CHAP. 32. (32.)—PRECEPTS THE MOST USEFUL IN LIFE.
Again, men have placed on an equality with those of the
oracles the precepts uttered by Chilon,[1] the Lacedæmonian.
These have been consecrated at Delphi in letters of gold, and
are to the following effect: "That each person ought to know
himself, and not to desire to possess too much;"[2] and "That
misery is the sure companion of debt and litigation." He died of
joy, on hearing that his son had been victorious in the Olympic
games, and all Greece assisted at his funeral rites.
1. Son of Damagetus, and one of the Seven Sages. He flourished towards the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Herodotus says that he
held the office of Ephor Eponymus in Ol. 56. He was a man remarkable
for his wisdom and his sententious brevity, so characteristic of his Spartan
origin.
2. It appears somewhat doubtful to which of the Grecian sages the credit
of this maxim is due.—B.