May I, free of disease and sorrows,
Meet death in my sixtieth year.
61 Solon reproached him in the following verses:
May you take my advice and erase those verses,
And bear me no grudge that I propose something better;
Revise them, Ligyastades, and chant as follows:
May I meet death in my eightieth year.
Among the songs attributed to him is the following:
Watch every man and observe whether,
Harboring in his heart a hidden spear,
He greets you with beaming countenance,
And whether his speech, double-dealing,
Issues from a dark spirit.
Philosophers of the ancient world: Plato, Pythagoras, and Solon. Sixteenth-century fresco, Church of St. George, Suceava, Romania.
He clearly wrote121 his laws, public speeches, and words of advice addressed to himself, elegiac verses (numbering five thousand), including his poem about Salamis and the Athenian constitution, poems in iambic meter, and epodes.122
62 His statue bears the following inscription:
Salamis, which brought the wicked insolence of the Medes to an end,
Begat Solon, the venerable legislator who stands before you.
He flourished in the forty-sixth Olympiad, in the third year of which he served as archon in Athens,123 as Sosicrates says. It was then that he framed his laws. He died in Cyprus at the age of eighty, after instructing his kinsmen to convey his bones to Salamis and, when they had been reduced to ashes, scatter them over the land. Hence Cratinus in his play Chirons makes him say,
I inhabit an island, as men report,
For I was scattered throughout the city of Ajax.124
63 There is also my own epigram in the above-mentioned Pammetros, where I discourse about all the illustrious dead in all meters and rhythms, in the form of epigrams and lyrics. It runs as follows:
Distant Cyprian fire consumed the body of Solon.
Salamis harbors his bones, their dust has nourished grain.
Revolving wooden tablets brought his soul to the heavens
For the laws he framed sit lightly on his fellow citizens.
He is said to have been the author of “Nothing in excess.”125 And Dioscurides, in his Memoirs, says that when Solon wept for his dead son (of whom I have learned nothing), and someone said to him, “But it will do no good,” he replied, “That’s why I weep, because it does no good.”
The following letters are attributed to him.
64 Solon to Periander126
You tell me that many are plotting against you. If you intend to get rid of them all, you should lose no time. Someone could scheme, even among those you might not suspect; one man because he fears for his own safety, another because he has observed that you take fright at everything. And he might earn the city’s gratitude if he found a way for you not to suspect him. Thus your best course would be to resign, and so be rid of the blame. But if you must at all costs remain tyrant, give thought to how you may acquire a mercenary force superior to the forces of the city. Then you will have no one to fear, and need not banish anyone.
Solon to Epimenides127
It turns out that my laws were not destined to confer much benefit on the Athenians, any more than you did by purifying the city. For religion and legislators are unable, by themselves, to benefit cities; it can only be done by those who lead the multitude in whatever direction their judgment dictates. Thus religion and laws, when things are going well, are beneficial; under adverse conditions they are of no help.
65,66 Nor are my laws, nor all my statutes, any better. But those who sat back did the commonwealth harm, namely those who did not prevent Pisistratus from aiming at a tyranny. Nor was I, when I warned them, considered trustworthy. He who flattered the Athenians was trusted more than I who told them the truth. For my part, after placing my weapons in front of the generals’ quarters,128 I declared that I was wiser than those who did not perceive that Pisistratus was aiming at a tyranny, and braver than those who hesitated to resist him. They, however, denounced the madness of Solon. And finally I bore witness, saying, ‘My country! I, Solon, am ready to defend you by word and deed; but to some of my countrymen I appear mad. I will therefore abandon public life as the only enemy of Pisistratus. Let others, if they like, attend him as a bodyguard.’ For understand, my friend, that the man was utterly intent on becoming tyrant. He began by being a demagogue. Later, after wounding himself, he appeared before the court of the Heliaea129 and cried out that his wounds had been inflicted by his enemies; and he asked the people to provide him with a guard of four hundred young men. And the people, unwilling to listen to me, gave him the men. These were his club-bearers. And after that he dissolved the popular assembly. It was in vain that I strove to free the poor from serfdom, since now they are in servitude to one master, Pisistratus.
67 Solon to Pisistratus
I believe that I will suffer no harm at your hands. For before you became tyrant I was your friend, and now I have no quarrel with you other than that of any other Athenian who dislikes tyranny. Whether it is better for them to be ruled by one man or to live under a democracy, let each man decide for himself, relying on his own judgment. And I declare that of all tyrants you are the best. But I see that it is not honorable for me to return to Athens, lest someone reproach me on the grounds that, though I granted the Athenians equality of civic rights and decided not to be a tyrant myself when I had the opportunity, I now return and approve of what you are doing.
Solon to Croesus
I admire you for your kindness to me. And, by Athena, if I did not wish beyond anything to live in a democracy, I would rather reside in your palace than at Athens, where Pisistratus is ruling by force. But I prefer to live where all have fair and equal rights. I will pay you a visit, however, as I am eager to become your guest-friend.
Chilon
68 Chilon, son of Damagetas, was a Lacedemonian.130 He composed an elegiac poem in two hundred verses, and used to say that it is the excellence of a man to foresee the future insofar as it can be grasped by reason. To his brother, who took it ill that he had not become ephor131 as Chilon had, the latter said, “I know how to submit to injustice, but you do not.” He was appointed ephor in the fifty-sixth Olympiad132 (Pamphila says it was in the sixth133 and that he was the first to become an ephor), during the archonship of Euthydemus, as Sosicrates says; and he was the first to introduce the custom of making the ephors the kings’ auxiliaries. Satyrus, however, says that this was done by Lycurgus.134
69,70 As Herodotus says in his first book, when Hippocrates was sacrificing at Olympia and his cauldrons boiled spontaneously, it was Chilon who advised him not to marry, or, if he had a wife, to divorce her and disown his children.135 They say that he inquired of Aesop what Zeus was doing, and Aesop said, “He is humbling the proud and exalting the humble.”136 When asked in what respect the educated differed from the uneducated, he said, “In good hopes.” When asked what is hard, he said, “To keep a secret, to use leisure well, and to be able to bear an injury.” He offered the following advice: Watch your tongue, especially at a drinking party. Do not speak ill of your neighbors; for if you do you will be spoken of in ways that give you pain. Make no threats, for that is womanish. Be quicker to visit friends in adversity than in prosperity. Make a thrifty marriage. Do not speak ill of the dead. Honor old age. Take thought for your safety. Prefer a loss to an ill-gotten gain; the one will only grieve you once, the other forever. Do not laugh at another’s misfortune. When strong be gentle, that you may be respected, rather than feared, by your neighbors. Learn how to manage your own house well. Do not let your tongue outrun your thought. Control your temper. Do not despise divination. Do not desire impossibilities. Do not hurry on the road. When speaking, do not gesticulate; for that is a sign of madness. Obey the laws. Remain calm.
Chilon, engraving by Jan Harmensz. Muller, c. 1596. Attributing the motto “nosce te
ipsum” (“know yourself”) to the philosopher, the artist has included it at the top of the round frame.
71 Of his songs the following is the most famous:
By the touchstone gold is tested,
Giving clear proof; and by gold the mind of men,
Both good and evil, is put to the test.
They say that one day, in old age, he said that he knew of no instance in his life when he had broken the law; but on one point he was doubtful. When judging a suit in which a friend was involved, he pronounced sentence according to the law, but persuaded <…>137 to acquit the accused, in order to safeguard both the law and his friend.
72 He was especially renowned among the Greeks for his warning about Cythera, the island off the coast of Laconia. For when he learned how it was situated,138 he said, “Would that it had not arisen there, or else had sunk into the sea!” And his warning was sensible. For Demaratus,139 who had been banished by the Lacedemonians, advised Xerxes to station his fleet off the island. And Greece would have been captured had Xerxes obeyed him. Later, during the Peloponnesian War, Nicias140 subdued the island, installed an Athenian garrison, and did the Lacedemonians considerable harm.
Chilon was a man of few words; hence Aristagoras of Miletus called that style of speaking Chilonean. <…> is the son of Branchus, the man who founded the temple at Branchidae.141 Chilon was an old man near the fifty-second Olympiad,142 when Aesop the fable writer was in his prime. He died, as Hermippus says, at Pisa,143 after he had embraced his son, an Olympic victor in boxing. His death was caused by excessive joy coupled with the weakness of old age. And everyone at the festival escorted his distinguished funeral procession.
My own epigram about him runs as follows:
73 I am thankful to you, Torch-bearer Pollux,144
That Chilon’s pugilist son won the olive wreath.
If his father died of joy at seeing him crowned,
We need not take offense. May such a death be mine.
His statue bears the following inscription:
Sparta, crowned for bravery, bred Chilon,
The wisest of the Seven Sages.
His maxim is: Give a pledge, suffer the consequences. This short letter is his:
Chilon to Periander145
You send me word of an expedition against foreigners that you yourself will accompany. It strikes me that for a ruler domestic affairs are dangerous. I call that tyrant fortunate who dies at home.
Pittacus
74 Pittacus, son of Hyrrhadius, was a native of Mytilene.146 Duris says that his father was a Thracian. With the help of Alcaeus’147 brothers he deposed Melanchrus, the tyrant of Lesbos. And when the Athenians and Mytilenaeans fought over the territory of Achileis,148 Pittacus served as the Mytilenaeans’ general; Phrynon, an Olympic victor in the pancratium,149 commanded the Athenians. Pittacus agreed to meet Phrynon in single combat. Hiding a net beneath his shield he entangled Phrynon, killed him, and recovered the territory. Later however, as Apollodorus says in his Chronology, the Athenians and Mytilenaeans submitted their claims to arbitration. Periander heard the case and decided in favor of the Athenians.
75 At the time, however, the Mytilenaeans honored Pittacus highly and entrusted him with power. After ruling for ten years and putting the government in order, he resigned from office and lived ten years more. The people of Mytilene assigned him a tract of land. This he dedicated as a sacred territory; it is now called the Pittaceium. Sosicrates says that after he had cut off a small portion for himself he declared that the half was more than the whole. And when Croesus offered him presents of money he declined them, saying that he had twice as much as he wanted. For when his brother died without issue Pittacus had inherited his estate.
76 Pamphila, in the second book of her Commentaries, says that Pittacus’ son Tyrrhaeus, while sitting in a barbershop in Cyme, was killed by a smith with the blow of an axe. When the people of Cyme sent the murderer to Pittacus, he, on learning what had happened, released the man, saying, “Forgiveness is better than remorse.” Heraclitus, however, says that it was Alcaeus he released when he had him in his custody, saying, “Forgiveness is better than vengeance.”
77,78 Pittacus framed laws: If a man transgresses when drunk, the penalty should be doubled. (His purpose was to discourage drunkenness, since the island possessed wine in abundance.) He said, “It is hard to be good,” a saying cited by Simonides150 when he says, “The maxim of Pittacus: ‘To become a truly good man is hard.’” Plato also mentions him in the Protagoras: “Even the gods do not fight against necessity.”151 And “Rule reveals the man.” When someone asked him what is the best thing, he said, “To do well the work in hand.” And when asked by Croesus what is the best rule, he said, “The rule of changeful wood,” by which he meant the law.152 He also urged men to achieve bloodless victories. In response to the Phocaean’s153 saying that we must search for a good man, he said, “If you seek too hard, you will not find him.” And to those who asked what he was grateful for he said, “Time.” What is invisible? “The future.” What is trustworthy? “The earth.” What is untrustworthy? “The sea.” He said that it was the mark of sagacious men, before difficulties arise, to provide against their arising, and that of courageous men, once difficulties have arisen, to deal with them well. Do not discuss your plans beforehand, since, if you fail, you will be laughed at. Reproach no one with his misfortune, for fear of Nemesis.154 Restore what you have been entrusted with. Do not speak ill of a friend, or even of an enemy. Practice piety. Love temperance. Revere truth, fidelity, experience, tact, fellowship, and diligence.
Sixth-century AD silver spoon from Turkey. The hexametric engraving in Greek on the bowl’s interior and handle translates as: “Pittacus, who was from Mytilene, said ‘Nothing in excess.’”
Of his songs the following is the most famous:
With bow and quiver full of arrows
We must march against the scoundrel.
No word from his mouth may be trusted,
For he harbors in his heart a deceitful thought.
79 He also composed elegiac verses (six hundred in number) and a prose work, On Laws, for his fellow citizens.
He flourished in the forty-second Olympiad.155 He died during the archonship of Aristomenes, in the third year of the fifty-second Olympiad,156 an old man who had passed his seventieth year. His monument carries the following inscription:
With a mother’s tears, holy Lesbos mourns
His maxim: Know the right moment.
There was another Pittacus, a legislator, as Favorinus says in the first book of his Reminiscences and Demetrius in Men of the Same Name. He was called the Short.
It is said that once when a young man was consulting him about marriage, Pittacus gave this answer, which Callimachus includes in his Epigrams:
80 A stranger from Atarneus asked Pittacus of Mytilene,
The son of Hyrrhadius, this question:
“Old man, two marriages beckon me:
One bride is of my rank in wealth and birth,
The other is above me. Which is the better match?
Come now, advise me: which should I take for a wife.”
So he spoke. But Pittacus, raising his staff, an old man’s weapon,
Said, “Look yonder. They will tell you the whole story.”
Some boys with tops were whipping them,
Spinning them fast in a wide crossroads.
“Follow in their track,” he said. And the man stood nearby.
The boys were saying, “Keep to your own ground.”
Hearing these words, the stranger ceased to aim
At the richer house, heeding the cry of the boys.
And just as that man led home the poor bride,
Do likewise, Dion: keep to your own ground.
81 He seems to have been moved to give this advice by his own situation. For his own wife, who was better born than he, being the sister of Dr
aco,157 son of Penthilus, treated him with great haughtiness.
Alcaeus nicknamed him Sarapous and Sarapon (Splay-Footed) because his feet were broad and he dragged them after him; he was called Cheiropodes (Chapped-Feet) because his feet were chapped, a condition they called cheirades; they called him Gaurex (Braggart) because he tended to swagger; Phuskon and Gastron (Paunch and Potbelly) because he was stout; Zophodormidas (Diner-in-the-Dark) because he used no lamp; Agasurtos (Swept-Clean) because he was dirty and slovenly. He took exercise by grinding corn, as Clearchus the philosopher reports.
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers Page 5