φυλάττουσι Λακεδαιμόνιοι παρ’ ἑαυτοῖς κατά τι λόγιον, ὥς φησι Σωσίβιος ὁ Λάκων.
Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ Ἐπιμενίδαι ἄλλοι δύο, ὅ τε γενεαλόγος καὶ τρίτος ὁ Δωρίδι γεγραφὼς περὶ Ῥόδου.
Φερεκύδης
115. Theopompus relates in his Mirabilia that, as he was building a temple to the Nymphs, a voice came from heaven: “Epimenides, not a temple to the Nymphs but to Zeus,” and that he foretold to the Cretans the defeat of the Lacedaemonians by the Arcadians, as already stated; and in very truth they were crushed at Orchomenus.
And he became old in as many days as he had slept years; for this too is stated by Theopompus. Myronianus in his Parallels declares that the Cretans called him one of the Curetes. The Lacedaemonians guard his body in their own keeping in obedience to a certain oracle; this is stated by Sosibius the Laconian.
There have been two other men named Epimenides, namely, the genealogist and another who wrote in Doric Greek about Rhodes.
116 Φερεκύδης Βάβυος Σύριος, καθά φησιν Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν Διαδοχαῖς, Πιττακοῦ διακήκοεν. Τοῦτόν φησι Θεόπομπος πρῶτον περὶ φύσεως καὶ θεῶν [Ἕλλησι] γράψαι. Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ θαυμάσια λέγεται περὶ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν τῆς Σάμου περιπατοῦντα καὶ ναῦν οὐριοδρομοῦσαν ἰδόντα εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐ μετὰ πολὺ καταδύσεται· καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ καταδῦναι. Καὶ ἀνιμηθέντος ἐκ φρέατος ὕδατος πιόντα προειπεῖν ὡς εἰς τρίτην ἡμέραν ἔσοιτο σεισμός, καὶ γενέσθαι. Ἀνιόντα τε ἐξ Ὀλυμπίας εἰς Μεσσήνην τῷ ξένῳ Περιλάῳ συμβουλεῦσαι ἐξοικῆσαι μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων· καὶ τὸν μὴ πεισθῆναι, Μεσσήνην δὲ ἑαλωκέναι.
116. Pherecydes, the son of Babys, and a native of Syros according to Alexander in his Successions of Philosophers , was a pupil of Pittacus. Theopompus tells us that he was the first who wrote in Greek on nature and the gods.
Many wonderful stories are told about him. He was walking along the beach in Samos and saw a ship running before the wind; he exclaimed that in no long time she would go down, and, even as he watched her, down she went. And as he was drinking water which had been drawn up from a well he predicted that on the third day there would be an earthquake; which came to pass. And on his way from Olympia he advised Perilaus, his host in Messene, to move thence with all belonging to him; but Perilaus could not be persuaded, and Messene was afterwards taken.
117 Καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις εἰπεῖν μήτε χρυσὸν τιμᾶν μήτε ἄργυρον, ὥς φησι Θεόπομπος ἐν Θαυμασίοις· προστάξαι δὲ αὐτῷ ὄναρ τοῦτο τὸν Ἡρακλέα, ὃν καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς νυκτὸς τοῖς βασιλεῦσι κελεῦσαι Φερεκύδῃ πείθεσθαι. Ἔνιοι δὲ Πυθαγόρᾳ περιάπτουσι ταῦτα.
Φησὶ δ’ Ἕρμιππος πολέμου συνεστῶτος Ἐφεσίοις καὶ Μάγνησι βουλόμενον τοὺς Ἐφεσίους νικῆσαι πυθέσθαι τινὸς παριόντος πόθεν εἴη, τοῦ δ’ εἰπόντος « Ἐξ Ἐφέσου, » « Ἔλκυσόν με τοίνυν, » ἔφη, « τῶν σκελῶν καὶ θὲς εἰς τὴν τῶν Μαγνήτων χώραν, καὶ ἀπάγγειλόν σου τοῖς πολίταις μετὰ τὸ νικῆσαι αὐτόθι με θάψαι· ἐπεσκηφέναι τε ταῦτα Φερεκύδην. »
117. He bade the Lacedaemonians set no store by gold or silver, as Theopompus says in his Mirabilia . He told them he had received this command from Heracles in a dream; and the same night Heracles enjoined upon the kings to obey Pherecydes. But some fasten this story upon Pythagoras.
Hermippus relates that on the eve of war between Ephesus and Magnesia he favoured the cause of the Ephesians, and inquired of some one passing by where he came from, and on receiving the reply “From Ephesus,” he said, “Drag me by the legs and place me in the territory of Magnesia; and take a message to your countrymen that after their victory they must bury me there, and that this is the last injunction of Pherecydes.”
118 Ὁ μὲν <οὖν> ἀπήγγειλεν· οἱ δὲ μετὰ μίαν ἐπελθόντες κρατοῦσι τῶν Μαγνήτων, καὶ τόν τε Φερεκύδην μεταλλάξαντα θάπτουσι αὐτόθι καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῶς τιμῶσιν. Ἔνιοι δέ φασιν ἐλθόντα εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ Κωρυκίου ὄρους αὑτὸν δισκῆσαι. Ἀριστόξενος δ’ ἐν τῷ Περὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ τῶν γνωρίμων αὐτοῦ φησι νοσήσαντα αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Πυθαγόρου ταφῆναι ἐν Δήλῳ. Οἱ δὲ φθειριάσαντα τὸν βίον τελευτῆσαι· ὅτε καὶ Πυθαγόρου παραγενομένου καὶ πυνθανομένου πῶς διακέοιτο, διαβαλόντα τῆς θύρας τὸν δάκτυλον εἰπεῖν, « Χροῒ δῆλα· » καὶ τοὐντεῦθεν παρὰ τοῖς φιλολόγοις ἡ λέξις ἐπὶ τῶν χειρόνων τάττεται, οἱ δ’ ἐπὶ τῶν βελτίστων χρώμενοι διαμαρτάνουσιν.
118. The man gave the message; a day later the Ephesians attacked and defeated the Magnesians; they found Pherecydes dead and buried him on the spot with great honours. Another version is that he came to Delphi and hurled himself down from Mount Corycus. But Aristoxenus in his work On Pythagoras and his School affirms that he died a natural death and was buried by Pythagoras in Delos; another account again is that he died of a verminous disease, that Pythagoras was also present and inquired how he was, that he thrust his finger through the doorway and exclaimed, “My skin tells its own tale,” a phrase subsequently applied by the grammarians as equivalent to “getting worse,” although some wrongly understand it to mean “all is going well.”
119 Ἔλεγέ τε ὅτι οἱ θεοὶ τὴν τράπεζαν θυωρὸν καλοῦσιν.
Ἄνδρων δ’ ὁ Ἐφέσιός φησι δύο γεγονέναι Φερεκύδας Συρίους, τὸν μὲν ἀστρολόγον, τὸν δὲ θεολόγον υἱὸν Βάβυος, ᾧ καὶ Πυθαγόραν σχολάσαι. Ἐρατοσθένης δ’ ἕνα μόνον, καὶ ἕτερον Ἀθηναῖον, γενεαλόγον.
Σώζεται δὲ τοῦ Συρίου τό τε βιβλίον ὃ συνέγραψεν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή·
Ζὰς μὲν καὶ Χρόνος ἦσαν ἀεὶ καὶ Χθονίη· Χθονίῃ δὲ ὄνομα ἐγένετο
Γῆ ἐπειδὴ αὐτῇ Ζὰς γῆν γέρας διδοῖ.
Σώζεται δὲ καὶ ἡλιοτρόπιον ἐν Σύρῳ τῇ νήσῳ. Φησὶ δὲ Δοῦρις ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν Ὡρῶν ἐπιγεγράφθαι αὐτῷ τὸ ἐπίγραμμα τόδε·
119. He maintained that the divine name for “table” is θυωρός, or that which takes care of offerings.
Andron of Ephesus says that there were two natives of Syros who bore the name of Pherecydes: the one was an astronomer, the other was the son of Babys and a theologian, teacher of Pythagoras. Eratosthenes, however, says that there was only one Pherecydes of Syros, the other Pherecydes being an Athenian and a genealogist.
There is preserved a work by Pherecydes of Syros, a work which begins thus: “Zeus and Time and Earth were from all eternity, and Earth was called Γῆ because Zeus gave her earth (γῆ) as guerdon (γέρας).” His sun-dial is also preserved in the island of Syros.
Duris in the second book of his Horae gives the inscription on his tomb as follows:
120 Τῆς σοφίης πάσης ἐν ἐμοὶ τέλος· ἢν δέ τι πλεῖον
Πυθαγόρῃ τὠμῷ λέγε ταῦθ’ ὅτι πρῶτος ἁπάντων
ἔστιν ἀν’ Ἑλλάδα γῆν· οὐ ψεύδομαι ὧδ’ ἀγορεύων.
Ἴων δ’ ὁ Χῖός φησιν περὶ αὐτοῦ·
Ὥς ὃ μὲν ἠνορέῃ τε κεκασμένος ἠδὲ καὶ αἰδοῖ
καὶ φθίμενος ψυχῇ τερπνὸν ἔχει βίοτον,
εἴπερ Πυθαγόρης ἐτύμως ὁ σοφὸς περὶ πάντων
ἀνθρώπων γνώμας εἶδε καὶ ἐξέμαθεν.
Ἔστι καὶ ἡμῶν οὕτως ἔχον τῷ μέτρῳ τῷ Φερεκρατείῳ·
Τὸν κλεινὸν Φερεκύδην
ὃν τίκτει ποτὲ Σύρος
120. All knowledge that a man may have had I;
Yet tell Pythagoras, were more thereby,
That first of all Greeks is he; I speak no lie.
Ion of Chios says of him:
With manly worth endowed and modesty,
Though he be dead, his soul lives happily,
If wise Pythagoras indeed saw light
And read the destinies of men aright.
There is also an epigram of my own in the Pherecratean metre:
The famous Pherecydes, to whom Syros gave birth,
121 ἐς φθεῖρας λόγος ἐστὶν
ἀλλάξαι τὸ πρὶν εἶδος,
θεῖναί τ’ εὐθὺ κελεύειν
Μαγνήτων, ἵνα νίκην
δοίη τοῖς Ἐφέσοιο
γενναίοις πολιήταις.
Ἦν γὰρ χρησμός, ὃν ᾔδει
μοῦνος, τοῦτο κελεύων·
καὶ θνήσκει παρ’ ἐκείνοις.
Ἦν οὖν τοῦτ’ ἄρ’ ἀληθές·
ἢν ᾖ τις σοφὸς ὄντως,
καὶ ζῶν ἐστιν ὄνησις,
χὤταν μηκέθ’ ὑπάρχῃ.
Γέγονε δὲ κατὰ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν καὶ ἐνάτην Ὀλυμπιάδα. Καὶ ἐπέστειλεν ὧδε·
Φερεκύδης Θαλῇ
121. when his former beauty was consumed by vermin, gave orders that he should be taken straight to the Magnesian land in order that he might give victory to the noble Ephesians. There was an oracle, which he alone knew, enjoining this; and there he died among them. It seems then it is a true tale; if anyone is truly wise, he brings blessings both in his lifetime and when he is no more.
He lived in the 59th Olympiad. He wrote the following letter:
Pherecydes to Thales
122 Εὖ θνήσκοις ὅταν τοι τὸ χρεὼν ἥκῃ. Νοῦσός με καταλελάβηκε
δεδεγμένον τὰ παρὰ σέο γράμματα. Φθειρῶν ἔθυον πᾶς καί με εἶχεν
ἠπίαλος. Ἐπέσκηψα δ’ ὦν τοῖσιν οἰκιήτῃσιν, ἐπήν με καταθάψωσιν, ἐς σὲ
τὴν γραφὴν ἐνέγκαι. Σὺ δὲ ἢν δοκιμώσῃς σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις σοφοῖς, οὕτω
μιν φῆνον· ἢν δὲ οὐ δοκιμώσητε, μὴ φήνῃς. Ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὔκω :ἥνδανεν.
Ἔστι δὲ οὐκ ἀτρεκηίη πρηγμάτων οὐδ’ ὑπίσχομαι τἀληθὲς εἰδέναι· ἅσσα
δ’ ἂν ἐπιλέγῃ θεολογέων· τὰ ἄλλα χρὴ νοέειν· ἅπαντα γὰρ αἰνίσσομαι.
Τῇ δὲ νούσῳ πιεζόμενος ἐπὶ μᾶλλον οὔτε τῶν τινα ἰητρῶν οὔτε τοὺς
ἑταίρους ἐσιέμην· προσεστεῶσι δὲ τῇ θύρῃ καὶ εἰρομένοις ὁκοῖόν τι εἴη,
διεὶς δάκτυλον ἐκ τῆς κληίθρης ἔδειξ’ ἂν ὡς ἔθυον τοῦ κακοῦ. Καὶ προεῖπα
αὐτοῖσι ἥκειν ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίην ἐπὶ τὰς Φερεκύδεω ταφάς.
Καὶ οὗτοι μὲν οἱ κληθέντες σοφοί, οἷς τινες καὶ Πεισίστρατον τὸν τύραννον προσκαταλέγουσι. Λεκτέον δὲ περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων· καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἀρκτέον ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰωνικῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἧς καθηγήσατο Θαλῆς, οὗ διήκουσεν Ἀναξίμανδρος.
122. “May yours be a happy death when your time comes. Since I received your letter, I have been attacked by disease. I am infested with vermin and subject to a violent fever with shivering fits. I have therefore given instructions to my servants to carry my writing to you after they have buried me. I would like you to publish it, provided that you and the other sages approve of it, and not otherwise. For I myself am not yet satisfied with it. The facts are not absolutely correct, nor do I claim to have discovered the truth, but merely such things as one who inquires about the gods picks up. The rest must be thought out, for mine is all guess-work. As I was more and more weighed down with my malady, I did not permit any of the physicians or my friends to come into the room where I was, but, as they stood before the door and inquired how I was, I thrust my finger through the keyhole and showed them how plague-stricken I was; and I told them to come to-morrow to bury Pherecydes.”
So much for those who are called the Sages, with whom some writers also class Pisistratus the tyrant. I must now proceed to the philosophers and start with the philosophy of Ionia. Its founder was Thales, and Anaximander was his pupil.
Αναξίμανδρος
1 Ἀναξίμανδρος Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος. οὗτος ἔφασκεν ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖον τὸ ἄπειρον, οὐ διορίζων ἀέρα ἢ ὕδωρ ἢ ἄλλο τι. καὶ τὰ μὲν μέρη μεταβάλλειν, τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἀμετάβλητον εἶναι. μέσην τε τὴν γῆν κεῖσθαι, κέντρου τάξιν ἐπέχουσαν, οὖσαν σφαιροειδῆ· τήν τε σελήνην ψευδοφαῆ, καὶ ἀπὸ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον οὐκ ἐλάττονα τῆς γῆς, καὶ καθαρώτατον πῦρ.
Εὗρεν δὲ καὶ γνώμονα πρῶτος καὶ ἔστησεν ἐπὶ τῶν σκιοθήρων ἐν Λακεδαίμονι, καθά φησί Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, τροπάς τε καὶ ἰσημερίας σημαίνοντα· καὶ ὡροσκόπια κατεσκεύασε.
1. Anaximander, the son of Praxiades, was a native of Miletus. He laid down as his principle and element that which is unlimited without defining it as air or water or anything else. He held that the parts undergo change, but the whole is unchangeable; that the earth, which is of spherical shape, lies in the midst, occupying the place of a centre; that the moon, shining with borrowed light, derives its illumination from the sun; further, that the sun is as large as the earth and consists of the purest fire.
He was the first inventor of the gnomon and set it up for a sundial in Lacedaemon, as is stated by Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History , in order to mark the solstices and the equinoxes; he also constructed clocks to tell the time.
2 Καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης περίμετρον πρῶτος ἔγραψεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφαῖραν κατεσκεύασε.
Τῶν δὲ ἀρεσκόντων αὐτῷ πεποίηται κεφαλαιώδη τὴν ἔκθεσιν, ᾗ που περιέτυχεν καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος· ὃς καί φησίν αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ὀγδόης Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐτῶν εἶναι ἑξήκοντα τεττάρων καὶ μετ’ ὀλίγον τελευτῆσαι [ἀκμάσαντά πη μάλιστα κατὰ Πολυκράτην τὸν Σάμου τύραννον]. τούτου φασὶν ᾄδοντος καταγελάσαι τὰ παιδάρια, τὸν δὲ μαθόντα φάναι, “βέλτιον οὖν ἡμῖν ᾀστέον διὰ τὰ παιδάρια.”
Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ἀναξίμανδρος ἱστορικός, καὶ αὐτὸς Μιλήσιος, τῇ Ἰάδι γεγραφώς.
Αναξιμένης
2. He was the first to draw on a map the outline of land and sea, and he constructed a globe as well.
His exposition of his doctrines took the form of a summary which no doubt came into the hands, among others, of Apollodorus of Athens. He says in his Chronology that in the second year of the 58th Olympiad Anaximander was sixty-four, and that he died not long afterwards. Thus he flourished almost at the same time as Polycrates the tyrant of Samos. There is a story that the boys laughed at his singing, and that, when he heard of it, he rejoined, “Then to please the boys I must improve my singing.”
There is another Anaximander, also of Miletus, a historian who wrote in the Ionic dialect.
3 Ἀναξιμένης Εὐρυστράτου, Μιλήσιος, ἤκουσεν Ἀναξιμάνδρου. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ Παρμενίδου φασὶν ἀκοῦσαι αὐτόν. οὗτος ἀρχὴν ἀέρα εἶπε καὶ τὸ ἄπειρον. κινεῖσθαι δὲ τὰ ἄστρα οὐχ ὑπὸ γῆν, ἀλλὰ περὶ γῆν. κέχρηταί τε λέξει Ἰάδι ἁπλῇ καὶ ἀπερίττῳ.
Καὶ γεγένηται μέν, καθά φησίν Ἀπολλόδωρος, περὶ τὴν Σάρδεων ἅλωσιν, ἐτελεύτησε δὲ τῇ ἑξηκοστῇ τρίτῃ Ὀλυμπιάδι.
Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι δύο, Λαμψακηνοί, ῥήτωρ καὶ ἱστορικός, ὃς ἀδελφῆς υἱὸς ἦν τοῦ ῥήτορος τοῦ τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου πράξεις γεγραφότος.
Οὗτος δὴ ὁ φιλόσοφος, καὶ ἐπέστειλεν ὧδε·
Ἀναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ
3. Anaximenes, the son of Eurystratus, a native of Miletus, was a pupil of Anaximander. According to some, he was also a pupil of Parmenides. He took for his first principle air or that which is unlimited. He held that the stars move round the earth but do not go under it. He writes simply and unaffectedly in the Ionic dialect.
According to Apollodorus he was contemporary with the taking of Sardis and died in the 63rd Olympiad.
There have been two other men named Anaximenes, both of Lampsacus, the one a rhetorician who wrote on the achievements of Alexander, the other, the nephew of the rhetorician, who was a historian.
Anaximenes the philosopher wrote the following letters:
Anaximenes to Pythagoras
4 Θαλῆς Ἐξαμύου ἐπὶ γήρως οὐκ εὔποτμος οἴχεται· εὐφρόνης, ὥσπερ ἐώθει,
ἅμα τῇ ἀμφιπόλῳ προϊὼν ἐκ τοῦ αὐλίου τὰ ἄστρα ἐθηεῖτο· καὶ-οὐ γὰρ ἐς μνήμην
ἔθετο-θηεύμενος ἐς τὸ κρημνῶδες ἐκβὰς καταπίπτει. Μιλησίοισι μέν νυν ὁ αἰθερολόγος
ἐν τοιῷδε κεῖται τέλει. ἡμέες δὲ οἱ λεσχηνῶται αὐτοί τε μεμνώμεθα τοῦ ἀνδρός,
οἵ τε ἡμέων παῖδές τε καὶ λεσχηνῶται, ἐπιδεξιοίμεθα δ’ ἔτι τοῖς ἐκείνου λόγοις.
ἀρχὴ μέντοι παντὸς τοῦ λόγου Θαλῇ ἀνακείσθω.
4. “Thales, the son of Examyas, has met an unkind fate in his old age. He went out from the court of his house at night, as was his custom, with his maidservant to view the stars, and, forgetting where he was, as he gazed, he got to the edge of a steep slope and fell over. In such wise have the Milesians lost their astronomer. Let us who were his pupils cherish his memory, and let it be cherished by our children and pupils; and let us not cease to entertain one another with his words. Let all our discourse begin with a reference to Thales.”
And again:
Anaximenes to Pythagoras
5 Καὶ πάλιν·
Ἀναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ
Εὐβουλότατος ἦς ἡμέων, μεταναστὰς ἐκ Σάμου ἐς Κρότωνα, ἐνθάδε εἰρηνέεις.
οἱ δὲ Αἰακέος παῖδες ἄλαστα κακὰ ἔρδουσι καὶ Μιλησίους οὐκ ἐπιλείπουσι αἰσυμνῆται.
δεινὸς δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ Μήδων βασιλεύς, οὐκ ἤν γε ἐθέλωμεν δασμοφορέειν·
ἀλλὰ μέλλουσι δὴ ἀμφὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίης ἁπάντων Ἴωνες Μήδοις κατίστασθαι ἐς πόλεμον·
καταστᾶσι δὲ οὐκέτι ἐλπὶς ἡμῖν σωτηρίης.Κῶς ἂν οὖν Ἀναξιμένης ἐν θυμῷ ἔτι ἔχοι
αἰθερολογέειν, ἐν δείματι ἐὼν ὀλέθρου ἢ δουλοσύνης; σὺ δὲ εἶ καταθύμιος μὲν
Κροτωνιήτῃσι, καταθύμιος δὲ καὶ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι Ἰταλιώτῃσι·φοιτέουσι δέ τοι
λεσχηνῶται καὶ ἐκ Σικελίης.
Αναξαγόρας
5. “You were better advised than the rest of us when you left Samos for Croton, where you live in peace. For the sons of Aeaces work incessant mischief, and Miletus is never without tyrants. The king of the Medes is another terror to us, not indeed so long as we are willing to pay tribute; but the Ionians are on the point of going to war with the Medes to secure their common freedom, and once we are at war we have no more hope of safety. How then can Anaximenes any longer think of studying the heavens when threatened with destruction or slavery? Meanwhile you find favour with the people of Croton and with the other Greeks in Italy; and pupils come to you even from Sicily.”
6 Ἀναξαγόρας Ἡγησιβούλου ἢ Εὐβούλου, Κλαζομένιος. Οὗτος ἤκουσεν Ἀναξιμένους, καὶ πρῶτος τῇ ὕλῃ νοῦν ἐπέστησεν, ἀρξάμενος οὕτω τοῦ συγγράμματος, ὅ ἐστιν ἡδέως καὶ μεγαλοφρόνως ἡρμηνευμένον (DK 59 B 1)· « Πάντα χρήματα ἦν ὁμοῦ· » εἶτα νοῦς ἐλθὼν αὐτὰ διεκόσμησε. Παρὸ καὶ Νοῦς ἐπεκλήθη, καί φησί περὶ αὐτοῦ Τίμων ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις οὕτω·
Καί που Ἀναξαγόρην φάσ’ ἔμμεναι, ἄλκιμον ἥρω
Νοῦν, ὅτι δὴ νόος αὐτῷ, ὃς ἐξαπίνης ἐπεγείρας
πάντα συνεσφήκωσεν ὁμοῦ τεταραγμένα πρόσθεν.
6. Anaxagoras, the son of Hegesibulus or Eubulus, was a native of Clazomenae. He was a pupil of Anaximenes, and was the first who set mind above matter, for at the beginning of his treatise, which is composed in attractive and dignified language, he says, “All things were together; then came Mind and set them in order.” This earned for Anaxagoras himself the nickname of Nous or Mind, and Timon in his Silli says of him:
Then, I ween, there is Anaxagoras, a doughty champion, whom they call Mind, because forsooth his was the mind which suddenly woke up and fitted closely together all that had formerly been in a medley of confusion.
He was eminent for wealth and noble birth, and furthermore for magnanimity, in that he gave up his patrimony to his relations.
7 Οὗτος εὐγενείᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ διαφέρων ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεγαλοφροσύνῃ, ὅς γε τὰ πατρῷα τοῖς οἰκείοις παρεχώρησε. Αἰτιαθεὶς γὰρ ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀμελῶν, « Τί οὖν, » ἔφη, « οὐχ ὑμεῖς ἐπιμελεῖσθε; » Καὶ τέλος ἀπέστη καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν φυσικῶν θεωρίαν ἦν, οὐ φροντίζων τῶν πολιτικῶν. Ὅτε καὶ πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, « Οὐδέν σοι μέλει τῆς πατρίδος; », « Εὐφήμει, » ἔφη, « ἐμοὶ γὰρ καὶ σφόδρα μέλει τῆς πατρίδος, » Δείξας τὸν οὐρανόν.
Λέγεται δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ξέρξου διάβασιν εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν εἶναι, βεβιωκέναι δὲ ἑβδομήκοντα δύο. Φησὶ δ’ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν τῇ ἑβδομηκοστῇ Ὀλυμπιάδι, τεθνηκέναι δὲ τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει τῆς ὀγδοηκοστῆς ὀγδόης. Ἤρξατο δὲ φιλοσοφεῖν Ἀθήνησιν ἐπὶ Καλλίου, ἐτῶν εἴκοσιν ὤν, ὥς φησί Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῇ τῶν Ἀρχόντων ἀναγραφῇ, ἔνθα καί φασιν αὐτὸν ἐτῶν διατρῖψαι τριάκοντα.
7. For, when they accused him of neglecting it, he replied, “Why then do you not look after it?” And at last he went into retirement and engaged in physical investigation without troubling himself about public affairs. When some one inquired, “Have you no concern in your native land?” “Gently,” he replied, “I am greatly concerned with my fatherland,” and pointed to the sky.
He is said to have been twenty years old at the invasion of Xerxes and to have lived seventy-two years. Apollodorus in his Chronology says that he was born in the 70th Olympiad, and died in the first year of the 88th Olympiad. He began to study philosophy at Athens in the archonship of Callias when he was twenty; Demetrius of Phalerum states this in his list of archons; and at Athens they say he remained for thirty years.
8 Οὗτος ἔλεγε τὸν ἥλιον μύδρον εἶναι διάπυρον καὶ μείζω τῆς Πελοποννήσου· οἱ δέ φασι Τάνταλον· τὴν δὲ σελήνην οἰκήσεις ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λόφους καὶ φάραγγας. Ἀρχὰς δὲ τὰς ὁμοιομερείας· καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ψηγμάτων λεγομένων τὸν χρυσὸν συνεστάναι, οὕτως ἐκ τῶν ὁμοιομερῶν μικρῶν σωμάτων τὸ πᾶν συγκεκρίσθαι. Καὶ νοῦν μὲν ἀρχὴν κινήσεως· τῶν δὲ σωμάτων τὰ μὲν βαρέα τὸν κάτω τόπον ὡς τὴν γῆν, τὰ δὲ κοῦφα τὸν ἄνω ἐπισχεῖν ὡς τὸ πῦρ· ὕδωρ δὲ καὶ ἀέρα τὸν μέσον. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πλατείας οὔσης τὴν θάλασσαν ὑποστῆναι, διατμισθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου τῶν ὑγρῶν.
8. He declared the sun to be a mass of red-hot metal and to be larger than the Peloponnesus, though others ascribe this view to Tantalus; he declared that there were dwellings on the moon, and moreover hills and ravines. He took as his principles the homoeomeries or homogeneous molecules; for just as gold consists of fine particles which are called gold-dust, so he held the whole universe to be compounded of minute bodies having parts homogeneous to themselves. His moving principle was Mind; of bodies, he said, some, like earth, were heavy, occupying the region below, others, light like fire, held the region above, while water and air were intermediate in position. For in this way over the earth, which is flat, the sea sinks down after the moisture has been evaporated by the sun.
9 Τὰ δ’ ἄστρα κατ’ ἀρχὰς μὲν θολοειδῶς ἐνεχθῆναι, ὥστε κατὰ κορυφὴν τῆς γῆς τὸν ἀεὶ φαινόμενον εἶναι πόλον, ὕστερον δὲ τὴν ἔγκλισιν λαβεῖν. Καὶ τὸν γαλαξίαν ἀνάκλασιν εἶναι φωτὸς <τῶν ὑπὸ> ἡλίου μὴ καταλαμπομένων [τῶν] ἄστρων. Τοὺς δὲ κομήτας σύνοδον πλανητῶν φλόγας ἀφιέντων· τούς τε διᾴττοντας οἷον σπινθῆρας ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀποπάλλεσθαι. Ἀνέμους γίγνεσθαι λεπτυνομένου τοῦ ἀέρος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου. Βροντὰς σύγκρουσιν νεφῶν· ἀστραπὰς ἔκτριψιν νεφῶν· σεισμὸν ὑπονόστησιν ἀέρος εἰς γῆν. Ζῷα γίνεσθαι ἐξ ὑγροῦ καὶ θερμοῦ καὶ γεώδους, ὕστερον δὲ ἐξ ἀλλήλων· καὶ ἄρρενα μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν δεξιῶν, θήλεα δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀριστερῶν.
9. In the beginning the stars moved in the sky as in a revolving dome, so that the celestial pole which is always visible was vertically overhead; but subsequently the pole took its inclined position. He held the Milky Way to be a reflection of the light of stars which are not shone upon by the sun; comets to be a conjunction of planets which emit flames; shooting-stars to be a sort of sparks thrown off by the air. He held that winds arise when the air is rarefied by the sun’s heat; that thunder is a clashing together of the clouds, lightning their violent friction; an earthquake a subsidence of air into the earth.
Animals were produced from moisture, heat, and an earthy substance; later the species were propagated by generation from one another, males from the right side, females from the left.
10 Φασὶ δ’ αὐτὸν προειπεῖν τὴν περὶ Αἰγὸς ποταμοὺς γενομένην τοῦ λίθου πτῶσιν, ὃν εἶπεν ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου πεσεῖσθαι. Ὅθεν καὶ Εὐριπίδην, μαθητὴν ὄντα αὐτοῦ, χρυσέαν βῶλον εἰπεῖν τὸν ἥλιον ἐν τῷ Φαέθοντι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν ἐλθόντα ἐν δερματίνῳ καθίσαι, ὡς μέλλοντος ὕσειν· καὶ γενέσθαι. Πρός τε τὸν εἰπόντα, εἰ τὰ ἐν Λαμψάκῳ ὄρη ἔσται ποτὲ θάλαττα, φασὶν εἰπεῖν, « Εάν γε ὁ χρόνος μὴ ἐπιλίπῃ. » Ἐρωτηθείς ποτε εἰς τί γεγέννηται, « Εἰς θεωρίαν, » ἔφη, « ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ οὐρανοῦ. » Πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, « Ἐστερήθης Ἀθηναίων, » « Οὐ μὲν οὖν, » ἔφη, « ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνοι ἐμοῦ. » Ἰδὼν τὸν Μαυσώλου τάφον ἔφη, « Τάφος πολυτελὴς λελιθωμένης ἐστὶν οὐσίας εἴδωλον. »
10. There is a story that he predicted the fall of the meteoric stone at Aegospotami, which he said would fall from the sun. Hence Euripides, who was his pupil, in the Phathon calls the sun itself a “golden clod.” Furthermore, when he went to Olympia, he sat down wrapped in a sheep-skin cloak as if it were going to rain; and the rain came. When some one asked him if the hills at Lampsacus would ever become sea, he replied, “Yes, it only needs time.” Being asked to what end he had been born, he replied, “To study sun and moon and heavens.” To one who inquired, “You miss the society of the Athenians?” his reply was, “Not I, but they miss mine.” When he saw the tomb of Mausolus, he said, “A costly tomb is an image of an estate turned into stone.”
11 Πρὸς τὸν δυσφοροῦντα ὅτι ἐπὶ ξένης τελευτᾷ, « Πανταχόθεν, » ἔφη, « ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ εἰς ᾅδου κατάβασις. »
Δοκεῖ δὲ πρῶτος, καθά φησί Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, τὴν Ὁμήρου ποίησιν ἀποφήνασθαι εἶναι περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ δικαιοσύνης· ἐπὶ πλεῖον δὲ προστῆναι τοῦ λόγου Μητρόδωρον τὸν Λαμψακηνόν, γνώριμον ὄντα αὐτοῦ, ὃν καὶ πρῶτον σπουδάσαι τοῦ ποιητοῦ περὶ τὴν φυσικὴν πραγματείαν.
Πρῶτος δὲ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ βιβλίον ἐξέδωκε συγγραφῆς. Φησὶ δὲ Σιληνὸς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Δημύλου λίθον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πεσεῖν·
11. To one who complained that he was dying in a foreign land, his answer was, “The descent to Hades is much the same from whatever place we start.”
Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History says Anaxagoras was the first to maintain that Homer in his poems treats of virtue and justice, and that this thesis was defended at greater length by his friend Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who was the first to busy himself with Homer’s physical doctrine. Anaxagoras was also the first to publish a book with diagrams. Silenus in the first book of his History gives the archonship of Demylus as the date when the meteoric stone fell,
12 τὸν δὲ Ἀναξαγόραν εἰπεῖν ὡς ὅλος ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐκ λίθων συγκέοιτο· τῇ σφοδρᾷ δὲ περιδινήσει συνεστάναι καὶ ἀνεθέντα κατενεχθήσεσθαι.
Περὶ δὲ τῆς δίκης αὐτοῦ διάφορα λέγεται. Σωτίων μὲν γάρ φησίν ἐν τῇ Διαδοχῇ τῶν φιλοσόφων ὑπὸ Κλέωνος αὐτὸν ἀσεβείας κριθῆναι, διότι τὸν ἥλιον μύδρον ἔλεγε διάπυρον· ἀπολογησαμένου δὲ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ Περικλέους τοῦ μαθητοῦ, πέντε ταλάντοις ζημιωθῆναι καὶ φυγαδευθῆναι. Σάτυρος δ’ ἐν τοῖς Βίοις ὑπὸ Θουκυδίδου φησὶν εἰσαχθῆναι τὴν δίκην, ἀντιπολιτευομένου τῷ Περικλεῖ· καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀσεβείας ἀλλὰ καὶ μηδισμοῦ· καὶ ἀπόντα καταδικασθῆναι θανάτῳ.
12. and says that Anaxagoras declared the whole firmament to be made of stones; that the rapidity of rotation caused it to cohere; and that if this were relaxed it would fall.
Of the trial of Anaxagoras different accounts are given. Sotion in his Succession of the Philosophers says that he was indicted by Cleon on a charge of impiety, because he declared the sun to be a mass of red-hot metal; that his pupil Pericles defended him, and he was fined five talents and banished. Satyrus in his Lives says that the prosecutor was Thucydides, the opponent of Pericles, and the charge one of treasonable correspondence with Persia as well as of impiety; and that sentence of death was passed on Anaxagoras by default.
13 Ὅτε καὶ ἀμφοτέρων αὐτῷ προσαγγελέντων, τῆς τε καταδίκης καὶ τῆς τῶν παίδων τελευτῆς, εἰπεῖν περὶ μὲν τῆς καταδίκης, ὅτι ἄρα « Κἀκείνων κἀμοῦ πάλαι ἡ φύσις κατεψηφίσατο, » περὶ δὲ τῶν παίδων, ὅτι « Ἤδειν αὐτοὺς θνητοὺς γεννήσας. » Οἱ δ’ εἰς Σόλωνα τοῦτ’ ἀναφέρουσιν, ἄλλοι εἰς Ξενοφῶντα. Τοῦτον δὲ καὶ θάψαι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶν αὐτοὺς Δημήτριός φησίν ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῷ Περὶ γήρως. Ἕρμιππος δ’ ἐν τοῖς Βίοις φησὶν ὅτι καθείρχθη ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τεθνηξόμενος. Περικλῆς δὲ παρελθὼν εἶπεν εἴ τι ἔχουσιν ἐγκαλεῖν αὑτῷ κατὰ τὸν βίον· οὐδὲν δὲ εἰπόντων, « Καὶ μὴν ἐγώ, » ἔφη, « τούτου μαθητής εἰμι· μὴ οὖν διαβολαῖς ἐπαρθέντες ἀποκτείνητε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ’ ἐμοὶ πεισθέντες ἄφετε. » Καὶ ἀφείθη· οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν δὲ τὴν ὕβριν ἑαυτὸν ἐξήγαγεν.
13. When news was brought him that he was condemned and his sons were dead, his comment on the sentence was, “Long ago nature condemned both my judges and myself to death”; and on his sons, “I knew that my children were born to die.” Some, however, tell this story of Solon, and others of Xenophon. That he buried his sons with his own hands is asserted by Demetrius of Phalerum in his work On Old Age . Hermippus in his Lives says that he was confined in the prison pending his execution; that Pericles came forward and asked the people whether they had any fault to find with him in his own public career; to which they replied that they had not. “Well,” he continued, “I am a pupil of Anaxagoras; do not then be carried away by slanders and put him to death. Let me prevail upon you to release him.” So he was released; but he could not brook the indignity he had suffered and committed suicide.
14 Ἱερώνυμος δ’ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν Σποράδην ὑπομνημάτων φησὶν ὅτι ὁ Περικλῆς παρήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ δικαστήριον διερρυηκότα καὶ λεπτὸν ὑπὸ νόσου, ὥστε ἐλέῳ μᾶλλον ἢ κρίσει ἀφεθῆναι. Καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τῆς δίκης αὐτοῦ τοσαῦτα.
Ἔδοξε δέ πως καὶ Δημοκρίτῳ ἀπεχθῶς ἐσχηκέναι ἀποτυχὼν τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν κοινολογίας. Καὶ τέλος ἀποχωρήσας εἰς Λάμψακον αὐτόθι κατέστρεψεν. Ὅτε καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῆς πόλεως ἀξιούντων τί βούλεται αὐτῷ γενέσθαι, φάναι, « Τοὺς παῖδας ἐν ᾧ ἂν ἀποθάνῃ μηνὶ κατ’ ἔτος παίζειν συγχωρεῖν. » Καὶ φυλάττεται τὸ ἔθος καὶ νῦν.
14. Hieronymus in the second book of his Scattered Notes states that Pericles brought him into court so weak and wasted from illness that he owed his acquittal not so much to the merits of his case as to the sympathy of the judges. So much then on the subject of his trial.
He was supposed to have borne Democritus a grudge because he had failed to get into communication with him. At length he retired to Lampsacus and there died. And when the magistrates of the city asked if there was anything he would like done for him, he replied that he would like them to grant an annual holiday to the boys in the month in which he died; and the custom is kept up to this day.
15 Τελευτήσαντα δὴ αὐτὸν ἔθαψαν ἐντίμως οἱ Λαμψακηνοὶ καὶ ἐπέγραψαν.
Ἐνθάδε, πλεῖστον ἀληθείας ἐπὶ τέρμα περήσας
οὐρανίου κόσμου, κεῖται Ἀναξαγόρας.
Ἔστι καὶ ἡμῶν εἰς αὐτόν·
Ἠέλιον πυρόεντα μύδρον ποτὲ φάσκεν ὑπάρχειν,
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θανεῖν μέλλεν Ἀναξαγόρας·
ἀλλ’ ὁ φίλος Περικλῆς μὲν ἐρύσατο τοῦτον, ὁ δ’ αὑτὸν
ἐξάγαγεν βιότου μαλθακίῃ σοφίης.
Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι τρεῖς Ἀναξαγόραι, ὧν [ἐν οὐδενὶ πάντα, ἀλλ’] ὁ μὲν ἦν ῥήτωρ, Ἰσοκράτειος· ὁ δ’ ἀνδριαντοποιός, οὗ μέμνηται Ἀντίγονος· ἄλλος γραμματικὸς Ζηνοδότειος.
Αρχέλαος
15. So, when he died, the people of Lampsacus gave him honourable burial and placed over his grave the following inscription:
Here Anaxagoras, who in his quest
Of truth scaled heaven itself, is laid to rest.
I also have written an epigram upon him:
The sun’s a molten mass,
Quoth Anaxagoras;
This is his crime, his life must pay the price.
Pericles from that fate
Rescued his friend too late;
His spirit crushed, by his own hand he dies.
There have been three other men who bore the name of Anaxagoras [of whom no other writer gives a complete list]. The first was a rhetorician of the school of Isocrates; the second a sculptor, mentioned by Antigonus; the third a grammarian, pupil of Zenodotus.
16 Ἀρχέλαος Ἀθηναῖος ἢ Μιλήσιος, πατρὸς Ἀπολλοδώρου, ὡς δέ τινες, Μίδωνος, μαθητὴς Ἀναξαγόρου, διδάσκαλος Σωκράτους. Οὗτος πρῶτος ἐκ τῆς Ἰωνίας τὴν φυσικὴν φιλοσοφίαν μετήγαγεν Ἀθήναζε, καὶ ἐκλήθη φυσικός, παρὸ καὶ ἔληξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ἡ φυσικὴ φιλοσοφία, Σωκράτους τὴν ἠθικὴν εἰσαγαγόντος. Ἔοικεν δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἅψασθαι τῆς ἠθικῆς. Καὶ γὰρ περὶ νόμων πεφιλοσόφηκε καὶ καλῶν καὶ δικαίων· παρ’ οὗ λαβὼν Σωκράτης τῷ αὐξῆσαι εἰς τὸ <ἄκρον> εὑρεῖν ὑπελήφθη. Ἔλεγε δὲ δύο αἰτίας εἶναι γενέσεως, θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρόν. Καὶ τὰ ζῷα ἀπὸ τῆς ἰλύος γεννηθῆναι· καὶ τὸ δίκαιον εἶναι καὶ τὸ αἰσχρὸν οὐ φύσει ἀλλὰ νόμῳ.
16. Archelaus, the son of Apollodorus, or as some say of Midon, was a citizen of Athens or of Miletus; he was a pupil of Anaxagoras, who first brought natural philosophy from Ionia to Athens. Archelaus was the teacher of Socrates. He was called the physicist inasmuch as with him natural philosophy came to an end, as soon as Socrates had introduced ethics. It would seem that Archelaus himself also treated of ethics, for he has discussed laws and goodness and justice; Socrates took the subject from him and, having improved it to the utmost, was regarded as its inventor. Archelaus laid down that there were two causes of growth or becoming, heat and cold; that living things were produced from slime; and that what is just and what is base depends not upon nature but upon convention.
17 Ὁ δὲ λόγος αὐτῷ οὕτως ἔχει. Τηκόμενόν φησί τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ, καθὸ μὲν εἰς τὸ <μέσον διὰ τὸ> πυρῶδες συνίσταται, ποιεῖν γῆν· καθὸ δὲ περιρρεῖ, ἀέρα γεννᾶν. Ὅθεν ἡ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος, ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς περιφορᾶς κρατεῖται. Γεννᾶσθαι δέ φησί τὰ ζῷα ἐκ θερμῆς τῆς γῆς καὶ ἰλὺν παραπλησίαν γάλακτι οἷον τροφὴν ἀνιείσης· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ποιῆσαι. Πρῶτος δὲ εἶπε φωνῆς γένεσιν τὴν τοῦ ἀέρος πλῆξιν. Τὴν δὲ θάλατταν ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις διὰ τῆς γῆς ἠθουμένην συνεστάναι. Μέγιστον τῶν ἄστρων τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἄπειρον.
Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι τρεῖς Ἀρχέλαοι· ὁ χωρογράφος τῆς ὑπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου πατηθείσης γῆς, ὁ τὰ Ἰδιοφυῆ ποιήσας, ἄλλος τεχνογράφος ῥήτωρ.
Σωκράτης
17. His theory is to this effect. Water is melted by heat and produces on the one hand earth in so far as by the action of fire it sinks and coheres, while on the other hand it generates air in so far as it overflows on all sides. Hence the earth is confined by the air, and the air by the circumambient fire. Living things, he holds, are generated from the earth when it is heated and throws off slime of the consistency of milk to serve as a sort of nourishment, and in this same way the earth produced man. He was the first who explained the production of sound as being the concussion of the air, and the formation of the sea in hollow places as due to its filtering through the earth. He declared the sun to be the largest of the heavenly bodies and the universe to be unlimited.
There have been three other men who bore the name of Archelaus: the topographer who described the countries traversed by Alexander; the author of a treatise on Natural Curiosities ; and lastly a rhetorician who wrote a handbook on his art.
18 Σωκράτης Σωφρονίσκου μὲν ἦν υἱὸς λιθουργοῦ καὶ Φαιναρέτης μαίας, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Θεαιτήτῳ (149a) φησίν, Ἀθηναῖος, τῶν δήμων Ἀλωπεκῆθεν. Ἐδόκει δὲ συμποιεῖν Εὐριπίδῃ· ὅθεν Μνησίλοχος οὕτω φησί·
Φρύγες ἐστὶ καινὸν δρᾶμα τοῦτ’ Εὐριπίδου,
... ᾧ καὶ Σωκράτης
τὰ φρύγαν’ ὑποτίθησι.
Καὶ πάλιν, « Εὐριπίδας σωκρατογόμφους. » Καὶ Καλλίας Πεδήταις·
(Α.) Τί δὴ σὺ σεμνὴ καὶ φρονεῖς οὕτω μέγα;
(Β.) Ἔξεστι γάρ μοι· Σωκράτης γὰρ αἴτιος.
Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις·
Εὐριπίδῃ δ’ ὁ τὰς τραγῳδίας ποιῶν
τὰς περιλαλούσας οὗτός ἐστι, τὰς σοφάς.
18. Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and of Phaenarete, a midwife, as we read in the Theaetetus of Plato; he was a citizen of Athens and belonged to the deme Alopece. It was thought that he helped Euripides to make his plays; hence Mnesimachus writes:
This new play of Euripides is The Phrygians ; and Socrates provides the wood for frying.
And again he calls Euripides “an engine riveted by Socrates.” And Callias in The Captives :
a. Pray why so solemn, why this lofty air?
b. I’ve every right; I’m helped by Socrates.
Aristophanes in The Clouds :
’Tis he composes for Euripides
Those clever plays, much sound and little sense.
19 Ἀκούσας δὲ Ἀναξαγόρου κατά τινας, ἀλλὰ καὶ Δάμωνος, ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν Διαδοχαῖς, μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου καταδίκην διήκουσεν Ἀρχελάου τοῦ φυσικοῦ· οὗ καὶ παιδικὰ γενέσθαι φησὶν Ἀριστόξενος. Δοῦρις δὲ καὶ δουλεῦσαι αὐτὸν καὶ ἐργάσασθαι λίθους· εἶναί τε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐν ἀκροπόλει Χάριτας ἔνιοί φασιν, ἐνδεδυμένας οὔσας. Ὅθεν καὶ Τίμωνα ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις εἰπεῖν·
Ἐκ δ’ ἄρα τῶν ἀπέκλινεν ὁ λαξόος, ἐννομολέσχης,
Ἑλλήνων ἐπαοιδός, ἀκριβολόγους ἀποφήνας,
μυκτὴρ ῥητορόμυκτος, ὑπαττικὸς εἰρωνευτής.
Ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ῥητορικοῖς δεινός, ὥς φησί καὶ Ἰδομενεύς· ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τριάκοντα αὐτὸν ἐκώλυσαν τέχνας διδάσκειν λόγων, ὥς φησί Ξενοφῶν.
19. According to some authors he was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and also of Damon, as Alexander states in his Successions of Philosophers . When Anaxagoras was condemned, he became a pupil of Archelaus the physicist; Aristoxenus asserts that Archelaus was very fond of him. Duris makes him out to have been a slave and to have been employed on stonework, and the draped figures of the Graces on the Acropolis have by some been attributed to him. Hence the passage in Timon’s Silli :
From these diverged the sculptor, a prater about laws, the enchanter of Greece, inventor of subtle arguments, the sneerer who mocked at fine speeches, half-Attic in his mock humility.
He was formidable in public speaking, according to Idomeneus;
20 Καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης αὐτὸν κωμῳδεῖ ὡς τὸν ἥττω λόγον κρείττω ποιοῦντα. Καὶ γὰρ πρῶτος, ὥς φησί Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, μετὰ τοῦ μαθητοῦ Αἰσχίνου ῥητορεύειν ἐδίδαξε· λέγει δὲ τοῦτο καὶ Ἰδομενεὺς ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν Σωκρατικῶν. Καὶ πρῶτος περὶ βίου διελέχθη καὶ πρῶτος φιλοσόφων καταδικασθεὶς ἐτελεύτα. Φησὶ δ’ αὐτὸν Ἀριστόξενος ὁ Σπινθάρου καὶ χρηματίσασθαι. Τιθέντα γοῦν τὸ βαλλόμενον κέρμα ἀθροίζειν· εἶτ’ ἀναλώσαντα πάλιν τιθέναι.
Κρίτωνα δ’ ἀναστῆσαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐργαστηρίου καὶ παιδεῦσαι τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν χάριτος ἐρασθέντα Δημήτριός φησίν ὁ Βυζάντιος.
20. moreover, as Xenophon tells us, the Thirty forbade him to teach the art of words. And Aristophanes attacks him in his plays for making the worse appear the better reason. For Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History says Socrates and his pupil Aeschines were the first to teach rhetoric; and this is confirmed by Idomeneus in his work on the Socratic circle. Again, he was the first who discoursed on the conduct of life, and the first philosopher who was tried and put to death. Aristoxenus, the son of Spintharus, says of him that he made money; he would at all events invest sums, collect the interest accruing, and then, when this was expended, put out the principal again.
Demetrius of Byzantium relates that Crito removed him from his workshop and educated him, being struck by his beauty of soul;
21 Γνόντα δὲ τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν μηδὲν εἶναι πρὸς ἡμᾶς, τὰ ἠθικὰ φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπί τε τῶν ἐργαστηρίων καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ· κἀκεῖνα δὲ φάσκειν ζητεῖν,
Ὅττι τοι ἐν μεγάροισι κακόν τ’ ἀγαθόν τε τέτυκται.
Πολλάκις δὲ βιαιότερον ἐν ταῖς ζητήσεσι διαλεγόμενον κονδυλίζεσθαι καὶ παρατίλλεσθαι, τὸ πλέον τε γελᾶσθαι καταφρονούμενον· καὶ πάντα ταῦτα φέρειν ἀνεξικάκως. Ὅθεν καὶ λακτισθέντα, ἐπειδὴ ἠνέσχετο, τινὸς θαυμάσαντος, εἰπεῖν, « Εἰ δέ με ὄνος ἐλάκτισε, δίκην ἂν αὐτῷ ἐλάγχανον; » Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Δημήτριος.
21. that he discussed moral questions in the workshops and the market-place, being convinced that the study of nature is no concern of ours; and that he claimed that his inquiries embraced
Whatso’er is good or evil in an house;
that frequently, owing to his vehemence in argument, men set upon him with their fists or tore his hair out; and that for the most part he was despised and laughed at, yet bore all this ill-usage patiently. So much so that, when he had been kicked, and some one expressed surprise at his taking it so quietly, Socrates rejoined, “Should I have taken the law of a donkey, supposing that he had kicked me?” Thus far Demetrius.
22 Ἀποδημίας δὲ οὐκ ἐδεήθη, καθάπερ οἱ πλείους, πλὴν εἰ μὴ στρατεύεσθαι ἔδει. Τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν αὐτόθι μένων φιλονεικότερον συνεζήτει τοῖς προσδιαλεγομένοις, οὐχ ὥστε ἀφελέσθαι τὴν δόξαν αὐτούς, ἀλλ’ ὥστε τὸ ἀληθὲς ἐκμαθεῖν πειρᾶσθαι. Φασὶ δ’ Εὐριπίδην αὐτῷ δόντα τὸ Ἡρακλείτου σύγγραμμα ἐρέσθαι, « Τί δοκεῖ; » Τὸν δὲ φάναι, « Ἃ μὲν συνῆκα, γενναῖα· οἶμαι δὲ καὶ ἃ μὴ συνῆκα· πλὴν Δηλίου γέ τινος δεῖται κολυμβητοῦ. »
Ἐπεμελεῖτο δὲ καὶ σωμασκίας, καὶ ἦν εὐέκτης. Ἐστρατεύσατο γοῦν εἰς Ἀμφίπολιν· καὶ Ξενοφῶντα ἀφ’ ἵππου πεσόντα ἐν τῇ κατὰ Δήλιον μάχῃ διέσωσεν ὑπολαβών.
22. Unlike most philosophers, he had no need to travel, except when required to go on an expedition. The rest of his life he stayed at home and engaged all the more keenly in argument with anyone who would converse with him, his aim being not to alter his opinion but to get at the truth. They relate that Euripides gave him the treatise of Heraclitus and asked his opinion upon it, and that his reply was, “The part I understand is excellent, and so too is, I dare say, the part I do not understand; but it needs a Delian diver to get to the bottom of it.”
He took care to exercise his body and kept in good condition. At all events he served on the expedition to Amphipolis; and when in the battle of Delium Xenophon had fallen from his horse, he stepped in and saved his life.
23 Ὅτε καὶ πάντων φευγόντων Ἀθηναίων αὐτὸς ἠρέμα ἀνεχώρει, παρεπιστρεφόμενος ἡσυχῇ καὶ τηρῶν ἀμύνασθαι εἴ τις οἱ ἐπέλθοι. Ἐστρατεύσατο δὲ καὶ εἰς Ποτίδαιαν διὰ θαλάττης· πεζῇ γὰρ οὐκ ἐνῆν τοῦ πολέμου κωλύοντος. Ὅτε καὶ μεῖναι νυκτὸς ὅλης ἐφ’ ἑνὸς σχήματος αὐτόν φασι, καὶ ἀριστεύσαντα αὐτόθι παραχωρῆσαι Ἀλκιβιάδῃ τοῦ ἀριστείου· οὗ καὶ ἐρασθῆναί φησίν αὐτὸν Ἀρίστιππος ἐν τετάρτῳ Περὶ παλαιᾶς τρυφῆς. Ἴων δὲ ὁ Χῖος καὶ νέον ὄντα εἰς Σάμον σὺν Ἀρχελάῳ ἀποδημῆσαι· καὶ Πυθώδε ἐλθεῖν Ἀριστοτέλης φησίν· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς Ἰσθμόν, ὡς Φαβωρῖνος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἀπομνημευμάτων.
23. For in the general flight of the Athenians he personally retired at his ease, quietly turning round from time to time and ready to defend himself in case he were attacked. Again, he served at Potidaea, whither he had gone by sea, as land communications were interrupted by the war; and while there he is said to have remained a whole night without changing his position, and to have won the prize of valour. But he resigned it to Alcibiades, for whom he cherished the tenderest affection, according to Aristippus in the fourth book of his treatise On the Luxury of the Ancients . Ion of Chios relates that in his youth he visited Samos in the company of Archelaus; and Aristotle that he went to Delphi; he went also to the Isthmus, according to Favorinus in the first book of his Memorabilia .
24 Ἦν δὲ καὶ ἰσχυρογνώμων καὶ δημοκρατικός, ὡς δῆλον ἔκ τε τοῦ μὴ εἶξαι τοῖς περὶ Κριτίαν κελεύουσι Λέοντα τὸν Σαλαμίνιον, ἄνδρα πλούσιον, ἀγαγεῖν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὥστε ἀπολέσθαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ μόνος ἀποψηφίσασθαι τῶν δέκα στρατηγῶν. Καὶ ἐνὸν αὐτῷ ἀποδρᾶναι τῆς εἱρκτῆς μὴ ἐθελῆσαι· τοῖς τε κλαίουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπιπλῆξαι καὶ τοὺς καλλίστους λόγους ἐκείνους δεδεμένον διαθέσθαι.
Αὐτάρκης τε ἦν καὶ σεμνός. Καί ποτε Ἀλκιβιάδου, καθά φησί Παμφίλη ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ τῶν Ὑπομνημάτων, διδόντος αὐτῷ χώραν μεγάλην ἵνα οἰκοδομήσηται οἰκίαν φάναι, « Καὶ εἰ ὑποδημάτων ἔδει καὶ βύρσαν μοι ἐδίδους ἵν’ ἐμαυτῷ
24. His strength of will and attachment to the democracy are evident from his refusal to yield to Critias and his colleagues when they ordered him to bring the wealthy Leon of Salamis before them for execution, and further from the fact that he alone voted for the acquittal of the ten generals; and again from the facts that when he had the opportunity to escape from the prison he declined to do so, and that he rebuked his friends for weeping over his fate, and addressed to them his most memorable discourses in the prison.
He was a man of great independence and dignity of character. Pamphila in the seventh book of her Commentaries tells how Alcibiades once offered him a large site on which to build a house; but he replied, “Suppose, then, I wanted shoes and you offered me a whole hide to make a pair with, would it not be ridiculous in me to take it?”
25 ὑποδήματα ποιησαίμην, καταγέλαστος ἂν ἦν λαβών. » Πολλάκις δ’ ἀφορῶν εἰς τὰ πλήθη τῶν πιπρασκομένων ἔλεγε πρὸς αὑτόν, « Πόσων ἐγὼ χρείαν οὐκ ἔχω. » Καὶ συνεχὲς ἐκεῖνα ἀνεφθέγγετο τὰ ἰαμβεῖα·
Τὰ δ’ ἀργυρώματ’ ἐστὶν ἥ τε πορφύρα
εἰς τοὺς τραγῳδοὺς χρήσιμ’, οὐκ εἰς τὸν βίον.
Ὑπερεφρόνησε δὲ καὶ Ἀρχελάου τοῦ Μακεδόνος καὶ Σκόπα τοῦ Κρανωνίου καὶ Εὐρυλόχου τοῦ Λαρισσαίου, μήτε χρήματα προσέμενος παρ’ αὐτῶν μήτε παρ’ αὐτοὺς ἀπελθών. Εὔτακτός τε ἦν τὴν δίαιταν οὕτως ὥστε πολλάκις Ἀθήνησι λοιμῶν γενομένων μόνος οὐκ ἐνόσησε.
25. Often when he looked at the multitude of wares exposed for sale, he would say to himself, “How many things I can do without!” And he would continually recite the lines:
The purple robe and silver’s shine
More fits an actor’s need than mine.
He showed his contempt for Archelaus of Macedon and Scopas of Cranon and Eurylochus of Larissa by refusing to accept their presents or to go to their court. He was so orderly in his way of life that on several occasions when pestilence broke out in Athens he was the only man who escaped infection.
26 Φησὶ δ’ Ἀριστοτέλης δύο γυναῖκας αὐτὸν ἀγαγέσθαι· προτέραν μὲν Ξανθίππην, ἐξ ἧς αὐτῷ γενέσθαι Λαμπροκλέα· δευτέραν δὲ Μυρτώ, τὴν Ἀριστείδου τοῦ δικαίου θυγατέρα, ἣν καὶ ἄπροικον λαβεῖν, ἐξ ἧς γενέσθαι Σωφρονίσκον καὶ Μενέξενον. Οἱ δὲ προτέραν γῆμαι τὴν Μυρτώ φασιν· ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ ἀμφοτέρας ἔχειν ὁμοῦ, ὧν ἐστι Σάτυρός τε καὶ Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Ῥόδιος. Φασὶ γὰρ βουληθέντας Ἀθηναίους διὰ τὸ λειπανδρεῖν συναυξῆσαι τὸ πλῆθος, ψηφίσασθαι γαμεῖν μὲν ἀστὴν μίαν, παιδοποιεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρας· ὅθεν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι καὶ Σωκράτην.
26. Aristotle says that he married two wives: his first wife was Xanthippe, by whom he had a son, Lamprocles; his second wife was Myrto, the daughter of Aristides the Just, whom he took without a dowry. By her he had Sophroniscus and Menexenus. Others make Myrto his first wife; while some writers, including Satyrus and Hieronymus of Rhodes, affirm that they were both his wives at the same time. For they say that the Athenians were short of men and, wishing to increase the population, passed a decree permitting a citizen to marry one Athenian woman and have children by another; and that Socrates accordingly did so.
27 Ἦν δ’ ἱκανὸς καὶ τῶν σκωπτόντων αὐτὸν ὑπερορᾶν. Καὶ ἐσεμνύνετο ἐπὶ τῇ εὐτελείᾳ, μισθόν τε οὐδένα εἰσεπράξατο. Καὶ ἔλεγεν ἥδιστα ἐσθίων ἥκιστα ὄψου προσδεῖσθαι· καὶ ἥδιστα πίνων ἥκιστα τὸ μὴ παρὸν ποτὸν ἀναμένειν· καὶ ἐλαχίστων δεόμενος ἔγγιστα εἶναι θεῶν. Τοῦτο δ’ ἐνέσται καὶ παρὰ τῶν κωμῳδοποιῶν λαβεῖν, οἳ λανθάνουσιν ἑαυτοὺς δι’ ὧν σκώπτουσιν ἐπαινοῦντες αὐτόν. Ἀριστοφάνης μὲν οὕτως.
Ὦ τῆς μεγάλης ἐπιθυμήσας σοφίας ἄνθρωπε δικαίως
ὡς εὐδαίμων παρ’ Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι διάξεις.
Εἶ γὰρ μνήμων καὶ φροντιστής, καὶ τὸ ταλαίπωρον ἔνεστιν
ἐν τῇ γνώμῃ, κοὔτε τι κάμνεις οὔθ’ ἑστὼς οὔτε βαδίζων,
οὔτε ῥιγῶν ἄχθει λίαν, οὔτ’ ἀρίστων ἐπιθυμεῖς,
οἴνου τ’ ἀπέχει κἀδηφαγίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνοήτων.
27. He could afford to despise those who scoffed at him. He prided himself on his plain living, and never asked a fee from anyone. He used to say that he most enjoyed the food which was least in need of condiment, and the drink which made him feel the least hankering for some other drink; and that he was nearest to the gods in that he had the fewest wants. This may be seen from the Comic poets, who in the act of ridiculing him give him high praise. Thus Aristophanes:
O man that justly desirest great wisdom, how blessed will be thy life amongst Athenians and Greeks, retentive of memory and thinker that thou art, with endurance of toil for thy character; never art thou weary whether standing or walking, never numb with cold, never hungry for breakfast; from wine and from gross feeding and all other frivolities thou dost turn away.
28 Ἀμειψίας δ’ ἐν τρίβωνι παράγων αὐτὸν φησὶν οὕτως·
Σώκρατες ἀνδρῶν βέλτιστ’ ὀλίγων, πολλῷ δὲ ματαιόταθ’, ἥκεις
καὶ σὺ πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Καρτερικός γ’ εἶ. πόθεν ἄν σοι χλαῖνα γένοιτο;
(Β.) Τουτὶ τὸ κακὸν τῶν σκυτοτόμων κατ’ ἐπήρειαν γεγένηται.
(Α.) Οὗτος μέντοι πεινῶν οὕτως οὐπώποτ’ ἔτλη κολακεῦσαι.
Τοῦτο δ’ αὐτοῦ τὸ ὑπεροπτικὸν καὶ μεγαλόφρον ἐμφαίνει καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης λέγων οὕτως·
Ὅτι βρενθύει τ’ ἐν ταῖσιν ὁδοῖς, καὶ τὠφθαλμὼ παραβάλλεις,
κἀνυπόδητος κακὰ πόλλ’ ἀνέχει, κἀν ἡμῖν σεμνοπροσωπεῖς.
Καίτοι ἐνίοτε πρὸς τοὺς καιροὺς ἁρμοττόμενος καὶ λαμπρὰ ἠμπίσχετο· καθάπερ ἐν τῷ Πλάτωνος Συμποσίῳ παρ’ Ἀγάθωνα βαδίζων.
28. Ameipsias too, when he puts him on the stage wearing a cloak, says:
a. You come to join us, Socrates, worthiest of a small band and emptiest by far! You are a robust fellow. Where can we get you a proper coat?
b. Your sorry plight is an insult to the cobblers.
a. And yet, hungry as he is, this man has never stooped to flatter.
This disdainful, lofty spirit of his is also noticed by Aristophanes when he says:
Because you stalk along the streets, rolling your eyes, and endure, barefoot, many a hardship, and gaze up at us [the clouds].
And yet at times he would even put on fine clothes to suit the occasion, as in Plato’s Symposium , where he is on his way to Agathon’s house.
29 Ἱκανὸς δ’ ἀμφότερα ἦν, καὶ προτρέψαι καὶ ἀποτρέψαι. Ὥσπερ τὸν Θεαίτητον περὶ ἐπιστήμης διαλεχθεὶς ἔνθεον ἀπέπεμψε, καθὰ καὶ Πλάτων φησίν. Εὐθύφρονα δὲ τῷ πατρὶ γραψάμενον ξενοκτονίας δίκην περὶ ὁσίου τινὰ διαλεχθεὶς ἀπήγαγε. Καὶ τὸν Λύσιν δὲ ἠθικώτατον ἐποίησε προτρέψας. Ἦν γὰρ ἱκανὸς ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων τοὺς λόγους εὑρίσκειν. Ἐνέτρεψε δὲ καὶ Λαμπροκλέα τὸν υἱὸν τῇ μητρὶ ἀγριαινόμενον, ὥς που καὶ Ξενοφῶν εἴρηκε. Καὶ Γλαύκωνα μὲν τὸν Πλάτωνος ἀδελφὸν θέλοντα πολιτεύεσθαι ἀπέστησε διὰ τὸ ἀπείρως ἔχειν, ὥς φησι Ξενοφῶν· Χαρμίδην δὲ τοὐναντίον ἔχοντα οἰκείως ἐπέστησεν.
29. He showed equal ability in both directions, in persuading and dissuading men; thus, after conversing with Theaetetus about knowledge, he sent him away, as Plato says, fired with a divine impulse; but when Euthyphro had indicted his father for manslaughter, Socrates, after some conversation with him upon piety, diverted him from his purpose. Lysis, again, he turned, by exhortation, into a most virtuous character. For he had the skill to draw his arguments from facts. And when his son Lamprocles was violently angry with his mother, Socrates made him feel ashamed of himself, as I believe Xenophon has told us. When Plato’s brother Glaucon was desirous of entering upon politics, Socrates dissuaded him, as Xenophon relates, because of his want of experience; but on the contrary he encouraged Charmides to take up politics because he had a gift that way.
30 Ἐπῆρε δὲ καὶ εἰς φρόνημα Ἰφικράτην τὸν στρατηγόν, δείξας αὐτῷ τοῦ κουρέως Μειδίου ἀλεκτρυόνας ἀντίον τῶν Καλλίου πτερυξαμένους. Καὶ αὐτὸν Γλαυκωνίδης ἠξίου τῇ πόλει περι- ποιεῖν καθάπερ φασιανὸν ὄρνιν ἢ ταώ.
Ἔλεγε δὲ ὡς θαῦμα τὸ μὲν ἕκαστον εἰπεῖν ἂν ῥᾳδίως ὅσα ἔχει, φίλους δ’ οὐκ ἂν ὀνομάσαι ὁπόσους κέκτηται· οὕτως ὀλιγώρως ἔχειν περὶ αὐτούς. Ὁρῶν δ’ Εὐκλείδην ἐσπουδακότα περὶ τοὺς ἐριστικοὺς λόγους, «Ὦ Εὐκλείδη, » ἔφη, « σοφισταῖς μὲν δυνήσῃ χρῆσθαι, ἀνθρώποις δὲ οὐδαμῶς. » Ἄχρηστον γὰρ ᾤετο εἶναι τὴν περὶ ταῦτα γλισχρολογίαν, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Εὐθυδήμῳ φησίν.
30. He roused Iphicrates the general to a martial spirit by showing him how the fighting cocks of Midias the barber flapped their wings in defiance of those of Callias. Glauconides demanded that he should be acquired for the state as if he were some pheasant or peacock.
He used to say it was strange that, if you asked a man how many sheep he had, he could easily tell you the precise number; whereas he could not name his friends or say how many he had, so slight was the value he set upon them. Seeing Euclides keenly interested in eristic arguments, he said to him: “You will be able to get on with sophists, Euclides, but with men not at all.” For he thought there was no use in this sort of hair-splitting, as Plato shows us in the Euthydemus .
31 Χαρμίδου τε οἰκέτας αὐτῷ διδόντος, ἵν’ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν προσοδεύοιτο, οὐχ εἵλετο· καὶ τὸ κάλλος ὑπερεῖδεν Ἀλκιβιάδου κατά τινας. Καὶ ἐπῄνει σχολὴν ὡς κάλλιστον κτημάτων, καθὰ καὶ Ξενοφῶν ἐν Συμποσίῳ φησίν. Ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν· πλοῦτον δὲ καὶ εὐγένειαν οὐδὲν σεμνὸν ἔχειν, πᾶν δὲ τοὐναντίον κακόν. Εἰπόντος γοῦν τινος αὐτῷ ὡς εἴη Ἀντισθένης μητρὸς Θρᾴττης, « Σὺ δ’ ᾤου, » ἔφη, « οὕτως ἂν γενναῖον ἐκ δυεῖν Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι; » Φαίδωνα δὲ δι’ αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐπ’ οἰκήματος καθήμενον προσέταξε Κρίτωνι λυτρώσασθαι, καὶ φιλόσοφον ἀπειργάσατο.
31. Again, when Charmides offered him some slaves in order that he might derive an income from them, he declined the offer; and according to some he scorned the beauty of Alcibiades. He would extol leisure as the best of possessions, according to Xenophon in the Symposium . There is, he said, only one good, that is, knowledge, and only one evil, that is, ignorance; wealth and good birth bring their possessor no dignity, but on the contrary evil. At all events, when some one told him that Antisthenes’ mother was a Thracian, he replied, “Nay, did you expect a man so noble to have been born of two Athenian parents?” He made Crito ransom Phaedo who, having been taken prisoner in the war, was kept in degrading slavery, and so won him for philosophy.
32 Ἀλλὰ καὶ λυρίζειν ἐμάνθανεν ἤδη γηραιός, μηδὲν λέγων ἄτοπον εἶναι ἅ τις μὴ οἶδεν ἐκμανθάνειν. Ἔτι τε ὠρχεῖτο συνεχές, τῇ τοῦ σώματος εὐεξίᾳ λυσιτελεῖν ἡγούμενος τὴν τοιαύτην γυμνασίαν, ὡς καὶ Ξενοφῶν ἐν Συμποσίῳ φησίν. Ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ προσημαίνειν τὸ δαιμόνιον τὰ μέλλοντα αὐτῷ· τό τε εὖ ἄρχεσθαι μικρὸν μὲν μὴ εἶναι, παρὰ μικρὸν δέ· καὶ εἰδέναι μὲν μηδὲν πλὴν αὐτὸ τοῦτο [εἰδέναι]. Τούς τε τὰ ἀώρια πολλοῦ ἐωνημένους ἀπογινώσκειν ἔλεγεν εἰς τὰς ὥρας ἐλθεῖν. Καί ποτε ἐρωτηθείς, τίς ἀρετὴ νέου, « Τὸ μηδὲν ἄγαν, » εἶπεν. Ἔφασκέ τε δεῖν γεωμετρεῖν μέχρι ἄν τις μέτρῳ δύνηται γῆν παραλαβεῖν καὶ παραδοῦναι.
32. Moreover, in his old age he learnt to play the lyre, declaring that he saw no absurdity in learning a new accomplishment. As Xenophon relates in the Symposium , it was his regular habit to dance, thinking that such exercise helped to keep the body in good condition. He used to say that his supernatural sign warned him beforehand of the future; that to make a good start was no trifling advantage, but a trifle turned the scale; and that he knew nothing except just the fact of his ignorance. He said that, when people paid a high price for fruit which had ripened early, they must despair of seeing the fruit ripen at the proper season. And, being once asked in what consisted the virtue of a young man, he said, “In doing nothing to excess.” He held that geometry should be studied to the point at which a man is able to measure the land which he acquires or parts with.
33 Εὐριπίδου δ’ ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ εἰπόντος περὶ ἀρετῆς,
Κράτιστον εἰκῆ ταῦτ’ ἐᾶν ἀφειμένα,
ἀναστὰς ἐξῆλθε, φήσας γελοῖον εἶναι ἀνδράποδον μὲν μὴ εὑρισκόμενον ἀξιοῦν ζητεῖν, ἀρετὴν δ’ οὕτως ἐᾶν ἀπολωλέναι. Ἐρωτηθεὶς πότερον γήμαι ἢ μή, ἔφη, « Ὃ ἂν αὐτῶν ποιήσῃς, μεταγνώσῃ » ἔλεγέ τε θαυμάζειν τῶν τὰς λιθίνας εἰκόνας κατασκευαζομένων τοῦ μὲν λίθου προνοεῖν ὅπως ὁμοιότατος ἔσται, αὑτῶν δ’ ἀμελεῖν, ὡς μὴ ὁμοίους τῷ λίθῳ φαίνεσθαι. Ἠξίου δὲ καὶ τοὺς νέους συνεχὲς κατοπτρίζεσθαι, ἵν’ εἰ μὲν καλοὶ εἶεν, ἄξιοι γίγνοιντο· εἰ δ’ αἰσχροί, παιδείᾳ τὴν δυσείδειαν ἐπικαλύπτοιεν.
33. On hearing the line of Euripides’ play Auge where the poet says of virtue:
’Tis best to let her roam at will,
he got up and left the theatre. For he said it was absurd to make a hue and cry about a slave who could not be found, and to allow virtue to perish in this way. Some one asked him whether he should marry or not, and received the reply, “Whichever you do you will repent it.” He used to express his astonishment that the sculptors of marble statues should take pains to make the block of marble into a perfect likeness of a man, and should take no pains about themselves lest they should turn out mere blocks, not men. He recommended to the young the constant use of the mirror, to the end that handsome men might acquire a corresponding behaviour, and ugly men conceal their defects by education.
34 Καλέσας ἐπὶ δεῖπνον πλουσίους, καὶ τῆς Ξανθίππης αἰδουμένης ἔφη, « Θάρρει· εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶεν μέτριοι, συμπεριενεχθεῖεν ἄν· εἰ δὲ φαῦλοι, ἡμῖν αὐτῶν οὐδὲν μελήσει. » Ἔλεγέ τε τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ζῆν ἵν’ ἐσθίοιεν· αὐτὸν δὲ ἐσθίειν ἵνα ζῴη. Πρὸς τὸ οὐκ ἀξιόλογον πλῆθος ἔφασκεν ὅμοιον εἴ τις τετράδραχμον ἓν ἀποδοκιμάζων τὸν ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων σωρὸν ὡς δόκιμον ἀποδέχοιτο. Αἰσχίνου δὲ εἰπόντος, « Πένης εἰμὶ καὶ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἔχω, δίδωμι δέ σοι ἐμαυτόν, » « Ἆρ’ οὖν, » εἶπεν, « οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ τὰ μέγιστά μοι διδούς; » Πρὸς τὸν ἀποδυσπετοῦντα ἐπὶ τῷ παρορᾶσθαι ὁπότε ἐπανέστησαν οἱ τριάκοντα, « Ἇρα, » ἔφη, « μήτι σοι μεταμέλει; »
34. He had invited some rich men and, when Xanthippe said she felt ashamed of the dinner, “Never mind,” said he, “for if they are reasonable they will put up with it, and if they are good for nothing, we shall not trouble ourselves about them.” He would say that the rest of the world lived to eat, while he himself ate to live. Of the mass of men who do not count he said it was as if some one should object to a single tetradrachm as counterfeit and at the same time let a whole heap made up of just such pieces pass as genuine. Aeschines said to him, “I am a poor man and have nothing else to give, but I offer you myself,” and Socrates answered, “Nay, do you not see that you are offering me the greatest gift of all?” To one who complained that he was overlooked when the Thirty rose to power, he said, “You are not sorry for that, are you?”
35 Πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, « Θάνατόν σου κατέγνωσαν Ἀθηναῖοι, » « Κἀκείνων, » εἶπεν, « ἡ φύσις. » Οἱ δὲ τοῦτ’ Ἀναξαγόραν φασίν. τῆς γυναικὸς εἰπούσης, « Ἀδίκως ἀποθνήσκεις, » « Σὺ δέ, » ἔφη, « δικαίως ἐβούλου; » Ὄναρ δόξας τινὰ αὐτῷ λέγειν,
Ἤματί κεν τριτάτῳ Φθίην ἐρίβωλον ἵκοιο,
πρὸς Αἰσχίνην ἔφη, « Εἰς τρίτην ἀποθανοῦμαι. » Μέλλοντί τε αὐτῷ τὸ κώνειον πίεσθαι Ἀπολλόδωρος ἱμάτιον ἐδίδου καλόν, ἵν’ ἐν ἐκείνῳ ἀποθάνῃ. Καὶ ὅς, « Τί δέ, » ἔφη, « τὸ ἐμὸν ἱμάτιον ἐμβιῶναι μὲν ἐπιτήδειον, ἐναποθανεῖν δὲ οὐχί; » Πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, « Κακῶς ὁ δεῖνά σε λέγει, » « Καλῶς γάρ, » ἔφη, « λέγειν οὐκ ἔμαθε. »
35. To one who said, “You are condemned by the Athenians to die,” he made answer, “So are they, by nature.” But some ascribe this to Anaxagoras. When his wife said, “You suffer unjustly,” he retorted, “Why, would you have me suffer justly?” He had a dream that some one said to him:
On the third day thou shalt come to the fertile fields of Phthia;
and he told Aeschines, “On the third day I shall die.” When he was about to drink the hemlock, Apollodorus offered him a beautiful garment to die in: “What,” said he, “is my own good enough to live in but not to die in?” When he was told that So-and-so spoke ill of him, he replied, “True, for he has never learnt to speak well.”
36 Στρέψαντος δὲ Ἀντισθένους τὸ διερρωγὸς τοῦ τρίβωνος εἰς τοὐμφανές, « Ὁρῶ σου, » ἔφη, « διὰ τοῦ τρίβωνος τὴν κενοδοξίαν. » Πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, « Οὐ σοὶ λοιδορεῖται ὁ δεῖνα; », « Οὐχί, » ἔφη· « ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐ πρόσεστι ταῦτα. » Ἔλεγε δὲ τοῖς κωμικοῖς δεῖν ἐπίτηδες ἑαυτὸν διδόναι· εἰ μὲν γάρ τι τῶν προσόντων λέξειαν, διορθώσονται· εἰ δ’ οὔ, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Πρὸς Ξανθίππην πρότερον μὲν λοιδοροῦσαν, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ περιχέασαν αὐτῷ, « Οὐκ ἔλεγον, » εἶπεν, « ὅτι Ξανθίππη βροντῶσα καὶ ὕδωρ ποιήσει; » Πρὸς Ἀλκιβιάδην εἰπόντα ὡς οὐκ ἀνεκτὴ ἡ Ξανθίππη λοιδοροῦσα, « Ἀλλ’ ἔγωγ’, » ἔφη, « συνείθισμαι, καθαπερεὶ καὶ τροχιλίας ἀκούων συνεχές.
36. When Antisthenes turned his cloak so that the tear in it came into view, “I see,” said he, “your vanity through your cloak.” To one who said, “Don’t you find so-and-so very offensive?” his reply was, “No, for it takes two to make a quarrel.” We ought not to object, he used to say, to be subjects for the Comic poets, for if they satirize our faults they will do us good, and if not they do not touch us. When Xanthippe first scolded him and then drenched him with water, his rejoinder was, “Did I not say that Xanthippe’s thunder would end in rain?” When Alcibiades declared that the scolding of Xanthippe was intolerable, “Nay, I have got used to it,” said he, “as to the continued rattle of a windlass. And you do not mind the cackle of geese.”
37 Καὶ σὺ μέν, » εἶπε, « χηνῶν βοώντων ἀνέχῃ; » Τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος, « Ἀλλά μοι ᾠὰ καὶ νεοττοὺς τίκτουσι, » « Κἀμοί, » φησί, « Ξανθίππη παιδία γεννᾷ. » Ποτὲ αὐτῆς ἐν ἀγορᾷ καὶ θοἰμάτιον περιελομένης συνεβούλευον οἱ γνώριμοι χερσὶν ἀμύνασθαι· « Νὴ Δί’, » εἶπεν, « ἵν’ ἡμῶν πυκτευόντων ἕκαστος ὑμῶν λέγῃ, εὖ Σώκρατες, εὖ Ξανθίππη; » Ἕλεγε συνεῖναι τραχείᾳ γυναικὶ καθάπερ οἱ ἱππικοὶ θυμοειδέσιν ἵπποις. « Ἀλλ’ ὡς ἐκεῖνοι, » φησί, « τούτων κρατήσαντες ῥᾳδίως τῶν ἄλλων περιγίνονται, οὕτω κἀγὼ Ξανθίππῃ χρώμενος τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις συμπεριενεχθήσομαι. »
Ταῦτα δὴ καὶ τοιαῦτα λέγων καὶ πράττων πρὸς τῆς Πυθίας ἐμαρτυρήθη, Χαιρεφῶντι ἀνελούσης ἐκεῖνο δὴ τὸ περιφερόμενον.
Ἀνδρῶν ἁπάντων Σωκράτης σοφώτατος.
37. “No,” replied Alcibiades, “but they furnish me with eggs and goslings.” “And Xanthippe,” said Socrates, “is the mother of my children.” When she tore his coat off his back in the market-place and his acquaintances advised him to hit back, “Yes, by Zeus,” said he, “in order that while we are sparring each of you may join in with `Go it, Socrates!’ `Well done, Xanthippe!’ “ He said he lived with a shrew, as horsemen are fond of spirited horses, “but just as, when they have mastered these, they can easily cope with the rest, so I in the society of Xanthippe shall learn to adapt myself to the rest of the world.”
These and the like were his words and deeds, to which the Pythian priestess bore testimony when she gave Chaerephon the famous response:
Of all men living Socrates most wise.
38 Ἀφ’ οὗ δὴ καὶ ἐφθονήθη μάλιστα· καὶ δὴ καὶ ὅτι διήλεγχε τοὺς μέγα φρονοῦντας ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῖς ὡς ἀνοήτους, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ Ἄνυτον, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ Πλάτωνός ἐστι Μένωνι. Οὗτος γὰρ οὐ φέρων τὸν ὑπὸ Σωκράτους χλευασμὸν πρῶτον μὲν ἐπήλειψεν αὐτῷ τοὺς περὶ Ἀριστοφάνην, ἔπειτα καὶ Μέλητον συνέπεισεν ἀπενέγκασθαι κατ’ αὐτοῦ γραφὴν ἀσεβείας καὶ τῶν νέων διαφθορᾶς.
Ἀπηνέγκατο μὲν οὖν τὴν γραφὴν ὁ Μέλητος, εἶπε δὲ τὴν δίκην Πολύευκτος, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ· συνέγραψε δὲ τὸν λόγον Πολυκράτης ὁ σοφιστής, ὥς φησιν Ἕρμιππος, ἢ Ἄνυτος, ὥς τινες· προητοίμασε δὲ πάντα Λύκων ὁ δημαγωγός.
38. For this he was most envied; and especially because he would take to task those who thought highly of themselves, proving them to be fools, as to be sure he treated Anytus, according to Plato’s Meno . For Anytus could not endure to be ridiculed by Socrates, and so in the first place stirred up against him Aristophanes and his friends; then afterwards he helped to persuade Meletus to indict him on a charge of impiety and corrupting the youth.
The indictment was brought by Meletus, and the speech was delivered by Polyeuctus, according to Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History . The speech was written by Polycrates the sophist, according to Hermippus; but some say that it was by Anytus. Lycon the demagogue had made all the needful preparations.
39 Ἀντισθένης δ’ ἐν ταῖς τῶν Φιλοσόφων Διαδοχαῖς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Ἀπολογίᾳ τρεῖς αὐτοῦ κατηγορῆσαί φασιν, Ἄνυτον καὶ Λύκωνα καὶ Μέλητον· τὸν μὲν Ἄνυτον ὑπὲρ τῶν δημιουργῶν καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν ὀργιζόμενον· τὸν δὲ Λύκωνα ὑπὲρ τῶν ῥητόρων· καὶ τὸν Μέλητον ὑπὲρ τῶν ποιητῶν, οὓς ἅπαντας ὁ Σωκράτης διέσυρε. Φαβωρῖνος δέ φησιν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἀπομνημονευμάτων μὴ εἶναι ἀληθῆ τὸν λόγον τὸν Πολυκράτους κατὰ Σωκράτους· ἐν αὐτῷ γάρ, φησί, μνημονεύει τῶν ὑπὸ Κόνωνος τειχῶν ἀνασταθέντων, ἃ γέγονεν ἔτεσιν ἓξ τῆς τοῦ Σωκράτους τελευτῆς ὕστερον. Καὶ ἔστιν οὕτως ἔχον.
39. Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers , and Plato in his Apology , say that there were three accusers, Anytus, Lycon and Meletus; that Anytus was roused to anger on behalf of the craftsmen and politicians, Lycon on behalf of the rhetoricians, Meletus of the poets, all three of which classes had felt the lash of Socrates. Favorinus in the first book of his Memorabilia declares that the speech of Polycrates against Socrates is not authentic; for he mentions the rebuilding of the walls by Conon, which did not take place till six years after the death of Socrates. And this is the case.
40 Ἡ δ’ ἀντωμοσία τῆς δίκης τοῦτον εἶχε τὸν τρόπον· ἀνακεῖται γὰρ ἔτι καὶ νῦν, φησὶ Φαβωρῖνος, ἐν τῷ Μητρῴῳ· « Τάδε ἐγράψατο καὶ ἀντωμόσατο Μέλητος Μελήτου Πιτθεὺς Σωκράτει Σωφρονίσκου Ἀλωπεκῆθεν· ἀδικεῖ Σωκράτης, οὓς μὲν ἡ πόλις νομίζει θεοὺς οὐ νομίζων, ἕτερα δὲ καινὰ δαιμόνια εἰσηγούμενος· ἀδικεῖ δὲ καὶ τοὺς νέους διαφθείρων. Τίμημα θάνατος. » Ὁ δ’ οὖν φιλόσοφος, Λυσίου γράψαντος ἀπολογίαν αὐτῷ, διαναγνοὺς ἔφη, « Καλὸς μὲν ὁ λόγος, ὦ Λυσία, οὐ μὴν ἁρμόττων γ’ ἐμοί. » Δηλαδὴ γὰρ ἦν τὸ πλέον δικανικὸς ἢ ἐμφιλόσοφος.
40. The affidavit in the case, which is still preserved, says Favorinus, in the Metron , ran as follows: “This indictment and affidavit is sworn by Meletus, the son of Meletus of Pitthos, against Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus of Alopece: Socrates is guilty of refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state, and of introducing other new divinities. He is also guilty of corrupting the youth. The penalty demanded is death.” The philosopher then, after Lysias had written a defence for him, read it through and said: “A fine speech, Lysias; it is not, however, suitable to me.” For it was plainly more forensic than philosophical.
41 Εἰπόντος δὲ τοῦ Λυσίου, « Πῶς, εἰ καλός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, οὐκ ἄν σοι ἁρμόττοι; », ἔφη, « Οὐ γὰρ καὶ ἱμάτια καλὰ καὶ ὑποδήματα εἴη ἂν ἐμοὶ ἀνάρμοστα. »
Κρινομένου δ’ αὐτοῦ φησιν Ἰοῦστος ὁ Τιβεριεὺς ἐν τῷ Στέμματι Πλάτωνα ἀναβῆναι ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα καὶ εἰπεῖν, « Νεώτατος ὤν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τῶν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα ἀναβάντων· » τοὺς δὲ δικαστὰς ἐκβοῆσαι, « Κατάβα, κατάβα » - τουτέστι κατάβηθι. Ὁ δ’ οὖν κατεδικάσθη διακοσίαις ὀγδοήκοντα μιᾷ πλείοσι ψήφοις τῶν ἀπολυουσῶν· καὶ τιμωμένων τῶν δικαστῶν τί χρὴ παθεῖν αὐτὸν ἢ ἀποτῖσαι, πέντε καὶ εἴκοσιν ἔφη δραχμὰς ἀποτίσειν.
41. Lysias said, “If it is a fine speech, how can it fail to suit you?” “Well,” he replied, “would not fine raiment and fine shoes be just as unsuitable to me?”
Justus of Tiberias in his book entitled The Wreath says that in the course of the trial Plato mounted the platform and began: “Though I am the youngest, men of Athens, of all who ever rose to address you” – whereupon the judges shouted out, “Get down! Get down!” When therefore he was condemned by 281 votes more than those given for acquittal, and when the judges were assessing what he should suffer or what fine he should pay, he proposed to pay 25 drachmae. Eubulides indeed says he offered
42 Εὐβουλίδης μὲν γὰρ ἑκατόν φησιν ὁμολογῆσαι· θορυβησάντων δὲ τῶν δικαστῶν, « Ἕνεκα μέν, » εἶπε, « τῶν ἐμοὶ διαπεπραγμένων τιμῶμαι τὴν δίκην τῆς ἐν πρυτανείῳ σιτήσεως. »
Καὶ οἳ θάνατον αὐτοῦ κατέγνωσαν, προσθέντες ἄλλας ψήφους ὀγδοήκοντα. Καὶ δεθεὶς μετ’ οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ἔπιε τὸ κώνειον, πολλὰ καλὰ κἀγαθὰ διαλεχθείς, ἃ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Φαίδωνί φησιν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ παιᾶνα κατά τινας ἐποίησεν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή·
Δήλι’ Ἄπολλον χαῖρε, καὶ Ἄρτεμι, παῖδε κλεεινώ.
Διονυσόδωρος δέ φησι μὴ εἶναι αὐτοῦ τὸν παιᾶνα. Ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ μῦθον Αἰσώπειον οὐ πάνυ ἐπιτετευγμένως, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή·
Αἴσωπός ποτ’ ἔλεξε Κορίνθιον ἄστυ νέμουσι
μὴ κρίνειν ἀρετὴν λαοδίκῳ σοφίῃ.
42. When this caused an uproar among the judges, he said, “Considering my services, I assess the penalty at maintenance in the Prytaneum at the public expense.”
Sentence of death was passed, with an accession of eighty fresh votes. He was put in prison, and a few days afterwards drank the hemlock, after much noble discourse which Plato records in the Phaedo . Further, according to some, he composed a paean beginning:
All hail, Apollo, Delos’ lord!
Hail Artemis, ye noble pair!
Dionysodorus denies that he wrote the paean. He also composed a fable of Aesop, not very skilfully, beginning:
“Judge not, ye men of Corinth,” Aesop cried,
“Of virtue as the jury-courts decide.”
43 Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἦν· Ἀθηναῖοι δ’ εὐθὺς μετέγνωσαν, ὥστε κλεῖσαι καὶ παλαίστρας καὶ γυμνάσια. Καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐφυγάδευσαν, Μελήτου δὲ θάνατον κατέγνωσαν. Σωκράτην δὲ χαλκῇ εἰκόνι ἐτίμησαν, ἣν ἔθεσαν ἐν τῷ Πομπείῳ, Λυσίππου ταύτην ἐργασαμένου. Ἄνυτόν τε ἐπιδημήσαντα αὐθημερὸν ἐξεκήρυξαν Ἡρακλεῶται. Οὐ μόνον δ’ ἐπὶ Σωκράτους Ἀθηναῖοι πεπόνθασι τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πλείστων ὅσων. Καὶ γὰρ Ὅμηρον καθά φησιν Ἡρακλείδης, πεντήκοντα δραχμαῖς ὡς μαινόμενον ἐζημίωσαν, καὶ Τυρταῖον παρακόπτειν ἔλεγον, καὶ Ἀστυδάμαντα πρότερον τῶν περὶ Αἰσχύλον ἐτίμησαν εἰκόνι χαλκῇ.
43. So he was taken from among men; and not long afterwards the Athenians felt such remorse that they shut up the training grounds and gymnasia. They banished the other accusers but put Meletus to death; they honoured Socrates with a bronze statue, the work of Lysippus, which they placed in the hall of processions. And no sooner did Anytus visit Heraclea than the people of that town expelled him on that very day. Not only in the case of Socrates but in very many others the Athenians repented in this way. For they fined Homer (so says Heraclides) 50 drachmae for a madman, and said Tyrtaeus was beside himself, and they honoured Astydamas before Aeschylus and his brother poets with a bronze statue.
44 Εὐριπίδης δὲ καὶ ὀνειδίζει αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ Παλαμήδει λέγων,
Ἐκάνετ’ ἐκάνετε τὰν
πάνσοφον, <ὦ Δαναοί,>
τὰν οὐδὲν ἀλγύνουσαν ἀηδόνα μουσᾶν.
Καὶ τάδε μὲν ὧδε. Φιλόχορος δέ φησι προτελευτῆσαι τὸν Εὐριπίδην τοῦ Σωκράτους.
Ἐγεννήθη δέ, καθά φησιν Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς, ἐπὶ Ἀφεψίωνος τῷ τετάρτῳ ἔτει τῆς ἑβδομηκοστῆς ἑβδόμης Ὀλυμπιάδος, Θαργηλιῶνος ἕκτῃ, ὅτε καθαίρουσιν Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν Δήλιοι γενέσθαι φασίν. Ἐτελεύτησε δὲ τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει τῆς ἐνενηκοστῆς πέμπτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, γεγονὼς ἐτῶν ἑβδομήκοντα. Ταὐτά φησι καὶ Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεύς. Ἔνιοι γὰρ ἑξήκοντα ἐτῶν τελευτῆσαι αὐτόν φασιν.
44. Euripides upbraids them thus in his Palamedes : “Ye have slain, have slain, the all-wise, the innocent, the Muses’ nightingale.” This is one account; but Philochorus asserts that Euripides died before Socrates.
He was born, according to Apollodorus in his Chronology , in the archonship of Apsephion, in the fourth year of the 77th Olympiad, on the 6th day of the month of Thargelion, when the Athenians purify their city, which according to the Delians is the birthday of Artemis. He died in the first year of the 95th Olympiad at the age of seventy. With this Demetrius of Phalerum agrees; but some say he was sixty when he died.
45 Ἀμφότεροι δ’ ἤκουσαν Ἀναξαγόρου, καὶ οὗτος καὶ Εὐριπίδης, ὃς καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει τῆς ἑβδομηκοστῆς πέμπτης Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐγεννήθη ἐπὶ Καλλιάδου.
Δοκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ περὶ τῶν φυσικῶν ὁ Σωκράτης διειλέχθαι· ὅπου γε καὶ περὶ προνοίας τινὰ διαλέγεται, καθά φησι καὶ Ξενοφῶν, καίτοι περὶ μόνων τῶν ἠθικῶν ποιεῖσθαι τοὺς λόγους αὐτὸν εἰπών. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῇ Ἀπολογίᾳ μνησθεὶς Ἀναξαγόρου καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν φυσικῶν, ἃ Σωκράτης ἀρνεῖται, περὶ τούτων αὐτὸς λέγει, καίπερ ἀνατιθεὶς πάντα Σωκράτει.
Φησὶ δ’ Ἀριστοτέλης μάγον τινὰ ἐλθόντα ἐκ Συρίας εἰς Ἀθήνας τά τε ἄλλα καταγνῶναι τοῦ Σωκράτους καὶ δὴ καὶ βίαιον ἔσεσθαι τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτῷ.
45. Both were pupils of Anaxagoras, I mean Socrates and Euripides, who was born in the first year of the 75th Olympiad in the archonship of Calliades.
In my opinion Socrates discoursed on physics as well as on ethics, since he holds some conversations about providence, even according to Xenophon, who, however, declares that he only discussed ethics. But Plato, after mentioning Anaxagoras and certain other physicists in the Apology , treats for his own part themes which Socrates disowned, although he puts everything into the mouth of Socrates.
Aristotle relates that a magician came from Syria to Athens and, among other evils with which he threatened Socrates, predicted that he would come to a violent end.
46 Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἡμῶν εἰς αὐτὸν οὕτω·
Πῖνέ νυν ἐν Διὸς ὤν, ὦ Σώκρατες· ἦ σε γὰρ ὄντως
καὶ σοφὸν εἶπε θεός, καὶ θεὸς ἡ σοφίη.
Πρὸς γὰρ Ἀθηναίων κώνειον ἁπλῶς σὺ ἐδέξω·
αὐτοὶ δ’ ἐξέπιον τοῦτο τεῷ στόματι.
Τούτῳ τις, καθά φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τρίτῳ Περὶ ποιητικῆς, ἐφιλονείκει Ἀντίλοχος Λήμνιος καὶ Ἀντιφῶν ὁ τερατοσκόπος, ὡς Πυθαγόρᾳ Κύλων Κροτωνιάτης· καὶ Σύαγρος Ὁμήρῳ ζῶντι, ἀποθανόντι δὲ Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος· καὶ Κέρκωψ Ἡσιόδῳ ζῶντι, τελευτήσαντι δὲ ὁ προειρημένος Ξενοφάνης· καὶ Πινδάρῳ Ἀμφιμένης ὁ Κῷος· Θάλητι δὲ Φερεκύδης καὶ Βίαντι Σάλαρος Πριηνεύς· Πιττακῷ Ἀντιμενίδας καὶ Ἀλκαῖος, Ἀναξαγόρᾳ Σωσίβιος, καὶ Σιμωνίδῃ Τιμοκρέων.
46. I have written verses about him too, as follows:
Drink then, being in Zeus’s palace, O Socrates; for truly did the god pronounce thee wise, being wisdom himself; for when thou didst frankly take the hemlock at the hands of the Athenians, they themselves drained it as it passed thy lips.
He was sharply criticized, according to Aristotle in his third book On Poetry , by a certain Antilochus of Lemnos, and by Antiphon the soothsayer, just as Pythagoras was by Cylon of Croton, or as Homer was assailed in his lifetime by Syagrus, and after his death by Xenophanes of Colophon. So too Hesiod was criticized in his lifetime by Cercops, and after his death by the aforesaid Xenophanes; Pindar by Amphimenes of Cos; thales by Pherecydes; Bias by Salarus of Priene; Pittacus by Antimenidas and Alcaeus; Anaxagoras by Sosibius; and Simonides by Timocreon.
47 Τῶν δὲ διαδεξαμένων αὐτὸν τῶν λεγομένων Σωκρατικῶν οἱ κορυφαιότατοι μὲν Πλάτων, Ξενοφῶν, Ἀντισθένης· τῶν δὲ φερομένων δέκα οἱ διασημότατοι τέσσαρες, Αἰσχίνης, Φαίδων, Εὐκλείδης, Ἀρίστιππος. Λεκτέον δὴ πρῶτον περὶ Ξενοφῶντος, εἶτα περὶ Ἀντισθένους ἐν τοῖς κυνικοῖς, ἔπειτα περὶ τῶν Σωκρατικῶν, εἶθ’ οὕτω περὶ Πλάτωνος, ἐπεὶ κατάρχει τῶν δέκα αἱρέσεων καὶ τὴν πρώτην Ἀκαδήμειαν αὐτὸς συνεστήσατο. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀκολουθία τοῦτον ἐχέτω τὸν τρόπον.
Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἕτερος Σωκράτης, ἱστορικός, περιήγησιν Ἄργους γεγραφώς· καὶ ἄλλος περιπατητικός, Βιθυνός· καὶ ἕτερος ἐπιγραμμάτων ποιητής· καὶ ὁ Κῷος, ἐπικλήσεις θεῶν γεγραφώς.
Ξενοφών
47. Of those who succeeded him and were called Socratics the chief were Plato, Xenophon, Antisthenes, and of ten names on the traditional list the most distinguished are Aeschines, Phaedo, Euclides, Aristippus. I must first speak of Xenophon; Antisthenes will come afterwards among the Cynics; after Xenophon I shall take the Socratics proper, and so pass on to Plato. With Plato the ten schools begin: he was himself the founder of the First Academy. This then is the order which I shall follow.
Of those who bear the name of Socrates there is one, a historian, who wrote a geographical work upon Argos; another, a Peripatetic philosopher of Bithynia; a third, a poet who wrote epigrams; lastly, Socrates of Cos, who wrote on the names of the gods.