Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

When one [*](Chares, according to Plutarch in his Life of Pelopidas, chap. ii. (278 D).) of the foolhardy generals was exhibiting to the Athenians a wound he had received, Timotheus said, But I was ashamed when, at the time I was commanding, you in Samos, [*](In 366 B.C.) a missile from a catapult fell near me.

When the prominent speakers brought forward Chares, and insisted that the general of the Athenians ought to be a man like him, Timotheus said, Not the general, but the man who carries the general’s bedding! [*](Cf. Moralia, 788 D.)

Chabrias used to say that those men commanded an army best who best knew what the enemy were about.

When he was under indictment for treason along with Iphicrates, [*](With Callistratus, rather than Iphicrates, in the year 366 B.C. Cf. Demosthenes, Against Meidias, 65.) Iphicrates rebuked him because, while he was in jeopardy, he went to the gymnasium,

He was wont to say that an army of deer commanded by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions commanded by a deer. [*](Ascribed to Philip by Stobaeus, Florilegium, liv. 61.)

Hegesippus, nicknamed Topknot, [*](Because of his affectation in wearing his hair in a knot on the top of his head, in the very old-fashioned manner. Aeschines the orator regularly uses this name in speaking of him. For the crobylus see F. Studniczka, in the Appendix to Classen’s edition of Thucydides, i. 6. 3.) in a public address was inciting the Athenians against Philip, when someone in the Assembly commented audibly, You are bringing on war. Yes, by Heaven, I am, said he, and black clothes and public funerals and orations over the graves of the dead, if we intend to live as free men, and not to do what is enjoined upon us by the Macedonians.

Pytheas, while still young, came forward in the Assembly to oppose the resolutions proposed in honour of Alexander. When someone said, Have you the audacity, young as you are, to speak about such important matters ? he replied, As a matter of fact, Alexander, whom your resolutions declare to be a god, is younger than I am. [*](Cf. Moralia, 804 B. Similar derisive remarks about the deification of Alexander are attributed to other sharp-tongued Greeks. Cf. Diogenes Laertius, vi. 8 and vi. 63; Aelian, Varia Historia, ii. 19 and v. 12; Valerius Maximus, vii. 2, ext. 13. )

Phocion the Athenian was never seen by anyone to laugh or cry. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Phocion, chap. iv. (743 D).)

At a meeting of the Assembly someone said to him, You seem to be thinking, Phocion. You guessed right, said he, for I am thinking whether I can leave out any part of what I am going to say to the Athenians. [*](Ibid. chap. v. (744 A).)

An oracle was given to the Athenians declaring that there was one man in the city opposed to the opinions of all, whereupon they ordered that search be made to find him, and were very vociferous. But Phocion said that the man was himself, for he was the only one who did not like a single thing of all that the multitude did and said. [*](Ibid. chap. viii. (745 C).)

Once, when he expressed an opinion before the people, he won acclaim, and saw that all alike accepted the view he had expressed, whereupon he turned to his friends and said- Does it not look as if I had unwittingly said something bad ? [*](Ibid. Cf similar remarks of Antisthenes, in Diogenes Laertius, vi. 5 and 8; and of Hippomachus, in Aelian, Varia Historia, ii. 6.)

When the Athenians were asking for contributions towards a public sacrifice and feast, and all the rest were contributing, he, being importuned to give, said, I should be ashamed to make a contribution to you and not make restitution to this man, and, as he said this, he pointed to a man who had lent him money. [*](Repeated in Moralia, 533 A and 822 E, and in Plutarch’s Life of Phocion, chap. ix. (745 C).)

Demosthenes, the orator, said to him, The Athenians will put you to death if they go mad. Yes, he replied, me if they go mad, but you if they keep their senses, [*](Ibid. chap. ix. (745 F). In Moralia, 811 A, Demades is substituted for Demosthenes.)

Aristogeiton, the informer, was about to be put to death in prison, sentence having been passed upon him, and he wanted Phocion to come to him; but Phocion’s friends were averse to his going to see such a wicked man. And where, said he, could anyone converse with Aristogeiton with greater pleasure ? [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Phocion, chap. x. (746 E).)