ARTAXERXES
ARTAXERXES, King of Persia, O Caesar Trajan, greatest
of princes, esteemed it no less royal and bountiful kindly
and cheerfully to accept small, than to make great presents;
and when he was in a progress, and a common country
laborer, having nothing else, took up water with both his
hands out of the river and presented it to him, he smiled
and received it pleasantly, measuring the kindness not by
the value of the gift, but by the affection of the giver.
And Lycurgus ordained in Sparta very cheap sacrifices,
that they might always worship the Gods readily and
easily with such things as were at hand. Upon the same
account, when I bring a mean and slender present of the
common first-fruits of philosophy, accept also (I beseech
you) with my good affection these short memorials, if they
may contribute any thing to the knowledge of the manners
and dispositions of great men, which are more apparent in
their words than in their actions. My former treatise contains the lives of the most eminent princes, lawgivers, and
generals, both Romans and Grecians; but most of their
actions admit a mixture of fortune, whereas such speeches
and answers as happened amidst their employments, passions, and events afford us (as in a looking-glass) a clear
discovery of each particular temper and disposition. Accordingly Siramnes the Persian, to such as wondered that
[p. 186]
he usually spoke like a wise man and yet was unsuccessful
in his designs, replied: I myself am master of my words,
but the king and fortune have power over my actions.
In the former treatise speeches and actions are mingled
together, and require a reader that is at leisure; but in this
the speeches, being as it were the seeds and the illustrations
of those lives, are placed by themselves, and will not (I
think) be tedious to you, since they will give you in a few
words a review of many memorable persons.
