Moralia...

I think it was Mark Twain who, when asked about the controversy over who really wrote the books attributed to Homer, said, "If Homer didnt write them, some other guy named Homer did" (that is, I think, a paraphrase.)  The first essay in Plutarch's "Morals," "On the Education of Children" was probably not written by Plutarch but by some other guy named Plutarch. Excerpts...

"As a general statement, the same assertion may be made in regard to moral excellence that we p9are in the habit of making in regard to the arts and sciences, namely, that there must be a concurrence of three things in order to produce perfectly right action, and these are: nature, reason, and habit. By reason I mean the act of learning, and by habit constant practice. The first beginnings come from nature, advancement from learning, the practical use from continued repetition, band the culmination from all combined; but so far as any one of these is wanting, the moral excellence must, to this extent, be crippled. For nature without learning is a blind thing, and learning without nature is an imperfect thing, and practice without both is an ineffective thing. Just as in farming, first of all the soil must be good, secondly, the husbandman skilful, and thirdly, the seed sound, so, after the same manner, nature is like to the soil, the teacher to the farmer, and the verbal counsels and precepts like to the seed. cI should strenuously insist that all three qualities met together and formed a perfect union in the souls of those men who are celebrated among all mankind"

Now it is a fortunate thing and a token of divine love if ever a heavenly power has bestowed all these qualities on any one man; but if anybody imagines that those not endowed with natural gifts, who yet have the chance to learn and to apply themselves in the right way to the attaining of virtue, cannot repair the want of their nature and advance so far as in them lies, let him know that he is in great, or rather total, error. For indifference ruins a good natural endowment, but instruction amends a poor one; easy things escape the careless, but difficult p11things are conquered by careful application. dOne may understand how effective and how productive a thing is application and hard work, if he only direct his attention to many effects that are daily observed. For drops of water make hollows in rocks, steel and bronze are worn away by the touch of hands, and rims of chariot-wheels once bent by dint of labour, cannot, no matter what be done, recover their original lines.

 But why discuss the matter at length? For character is habit long continued, and if one were to call the virtues of character the virtues of habit, he would not seem to go far astray.

Briefly, then, I say (an oracle one might properly call it, rather than advice) that, to sum up, the beginning, the middle, and end in all these matters is good education and proper training; and it is this, I say, which leads on and helps towards moral excellence and towards happiness. And, in comparison with this, all other advantages are human, and trivial, and not worth our serious concern. Good birth is a fine thing, but it is an advantage which must be credited to one's ancestors. Wealth is held in esteem, but it is a chattel of fortune, since oftentimes she takes it away from those who possess it, and brings and presents it to those who do not expect it. Besides, great wealth is the very mark for those who aim their shafts at the purse — rascally slaves and blackmailers; and above all, even the vilest may possess it. Repute, moreover, is imposing, but unstable. Beauty is highly prized, but short-lived. Health is a valued possession, but inconstant. Strength is much admired, but it falls an easy prey to disease and old age.

Two elements in man's nature are supreme over all — mind and reason. The mind exercises control over reason, and reason is servant of the mind, unassailable by disease, unimpaired by old age.

It so happens that I entertain the same opinion also in regard to mental disposition. For a man should not be bold, on the one hand, or, on the other, pusillanimous and cowering, since the one resolves itself into impudence, and the other into servility. Always to pursue the middle course in everything is artistic and in good taste.

"...we ought to make philosophy the chief of all our learning. For though, in order to the welfare of the body, the industry of men hath found out two arts, — medicine, which assists to the recovery of lost health and gymnastics, which help us to attain a sound constitution, — yet there is but one remedy for the distempers and diseases of the mind, and that is philosophy. For by the advice and assistance thereof it is that we come to understand what is honest, and what dishonest; what is just, and what unjust; in a word, what we are to seek, and what to avoid. We learn by it how we are to demean ourselves towards the Gods, towards our parents, our elders, the laws, strangers, governors, friends, wives, children, and servants. That is, we are to worship the Gods, to honor our parents, to reverence our elders, to be subject to the laws, to obey our governors, to love our friends, to use sobriety towards our wives, to be affectionate to our children, and not to treat our servants insolently; and (which is the chiefest lesson of all) not to be overjoyed in prosperity nor too much dejected in adversity; not to be dissolute in our pleasures, nor in our anger to be transported with brutish rage and fury. These things I account the principal advantages which we gain by philosophy. For to use prosperity generously is the part of a man; to manage it so as to decline envy, of a well governed man; to master our pleasures by reason is the property of wise men; and to moderate anger is the attainment only of extraordinary men. But those of all men I count most complete, who know how to mix and temper the managery of civil affairs with philosophy; seeing they are thereby masters of two of the greatest good things that are, — a life of public usefulness as statesmen, and a life of calm tranquillity as students of philosophy. For, whereas there are three sorts of lives, — the life of action, the life of contemplation, and the life of pleasure, — the man who is utterly abandoned and a slave to pleasure is brutish and mean-spirited; he that spends his time in contemplation without action is an unprofitable man; and he that lives in action and is destitute of philosophy is a rustical man, and commits many absurdities. Wherefore we are to apply our utmost endeavor to enable ourselves for both; that is, to manage public employments, and withal, at convenient seasons, to give ourselves to philosophical studies."

his great age...

from the life of Galba...

"That Sulpicius Galba was the richest private person who ever came to the imperial throne, is generally admitted; moreover, his connection with the noble house of the Servii gave him great prestige, although he prided himself more on his relationship to Catulus, who was the foremost man in his time in virtue and reputation, even if he gladly left to others the exercise of greater power. 2 Galba was also somehow related to Livia, the wife of Augustus Caesar, and therefore, at the instance of Livia, he was made p213consul8 by the emperor. We are told also that he commanded an army in Germany with distinction, and that when he was pro-consul of Africa,9 he won such praise as few have done. But his simple and contented way of living, the sparing hand with which he dealt out money, always avoiding excess, were counted unto him, when he became emperor, as parsimony, so that the reputation which he bore for moderation and self-restraint was an insipid sort of thing. 3 By Nero he was sent out as governor of Spain,10 before Nero had yet learned to be afraid of citizens who were held in high esteem. Galba, however, was thought to be of a gentle nature, and his great age gave an added confidence that he would always act with caution."

by natural bent...

from the Life of Aratus...

"Aratus was by natural bent a statesman, high-minded, more exact in his public than in his private relations, a bitter hater of tyrants, and ever making a regard for the public weal determine his enmity or his friendship. 2 Wherefore he seems to have proved not so much a strict friend, as a considerate and mild enemy, changing his ground in either direction according to the exigencies of the state, loving concord between nations, community of cities, and unanimity of council and assembly, beyond all other blessings. It was manifest that he resorted to open warfare and strife without courage and with little confidence, but that in stealing advantages and secretly managing cities and tyrants he was most proficient. 3 Therefore, though he won many unexpected successes where he showed courage, he seems to have lost no fewer favourable opportunities through p25over-caution. For not only in the case of certain wild beasts, as it would seem, is the vision strong by night but wholly blinded in the day-time (since the humour in their eyes is too dry and delicate to bear contact with the light), but there is also in some men a cleverness and sagacity which is prone to be confounded in transactions that are carried out under the open sky and proclaimed abroad by public criers, but when confronting hidden and secret enterprises recovers its courage. 4 Such unevenness a lack of philosophy may cause in men of good natural parts; they produce virtue without scientific knowledge, and it is like spontaneous and uncultivated fruit. This can be proved by examples."

splendid spirit...

from the Life of Philopoemen...

"2 After this Flamininus made peace with Nabis,20 and Nabis was treacherously put to death by the Aetolians.21 Sparta was therefore in a state of confusion, and Philopoemen, seizing his opportunity, fell upon the city with an armed force, and partly by compulsion, partly by persuasion, brought it over to his purposes and made it a member of the Achaean league. 3 This achievement brought him an amazing repute among the Achaeans, since through his efforts they had acquired a city of so great dignity and power (and indeed it was no slight matter that Sparta had become a member of the Achaean league); moreover, Philopoemen carried with him the principal men among the Spartans, who hoped to have in him a guardian of their liberties. 4 Therefore, after they had confiscated the house and property of Nabis and obtained thereby a p299hundred and twenty talents, they voted to make a present of the money to Philopoemen, and to send an embassy to Megalopolis on the matter. Here, indeed, it became perfectly clear that Philopoemen not only seemed to be, but actually was, a most excellent man.22 For, to begin with, no Spartan was willing to confer with a man of his character about the acceptance of a gift, but they were all so reluctant and afraid to do it that they entrusted the business to a guest-friend of his, Timolaüs. 5 And in the second place, Timolaüs himself, when he came to Megalopolis, having been entertained at the house of Philopoemen, and having learned thoroughly how dignified he was in his converse with others, how simple his ways of living, and how his character was nowhere to be approached and much less easy to be overcome by bribes, held his peace about the gift of money, and after giving some other excuse for his visit to him, went back home. And when he was sent a second time on the same errand, he did as before. 6 On his third visit, however, he at last got so far as to acquaint Philopoemen with the earnest desire of his city. Then Philopoemen, who was pleased by what he heard, went in person to Sparta, and counselled the people there not to try to bribe good men who were their friends, and by whose virtues they could profit without payment of money, but rather to buy up and corrupt the bad men who were ruining the city by their factious conduct in the assembly, to the end that such might have their mouths stopped in consequence of their venality, and so be less annoying to their fellow-citizens; for it was better, he said, to take away freedom of speech from their enemies rather than p301from their friends. Such was his splendid spirit in matters of money."

roused the spirit of ambition...

from the life of Philopomoen...

"7 This naturally brought Philopoemen into high repute. Antigonus was eager that he should take service under him, and offered him command and pay. These Philopoemen declined, chiefly because he well knew that it was naturally unpleasant and hard for him to be under another man's orders. Not wishing, however, to be inactive and idle, for the sake of training and practice in war he sailed to Crete in search of military service. 2 In Crete he practised p273himself for a long time among men who were not only warlike and versed in many kinds of warfare, but also still moderate and restrained in their ways of living, and he came back to the Achaeans with such distinction that they at once made him commander of their cavalry.8 3 But he found that the horsemen whom he was to command used worthless animals acquired at random, whenever a campaign was to be undertaken; that they shirked most campaigns themselves, and sent others out in their places; that they were all characterized by a shocking lack of experience, together with its resultant cowardice; and that their commanders always overlooked these things because the knights had the greatest power and influence among the Achaeans and the chief voice in the assignment of rewards and punishments. 4 Philopoemen, however, did not yield or give way to them. He went round to the different cities and roused the spirit of ambition in each young man individually, punished those who needed compulsion, introduced drills, parades, and competitive contests in places where there would be large bodies of spectators and thus in a short time inspired them all with an astonishing vigour and zeal, 5 and, what is of the greatest importance in tactics, rendered them agile and swift in wheeling and deploying by squadrons, and in wheeling and turning by single trooper, making the dexterity shown by the whole mass in its evolutions to be like that of a single person moved by an impulse from within."

virtue and war...

from the Life of Philopoemen...

"As for what he got from his campaigning, he used to spend it on horses, or armour, or the ransoming of captives; but his own property he sought to increase by agriculture, which is the justest way to make money. Nor did he practise agriculture merely as a side issue, but he held that the man who purposed to p265keep his hands from the property of others ought by all means to have property of his own. He also listened to the discourses and applied himself to the writings of philosophers — not all of them, but those whom he thought helpful to him in his progress towards virtue. 4 And as for the poems of Homer, whatever in them was thought by him to rouse and stimulate the activities of the soul which made for valour, to this he would apply himself. Among other writings, however, he was most of all devoted to the "Tactics" of Evangelus, and was familiar with the histories of Alexander, thinking that literature was conducive to action, unless it were prosecuted merely to while away the time and afford themes for fruitless small talk. 5 Indeed, he would ignore the charts and diagrams for the illustration of tactical principles, and get his proofs and make his studies on the ground itself. The ways in which places slope to meet one another, and level plains come to an abrupt end, and all the vicissitudes and shapes of a phalanx when it is elongated and contracted again in the vicinity of ravines or ditches or narrow defiles, these he would investigate by himself as he wandered about, and discuss them with his companions. 6 For it would seem that he brought more zeal than was necessary to the study of military science, setting his affections on war as affording a most manifold basis for the practice of virtue, and despising as unsuccessful men those who left it to others."

a penalty for my ill looks...

from The Life of Philopoemen...

"1 Cleander was a man of the highest lineage and greatest influence among the citizens of Mantineia, but he met with reverses and was exiled from his native city. He then betook himself to Megalopolis, chiefly because of Craugis, the father of Philopoemen, a man in every way illustrious, and attached to him by ties of personal friendship. 2 As long as Craugis lived, Cleander's wants were all supplied, and when Craugis died, Cleander, wishing to requite him for his hospitality, undertook the rearing of his orphan son, just as Homer says that Achilles was reared by Phoenix,1 so that the boy's character took on from the very outset a noble and kingly mould and growth. But as soon as Philopoemen had ceased to be a boy, Ecdemus and Megalophanes, of Megalopolis, were put in charge of him.2 They had been comrades of Arcesilaüs at the Academy, and beyond all men of their day had brought philosophy to bear upon political action and affairs of state.a 3 They freed their own native city from tyranny, by secretly procuring men to kill Aristodemus; they joined with Aratus in expelling Nicocles the tyrant of Sicyon;3 and at the request of the people of Cyrene, whose city was full p259of confusion and political distemper, they sallied thither, introduced law and order, and arranged matters in the city most happily. 4 They themselves, however, counted the education of Philopoemen also among their many achievements, believing that their philosophical teachings had made him a common benefit to Greece. For since he was the child, as it were, of her late old age and succeeded to the virtues of her ancient commanders, Greece loved him surpassingly, and as his reputation grew, increased his power. And a certain Roman, in praising him, called him the last of the Greeks,4 implying that Greece produced no great man after him, nor one worthy of her.

2 In looks he was not, as some suppose, ill-favoured; for a statue of him is still to be seen at Delphi; and the mistake of his Megarian hostess was due, as we are told, to a certain indifference and simplicity on his part. This woman, learning that the general of the Achaeans was coming to her house, in great confusion set about preparing supper; besides, her husband chanced to be away from home. 2 Just then Philopoemen came in, wearing a simple soldier's cloak, and the woman, thinking him to be one of his servants who had been sent on in advance, invited him to help her in her housework. So Philopoemen at once threw off his cloak and fell to splitting wood. Then his host came in, and seeing him thus employed, said: "What does this mean, Philopoemen?" "What else," said Philopoemen in broad Doric, "than that I am paying a penalty for my ill looks?" 3 And once Titus Flamininus, making fun of certain parts of his figure, said: "Philopoemen, what fine arms and legs thou hast; but belly thou hast not"; for Philopoemen was quite slender at the waist. This piece of fun, however, was aimed the rather at his resources. For though he had excellent men-at‑arms and horsemen, he was often at a loss for money. However, these stories are told of Philopoemen in the schools of philosophy."

the practice of virtue...

from Agis and Cleomenes and the Gracchi Compared...

"Now that I have brought this story of the Gracchi also to an end, it remains for me to take a survey of all four lives in parallel. As for the Gracchi, then, not even those who utterly revile and hate them on other grounds have ventured to deny that of all Romans they were best equipped by nature for the practice of virtue, and enjoyed a rearing and training which were preëminent; 2 but Agis and Cleomenes would appear to have had even sturdier natural gifts than theirs, in so far as, though they did not receive a correct training, and were reared in those customs and ways of living by which their elders had long ago been corrupted, they nevertheless made themselves leaders in simplicity and self-restraint. 3 And further, the Gracchi, at a time when Rome had her greatest and most splendid repute and an ardour for noble deeds, were prevented by a sense of shame from abandoning what was like an inheritance of virtue from ancestors near and remote; Agis and Cleomenes, on the other hand, though they were sons of fathers who had adopted opposite principles to theirs, and found their country in a wretched plight and full of distempers, did not suffer these things to blunt the edge of their zeal for what was noble. 4 Moreover, the chief proof that the Gracchi scorned wealth and were superior to money lies in the fact that they kept themselves clear from unrighteous gains during their official and political life; whereas Agis would have been incensed to receive praise for not taking anything that was another's, since he freely gave to his fellow citizens his own property, which amounted to six hundred talents in ready money alone, to say nothing of other valuables. How great a baseness, then, would unlawful gain have been held to be by one in whose eyes even the lawful possession of more than another was rapacity?"

he was not going to remain quiet...

from the Life of Caius Gracchus...

"Caius Gracchus, at first, either because he feared his enemies, or because he wished to bring odium upon them, withdrew from the forum and lived quietly by himself, like one who was humbled for the present and for the future intended to live the same inactive life, so that some were actually led to denounce him for disliking and repudiating his brother's political measures. 2 And he was also quite a stripling, for he was nine years younger than his brother, and Tiberius was not yet thirty when he died. But as time went on he gradually showed a disposition that was averse to idleness, effeminacy, wine-bibbing, and money-making; and by preparing his oratory to waft him as on swift pinions to public life, he made it clear that he was not going to remain quiet; 3 and in defending Vettius, a friend of his who was under prosecution, he had the people about him inspired and frantic with sympathetic delight, and made the other orators appear to be no better than children. Once more, therefore, the nobles began to be alarmed, and there was much talk among them about not permitting Caius to be made tribune.

4 By accident, however, it happened that the lot fell on him to go to Sardinia as quaestor for Orestes the consul.1 This gave pleasure to his enemies, and did not annoy Caius. For he was fond of war, and quite as well trained for military service as for pleading in the courts. Moreover, he still shrank from public life and the rostra, but was unable to resist the calls to this career which came from the people and his friends. He was therefore altogether satisfied with this opportunity of leaving the city. 5 And yet a strong opinion prevails that he was a demagogue pure and simple, and far more eager than Tiberius to win the favour of the multitude. But this is not the truth; nay, it would appear that he was led by a certain necessity rather than by his own choice to engage in public matters. 6 And Cicero the orator also relates2 that Caius declined all office and had chosen to live a quiet life, but that his brother appeared to him in a dream and addressed him, saying: "Why, pray, dost p201thou hesitate, Caius? There is no escape; one life is fated for us both, and one death as champions of the people."

lying lips

From the Life of Tiberius Gracchus,

"for Tiberius, striving to support a measure which was honourable and just with an eloquence that would have adorned even a meaner cause, was formidable and invincible, whenever, with the people crowding around the rostra, he took his stand there and pleaded for the poor. "The wild beasts that roam over Italy," he would say, "have every one of them a cave or lair to lurk in; 5 but the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy the common air and light, indeed, but nothing else; houseless and homeless they wander about with their wives and children. And it is with lying lips that their imperators exhort the soldiers in their battles to p167defend sepulchres and shrines from the enemy; for not a man of them has an hereditary altar, not one of all these many Romans an ancestral tomb, but they fight and die to support others in wealth and luxury, and though they are styled masters of the world, they have not a single clod of earth that is their own."

who loved his wife...

From The Life of Tiberius Gracchus

"Now that we have duly finished the first part of our story, we have to contemplate fates no less tragic than those of Agis and Cleomenes in the lives of the Roman couple, Tiberius and Caius, which we set in parallel. They were sons of Tiberius Gracchus, who, although he had been censor at Rome, twice consul, and had celebrated two triumphs, derived his more illustrious dignity from his virtue. 2 Therefore, after the death of the Scipio who conquered Hannibal, although Tiberius had not been his friend, but actually at variance with him, he was judged worthy to take Scipio's daughter Cornelia in marriage. We are told, moreover, that he once caught a pair of serpents on his bed, and that the soothsayers, after considering the prodigy, forbade him to kill both serpents or to let both go, but to decide the fate of one or the other of them, declaring also that the male serpent, if killed, would bring death to Tiberius, and the female, to Cornelia. 3 Tiberius, accordingly, who loved his wife, and thought that since she was still young and he was older it was more fitting that he should die, killed the male serpent, but let the female go. A short time afterwards, as the story goes, he died, leaving Cornelia with twelve children by him."

filled with great respect...

From the Life of Cleomenes...

"Such were the words of Therycion, and to them Cleomenes replied: "It is the easiest possible step thou urgest, wretched man, and one that any man might take, this dying; and dost thou think thyself brave when thou art making a flight more shameful than the one preceding it? 5 Better men than we have given in to their enemies before this, having been betrayed by Fortune or overwhelmed by numbers. But he who in the face of toils and hardships, or of the censorious judgments of men, gives up the fight, p123is vanquished by his own weakness. For a self-inflicted death ought to be, not flight from action, but an action in itself. For it is shameful to die, as well as to live, for one's self alone. And yet it is to this that thou now invitest me in thine eagerness to be rid of present troubles, though beyond that thou wilt effect nothing that is honourable or useful. 6 I, however, think it right that neither thou nor I should abandon our hopes for our country; when these abandon us, death will be very easy if we wish it."

To this Therycion made no reply, but as soon as he got an opportunity to leave Cleomenes, he turned aside along the sea-beach and slew himself.

But Cleomenes, putting to sea from Aegialia, landed in Libya, and travelled through the King's country to Alexandria. After coming into the presence of Ptolemy, at first he met with only ordinary and moderate kindness from him; but when he had given proof of his sentiments and shown himself to be a man of good sense, and when, in his daily intercourse, his Laconian simplicity retained the charm which a free spirit imparts, while he in no wise brought shame upon his noble birth or suffered the blows of Fortune to bow him down, but showed himself more winning than those whose conversation sought only to please and flatter, 2 then Ptolemy was filled with great respect for him, and deeply repented that he had neglected such a man and abandoned him to Antigonus, who had thereby won great glory and power. Ptolemy therefore sought to regain Cleomenes by honours and kindnesses, and kept encouraging him with assurances that he would send him back to Greece with ships and treasure and restore p125him to his kingdom. 3 He also gave him an annual pension of twenty-four talents. With this money Cleomenes maintained himself and his friends in a simple and modest manner, and spent the greater part in good offices and contributions to the refugees from Greece who were in Egypt."

a teacher...

From the Life of Cleomenes...

"In all these matters Cleomenes was himself a teacher. His own manner of life was simple, plain, and no more pretentious than that of the common man, and it was a pattern of self-restraint for all. This gave him a great advantage in his dealings with the other Greeks. For when men had to do with the other kings, they were not so much awed by their wealth and extravagance as they were filled with loathing for their haughtiness and pomp as they gave offensive and harsh answers to their auditors; 2 but when men came to Cleomenes, who was a real as well as a titled king, and then saw no profusion of purple robes or shawls about him, and no array of couches and litters; when they saw, too, that he did not make the work of his petitioners grievous and slow by employing a throng of messengers and door-keepers or by requiring written memorials, but came in person, just as he happened to be dressed, to answer the salutations of his visitors, conversing at length with those who needed his services and devoting time cheerfully and kindly to them, they were charmed and completely won over, and declared that he alone was a descendant of Heracles.

3 His usual supper was held in a room which had only three couches, and was very circumscribed and Spartan; but if he was entertaining ambassadors or guest-friends, two more couches would be brought in, and the servants would make the table a trifle more brilliant, not with sauces or sweetmeats, but with more generous dishes and a kindlier wine. And indeed he censured one of his friends, when he heard p79that in entertaining guest-friends he had set before them the black soup and barley-bread of the public mess-tables; "for," said he, "in these matters and before foreigners we must not be too strictly Spartan." 4 After the table had been removed, a tripod would be brought in on which were a bronze mixer full of wine, two silver bowls holding a pint apiece, and drinking cups of silver, few all told, from which he who wished might drink; but no one had a cup forced upon him. Music there was none, nor was any such addition desired; for Cleomenes entertained the company himself by his conversation, now asking questions, now telling stories, and his discourse was not unpleasantly serious, but had a sportiveness that charmed and was free from rudeness. 5 For the hunt which all the other kings made for men, ensnaring them with gifts and bribes and corrupting them, Cleomenes considered unskilful and unjust. In his eyes it was the noblest method, and one most fit for a king, to win over his visitors and attach them to himself by an intercourse and conversation which awakened pleasure and confidence. For he felt that a hireling differed from a friend in nothing except that the one was captured by a man's character and conversation, the other by a man's money."

the ancient discipline...

from the Life of Agis...

" Agis, on the contrary, far surpassed in native excellence and in loftiness of spirit not only Leonidas, but almost all the kings who had followed the great Agesilaüs. Therefore, even before he had reached his twentieth year, and although he had been reared amid the wealth and luxury of women, namely, his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother Archidamia (who were the richest people in Sparta), he at once set his face against pleasures. He put away from his person the adornments which were thought to p13befit the grace of his figure, laid aside and avoided every extravagance, prided himself on his short Spartan cloak, observed sedulously the Spartan customs in his meals and baths and general ways of living, and declared that he did not want the royal power at all unless by means of it he could restore the ancient laws and discipline."

image of virtue...

from the Life of Agis...

"Not without rhyme or reason is the supposition of some writers that the tale about Ixion — how it was the cloud that he embraced instead of Hera and begat from thence the Centaurs — has an application to lovers of glory. For such men, consorting with glory, which we may call an image of virtue, produce nothing that is genuine and of true lineage, but much that is bastard and monstrous, being swept now along one course and now along another in their attempts to satisfy desire and passion. The herdsmen of Sophocles say,1 in speaking of their flock:—

"Of these, indeed, though masters, we are yet the slaves,
And to them we must listen even though they're dumb."
2 And this, in truth, is the experience of public men who act in conformity with the desires and impulses of multitudes, making themselves attendants and slaves in order that they may be called popular leaders and rulers. For just as a ship's lookout, who sees what lies ahead before the ship's captain does, nevertheless turns to him for orders and does what he ordains, so the public man whose eyes are fixed on glory is a servant of the multitude, although he has the name of ruler.

p52 The man, indeed, whose goodness is complete and perfect will have no need at all of glory, except so far as glory gives him access to achievement by reason of the confidence men have in him; but a man who is still young and is fond of honours may be allowed to plume and exalt himself somewhat even upon glory, provided that glory is the outcome of noble deeds. For virtues, which are incipient and budding in the young, are confirmed in their proper development, as Theophrastus says, by the praises of men, and complete their growth under the incentive of pride. 2 But excess is everywhere harmful, and in the case of men who cherish political ambitions, it is deadly; for it sweeps them away into manifest folly and madness as they grasp after great power, when they refuse to regard what is honourable as glorious, but consider that what is glorious is good. Therefore, what Phocion said to Antipater, who demanded from him some dishonourable service, "Thou canst not have Phocion as thy friend and at the same time thy flatterer," this, or something akin to this, must be said to the multitude: 3 "Ye cannot have the same man as your ruler and your slave." Since in this case also one certainly can apply the fable of the serpent whose tail rebelled against its head and demanded the right 796to lead in turn instead of always following; so it took the lead, and by the folly of its progress got itself into mischief and lacerated the head, which was compelled, contrary to nature, to follow a part that had neither eyes nor ears. 4 This, as we see, has been the experience of many of the men whose whole political activity is directed towards the winning of popular favour; they made themselves dependent on the multitude, which is borne p7about at random, and then could neither recover themselves nor put a stop to the progress of disorder."

worn out with toils...

From the Life of Gaius Marius (on his death)

" But Marius himself, now worn out with toils, deluged, as it were, with anxieties, and wearied, could not sustain his spirits, which shook within him as he again faced the overpowering thought of a new war, of fresh struggles, of terrors known by experience to be dreadful, and of utter weariness. He reflected, too, that it was not Octavius or Merula in command of a promiscuous throng and a seditious rabble against whom he was now to run the hazard of war, but that the famous Sulla was coming against him, the man who had once ejected him from the country, and had now shut Mithridates up to the shores of the Euxine Sea. 3 Tortured by such reflections, and bringing into review his long wandering, his flights, and his perils, as he was driven over land and sea, he fell into a state of dreadful despair, and was a prey to nightly terrors and harassing dreams, wherein he would ever seem to hear a voice saying:—

"Dreadful, indeed, is the lions' lair, even though it be empty."41
And since above all things he dreaded the sleepless nights, he gave himself up to drinking-bouts and drunkenness at unseasonable hours and in a manner unsuited to his years, trying thus to induce sleep as a way of escape from his anxious thoughts. 4 And finally, when one came with tidings from the sea, fresh terrors fell upon him, partly because he feared the future, and partly because he was wearied to satiety by the present, so that it needed only a slight impulse to throw him into a pleurisy, as Poseidonius the philosopher relates, who says that he p595went in personally and conversed with Marius on the subjects of his embassy after Marius had fallen ill. 5 But a certain Caius Piso, an historian, relates that Marius, while walking about with his friends after supper, fell to talking about the events of his life, beginning with his earliest days, and after recounting his frequent reversals of fortune, from good to bad and from bad to good, said that it was not the part of a man of sense to trust himself to Fortune any longer; and after this utterance bade his friends farewell, kept his bed for seven days consecutively, and so died. 6 Some, however, say that his ambitious nature was completely revealed during his illness by his being swept into a strange delusion. He thought that he had the command in the Mithridatic war, and then, just as he used to do in his actual struggles, he would indulge in all sorts of attitudes and gestures, accompanying them with shrill cries and frequent calls to battle. 7 So fierce and inexorable was the passion for directing that war which had been instilled into him by his envy and lust of power. And therefore, though he had lived to be seventy years old, and was the first man to be elected consul for the seventh time, and was possessed of a house and wealth which would have sufficed for many kingdoms at once, he lamented his fortune, in that he was dying before he had satisfied and completed his desires.

46 Plato, however, when he was now at the point of death, lauded his guardian genius and Fortune because, to begin with, he had been born a man and not an irrational animal; again, because he was a Greek and not a Barbarian; and still again, because his birth had fallen in the times of Socrates. p5972 And indeed they say that Antipater of Tarsus, when he was in like manner near his end and was enumerating the blessings of his life, did not forget to mention his prosperous voyage from home to Athens, just as though he thought that every gift of a benevolent Fortune called for great gratitude, and kept it to the last in his memory, which is the most secure storehouse of blessings for a man. 3 Unmindful and thoughtless persons, on the contrary, let all that happens to them slip away as time goes on; therefore, since they do not hold or keep anything, they are always empty of blessings, but full of hopes, and are looking away to the future while they neglect the present. 4 And yet the future may be prevented by Fortune, while the present cannot be taken away; nevertheless these men cast aside the present gift of Fortune as something alien to them, while they dream of the future and its uncertainties. And this is natural. For they assemble and heap together the external blessings of life before reason and education have enabled them to build any foundation and basement for these things, and therefore they cannot satisfy the insatiable appetite of their soul.

5 So, then, Marius died, seventeen days after entering upon his seventh consulship. And immediately Rome was filled with great rejoicing and a confident hope that she was rid of a grievous tyranny; but in a few days the people perceived that they had got a new and vigorous master in exchange for the old one; such bitterness and cruelty did the younger Marius display, putting to death the best and most esteemed citizens. 6 He got the reputation of being bold and fond of danger in fighting his enemies, and p599in the beginning was called a son of Mars; but his deeds soon showed what he really was, and he was called instead a son of Venus. And finally he was shut up in Praeneste by Sulla, and after many vain attempts to save his life, when the city was captured and he could not escape, he slew himself.42

fortitude...

From the Life of Gaius Marius...

6 Well, then, for his praetorship Marius got only moderate commendation. After his praetorship, however, the province of Farther Spain was allotted to him, and here he is said to have cleared away the robbers, although the province was still uncivilized in its customs and in a savage state, and robbery was at that time still considered a most honourable occupation by the Spaniards. But when he returned to political life, he had neither wealth nor eloquence, with which the magnates of the time used to influence the people. 2 Still, the very intensity of his assurance, his indefatigable labours, and his plain and simple way of living, won him a certain popularity among his fellow citizens, and his honours brought him increasing influence, so that he married into the illustrious family of the Caesars and became the husband of Julia, who was the aunt of that Caesar who in after times became greatest among the Romans, and in some degree, because of his relationship, made Marius his example, as I have stated in his Life.6

p4773 There is testimony both to the temperance of Marius, and also to his fortitude, of which his behaviour under a surgical operation is a proof. He was afflicted in both legs, as it would appear, with varicose veins, and as he disliked the deformity, he resolved to put himself into the physician's hands. Refusing to be bound, he presented to him one leg, and then, without a motion or a groan, but with a steadfast countenance and in silence, endured incredible pain under the knife. When, however, the physician was proceeding to treat the other leg, Marius would suffer him no further, declaring that he saw the cure to be not worth the pain.b

7 When Caecilius Metellus the consul was appointed commander-in‑chief for the war against Jugurtha,7 he took Marius with him to Africa in the capacity of legate. Here, in essaying great exploits and brilliant struggles, Marius was not careful, like the rest, to enhance the glory of Metellus and conduct himself in his interests; and deeming that he had not so much been called by Metellus to the office of legate as he was being introduced by Fortune into a most favourable opportunity as well as a most spacious theatre for exploits, he made a display of every sort of bravery. 2 And though the war brought many hardships, he neither shunned any great labour, nor disdained any that were small, but surpassed the officers of his own rank in giving good counsel and foreseeing what was advantageous, and vied with the common soldiers in frugality and endurance, thereby winning much goodwill among them. 3 For as a general thing it would seem that every man finds p479solace for his labours in seeing another voluntarily share those labours; this seems to take away the element of compulsion; and it is a most agreeable spectacle for a Roman soldier when he sees a general eating common bread in public, or sleeping on a simple pallet, or taking a hand in the construction of some trench or palisade. For they have not so much admiration for those leaders who share honour and riches with them as for those who take part in their toils and dangers, but have more affection for those who are willing to join in their toils than for those who permit them to lead an easy life.

4 By doing all these things and thereby winning the hearts of the soldiers, Marius soon filled Africa, and soon filled Rome, with his name and fame, and men in the camp wrote to those at home that there would be no end or cessation of the war against the Barbarian unless they chose Caius Marius consul.

without a blow...

from the Life of Pyrrhus...

"...and leading his army with all speed through the intervening districts he took possession of Beroea; then, stationing the greater part of his forces there, he proceeded to subdue the rest of the country through his generals. When Demetrius heard of this, and became aware of a pernicious uproar in his camp on the part of the Macedonians, he was afraid to led them farther on, lest on coming into the neighbourhood of a Macedonian king of great renown they should go over to him. 4 Therefore he turned back and led them against Pyrrhus, with the idea that he was a foreigner and hated by the Macedonians. But after he had pitched his camp over against Pyrrhus, many Beroeans came thither with loud praises of Pyrrhus; they said he was invincible in arms and a brilliant hero, and treated his captives with mildness and humanity. There were some also whom Pyrrhus himself sent into the camp; they pretended to be Macedonians, and said that now was the favourable time to rid themselves of Demetrius and his severity, by going over to Pyrrhus, a man who was gracious to the common folk and fond of his soldiers. In consequence of this, the greater part of the army was all excitement, and went about looking for Pyrrhus; for it chanced that he had taken off his helmet, and he was not recognised until he bethought himself and put it on again, when its towering crest and its goat's horns made him known to all. Some of the Macedonians therefore ran to him and asked him for his watchword, and others put garlands of oaken boughs around their heads because they saw the soldiers about him garlanded. And presently even to Demetrius himself certain persons ventured to say that if he quietly withdrew and renounced his undertakings men would think that he had taken wise counsel. He saw that this advice tallied with the agitation in the camp, and was frightened, and secretly stole away, after putting on a broad-brimmed hat and a simple soldier's cloak. So Pyrrhus came up, took the camp without a blow, and was proclaimed king of Macedonia."

Blessings

if we had had more wine...

from the Life of Pyrrhus...
"Of his knowledge and ability in the field of military tactics and leadership one may get proofs from the writings on these subjects which he left. It is said also that Antigonus, when asked who was the best general, "Pyrrhus, if he lives to be old." This verdict of Antigonus applied only to his contemporaries. Hannibal, however, declared that the foremost of all generals in experience and ability was Pyrrhus, that Scipio was second, and he himself third, as I have written in my life of Scipio. And in a word, Pyrrhus would seem to have been always and continually studying and meditating upon this one subject, regarding it as the most kingly branch of learning; the rest he regarded as mere accomplishments and held them in no esteem. For instance, we are told that when he was asked at a drinking-party whether he thought Python or Caphisias the better flute-player, he replied that Polysperchona was a good general, implying that it became a king to investigate and understand such matters only.

He was also kind towards his familiar friends, and mild in temper, but eager and impetuous in returning favours. At any rate, when Aeropus died, he was distressed beyond measure, declaring that Aeropus had indeed only suffered what was common to humanity, but that he blamed and reviled himself because he had always delayed and moved slowly in the matter and so had not returned his friend's favour. For the debts due to one's creditors can be paid back to their heirs; but if the favours received from friends are not returned while those friends can be sensible of the act, it is an affliction to a just and good man. 5 Again, in Ambracia there was a fellow who denounced and reviled him, and people thought that Pyrrhus ought to banish him. "Let him remain here," said Pyrrhus, "and speak ill of us among a few, rather than carry his slanders round to all mankind." And again, some young fellows indulged in abuse of him over their cups, and were brought to task for it. Pyrrhus asked them if they had said such things, and when one of them replied, "We did, O King; and we should have said still more than this if we had had more wine." Pyrrhus laughed and dismissed them."

taken captive...

from the Life of Antony...

For there was simplicity in his nature, and slowness of perception, though when he did perceive his errors he showed keen repentance, and made full acknowledgement to the very men who had been unfairly dealt with, and there was largeness both in p191his restitution to the wronged and in his punishment of the wrong-doers. Yet he was thought to exceed due bounds more in conferring favours than in inflicting punishments. 7 And his wantonness in mirth and jest carried its own remedy with it. For a man might pay back his jests and insolence, and he delighted in being laughed at no less than in laughing at others. And this vitiated most of his undertakings. For he could not believe that those who used bold speech in jest could flatter him in earnest, and so was easily captivated by their praises, 8 not knowing that some men would mingle bold speech, like a piquant sauce, with flattery, and thus would take away from flattery its cloying character. Such men would use their bold babbling over the cups to make their submissive yielding in matters of business seem to be the way, not of those who associate with a man merely to please him, but of those who are vanquished by superior wisdom.

25 Such, then, was the nature of Antony, where now as a crowning evil his love for Cleopatra supervened, roused and drove to frenzy many of the passions that were still hidden and quiescent in him, and dissipated and destroyed whatever good and saving qualities still offered resistance. And he was taken captive in this manner."