Pittăcus

, a native of Mitylene in Lesbos, was one of the seven wise men of Greece. His father’s name was Cyrrhadius. With the a istance of the sons of Alcæus, he delivered his country from the oppre ion of the tyrant Melanchrus, and in the war which the A then i ans waged against Lesbos he appeared at the head of his countrymen, and challenged to single combat Phrynon, the enemy’s general. As the event of the war seemed to depend upon this combat, Pittacus had recourse to artifice, and when he engaged, he entangled his adversary in a net, which he had concealed under his shield, and easily despatched him. He was amply rewarded for his victory, and his countrymen, sensible of his merit, unanimously appointed him governor of their city with unlimited authority. In this capacity Pittacus behaved with great moderation and prudence, and after he had governed his fellow-citizens with the strictest justice, and after he had established and enforced the most salutary laws, he voluntarily resigned the sovereign power after he had enjoyed it for 10 years, observing that the virtues and innocence of private life were incompatible with the power and influence of a sovereign. His disinterestedne gained him many admirers, and when the Mityleneans wished to reward his public services by presenting him with an immense tract of territory, he refused to accept more land than what should be contained within the distance to which he could throw a javelin. He died in the 82nd year of his age, about 570 years before Christ, after he had spent the last 10 years of his life in literary ease, and peaceful retirement. One of his favourite maxims was, that man ought to provide against misfortunes to avoid them; but that if they ever happened he ought to support them with patience and resignation. In prosperity friends were to be acquired, and in the hour of adversity their faithfulne was to be tried. He also observed, that in our actions it was imprudent to make others acquainted with our designs, for if we failed we had exposed ourselves to censure and to ridicule. Many of his maxims were inscribed on the walls of Apollo’s temple at Delphi, to show the world how great an opinion the Mityleneans entertained of his abilities as a philosopher, a moralist, and a man. By one of his laws, every fault committed by a man when intoxicated, deserved double punishment. The titles of some of his writings are preserved by Laërtius, among which are mentioned elegiac verses, some laws in prose, addre ed to his countrymen, epistles, and moral precepts called adomena . Diogenes Laërtius. — Aristotle , Politics .— Plutarch , Convivium Septem Sapientium .— Pausanias , bk. 10 , ch. 24 .— Ælian , Varia Hist or i a , bk. 2 , . — Valerius Maximus , bk. 6 , ch. 2 , sect. 5 .――A grandson of Porus king of India.