Phocylides
Phocylides
Ancient Greek writer
Phocylides (Greek: Φωκυλίδης ὁ Μιλήσιος), Greek gnomic poet of Miletus, contemporary of Theognis of Megara, was born about 560 BC.
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A few fragments of his "maxims" have survived (chiefly in the Florilegium of Stobaeus), in which he expresses his contempt for the pomps and vanities of rank and wealth, and sets forth in simple language his ideas of honour, justice and wisdom. An example is an epigram quoted by Dio Chrysostom:
And this from Phocylides: a city in good order, though small
and built on a distant crag, is mightier than foolish Nineveh.
Aristotle also found cause to quote him:
Many things are best in the mean; I desire to be of a middle condition in my city.
— The Politics. Book Four. Ch. XI.