Letter 249: "They lie who say you are the son of Zeus" -- someone once said this to one of the Heraclidae before Troy [a Homeric...

Someone once said to a certain man, when people falsely claimed him to be a son of Zeus, that those descended from Zeus around Ilium were the Heraclidae [the descendants of Heracles]; and the claim that you are indeed powerful in the city is asserted, but when tested it is shown not to be so. At any rate, you gave no help at all to Olympius, who is being wronged in every way. But if you really do have power, then a second thing, and a worse one, must be admitted: that you care nothing for your friends. For I do not know what more terrible thing we could have suffered had you happened to be away, when as it is we are harmed by your very presence. And if you take refuge in ignorance of what is being done, you will neither seem to be saying anything plausible, nor will you escape the charge any the more on that account; for the very fact of not looking into such matters is itself a ground for accusation. So choose whichever of three things you wish: either to stop those who are doing wrong, or to be called base, or to be called weak. I know that you will assert the third, speaking ironically; but you will not, by employing irony, escape notice for all that.

Κλεάρχῳ. (358/59?) Ψευδόμενοι δέ σέ φασι Δῖός γόνον εἶναι πρός τινά τις ἔφησε τῶν ἐκ Δῖός Ἡρακλείδης περὶ Ἴλιον καὶ τὸ σὲ δὴ δύνασθαι ἐν τῇ πόλει λέγεται μέν, ἐλέγχεται δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχον. οὔκουν οὐδὲν ἐβοήθησας Ὀλυμπίῳ περὶ πάντα ἀδικου- μένῳ. εἰ δὲ ἔστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς σοι δύναμις, ἕτερον ἀνάγκη χεῖρον ὁμολογεῖσθαι, τὸ μηδέν σοι μέλειν τῶν φίλων. οὐ γὰρ οἶδα τί ἂν δεινότερον ἐπάσχομεν, εἰ ἀπὼν ἐτύγχανες, οὗ νῦν παρόντος βλαπτόμεθα. εἰ δ’ εἰς ἄγνοιαν τῶν πραττομένων καταφεύξῃ, οὔτ’ εἰκότα δόξεις λέγειν τήν τε αἰτίαν οὐδὲν μᾶλ- λον ἀποφεύξῃ. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸ τὸ μὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα ζητεῖν ἔχκλημα. ἑλοῦ δὴ τριῶν ὅ τι βούλει, ἡ παῦσαι τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἡ φαῦλος εἶναι λέγειν ἢ ἀσθενής. οἶδ’ ὅτι τὸ τρίτον ἐρεῖς εἰρω- νευόμενος, πλὴν οὐ λήσεις γε εἰρωνείᾳ χρώμενος.