Fragments of the Philosophical Poets

Lobon of Argos [FHG III 27] says that the works written by him extend to two hundred lines. The following was inscribed upon his statue:

Among his verses are these:

The following sayings are also attributed to him: The oldest of all things is God; for he is ungenerated. The most beautiful is the world; for it is the work of God. The greatest is space; for it contains all things. The swiftest is the mind; for it runs through everything. The strongest is necessity; for it prevails over all. The wisest is time; for it finds out everything. He said that death in no way differs from life. "Why then," someone said, "do you not die?" "Because," he replied, "it makes no difference." To one who asked what was created first, night or day, he said, "Night, by one day." Someone asked him if a man who does wrong escapes the notice of the gods; he replied, "Not even when he is thinking about it." To an adulterer who asked if he should swear that he had not committed adultery, he replied, "Perjury is no better than adultery." When asked what is difficult, he said, "To know oneself." What is easy? "To give advice to another." What is sweetest? "To succeed." What is the divine? "That which has neither beginning nor end." What is the most difficult thing to have seen? "An aged tyrant." How can one most easily bear misfortune? "If one sees his enemies faring worse." How might we live the most excellently and justly? "If we do not ourselves do the things we blame in others." Who is happy? "He who has a healthy body, a resourceful soul, and a nature well-educated." He says one should remember friends, whether they are present or absent; and one should not beautify one's face, but be beautiful in one's deeds. "Do not get rich," he says, "in a bad way, and let no report slander you to those..."