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When the inhabitants of Mitylene offered to Pittacus the half of the land for which he had fought in single combat,1 he would not accept it, but arranged to assign to every man by lot an equal part, uttering the maxim, "The equal share is more than the greater."2 For in measuring "the greater" in terms of fair dealing, not of profit, he judged wisely; since he reasoned that equality would be followed by fame and security, but greediness by opprobrium and fear, which would speedily have taken away from him the people's gift.

1 He slew Phrynon, the Athenian general, when the Mitylenaeans and Athenians were fighting for possession of Sigeum on the Hellespont.

2 Diogenes Laertius 1.75 gives it, "The half is more than the whole" (τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ παντὸς πλεῖον); cp. Hes. WD 1.40, νήπιοι, οὐδὲ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντός..

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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