1. Homer, Iliad, 2.361 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 2.361. /But do thou, O King, thyself take good counsel, and hearken to another; the word whatsoever I speak, shalt thou not lightly cast aside. Separate thy men by tribes, by clans, Agamemnon, that clan may bear aid to clan and tribe to tribe. If thou do thus, and the Achaeans obey thee |
|
2. Herodotus, Histories, 7.24, 7.136 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 7.24. As far as I can judge by conjecture, Xerxes gave the command for this digging out of pride, wishing to display his power and leave a memorial; with no trouble they could have drawn their ships across the isthmus, yet he ordered them to dig a canal from sea to sea, wide enough to float two triremes rowed abreast. The same men who were assigned the digging were also assigned to join the banks of the river Strymon by a bridge. 7.136. This was their answer to Hydarnes. From there they came to Susa, into the king's presence, and when the guards commanded and would have compelled them to fall down and bow to the king, they said they would never do that. This they would refuse even if they were thrust down headlong, for it was not their custom, said they, to bow to mortal men, nor was that the purpose of their coming. Having averted that, they next said, ,“The Lacedaemonians have sent us, O king of the Medes, in requital for the slaying of your heralds at Sparta, to make atonement for their death,” and more to that effect. To this Xerxes, with great magimity, replied that he would not imitate the Lacedaemonians. “You,” said he, “made havoc of all human law by slaying heralds, but I will not do that for which I censure you, nor by putting you in turn to death will I set the Lacedaemonians free from this guilt.” |
|
3. Theocritus, Idylls, 17.1-17.8, 17.13-17.33, 17.56, 17.73-17.76, 17.80, 17.95-17.116, 17.118-17.134, 17.136 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
|
4. Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, 2.1204-2.1205, 4.257-4.281, 4.646 (3rd cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 2.1204. στεῦται δʼ Ἠελίου γόνος ἔμμεναι· ἀμφὶ δὲ Κόλχων 2.1205. ἔθνεα ναιετάουσιν ἀπείρονα· καὶ δέ κεν Ἄρει 4.257. ‘Νισσόμεθʼ Ὀρχομενὸν τὴν ἔχραεν ὔμμι περῆσαι 4.258. νημερτὴς ὅδε μάντις, ὅτῳ ξυνέβητε πάροιθεν. 4.259. ἔστιν γὰρ πλόος ἄλλος, ὃν ἀθανάτων ἱερῆες 4.260. πέφραδον, οἳ Θήβης Τριτωνίδος ἐκγεγάασιν. 4.261. οὔπω τείρεα πάντα, τά τʼ οὐρανῷ εἱλίσσονται 4.262. οὐδέ τί πω Δαναῶν ἱερὸν γένος ἦεν ἀκοῦσαι 4.263. πευθομένοις· οἶοι δʼ ἔσαν Ἀρκάδες Ἀπιδανῆες 4.264. Ἀρκάδες, οἳ καὶ πρόσθε σεληναίης ὑδέονται 4.265. ζώειν, φηγὸν ἔδοντες ἐν οὔρεσιν. οὐδὲ Πελασγὶς 4.266. χθὼν τότε κυδαλίμοισιν ἀνάσσετο Δευκαλίδῃσιν 4.267. ἦμος ὅτʼ Ἠερίη πολυλήιος ἐκλήιστο 4.268. μήτηρ Αἴγυπτος προτερηγενέων αἰζηῶν 4.269. καὶ ποταμὸς Τρίτων ἠύρροος, ᾧ ὕπο πᾶσα 4.270. ἄρδεται Ἠερίη· Διόθεν δέ μιν οὔποτε δεύει 4.271. ὄμβρος· ἅλις προχοῇσι δʼ ἀνασταχύουσιν ἄρουραι. 4.272. ἔνθεν δή τινά φασι πέριξ διὰ πᾶσαν ὁδεῦσαι 4.273. Εὐρώπην Ἀσίην τε βίῃ καὶ κάρτεϊ λαῶν 4.274. σφωιτέρων θάρσει τε πεποιθότα· μυρία δʼ ἄστη 4.275. νάσσατʼ ἐποιχόμενος, τὰ μὲν ἤ ποθι ναιετάουσιν 4.276. ἠὲ καὶ οὔ· πουλὺς γὰρ ἄδην ἐπενήνοθεν αἰών. 4.277. αἶά γε μὴν ἔτι νῦν μένει ἔμπεδον υἱωνοί τε 4.278. τῶνδʼ ἀνδρῶν, οὓς ὅσγε καθίσσατο ναιέμεν Αἶαν 4.279. οἳ δή τοι γραπτῦς πατέρων ἕθεν εἰρύονται 4.280. κύρβιας, οἷς ἔνι πᾶσαι ὁδοὶ καὶ πείρατʼ ἔασιν 4.281. ὑγρῆς τε τραφερῆς τε πέριξ ἐπινισσομένοισιν. 4.646. Ἥρης ἐννεσίῃσι, διʼ ἔθνεα μυρία Κελτῶν | |
|
5. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 31.14 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 31.14. 1. Eumenes, having recruited a force of mercenary troops, not only gave all of them their pay, but honoured some with gifts and beguiled them all with promises, evoking their goodwill; in this he did not at all resemble Perseus. For Perseus, when twenty thousand Gauls arrived to join him in the war against Rome, alienated this great body of allies in order to husband his wealth. Eumenes, however, though not over rich, when enlisting foreign troops honoured with gifts all who were best able to render him service. Accordingly, the former, by adopting a policy, not of royal generosity, but of ignoble and plebeian meanness, saw the wealth he had guarded taken captive together with his whole kingdom, while the latter, by counting all things else second to victory, not only rescued his kingdom from great dangers but also subjugated the whole nation of the Gauls. |
|
6. Philo of Alexandria, On The Sacrifices of Cain And Abel, 27 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 27. And she was attended by piety, and holiness, and truth, and right, and purity, and an honest regard for an oath, and justice, and equality, and adherence to one's engagements and communion, and prudent silence, and temperance, and orderliness, and meekness, and abstemiousness, and contentment, and good-temper, and modesty, and an absence of curiosity about the concerns of others, and manly courage, and a noble disposition and wisdom in counsel, and prudence, and forethought, and attention, and correctness, and cheerfulness, and humanity, and gentleness, and courtesy, and love of one's kind, and magimity, and happiness, and goodness. One day would fail me if I were to enumerate all the names of the particular virtues. |
|
7. Philo of Alexandria, On The Virtues, 90, 182 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 182. for those who come over to this worship become at once prudent, and temperate, and modest, and gentle, and merciful, and humane, and venerable, and just, and magimous, and lovers of truth, and superior to all considerations of money or pleasure; just as, on the contrary, one may see that those who forsake the holy laws of God are intemperate, shameless, unjust, disreputable, weak-minded, quarrelsome, companions of falsehood and perjury, willing to sell their liberty for luxurious eating, for strong wine, for sweetmeats, and for beauty, for pleasures of the belly and of the parts below the belly; the miserable end of all which enjoyment is ruin to both body and soul. |
|
8. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 2.29-2.30 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.29. Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, was the third in succession after Alexander, the monarch who subdued Egypt; and he was, in all virtues which can be displayed in government, the most excellent sovereign, not only of all those of his time, but of all that ever lived; so that even now, after the lapse of so many generations, his fame is still celebrated, as having left many instances and monuments of his magimity in the cities and districts of his kingdom, so that even now it is come to be a sort of proverbial expression to call excessive magnificence, and zeal, for honour and splendour in preparation, Philadelphian, from his name; 2.30. and, in a word, the whole family of the Ptolemies was exceedingly eminent and conspicuous above all other royal families, and among the Ptolemies, Philadelphus was the most illustrious; for all the rest put together scarcely did as many glorious and praiseworthy actions as this one king did by himself, being, as it were, the leader of the herd, and in a manner the head of all the kings. |
|
9. Plutarch, Alexander The Great, 11.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 11.4. Arrived before Thebes, In September, 335 B.C. Plutarch makes no mention of a previous expedition of Alexander into Southern Greece, immediately after Philip’s death, when he received the submission of all the Greek states except Sparta, and was made commander-in-chief of the expedition against Persia, in Philip’s place. See Arrian, Anab. i. 1. and wishing to give her still a chance to repent of what she had done, he merely demanded the surrender of Phoenix and Prothytes, and proclaimed an amnesty for those who came over to his side. But the Thebans made a counter-demand that he should surrender to them Philotas and Antipater, and made a counter-proclamation that all who wished to help in setting Greece free should range themselves with them; and so Alexander set his Macedonians to the work of war. |
|
10. Plutarch, Comparison of Romulus With Theseus, 1.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 1.5. give an excellent definition of love when they call it a ministration of the gods for the care and preservation of the young. For Ariadne’s love seems to have been, more than anything else, a god’s work, and a device whereby Theseus should be saved. And we should not blame her for loving him, but rather wonder that all men and women were not thus affected towards him; and if she alone felt this passion, I should say, for my part, that she was properly worthy of a god’s love, since she was fond of virtue, fond of goodness, and a lover of the highest qualities in man. 1.5. It is therefore my opinion that the philosopers Polemon, as cited in Morals, p. 780 d. give an excellent definition of love when they call it a ministration of the gods for the care and preservation of the young. For Ariadne’s love seems to have been, more than anything else, a god’s work, and a device whereby Theseus should be saved. And we should not blame her for loving him, but rather wonder that all men and women were not thus affected towards him; and if she alone felt this passion, I should say, for my part, that she was properly worthy of a god’s love, since she was fond of virtue, fond of goodness, and a lover of the highest qualities in man. |
|
11. Anon., Letter of Aristeas, 21, 226, 26, 28, 319, 19
| 19. Then Sosibius and some others who were present said, 'Yes, but it will be a fit tribute to your magimity for you to offer the enfranchisement of these men as an act of devotion to the supreme God. You have been greatly honoured by Almighty God and exalted above all your forefathers in glory and it is only fitting that you should render to Him the greatest thank offering in your power.' Extremely pleased with these arguments he gave orders that an addition should be |
|
