Epistles of Phalaris, VII: To Euenus
“Though my mind was made up, when once I had taken your son prisoner, to kill him for the injustices he had inflicted upon my captains, I later changed my mind and spared him. I would prefer that you suffer because he lives than that he suffer the loss of dying.”
Εὐήνῳ.
Γνώμης γενόμενος τὸ πρῶτον ἁλόντα αἰχμάλωτον ἀποκτεῖναί σου τὸν υἱὸν ἀνθ’ ὧν ἠδίκηκέ μου τοὺς ναυάρχους, μετέγνων ὕστερον καὶ σέσωκα. μᾶλλον γὰρ βούλομαι διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου ζωῆς σὲ λυπεῖν ἢ διὰ τῆς ἀναιρέσεως τὸν ἀποθανόντα.