1. Theopompus of Chios, Fragments, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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2. Demosthenes, Orations, 18.324, 19.255, 25.95 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 18.324. Never, O ye Powers of Heaven, never vouchsafe to them the fulfillment of that desire. If it be possible, implant even in them a better purpose and a better spirit; but, if their malady is incurable, consign them, and them alone, to utter and untimely destruction by land and sea, and to us who remain grant speedy deliverance from the terrors that hang over our heads, and a salvation that shall never fail. 19.255. What we require, Aeschines, is not oratory with enfolded hands, but diplomacy with enfolded hands. But in Macedonia you held out your hands, turned them palm upwards, and brought shame upon your countrymen, and then here at home you talk magniloquently; you practise and declaim some miserable fustian, and think to escape the due penalty of your heinous crimes, if you only don your little skull-cap, skull-cap: a soft cap commonly worn by invalids; also, according to Plutarch, by Solon, when he recited his verses on Salamis . Demosthenes ironically pretends that the defendant is still suffering from his sham illness [ Dem. 19.124 ]. take your constitutional, and abuse me. Now read. Solon’s Elegiacs Not by the doom of Zeus, who ruleth all, Not by the curse of Heaven shall Athens fall. Strong in her Sire, above the favored land Pallas Athene lifts her guardian hand. No; her own citizens with counsels vain Shall work her rain in their quest of gain; Dishonest demagogues her folk misguide, Foredoomed to suffer for their guilty pride. Their reckless greed, insatiate of delight, Knows not to taste the frugal feast aright; Th’ unbridled lust of gold, their only care, Nor public wealth nor wealth divine will spare. Now here, now there, they raven, rob and seize, Heedless of Justice and her stern decrees, Who silently the present and the past Reviews, whose slow revenge o’ertakes at last. On every home the swift contagion falls, Till servitude a free-born race enthralls. Now faction reigns now wakes the sword of strife, And comely youth shall pay its toll of life; We waste our strength in conflict with our kin, And soon our gates shall let the foeman in. Such woes the factious nation shall endure; A fate more hard awaits the hapless poor; For them, enslaved, bound with insulting chains, Captivity in alien lands remains. To every hearth the public curse extends; The courtyard gate no longer safety lends; Death leaps the wall, nor shall he shun the doom Who flies for safety to his inmost room. Ye men of Athens, listen while I show How many ills from lawless licence flow. Respect for Law shall check your rising lust, Humble the haughty, fetter the unjust, Make the rough places plain, bid envy cease, Wither infatuation’s fell increase, Make crooked judgement straight, the works prevent of insolence and sullen discontent, And quench the fires of strife. In Law we find The wisdom and perfection of Mankind. Solon 25.95. Surely, then, to admonish such a fellow is madness. A man who never yielded or shrank before the storm of protest with which the whole Assembly admonishes those who offend it, would readily heed the protest of an individual! His case is incurable, men of Athens, quite incurable. Just as physicians, when they detect a cancer or an ulcer or some other incurable growth, cauterize it or cut it away, so you ought all to unite in exterminating this monster. Cast him out of your city; destroy him. Take your precautions in time and do not wait for the evil consequences, which I pray may never fall either on individuals or on the community. |
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3. Cicero, On Fate, 29, 15 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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4. Cicero, De Oratore, 1.62 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 1.62. Neque enim si Philonem illum architectum, qui Atheniensibus armamentarium fecit, constat perdiserte populo rationem operis sui reddidisse, existimandum est architecti potius artificio disertum quam oratoris fuisse; nec, si huic M. Antonio pro Hermodoro fuisset de navalium opere dicendum, non, cum ab illo causam didicisset, ipse ornate de alieno artificio copioseque dixisset; neque vero Asclepiades, is quo nos medico amicoque usi sumus tum eloquentia vincebat ceteros medicos, in eo ipso, quod ornate dicebat, medicinae facultate utebatur, non eloquentiae. | 1.62. Nor, if, as is said, Philo, the famous architect, who built an arsenal for the Athenians, gave that people an eloquent account of his work, is it to be imagined that his eloquence proceeded from the art of the architect, but from that of the orator. Or, if our friend Marcus Antonius had had to speak for Hermodorus on the subject of dock- building, he would have spoken, when he had learned the case from Hermodorus, with elegance and copiousness, drawn, from an art quite unconnected with dock-building. And Asclepiades, whom we knew as a physician and a friend, did not, when he excelled others of his profession in eloquence, employ, in his graceful elocution, the art of physic, but that of oratory. |
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5. Cicero, Republic, 1.62-1.63, 5.2 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 1.62. Et Scipio: Tum magis adsentiare, Laeli, si, ut omittam similitudines, uni gubernatori, uni medico, si digni modo sint iis artibus, rectius esse alteri navem committere, aegrum alteri quam multis, ad maiora pervenero. L. Quaenam ista sunt? S. Quid? tu non vides unius inportunitate et superbia Tarquinii nomen huic populo in odium venisse regium? L. Video vero, inquit. S. Ergo etiam illud vides, de quo progrediente oratione plura me dicturum puto, Tarquinio exacto mira quadam exultasse populum insolentia libertatis; tum exacti in exilium innocentes, tum bona direpta multorum, tum annui consules, tum demissi populo fasces, tum provocationes omnium rerum, tum secessiones plebei, tum prorsus ita acta pleraque, ut in populo essent omnia. L. Est, inquit, ut dicis. 1.63. Est vero, inquit Scipio, in pace et otio; licet enim lascivire, dum nihil metuas, ut in navi ac saepe etiam in morbo levi. Sed ut ille, qui navigat, cum subito mare coepit horrescere, et ille aeger ingravescente morbo unius opem inplorat, sic noster populus in pace et domi imperat et ipsis magistratibus minatur, recusat, appellat, provocat, in bello sic paret ut regi; valet enim salus plus quam libido. Gravioribus vero bellis etiam sine collega omne imperium nostri penes singulos esse voluerunt, quorum ipsum nomen vim suae potestatis indicat. Nam dictator quidem ab eo appellatur, quia dicitur, sed in nostris libris vides eum, Laeli, magistrum populi appellari. L. Video, inquit. Et Scipio: Sapienter igitur illi vete res | 1.62. Scipio. You will be all the more inclined to agree, Laelius, if, omitting the analogies of the ship and the sick man, more advantageously entrusted to a single pilot and a single physician, if only they be proficient in their professions, I go on to examples of greater importance. Laelius. What examples are these ? Scipio. Are you not aware that it was the insolence and pride of one man, Tarquinius, that made the title of king odious to our people ? Laelius. Certainly I am aware of it . Scipio. Then you are also aware of a fact about which I expect to have more to say in the course of my discussion - that when Tarquinius was driven out, the people showed a strange way of rejoicing in their unwonted liberty; then it was that innocent men were driven into exile, then that the property of many citizens was pillaged, that the annual consulship was introduced, that the rods were lowered before the people, that appeals were allowed in cases of every sort, that secessions of the plebeians took place, and that, in a word, almost everything was done to give the people full power in all things. 1.62. Scipio. You will be all the more inclined to agree, Laelius, if, omitting the analogies of the ship and the sick man, more advantageously entrusted to a single pilot and a single physician, if only they be proficient in their professions, ** I go on to examples of greater importance. Laelius. What examples are these ? Scipio. Are you not aware that it was the insolence and pride of one man, Tarquinius, that made the title of king odious to our people ? Laelius. Certainly I am aware of it . Scipio. Then you are also aware of a fact about which I expect to have more to say in the course of my discussion - that when Tarquinius was driven out, the people showed a strange way of rejoicing in their unwonted liberty; then it was that innocent men were driven into exile, then that the property of many citizens was pillaged, that the annual consulship was introduced, that the rods were lowered before the people, ** that appeals were allowed in cases of every sort, that secessions of the plebeians took place, and that, in a word, almost everything was done to give the people full power in all things. ** 1.63. Laelius. What you say is quite true. Scipio. Yes, and it is generally true in times of peace and security, for licence is possible as long as one has nothing to fear ; as, for example, on board a ship, or frequently in the case of an illness that is trivial. But just as the sailor, when the sea suddenly grows rough, and the invalid when his illness becomes severe, both implore the assistance of one man, so our people, that in times of peace and while engaged at home wield authority, threaten even their magistrates, refuse to obey them, and appeal from one to another or to the people, yet in time of war yield obedience to their rulers as to a king , for safety prevails over caprice. Indeed, in wars of more serious import our people have preferred that all the power should be granted to one man without a colleague. And this man's title shows the character of his power, for though he is commonly called "dictator" from the fact that he is "named," yet you know, Laelius, that in our books he is called "master of the people." Laelius. I do. Scipio. Therefore the men of old time acted wisely . . . 1.63. Laelius. What you say is quite true. Scipio. Yes, and it is generally true in times of peace and security, for licence is possible as long as one has nothing to fear ; as, for example, on board a ship, or frequently in the case of an illness that is trivial. But just as the sailor, when the sea suddenly grows rough, and the invalid when his illness becomes severe, both implore the assistance of one man, so our people, that in times of peace and while engaged at home wield authority, threaten even their magistrates, refuse to obey them, and appeal from one to another or to the people, yet in time of war yield obedience to their rulers as to a king , for safety prevails over caprice. Indeed, in wars of more serious import our people have preferred that all the power should be granted to one man without a colleague. And this man's title shows the character of his power, for though he is commonly called "dictator" from the fact that he is "named," ** yet you know, Laelius, that in our books ** he is called "master of the people." Laelius. I do. Scipio. Therefore the men of old time acted wisely . . . 5.2. But though the republic, when it came to us, was like a beautiful painting, whose colours, however, were already fading with age, our own time not only has neglected to freshen it by renewing the original colours, but has not even taken the trouble to preserve its configuration and, so to speak, its general outlines. For what is now left of the "ancient customs" on which he said "the commonwealth of Rome" was "founded firm" ? They have been, as we see, so completely buried in oblivion that they are not only no longer practised, but are already unknown. And what shall I say of the men ? For the loss of our customs is due to our lack of men, and for, this great evil we must not only give an account, but must even defend ourselves in every way possible, as if we were accused of capital crime. For it is through our own faults, not by any accident, that we retain only the form of the commonwealth, but have long since lost its substance. |
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6. Philo of Alexandria, On The Creation of The World, 144 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 144. And who could these have been but rational divine natures, some of them incorporeal and perceptible only by intellect, and others not destitute of bodily substance, such in fact as the stars? And he who associated with and lived among them was naturally living in a state of unmixed happiness. And being akin and nearly related to the ruler of all, inasmuch as a great deal of the divine spirit had flowed into him, he was eager both to say and to do everything which might please his father and his king, following him step by step in the paths which the virtues prepare and make plain, as those in which those souls alone are permitted to proceed who consider the attaining a likeness to God who made them as the proper end of their existence. LI. |
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7. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 4.187-4.188 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 4.187. for this is to act in imitation of God, since he also has the power to do either good or evil, but his inclination causes him only to do good. And the creation and arrangement of the world shows this, for he has summoned what had previously no being into existence, creating order out of disorder, and distinctive qualities out of things which had no such qualities, and similarities out of things dissimilar, and identity out of things which were different, and intercommunion and harmony out of things which had previously no communication nor agreement, and equality out of inequality, and light out of darkness; for he is always anxious to exert his beneficent powers in order to change whatever is disorderly from its present evil condition, and to transform it so as to bring it into a better state.XXXVI. 4.188. Therefore it is right for good rulers of a nation to imitate him in these points, if they have any anxiety to attain to a similitude to God; but since innumerable circumstances are continually escaping from and eluding the human mind, inasmuch as it is entangled among and embarrassed by so great a multitude of the external senses, as is very well calculated to seduce and deceive it by false opinions, since in fact it is, as I may say, buried in the mortal body, which may very properly be called its tomb, let no one who is a judge be ashamed to confess that he is ignorant of that of which he is ignorant |
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8. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 26.18, 26.20 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 26.18. The stomach is strengthened by the juice of scordotis, by centaury, by gentian taken in water, by plantain, either taken by itself in food or mixed with lentils or alica gruel. Although betony in general lies heavy on the stomach, yet taken in drink, or if the leaves are chewed, it cures its troubles; aristolochia also may be taken in drink or dry agaric chewed, neat wine being drunk after a while, and nymphaea heraclia or juice of pencedanum may be applied locally. Psyllion is applied to inflammations, or pounded cotyledon with pearl-barley, or aizoum. 26.20. Ephedra, called by some anabasis, grows generally in wind-swept regions, climbs trees and hangs down from their branches. It has no leaves, but numerous rush-like, jointed tufts, and a pale root. For cough, asthma and colic it is given pounded in a dark-red, dry wine; and it may be made into a gruel, to which wine should be added. Another remedy is gentian, thoroughly pounded after being steeped the day before, the dose being a denarius by weight in three cyathi of wine. |
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9. Anon., Letter of Aristeas, 281
| 281. The king loudly acclaimed the answer and then looking at the next man said, Whom ought we to appoint as officers over the forces?' And he explained, 'Those who excel in courage and righteousness and those who are more anxious about the safety of their men than to gain a victory by risking their lives through rashness. For as God acts well towards all men, so too you in imitation of Him are the benefactor of all your subjects.' |
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