8
Closely allied with this are the following words of the comic poet Philemon, in the Sardius; cf. Kock, Com. Att. Frag. ii. p. 497, Philemon, No. 73. spoken with reference to those whose grief over such calamities is excessive: If only tears were remedy for ills, And he who weeps obtained surcease of woe, Then we should purchase tears by giving gold. But as it is, events that come to pass, My master, do not mind nor heed these things, But, whether you shed tears or not, pursue The even tenor of their way. What then Do we accomplish by our weeping ? Naught. But as the trees have fruit, grief has these tears. And Dictys, who is trying to console Danaë in her excessive grief, says: Think you that Hades minds your moans at all, And will send back your child if you will groan ? Desist. By viewing close your neighbour’s ills You might be more composed,—if you reflect How many mortals have to toil in bonds, How many reft of children face old age, And others still who from a prosperous reign Sink down to nothing. This you ought to heed.From the Dictys of Euripides; cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 332. For he bids her to think of the lot of those who are equally unfortunate or even more unfortunate than herself, with the idea that her grief will be lightened.
9
In this connexion might be adduced the utterance of Socrates Not original with Socrates, cf. Herodotus, vii. 152; attributed to Solon by Valerius Maximus, vii. 2, ext. 2. which suggests that if we were all to bring our misfortunes into a common store, so that each person should receive an equal share in the distribution, the majority would be glad to take up their own and depart.
