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 Harpalus, acting in behalf of his kinsman and intimate friend Crates, who was under condemnation for wrongdoing, proposed as a fair solution that Crates should pay the fine, but be absolved from the adverse judgement so that he should not be subject to reproach, Philip said, It is better that the man himself, rather than that we because of him, should be ill spoken of.

When his friends were indignant because the people of the Peloponnesus hissed him at the Olympic games, although they had been treated well, he said, Well, what if they should be treated ill! [*](Cf. Moralia, 143 F and 457 F. A similar remark of Pausanias is quoted in Moralia, 230 D.)

Once on a campaign he slept for an unusually long time, and later, when he arose, he said, I slept safely, for Antipater was awake. [*](Cf. Athenaeus, p. 435 D.)

On another occasion when he was asleep in the

daytime, and the Greeks who had gathered at his doors were indignant and complaining, Parmenio said,Do not be astonished that Philip is asleep now; for while you were asleep he was awake. [*](Something remotely like this is told of ALexander in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, chap. xxxi. (683 E).)

When he desired to correct a harp-player at dinner, and to discuss the playing of this instrument, the harp-player said, God forbid, Your Majesty, that you should ever fall so low as to have a better knowledge of these matters than I. [*](The story is found also in Moralia, 67 F, 334 D, and 634 D.)

At a time when he was at odds with Olympias, his wife, and with his son, Demaratus of Corinth arrived, and Philip inquired of him how the Greeks were feeling towards one another. And Demaratus said, Much right have you to talk about the harmony of the Greeks when the dearest of your own household feel so towards you ! Philip, taking the thought to heart, ceased from his anger, and became reconciled with them. [*](Cf. Moralia, 70 B (which omits the conclusion) and Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, chap. ix. (669 C).)