Selecta ex Aeliano

X. (Book 2, 16.)

Phocion prefers to suffer evil from the Athenians than to inflict it upon them.

I also discovered this fine trait of Phocion, the son of Phocus. Once, having come before the Athenians when an assembly was in session, he spoke to them with great education and impact because he was angry at their lack of discernment: "I would rather suffer some evil at your hands myself than inflict any evil upon you."

XI. (Book 2, 18.)

Those who dine with Plato are also well off the following day.

Timotheus, son of Conon, a general of the Athenians, once turned away from those luxurious dinners and those extravagant military banquets. Having been invited by Plato to a symposium at the Academy, he was entertained simply and with musical refinement. Upon returning to his family, he said that those who dine with Plato are also well off the following day. From this, Timotheus criticized luxurious and vulgar dinners as they certainly did not provide comfort for the following day. There is also another story, brother to the one just mentioned and conveying the same meaning (though not using the same words), that on the following day Timotheus met Plato and said: "You, Plato, dine much better for the following day than for the present one."