ction. And it is a fact, that plots and
conspiracies against despotic rulers are oftenest hatched by those who
most of all pretend to love them. (48)

(43) "The 'innere Unterhaltung'"; the {oarismos}. Cf. Milton, "P. L.":

With thee conversing, I forget all time.

(44) Cf. Ter. "Andr." iii. 3. 23, "amantium irae amoris
intergratiost."

(45) "To make booty of."

(46) For {aptesthai} L. & S. cf. Plat. "Laws," 840 A; Aristot. "H. A."
v. 14. 27; Ep. 1 Cor. vii. 1.

(47) Reading {au}. "If we do know anything it is this, that," etc.

(48) Or, "do oftenest issue from treacherous make-believe of warmest
friendship." Cf. Grote, "H. G." xi. 288; "Hell." VI. iv. 36.

II

To these arguments Simonides replied: Yes, but the topics you have named
are to my thinking trifles; drops, as it were, in the wide ocean. How
many men, I wonder, have I seen myself, men in the deepest sense, (1)
true men, who choose to fare but ill in respect of meats and drinks and
delicacies; ay, and what is more, they voluntarily abstain from sexual
pleasures. No! it is in quite a different sphere, which I will name at
once, that you so far transcend us private citizens. (2) It is in your
vast designs, your swift achievements; it is in the overflowing wealth
of your possessions; your horses, excellent for breed and mettle; the
choice beauty of your arms; the exquisite finery of your wives; the
gorgeous palaces in which you dwell, and these, too, furnished with
the costliest works of art; add to which the throng of your retainers,
courtiers, followers, not in number only but accomplishments a most
princely retinue; and lastly, but not least of all, in your supreme
ability at once to afflict your foes and benefit your friends.

(1) Lit. "many among those reputed to be men." Cf. "Cyrop." V. v. 33;
"Hell." i. 24, "their hero"; and below, viii. 3. Aristoph. "Ach."
78, {oi barbaroi gar andras egountai monous} | {tous pleista
dunamenous phagein te kai piein}: "To the Barbarians 'tis the test
of manhood: there the great drinkers are the greatest men"
(Frere); id. "Knights," 179; "Clouds," 823; so Latin "vir." See
Holden ad loc.

(2) "Us lesser mortals."

To all which Hiero made answer: That the majority of men, Simonides,
should be deluded by the glamour of a despotism in no respect astonishes
me, since it is the very essence of the crowd, if I am not mistaken,
to rush wildly to conjecture touching