About Ateas, the famous King of Scythia.
Ἰσμηνίαν δὲ τὸν ἄριστον αὐλητὴν λαβὼν αἰχμάλωτον ἐκέλευσεν αὐλῆσαι· θαυμαζόντων δὲ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτὸς ὤμοσεν ἥδιον ἀκούειν τοῦ ἵππου χρεμετίζοντος.
He took prisoner Ismenias, an excellent piper, and commanded him to play; and when others admired him, he swore it was more pleasant to hear a horse neigh.
Plutarch, Moralia, Apophtegm of kings and famous commanders, 174e-f
Must place it in a special context: trusting Herodot, Scythians usually avoid to borrow foreign customs, particularly Hellenistic ones. But it seems that in this period (the large IVe) some of them adopted more and more ofen theses customs. So we have here something like a "cultural-conflict"
Σκιλοῦρος 〈ὁ〉 ὀγδοήκοντα παῖδας ἄρρενας ἀπολιπὼν ἐπεὶ τελευτᾶν ἔμελλε, δέσμην ἀκοντίων ἑκάστῳ προτείνων ἐκέλευσε καταθραῦσαι· πάντων δ´ ἀπαγορευσάντων, 〈ἓν〉 καθ´ ἓν αὐτὸς ἐξελὼν ἀκόντιον ἅπαντα ῥᾳδίως συνέκλασε, διδάσκων ἐκείνους ὅτι συνεστῶτες ἰσχυροὶ διαμενοῦσιν, ἀσθενεῖς δ´ ἔσονται διαλυθέντες καὶ στασιάσαντες.
Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave eighty sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them; thus teaching them that, if they held together, they would continue strong, but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.
Plutarch, Moralia, Apophtegm of kings and famous commanders, 174f
I very like this one.![]()
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