Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

To the man who inquired if he were at leisure he said, I hope that may never happen to me ! [*](Cf. Moralia, 792 C.)

Hearing that two young men at a drinking party had said much that was slanderous about him and his rule, he invited them both to dinner. And when he saw that the one drank much and talked freely, and the other indulged in drink sparingly and with great circumspection, he let the former go free, holding him to be by nature a hard drinker and a slanderous talker when in his cups, but the latter he caused to be put to death, holding that this man was disaffected and hostile as the result of deliberate choice.

When some blamed him for honouring and [*]( )

When ambassadors from Corinth [*](Cf. Diodorus, xv. 70.) declined hi,s proffered gifts because of the law, which did not allow members of an embassy to receive gifts from a potentate, he said that they were playing a scurvy trick in taking away the only advantage possessed by despotism, and teaching that even a favour from a despot is a thing to be feared.

Hearing that one of the citizens had some gold buried at his house he ordered the man to bring it to him. But when the man succeeded in keeping back a part of it, and later removed to another city and bought a farm, Dionysius sent for him, and bade him take the whole amount belonging to him, since he had now begun to use his wealth, and was no longer making a useful thing useless.

The Younger Dionysius used to say that he gave bed and board to many learned men, not because he felt any admiration for them, but because he wished through them to gain admiration for himself.

When Polyxenus, [*](Cf. Plato’s Letters, ii. p. 314 C.) who was skilled in argumentation, asserted that he had confuted the king, the latter said, Yes, very likely by your words, but by your deeds I confute you; for you forsake your own affairs, and pay court to me and mine.

He was compelled to abdicate, and when a man said to him, What help have Plato and philosophy

On being asked how his father, who was a poor man and a private citizen, had gained control over the Syracusans, and how he, who held control, and was the son of a despot, had come to lose it, he said, My father embarked upon his venture at a time when democracy was hated, but I at a time when despotism was odious.

Being asked this same question by another man, [*](By Philip of Macedon, according to Aelian, Varia Historia, xii. 60.) he said, My father bequeathed to me his kingdom, but not his luck.

Agathocles was the son of a potter. After he had made himself master of Sicily, and had been proclaimed king, he used to have drinking-cups of pottery placed beside those of gold, and as he pointed these out to the young men he would say, That is the sort of thing which I used to do formerly, but this is what I do now because of my diligence and fortitude.[*](Cf. Moralia, 544 B, where the story is repeated in slightly different words.)

When he was besieging a city, some of the people on the wall reviled him, saying, Potter, how are you going to pay your soldiers’ wages ? But he, unruffled and smiling, said, If I take this town. And after he had taken it by storm he sold the captives as slaves, and said, If you revile me again, what I have to say will be said to your masters. [*](Cf. Moralia, 458 F, where, however, the last remark is attributed to Antigonus the One-eyed.)

When the people of Ithaca complained of his sailors because they had put in at the island and had forcibly carried off some of the animals, he said, But your king carne to us, and not only took our flocks, but also blinded their shepherd, [*](The Cyclops, Homer, Od. ix. 375.) and went his way. [*](Cf. Moralia, 557 B, where the story is repeated in fewer words.)

When Dion, who expelled Dionysius from his kingdom, heard that a plot against him was being set on foot by Callippus, in whom he placed the greatest trust above all other friends, both those at home and those from abroad, he could not bring himself to investigate, but said, It is better to die than to live in a state of continual watchfulness not only against one’s enemies but also against one’s friends. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Dion, chap. lvi. (982 D)). The story of the plot and the death of Dion is in chaps. liv.-lvii. Cf. also Valerius Maximus, iii. 8. Ext. 5.)