The Theodore Cerem named on p. 12, is Theodorus Cyrenaicus, who was probably a native of Cyrene, and a disciple of Aristippus. He was banished from the (supposed) place of his birth, and was shielded at Athens by Demetrius Phalerus, whose exile he is assumed to have shared. Whilst in the service of Egypt he was sent as an ambassador to Lysimachus, whom he offended by the directness and plainness of his speech. The offended monarch threatened him with crucifixion, and he replied in a phrase which became famous, "Threaten thus your courtiers, for it matters not to me whether I rot on the ground or in the air."[40] The king's threat was not executed, as Theodorus was afterwards at Corinth, and is believed to have died at Cyrene. That he was condemned to drink hemlock is a statement cited from Amphicrates by Diogenes Lærtius (Aristippus, xv.). The anecdote of his colloquy with Lysimachus would easily be perverted into a belief that he had been put to death for the freedom with which he exercised his biting wit.
The Democreon mentioned at pp. 12 and 16 is Democritus of Abdera, of whom the anecdote is told. He was a man whose knowledge and wisdom won even the respect of Timon, the universal scoffer. The tradition that he deprived himself of sight with a view to philosophic abstraction is mentioned by Cicero, Aulus Gellius, and others, but it is hardly necessary to account for a too uncommon calamity by a supposition so remarkable.
The transformations of some of the names are peculiar. At p. 12 we read of Defortes. The philosopher disguised under this strange name appears to be Socrates. The story is told in the Apology of Socrates attributed to Xenophon. The person to whom the saying was addressed was not Xanthippe, but was a disciple named Apollodorus, whose understanding was not equal to his admiration.
The statement that Didymus voluntarily blinded himself is made both by Jerome (Ep. 68) and in the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates (iv. 29). Didymus was born 309 or 314, and became blind at the age of four, as the result of disease. He learned the alphabet by wooden letters, and by application and force of character became learned in all the learning of his time. Is this a real anticipation of the use of raised letters for the blind? What would be the use of a knowledge of the alphabet so acquired in obtaining that skill in geometry, rhetoric, arithmetic, and music for which he was famous? He owed to Athanasius his position as head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria.
The readers of "Cymbeline" will remember the passage in the concluding scene:--
"The piece of tender air, thy virtuous daughter,
Which we call mollis ær; and mollis ær
We term it mulier; which mulier, I divine,
Is this most constant wife: who even now,
Answering the letter of the oracle,
Unknown to you unsought, were clipp'd about
With this most tender air."
This quaint piece of etymology will be found at p. 123 of the present volume.
There is an interesting personal reference in the following passage which has not, it is believed, been pointed out:--
"And also hit is to be supposyd that suche as haue theyr goodes comune & not propre is most acceptable to god/ For ellys wold not thise religious men as monkes freris chanons obseruantes & all other auowe hem & kepe the wilfull pouerte that they ben professid too/ For in trouth I haue my self ben conuersant in a religious hous of white freris at gaunt Which haue all thynge in comyn amonge them/ and not one richer than an other/ in so moche that yf a man gaf to a frere .iii.d or iiii.d to praye for hym in his masse/ as sone as the masse is doon he deliuerith hit to his ouerest or procuratour in whyche hows ben many vertuous and deuoute freris And yf that lyf were not the beste and the most holiest/ holy church wold neuer suffre hit in religion."
This description by the busy merchant of the "best life" might serve to point anew the distinction between the real and the ideal, and perhaps not to the advantage of the latter.