Have in readiness this saying of Solon, "But we will not give up our virtue in exchange for their wealth." How to profit by our Enemies. Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart. Consolation to Apollonius. Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death. he fell into a slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether anything ailed him, wisely answered, "Nothing, sir; only one brother anticipates another, Sleep before Death." Ibid. About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die. Ibid. The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length. Ibid. For many, as Cranton tells us, and those very wise men, not now but long ago, have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive to Midas. There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life : "Know thyself," and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend. 1 Ibid. To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that 1 See Pope, page 317. Plutarch ascribes this saying to Plato. It is also ascribed to Pythagoras, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates; also to Phemonë, a mythical Greek poetess of the ante-Homeric period. Juvenal (Satire xi. 27) says that this precept descended from heaven. shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot." Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great. "I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places." Ibid. When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men." Ibid. Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own. Ibid. When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue." Of Demaratus. Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him. Of Lysander. A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, "He ails nothing," "It is because, sir," he replied, "I use none of your physic." Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax. And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man,' ," "That happens,” replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor." Ibid. When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, “I'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living." Of Plistarchus. Anacharsis said a man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind. The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 11. Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage." 1 The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 14. Socrates said, "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live." 2 How a Young Man ought to hear Poems. 4. And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!" Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus. 11. Said Scopas of Thessaly, "We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things." 3 Of the Love of Wealth. That proverbial saying, "Ill news goes quick and far.” Of Inquisitiveness. A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedæmonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can." Remarkable Speeches. Spintharus, speaking in commendation of Epaminondas, says he scarce ever met with any man who knew more and spoke less. Of Hearing. 6. It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections. against another man's oration, nay, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome. Ibid. Antiphanes said merrily, that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon 1 Spare your breath to cool your porridge. - RABELAIS: Works, book v. chap. xxviii. 2 See Fielding, page 363. He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live. DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Socrates, xiv. 8 See Holmes, page 637. as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter were articulated next summer.1 Of Man's Progress in Virtue. As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum. Ibid. What is bigger than an elephant? But this also is become man's plaything, and a spectacle at public solemnities; and it learns to skip, dance, and kneel. Of Fortune. No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune. Ibid. Alexander was wont to say, "Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." Of the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great. When the candles are out all women are fair.2 Conjugal Precepts. Like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead.3 Whether 't was rightfully said, Live Concealed. Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.1 Of Banishment. Anaximander says that men were first produced in fishes, and when they were grown up and able to help themselves were thrown up, and so lived upon the land. Symposiacs. Book. viii. Question viii. Athenodorus says hydrophobia, or water-dread, was first discovered in the time of Asclepiades. Question ix. 1 In the "Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (Rudolphe Erich Raspe), stories gathered from various sources, is found the story of sound being frozen for a time in a post-horn, which when thawed gave a variety of tunes. A somewhat similar account is found in Rabelais, book iv. chaps. Iv. lvi., referring to Antiphanes. 2 See Heywood, page 11. Let us not wonder if something happens which never was before, or if something doth not appear among us with which the ancients were acquainted. Symposiacs. Book viii. Question ix. Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?1 The great god Pan is dead.2 Why the Oracles cease to give Answers. I am whatever was, or is, or will be; and my veil no mortal ever took up. Of Isis and Osiris. When Hermodotus in his poems described Antigonus as the son of Helios, "My valet-de-chambre," said he, "is not aware of this." 4 Ibid. There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice. Of those whom God is slow to punish. It is a difficult thing for a man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions. Ibid. He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.5 Of Garrulity. 1 See Pliny, page 715. 2 See Mrs. Browning, page 621. Plutarch relates (Isis and Osiris) that a ship well laden with passengers drove with the tide near the Isles of Paxi, when a loud voice was heard by most of the passengers calling unto one Thanus. The voice then said aloud to him, "When you are arrived at Palodes, take care to make it known that the great god Pan is dead." 3 I am the things that are, and those that are to be, and those that have been. No one ever lifted my skirts; the fruit which I bore was the sun. PROCLUS: On Plato's Timæus, p. 30 D. (Inscription in the temple of Neith at Sais, in Egypt.) 4 No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre. - MARSHAL CATINAT (16371712). Few men have been admired by their domestics. - MONTAIGNE: Essays, book iii. chap. 2. This phrase, "No man is a hero to his valet," is commonly attributed to Madame de Sévigné, but on the authority of Madame Aissé (Letters, edited by Jules Ravenal, 1853) it really belongs to Madame Cornuel. See Heywood, page 15. |