BOOK I. 9 



had betaken themselves to flight, he was asked by one, why he carried 

 away none of his goods with him, and he repUed, " I cany all my possessions 

 with me." And it is said that Socrates, having received twenty minae sent 

 to him by Aristippus, a grateful disciple, refused them and sent them back to 

 him by the command of his conscience. Aristippus, following his example 

 in this matter, despised gold and regarded it as of no value. And once 

 when he was making a jovumey with his slaves, and they, laden with the 

 gold, went too slowly, he ordered them to keep only as much of it as they 

 could carry without distress and to throw away the remainder^*. Moreover, 

 Anacreon of Teos, an ancient and noble poet, because he had been troubled 

 about them for two nights, returned five talents which had been given him 

 by Polycrates, saying that they were not worth the anxiety which he had 

 gone through on their account. In like manner celebrated and exceedingly 

 powerful princes have imitated the philosophers in their scorn and contempt 

 for gold and silver. There was for example, Phocion, the Athenian, who was 

 appointed general of the army so many times, and who, when a large sum of gold 

 was sent to him as a gift by Alexander, King of Macedon, deemed it trifling and 

 scorned it. And Marcus Curius ordered the gold to be carried back to the 

 Samnites, as did also Fabricius Luscinus with regard to the silver and 

 copper. And certain Repubhcs have forbidden their citizens the use and 

 emplojTnent of gold and silver by law and ordinance ; the Lacedaemonians, 

 by the decrees and ordinances of Lycurgiis, used diligently to enquire among 

 their citizens whether they possessed any of these things or not, and the 

 possessor, when he was caught, was punished according to law and justice. 

 The inhabitants of a town on the Tigris, called Babytace, buried their gold 

 in the ground so that no one shoxild use it. The Scythians condemned the 

 use of gold and silver so that they might not become avaricious. 



Further are the metals reviled ; in the first place p)eople wantonly 

 abuse gold and silver and call them deadly and nefarious pests of the human 

 race, because those who possess them are in the greatest peril, for those who 

 have none lay snares for the possessors of wealth, and thus again and again 

 the metals have been the cause of destruction and ruin. For example, 

 Polymnestor, King of Thrace, to obtain possession of his gold, killed Polydorus, 

 his noble guest and the son of Priam, his father-in-law, and old friend. 

 Pygmalion, the King of Tyre, in order that he might seize treasures of gold 

 and silver, killed his sister's husband, a priest, taking no accoimt of either 

 kinship or reUgion. For love of gold Eriphyle betrayed her husband 

 Amphiaraus to his enemy. Likewise Lasthenes betrayed the city of 

 Olynthus to Philip of Macedon. The daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, having 

 been bribed with gold, admitted the Sabines into the citadel of Rome. 

 Claudius Curio sold his country for gold to Caesar, the Dictator. Gold, too, 

 was the cause of the downfall of Aesculapius, the great physician, who it was 

 beUeved was the son of Apollo. Similarly Marcus Crassus, through his 

 eager desire for the gold of the Parthians, was completely overcome together 

 with his son and eleven legions, and became the jest of his enemies ; for they 

 ^•Diogenes Laertius, ii. 



