Selecta ex Aeliano

EXCERPTS FROM AELIAN

Those who treat the pious among men, and the gods, and their parents with reverence, find that even their natural enemies become gentle.

XXI. (Book 3, 25.)

Leonidas the Lacedaemonian, and the three hundred with him, chose the death that had been prophesied for them at the gates original: "ἐν Πύλαις" refers to Thermopylae, the "Hot Gates". Having fought well and nobly for the sake of Greece, they achieved a glorious end, leaving behind for themselves immortal glory and a good reputation throughout the ages.

XXII. (Book 3, 28.)

Socrates, seeing Alcibiades blinded by his wealth and thinking highly of his lands, led him to a place where a tablet lay depicting a map of the earth, and ordered him to search for Attica there. When he found it, he ordered him to inspect his own estates. When he replied that they were not drawn anywhere on it, Socrates said, "Are you then proud of these things, which are not even a part of the earth?"

XXIII. (Book 4, 9.)

Plato, son of Ariston, shared a tent at Olympia with men who were strangers to him, and he himself was unknown to them. He won them over and bound them with his