Part I*

f He zvas much renowned alfo for his Predidii- on concerning Cythera, n LacedaEinonian IJland \ examining the Situation thereof ^ would to God {/aid he) it had never been j orfince it it might be /wallowed up by th^ Sea^ and wifely did he forfeeD2Lm2S2Xv& a Lacedaemonian exile ^ counfelled Xerxes to feize upon that IJland^ Which advice if he had followed^ would have ruined all Greece. His words (according to z. Herodotus) •■Uh."]. thefe: Tou may effelt your de fires if you
fend three hundred Ships to the Lacedaemonian Coafl 5 there lies an JJland named Cythe- ra, of which Chilon , a P erf on of great eji Wif dom amongft us^ faid^ it loere better for the Lace- .daemonians that it were under Water than a- bove : He^ it feems^ expelled from it fome fuch thing as I am now going to declare^ not that he forefaw your Navy^ but doubting any in the fame kind j Pet your Men ijfueout of this Ifland upon the Lacedaemonians, to flrike them into terror. Laat, b Afterward, in the time of the Pclaponefian War, Kicias taking the Ifland, placed fome Athenians therein, who much infefted the La¬ cedemonians.
Laertius faith, that he was old in the fifty fecond Olympiad at what time YPop flourifhed\ that he was Ephorus in the fifty fixth. {Qajaubon reads the fifty five) but Pamphila (continueth Laertius) faith in the fixth., he was firfi Ephorus., when Euthydemus voas Archon.,asSoW:^tQS alJo affirms., and firfi appointed the Ephori to he joyn- ed with Kings, which Satyrus faith, zoas the Infii- tution of Lycurgus. Hence it is doubtful whe¬ ther Chilon was Ephorus in the fixth Olympi¬ ad, or in the fifty fixth-, the latter as more probable, in as much as he bore that office when Euthydemus wasArchon at Athens, which was in the fifty fixth Olympiad, as appears by the Marrnor Arundelianum , where for ’evSvc%¥ is corruptly read to rendred Archonte popu- lo. But it is like wife true that the Ephori were firft Created about, the fixth Olympiad, when Poly dor us and Theopompus were Kings of Lacedemon, a Hundred and thirty years after Lycurgus, asPlutarch (in his Life affirms,)ffom which time there were five annual Ephori chofen in Lace demon, whereof the firft is called tTmiivix©-, becaufe the Year had its denomina¬ tion from him: The firft of the firft Eleffion - p, , .. was c Elatus ; Chilon in the fifty fixth Olym-
\ycur. * ^ * piad was the firft of the five of his year ;
which might perhaps give the occafion of the Miftake to them, who take him to be the firft In Eufeb. Qf that Inftitution, of whom is ^ Scaliger.
behaved himfelf in this Office, ' Laert. gathered from his Speech ^ to his Bro¬
ther, difpleafed that himfelf was not Ephorus at the fame time-. I can bear Injuries faith he you cannot.
. » Jjb.\, cap.'^. He was fo juft in all his affions, « that in his old Age he profefTed he never had done any thing contrary to the Confcience of an up¬ right Man , only that of one thing he was doubtful j having given Sentence againft his Friend according to Law , he advifed his Friend to appeal from him ( his Judge ) fo to f> -^preferve both his Friend and the Law: ^ A.
Gellius relates it thus -, ‘ when his Life drew ‘ towards an end, ready to be feized by death, ‘ he fpoke thus to his Friends about him : ‘MyWords andAftionsin this longterm of
‘ years, have been ( almoft all) fuch as I need ‘ not repent of, which perhaps you alfo know ‘ truly even at this time I am certain, I never ‘committed any thing , the remembrance ‘ whereof begets any trouble in me , unlefs ‘ this one thing only, which whether it were ‘ done amifs or not, I am uncertain : I fat ‘ with two others as Judge upon the Life of ‘ my Friend j the^Law was fuch, astheper- ‘ fbn muft of neceffity be Condemned •, fo that ‘ either my Friend muft lofe his Life, or fome ‘ deceit be ufed towards the Law : revolving ‘ rnany things in my Mind for relief of a con- ‘ dition lb defberate, I conceived that which ‘ I put in practice to of all other the moft ‘ eafie to be born : Silently I condemned him, ‘ and perfwaded thofe others who judged to ‘ abfolve him : Thus preferving (in fo great ‘a bufinefs) the duty both of a Judge and ‘ Friei.d ^ but from that aff I receive this trou- ‘ ble, that I fear it is not free from perfidiouf ‘ nefs and guilt, in the lame bufinefs, at the ‘ fame time, and in a publick affair , to per- ‘ fwade others, contrary to what was in my ‘ own judgment bell.
CHAP. IL
His Moral Sentences, Precepts, and Verfes.
OF his Apothegms, thefe are remembered by Laertius ; he faid ‘ Providence of fu- ‘ ture things colleQed by reafon, is the vertue of ‘ a Man. Being demanded wherfein the Learned ‘ differ from the Unlearned ? He anfwer’d in a ‘ goodhope.-What is hard?to conceal fecrets,to dift ‘ pole of leifure well j and to be able to bear an ‘ Injury.
a Being invited to a Feaft hyPeriander, (with * Etmarch tliereftofthe wife men ) he would not mife to come before he knew what other company would be there, faying, a Man is necejfitated to brook an ill Companion in a Ship at Sea, or in a Tent in a Camp-, but to mix indiffe¬ rently with all forts of People at a Feaji is indif- cretion. Upon the fame occWionPlutarchi^Qiits thefe Sentences of his ^ A Prince mufi not think upon any tranfitory mortal things, but only upon the eternal, and immortal. That Common-wealth is beji where the People mind the Law, more than the Lawyers. A Family mufi refemble as much as pojfible a City govern d by a King, Hearing a.p, ., .
Man fay he had no Enemy, he asked him if he had ma. ‘ any Friend -, conceiving Love and Hate neceffa- rily mufi follow one another.
His moral Precepts are thus delivered by ^ Demetrius Phalerius. Know thy felf. Speak c stob/em.28 not much in thy drink,forthou wilt iranfgrefs-(oi *
as Laertius, rule thy tongue, efpecially at a FeM-fThreaten not free perfons,for it isnotjufi,
( Laertius , Threaten none, for that is like a Woman) Speak not ill of thy Neighbour if thou doff, thou fhalt hear what will trouble thee. Go' fiowly to the feafis of thy Friends, fwiftly fo their Misfortunes', (Laertius, more readily to a Friend in adverfity than in profperity.) Cele¬ brate Marriage frugally. Speak well of the Dead.
Reverence thy Elder {Laertius honour MgffHate him who is inquifitive into the bufinefs of others.
Prefer lofs before unjuft gain (for that ( adds -
Laertius)
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PART. 1.
'€■ MILO N.
35
Laertius) grief buc once, this for ever) | f He asked what Jupiter was doing/
d Jjb.
32.
e A. Cell.
Deride not the unfortunate. If thou artfirongfe have thy felf mildly\ that thou mayji rather he refpehled t hdn feared (Laertius, of thy Neigh¬ bours, Learn to) Order thy Houfe well. Let not thy Tongue run before thy Mind. Bridle thy An¬ ger. Covet not Impolfibilities. In the way haflen not .forward. Shake not thy Hand ( Laertius^ in DiLcomHq) for it is like a Alad-man. Obey the Laws. Be reconciled to thofe who have wronged you.^ but revenge Contumelies. To Which Laertius adds thefe. To preferve thy felf. Hot to hate Divination.^ make ufe (f ^uetnefs. cap. d p/i/^y fpeaking of Authority, faith, that Alen ranked Chilon among ft Oracles.^ confecrating three precepts of his at Delphi, in Golden letters.^ ivhich are thefe : Every Man to know himj'elf^ and to define nothing too much • the Companion of anothers Aioney and Jirife is mifcry.
* He only kept within bounds the two moft fierce afFe£lions of the Soul, ' -Love, and Hate, laying, Love with J'uch Imitation.^ as if hereof ter you might chance to hate : hate fofar\ as that perhaps you might hereafter love.
Aufonius afcribes to him the efFe£l of thefe Verfes: - •
' Me,may the mean not fear, nor great defpife,
‘ Have death and health alike before thy Eyes.
^ The benefits thou giveft remember never,
‘ Of thofe thou doft receive, be mindful ever. ‘Learn of thy felf and Friend forecome crofs
‘ Fate,
‘ Age, Youth refembling, is a light Effate,
‘ Youth, Age refembling, is a greater weight.
His particular Sentence was, To a fur ety.^ lofs is near.
Of his 'hdbuivtti Laertius mentions this as moft eminent,
Goldds Worth we by the Touchfione find.,
Gold is the Touchfione of the Mind.
who anfwered, pulling raifing the low.
down the high, and
cap.
CHAP. III.
His Death and Writings.
He died (according to « Hermippus) Laert.
Pifa., embracing his Son Vi8:or in the Olympick Games, of the Caeftus, the weak- nels of his Age overcome with excels of Joy ^ all who were prefent at that great Aflembly, at¬ tended on his Funerals, as is affirmed by Ll'myh Lib. 7. and Laertius^ who hath this Epigram upon him, 3^*
Tothe llliifirious Yollnx Thanks 1 pay.,
That Chilon’x bon the Olive bore away.
The Lather died d‘rejoy‘>d his Child to fee Si? Crowrdd: a happy Death ! fuch bejal me^
Upon his Statue this Inlcription.
T/;
Who of the J'even, in the firfi rank was plac'd.
• He was fhort in Speech, whence Arifia-^L‘^^f> goras calls that manner of fpeaking Chilonian :
Aufonius alfo alludes hereto in the Speech he** Lud.Sept.fap, makes under his name.
' He writ Elegies extending almoft to two* hundred Verfes : there is likewife an Epiftle of his extant to this effeU*
Chilon to Periandet.
‘ fend me word of an Expedition you
‘ I are preparing againft Foreignets, intend. ‘ ing to go in rerfon with your Army : a Mo- ‘ natch, I think hath little fafety even at home. ‘ That Tyrant Pefteem happy who dies at ‘ home a natural Death.
B I A S
? I T T A C V S.
fiTTAcrs
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CHAP L
Pittacus
c • / ACU S was of AUie/ene (the chief
J So the Lesbos) Son of Caicus^ or ( ra-
c.xn MS. of s«j* thsr) Hyrrhadius^ a Thracian, his Mother a Le/- r^/Sy ^ecccr. hilin, bom in the thirty fecond Olympiad.
Laertius faith, he Hourilhed in the forty fecond which'rcad’ Olympiad i at that time he gave teftimony of ^ Siad. his great courage and love to his Country, in killing (aflilfed by the Brethren of Alcceus the Poet jMelanchrus^'jxmi of Lesbos 2xAMatelene.
“ Tittacus grown eminent by this aftion , Laett. was by the Miteleneans made General, and j, fent with a Fleet again]} the Athenians , with
whom they had a long conteft concerning the
his Life.
AchilUan Field 5 the ground of their difference this : “= Piliftratus took Sigeum by force from the'' ^4.
Mitelenatans, and fettled there ( as King) Hegefi- Bratus his natural Son, by an Argive Woman, who kept it, not without much difpute ',for betwixt the Mitlenatans Athenians was a long Wary
thofe f allying out of the Achillsean Town,thofe out of SigsEum : thofe lay claim to the Town , as built by ArohcenaQes of Mitelene, of the Stones of old Troy (fox the Lesbians challeng’d the greateft part of Troas as their Hereditary right, where they had built many Houfes, foiw faith Strabo, Banding at this Day, other^
demoliflied)
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h