Epic Poems
“1Aristophanes means by χρῆσται ‘creditors’ ... Phocylides in his poems uses χρήστης in the ordinary sense, thus:
” Scholiast on Aristophanes Clouds<:Thus also spake Phocylides —>: Be not the debtor of a bad man, or he will annoy thee with asking to be paid before his time.
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“Phocylides: —
” Stobaeus Anthology [censure of women, and also on marriage]Thus also spake Phocylides —The tribes of women come of these four, the bitch, the bee, the savage-looking2 sow, and the long-maned mare; the mare's daughter sprightly, quick, gadabout, and very comely, the savage-looking sow's neither bad, belike, nor good, the bitch's tetchy and ill-mannered; and the bee's a good huswife who knows her work —and 'tis she, my friend, thou shouldst pray thou mayst get thee in delectable wedlock.
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“Phocylides: —
” Stobaeus Anthology [that high-born and worthy fathers do not always get children like themselves]Thus also spake Phocylides —Of what advantage is high birth to such as have no grace either in words or in counsel?
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“3In the same way, said I, you can take a brief example from the poetry of Phocylides, who is not one of those stringers-together of some long and continuous piece of versification like your friend who takes more than five thousand lines to recount a single battle, but writes pieces extending first and last to but two or three lines; indeed he prefixes4 his name to each sentiment he expresses, as believing it of serious import and great value —unlike Homer, who never names himself. You agree, do you not, that he had every right to prefix Phocylides to such a maxim or pronouncement as this:
” Dio Chrysostom OrationsThus also spake Phocylides —A little state living orderly in a high place is stronger than a blockheaded Nineveh.5
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“ Muttering and to mutter : —These words are not to be rejected, but are Ionic. They are used, I know, by a very ancient writer, Phocylides of Miletus:
” Phrynichus Introduction to LearningThus also spake Phocylides —Comrade should consider with comrade what their fellow-townsmen mutter in their ears.
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“Phocylides: —
” Stobaeus Anthology [that husbandry is a good thing]If thou desirest riches, see that thou hast a fertile farm; for a farm, they say, is a horn of Amalthea.
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“6From Phocylides: —
” Orion of Thebes AnthologyTake thy counsel at night; at night a man's wits are sharper; quiet is good for one that seeketh virtue.7
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“Phocylides: —
” Stobaeus Anthology [on being and seeming-to-be, and that we should not judge a man by what he says but what he is, because speech is superfluous when there is no action]Many that are of little wit seem to be wise if their walk be orderly.
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“8The life of a philosopher is better than that of a man of affairs, but to the man who lacks the necessaries of existence it is not preferable.
” Aristotle Commonplaces “... for as Phocylides says:” Scholiast on the passageSeek a living, and when thou hast a living, virtue.‘virtue’ included other excellence than moral
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“And Phocylides says: —
” Athenaeus Doctors at DinnerWhen the cups go round at a drinking-bout we should quaff our wine quietly amid pleasant talk.
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“9It is these which are securest in a state; neither are they themselves covetous of other men's goods like the poor, nor are others covetous of theirs as poor men's are of rich men's; and they run no risks, because they are neither the objects nor the authors of conspiracy. And this is why we may approve the wish of Phocylides:
” Aristotle Politics [on the middle-class]Much advantage is theirs who are midmost, and midmost in a city would I be.
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“10The poet Phocylides appears to me to give excellent advice when he says:
” Plutarch EducationWe should learn noble deeds when we are yet children.
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“11Let us then put up with the ridicule of the seeming-clever ... for not only must we, as Phocylides says:
but also be much laughed at and despised . . .”Make many mistakes12 in seeking to be good;
CURFRAG.tlg-1604.14Plutarch On Listening
“13Moreover Phocylides, who calls the angels daimones or spirits, represents some of them as good and others as bad ...:
” Clement of Alexandria MiscellaniesBut there must be spirits in the world, now these and now those, some <wont> to save men from coming ill ...14
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“And that is why justice or righteousness so often appears to be the best of the virtues ... and we have the saying:
” Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics “This is by Theognis and runs thus （Theogn. 145-7）, but it ranks as a proverb and is quoted as such by Theophrastus in Book I of his treatise On Characters , though in the first Book of his Ethics he quotes it as occurring in Phocylides, and it may well have been used by him; or else by both Phocylides and Theognis.” Scholiast on the passage:Righteousness containeth the sum of all virtues.
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