§9ΦΟΥΝΔ.τὰ μὲν οὖν φαῦλα παραδείγματα τὴν θέαν οὐκ εὔχαριν ἀλλʼ ἀναγκαίαν μόνον εἶχε·
FUNDANUS.
τοὺς δʼ ἠπίως καὶ λείως ὁμιλοῦντας ὀργαῖς κάλλιστα μὲν ἀκούσματα κάλλιστα δὲ θεάματα ποιούμενος, ἄρχομαι καταφρονεῖν τῶν λεγόντων· "ἄνδρʼ ἠδίκησας· ἄνδρʼ ἀνεκτέον τόδε; "
καὶ
"βαῖνε λάξ, ἐπὶ τραχήλου βαῖνε, καὶ πέλα χθονί,"
καὶ τἄλλα παροξυντικά, διʼ ὧν ἔνιοι τὸν θυμὸν ἐκ τῆς γυναικωνίτιδος εἰς τὴν ἀνδρωνῖτιν οὐκ εὖ μετοικίζουσιν.
Therefore, the bad examples indeed offered a spectacle not pleasing but only necessary; but making those who deal mildly and smoothly with anger the finest things to hear and the finest to behold, I begin to despise those who say: "You have wronged a man; is this to be endured by a man?" and: "Tread with your heel, tread upon his neck, and bring him close to the ground," and other provoking things, by which some people badly transfer anger from the women's quarters to the men's quarters.
ἡ γὰρ ἀνδρεία κατὰ τἄλλα τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ συμφερομένη περὶ μόνης μοι δοκεῖ διαμάχεσθαι τῆς πραότητος, ὡς αὐτῇ μᾶλλον προσηκούσης.
For courage, which in other respects agrees with justice, seems to me to dispute with her concerning gentleness alone, as belonging more to itself.
ἀνθρώπων μὲν γὰρ κρατῆσαι καὶ χείροσι βελτιόνων ὑπῆρξε, τὸ δʼ ἐν ψυχῇ στῆσαι κατὰ θυμοῦ τρόπαιον ʽ
ᾧ χαλεπὸν εἶναι διαμάχεσθαι
φησὶν Ἡράκλειτος
ὅ τι γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ, ψυχῆς ὠνεῖται
μεγάλης ἐστὶ καὶ νικητικῆς ἰσχύος, ὥσπερ νεῦρα καὶ τόνους ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πάθη τὰς κρίσεις ἐχούσης.
For to conquer men has fallen to the lot even of worse men over better, but to set up a trophy in the soul over anger (against which Heraclitus says it is hard to fight, for whatever it wishes, it buys at the cost of the soul) belongs to a great and victorious strength, which possesses, as it were, its judgments as true sinews and tensions against the passions.
διὸ καὶ συνάγειν ἀεὶ πειρῶμαι καὶ ἀναγιγνώσκειν οὐ ταῦτα δὴ μόνον τὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων, οὕς φασι χολὴν οὐκ ἔχειν οἱ νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντες, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὰ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τυράννων οἷον Ἀντιγόνου τὸ πρὸς τοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς παρὰ τὴν σκηνὴν λοιδοροῦντας αὐτὸν ὡς οὐκ ἀκούοντα· τὴν βακτηρίαν γὰρ ὑποβαλὼν ἔξω
παπαί
εἶπεν
οὐ πορρωτέρω ποι τραπόμενοι κακῶς ἐρεῖθʼ ἡμᾶς; Ἀρκαδίωνος δὲ τοῦ Ἀχαιοῦ τὸν Φίλιππον ἀεὶ κακῶς λέγοντος καὶ φεύγειν παραινοῦντος
"εἰσόκε τοὺς ἀφίκηται οἳ οὐκ ἴσασι Φίλιππον"
εἶτά πως ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ φανέντος, ᾤοντο δεῖν οἱ φίλοι κολάσαι καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν· ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος ἐντυχὼν αὐτῷ φιλανθρώπως καὶ ξένια καὶ δῶρα πέμψας ἐκέλευσεν ὕστερον πυνθάνεσθαι, τίνας λόγους ἀπαγγέλλοι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας· ὡς δὲ πάντες ἐμαρτύρουν ἐπαινέτην αὐτοῦ γεγονέναι τὸν ἄνδρα θαυμάσιον,
ἐγὼ τοίνυν
ἔφη
βελτίων ἰατρὸς ὑμῶν. ἐν Ὀλυμπίοις δὲ βλασφημίας περὶ αὐτοῦ γενομένης καί τινων λεγόντων, ὡς οἰμῶξαι προσήκει τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὅτι εὖ πάσχοντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου κακῶς αὐτὸν λέγουσι· τί οὖν
ἔφη
ποιήσουσιν, ἂν κακῶς πάθωσι; καλὰ δὲ καὶ Πεισιστράτου τὰ πρὸς Θρασύβουλον καὶ Πορσήνα τὰ πρὸς Μούκιον καὶ Μάγα τὰ πρὸς Φιλήμονα· δημοσίᾳ γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κωμῳδηθεὶς ἐν θεάτρῳ
"
παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως γράμμαθʼ ἣκει σοι, Μάγα.
Wherefore also I always try to collect and read not only these sayings of the philosophers, whom those who have no sense say have no gall, but rather those of kings and tyrants; such as that of Antigonus towards the soldiers who were reviling him near his tent, thinking he did not hear them; for putting out his staff, he said, "Ah! won't you go off somewhere further away to speak ill of us?" And when Arcadion the Achaean was always speaking ill of Philip and advising flight "until he should reach those who know not Philip", and then somehow appeared in Macedonia, Philip's friends thought they ought to punish him and not overlook it; but Philip, having met him kindly and sent him guest-gifts and presents, ordered to inquire afterwards what words he reported to the Greeks; and when all testified that the man had become a wonderful admirer of him, "I, then," he said, "am a better doctor than you." And when at the Olympic games abuse was uttered against him, and some said that the Greeks deserved to howl because, though well-treated by Philip, they spoke ill of him, "What then," he said, "will they do if they are ill-treated?" Fine too were the deeds of Pisistratus towards Thrasybulus, and Porsena towards Mucius, and Magas towards Philemon; for, having been publicly mocked by him in the theater: "A letter has come to you from the king, Magas.
Μάγα κακόδαιμον, γράμματʼ οὐκ ἐπίστασαι· "
λαβὼν ὑπὸ χειμῶνος εἰς Παραιτόνιον ἐξενεχθέντα, στρατιώτην μὲν ἐκέλευσε γυμνῇ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ θιγεῖν τοῦ τραχήλου μόνον εἶτα κοσμίως ἀπελθεῖν· ἀστραγάλους δὲ καὶ σφαῖραν ὡς παιδαρίῳ νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντι προσπέμψας; ἀφῆκε.
Unfortunate Magas, you do not know your letters!" having caught him when he was driven by a storm to Paraetonium, he ordered a soldier only to touch his neck with a drawn sword and then depart orderly; and having sent him knuckle-bones and a ball, as to a child without sense, he let him go.
Πτολεμαῖος. ; δὲ γραμματικὸν εἰς ἀμαθίαν ἐπισκώπτων ἠρώτησε τίς ὁ τοῦ Πηλέως πατὴρ ἦν· κἀκεῖνος
ἂν σὺ πρότερον εἴπῃς
ἔφη
τίς ὁ τοῦ Λάγου· τὸ δὲ σκῶμμα τῆς δυσγενείας ἥπτετο τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ πάντες ἠγανάκτησαν ὡς οὐκ ἐπιτήδειον ὄντα φέρειν· καὶ ὁ Πτολεμαῖος
εἰ τὸ φέρειν
ἔφη
σκωπτόμενον, οὐδὲ τὸ σκώπτειν βασιλικόν ἐστιν. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ πικρότερος αὑτοῦ γέγονεν ἐν τοῖς περὶ Καλλισθένη καὶ Κλεῖτον.
And Ptolemy, mocking a grammarian for his ignorance, asked him who was the father of Peleus; and he said, "If you tell me first, who was the father of Lagus." And the joke touched on the king's low birth, and everyone was indignant at him as one who was intolerable; and Ptolemy said, "If bearing being mocked [is not kingly], neither is mocking kingly." But Alexander became harsher than his usual self in the matters concerning Callisthenes and Clitus.
καὶ, Πῶρος ἁλοὺς παρεκάλει χρήσασθαι· βασιλικῶς αὐτῷ καὶ πυθομένου
μή τι πλέον; ἐν τῷ βασιλικῶς
ἔφη
πάντʼ ἔνεστι. διὸ καὶ τῶν θεῶν τὸν βασιλέα
μειλίχιον
Ἀθηναῖοι δέ· Μαιμάκτην
οἶμαι καλοῦσι· τὸ δὲ κολαστικὸν ἐρινυῶδες καὶ δαιμονικόν, οὐ θεῖον οὐδʼ ὀλύμπιον.
And Porus, having been captured, requested him to treat him "kingly"; and when Alexander asked "Is there anything more?" "In the word 'kingly'", he said, "everything is contained." Wherefore also they call the king of the gods "Meilichios" [Mild], and the Athenians, I think, "Maimaktes" [Boisterous]; but the punishing element is Erinys-like and demonic, not divine nor Olympian.