Vitae philosophorum

A stranger of Atarneus thus inquired of Pittacus, the son of Hyrrhadius:
1. Old sire, two offers of marriage are made to me; the one bride is in wealth and birth my equal;
2. The other is my superior. Which is the better? Come now and advise me which of the two I shall wed.
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3. So spake he. But Pittacus, raising his staff, an old man’s weapon, said, See there, yonder boys will tell you the whole tale.
4. The boys were whipping their tops to make them go fast and spinning them in a wide open space.
5. Follow in their track, said he. So he approached near, and the boys were saying, Keep to your own sphere.
6. When he heard this, the stranger desisted from aiming at the lordlier match, assenting to the warning of the boys.
7. And, even as he led home the humble bride, so do you, Dion, keep to your own sphere.

The advice seems to have been prompted by his situation. For he had married a wife superior in birth to himself: she was the sister of Draco, the son of Penthilus, and she treated him with great haughtiness.

Alcaeus nicknamed him σαράπους and σάραπος because he had flat feet and dragged them in walking; also Chilblains, because he had chapped feet, for which their word was χειράς; and Braggadocio, because he was always swaggering; Paunch and Potbelly, because he was stout; a Diner-in-the-Dark, because he dispensed with a lamp; and the Sloven, because he was untidy and dirty. The exercise he took was grinding corn, as related by Clearchus the philosopher.

The following short letter is ascribed to him:

Pittacus to Croesus

You bid me come to Lydia in order to see your prosperity: but without seeing it I can well believe that the son of Alyattes is the most opulent of kings. There will be no advantage to me in a journey to

Bias, the son of Teutames, was born at Priene, and by Satyrus is placed at the head of the Seven Sages. Some make him of a wealthy family, but Duris says he was a labourer living in the house. Phanodicus relates that he ransomed certain Messenian maidens captured in war and brought them up as his daughters, gave them dowries, and restored them to their fathers in Messenia. In course of time, as has been already related, the bronze tripod with the inscription To him that is wise having been found at Athens by the fishermen, the maidens according to Satyrus, or their father according to other accounts, including that of Phanodicus, came forward into the assembly and, after the recital of their own adventures, pronounced Bias to be wise. And thereupon the tripod was dispatched to him; but Bias, on seeing it, declared that Apollo was wise, and refused to take the tripod.