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 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).)