Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Pittacus, son of Hyrradius, was a Mytilenaean. Duris says that his father was a Thracian. This man, having joined with the brothers of Alcaeus, overthrew Melanchrus, the tyrant of Lesbos; and when the Athenians and Mytilenaeans were fighting over the territory of Achilleis, he himself served as general, while for the Athenians it was Phrynon, an Olympic victor in the pancratium. He agreed to fight in single combat against him; and having a net concealed under his shield, he threw it secretly around Phrynon, and having killed him, recovered the territory. Later, however, Apollodorus says in his Chronicles that the Athenians contested the territory in court against the Mytilenaeans, with Periander hearing the case, and that he awarded it to the Athenians.

​At that time, then, the Mytilenaeans honored Pittacus exceedingly and entrusted the supreme power to him. Having held it for ten years and brought the constitution into order, he laid down the office and lived for ten more years. And the Mytilenaeans assigned him a tract of land; but he dedicated it as sacred, which is now called the Pittacean land. Sosicrates says that, having cut off only a small portion for himself, he said that the half is more than the whole. Moreover, when Croesus offered him money, he would not accept it, saying that he already had twice as much as he wished; for, his brother having died childless, he had inherited his estate.

​Pamphila says in the second book of her Commentaries that, while his son Tyrrhaeus was sitting in a barbershop in Cyme, a certain bronzesmith struck and killed him with an axe. When the Cymaeans sent the murderer to Pittacus, having learned the facts, he released him and said: “Pardon is better than repentance.” Heraclitus, however, says that having taken Alcaeus into his power and released him, he said: “Pardon is better than vengeance.” He also enacted laws: that for a drunkard, if he commits an offense, the penalty should be double; in order that they might not get drunk, since much wine was produced on the island. And he said: “It is hard to be noble;” which Simonides also mentions, saying: “To become a truly good man is hard, as the saying of Pittacus goes.”

​Plato also mentions him in the Protagoras: “Against necessity not even the gods contend.” And: “Office shows the man.” When asked once what is best, he said: “To do well what is at hand.” And when asked by Croesus what is the greatest power, he said: “That of the variegated wood,” pointing to the law. He used to say also that victories should be achieved without bloodshed. And to the Phocaean who maintained that one ought to seek a worthy man, he said: “If you seek too excessively, you will not find him.” And to those asking what is grateful, he said: “Time;” what is unseen: “The future;” what is trustworthy: “The earth;” what is untrustworthy: “The sea.” And he used to say that it belongs to wise men to foresee difficulties before they occur, so that they may not happen;

​but to brave men to handle well those that have occurred. What you intend to do, do not proclaim beforehand; for if you fail, you will be laughed at. Do not reproach misfortune, reverencing retribution. Having received a deposit, return it. Speak ill of neither a friend nor an enemy. Cultivate piety. Cherish temperance. Possess truth, fidelity, experience, adroitness, companionship, and diligence. Among the verses sung of his, these especially won renown: “Holding bows and an arrow-bearing quiver must one advance toward a wicked man. For no trustworthy word does a tongue speak through the mouth when it keeps a double-minded thought in the heart.”