The grandson of this man was Alexander,11 who used to hurl his spear at his dinner-guests, who, of the two friends mentioned above, exposed one to the fury of a wild beast, the other to his own. Of these two, however, the one who was thrown to a lion lived. Alexander did not get this weakness from his grandfather, nor from his father either; for if Philip possessed any virtues at all, among them was the ability to endure insults — a great help in the maintenance of a throne. Demochares, surnamed Parrhesiastes12 on account of his bold and impudent tongue, came to him once in company with other envoys from the Athenians. Having granted the delegation a friendly hearing, Philip said, “Tell me what I can do that will please the Athenians.” Demochares took him at his word and replied, “Hang yourself.” All the bystanders flared up in indignation at such brutal words, but Philip bade them keep quiet and let that Thersites13 withdraw safe and unharmed. “But you,” he said, “you other envoys, go tell the Athenians that those who speak such words show far more arrogance than those who listen to them without retaliation.”
The deified Augustus also did and said many things that are memorable, which prove that was not ruled by anger. Timagenes, a writer of history, made some unfriendly remarks about the emperor himself, his wife, and all his family, and they had not been lost; for reckless wit gets bandied about more freely and is on everybody’s lips. Often did Caesar warn him that he must have a more prudent tongue; when he persisted, he forbade him the palace. After this, Timagenes lived to old age in the house of Asinius Pollio, and was lionized by the whole city. Though Caesar had excluded him from the palace, he was debarred from no other door. He gave readings of the history which he had written after the incident, and the books which contained the doings of Augustus Caesar he put in the fire and burned. He maintained hostility against Caesar, yet no one feared to be his friend, no one shrank from him as a blasted man; though he fell from such a height, he found some one ready to take him to his bosom. As I have said, Caesar bore all of this patiently, not even moved by the fact that his renown and his achievements had been assailed; he made no complaint against the host of his enemy. To Asinius Pollio he merely said, “You’re keeping a wild beast.”14 Then, when the other was trying to offer some excuse, he stopped him and said, “enjoy yourself, my dear Pollio, enjoy yourself!” and when Pollio declared, “If you bid me, Caesar, I shall forthwith deny him the house,” he replied, “Do you think that I would do this, when it was I who restored the friendship between you?” For the fact is, Pollio had once had a quarrel with Timagenes, and his only reason for ending it was that Caesar had now begun one.