“An intelligent and well-disposed friend is the finest of all possessions.”
κτημάτων πάντων ἐστὶ τιμιώτατον ἀνὴρ φίλος συνετός τε καὶ εὔνοος
Friendship: Herodotus, 5.24.3
ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
I wouldn’t expect Herodotus to be so sentimental. Where are the gold-digging ants and temple prostitutes? Is this from a conversations between a gold-digging and a temple prostitute?
It’s from a conversation between Darius and Histiaeus. It’s fairly typical of the sententious claptrap that kings and tyrants were wont to express as a reaction to the hard living conditions of an all-powerful monarch.