Pittacus | |
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![]() Bust of Pittacus, Roman copy of a Greek original of the Late Classical period,Louvre | |
Born | c. 640 BC Mytilene |
Died | 568 BC (agedc. 72) |
Pittacus (/ˈpɪtəkəs/;Ancient Greek:Πιττακός;c. 640 – 568 BC) was an ancient Mytilenean military general and one of theSeven Sages of Greece.
Pittacus was a native ofMytilene and son of Hyrradius. He became a Mytilenaean general who, with his army, was victorious in the battle against theAthenians and their commanderPhrynon. In consequence of this victory, the Mytilenaeans held Pittacus in the greatest honour and presented the supreme power into his hands. After ten years of reign, he resigned his position and the city and constitution were brought into good order.
When the Athenians were about to attackSigeion, Pittacus challenged their general to a single combat, with the understanding that the result should decide the war, and much bloodshed be thereby avoided. The challenge was accepted, and he killed his enemy with a broad sword. He was then chosen ruler of his city and governed for ten years, during which time he made laws in poetry, one of which was to this effect: "A crime committed by a person when drunk should receive double the punishment that it would merit if the offender were sober." His great motto was this: "Whatever you do, do it well."[1]
Polyaenus in his Stratagems wrote that Pittacus had secretly concealed a net under his shield. He caught Phrynon with the net, dragged him down and killed him. According to Polyaenus, this stratagem of Pittacus gave rise to the use of nets in duels betweengladiators.[2]
Some authors mention that he had a son called Tyrrhaeus. The legend says that his son was killed and when the murderer was brought before Pittacus, he dismissed the man and said, "Pardon is better than repentance." Of this matter,Heraclitus says that he had the murderer into his power and then released him, saying, "Pardon is better than punishment."
Pittacus said that "[It] is a hard thing to be a good man." InPlato'sProtagoras,Socrates discusses this saying at length with Protagoras, and Prodicus of Ceos calls "barbarian" theAeolic dialect that Pittacus spoke: "He didn't know to distinguish the words correctly, being from Lesbos, and having been raised with a barbarian dialect."[3]
He flourished around the forty-secondOlympiad. Having lived for more than seventy years, he died in the third year of the fifty-second Olympiad (568 BC).
TheSuda claims that Pittacus wrote a prose work about laws and also an elegiac poem of 600 lines. No trace of these works has survived.[4]
Pittacus instituted a law stating that crimes committed in drunkenness should be punished twofold;[5] that was directed predominantly against thearistocrats, who were more often guilty of drunk and violent behaviour. As such, it was greatly appreciated by the common people.[6][7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870)."Pittacus".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.