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For first he thinks that he should remind the congress B.C. 405. Hermocrates was not there. Xen. Hellen. 1, 1, 27-31. that in war sleepers are woke at dawn by bugles, in peace by cocks.For this proverb see Plutarch, Nicias, ch. 9, ἡδέως μεμνημένοι τοῦ εἰπόντος ὅτι τοὺς ἐν εἰρήνῃ καθεύδοντας οὐ σάλπιγγες ἀλλ’ ἀλεκτρυόνες ἀφυτνίζουσι. Then he says that Hercules established the Olympic games and the sacred truce during them, as an exemplification of his own principles; and that he had injured all those persons against whom he waged war, under compulsion and in obedience to the order of another, but was never voluntarily the author of harm to any man.Ib. ch. 25. Next he quotes the instance of Zeus in Homer as being displeased with Ares, and sayingHomer, Il. 5. 890.— Of all the gods that on Olympus dwell I hold thee most detested; for thy joy Is ever strife and war and battle. And again the wisest of the heroes saysHomer Il. 9, 63.— He is a wretch, insensible and dead To all the charities of social life, Whose pleasure is in civil broil and war. Then he goes on to allege that Euripides agrees with Homer in the linesEuripides, fr.— O well of infinite riches! O fairest of beings divine! O Peace, how alas! thou delayest; My heart for thy coming is fain. I tremble lest age overtake me, Ere thy beauty and grace I behold; Ere the maidens shall sing in their dancing, And revels be gladsome with flowers. Next he remarks that war is like disease, peace like health; for that the latter restores those that are sick, while in the former even the healthy perish. Moreover, in time of peace, the old are buried by the young as nature directs, while in war the case is reversed; and above all in war there is no security even as far as the city walls, while in peace it extends to the frontier of the territory—and so on. I wonder what other arguments would have been employed by a youth who had just devoted himself to scholastic exercises and studies in history; and who wished, according to the rules of the art, to adapt his words to the supposed speakers? Just these I think which Timaeus represents Hermocrates as using.
