The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men (20-21)

Pittacus thereupon said that it was a famous story,[*] and one mentioned by many, to this effect. An oracle had been given to those who were setting out to found a colony in Lesbos that when their voyage should bring them to a reef which is called Midland, then they should cast into the sea at that place a bull as an offering to Poseidon, and to Amphitrite and the Nymphs of the sea a living virgin. The commanders were seven in number, all kings, and the eighth was Echelaüs, designated by the oracle at Delphi to head the colony, although he was young and still unmarried. The seven, or as many as had unmarried daughters, cast lots, and the lot fell upon the daughter of Smintheus. Her they adorned with fine raiment and golden ornaments as they arrived opposite the spot, and purposed, as soon as they had offered prayer, to cast her into the sea. It happened that one of the company on board, a young man of no mean origin as it seems, was in love with her. His name, according to a tradition still preserved, was

Enalus. He, conceiving a despairing desire to help the maiden in her present misfortune, at the critical moment hurriedly clasped her in his arms, and threw himself with her into the sea. Straightway a rumour spread, having no sure foundation, but nevertheless carrying conviction to many in the community, regarding their safety and rescue. Later, as they say, Enalus appeared in Lesbos, and told how they had been borne by dolphins through the sea, and put ashore unharmed on the mainland. Other things he related more miraculous even than this, which astonished and fascinated the crowd, and he gave good grounds for believing them all by a deed which he did; for when a towering wave precipitated itself on the shores of the island, and the people were in a state of terror, he, all by himself, went to meet the sea, and cuttlefish followed him to the shrine of Poseidon, the biggest of which brought a stone [*] with him, and this stone Enalus took and dedicated there, and this we call Enalus. And in general, he continued, if a man realizes a difference between the impossible and the unfamiliar, and between false reasoning and false opinion, such a man, Chilon, who would neither believe nor disbelieve at haphazard, would be most observant of the precept, Avoid extremes, as you have enjoined.

Following him Anacharsis said that as Thales had set forth the excellent hypothesis that soul exists in all the most dominant and most important parts of the universe, [*] there is no proper ground for wonder that the most excellent things are brought [*]

to pass by the will of God. For the body, he continued, is the soul’s instrument, and the soul is God’s instrument; [*] and just as the body has many movements of its own, but the most, and most excellent, from the soul, so the soul performs some actions by its own instinct, but in others it yields itself to God’s use for Him to direct it and turn it in whatsoever course He may desire, since it is the most adaptable of all instruments. For it is a dreadful mistake to assume that, on the one hand, fire is God’s instrument, and wind and water also, and clouds and rain, by means of which He preserves and fosters many a thing, and ruins and destroys many another, but that, on the other hand, He never as yet makes any use whatever of living creatures to accomplish any one of His purposes. Nay, it is far more likely that the living, being dependent on God’s power, serve Him and are responsive to His movements even more than bows are responsive to the Scythians or lyres and flutes to the Greeks.

Thereupon the poet Chersias cited, among the eases of persons who had been saved when their plight seemed hopeless, the case of Cypselus,[*] the father of Periander, who, when he was a new-born babe, smiled at the men who had been sent to make away with him, and they turned away. And when again they changed their minds, they sought for him and found him not, for he had been put away in a chest by his mother. It was because of this that Cypselus constructed the building at Delphi, firmly believing that the god had at that time stopped his crying so that he might escape the notice of those who were searching for him.

And Pittacus, addressing Periander, said, Chersias

certainly did well to mention the building, for I have often desired, Periander, to ask you the reason for those frogs, and what is their significance, carved as they are in such numbers about the base of the palm-tree,[*] and what relation they have to the god or to the dedicator.

Periander bade him ask Chersias, for Chersias, he said, knew and was present when Cypselus consecrated the building; but Chersias said with a smile, No, I will not tell until I learn from our friends here what significance they give to the precepts, [*] Avoid extremes and Know thyself, and, in particular, that one which has kept many from marrying, and many from trusting, and some even from speaking, and this is it: Give a pledge, and mischief attends.

What need of us to tell you that? said Pittacus; since for this long time you have been praising the stories which Aesop has composed touching each of them, as it seems.

And Aesop said, Only when Chersias is poking fun at me; but when he is serious he points to Homer as their inventor, and says that Hector knew himself because he attacked all the others, but Only with Ajax, Telamon’s son, he avoided a conflict.[*] And Odysseus, he says, gives praise to Avoid extremes when he enjoins

Son of Tydeus, praise me not too much nor chide me.[*]

And as for the pledge, other people think that Homer vilifies it as a worthless and futile thing when he says,

Worthless are pledges of worthless folk to accept at their pledging;[*]

but Chersias here asserts that Mischief was hurled from heaven by Zeus because she was present at the pledge which Zeus gave when he was befooled in regard to the birth of Heracles. [*]

Solon here put in his word: Well, then, we should have faith in the very great wisdom of Homer who also says,[*]

Night-time advances apace: ’tis well to pay heed to the night-time.

So, if it please the company, let us offer a libation to the Muses and Poseidon and Amphitrite, and be going.

And thus, Nicarchus, the party came to an end. [*]