Page:The battle of the books - Guthkelch - 1908.djvu/322

248 the sum he remitted here was no less than a hundred talents, or eighteen thousand pounds sterling, the greatest sum by much that appears in the whole set of Epistles, and six times as much as, in another letter, he was forced to borrow for himself. This, I presume, is a pretty good token of an extraordinary dearness on Phalaris's side: and this alone would be argument enough, to prove Stesichorus was not insensible on his part; for Mr B. surely will not make such a ninny of his Sicilian prince, as to suppose him so prodigal of his highest favours without suitable returns of friendship. But besides this, the very letters are as express for Stesichorus's love as for Phalaris's. For as the Tauromenites addressed to Stesichorus, to obtain favours of the tyrant; so Pelopidas, and Nicocles apply themselves to the tyrant to get favours of Stesichorus, which in his way were copies of verses. And the argument that Phalaris uses to persuade the poet to do that favour, is, to confirm the received opinion that the world had of their friendship. And he tells us both there and once more, that Stesichorus desired leave to celebrate him in his poems. But the tyrant begs he would not do it,