Toxaris, or Friendship (34-36)

Antiphilus is still in Egypt, but Demetrius left his own twenty thousand to his friend and went away to India, to join the Brahmans, merely saying to Antiphilus that he might fairly be held excusable for leaving him now; for he himself would not want the money as long as he remained what he was, able to content himself with little, and Antiphilus would not need a friend any longer, since his circumstances had become easy.

That, Toxaris, is what Greek friends are like. If you had not previously calumniated us as priding ourselves greatly upon words, I should have repeated for you the very speech, a long one and a good one, that Demetrius made in the court-room, not defending himself at all but only Antiphilus; weeping, moreover, and imploring, and taking the whole thing upon himself until Syrus under the lash exonerated both of them.

I have told you these few instances out of a greater number (the first that my memory supplied), of friends that were good and true; and now, dismounting from my steed, I yield the word henceforth to you. How you are to make out that your Scythians are not worse, but much better than these men, will be your own look-out, if you are at all concerned about your right hand, for fear of having it cut off. But you must show yourself a man of prowess, for you would put yourself in a laughable position if, after your very expert laudation of Orestes and

TOXARIS Well done, Mnesippus! You are giving me - encouragement for my speech, as if it did not matter at all to you whether you get the worst of it in our dispute and have your tongue docked. However, I shall begin at once, without any display of fine words such as you have made; for that is not a Scythian habit, especially when the deeds speak louder than the words. And do not expect from us anything like what you told of when you commended a man if he married an ugly wife without a dowry, or if he gave money to the amount of two talents to the daughter of 'a friend on her marriage, or even, by Zeus, if he allowed himself to be imprisoned when it was obvious that he would soon be released; for those are very paltry matters, and there is nothing of greatness or bravery in them.

I shall tell you of many deeds of blood and battles and deaths for the sake of friends, that you may know the achievements of your people to be child’s play in comparison with those of the Scythians.

Yet it is not unaccountable that this is so with you Greeks, but natural for you to praise these trivial matters; for you lack, you entirely lack momentous occasions for the display, of friendship, living as you do in profound peace. Just so in calm weather a man cannot tell whether his sailing-master is good; hé will need a storm to determine that. With us, however, wars are continuous, and we are always either invading the territory of others, or withdrawing before invaders, or meeting in battle over