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Periander had prepared a dinner for us, not in the
town, but in a dining-hall at Lechaeum which stands close to
the temple of Venus, to whom there was a sacrifice that day.
For having neglected the duty ever since his mother died
for love, he was resolved now to atone for the omission,
being warned so to do by the dreams of Melissa. In
order thereunto, there was provided a rich chariot for
every one of the guests. It was summer-time, and every
part of the way quite to the seaside was hardly passable,
by reason of throngs of people and whole clouds of dust.
As soon as Thales espied the chariot waiting at the door,
he smilingly discharged it, and we walked through the
fields to avoid the press and noise. There was in our
company a third person, Niloxenus a Naucratian, an eminent man, who was very intimately acquainted with Solon
and Thales in Egypt; he had a message to deliver to Bias,
and a letter sealed, the contents whereof he knew not;
only he guessed it contained a second question to be
resolved by Bias, and in case Bias undertook not to answer it, he had in commission to impart it to the wisest
men in Greece. What a fortune is this (quoth Niloxenus) to find you all together! This paper (showing it us)
I am bringing to the banquet. Thales replied, after his
wonted smiling way, If it contains any hard question,
away with it to Priene. Bias will resolve it with the
same readiness he did your former problem. What problem was that? quoth he. Why, saith Thales, a certain
person sent him a beast for sacrifice with this command,
that he should return him that part of his flesh which was
best and worst; our philosopher very gravely and wisely
pulled out the tongue of the beast, and sent it to the
donor;—which single act procured him the name and
reputation of a very wise man. It was not this act
alone that advanced him in the estimation of the world,
quoth Niloxenus; but he joyfully embraces what you so
[p. 5]
carefully shun, the acquaintance and friendship of kings
and great men; and whereas he honors you for divers
great accomplishments, he particularly admires you for
this invention, that with little labor and no help of any
mathematical instrument you took so truly the height of
one of the pyramids; for fixing your staff erect at the
point of the shadow which the pyramid cast, two triangles being thus made by the tangent rays of the sun, you
demonstrated that what proportion one shadow had to
the other, such the pyramid bore to the stick.
But, as I said, you are accused of being a hater of kings,
and certain back friends of yours have presented Amasis
with a paper of yours stuffed with sentences reproachful
to majesty; as for instance, being at a certain time asked
by Molpagoras the Ionian, what the most absurd thing was
you had observed in your notice, you replied, An old king.
Another time, in a dispute that happened in your company
about the nature of beasts, you affirmed that of wild beasts,
a king, of tame, a flatterer was the worst. Such apophthegms must needs be unacceptable to kings, who pretend
there is vast difference between them and tyrants. This
was Pittacus's reply to Myrsilus, and it was spoken in jest,
quoth Thales; nor was it an old king I said I should marvel at, but an old pilot. In this mistake, however. I am
much of the youth's mind who, throwing a stone at a
bitch, hit his stepmother, adding, Not so bad. I therefore
esteemed Solon a very wise and good man, when I understood he refused empire; and if Pittacus had not taken
upon himself a monarchy, he had never exclaimed, O ye
Gods! how hard a matter it is to be good! And Periander,
however he seems to be sick of his father's disease, is yet
to be commended that he gives ear to wholesome discourses
and converses only with wise and good men, rejecting the
advice of Thrasybulus my countryman, who would have
persuaded him to chop off the heads of his nobility. For
[p. 6]
a prince that chooses rather to govern slaves than freemen
is like a foolish farmer, who throws his wheat and barley
in the streets, to fill his barns with swarms of locusts and
whole cages of birds. For government has one good
thing to make amends for the many evils attending it,
namely, honor and glory, provided the ruler rules good
men because he is better than they, and great men seeming to be greater than they. But he that having ascended
the throne minds only his own interest and ease, remitting
all care and concern for the welfare of the subject, is fitter
to tend sheep or to drive horses or to feed cattle than to
govern men of reason.
But this stranger (continues he) has engaged us in a deal
of impertinent chat, for we have neglected to speak or offer
any discourse suitable to the occasion and end of our meeting; for doubtless it becomes the guest, as well as the host,
to make preparation beforehand. It is reported that the
Sybarites used to invite their neighbors' wives a whole
twelve-month before to their entertainments, that they
might have convenient time to trim and adorn themselves; for my part, I am of opinion, that he who would
feast as he should ought to allow himself more time for
preparation than they, it being a more difficult matter to
compose the mind into an agreeable temper than to fit
one's clothes for the outward ornament of the body. For
a prudent man comes not hither only to fill his belly, as if he
were to fill a bottle, but to be sometimes grave and serious,
sometimes pleasant, sometimes to listen to others, and sometimes to speak himself what may benefit or divert the company, if the meeting is intended for any good use or
purpose. For if the victuals be not good, men may let
them alone, or if the wine be bad, men may use water;
but for a weak-headed, impertinent, unmannerly, shallow
fellow-commoner there is no cure; he mars all the mirth
and music, and spoils the best entertainment in the world.
[p. 7]
And it will be no easy business to rid one's self of a sullen
temper when once entertained; since we find divers men,
affronted in their debauches, have yet remembered the
provocation to their dying day, the spite remaining like a
surfeit arising from wrong done or anger conceived in
drinking wine. Wherefore Chilo did very well and wisely;
for when he was invited yesterday, he would not promise
to come till he had a particular given him of all their
names who were to meet him. For, quoth he, if my
business calls me to sea or I am pressed to serve my
prince in his wars, there is a necessity upon me to rest
contented with whatever company I fall into, though never
so unsuitable to my quality or disagreeable to my nature
and humor; but voluntarily and needlessly to associate
myself with any riffraff rabble would ill become any man
pretending to but common discretion.
The Egyptian skeleton which they brought into their
feasts and exposed to the view of their guests, with this
advice, that they should not in their merriment forget they
would shortly be themselves such as that was,—though it
was a sight not so acceptable (as may be supposed),—had
yet this conveniency and use, to incite the spectators not
to luxury and drunkenness but to mutual love and friendship,
persuading them not to protract a life in itself short and
uncertain by a tedious course of wickedness.
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