again, was once worked into a passion with a greedy and impudent slave, he called his sister’s son Speusippus and said, ‘Go and give this fellow a thrashing: I am myself in a great passion.’
But, it may be argued, it is difficult to reach so high a standard [Sidenote: E] as this. I am well aware of it. We can therefore only do our best to take a pattern by such conduct, and minimize any tendency to ungovernable rage. As in other matters, we are no match for either the moral mastery or the finished character of those great models.
Nevertheless we may act towards them as we might towards the Gods, serving as hierophants and torch-bearers of their wisdom and endeavouring to imitate in our nibbling way as much as lies in our power.
As for the control of the tongue—the remaining point to be considered according to our promise—any one who regards it as of trivial moment is very much in the wrong. In a timely [Sidenote: F] silence there is a wisdom superior to any speech. It is apparently for this reason that men in old times invented our mystic rites and ceremonies. The notion was that, through being trained to silence in connexion with these, we should secure the keeping of human secrets by carrying into them the same religious fear. Moreover, though multitudes have repented of talking, no man has repented of silence, and while it is easy to utter what has been kept back, it is impossible to recall what has been uttered.
My own reading affords countless instances of the greatest disasters resulting from an ungoverned tongue. I will content [Sidenote: 11] myself with mentioning one or two typical examples. When, upon the marriage of Philadelphus with his sister, Sotades composed a scurrilous verse, he paid ample atonement for talking out of season by rotting for a long time in prison. He thus purchased a laugh in others by long weeping of his own. The [Sidenote: *] story is closely matched by that of the sophist Theocritus, who endured similar, but much more terrible, consequences for a similar remark. Alexander had ordered the Greeks to provide a stock of purple garments, with a view to the thanksgiving [Sidenote: B] sacrifice on his return from his Persian victories, and the various peoples were contributing at so much per head. Hereupon Theocritus observed: ‘I have now become clear upon a point which used to puzzle me. This is what is meant by Homer’s “purple death”‘—words which earned him the enmity of Alexander. Antigonus, the Macedonian king, had but one eye, and Theocritus made him excessively angry by a taunt at this disfigurement. Eutropion, the chief cook, who had become a person of importance, was sent to him by the king with a request that he would come to court and engage him in argument. On receiving repeated visits from Eutropion with this message, he [Sidenote: C] remarked, ‘I am well aware that you want to dish me up raw to the Cyclops,’ thus twitting the one with being disfigured, the other with being a cook. ‘Then,’ replied Eutropion, ‘it will be without your head, for you shall be punished for such mad and reckless language.’ Thereupon he reported the words to the king, who sent and put Theocritus to death.
The last and most sacred requirement is that children should be trained to speak the truth. Lying is a servile habit; it deserves universal detestation and is unpardonable even in a decent slave.
[Sidenote: D] So far I have had no doubt or hesitation in what I have said of the modesty and good behaviour of children. But upon the matter which now calls for mention I am dubious and undecided, my judgement swaying in the balance first one way and then the other, without finding it possible to turn the scale in either direction. It concerns a practice which I can neither recommend nor discountenance without great reluctance. Nevertheless one must venture a word upon it. The question is whether a man who is enamoured of a boy is to be allowed to keep intimate [Sidenote: E] company with him, or whether, on the contrary, association with such a person is to be tabooed. When I look at fathers whose disposition is uncompromisingly harsh and austere, and who regard such association as an intolerable insult to their children, I have many scruples in recommending it or speaking in its favour. When, on the other hand, I think of Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, Aeschines, Cebes, and all those great men who have with one accord approved of love between males, while they have led youths on to culture, to public leadership, and to [Sidenote: F] a virtuous character, I change my mind and am inclined to copy those great exemplars. Euripides is on their side, when he says: _Nay, men may feel passion of other sort, Love of a just, chaste, virtuous mind and soul._ Nor must we omit the saying of Plato, partly serious and partly humorous, that those who have shown special excellence should have the right to kiss any beautiful person they choose. The proper course is to drive away those who are enamoured of the person, but, generally speaking, give a sanction to those who are in love with the mind and soul. While we must have nothing to say to the connexions in vogue at Thebes or in Elis, or to the so-called ‘abduction’ of Crete, we may well imitate that kind [Sidenote: 12] which is usual at Athens or in Lacedaemon.
On this matter it is for every man to hold such convictions as he has formed for himself. I will now leave it, and, having spoken of the discipline and good behaviour of the boy, will pass on to deal with the age of adolescence. I shall do so in very few words, for I have often expressed my disapproval of those who encourage vicious habits by proposing to put a boy under the charge of tutors and teachers, whereas, with a stripling, they would permit his inclinations to range at will.
As a matter of [Sidenote: B] fact, there is need of more anxious precautions in the case of the stripling than in that of the boy. Every one is aware that the faults committed by a boy are small matters, which can be cured without difficulty—such as paying no heed to his tutor, or trickery and inattention in school. But the sins of adolescence often reach a flagrant and shocking pitch—stealing the father’s money, gormandizing, dicing, roistering, drinking, loose passion for young girls, or corruption of married women. The propensities of young manhood ought therefore to be carefully watched and kept closely under the chain. When capacity for [Sidenote: C] pleasure is at its prime, it rejects control, kicks over the traces, and requires the curb. If therefore we do not take a firm hold upon this time of life, we are giving folly a licence to sin. This is the moment when wise fathers should be most watchful and alert; when they should bring their lads within bounds by warnings, threats, or entreaties, and by pointing out instances of disaster caused by devotion to pleasure, and of praise and good repute won by continence. These two things form what may be called first principles of virtue, namely, hope of honour and fear of punishment, the one producing a greater eagerness [Sidenote: D] for the noblest pursuits, the other a shrinking from bad actions.
One general rule of duty is to keep boys from associating with vicious persons; otherwise they will pick up something of their vice. This has been urged by Pythagoras among a number of dark sayings. Since these also possess great value as aids to the attainment of virtue, I will proceed to quote them, adding their explanation. _Do not taste black-tails_[59]—keep no company with persons who are malignant and therefore ‘black’. _Do not [Sidenote: E] step over a beam_—justice must be scrupulously respected and not ‘overstepped’. _Do not sit on a quart-measure_—beware of idleness, and see to the providing of daily bread. _Do not clasp hands with every man_—we should form no sudden connexions. _Do not wear a tight ring_—one should carry out the practice of [Sidenote: *] life, and not fasten it to any chain. _Do not poke a fire with iron_—do not irritate a wrathful man (the right course being to let angry men go their own way). _Do not eat the heart_—do not injure [Sidenote: F] the mind with worry and brooding. _Abstain from beans_—avoid public life (office in former times being determined by voting with beans). _Do not put victuals in a chamber-vessel_—clever speech ought not to be put into a wicked mind, since speech, which is the food of thought, is polluted by the wickedness in a man. _Do not turn back on coming to the border_—when about to die, and with the end of life close in sight, behave calmly and without losing heart.
To return to the topic with which we were dealing before this digression. While, as I observed, boys should be kept from every kind of vicious company, especially should they be kept [Sidenote: 13] from parasites. I venture to repeat here what I am continually urging upon fathers. There is no set of creatures so pernicious—none which so quickly and completely brings youth to headlong destruction—as parasites. They are utter ruin to both father and son, filling the old age of the one and the youth of the other with vexation. To gain their purpose they offer an irresistible bait in the shape of pleasure. In the case of rich men’s sons, the father preaches sobriety, the parasite drunkenness. The father urges temperance and economy, the parasite profligacy and extravagance. The father says: ‘Be industrious’; the parasite says: ‘Be idle; for life is only a moment altogether.
[Sidenote: B] One ought to live, not merely exist. Why trouble about your father’s threats? He is an old driveller with one foot in the coffin, and we will promptly pick him up on our shoulders and carry him off to his grave.’ One person tempts him with a drab, or with the seduction of a married woman, plundering and stripping the father of all the provision for his old age. They are an abominable crew; their friendship is a sham; of candour they have no idea; they toady the rich and despise the poor. They are drawn to young men like puppets on a string; they [Sidenote: *] grin, when those who feed them laugh; they counterfeit the possession of a mind, and give a spurious imitation of details of real life. They live at the rich man’s beck, and though fortune [Sidenote: C] has made them free, their own choice makes them slaves. If they are not insulted, they regard it as an insult, their maintenance in that case being without a motive. If, therefore, a father is concerned for the obedient conduct of his children, he must keep these abominable creatures at a distance. And he must by all means do the same with vicious fellow-pupils, who are capable of corrupting the most moral of natures.
While these principles are right and expedient, I have a word to say upon a human aspect of the matter. I have no desire, all this time, that a father’s disposition should be altogether [Sidenote: D] harsh and unyielding. I would have him frequently condone a fault in his junior and recollect that he was once young himself. The physician mixes his bitter drugs with syrup, and so finds a way to work benefit through the medium of enjoyment. In the same way a father should blend his severe reprimande with kindliness, at one time giving the boy’s desires a loose or easy rein, at another time tightening it. If possible, he should [Sidenote: E] take misdeeds calmly; failing that, his anger should be seasonable and should quickly cool down. It is better for a father to be sharp-tempered than sullen-tempered; to sulk and bear malice goes far to prove a lack of parental affection. Sometimes, when a fault is committed, it is a good thing to pretend ignorance, turning to advantage the dim sight and defective hearing of old age, and refusing to see or hear certain occurrences which one hears and sees. We put up with the lapses of a friend. Is it strange to do so with those of a child? A slave is often heavy-headed from a debauch, without our taking him to task. The other day you refused the boy money; there are times to meet his requests. The other day you were indignant; there are times to be lenient. Perhaps he has cozened you through a servant; [Sidenote: F] restrain your anger. Has he borrowed the team from the farm? Does he come reeking of yesterday’s bout? Do not notice it. Smelling of perfumes? Say nothing. Such is the way to manage the restiveness of youth.
A son who cannot resist pleasure and is deaf to remonstrance should be put into matrimonial harness, that being the surest way of tying a young man down. The woman who becomes his wife should not, however, be to any great extent his superior either in birth or means. _Keep to your own level_ is a sound maxim, and a man who marries much above him finds himself, [Sidenote: 14] not the husband of the woman, but the slave of the dowry.
A few words more, and I will conclude my list of principles.
Above all things a father should set an example to his children in his own person, by avoiding all faults of commission or omission. His life should be the glass by which they form themselves and are put out of conceit with all ugliness of act or speech. For him to rebuke his erring sons when guilty of the same errors himself, is to become his own accuser while ostensibly theirs. Indeed, if his life is bad, he is disqualified from reproving even a slave, much more his son. Moreover, he will naturally [Sidenote: B] become their guide and teacher in wrongdoing. Where there are old men without shame, inevitably there are quite shameless young ones also. To obtain good behaviour from our children we should therefore strive to carry out every moral duty. An example to follow is that of Eurydice, who, though belonging to a thoroughly barbarous country like Illyria, nevertheless took to study and self-improvement late in life for the sake of her children’s education. Her maternal affection finds apt expression in the lines inscribed upon her offering to the Muses: [Sidenote: C] _In that, when mother to grown boys, she won Her soul’s well-known desire—the skill to use The lore of letters—this Eurydice From Hierapolis sends to each Muse._[60] To compass the whole of the foregoing elements of success is [Sidenote: *] perhaps visionary—a counsel of perfection. But to cultivate the majority of them, though itself requiring good fortune as well as much care, is at any rate a thing within the reach of a human being.
Footnote 55: This article is in all probability not the work of Plutarch. See the Introduction.
Footnote 56: The play upon words (_ēthikas_, ‘moral’ and _ĕthikas_, ‘of habit’) is not adequately translatable.
Footnote 57: The Greek text is here corrupt; the translation represents the probable sense.
Footnote 58: The Greek text is again faulty. The sense here given is approximate.
Footnote 59: These maxims were probably in the first instance merely hygienic, or even popular superstitions, but subsequently they received recondite interpretations.
Footnote 60: The Greek verse is doggerel, and no attempt is made to better it in the English.
NOTES ON PERSONS AND PLACES The following brief notes are intended to supply the bare amount of information necessary for an understanding of the text. The pronunciation marks are, of course, added only for the sake of those who have no Greek. An accent marks the syllable which should bear the stress imply that the vowels are short or long respectively. q.v. = see the note on that name.
=Ábaris=: a legendary Scythian or ‘Hyperborean’ priest of Apollo, to whom miraculous powers were attributed in the way of cures and prophecy.
=Aeolians=: inhabitants of Aeolis, the NE. coast of the Aegean, with the island of Lesbos.
=Aeschĭnes=: (1) a philosopher, pupil of Socrates (hence Aeschines Socraticus). In the eyes of Plato he was a sophist, for the reason that he took fees. His character was not of the highest. Like Plato, he visited Syracuse during the philosophic pose of the elder Dionysius.
(2) Athenian orator, constant opponent of Demosthenes, who charged him with being bribed by Philip. Died in exile 314 B.C.
=Aeschylus=: the first in date and most severe in style of the three great Attic tragedians, 525-466 B.C. A master of condensed and sonorous language and of powerful situations.
=Aesop=: the famous writer (or promulgator) of fables, _c._ 620-564 B.C.
Said to have been an emancipated slave, who spent some time at the court of Croesus and was sent by him on a mission to Delphi to distribute largess. Practically nothing definite is known of him. His fables were most probably of Indo-Persian origin. Those which now pass under his name are a comparatively late compilation from various sources.
=Agésilāus=: Agesilaus II, king of Sparta, 398-361 B.C.; the most important man in the Greek world of his day. His wars were numerous, the most important being with the Thebans. His character was noble, his ability great, but his physique and appearance poor.
=Agis=: (1) Agis II, king of Sparta, 427-399 B.C.; commander against the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War, his greatest exploit being the victory of Mantinea.
(2) Base and toadying poet of Argos, who accompanied Alexander into Asia. The histories of the expedition agree with Plutarch as to his character.
=Alcibíades=: a handsome noble of Athens; a type of ostentatious, ambitious, and unscrupulous brilliancy. After a measure of military and political prominence he was banished from Athens for sacrilege (415 B.C.). Becoming hostile to his country he first found a home at Sparta, thence migrated to Asia Minor and joined the Persian satrap, Tissaphernes, whom he endeavoured to bring over to the Athenian side as a means to his own recall. He returned to Athens for a brief space in 407 B.C., then removed to Thrace, and thence again to the Persian satrap.
=Alcméōn=: son of Amphiaraus (q.v.), who avenged his father by putting to death his mother Eriphyle.
=Alexander=: (1) the Great, of Macedon.
(2) of Pherae, a despot who dominated Thessaly from 369 B.C. A cruel tyrant, assassinated through the agency of his wife.
=Alexis=: poet of the ‘Middle Comedy’, who had migrated from South Italy to Athens. Plutarch says that he lived to the age of 106, and Suidas that his plays numbered 245.
=Alyáttes=: king of Lydia and father of Croesus, carried on wars with the Greeks of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor and had apparently some designs upon the islands.
=Amásis=: an insurgent Egyptian general who secured the throne (569 B.C.). His rule was beneficent and prosperous, and he cultivated the friendship of the Greeks, handing over to them the town of Naucratis (q.
v.). When reproached with his humble origin he converted his bronze foot-pan into the effigy of a deity by way of instructive parable. He was visited by Solon and had amicable relations with Croesus.
=Ammónius=: Peripatetic philosopher from Attica, teacher of Plutarch, who speaks elsewhere of his great erudition.
=Amphiaráus=: legendary seer of Argos, who accompanied the ‘Seven’ in their expedition against Thebes. A pious and just man, who was led into this false step by the persuasions of his wife, who had been bribed.
=Amphíctyons=: members of a religious Council meeting at Delphi and representing the older Greek communities.
=Amphídămas=: ‘hero’ (i. e. demigod) of Chalcis in Euboea, conceived as a historical personage.
=Amphitrítë=: wife of Poseidon and queen-goddess of the sea.
=Anacharsis=: Scythian prince (of N. Thrace). To Greek literature he is the type of the observant and critical visitor from abroad. A pattern of the simple life and direct thinking. Said to have visited Athens about 600 B.C.
=Anaxarchus=: an easy-going and witty philosopher of the school of Democritus (q. v.); in the suite of Alexander on his Asiatic expedition.
=Antígŏnus=: a general of Alexander. On the partition of the empire he received Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia, but afterwards extended his rule over all the Asiatic portion. He fell before a combination of the other Diadochi in 301 B.C.
=Antímăchus=: epic poet of Colophon, who wrote at great length on the story of Thebes. He also composed a voluminous elegy on ‘Lyde’. Both pieces were crammed with mythological and other learning, and Plutarch appears to treat him as a type of the diffuse. He was a contemporary of Plato.
=Antípăter=: (1) regent of Macedonia during the Asiatic expedition of Alexander and after his death (334-320 B.C.). A war with a Greek league headed by Athens ended in the submission of the latter.
(2) A Stoic philosopher of Tyre; a friend of Cato the younger, about the middle of the first century B.C.
=Antiphōn=: several persons were so named, e. g.: (1) an orator of the fifth century B.C.
(2) An Athenian tragic poet, put to death by the elder Dionysius at Syracuse.
(3) A sophist, epic poet, and antagonist of Socrates.
=Apéllēs=: (1) of Colophon or Cos, _fl._ _c._ 335-305 B.C. The greatest painter of antiquity, especially favoured by Alexander the Great. His maxim for draughtsmen _nulla dies sine linea_ is famous.
(2) Of Chios, apparently unknown beyond Plutarch.
=Appius Claudius= (=Caecus=): Roman censor 312 B.C., originator of the Appian Way.
=Aráspēs=: a Mede, friend of Cyrus, who became enamoured of Panthea (q.
v.).
=Arcĕsiláus=: latter part of third century B.C.; first a disciple of Theophrastus (q. v.), but took an independent line in philosophy as founder of the sceptical New Academy. A man of amiable character and a wit.
=Archeláus=: king of Macedonia 413-399 B.C.; a lover of art and literature and a patron of Euripides and other Athenian men of letters.
=Archidámus=: Archidamus II, king of Sparta, 469-427 B.C. There were several other kings of the name.
=Archílŏchus=: of Paros, _fl._ _c._ 710-675 B.C. A lyrist of whom only fragments are extant; particularly famous for his iambic lampoons.
=Archimédes=: the Newton of antiquity; an eminent scientist of Syracuse 287-212 B.C.; student of astronomy, applied mathematics, and engineering. He served as mechanical engineer in defending his city from the Romans, by whose soldiers he was killed in ignorance.
=Archytas=: of Tarentum, in the early part of the fourth century B.C., noted as a mathematician and philosophic statesman of the Pythagorean order. Both in generalship and civil business of state he was eminently successful and was trusted with extraordinary powers.
=Arēs=: the Greek War-God, answering generally to the Roman Mars.
=Arȋdaeus= (=Arrhidaeus=): (1) feeble half-witted king of Macedonia after his brother Alexander’s death.
(2) A general of Alexander, joint regent in 321 B.C., afterwards governor on the Hellespont.
=Aríōn=: _c._ 600 B.C.; the famous bard and harp-player of Lesbos, and supposed inventor of the dithyramb. His favourite abode was at the court of Periander.
=Aristarchus=: the prince of Greek grammarians and critics; flourished at Alexandria 181-146 B.C. Chiefly known for his commentaries on the language and matter of Homer, and his recension of the divergent manuscripts.
=Aristeides= (=Aristídes=): with the sobriquet of ‘the Just’; a noble of Athens, statesman and general, who figures in the stirring times of the war with Persia. Died _c._ 470 B.C.
=Aristíppus=: of Cyrene, disciple, but not imitator, of Socrates. A student and teacher of ethics, and founder of the Cyrenaic philosophy and its cult of pleasure: _fl._ _c._ 380-366 B.C. For a time he was at the court of Dionysius (q. v.) of Syracuse.
=Arísto=: (1) the chief bearer of the name was a philosopher who became head of the Peripatetic school about 230 B.C. Anciently considered a writer of more elegance than weight.
(2) A son of Sophocles, and probably himself a tragedian.
=Aristómĕnes=: practically regent of Egypt from 202 B.C.; a sound adviser of the young Ptolemy Epiphanes (q. v.), who put him to death for his frankness in 192 B.C.
=Aristóphănes=: of Athens, 444-380 B.C.; by far the greatest comic poet of antiquity. His comedy was of the ‘Old’, or personal-political type.
Eleven of his plays are extant.
=Arístŏphōn=: painter, brother of Polygnotus (who _fl._ _c._ 420 B.C.).
=Aristotle=: of Stageira, but commonly domiciled in Athens or in Macedonia. Pupil of Plato and subsequently tutor of Alexander. Founder of the Peripatetic school, with its head-quarters in the Lyceum (q. v.).
His whole tone of mind is strikingly unlike that of his teacher, being eminently precise, logical, and scientific. His writing is without literary charm. He aimed at sound and comprehensive knowledge as the basis of right principles in society, conduct, and the arts (384-322 B.C.).
=Asclépius=: (= Aesculapius), the Greek ‘hero’ of medicine, converted by legend into a son of Apollo and ultimately into a god.
Menelaus.
=Áttălus= (brother of Eumenes): Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, allied with the Romans in the middle of the second century B.C.
Philopoemen was his controlling minister.
=Bacchýlȋdes=: lyric poet of Ceos, _fl._ _c._ 470 B.C., principally at the court of Hiero of Syracuse. In general he may be called a smoother and weaker Pindar.
=Bagóas=: a handsome young eunuch of Darius, afterwards taken into the service and affections of Alexander.
=Báthycles=: an artist in metal-work, of uncertain date, but probably to be placed in the early part of the age of the Seven Sages.
=Bato=: comic poet of Athens, _fl._ _c._ 280 B.C.; satirized philosophers.
=Bias=: of Priene; precise date unknown, but _fl._ _c._ 550 B.C. He is invariably included in the list of the Seven Sages.
=Biōn=: _fl._ _c._ 250 B.C., a philosopher from Olbia on the Black Sea, who settled at Athens, tried various systems, and ended by being a Peripatetic. He was noted for his keen sententious sayings, but was of dissolute character. Has been called ‘the Greek Voltaire’.
=Brīséïs=: captive woman assigned to Achilles, but taken from him by Agamemnon when he surrendered Chryseis.
=Busírites=: the people of Busiris (modern Abousir), about the middle of the Delta; one of the traditional birthplaces of Osiris.
=Calchas=: the seer of the Achaean army before Troy.
=Callísthĕnes=: philosopher and rhetorician; accompanied Alexander into Asia, where he used over-bold language in reproving him. Put to death 328 B.C. He wrote an account of the expedition and other historical works.
=Calýpso=: nymph, on whose island the shipwrecked Odysseus was detained for seven years.
=Carnĕădes=: of Cyrene, 213(?)-129 B.C.; a student of Stoicism, but leader of the Academics. He was ambassador on behalf of Athens (155 B.C.) to Rome, where he delivered striking discourses on ethics. His cardinal doctrine was the ‘withholding of assent’ to doctrines.
=Cato=: (1) the elder (or ‘the Censor’), 234-149 B.C. The type of severe old-fashioned Roman morality; soldier, statesman, orator, and writer.
(2) The younger (or ‘Uticensis’), 95-46 B.C.; modelled himself on his great-grandfather in respect of the moral and simple life, but was much inferior in gifts. Committed suicide 46 B.C., when the struggle against the domination of Julius Caesar had become hopeless.
=Cĕbēs=: of Thebes, a pupil of Socrates and a _persona_ in Plato’s _Phaedo_. He is chiefly known for his (if it is his) symbolic picture or ‘table’ of human life.
=Cĕrămeicus (-í-)=: a suburb without, and a broad street within, the west walls of Athens.
=Cercópes=: mythical gnomes, mischievous and thievish, who annoyed Heracles by their monkey-like tricks.
=Chábrȋas=: Athenian commander at various times between 392 and 357 B.C., gaining some successes by land and sea against the Spartans. An able tactician, adventurous, but of somewhat dissolute life.
=Chalcis=: chief town of Euboea (Negropont), once a most important commercial centre.
=Charēs=: Athenian general, of whose various operations we have records for 367-333 B.C. A man of little principle. He effected little against the Macedonians, and often followed independent and useless lines of action.
=Chármȋdes=: uncle of Plato, who names one of his Socratic dialogues after him. At the supposed date he was a beautiful and charming youth, and the discussion is upon ‘self-control’.
=Chīlōn=: of Lacedaemon: _fl._ _c._ 600-570 B.C. Poet and coiner of maxims, and shrewd man of affairs.
=Chryséïs=: captive woman assigned to Agamemnon; surrendered by him at the bidding of Apollo, in order to check a pestilence.
=Cimōn=: son of Miltiades, became prominent as a commander against the Persians in 477 B.C. His chief exploit was the victory of Eurymedon, 466 B.C. A handsome, liberal, affable, but somewhat self-indulgent person.
=Cīnésias=: Athenian dithyrambic poet, much satirized by Aristophanes and others. His verse, music, and character appear all to have been of an inferior order.
=Claudia=: Roman maiden, who, in full vindication of her chastity, was enabled to move the vessel containing the image of Cybele when it stuck fast in the Tiber.
=Cleánthes=: Stoic philosopher, pupil and successor of Zeno (q. v.) 263 B.C. The only fragment of his writing still extant is from a Hymn to Zeus.
=Cleárchus=: (1) of Heraclea on the Black Sea; availed himself of faction to make himself despot and tyrant (365 B.C.). Despite the precautions described by Plutarch he was assassinated in 353 B.C.
(2) Of Sparta, leader of the 10,000 Greeks in the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against Babylon; decoyed and put to death by the Persians, 401 B.C. The retreat was led by Xenophon (q.v.).
=Cleisthĕnes=: Athenian noble, who adopted the popular cause and made important democratic changes in the constitution; _fl._ from 510 B.C.
=Cleitus= (=Clītus=): a Macedonian commander under Alexander, whose life he saved at the battle of Granícus (334 B.C.). He was killed (328 B.C.)
by Alexander with a spear-thrust, after a quarrel at a carousal, in which he had spoken with excessive freedom to his chief.
=Cleobulínë=: daughter (as the name implies) of Cleobulus (q.v.). Though her father is said to have named her Eumetis (‘sagacious’), the word may be suspected of being an afterthought.
=Cleobúlus=: _c._ 610-560 B.C. A citizen of Lindus in Rhodes, who became its despot. His position may have been similar to that of Pittacus (q.v.).
=Cleómĕnes=: Cleomenes III, high-minded king of Sparta, 240-222 B.C. On his defeat by the Achaeans he fled to Ptolemy Euergetes, with whom he was in alliance. The next Ptolemy (Philopator) suspected and imprisoned him.
=Cleōn=: a tanner of Athens; an able but coarse-grained leader of the popular party 428-422 B.C. A special enemy of Aristophanes (q.v.), whose fiercest political attacks are delivered against him. A self-sufficient amateur in military operations, in one of which he was slain.
=Clódius=: P. Clodius Pulcher; a daring and unscrupulous person, who became quaestor in 61 B.C. and tribune of the plebs in 59 B.C. The notorious and relentless enemy of Cicero. Killed by Milo on the high road 52 B.C.
=Colónus=: a suburb of Athens outside the north wall, with a small hill, grove, and sanctuary.
=Cólophōn=: Greek town of Asia Minor, near the Aegean coast, about ten miles north of Ephesus.
=Cornelia=: daughter of Scipio Africanus; the famous ‘mother of the Gracchi’; the type of matronly virtue, dignity, cultivation, and high example.
=Crátĕrus=: a noble type of Macedonian; one of Alexander’s generals.
After the death of his chief (323 B.C.) he became colleague with Antipater in the Graeco-Macedonian portion of the empire. See also under Eumenes.
=Cratēs=: of Thebes; pupil of Diogenes (q.v.) at Athens; _fl._ _c._ 320 B.C. A Cynic philosopher in practice as well as theory, he renounced his wealth and led the simple life in a cheerful manner. A philosophic writer and a tragic poet.
=Croesus=: king of Lydia 560-546 B.C. A wealthy and powerful ruler, who made war upon the Persians when their empire was growing rapidly under Cyrus. Was defeated and carried off in the train of the conqueror. While in power he was in friendly or hostile relations with various Greek states, and was particularly noted for his liberality to the Delphian oracle. Whether Solon ever actually had the famous interview with Croesus is chronologically doubtful, but it is not impossible.
=Cyáxares=: king of Media, appears in Xenophon’s _Cyropaedia_ as uncle of Cyrus the Great, but the whole book is something of a romance.
=Cýpsĕlus=: father of Periander, established himself as despot of Corinth _c._ 656 B.C. His name was commonly associated with _cypsele_ (‘chest’). The designs upon him in his infancy were those of a Corinthian noble house, and were made in consequence of an oracle foretelling danger from the child.
=Cyrus=: (1) the elder: the famous Persian monarch, founder of the empire, and subjugator of Babylon. The stories told of him in the _Cyropaedia_ of Xenophon are largely romance.
(2) the younger: satrap of Lydia, Phrygia, &c., who sought, but failed, to dispossess his brother Artaxerxes with the assistance of a Greek force (401 B.C.). This was the expedition related in Xenophon’s _Anabasis_.
=Daphnūs=: a river running into the Corinthian Gulf on the north side not far from the entrance.
=Dāríus=: (1) Darius I; strong and able king of Persia (521-485 B.C.), previously satrap under Cyrus the Great. This is the Darius mentioned in connexion with Gobryas.
(2) Darius II (Ochus or Nothus), or Darius the Younger, a weak monarch endangered by perpetual rebellions, 424-405 B.C.
(3) Darius Codomannus, overthrown by Alexander. Died 330 B.C.
=Délos=: central island of the south half of the Aegean, with a temple of Apollo, the gathering-place of a great religious confederacy of Ionians.
=Dēmarátus=: of Corinth, in friendly relations with Philip and a mediator between him and Alexander after their quarrel in 337 B.C.
=Dēmétrius=: (1) Demetrius I (or Poliorcetes), king of Macedonia. His father Antigonus, king of Asia, sent him in 307 B.C. to annex Greece, then under Cassander and Ptolemy. It was at this time that he took Megara and met with Stilpo (q. v.).
(2) Demetrius Phaléreus: Athenian orator and writer (345-283 B.C.); an able and cultivated man, put in charge of Athens by the Macedonians, 317 B.C. First highly honoured, then expelled, he made his way to Thebes and subsequently to Alexandria.
(3) The name of several Macedonian officers in the army of Alexander.
=Dēmócrȋtus=: _c._ 460-360 B.C. Of Abdēra in Thrace. A great traveller and student, who developed (though he did not invent) the ‘Atomic Theory’. Ethically his aim was cheerfulness of mind (hence ‘the laughing philosopher’). His character was of the highest for truth and simplicity.
=Dicaeárchus=: philosopher from Massana in Sicily; writer on history and =Díŏcles=: the narrator of the Dinner of the Seven Sages: professional seer, and interpreter and expiator of omens and dreams. Nothing is known