"Pittacus was offered a great sum of money.

"'Pittacus was offered a large sum.'

Better: 'To Pittacus was offered a large sum.

"To Pittacus there was offered a great sum of money.

When Pittacus, after the Death of his Brother, who had left him a good Estate, was offered a great Sum of Money by the King of Lydia, he thanked him for his Kindness, but told him he had already more by Half than he knew what to do with.

PITTACUS, one of the seven sages of Greece, born at Mitylene, in Lesbos, in the 7th century B.C.; celebrated as a warrior, a statesman, a philosopher, and a poet; expelled the tyrants from Mitylene, and held the supreme power for 10 years after by popular vote, and resigned on the establishment of social order; two proverbs are connected with his name: "It is difficult to be good," "Know the fit time.

SEVEN SAGES OF GREECE, Solon of Athens, his motto "Know thyself"; Chilo of Sparta, his motto "Consider the end"; Thales of Miletus, his motto "Whoso hateth suretyship is sure"; Bias of Priene, his motto "Most men are bad"; Cleobulus of Lindos, his motto "Avoid extremes"; Pittacus of Mitylene, his motto "Seize Time by the forelock"; Periander of Corinth, his motto "Nothing is impossible to industry.

STESICHORUS, a celebrated Greek lyric poet, born in Sicily; contemporary of Sappho, Aleacus, and Pittacus; at his birth it is said a nightingale alighted on his lips and sang a sweet strain (632-652 B.C.).

[Illustration: Alcaeus] When the kindly Pittacus was chosen dictator, he was compelled to banish the swashbuckling brothers for their abuse of him.

But when Alcaeus chanced to be taken prisoner, Pittacus set him free, remarking that "forgiveness is better than revenge."