We will relate two anecdotes that appear in the historian Polyaenus’s Stratagems (V.14—V.15).    There once was a young man named Thrasymedes who fell in love with the daughter of Peisistratus, an ancient tyrant of Athens.  One day, as the girl was walking in an official processing through the streets of the city, Thrasymedes boldly approached her and attempted to engage her in conversation. 

One of the girl’s brothers took offense at the young man’s impertinence, but Peisistratus saw things differently.  He said to his son, “If we punish people for showing affection for us, how would we deal with those who hate us?”  Thrasymedes would not be put off, however; he conceived a design to take the girl by force, and enlisted some friends to help him with this plan.  Kidnapping a tyrant’s daughter could never be described as safe enterprise; but the strength of his passion overrode any concerns for his safety.  One day Thrasymedes and his friends seized the girl, carried her aboard a ship, and set sail for Aegina. 

However, Thrasymedes’s ship happened to be captured at sea by Hippias, one of the sons of Peisistratus, who was patrolling for pirates.  He took everyone into custody and brought them all back to Athens to face the anticipated wrath of Peisistratus.  But Thrasymedes and his friends took full responsibility for what they had done; they neither begged for forgiveness, nor pleaded for their lives.  In fact, they bluntly told the Athenian leader that, from the inception of their enterprise, they had considered themselves marked for death, and were unconcerned with what might happen now.  The old tyrant was deeply impressed with the bravery and decision of Thrasymedes, and gave his daughter to him in marriage.  We are also told that the citizens of Athens were moved by this drama, and thereafter saw Peisistratus as a good father and patriotic leader.     

Our second anecdote concerns the actions of one Megacles of Messene.  Messene was the ancient name of the modern Sicilian city of Messina, located at the northernmost tip of the island.  Megacles was a commander at Messene, and put up a stout resistance to the attempts of Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, to capture the city.  Time and time again, he foiled Agathocles’s plans.  Finally, losing all patience with this spirited commander, Agathocles sent a message to the people of Messene, telling them that if they did not surrender Megacles to him, he would destroy Messene and sell everyone into slavery. 

Megacles conferred with his fellow citizens.  He told them that they should appoint him their ambassador to Agathocles.  He did not fear death, and said he would surrender himself to the tyrant and negotiate with him.  The Messenians agreed with him, and appointed him their ambassador.  When Megacles entered Agathocles’s camp, he said these words to him:

I come in the name of my city, as an ambassador from the Messenians; and the object of my embassy is to die.  But first convene your friends, and give me a hearing.

[Trans. by R. Shepherd]

So Agathocles convened a council of his men, and gave Megacles the audience he had asked for.  During the meeting, Megacles said to them words to this effect:  “If the people of my city had launched an attack on yours, and had threatened you as you have threatened us, would not you have done the same things that I have done in response?”  Agathocles was impressed with this display of courage and logic, and could see the point.  Instead of imprisoning or executing him, he released Megacles back to his city; and soon after this, he ended the war and made an alliance with Messene.    

So it is that boldness and resolution can be enough to accomplish one’s designs, even when the probabilities of success appear to be low.  What is required is the spirit of a leader, that intangible force which can transform the seemingly impossible into the possible.  It is this spirit that must be cultivated and exercised in all our designs.  One cannot wait for a perfect alignment of external factors to act; for there never will be such an auspicious arrangement of the heavenly spheres.  It is we ourselves who must create, through the momentum of our own actions, the favorable conditions for victory. 

Plutarch, in his Moralia (Sayings of Kings and Commanders 187), tells us that the Greek commander Iphicrates was once present at an assembly.  He was approached by man who said to him, “Who are you, that you should assume so much responsibility—a horseman, a footman, an archer, or a shield-bearer?”  Iphicrates responded, “I am none of these:  I am he who understands how to command all of those.”  These words ended the conversation.   

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Read more on this topic, and other related subjects, in the essay collection Digest:

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