[1]: Homer, Il. ix. 55; cf. Moralia, 795 b.
[2]: Homer, Il. ix. 443; cf. Moralia, 795 e.
[3]: Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 396, ascribed to Simonides.
[4]: The story of the adjournment of the assembly is told by Plutarch in the Life of Nicias, chap. vii. p. 527.
[5]: See Life of Alcibiades, chap. x. p. 195.
[6]: Cf. Life of Demetrius, chap. xi.
[7]: Militiades was the victorious general at Marathon, 490 b.c.
[8]: cf. Moralia, 972 f.
[9]: cf. Moralia, 89 e, with note a in Babbitt’s translation (L.C.L.), where the habit is spoken of as a mark of effeminacy and licentiousness.
[10]: Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 652, no. 185; on Agyrrhius cf. Aristophanes, Plutus, 176.
[11]: From the same play as the preceding.
[12]: From the same play as the preceding.
[13]: Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii. p. 135, no. 472.
[14]: Critias, 109 c only it was not our bodies that they [the gods] constrained by bodily force, like shepherds guiding ther flocks by stroke of staff, but they directed from the stern, where the living creature is easiest to turn about (ᾗ μάλιστα εὔστροφον ζῷον), laying hold on the soul by persuasion, as by a rudder, according to their own disposition (trans. R. G. Bury in L.C.L.).
[15]: Homer, Il. ix. 441.
[16]: Hesiod, Theog. 80.
[17]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 678, no. 987.
[18]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 494, no. 439, from the first Hippolytus.
[19]: Alcamenes and Nesiotes were sculptors of the fifth century b.c. Ictinus was architect of the Parthenon.
[20]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 309, no. 760, perhaps from the satyr drama Pandora.
[21]: Homer, Od. ii. 69.
[22]: cf. Plato, Sophist, 267 e.
[23]: Thucydides, ii. 65. 8.
[24]: These seem to be somewhat technical words employed by the rhetoricians.
[25]: cf. Aristotle, Rhetoric, iii. 1017, p. 1411 a; said by the Athenian orator Leptines, in opposing the destruction of Sparta, one of the eyes of Greece.
[26]: Cf. Life of Phocion, chap. i.
[27]: Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 396.
[28]: Cf. Life of Pericles, chap. viii. The references is to Aegina, whose thriving commerce threatened the prosperity of the Peiraeus.
[29]: Cf. Life of Phocion, chap. xxiii.
[30]: Thucydides, i. 86; ii. 72; ii. 60.
[31]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 441, l. 22; from the Autolycus of Euripides.
[32]: These two retorts are recorded by Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes, chap. xi. p. 851. The second obviously refers to misconduct on the part of Demades. The sow (teaches or contends with) Athena was a proverbial expression; cf. Theocritus, Idyl, v. 23. As sus (docet) Minervam the proverb was current in Latin; cf. Festus, p. 310 Müller, p. 408 Lindsay; Cicero, Ad Familiares, ix. 18. 3; Academica, i. 4. 18; De Oratore, ii. 57. 233.
[33]: Cf. Life of Alcibiades, chap. x.
[34]: The name Leo, lion, made the little man seem ridiculous.
[35]: Aristophanes, Knights, 137. The reference is to Cleon.
[36]: Od. vi. 4. The translation is adapted from that of Sir John Sandys (L.C.L.).
[37]: Paton’s translation (in L.C.L.) of the phrase in Anth. Pal. xi. 86 on Pericles, quoted from the earlier epigram on Ladas, a famous runner of Sparta. The sudden cutting or loosening of the taut rope stretched across the starting-line was accompanied by an audible sound. See E. N. Gardiner, Jour. Hell. Studies xxiii. p. 262.
[38]: Homer, Od. xi. 495 (slightly changed).
[39]: cf. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, chap. v.
[40]: Cf. Life of Pompey, chap. xliv., where another story concerning the friendship of Pompey for Afranius is told.
[41]: Equivalent here to adjutant.
[42]: Cf. Life of Marius, chap. x., and Life of Sulla, chap. iii.
[43]: Laws, 762 e.
[44]: Aristophanes, Peace, 756. The poet refers to Cleon.
[45]: Quoted by Plutarch, Life of Nicias, chap. ii. p. 524. A parody by an unknown comic poet (unless it be by Aristophanes) of a line from the Peleus of Sophocles, Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. 447, p. 239. See Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii. p. 400.
[46]: cf. Callimachus, Frag. 382, p. 787, ed. Schneider.
[47]: Pindar, Frag. 57, p. 403 Schroeder.
[48]: The cancellation of debts was one of the chief features of Solon’s reorganization of the government of Athens in the sixth century b.c. The popular term means shaking off burdens. This incident is discussed by Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, chap. vi., where Solon’s innocence of wrongdoing is maintained.
[49]: Euripides, Bellerophon, Frag. 309, p. 451 Nauck. Quoted in part, Moralia 529 e.
[50]: cf. Moralia, 209 f.
[51]: Cf. Life of Timoleon, chaps. iv., v., pp. 237, 238.
[52]: A proverbial expression (Latin usque ad aras) equivalent to our to the bitter end; cf. Moralia, 531 d.
[53]: Homer, Il. x. 242.
[54]: Homer, Il. x. 558.
[55]: Plato, Letters, iv. 321 b.
[56]: The friend to whom this essay is addressed.
[57]: Xenophon, Ages. 4.
[58]: Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 418, no. 68.
[59]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 918, no. 411. Probably from the Erechtheus of Euripides and spoken by Praxithes, wife of Erechtheus.
[60]: Homer, Il., xvii. 171.
[61]: Homer, Il. vii. 358.
[62]: Homer, Il. v. 800, referring to Diomedes.
[63]: Scipio Africanus the younger (185-129 b.c.) was the son of Lucius Aemilius Paulus.
[64]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 312, no. 771.
[65]: No such official as telearchos is mentioned elsewhere, and the word itself describes no function. On the other hand, telmarchos or telmatarchos, conjectured independently by Winckelmann and van Herwerden, although not found elsewhere, gives a meaning which accords with Plutarch’s description, official of stagnant pools, or a special kind of collector of refuse and other nuisances from the streets, very like the koprologoi of Athens.
[66]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 675, no. 974. From an unknown play, quoted also Moralia, 464 a.
[67]: Refers to the four great festivals: the Olympic, the Pythian, the Isthmian, and the Nemean games.
[68]: The length was twenty stadia, slightly more than two and a quarter miles.
[69]: From a poet of the Old Comedy, Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii. p. 629, no. 1325.
[70]: Meaning the largest anchor, held in reserve and used only in a crisis; cf. below, 815 d and Lucian, Iuppiter Tragoedus, chap. li. and scholium.
[71]: Passed in 432 b.c. excluding Megara from commerce with Athens and her allies.
[72]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 678, no. 988.
[73]: Negotiations with other Greek states.
[74]: The Greeks did not know that the most important bee in the hive was female - the queen bee.
[75]: Sophocles, Trachiniae, 1058.
[76]: In Greece of Plutarch’s time those in authority in political matters were the Romans.
[77]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 918, no. 412; from an unknown play.
[78]: Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 34.
[79]: The Thirty Tyrants at Athens were overthrown in 403 b.c.; Phrynichus presented the tragedy shortly after Miletus was captured by the Persians in 494 b.c.; Cassander refounded Thebes in 316-315 b.c., ten years after its destruction by Alexander; the clubbing of aristocrats at Argos by the mob took place in 370 b.c.; Harpalus, Alexander’s treasurer, brought to Athens in 329 b.c. funds stolen from Alexander and was supposed to have bribed many prominent Athenians, one of whom was Demosthenes.
[80]: i.e. the Romans.
[81]: Arcadia and Rhodes respectively. Polybius was a statesman and historian, Panaetius a Stoic philosopher.
[82]: Augustus Caesar is meant. For a further account of his treatment of Areius see Life of Antony, chap. lxxx.
[83]: This refers to the Roman custom of greeting at the front door.
[84]: Euripides in Phoenissae, 524 f. represents Eteocles as saying - εἴπερ γὰρ ἀδικεῖν χρή, τυραννίδος πέρι κάλλιστον ἀδικεῖν. If wrong be ever right, for the throne’s sake Were wrong most right. (Way’s translation.) If Plutarch quotes this passage, correcting it to suit his purpose, he simply substitutes ἀγρυπνεῖν for ἀδικεῖν and πατρίδος for τυραννίδος. And the sentiment about equality, as the basis of true friendship, seems to be an echo of 535 f. of the same play. This method of dealing with passages from the poets is not infrequently employed by Plutarch.
[85]: This doubtless refers to honorary citizenship, crowns, statues, and the like.
[86]: The citizens of most ancient states were divided into tribes or clans.
[87]: Homer, Il. xvii. 156 ff.
[88]: See note on 812 b above.
[89]: Homer, Il. iv. 223. Spoken of Agamemnon.
[90]: Callimachus, p. 787 ed. Schneider.
[91]: The story of these two is told in Moralia, 235 f, 236.
[92]: See Moralia, 203 d, where the name is Sthennius, and Life of Pompey, chap. x.
[93]: Athenian youths from eighteen to twenty years of age were called ephebi. For one year they were trained chiefly in gymnastics and military drill, then for a year they served as guards on the frontier. cf. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, chap. xlii.
[94]: Apparently a quotation from a comedy. See Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii. p. 495.
[95]: Theodorus and Polus were famous actors at Athens in the fourth century b.c. See J. B. O’Connor, Chapters in the History of Actors and Acting in Ancient Greece, pp. 100, 128. The terms τραγῳδός and κωμῳδός were used for actors who had been assigned to the highest rank and were privileged to bring out old plays at the festivals, and they stand in sharp contrast to the hireling actors, usually referred to after Demosthenes’ time as tritagonists, to whom were often given the third-class roles of kings; see ibid. chap. i.
[96]: Cf. Life of Cicero, chap. ii., Cicero placed in their midst, as a mark of honour, Perrin’s translation, L.C.L.
[97]: Homer, Il. iv. 415.
[98]: Demosthenes, xxi. (Against Meidias) 524. Meidias had insulted Demosthenes in public when Demosthenes was choregus, officially appointed to bear the expense of a chorus.
[99]: The thesmothetae were the six junior archons at Athens. Their chief duty was supervision of the courts of law.
[100]: The stephanephori were officials whose duties varied in different cities. At Athens they were concerned with public festivals.
[101]: The author of the Anabasis. But Plutarch may have written φησὶν αὐτος.
[102]: Xenophon, Anab. iii. 1. 4.
[103]: The Boeotarchy was the chief office of the Boeotian confederacy. Its term was one year.
[104]: These measures included the freeing of Messenia from Spartan domination and the founding of the city of Messenê.
[105]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 918, no. 413.
[106]: Plato, Republic, 552 c, d.
[107]: In 330 b.c. King Agis of Sparta headed the revolt.
[108]: The second day of the Anthesteria, a three-day festival in worship of Dionysus, held in early spring at Athens.
[109]: Cf. Life of Phocion, chap. xxiv.
[110]: cf. Homer, Il. x. 243. He chose Odysseus.
[111]: This refers to Jason’s seduction of Medea.
[112]: cf. Plato, Republic, 609 a.
[113]: Homer, Od. v. 350.
[114]: Plato, Republic, 416 e.
[115]: Two famous statues. The doryphorus (spear-bearer) was by Polycleitus.
[116]: The prizes at the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games were crowns of wild olive, laurel, pine, and parsley respectively.
[117]: Epimenides of Crete was called in by the Athenians, apparently not far from 500 b.c., to purify the city of a pestilence.
[118]: Mullach, Frag. Phil. Graec. i. p. 3, 112.
[119]: Quoted with slightly different wording by Plutarch, Moralia, 1113 b.
[120]: Mullach, Frag. Phil. Graec. i. p. 355.
[121]: Homer, Il. xix. 404 ff.; Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 25.
[122]: Demosthenes, vi. (second Philippic) 24.
[123]: Archytas of Tarentum was a statesman, Pythagorean philosopher, and mathematician. He was seven times general and never defeated. He lived in the fourth century b.c. and was a friend of Plato.
[124]: Probably Battus III. of Cyrene is meant, under whom the constitution of the city was reformed about the middle of the sixth century b.c.
[125]: Homer, Il. iv. 130.
[126]: Dionysius II. of Syracuse; cf. Life of Timoleon, chap. xiii., and Aelian, Var. Hist. vi. 12.
[127]: Plato, Republic, 398 e.
[128]: Lamachus was an Athenian general who was killed in the battle at the Anapus near Syracuse in 414 b.c.
[129]: Phocion was a famous Athenian general in the fourth century b.c. He was elected general forty-five times. He was virtual ruler of Athens when Antipater was in power, but in 318 b.c. was tried and executed by the Athenians. Soon after that a public burial and a statue were decreed for him. The story told here is found also in the Moralia, p. 533 a.
[130]: About six pints.
[131]: About a bushel and a half.
[132]: cf. Pollux, iii. 87, ix. 85, but, as Bernardakis suggests, Plutarch may have added the word for more desirable, in which case there is here no real quotation.
[133]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 919, no. 415.
[134]: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 853, no. 75; Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii. p. 612, no. 1229. Plutarch, Moralia, 88 f, uses the same simile, and this line is quoted as a proverb by Aristotle, Meteor. 364 b 13.
[135]: This refers to the doctrine held by the Epicurean and Sceptic Schools of philosophy that the perfect state is that of complete tranquillity.
[136]: Theramenes was prominent in the oligarchy at Athens in 411 b.c., but later turned against his former associates. In 404 b.c. he was elected one of the Thirty Tyrants, but tried to restrain his colleagues and was put to death by them. He was nicknames Cothurnus because the buskin could be worn on either foot, as he was a member of each party in turn (cf. turncoat). Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 28. 5. praises him as a patriot.
[137]: For the phrase cf. Thucydides, ii. 364.
[138]: Hesiod, Works and Days, 233.