1. Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy, 7.9, 32.4 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 7.9. וְיָדַעְתָּ כִּי־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים הָאֵל הַנֶּאֱמָן שֹׁמֵר הַבְּרִית וְהַחֶסֶד לְאֹהֲבָיו וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מצותו [מִצְוֺתָיו] לְאֶלֶף דּוֹר׃ 32.4. כִּי־אֶשָּׂא אֶל־שָׁמַיִם יָדִי וְאָמַרְתִּי חַי אָנֹכִי לְעֹלָם׃ 32.4. הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלוֹ כִּי כָל־דְּרָכָיו מִשְׁפָּט אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְאֵין עָוֶל צַדִּיק וְיָשָׁר הוּא׃ | 7.9. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God; the faithful God, who keepeth covet and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;" 32.4. The Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice; A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is He. ." |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Leviticus, 19.17 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 19.17. לֹא־תִשְׂנָא אֶת־אָחִיךָ בִּלְבָבֶךָ הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת־עֲמִיתֶךָ וְלֹא־תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא׃ | 19.17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbour, and not bear sin because of him." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Numbers, 12.7 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 12.7. לֹא־כֵן עַבְדִּי מֹשֶׁה בְּכָל־בֵּיתִי נֶאֱמָן הוּא׃ | 12.7. My servant Moses is not so; he is trusted in all My house;" |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Proverbs, 11.13, 20.6, 20.19, 25.9 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 11.13. הוֹלֵךְ רָכִיל מְגַלֶּה־סּוֹד וְנֶאֱמַן־רוּחַ מְכַסֶּה דָבָר׃ 20.6. רָב־אָדָם יִקְרָא אִישׁ חַסְדּוֹ וְאִישׁ אֱמוּנִים מִי יִמְצָא׃ 20.19. גּוֹלֶה־סּוֹד הוֹלֵךְ רָכִיל וּלְפֹתֶה שְׂפָתָיו לֹא תִתְעָרָב׃ 25.9. רִיבְךָ רִיב אֶת־רֵעֶךָ וְסוֹד אַחֵר אַל־תְּגָל׃ | 11.13. He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets; But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth a matter." 20.6. Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?" 20.19. He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets; therefore meddle not with him that openeth wide his lips." 25.9. Debate thy cause with thy neighbour, but reveal not the secret of another;" |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Habakkuk, 2.4 (8th cent. BCE - 6th cent. BCE)
| 2.4. הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה לֹא־יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה׃ | 2.4. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; But the righteous shall live by his faith." |
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6. Theognis, Elegies, 4 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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7. Herodotus, Histories, 1.59.6 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1.59.6. These rose with Pisistratus and took the Acropolis; and Pisistratus ruled the Athenians, disturbing in no way the order of offices nor changing the laws, but governing the city according to its established constitution and arranging all things fairly and well. |
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8. Isocrates, Nicocles, 24 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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9. Xenophon, On Horsemanship, 6.4 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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10. Xenophon, Hiero, 10.3 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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11. Xenophon, The Education of Cyrus, 1.1.3, 8.7.6, 8.7.10, 8.7.14-8.7.24, 8.7.28, 8.8, 8.8.2 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 1.1.3. Thus, as we meditated on this analogy, we were inclined to conclude that for man, as he is constituted, it is easier to rule over any and all other creatures than to rule over men. But when we reflected that Cyrus a king of men there was one Cyrus, the Persian, who reduced to obedience a vast number of men and cities and nations, we were then compelled to change our opinion and decide that to rule men might be a task neither impossible nor even difficult, if one should only go about it in an intelligent manner. At all events, we know that people obeyed Cyrus willingly, although some of them were distant from him a journey of many days, and others of many months; others, although they had never seen him, and still others who knew well that they never should see him. Nevertheless they were all willing to be his subjects. 8.7.16. Therefore, Tanaoxares, let no one more (2) to Tanaoxares readily than yourself yield obedience to your brother or more zealously support him. For his fortunes, good or ill, will touch no one more closely than yourself. And bear this also in mind: whom could you favour in the hope of getting more from him than from your brother? Where could you lend help and get in return a surer ally than you would find in him? Whom would it be a more shameful thing for you not to love than your own brother? And who is there in all the world whom it would be a more noble thing to prefer in honour than your brother? It is only a brother, you know, Cambyses, whom, if he holds the first place of love in his brother’s heart, the envy of others cannot reach. 8.7.17. Nay by our fathers’ gods I implore you, my sons, honour one another, if you care at all to give me pleasure. For assuredly, this one thing, so it Cyrus on the immortality of the soul seems to me, you do not know clearly, that I shall have no further being when I have finished this earthly life; for not even in this life have you seen my soul, but you have detected its existence by what it accomplished. 8.7.21. Consider again, he continued, that there is nothing in the world more nearly akin to death than is sleep; and the soul of man at just such times is revealed in its most divine aspect and at such times, too, it looks forward into the future; for then, it seems, it is most untrammelled by the bonds of the flesh. 8.7.28. Remember also this last word of mine, he said: if you do good to your friends, you will also be able to punish your enemies. And now farewell, my children, and say farewell to your mother as from me. And to all my friends, both present and absent, I bid farewell. After these words, he shook hands with them all, covered himself over, and so died. delSpan spanTo= 8.8.2. I know, for example, that in early times the kings and their officers, in their dealings with even the worst offenders, would abide by an oath that they might have given, and be true to any pledge they might have made. |
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12. Xenophon, Memoirs, 3.3.9, 4.6.12, 4.8.11 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 3.3.9. Well, I suppose you know that under all conditions human beings are most willing to obey those whom they believe to be the best. Cyropaedia III. i. 20. Thus in sickness they most readily obey the doctor, on board ship the pilot, on a farm the farmer, whom they think to be most skilled in his business. Yes, certainly. Then it is likely that in horsemanship too, one who clearly knows best what ought to be done will most easily gain the obedience of the others. 4.6.12. Kingship and despotism, in his judgment, were both forms of government, but he held that they differed. For government of men with their consent and in accordance with the laws of the state was kingship; while government of unwilling subjects and not controlled by laws, but imposed by the will of the ruler, was despotism. And where the officials are chosen among those who fulfil the requirements of the laws, the constitution is an aristocracy: where rateable property is the qualification for office, you have a plutocracy: where all are eligible, a democracy. 4.8.11. This was the tenor of his conversation with Hermogenes and with the others. All who knew what manner of man Socrates was and who seek after virtue continue to this day to miss him beyond all others, as the chief of helpers in the quest of virtue. For myself, I have described him as he was: so religious that he did nothing without counsel from the gods; so just that he did no injury, however small, to any man, but conferred the greatest benefits on all who dealt with him; so self-controlled that he never chose the pleasanter rather than the better course; so wise that he was unerring in his judgment of the better and the worse, and needed no counsellor, but relied on himself for his knowledge of them; masterly in expounding and defining such things; no less masterly in putting others to the test, and convincing them of error and exhorting them to follow virtue and gentleness. To me then he seemed to be all that a truly good and happy man must be. But if there is any doubter, let him set the character of other men beside these things; then let him judge. |
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13. Xenophon, On Household Management, 4.19 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 4.19. I think you have one clear proof of a ruler’s excellence, when men obey him willingly Mem III. iii. 9. and choose to stand by him in moments of danger. Now his friends all fought at his side and fell at his side to a man, fighting round his body, with the one exception of Ariaeus, whose place in the battle was, in point of fact, on the left wing. Anabasis, I. ix. 31. Ariaeus fled when he saw that Cyrus had fallen. |
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14. Anon., Jubilees, 17.18 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 17.18. and his mother took him a wife from among the daughters of Egypt. brAnd she bare him a son, and he called his name Nebaioth; for she said, "The Lord was nigh to me when I called upon him. |
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15. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 2.52 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 2.52. Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? |
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16. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 1.15, 6.6-6.9, 6.14-6.16, 9.14-9.16, 19.13-19.17, 19.20, 22.22, 25.7-25.11, 27.16-27.18, 27.21, 40.18-40.20, 40.23-40.27, 44.20, 45.4 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.15. she fills their whole house with desirable goods,and their storehouses with her produce. 9.14. As much as you can, aim to know your neighbors,and consult with the wise. 9.15. Let your conversation be with men of understanding,and let all your discussion be about the law of the Most High. 9.16. Let righteous men be your dinner companions,and let your glorying be in the fear of the Lord. 19.13. Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it;but if he did anything, so that he may do it no more. 19.14. Question a neighbor, perhaps he did not say it;but if he said it, so that he may not say it again. 19.15. Question a friend, for often it is slander;so do not believe everything you hear. 19.16. A person may make a slip without intending it. Who has never sinned with his tongue? 19.17. Question your neighbor before you threaten him;and let the law of the Most High take its course. 22.22. If you have opened your mouth against your friend,do not worry, for reconciliation is possible;but as for reviling, arrogance, disclosure of secrets, or a treacherous blow -- in these cases any friend will flee. 22.22. So it is with a woman who leaves her husband and provides an heir by a stranger. 25.7. With nine thoughts I have gladdened my heart,and a tenth I shall tell with my tongue:a man rejoicing in his children;a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes; 25.8. happy is he who lives with an intelligent wife,and he who has not made a slip with his tongue,and he who has not served a man inferior to himself; 25.9. happy is he who has gained good sense,and he who speaks to attentive listeners. 25.11. The fear of the Lord surpasses everything;to whom shall be likened the one who holds it fast? 27.16. Whoever betrays secrets destroys confidence,and he will never find a congenial friend. 27.17. Love your friend and keep faith with him;but if you betray his secrets, do not run after him. 27.18. For as a man destroys his enemy,so you have destroyed the friendship of your neighbor. 27.21. For a wound may be bandaged,and there is reconciliation after abuse,but whoever has betrayed secrets is without hope. 40.18. Life is sweet for the self-reliant and the worker,but he who finds treasure is better off than both. 40.19. Children and the building of a city establish a mans name,but a blameless wife is accounted better than both. 40.23. A friend or a companion never meets one amiss,but a wife with her husband is better than both. 40.24. Brothers and help are for a time of trouble,but almsgiving rescues better than both. 40.25. Gold and silver make the foot stand sure,but good counsel is esteemed more than both. 40.26. Riches and strength lift up the heart,but the fear of the Lord is better than both. There is no loss in the fear of the Lord,and with it there is no need to seek for help. 40.27. The fear of the Lord is like a garden of blessing,and covers a man better than any glory. 45.4. He sanctified him through faithfulness and meekness;he chose him out of all mankind. |
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17. Josephus Flavius, Against Apion, 2.207 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.207. It does not give leave to conceal any thing from our friends, because that is not true friendship which will not commit all things to their fidelity: it also forbids the revelation of secrets even though an enmity arise between them. If any judge takes bribes, his punishment is death: he that overlooks one that offers him a petition, and this when he is able to relieve him, he is a guilty person. |
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18. Plutarch, Cato The Younger, 9.9-9.10 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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19. Plutarch, Lycurgus, 30 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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20. Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 8.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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21. Tacitus, Annals, 5.3-5.4, 15.57 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 5.3. In any case, there followed from now onward a sheer and grinding despotism: for, with Augusta still alive, there had remained a refuge; since deference to his mother was ingrained in Tiberius, nor did Sejanus venture to claim precedence over the authority of a parent. But now, as though freed from the curb, they broke out unrestrained, and a letter denouncing Agrippina and Nero was forwarded to Rome; the popular impression being that it was delivered much earlier and suppressed by the old empress, since it was publicly read not long after her death. Its wording was of studied asperity, but the offences imputed by the sovereign to his grandson were not rebellion under arms, not meditated revolution, but unnatural love and moral depravity. Against his daughter-inâlaw he dared not fabricate even such a charge, but arraigned her haughty language and refractory spirit; the senate listening in profound alarm and silence, until a few who had nothing to hope from honesty (and public misfortunes are always turned by individuals into stepping-stones to favour) demanded that a motion be put â Cotta Messalinus being foremost with a drastic resolution. But among other leading members, and especially the magistrates, alarm prevailed: for Tiberius, bitter though his invective had been, had left all else in doubt. 5.4. There was in the senate a certain Julius Rusticus, chosen by the Caesar to compile the official journal of its proceedings, and therefore credited with some insight into his thoughts. Under some fatal impulse â for he had never before given an indication of courage â or possibly through a misapplied acuteness which made him blind to dangers imminent and terrified of dangers uncertain, Rusticus insinuated himself among the doubters and warned the consuls not to introduce the question â "A touch," he insisted, "could turn the scale in the gravest of matters: it was possible that some day the extinction of the house of Germanicus might move the old man's penitence." At the same time, the people, carrying effigies of Agrippina and Nero, surrounded the curia, and, cheering for the Caesar, clamoured that the letter was spurious and that it was contrary to the Emperor's wish that destruction was plotted against his house. On that day, therefore, no tragedy was perpetrated. There were circulated, also, under consular names, fictitious attacks upon Sejanus: for authors in plenty exercised their capricious imagination with all the petulance of anonymity. The result was to fan his anger and to supply him with the material for fresh charges:â "The senate had spurned the sorrow of its emperor, the people had forsworn its allegiance. Already disloyal harangues, disloyal decrees of the Fathers, were listened to and perused: what remained but to take the sword and in the persons whose effigies they had followed as their ensigns to choose their generals and their princes? |
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22. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 7271.33.42, 7776.14.7 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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