Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §125.1

Persian Kings' Rewards for the Inventors of New Pleasures

Passage 130 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Theophrastus reports in his work on kingship (the authenticity of which is questioned) that Persian kings offered large sums of money to anyone who invented a new pleasure.

§125.1Fr. 125 Θ. ἐν τῷ πρὸς Κάσανδρον περὶ βασιλείας γνήσιον εἰ τὸ σύγγραμμα· πολλοὶ γὰρ αὐτό φασιν εἶναι Σωσιβίου - τοὺς Περσῶν φησὶ βασιλεῖς ὑπὸ τρυφῆς προκηρύττειν τοῖς ἐφευρίσκουσί τινα καινὴν ἡδονὴν ἀργυρίου πλῆθος.
Theophrastus, in his work To Cassander on Kingship—if indeed the treatise is genuine, for many say that it is by Sosibius—says that the kings of the Persians, out of luxury, publicly offered a large sum of silver to those who invented some new pleasure.

Notes

  1. §125.1γνήσιον εἰ τὸ σύγγραμμα — The conjunction εἰ introduces a condition, acting parenthetically as 'if indeed the treatise is genuine'. Although it could theoretically be taken as an indirect question ('whether the treatise is genuine'), the conditional interpretation is more natural here.
  2. §125.1Σωσιβίου — A possessive genitive functioning as the predicate of the copula εἶναι, meaning 'is [the work] of Sosibius'.
  3. §125.1ἀργυρίου πλῆθος — Literally 'a large amount of silver,' serving as the direct object of the infinitive προκηρύττειν, meaning a large sum of money or reward.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §125.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:125.1

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