Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/122

 114 DEMETRIUS. their bows, to keep their courage awake amidst the dreams of indulgence ; but he would resign his whole being, now, to pleasure, and now to action ; and though he never let thoughts of the one intrude upon the pur- suit of the other, yet, when the time came for preparing for war, he showed as much capacity as any man. And indeed his ability displayed itself even more in preparing for, than in conducting a war. He thought he could never be too well supplied for every possible occa- sion, and took a pleasure, not to be satiated, in great improvements in ship-building and machines. He did not waste his natural genius and power of mechanicfil research on toys and idle fancies, turning, painting, and playing on the flute, like some kings, Aeropus, for example, king of Macedon, who spent his days in making small lamps and tables ; or Attains Philometor, whose amusement was to cultivate poisons, henbane and hellebore, and even hemlock, aconite, and dorycnium, which he used to sow himself in the royal gardens, and made it his business to gather the fruits and collect the juices in their season. The Parthian kings took a pride in whetting and sharpen- ing with their own hands the points of their arrows and javelins. But when Demetrius played the workman, it was like a king, and there was magnificence in his handi- craft. The articles he produced bore marks upon the face of them not of ingenuity only, but of a great mind and a lofty purpose. They were such as a king might not only design and pay for, but use his own hands to make ; and while friends might be terrified with their greatness, enemies could be charmed with their beauty ; a phrase which is not so pretty to the ear as it is true to the fact. The very people against whom they were to be em- ployed could not forbear running to gaze with admiration upon his galleys of five and six ranges of oars, as they passed along then' coasts ; and the inhabitants of besieged