Pittacus (c. 640-568 BC) was the son of Hyrradius and one of the
Seven Sages of GreeceThe Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men was the title given by ancient Greek tradition to seven early 6th century B.C...
. He was a native of
MytileneMytilene is the capital city of Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, and capital of Lesbos Prefecture and the Northern Aegean region. It is built on the southeast edge of the island...
and the Mytilenaean general who, with his army, was victorious in the battle against the Athenians and their commander Phrynon. In consequence of this victory the Mytilenaeans held Pittacus in the greatest honour and presented the supreme power into his hands. After ten years of reign he resigned his position and the city and constitution were brought into good order.
When the Athenians were about to attack his city, Pittacus challenged their General to a single combat, with the understanding that the result should decide the war, and much bloodshed be thereby avoided.
Pittacus (c. 640-568 BC) was the son of Hyrradius and one of the
Seven Sages of GreeceThe Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men was the title given by ancient Greek tradition to seven early 6th century B.C...
. He was a native of
MytileneMytilene is the capital city of Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, and capital of Lesbos Prefecture and the Northern Aegean region. It is built on the southeast edge of the island...
and the Mytilenaean general who, with his army, was victorious in the battle against the Athenians and their commander Phrynon. In consequence of this victory the Mytilenaeans held Pittacus in the greatest honour and presented the supreme power into his hands. After ten years of reign he resigned his position and the city and constitution were brought into good order.
When the Athenians were about to attack his city, Pittacus challenged their General to a single combat, with the understanding that the result should decide the war, and much bloodshed be thereby avoided. The challenge was accepted, and he killed his enemy with a broad sword. He was then chosen ruler of his city and governed for ten years, during which time he made laws in poetry -- one of which was to this effect: "A crime committed by a person when drunk should receive double the punishment which it would merit if the offender were sober." His great motto was : "Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him." (
The Golden RuleThe ethic of reciprocity, more commonly known as the Golden Rule, is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. Reciprocity is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, though it has its critics...
)
Some authors mention that he had a son called Tyrrhaeus. The legend says that his son was killed and when the murderer was brought before Pittacus, he dismissed the man, saying, "Pardon is better than repentance." Of this matter, Heraclitus says that he had got the murderer into his power and then he released him, saying, "Pardon is better than punishment."
It was a saying of Pittacus, that it is a hard thing to be really a good man. Others of his sayings were:
- "Whatever you do, do it well."
- "Even the Gods cannot strive against necessity."
- "Power shows the man."
- "Do not say beforehand what you are going to do; for if you fail, you will be laughed at."
- "Do not reproach a man with his misfortunes, fearing lest Nemesis may overtake you."
- "Forbear to speak evil not only of your friends, but also of your enemies."
- "Cultivate truth, good faith, experience, cleverness, sociability, and industry."
- "Know thy opportunity"
He flourished about the forty-second Olympiad. Having lived more than seventy years, he died in the third year of the fifty-second
OlympiadAn Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....
(568 BC).
In
Protagoras (dialogue)Protagoras is a dialogue of Plato. The main argument is between the elderly Protagoras, a celebrated sophist, and Socrates. The discussion takes place at the home of Callias, who is host to Protagoras while he is in town, and concerns a familiar theme in the dialogues: the teachability of virtue...
341c
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&um=1&q=Protagoras+Prodicus+341c++barbarian++dialect+Lesbos&btnG=Search+Books of
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
,
ProdicusProdicus of Ceos was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as a speaker and a teacher. Plato treats him with greater respect than the other sophists, and in several of the Platonic dialogues Socrates appears...
labeled the aeolic dialect as
barbarianBarbarian is a term for an uncivilized person, often used pejoratively, either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
, while referring to Pittacus of Mytilene.