PERICLES ¹

[1] Whenever Pericles was about to take command of the army, as he was donning his general’s cloak, he used to say to himself, Take care, Pericles; you are about to command free-born men who are both Greeks and Athenians.²

[2] He bade the Athenians remove Aegina, that sore on the eye of the Piraeus.³

[3] To a friend who wanted him to bear false witness, which included also an oath, he answered that he was a friend as far as the altar. ⁴

[4] On his death-bed he accounted himself happy in that no Athenian, because of him, had ever put on a black garment.⁵

Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1931.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Sayings of Kings and Commanders (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).)

Editions (2)

Ἀποφθέγματα βασιλέων καὶ στρατηγῶν Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).) — 42 focus

Περικλέους

[1] Περικλῆς, ὁπότε μέλλοι στρατηγεῖν, ἀναλαμβάνων τὴν χλαμύδα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἔλεγε, πρόσεχε, Περίκλεις, ἐλευθέρων μέλλεις ἄρχειν, καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ἀθηναίων.

[2] ἐκέλευσε δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τὴν Αἴγιναν ὥσπερ λήμην ἀφαιρεῖν τοῦ Πειραιῶς.

[3] πρὸς δὲ φίλον τινὰ ψευδοῦς μαρτυρίας δεόμενον, ᾗ προσῆν καὶ ὅρκος, ἔφησε μέχρι τοῦ βωμοῦ φίλος εἶναι.

[4] 186d μέλλων δὲ ἀποθνήσκειν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐμακάριζεν ὅτι μηδεὶς Ἀθηναίων μέλαν ἱμάτιον διʼ αὐτὸν ἐνεδύσατο.

Ἀποφθέγματα βασιλέων καὶ στρατηγῶν Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 42 focus

Περικλέους

[1] Περικλῆς, ὁπότε μέλλοι στρατηγεῖν, ἀναλαμβάνων τὴν χλαμύδα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἔλεγε πρόσεχε, Περίκλεις, ἐλευθέρων μέλλεις ἄρχειν, καὶ Ἑλλήνων 20 καὶ Ἀθηναίων.

[2] ἐκέλευσε δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τὴν Αἴγιναν ὥσπερ λήμην ἀφαιρεῖν τοῦ Πειραιῶς.

[3] πρὸς δὲ φίλον τινὰ μαρτυρίας ψευδοῦς δεόμενον, προσῆν καὶ ὅρκος, ἔφησε μέχρι τοῦ βωμοῦ 25 φίλος εἶναι.

186d

μέλλων δὲ ἀποθνήσκειν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐμακάριζεν , ὅτι μηδεὶς Ἀθηναίων μέλαν ἱμάτιον διʼ αὐτὸν ἐνεδύσατο.

Translations (1)

The apophthegms or remarkable sayings of kings and great commanders. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Hinton, Edward, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 42 focus

[42] PERICLES. Whenever he entered on his command as general, while he was putting on his war-cloak, he used thus to bespeak himself: Remember, Pericles, you govern freemen, Grecians, Athenians. He advised the Athenians to demolish Aegina, as a dangerous eyesore to the haven of Piraeus. To a friend that wanted him to bear false witness and to bind the same with an oath, he said: I am a friend only as far as the altar. When he lay on his deathbed, he blessed himself that no Athenian ever went into mourning upon his account.

Notes on the current edition

Sayings of Kings and Commanders

1. Athenian general and statesman, fifth century B.C.

2. Cf. Moralia, 620 C and 813 D.

3. Ibid. 803 A; Plutarch’s Life of Pericles, chap. viii. (156 D) and Life of Demosthenes, chap. i. (846 C): Aristotle, Rhetoric, iii. 10. Athenaeus (99 D) attributes the expression to Demades, an Athenian orator. The people of Aegina, who were Dorian, had been hostile towards the Athenians even before the Persian wars, and in the early years of the Peloponnesian war (431 B.C.) they were forcibly removed from the island by the Athenians.

4. Cf. Moralia, 531 C and 808 A, and Aulus Gellius, i. 3.

5. Given with more details in Moralia, 543 C, and Plutarch’s Life of Pericles, chap. xxxviii. (173 c), and Julian, Oration iii. 128 D.

Plutarch Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata 42

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

PERICLES ¹

Current edition Perseus

Περικλέους

Περικλέους

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

PERICLES 1

Current edition Perseus

Περικλέους

Περικλέους

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

PERICLES ¹