Selecta ex Aeliano

XIV. (Book 2, 28.)

After the victory over the Persians, the Athenians established a law that roosters should fight publicly in the theater one day of the year. I shall explain where this law took its origin. When Themistocles was leading the state’s forces against the Barbarians, he saw roosters fighting. He did not watch them idly, but stopped the army and said to them: "These creatures do not suffer for their fatherland, nor for the gods of their fathers, nor for the tombs of their ancestors, nor for glory, nor for liberty, nor for their children; they suffer only to avoid being defeated, and so that one may not yield to the other." Having said this, he strengthened the resolve of the Athenians. Therefore, they wished to preserve the event that had served as a sign of courage for them at that time, as a reminder for similar deeds.

XV. (Book 2, 30.)

Plato, son of Ariston, first turned toward poetry and wrote heroic verses. Afterward, he burned them, looking down upon them after he compared them to the works of Homer and saw they were greatly inferior. He then attempted tragedy and even composed a tetralogy a set of four plays, and intended to compete, having already given the poems to the actors. But before the festival of Dionysus, he happened to hear Socrates, and having been captured by that man’s siren song, he not only withdrew from the competition at that time, but also completely abandoned the writing of tragedy and stripped himself for the pursuit of Philosophy.