Page:Plutarch - Moralia, translator Holland, 1911.djvu/428

406 a man thinketh is not the point of a slavish and base person, but rather he is to be counted a wise and prudent man who can hold his tongue at those times and in such occasions as require taciturnity and silence; which the same poet hath taught us in another place more wisely, when he saith:

And as for the folly and ignorance of great and mighty persons, we must abide no less when we tarry at home than in exile; nay, it falleth out many times that men at home fear much more the calumniations and violence of those who unjustly are in high places of authority within cities, than if they were abroad and out of their own countries. Again, this also is most false and absurd, that the said poet depriveth banished persons of their liberty and frank speech. Certes, this were a wonderful matter, that Theodorus wanted his freedom of tongue, considering that when King Lysimachus said unto him: And hath thy country chased and cast thee out, being so great a person among them? Yea (quoth he again), for that it was no more able to bear me than Semele to bear Bacchus: neither was he daunted and afraid, notwithstanding that the king shewed unto him Telesphorus enclosed within an iron cage, whose eyes he had caused before to be pulled out of his head, his nose and ears to be cropt, and his tongue to be cut, adding withal these words: See how I handle those that displease and abuse my person. And what shall we say of Diogenes? Wanted he (think you) his liberty of speech? who being come into the camp of King Philip, at what time as he made an expedition against the Grecians, invaded their country and was ready to give them battle, was apprehended and brought before the king as a spy, and charged therewith: I am indeed (quoth he) come hither to spy your insatiable avarice, ambition and folly, who are about now to hazard in one hour (as it were) with the cast of a die, not only your crown and dignity, but also your life and person; semblably, what think you of Annibal the Carthaginian? was he tongue-tied before Antiochus, banished though himself were, and the other a mighty monarch? For when he advised Antiochus to take the opportunity presented unto him, and to give battle unto the Romans his enemies, and the king having sacrificed unto the gods, answered again, that the entrails of the beast killed for sacrifice would not permit, but forbade him so to do: Why then (quoth he by way of reproof and rebuke), you