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A36037
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The lives, opinions, and remarkable sayings of the most famous ancient philosophers. The first volume written in Greek, by Diogenes Laertius ; made English by several hands ...; De vitis philosophorum. English
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Diogenes Laertius.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing D1516; ESTC R35548
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235,742
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604
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that was sold That if any Man put out the Eye of him that had but one he should lose both his That where a Man never planted he should never take away if he did the Crime to be punish'd with death That it should be death for a Magistrate to be taken in drink Homer's Poems he ordain'd to be transcrib'd in such a Contexture that where the first verse ended the next should begin So that Solon illustrated Homer beyond Pisistratus as Diochidas testifies in his fifth Book of Megaries He was the first that call'd the Thirtieth day of the Month 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Old and the New And first ordain'd the number of nine principal Magistrates to pronounce Sentence as Apollodorus relates in his Second Book of Legislators In a certain Sedition that happen'd he would neither side with the Citizens nor the Country People nor the Seamen Among the rest of his Apothegms he was wont to say That Speech was the Image of Deeds That he was a true King who was strongest in Power and that the Laws were like to Spiders Webs which held whatever was light and weak but were easily snapt asunder by what was big and ponderous That Speech was seal'd up by Silence and Silence by Opportunity He compar'd the Favourites of Tyrants to Counters for that as they sometimes made the number greater sometimes lesser so were Favourites advanc'd or disgrac'd by the Tyrant at his pleasure Being ask'd Why he made no Law against Parricides He reply'd Because he despair'd of meeting any such Criminals To the Question Which was the best way for a Man to preserve himself from doing injury He answer'd If they who were unprovok'd had the same sence of the injustice as they who were injur'd He was also wont to say That Plenty sprang from Wealth and that Plenty begat Contempt He advis'd the Athenians to regulate the days according to the course of the Moon And forbid Thespis to Act or Teach the making of Tragedies as an unprofitable and fabulous sort of Learning So that when Pisistratus wounded himself he cry'd out I know his Instructors Among the public Admonitions which he scatter'd among Men according to Apollodorus in his Treatise of the Sects of Philosophers these were the Principal To look upon Virtue and Probity to be more faithful than an Oath Not to tell a Lye To follow noble and generous Studies Not hastily to enter into friendship but the choice made not rashly to break it Then to govern when a Man has learnt to be governed To give Counsel not the most acceptable but most wholesom To be guided by Reason and Judgment Not to converse with bad Society To honour the Gods And reverence our Parents They report also that upon Mimnormus's writing the following lines Vnhappy Man who free from cares and pain And Maladies that seek for cure in vain To sixty years of age can seldom reach Er'e death the swift Career of Age impeach gave him this smart Reprimand I hear thy sad complaint but leave it out Nor take it ill that we advis'd thee to 't Or else enlarge and write That cannot reach To eighty years e're Death his course impeach Other Admonitions also he gave in Verse of which these are recorded to be part Beware for wicked Man must still be watch'd Lest secret mischief in his heart be hatch'd When smooth he speaks and with a smile as fair As new blown flowers exhaling fragrant Air. Man's double Tongue can flatter or can howle When prompted by a black corrupted Soul. Moreover most certain it is that he wrote partly Laws partly Speeches partly Admonitions to himself as also concerning the Common-wealths of Salamine and Athens above five thousand Heroic Verses besides Iambics and Epodes And at length upon his Statue this Epigram was engrav'd She that the pride of unjust Medians tam'd Fair Salamis for Naval Combat fam'd More famous she for Solon's Birth hecame Whose Sacred Laws immortaliz'd his Name He was in the flower of his Age much about the forty sixth Olympiad in the third year of which he was Prince of the Athenians as Sosicrates affirms at what time also he made his Laws He dy'd in Cyprus aged fourscore years with this Command that his Bones should be translated to Salamine and being burnt to Ashes should be sow'd over the Island For which reason Cratinus in Chiron introduces him speaking after this manner This Island I possess so fame resounds Sown o're the fertile Telamonian Bounds There is also extant an Epigram of our own in our Book of Epigrams which we formerly Consecrated to the Memories of all the Wise and Learned Men deceas'd Fam'd Solon's Body Cyprian fire did burn His Bones at Salamis are turn'd to Corn. His Soul into a nimble Chariot made The Tables of his Law to Heav'n conveigh'd Not to be wonder'd at for well they might The weight of all his Laws was then so light He is also reported to have been the first who utter'd that Apothegm Nothing to Excess And Dioscorides in his Commentaries relates that as he was weeping and wailing for the death of his Son whose name we could never yet understand to a friend of his that reprov'd him saying What does this avail thee He reply'd Therefore I weep because it avails me nothing More than this we find nothing in his Life remarkable but only that the following Epistles are said to be his Solon to Periander THou writest me word of several that lye in wait for thy Life I must tell thee that shouldst thou resolve to put 'em all to death 't would nothing avail thee For it may be one of those persons that conspires against thee is one of whom thou hast the least suspicion either jealous of his own Life or condemning thee and resolving thy destruction not only for thy pusillanimous fear which renders thy suspicions dangerous to all Men but to gratifie his fellow Citizens Therefore 't is thy best way to forbear to avoid the cause of thy fears But if thou art resolv'd upon violence consider which is strongest whether thy own foreign Guards or the Trained Force of thy own Subjects For then having no Body to fear there will be no need of Rigour or Exilement Solon to Epimenides NEither had my Laws been of much advantage to the Athenians neither hadst thou by repealing 'em done the City any good For neither God nor the Lawgiver alone can be profitable to a Common-weal but they who govern the Multitude as they please themselves Who if they sway the People as they ought then God and the Laws may do good but if wrong they will be but of little use 'T is true perhaps my Laws were not better than others yet they that refus'd to observe 'em did a great injury to the Common-wealth And such were they who would not oppose Pisistratus in his design to invade the Government They would not believe me when I foretold the Truth but more credit was given to them that
punctual to thy Promises Beware of betraying a Secret. Punish not only Offenders but those that design to Offend He was the first that made use of a Life-guard and that changed Democratical Government into Tyranny nor would he permit every one that desired it to live in the City as Euphorus and Aristotle testify He flourished in his Prime about the thirty third Olympiad and reigned full Forty Years Nevertheless Sotion Heraclides and Pamphila affirm That there were two Perianders one a Tyrant the other a Wise Man and that the Tyrant was an Ambraciote however Neanthes of Cyzicum will have 'em to be Cousin Germans Aristotle also asserts the Corinthian to be the Wise Man and Plato denies it Whoever it were he designed it seems to have digged down the Neck of the Isthmus and his Motto was this Premeditation does all things There are also extant several Epistles of his and among the rest these that follow Periander to the Wise Men. IMmortal Thanks to Pythian Apollo that my Letters found ye all together And therefore I expect your Coming assuring you of a welcome befitting the quality of your Persons For seeing that you were so ready the last Year to visit Sardis in Lydia I make no question but that you will vouchsafe your Company to the Tyrant of Corinth nor will the Corinthian be unmindful to congratulate your coming to Periander's Habitation Periander to Procleus I Do not hear the Crime which thy Wise committed was done voluntarily and therefore thou wilt do ill if thou shalt act premeditately any thing against thy ungrateful Son. Forbear therefore thy Cruelty toward the Youth or I will assist and defend him in regard he has suffered enough already We also find another Letter written from Thrasybulus to Periander in these Words Thrasybulus to Periander WE dissembled nothing to thy Heraulds for I led him to the standing Corn and with my wand in his Presence struck off the Ears that grew up above the rest ask him therefore and he will tell thee what he heard me say and what he saw me do Then follow my advice if it be thy design to establish thy regal Power cut off the Principal Men of the City whether Friends or Enemies For Friends and Foes are to be alike suspected by a Tyrant THE LIFE of ANACHARSIS ANACHARSIS a Scythian was the Son of Gnurus and Brother of Cadovidas King of the Scythians his Mother being a Grecian by which means he spoke both the Languages He wrote concerning the Laws of the Scythians the Rites and Solemnities among the Grecians concerning a Frugal Life and military affairs to the Number of nine Hundred Verses Being bold and resolute in Speaking he gave occasion to the Proverb That whoever imitated his resolution was said to speak like a Scythian Sosicrates affirms that he arrived at Athens about the Forty seventh Olympiad at what time Eucrates was chief Magistrate of the City Hermippus relates That at the same time he went to Solon's House and bid one of the Servants tell his Master that Anacharsis was at the Door desirous of his Acquaintance and if it were convenient to be his Guest which Message the Servant repeating to Solon was sent back with this Answer That Guests were made by those that were in their own Country Upon which Anacharsis entred into the House with this Complement Now then said he I am in my own Country and it belongs to me to make the Guests Thereupon Solon admiring the dexterity of the Person not only gave him admittance but made him one of his most intimate Friends Sometime after returning into Scythia while he endeavoured to alter the Laws of his Country and to introduce the Grecian Constitutions he was shot through the Body by his Brother as he rode a Hunting breathing forth these last words as he expired For my Learning's sake I was preserved in Greece but perished through Envy at Home and in my Country Others say that he was slain as he was offering to the Gods after the Greek manner However it were the first report produced this Anagram of ours Through many Regions view'd and dangers past Great Anacharsis home returns at last And straight by soft Perswasion seeks to draw The ruder Scythians to the Grecian Law. But ere th' imperfect words he could impart A feather'd Arrow pierc'd his bleeding heart He was wont to say that the Vine bare three sorts of Clusters the first of Pleasure the second of Debauchery and the third of Discontent and Repentance He admired how it came to pass that in the Contentions among the Grecian Artificers the worst Artists were still made the Judges of the Dispute Being asked how a Man might best preserve himself Sober He answered By setting before the Eyes the evil Behaviour of those that drank to Excess He wondred why the Grecian Legislators enacting Laws against the Injurious honoured the Wrestlers that daily mischiefed one another When he understood the Plancks of a Ship to be but four Fingers thick he said that was the distance between Death and those that went by Sea. He called Oil the Provocative of Madness observing that the Wrestlers being anointed with it were the more enraged one against another How comes it to pass said he that they who forbid Lying Lye so frequently in the common Victualling-Houses He was wont to wonder why the Greeks at the beginning of their Banquets drank in little Cups but when their Stomachs were full still quaff'd on in large Bowls Upon his Statues this admonition is generally engraved to govern the Tongue the Belly and the Privy-Members Being asked whether there were any Fifes in Scythia he made answer No nor any Vines neither To the question what sort of Ships were safest He answered Those that were come into Harbour Another thing he also admired among the Grecians that they left the Smoke behind in the Mountains and brought the Wood into the City To the question which were most the Living or the Dead he replied with another Question in the number of which they ranked those that ventured by Sea To an Athenian that upbraided him for being a Scythian he retorted My Country indeed is a reproach to me but thou to thy Country To the question What was good or bad in Men He answer'd The Tongue He us'd to say 't was better to have one good friend than many that were Men of no worth He accounted the Market a place appointed for Men to deceive one another and display their Avarice Being affronted by a young Man at a Compotation Young Maâ— said he if thou caust not bear Wine in thy Youth thou wilt carry Water when thou art Old. He is said to have invented for the benefit of Mankind the Anchor and the Potters Wheel There is also extant the following Epistle of his to Croesus Anacharsis to Croesus I Came into Greece O King of the Lydians to learn their Customs and their Constitutions I want no Gold as having sufficient for a better