The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
IV. It was a saying of his that it was a hard thing to be good, and
this apophthegm is quoted by Simonides, who says, “It was a saying of
Pittacus, that it is a hard thing to be really a good man.” Plato also
mentions it in his Protagoras. Another of his sayings was, “Even the
Gods cannot strive against necessity.” Another was, “Power shows the
man.” Being once asked what was best, he replied, “To do what one is
doing at the moment well.” When Crœsus put the question to him, “What is
the greatest power?” “The power,” he replied, “of the variegated wood,”
meaning the wooden tablets of the laws. He used to say too, that there
were some victories without bloodshed. He said once to a man of Phocæa,
who was saying that we ought to seek out a virtuous man, “But if you seek
ever so much you will not find one.” Some people once asked him what
thing was very grateful? and he replied, “Time.”—What was uncertain?
“The future.”—What was trusty? “The land.”—What was treacherous? “The
sea.” Another saying of his was, that it was the part of wise men, before
difficult circumstances arose, to provide for their not arising; but that
it was the part of brave men to make the best of existing circumstances.
He used to say too, “Do not say before hand what you are going to do;
for if you fail, you will be laughed at.” “Do not reproach a man with
his misfortunes, fearing lest Nemesis may overtake you.” “If you have
received a deposit, restore it.” “Forbear to speak evil not only of your
friends, but also of your enemies.” “Practise piety, with temperance.”
“Cultivate truth, good faith, experience, cleverness, sociability, and
industry.”
V. He wrote also some songs, of which the following is the most
celebrated one:—
The wise will only face the wicked man,
With bow in hand well bent,
And quiver full of arrows—
For such a tongue as his says nothing true,
Prompted by a wily heart
To utter double speeches.
He also composed six hundred verses in elegiac metre; and he wrote a
treatise in prose, on Laws, addressed to his countrymen.
VI. He flourished about the forty-second Olympiad; and he died when
Aristomenes was Archon, in the third year of the fifty-second Olympiad;
having lived more than seventy years, being a very old man. And on his
tomb is this inscription:—
Lesbos who bore him here, with tears doth bury
Hyrradius’ worthy son, wise Pittacus.
Another saying of his was, “Watch your opportunity.”
VII. There was also another Pittacus, a lawgiver, as Phavorinus tells us
in the first book of his Commentaries; and Demetrius says so too, in his
Essay on Men and Things of the same name. And that other Pittacus was
called Pittacus the less.
VIII. But it is said that the wise Pittacus once, when a young man
consulted him on the subject of marriage, made him the following answer,
which is thus given by Callimachus in his Epigrams.
Hyrradius’ prudent son, old Pittacus
The pride of Mitylene, once was asked
By an Atarnean stranger; “Tell me, sage,
I have two marriages proposed to me;
One maid my equal is in birth and riches;
The other’s far above me;—which is best?
Advise me now which shall I take to wife?”
Thus spoke the stranger; but the aged prince,
Raising his old man’s staff before his face,
Said, “These will tell you all you want to know;”
And pointed to some boys, who with quick lashes
Were driving whipping tops along the street.
“Follow their steps,” said he; so he went near them
And heard them say, “Let each now mind his own.”—
So when the stranger heard the boys speak thus,
He pondered on their words, and laid aside
Ambitious thoughts of an unequal marriage.
As then he took to shame the poorer bride,
So too do you, O reader, mind thy own.
And it seems that he may have here spoken from experience, for his own
wife was of more noble birth than himself, since she was the sister
of Draco, the son of Penthilus; and she gave herself great airs, and
tyrannized over him.
IX. Alcæus calls Pittacus σαράπους and σάραπος, because he was
splay-footed, and used to drag his feet in walking, he also called him
χειροπόδης, because he had scars on his feet which were called χειράδες.
And γαύρηξ, implying that he gave himself airs without reason. And φύσκων
and γάστρων, because he was fat. He also called him ζοφοδορπίδας, because
he had weak eyes, and ἀγάσυρτος, because he was lazy and dirty. He used
to grind corn for the sake of exercise, as Clearchus, the philosopher,
relates.
X. There is a letter of his extant, which runs thus:—
PITTACUS TO CRŒSUS.
You invite me to come to Lydia in order that I may see your riches; but
I, even without seeing them, do not doubt that the son of Alyattes is the
richest of monarchs. But I should get no good by going to Sardis; for I
do not want gold myself, but what I have is sufficient for myself and my
companions. Still, I will come, in order to become acquainted with you as
a hospitable man.
LIFE OF BIAS.
I. Bias was a citizen of Priene, and the son of Teutamus, and by Satyrus
he is put at the head of the seven wise men. Some writers affirm that he
was one of the richest men of the city; but others say that he was only
a settler. And Phanodicus says, that he ransomed some Messenian maidens
who had been taken prisoners, and educated them as his own daughters,
and gave them dowries, and then sent them back to Messina to their
fathers. And when, as has been mentioned before, the tripod was found
near Athens by some fishermen, the brazen tripod I mean, which bore the
inscription—“For the Wise;” then Satyrus says that the damsels (but
others, such as Phanodicus, say that it was their father,) came into the
assembly, and said that Bias was the wise man—recounting what he had done
to them: and so the tripod was sent to him. But Bias, when he saw it,
said that it was Apollo who was “the Wise,” and would not receive the
tripod.
II. But others say that he consecrated it at Thebes to Hercules, because
he himself was a descendant of the Thebans, who had sent a colony to
Priene, as Phanodicus relates. It is said also that when Alyattes was
besieging Priene, Bias fattened up two mules, and drove them into his
camp; and that the king, seeing the condition that the mules were in, was
astonished at their being able to spare food to keep the brute beasts so
well, and so he desired to make peace with them, and sent an ambassador
to them. On this Bias, having made some heaps of sand, and put corn on
the top, showed them to the convoy; and Alyattes, hearing from him what
he had seen, made peace with the people of Priene; and then, when he sent
to Bias, desiring him to come quickly to him, “Tell Alyattes, from me” he
replied, “to eat onions;”—which is the same as if he had said, “go and
weep.”
III. It is said that he was very energetic and eloquent when pleading
causes; but that he always reserved his talents for the right side. In
reference to which Demodicus of Alerius uttered the following enigmatical
saying—“If you are a judge, give a Prienian decision.” And Hipponax says,
“More excellent in his decisions than Bias of Priene.” Now he died in
this manner:—
IV. Having pleaded a cause for some one when he was exceedingly old,
after he had finished speaking, he leaned back with his head on the
bosom of his daughter’s son; and after the advocate on the opposite side
had spoken, and the judges had given their decision in favour of Bias’s
client, when the court broke up he was found dead on his grandson’s
bosom. And the city buried him in the greatest magnificence, and put over
him this inscription—
Beneath this stone lies Bias, who was born
In the illustrious Prienian land,
The glory of the whole Ionian race.
And we ourselves have also written an epigram on him—
Here Bias lies, whom, when the hoary snow
Had crowned his aged temples, Mercury
Unpitying led to Pluto’s darken’d realms.
He pleaded his friend’s cause, and then reclin’d
In his child’s arms, repos’d in lasting sleep.
V. He also wrote about two thousand verses on Ionia, to show in what
matter a man might best arrive at happiness; and of all his poetical
sayings these have the greatest reputation:—
Seek to please all the citizens, even though
Your house may be in an ungracious city.
For such a course will favour win from all:
But haughty manners oft produce destruction.
And this one too:—
Great strength of body is the gift of nature;
But to be able to advise whate’er
Is most expedient for one’s country’s good,
Is the peculiar work of sense and wisdom.
Another is:—
Great riches come to many men by chance.
He used also to say that that man was unfortunate who could not support
misfortune; and that it is a disease of the mind to desire what was
impossible, and to have no regard for the misfortunes of others. Being
asked what was difficult, he said—“To bear a change of fortune for the
worse with magnanimity.” Once he was on a voyage with some impious men,
and the vessel was overtaken by a storm; so they began to invoke the
assistance of the Gods; on which he said, “Hold your tongues, lest they
should find out that you are in this ship.” When he was asked by an
impious man what piety was, he made no reply; and when his questioner
demanded the reason of his silence, he said, “I am silent because you are
putting questions about things with which you have no concern.” Being
asked what was pleasant to men, he replied, “Hope.” It was a saying of
his that it was more agreeable to decide between enemies than between
friends; for that of friends, one was sure to become an enemy to him;
but that of enemies, one was sure to become a friend. When the question
was put to him, what a man derived pleasure while he was doing, he said,
“While acquiring gain.” He used to say, too, that men ought to calculate
life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time: and that
they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to
hate one another; for that most men were wicked. He used also to give
the following pieces of advice:—“Choose the course which you adopt with
deliberation; but when you have adopted it, then persevere in it with
firmness.—Do not speak fast, for that shows folly.—Love prudence.—Speak
of the Gods as they are.—Do not praise an undeserving man because of
his riches.—Accept of things, having procured them by persuasion,
not by force.—Whatever good fortune befalls you, attribute it to the
gods.—Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for
it is more lasting than any other possession.”
VI. Hipponax also mentions Bias, as has been said before; and Heraclitus
too, a man who was not easily pleased, has praised him; saying, in Priene
there lived Bias the son of Teutamus, whose reputation is higher than
that of the others; and the Prienians consecrated a temple to him which
is called the Teutamium. A saying of his was, “Most men are wicked.”
LIFE OF CLEOBULUS.
I. Cleobulus was a native of Lindus, and the son of Evagoras; but
according to Duris he was a Carian; others again trace his family back
to Hercules. He is reported to have been eminent for personal strength
and beauty, and to have studied philosophy in Egypt; he had a daughter
named Cleobulina, who used to compose enigmas in hexameter verse, and she
is mentioned by Cratinus in his play of the same name, except that the
title is written in the plural number. They say also that he restored the
temple of Minerva which had been built by Danaus.
II. Cleobulus composed songs and obscure sayings in verse to the number
of three thousand lines, and some say that it was he who composed the
epigram on Midas.