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[187]
When he had given them this charge, he made haste to Rhodes, to meet
Caesar; and when he had sailed to that city, he took off his diadem, but
remitted nothing else of his usual dignity. And when, upon his meeting
him, he desired that he would let him speak to him, he therein exhibited
a much more noble specimen of a great soul; for he did not betake himself
to supplications, as men usually do upon such occasions, nor offered him
any petition, as if he were an offender; but, after an undaunted manner,
gave an account of what he had done; for he spake thus to Caesar: That
he had the greatest friendship for Antony, and did every thing he could
that he might attain the government; that he was not indeed in the army
with him, because the Arabians had diverted him; but that he had sent him
both money and corn, which was but too little in comparison of what he
ought to have done for him; "for if a man owns himself to be another's
friend, and knows him to be a benefactor, he is obliged to hazard every
thing, to use every faculty of his soul, every member of his body, and
all the wealth he hath, for him, in which I confess I have been too deficient.
However, I am conscious to myself, that so far I have done right, that
I have not deserted him upon his defeat at Actium; nor upon the evident
change of his fortune have I transferred my hopes from him to another,
but have preserved myself, though not as a valuable fellow soldier, yet
certainly as a faithful counselor, to Antony, when I demonstrated to him
that the only way that he had to save himself, and not to lose all his
authority, was to slay Cleopatra; for when she was once dead, there would
be room for him to retain his authority, and rather to bring thee to make
a composition with him, than to continue at enmity any longer. None of
which advises would he attend to, but preferred his own rash resolution
before them, which have happened unprofitably for him, but profitably for
thee. Now, therefore, in case thou determinest about me, and my alacrity
in serving Antony, according to thy anger at him, I own there is no room
for me to deny what I have done, nor will I be ashamed to own, and that
publicly too, that I had a great kindness for him. But if thou wilt put
him out of the case, and only examine how I behave myself to my benefactors
in general, and what sort of friend I am, thou wilt find by experience
that we shall do and be the same to thyself, for it is but changing the
names, and the firmness of friendship that we shall bear to thee will not
be disapproved by thee."
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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- LSJ, περιολκή
- LSJ, συμμετα-βαίνω
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