"Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I.

"Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Pyrrhus.

"Themistocles being asked whether he would rather be Achilles or Homer, said, "Which would you rather be,--a conqueror in the Olympic games, or the crier that proclaims who are conquerors?""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Themistocles.

"He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. "I would rather," said Themistocles, "have a man that wants money than money that wants a man.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Themistocles.

"Alcibiades had a very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut off his tail, "that," said he, "the Athenians may have this story to tell of me, and may concern themselves no further with me.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alcibiades.

"Being summoned by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, Alcibiades absconded, saying that that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might fly for it."

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alcibiades.

"Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as 'I should not have thought of it.'""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Iphicrates.

"To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates [a shoemaker's son] for his mean birth, "My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Iphicrates.

"Once when Phocion had delivered an opinion which pleased the people, . . . he turned to his friend and said, "Have I not unawares spoken some mischievous thing or other?""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Phocion.

"Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. "They are tall," said he, "and comely, but bear no fruit.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Phocion.

"Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian brought long hair into fashion among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, "Pray," said Lycurgus, "do you first set up a democracy in your own house.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Lycurgus.

"King Agis said, "The Lacedæmonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Agis.

"Lysander said, "Where the lion's skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox's.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Lysander.

"To one that promised to give him hardy cocks that would die fighting, "Prithee," said Cleomenes, "give me cocks that will kill fighting.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Cleomenes.

"When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets.""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Eudæmonidas.

"A soldier told Pelopidas, "We are fallen among the enemies." Said he, "How are we fallen among them more than they among us?""

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Pelopidas.

"Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox."

Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.

"Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them. Of young men, he liked them that blushed better than those who looked pale."

Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.

"Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils."

Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.

"He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs."

Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.

"Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse."

Roman Apophthegms. Cicero.

"After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws.""

Roman Apophthegms. Cicero.

"After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: "I came, I saw, I conquered.""

Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar.

"As Cæsar was at supper the discourse was of death,--which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected.""

Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar.

"As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Cæsar, "Remember," said he, "Cæsar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself.""

Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar Augustus.

""Young men," said Cæsar, "hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young.""

Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar Augustus.

"Remember what Simonides said,--that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken."

Rules for the Preservation of Health. 7.

"Custom is almost a second nature."

Rules for the Preservation of Health. 18.

"Epaminondas is reported wittily to have said of a good man that died about the time of the battle of Leuctra, "How came he to have so much leisure as to die, when there was so much stirring?""

Rules for the Preservation of Health. 25.

"Have in readiness this saying of Solon, "But we will not give up our virtue in exchange for their wealth.""

How to profit by our Enemies.

"Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart."

Consolation to Apollonius.

"Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death he fell into a slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether anything ailed him, wisely answered, "Nothing, sir; only one brother anticipates another,--Sleep before Death.""

Consolation to Apollonius.

"About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die."

Consolation to Apollonius.

"The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length."

Consolation to Apollonius.

"For many, as Cranton tells us, and those very wise men, not now but long ago, have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive to Midas."

Consolation to Apollonius.

"There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself," and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend."

Consolation to Apollonius.

"To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.

""I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.

"When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.

"Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own."

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.

"When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Demaratus.

"Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him."

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Lysander.

"A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, "He ails nothing," "It is because, sir," he replied, "I use none of your physic.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax.

"And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man," "That happens," replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax.

"When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living.""

Laconic Apophthegms. Of Plistarchus.

"Anacharsis said a man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind."

The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 11.

"Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage.""

The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 14.

"Socrates said, "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.""

How a Young Man ought to hear Poems. 4.

"And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!""

Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus. 11.

"Said Scopas of Thessaly, "We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things.""

Of the Love of Wealth.