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He therefore is ridiculous that looks upon it as an
ignominious thing to be banished. For what is it that thou
sayest? Was Diogenes ignominious, when Alexander,
who saw him sitting and sunning himself, came and asked
him whether he wanted any thing, and he answered him,
that he lacked nothing but that he would go a little aside
and not stand in his light? The king, admiring the presence of his mind, turned to his followers and said: If I
were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes. Was Camillus
[p. 30]
inglorious because he was expelled Rome, considering
he has got the reputation of being its second founder?
Neither did Themistocles by his banishment lose any of
the renown he had gained in Greece, but added to it that
which he had acquired among the barbarians; neither is
there any so without all sense of honor, or of such an abject mind, that had not rather be Themistocles the banished, than Leobates that indicted him; or be Cicero that
had the same fate, than Clodius that expelled him Rome;
or be Timotheus that abandoned his country, than Aristophon that was his accuser.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 3.
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