Chapter 4. LYCO (299-225 B.C.)
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Strato's successor was Lyco, the son of Astyanax of
Troas, a master of expression and of the foremost
rank in the education of boys. For he used to say
that modesty and love of honour were as necessary an
equipment for boys as spur and bridle for horses.
His eloquence and sonorousness of diction appear
from the following fact; he speaks of a penniless
maiden as follows: "A grievous burden to a father
is a girl, when for lack of a dowry she runs past
the flower of her age." Hence the remark which
Antigonus is said to have made about him, that it
was not possible to transfer elsewhere the fragrance
and charm of the apple, but each separate expression
must be contemplated in the speaker himself as
every single apple is on the tree.
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This was because
Lyco's voice was exceedingly sweet, so that some
persons altered his name to Glyco, by prefixing a
G. But in writing he fell off sadly. For instance,
those who regretted their neglect to learn when they
had the opportunity and wished they had done so
he would hit off neatly as follows, remarking that
"they were their own accusers, betraying, by vain
regret, repentance for an incorrigible laziness."
Those who deliberated wrongly he used to say
were out in their calculations, as if they had used a
crooked rule to test something straight, or looked
at the reflection of a face in troubled water or a
distorting mirror. Again, "Many go in search of
the garland of the market-place; few or none seek
the crown at Olympia." He often gave the Athenians
advice on various subjects and thus conferred on
them the greatest benefits.
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In his dress he was most immaculate, so that the
clothes he wore were unsurpassed for the softness
of the material, according to Hermippus. Furthermore, he was well practised in gymnastics and kept
himself in condition, displaying all an athlete's habit
of body, with battered ears and skin begrimed with
oil, so we are told by Antigonus of Carystus. Hence
it is said that he not only wrestled but played the
game of ball common in his birthplace of Ilium. He
was esteemed beyond all other philosophers by
Eumenes and Attalus, who also did him very great
service. Antiochus too tried to get hold of him, but
without success.
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He was so hostile to Hieronymus
the Peripatetic that he alone declined to meet him
on the anniversary which we have mentioned in the
Life of Arcesilaus.
1
He presided over the school forty-four years after
Strato had bequeathed it to him by his will in the
127th Olympiad.
2 Not but what he also
attended
the lectures of the logician Panthoides. He died at
the age of seventy-four after severe sufferings from
gout. This is my epitaph upon him
3:
Nor, I swear! will I pass over Lyco either, for all that he
died of the gout. But this it is which amazes me the most,
if he who formerly could walk only with the feet of others,
did in a single night traverse the long, long road to Hades.
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Other men have borne the name of Lyco: (1)
a Pythagorean, (2) our present subject, (3) an epic
poet, (4) a poet who wrote epigrams.
I have also come across this philosopher's will.
It is this:
"These are my dispositions concerning my
property, in case I should be unable to sustain my
present ailment. All the goods in my house I give
to my brothers Astyanax and Lyco, and from this
source should, I think, be paid all the money I have
laid out at Athens, whether by borrowing or by
purchase, as well as all the cost of my funeral and the
other customary charges.
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But my property in town
and at Aegina I give to Lyco because he bears the
same name with me, and has resided for a long time
with me to my entire satisfaction, as became one
whom I treated as my son. I leave the Peripatus
to such of my friends as choose to make use of it,
to Bulo, Callinus, Ariston, Amphion, Lyco, Pytho,
Aristomachus, Heracleus, Lycomedes, and my nephew
Lyco. They shall put over it any such person as
in their opinion will persevere in the work of the
school and will be most capable of extending it.
And all my other friends should co-operate for love
of me and of the spot. Bulo and Callinus, together
with their colleagues, shall provide for my funeral
and cremation, so as to avoid meanness on the
one hand and extravagance on the other.
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After
my decease Lyco shall make over, for the use of the
young men, the oil from the olive-trees belonging
to me in Aegina for the due commemoration--so
long as they use it--of myself and the benefactor
who did me honour. He shall also set up my statue,
and shall choose a convenient site where it shall
be erected, with the assistance of Diophantus and
Heraclides the son of Demetrius. From my property
in town Lyco shall repay all from whom I have
borrowed anything after his departure. Bulo and
Callinus shall provide the sums expended upon my
funeral and other customary charges. These sums
they shall recover from the moneys in the house
bequeathed by me to them both in common.
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They
shall also remunerate the physicians Pasithemis and
Medias who for their attention to me and their skill
deserve far higher reward. I bequeath to the child
of Callinus a pair of Thericlean cups, and to his wife
a pair of Rhodian vessels, a smooth carpet, a rug with
nap on both sides, a sofa cover and two cushions the
best that are left, that, so far as I have the means
of recompensing them, I may prove not ungrateful.
With regard to the servants who have waited upon
me, my wishes are as follows. To Demetrius I
remit the purchase-money for the freedom which he
has long enjoyed, and bequeath to him five minas
and a suit of clothes to ensure him a decent maintenance, in return for all the toil he has borne with me.
To Crito of Chalcedon I also remit the purchasemoney for his freedom and bequeath to him four
minas. And Micrus I emancipate; and Lyco shall
keep him and educate him for the next six years.
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And Chares I emancipate, and Lyco shall maintain
him, and I bequeath him two minas and my published
writings, while those which have not been given to
the world I entrust to Callinus, that he may carefully
edit them. To Syrus who has been set free I give
four minas and Menodora, and I remit to him any
debt he owes me. And to Hilara I give five minas
and a double-napped rug, two cushions, a sofa-cover
and a bed, whichever she prefers. I also set free the
mother of Micrus as well as Noëmon, Dion, Theon,
Euphranor and Hermias. Agathon should be set
free after two years, and the litter-bearers Ophelio
and Posidonius after four years' further service.
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To Demetrius, to Crito and to Syrus I give a bed
apiece and such bed-furniture out of my estate as
Lyco shall think proper. These shall be given them
for properly performing their appointed tasks. As
regards my burial, let Lyco bury me here if he
chooses, or if he prefers to bury me at home let him
do so, for I am persuaded that his regard for propriety
is not less than my own. When he has managed all
these things, he can dispose of the property there,
and such disposition shall be binding. Witnesses are
Callinus of Hermione, Ariston of Ceos, Euphronius
of Paeania."
Thus while his shrewdness is seen in all his actions,
in his teaching and in all his studies, in some ways
his will is no less remarkable for carefulness and wise
management, so that in this respect also he is to be
admired
