Authors From Greece

"The Greeks follow a wrong usage in speaking of coming into being and passing away; for nothing comes into being or passes away, but there is mingling and separation of things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being mixture, and passing away separation."

"And since these things are so, we must suppose that there are contained many things and of all sorts in the things that are uniting, seeds of all things, with all sorts of shapes and colours and savours"

"The sun provides the moon with its brightness."

"Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to take up his abode at Athens."

"Anaxagoras held that, however far you may divide... things—and they are infinitely divisible—you never come to a part so small that it does not contain portions of all the opposites. The smallest portion of bone is... bone. On the other hand, everything can pass into everything else... because the "seeds"... of each form of matter contain a portion of everything... [i.e.,] of all the opposites, though in different proportions. If we... use the word "element" at all, it is these seeds... [T]he "seeds"... he... substituted for the "roots" of Empedokles, were not the opposites in a state of separation, but each contained a portion of them all."

"As all Nous is the same... plants were regarded as living creatures. ...Plutarch says... [Anaxagoras] called plants "animals fixed in the earth." ...Plants first arose when the seeds... which the air contained were brought down by the rain-water, and animals originated in a similar way."

"One incident belonging to the early manhood of Anaxagoras is... his observation of the huge ic stone which fell into the Aigospotamos in 468-67 B.c. ...[I]t may have occasioned one of his most striking departures from the earlier cosmology, and led to ...the ...view for which he was condemned at Athens."

"In mathematics... the Greek attitude differed sharply from that of the earlier potamic cultures. The contrast was clear in... Thales and Pythagoras, and it continues to show... in Athens during the Heroic Age. ...while Anaxagoras was in prison he occupied himself with an attempt to square the circle... the first mention of a problem that was to fascinate mathematicians for more than 2000 years. ...Here we see a type of mathematics that is quite unlike that of the Egyptians and Babylonians. It is not the practical application of a science of number... but a theoretical question involving a... distinction between accuracy in approximation and exactitude in thought. ...no more the concern of the technologist than those he raised... concerning the ultimate structure of matter."

"Anaxagoras says that perception is produced by opposites; for like things cannot be affected by like. ...It is in the same way that touch and discern their objects. That which is just as warm or just as cold as we are neither warms us nor cools us... [I]n the same way, we do not apprehend the sweet and the sour by means of themselves. We know cold by warm, fresh by salt, and sweet by sour, in virtue of our deficiency in each; for all these are in us to begin with. And we smell and hear in the same... And all sensation implies pain... for all unlike things produce pain by their contact. Brilliant colours and excessive s produce pain... The larger animals are the more sensitive, and... sensation is proportionate to the size of the organs of sense. ...Rarefied air has more smell ... when air is heated and rarefied, it smells. ...[S]mell is better perceived when it is near than when it is far by reason of its being more condensed, while when dispersed it is weak."

"Anaxagoras was more inclined to the study of physics than of metaphysics, for which reason he is accused by Plato and by Aristotle of not having conceded enough to final causes, and of having converted God into a machine. Accordingly he explained on physical principles the formation of plants and animals, and even celestial phenomena; which drew upon him the charge of atheism. Nevertheless, he regarded the testimony of the senses as subjectively true; but as insufficient to attain to objective truth, which was the privilege of the reason."

"My dear Meletus, do you think you are prosecuting Anaxagoras? Are you so contemptuous of these men and think them so ignorant of letters as not to know that the books of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae are full of those theories, and further, that the young men learn from me what they can buy from time to time for a drachma, at most, in the bookshops, and ridicule Socrates if he pretends that these theories are his own, especially as they are so absurd? Is that, by Zeus, what you think of me, Meletus, that I do not believe that there are any gods?—That is what I say, that you do not believe in the gods at all."

"Wrongly do the Greeks suppose that aught begins or ceases to be; for nothing comes into being or is destroyed; but all is an aggregation or secretion of pre-existent things: so that all-becoming might more correctly be called becoming-mixed, and all corruption, becoming-separate."

"It is common opinion among us in regard to beauty and wisdom that there is an honourable and a shameful way of bestowing them. For to offer one’s beauty for money to all comers is called prostitution; but we think it virtuous to become friendly with a lover who is known to be a man of honour. So is it with wisdom. Those who offer it to all comers for money are known as sophists, prostitutors of wisdom."

"The company, then, were feasting in silence, as though some one in authority had commanded them to do so, when Philip the buffoon knocked at the door and told the porter to announce who he was and that he desired to be admitted; he added that with regard to food he had come all prepared, in all varieties—to dine on some other person's,—and that his servant was in great distress with the load he carried of—nothing, and with having an empty stomach. Hearing this, Callias said, “Well, gentlemen, we cannot decently begrudge him at the least the shelter of our roof; so let him come in.” With the words he cast a glance at Autolycus, obviously trying to make out what he had thought of the pleasantry. But Philip, standing at the threshold of the men's hall where the banquet was served, announced: “You all know that I am a jester; and so I have come here with a will, thinking it more of a joke to come to your dinner uninvited than to come by invitation.” “Well, then,” said Callias, “take a place; for the guests, though well fed, as you observe, on seriousness, are perhaps rather ill supplied with laughter.”"

"Clearchus spoke, and his words were few; "Conquerors do not, as a rule, give up their arms.""

"Every one of you is the leader."

"There is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform."

"For showing loyalty in the midst of prosperity calls for no particular admiration, but always, if men show themselves steadfast when friends have fallen upon misfortunes, this is remembered for all times."

"In this mood he [Proxenus] threw himself into the projects of Cyrus, and in return expected to derive from this essay the reward of a great name, large power, and wide wealth. But for all that he pitched his hopes so high, it was none the less evident that he would refuse to gain any of the ends he set before him wrongfully. Righteously and honourably he would obtain them, if he might, or else forego them."

"As to what happened next, it is possible to maintain that the hand of heaven was involved, and also possible to say that when men are desperate no one can stand up to them."

"It is only for those to employ force who possess strength without judgment; but the well advised will have recourse to other means. Besides, he who pretends to carry his point by force hath need of many associates; but the man who can persuade knows that he is himself sufficient for the purpose; neither can such a one be supposed forward to shed blood; for, who is there would choose to destroy a fellow citizen rather than make a friend of him by mildness and persuasion?"

"The thing is to get them to turn their thoughts to what they mean to do, instead of to what they are likely to suffer."

"The most delightful of all music, that of your own praises."

"Just as the various trades are most highly developed in large cities, in the same way food at the palace is prepared in a far superior manner. In small towns the same man makes couches, doors, plows and tables, and often he even builds houses, and still he is thankful if only he can find enough work to support himself. And it is impossible for a man of many trades to do all of them well. In large cities, however, because many make demands on each trade, one alone is enough to support a man, and often less than one: for instance one man makes shoes for men, another for women, there are places even where one man earns a living just by mending shoes, another by cutting them out, another just by sewing the uppers together, while there is another who performs none of these operations but assembles the parts, Of necessity, he who pursues a very specialised task will do it best."

"Yet is it more honourable, and just, and upright, and pleasing, to treasure in the memory good acts than bad."

"That ... is the road to the obedience of compulsion. But there is a shorter way to a nobler goal, the obedience of the will. When the interests of mankind are at stake, they will obey with joy the man whom they believe to be wiser than themselves. You may prove this on all sides: you may see how the sick man will beg the doctor to tell him what he ought to do, how a whole ship’s company will listen to the pilot."

"But if any other course, in any one's opinion, be better than this, let him, even though he be a private soldier, boldly give us his sentiments; for the safety, which we all seek, is a general concern."

"On making prisoners of our generals, they expected that we should perish from want of direction and order. It is incumbent, therefore, on our present commanders to be far more vigilant than our former ones, and on those under command to be far more orderly, and more obedient to their officers, at present than they were before…On the very day that such resolution is passed, they will see before them ten thousand Clearchuses instead of one."

"θάλαττα! θάλαττα!"

"If the campaign is in summer the general must show himself greedy for his share of the sun and the heat, and in winter for the cold and the frost, and in all labours for toil and fatigue. This will help to make him beloved of his followers."

"Belistiche, a woman from the coast of Macedonia, won with the pair of foals … at the hundred and twenty-ninth Olympics."

"Greeks are terribly prone to be wonderstruck by the expense of home-products; distinguished historians have explained the Egyptian Pyramids in the greatest detail and not made the slightest mention of the treasure house of Minyas [at Orchomenos] or the walls of Tiryns, which are by no means less marvellous."

"The Phocians were deprived of their share in the Delphic sanctuary and in the Greek assembly, and their votes were given by the Amphictyons to the Macedonians."

"They say that these were the tribes collected by Amphiktyon himself in the Greek Assembly: … the Macedonians joined and the entire Phocian race … In my day there were thirty members: six each from Nikopolis, Macedonia and Thessaly..."

"He who does wrong is more unhappy than he who suffers wrong."

"'Tis a grievous thing to be subject to an inferior."

"Repentance for one's evil deeds is the safeguard of life."

"'Tis not in strength of body nor in gold that men find happiness, but in uprightness and in fulness of understanding."

"Not from fear but from a sense of duty refrain from your sins."

"'Tis well to restrain the wicked, and in any case not to join him in his wrong-doing."

"Many who have not learned wisdom live wisely, and many who do the basest deeds can make most learned speeches."

"He who intends to enjoy life should not be busy about many things, and in what he does should not undertake what exceeds his natural capacity. On the contrary, he should have himself so in hand that even when fortune comes his way, and is apparently ready to lead him on to higher things, he should put her aside and not o'erreach his powers. For a being of moderate size is safer than one that bulks too big."

"If any one hearken with understanding to these sayings of mine many a deed worthy of a good man shall he perform and many a foolish deed be spared."

"Of practical wisdom these are the three fruits: to deliberate well, to speak to the point, to do what is right."

"Fools learn wisdom through misfortune."

"Men have fashioned an image of Chance as an excuse for their own stupidity. For Chance rarely conflicts with intelligence, and most things in life can be set in order by an intelligent sharpsightedness."

"There are two forms of knowledge, one genuine, one obscure. To the obscure belong all of the following: sight, hearing, smell, taste, feeling. The other form is the genuine, and is quite distinct from this. [And then distinguishing the genuine from the obscure, he continues:] Whenever the obscure [way of knowing] has reached the minimum sensibile of hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and when the investigation must be carried farther into that which is still finer, then arises the genuine way of knowing, which has a finer organ of thought."

"My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me."

"[I would] rather discover one cause than gain the kingdom of Persia."

"Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man."