Selecta ex Aeliano

XXV. (Book 4, 24.)

Leoprepes of Ceos, the father of Simonides, happened to be sitting in a wrestling school. Young men who were on intimate terms with one another asked him how their friendship might best endure. He replied, "If you yield to each other's anger and do not meet rage with rage, and then incite one another against one another."

XXVI. (Book 4, 25.)

Thrasyllus of Aexone suffered from a strange and novel mania. Leaving the city, he went down to the Piraeus and lived there. He believed that all the ships anchoring there were his own. He registered them, sent them back out, and rejoiced greatly for those that were saved and entered the harbor. He lived with this affliction for many years. When his brother returned from Sicily, he handed him over to a physician to be cured, and he ceased from his illness. He often remembered his conduct during his madness and said that he had never been as happy as he was then, when he felt joy over ships that did not belong to him being saved.