The Sentences of Demophilus

1. Request not of Divinity such things as, when obtained, you cannot preserve; for no gift of Divinity can ever be taken away; and on this account he does not confer that which you are unable to retain.
2. Be vigilant in your intellectual part; for sleep about this has an affinity with real death.
3. Divinity sends evil to men, not as being influenced by anger, but for the sake of purification; for anger is foreign from Divinity, since it arises from circumstances taking place contrary to the will; but nothing contrary to the will can happen to a god.
4. When you deliberate whether or not you shall injure another, you will previously suffer the evil yourself which you intend to commit. But neither must you expect any good from the evil; for the manners of everyone are correspondent to his life and actions. Every soul too is a repository, that which is good, of things good, that which is evil, of things depraved.
5. After long consultation, engage either in speaking or acting; for you have not the ability to recall either your words or deeds.
6. Divinity does not principally esteem the tongue, but the deeds of the wise; for a wise man, even when he is silent, honours Divinity.
7. A loquacious and ignorant man both in prayer and sacrifice contaminates a divine nature. The wise man therefore is alone a priest, is alone a friend of Divinity and only knows how to pray.
8. The wise man being sent hither naked, should naked invoke him by whom he was sent; for he alone is heard by Divinity, who is not burdened with foreign concerns.
9. It is impossible to receive from Divinity any gift greater than virtue. [Because virtue is the perfection of life, and the proper perfection of any being is the felicity of that being.]
10. Gifts and victims confer no honour on Divinity, nor is he adorned with offerings suspended in temples; but a soul divinely inspired solidly conjoins us with Divinity; for it is necessary that like should approach to like.
11. It is more painful to be subservient to passions than to tyrants.
12. It is better to converse more with yourself than others.
13. If you are always careful to remember that in whatever place either your soul or body accomplishes any deed, Divinity is present as an inspector of your conduct; in all your words and actions you will venerate the presence of an inspector from whom nothing can be concealed, and will, at the same time, possess Divinity as an intimate associate.
14. Believe that you are furious and insane in proportion as you are ignorant of yourself.
15. It is necessary to search for those wives and children which will remain after a liberation from the present life.
16. The self-sufficient and needy philosopher lives a life truly similar to Divinity, and considers the non-possession of external and unnecessary goods as the greatest wealth. For the acquisition of riches sometimes inflames desire; but not to act in any respect unjustly is sufficient to the enjoyment of a blessed life.
17. True goods are never produced by indolent habits.
18. Esteem that to be eminently good, which, communicated to another, will be increased to yourself. [And this is the case with intellectual good.]
19. Esteem those to be eminently your friends, who assist your soul rather than your body.
20. Consider both the praise and reproach of every foolish person as ridiculous, and the whole life of an ignorant man as a disgrace.
21. Endeavour that your familiars may reverence rather than fear you; for love attends upon reverence, but hatred upon fear.
22. The sacrifices of fools are the aliment of the fire; but the offerings which they suspend in temples are the supplies of the sacrilegious.
23. Understand that no dissimulation can be long concealed.
24. The unjust man suffers greater evil while his soul is tormented with a consciousness of guilt, than when his body is scourged with whips.
25. It is by no means safe to discourse concerning Divinity with men of false opinions; for the danger is equally great in speaking to such as these, things either fallacious or true.
26. By everywhere using reason as your guide, you will avoid the commission of crimes.
27. By being troublesome to others, you will not easily escape molestation yourself.
28. Consider that as great erudition, through which you are able to bear the want of erudition, in the ignorant.
29. He who is depraved does not listen to the divine law, and on this account lives without law.
30. A just man who is a stranger, is not only superior to a citizen, but is even more excellent than a relation.
31. As many passions of the soul, so many fierce and savage despots.
32. No one is free who has not obtained the empire of himself.
33. Labour, together with continence, precedes the acquisition of every good.
34. Be persuaded that those things are not your riches which you do not possess in the penetralia of the reasoning powers.
35. Do that which you judge to be beautiful and honest, though you should acquire no glory from the performance; for the vulgar is a depraved judge of beautiful deeds.
36. Make trial of a man rather from his deeds than his discourses; for many live badly and speak well.
37. Perform great things, at the same time promising nothing great.
38. Since the roots of our nature are established in Divinity, from which also we are produced, we should tenaciously adhere to our root; for streams also of water, and other offspring of the earth, when their roots are cut off, become rotten and dry.
39. The strength of the soul is temperance; for this is the light of a soul destitute of passions; but it is much better to die than to darken the soul through the intemperance of the body.
40. You cannot easily denominate that man happy who depends either on his friends or children, or on any fleeting and fallen nature; for all these are unstable and uncertain; but to depend on oneself and on Divinity is alone stable and firm.
41. He is a wise man, and beloved of Divinity, who studies how to labour for the good of his soul, as much as others labour for the sake of the body.
42. Yield all things to their kindred and ruling nature except liberty.
43. Learn how to produce eternal children, not such as may supply the wants of the body in old age, but such as may nourish the soul with perpetual food.
44, It is impossible that the same person can be a lover of pleasure, a lover of body, a lover of riches, and a lover of Divinity. For a lover of pleasure is also a lover of body; but a lover of body is entirely a lover of riches; a lover of riches is necessarily unjust; and the unjust is necessarily profane towards Divinity, and lawless with respect to men. Hence, though he should sacrifice hecatombs, he is only by this means the more impious, unholy, atheistical, and sacrilegious, with respect to his intentions: and on this account it is necessary to avoid every lover of pleasure as an atheist and polluted person.
45. The Divinity has not a place in the earth more allied to his nature than a pure and holy soul.

The Similitudes of Demophilus

1. Flattery is like painted armour, because it affords delight, but is of no use.
2. Learning is similar to a golden crown; for it is both honourable and advantageous.
3. Flighty men, like empty vessels, are easily laid hold of by the ears. [The handle of a vessel was called an ear by the Greeks.]
4. Life, like a musical instrument, being harmonized by remission and intention, becomes more agreeable.
5. Reason, like a good potter, introduces a beautiful form to the soul.
6. The intellect of wise men, like gold, possesses the greatest weight.
7. Boasting, like gilt armour, is not the same within as without.
8. Reason has the same power as an ointment, for it benefits us when we are disordered, but delights us when well.
9. Of a bad man, as of a bad dog, the silence is more to be dreaded than the voice.
10. It is neither becoming to prefer a mistress to a wife; nor flattery to a friend.
11. Garrulous men, like magpies, by their continued loquacity destroy the pleasures of conversation.
12. The Furies pursue the sins of bad men who are impious, and those also of the stupid and daring, when they grow old.
13. It is necessary that a well-educated man should depart from life elegantly, as from a banquet.
14. A port is a place of rest to a ship, but friendship, to life.
15. The reproof of a father is a pleasant medicine; for it is more advantageous than severe chastisements.
16. It is necessary that a worthy man, like a good wrestler, should oppose his weight to fortune, when acting the part of an antagonist.
17. The possession of self-sufficiency, like a short and pleasant road, has much grace and but little labour. [Self-sufficiency must not be considered in the vulgar sense, as consummate arrogance; but as the internal possession of everything requisite to felicity.]
18. Restive horses are led by the bridle, but irritable minds, by reasoning.
19. Tests, like salt, should be used sparingly.
20. Both a well-adapted shoe, and a well-harmonized life, are accompanied with but little pain.
21. Garments reaching to the feet impede the body; and immoderate riches, the soul. [Long garments or robes, both by ancients and moderns, have always been worn as marks of distinction; consequently, like riches, they are among the objects of desire; and although not so extensively pernicious, yet the philosopher very properly places them among things that are by no means free from danger; and which are neither to be embraced by everyone, nor without the greatest caution.]
22. To those who run in the stadium, the reward of victory is in the end of the race; but to those who delight to labour in wisdom, the reward is in old age.
23. It is necessary that he who hastens to behold virtue as his country, should pass by pleasures, as he would by the sirens.
24. As those who sail in fair weather are wont to have things prepared against a storm, so also those who are wise in prosperity, should prepare things necessary for their assistance against adversity.
25. Garments that are made clean and bright become soiled again by use; but the soul being once purified from ignorance, remains splendid forever.
26. Fugitive slaves, although they are not pursued, are affrighted; but the unwise suffer perturbation, although they have not yet acted badly.
27. The wealth of the avaricious, like the sun when it has descended under the earth, delights no living thing.
28. The fruits of the earth spring up once a year; but the fruits of friendship at all times.
29. It is the business of a musician to harmonize every instrument; but of a well-educated man to adapt himself harmoniously to every fortune.
30. Neither the blows of a sick man, nor the threats of a stupid one, are to be feared.
31. It is necessary to provide an inward garment for the protection of the breast, and intellect as a protection against pain.
32. The diet of the sick, and the soul of the unwise, are full of fastidiousness.
33. Untaught boys confound letters, but uneducated men, things.
34. The intellect derived from philosophy is similar to a charioteer; for it is present with our desires, and always conducts them to the beautiful.
35. Time, indeed, will render the herb absinthium sweeter than honey, but circumstances may sometimes make an enemy preferable to a friend.
36. A good pilot sometimes suffers shipwreck, and a worthy man is sometimes unfortunate.
37. Thunder especially frightens children; but threats, the unwise.
38. Figure adorns a statue; but actions adorn a man,
39. It is the same thing to drink a deadly medicine from a golden cup, and to receive counsel from an injudicious friend.
40. Swallows signify fair weather; but the discourses of philosophy, exemption from pain.
41. Orphan children have not so much need of guardians as stupid men.
42. Fortune is like a depraved rewarder of contests; for she frequently crowns him who accomplishes nothing.
43. There is need of a pilot and a wind for a prosperous navigation; but of reasoning and fortune, to effect a happy life.
44. A timid man bears armour against himself; and a fool employs riches for the same purpose.
45. It is the same thing to moor a boat by an infirm anchor, and to place hope in a depraved mind.
46. Clouds frequently obscure the sun; but the passions, the reasoning power.
47. Neither does a golden bed benefit a sick man; nor a splendid fortune, a stupid man.
48. Pure water dissolves inflammation; but mild discourse dissolves anger.
49. Austere wine is mot adapted for copious drinking, nor rustic manners for conversation.
50. The anger of an ape, and the threats of a flatterer, are to be alike regarded.
51. Of life, the first part is childhood, on which account all men are attentive to it, as to the first part of a drama.
52. It is necessary that we should be cautious in our writings, but splendid in our actions.
53. As in plants, so also in youth, the first blossoms indicate the fruit of virtue.
54. In banquets, he who is not intoxicated with wine is the more pleasant; but in prosperity, he who does not conduct himself illegally.
55. It is the same thing to nourish a serpent, and to benefit a depraved man; for gratitude is produced from neither.
56. It is rare to suffer shipwreck in fair weather; and equally so not to suffer shipwreck from want of counsel.
57. Wind inflates empty bladders; but false opinions puff up stupid men.
58. It is necessary that he who exercises himself should avoid fatigue, and he who is prosperous, envy.
59. “Measure is most excellent,” says one of the wise men; to which also we being in like manner persuaded, O most friendly and pious Asclepiades, here finish the curations of life.