Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
When Archelaus, at a convivial gathering, was asked for a golden cup by one of his acquaintances of a type not commendable for character, he bade the servant give it to Euripides; and in answer to the man’s look of astonishment, he said, It is true that you have a right to ask for it, but Euripides has a right to receive it even though he did not ask for it.
When a garrulous barber asked him, How shall I cut your hair ? he said, In silence. [*](Cf. Moralia, 509 A.)
When Euripides threw his arms around the fair Agathon in the midst of an evening party and kissed
him, for all that Agathon was already bearded, Archelaus said to his friends, Do not be astonished; for even the autumn of the fair is fair.[*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Alcibiades, chap. i. (192 A); Moralia, 770 C; and Aelian, Varia Historia, xiii. 4. In all three places the remark is attributed to Euripides.)When Timotheus the harp-player had hopes of receiving a goodly sum, but received less, he plainly showed that he felt resentful towards Archelaus; and, once, as he was singing this brief line: Over the earth-born silver you rave. [*](Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 624, Timotheus, No. 14, or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L.C.L.), iii. p. 330, No. 28. Plutarch repeats the story in Moralia, 334 B.) he directed it towards Archelaus; whereupon Archelaus retorted upon him with this, That, however, is what you crave.
When somebody had thrown water upon him, and he was incited by his friends against the man, he said, But it was not upon me that he threw it, but upon the man he thought me to be.
Theophrastus has recorded that Philip, the father of Alexander, was not only great among kings, but, owing to his fortune and his conduct, proved himself still greater and more moderate [*](Cf. Cicero, De Officiis, i. 26 (90).)
He said that he must congratulate the Athenians on their happy fortune if they could find ten men every year to elect as generals; for he himself in many years had found only one general, Parmenio.
When several happy events were reported to him within a single day, he said, O Fortune, do
me some little ill to offset so many good things like these ! [*](Repeated in Moralia, 105 A and 666 A.)After his victory over the Greeks, when some were advising him to hold the Greek cities in subjection by means of garrisons, he said that he preferred to be called a good man for a long time rather than a master for a short time.