Bias (;
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Βίας ὁ Πριηνεύς; fl. 6th century BC) of
Priene
Priene ( grc, Πριήνη, Priēnē; tr, Prien) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city of Ionia (and member of the Ionian League) located at the base of an escarpment of Mycale, about north of what was then the course of the Maeander River ...
was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
sage. He is widely accepted as one of the
Seven Sages of Greece
The Seven Sages (of Greece) or Seven Wise Men (Greek: ''hoi hepta sophoi'') was the title given by classical Greek tradition to seven philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 7–6th century BC who were renowned for their wisdom.
The S ...
and was renowned for his probity.
Life
Bias was born at
Priene
Priene ( grc, Πριήνη, Priēnē; tr, Prien) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city of Ionia (and member of the Ionian League) located at the base of an escarpment of Mycale, about north of what was then the course of the Maeander River ...
(modern-day
Güllübahçe,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
), and was the son of Teutamus.
[Diogenes Laërtius, i. 82] He is said to have been distinguished for his skill as an advocate, and for his use of it in defence of the right.
[Diogenes Laërtius, i. 84] In reference to which
Demodocus of Leros
Demodocus (; grc-gre, Δημόδoκος, ''Demodokos'') of Leros was an ancient Greek poet who is believed to have lived during the sixth century BC. on the small island of Leros in the Aegean sea. He composed in elegiac couplet, elegiacs and iam ...
uttered the following saying: "If you are a judge, give a Prienian decision," and
Hipponax said, "More powerful in pleading causes than Bias of Priene."
He was always reckoned among the
Seven Sages, and was mentioned by
Dicaearchus
Dicaearchus of Messana (; grc-gre, Δικαίαρχος ''Dikaiarkhos''; ), also written Dikaiarchos (), was a Greek philosopher, geographer and author. Dicaearchus was a student of Aristotle in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains exta ...
as one of the Four to whom alone that title was universally given, the remaining three being
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...
,
Pittacus
Pittacus (; grc-gre, Πιττακός; 640 – 568 BC) was an ancient Mytilenean military general and one of the Seven Sages of Greece.
Biography
Pittacus was a native of Mytilene and son of Hyrradius. He became a Mytilenaean general who, with ...
, and
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
.
Satyrus placed him at the head of the Seven Sages,
and even
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire.
Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...
, who poured scorn on figures such as
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
and
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samos, Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionians, Ionian Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher and the eponymou ...
, referred to Bias as "a man of more consideration than any." One of the examples of his great goodness is the legend that says that Bias paid a ransom for some women who had been taken prisoner. After educating them as his own daughters, he sent them back to
Messina
Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
, their homeland, and to their fathers.
Bias is said to have died at a very advanced age while pleading a cause for his client. After he had finished speaking, he rested his head on his grandson. When the advocate on the opposite side had spoken, the judges decided in favor of Bias's client, by which time Bias had died.
The city gave him a magnificent funeral and inscribed on his tomb:
[Diogenes Laërtius, i. 85]
Works
It is said that Bias wrote a poem of 2000 lines on
Ionia
Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...
and the way to make it prosperous.
Sayings
Many sayings were attributed to him by
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
and by others:
*"The naïve men are easily fooled."
*"Most people are evil."
*"All men are wicked."
*"It is difficult to bear a change of fortune for the worse with
magnanimity
Magnanimity (from Latin '' magnanimitās'', from '' magna'' "big" + '' animus'' "soul, spirit") is the virtue of being great of mind and heart. It encompasses, usually, a refusal to be petty, a willingness to face danger, and actions for noble ...
."
*"Choose the course which you adopt with deliberation; but when you have adopted it, then persevere in it with firmness."
*"Do not speak fast, for that shows folly."
*"Love prudence."
*"Speak of the Gods as they are."
*"Do not praise an undeserving man because of his riches."
*"Gain your point by persuasion, not by force." / "Take by persuasion, not by force."
*"Cherish wisdom as a means of traveling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession."
* "So order your affairs as if you were to live long, or die soon."
*
"I carry all my effects with me."
* "They love as if they would one day hate, and hate as if they would one day love."
* "Office will show a man."
Vatican bust
In April, 1819,
Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
wrote in his ''Reisebuch''
ravel Diary "In the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
all of Philosophersthere is the bust of Bias with the inscription of πλεῖστοι ἄνθρωποι κακοί
ost men are bad Indeed this must have been his maxim."
[''Manuscript Remains'', Volume 3, "Reisebuch," § 30]
Notes
References
*
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bias Of Priene
6th-century BC Greek people
Seven Sages of Greece