[2,5] ἴσως δέ τινα αὐτῶν καὶ δημοτικὰ λέγοιτ´ ἄν, συμβουλεύοντα καὶ παραινοῦντα τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ ἰδιώταις, καθάπερ οἶμαι τὰ Φωκυλίδου καὶ Θεόγνιδος· ἀφ´ ὧν τί ἂν ὠφεληθῆναι δύναιτο ἀνὴρ ἡμῖν ὅμοιος, πάντων μὲν κρατέειν ἐθέλων, πάντεσσι δ´ ἀνάσσειν; (6) τὴν δέ γε Ὁμήρου ποίησιν μόνην ὁρῶ τῷ ὄντι γενναίαν καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῆ καὶ βασιλικήν, ᾗ πρέπει τὸν νοῦν προσέχειν ἄνδρα μάλιστα μὲν ἄρξειν μέλλοντα τῶν ὅποι ποτὲ ἀνθρώπων, εἰ δὲ μή, τῶν πλείστων καὶ φανερωτάτων, ἀτεχνῶς γε ἐσόμενον κατ´ ἐκεῖνον ποιμένα λαῶν. ἢ πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον ἵππῳ μὲν μὴ ἐθέλειν ἢ τῷ ἀρίστῳ χρῆσθαι τὸν βασιλέα, τῶν δὲ ποιητῶν καὶ τοῖς ἥττοσιν ἐντυγχάνειν, (7) ὥσπερ σχολὴν ἄγοντα; εὖ ἴσθι, ἔφη, ὦ πάτερ, ἐγὼ οὐ μόνον ποιητὴν ἕτερον, ἀλλ´ οὐδὲ μέτρον ἄλλο ἢ τὸ Ὁμήρου ἡρῷον ἀκούων ἀνέχομαι. πάνυ οὖν ὁ Φίλιππος αὐτὸν ἠγάσθη τῆς μεγαλοφροσύνης, ὅτι δῆλος ἦν οὐδὲν φαῦλον οὐδὲ ταπεινὸν ἐπινοῶν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τε ἥρωσι καὶ τοῖς ἡμιθέοις παραβαλλόμενος. (8) ὅμως δὲ κινεῖν αὐτὸν βουλόμενος, Τὸν δὲ Ἡσίοδον, ὦ Ἀλέξανδρε, ὀλίγου ἄξιον κρίνεις, ἔφη, ποιητήν; Οὐκ ἔγωγε, εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ παντός, οὐ μέντοι βασιλεῦσιν οὐδὲ στρατηγοῖς ἴσως. Ἀλλὰ τίσι μήν; καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος γελάσας, Τοῖς ποιμέσιν, ἔφη, καὶ τοῖς τέκτοσι καὶ τοῖς γεωργοῖς. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ποιμένας φησὶ φιλεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν Μουσῶν, τοῖς δὲ τέκτοσι μάλα ἐμπείρως παραινεῖ πηλίκον χρὴ τὸν ἄξονα τεμεῖν, καὶ τοῖς γεωργοῖς, ὁπηνίκα ἄρξασθαι πίθου. (9) Τί οὖν; οὐχὶ ταῦτα χρήσιμα, ἔφη, τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὁ Φίλιππος; Οὐχ ἡμῖν γε, εἶπεν, ὦ πάτερ, οὐδὲ Μακεδόσι τοῖς νῦν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρότερον, ἡνίκα νέμοντες καὶ γεωργοῦντες Ἰλλυριοῖς ἐδούλευον καὶ Τριβαλλοῖς. Οὐδὲ τὰ περὶ τὸν σπόρον, ἔφη, καὶ τὸν ἀμητόν, ὁ Φίλιππος, ἀρέσκει σοι τοῦ Ἡσιόδου μεγαλοπρεπῶς οὕτως εἰρημένα; Πληιάδων Ἀτλαγενέων ἐπιτελλομενάων ἄρχεσθ´ ἀμητοῦ, ἀρότοιο δὲ δυσομενάων.

[2,5] And perhaps some of them might be called popular also, in that they give advice and admonition to the masses and to private citizens, as, for instance, the works of Phocylides and Theognis do. What is there in them by which a man could profit,"who, like you or me, aspires to be The master, over all to domineer.' The poetry of Homer, however, I look upon as alone truly noble and lofty and suited to a king, worthy of the attention of a real man, particularly if he expects to rule over all the peoples of the earth—or at any rate over most of them, and those the most prominent —if he is to be, in the strict sense of the term, what Homer calls a ` shepherd of the people.' Or would it not be absurd for a king to refuse to use any horse but the best and yet, when it is a question of poets, to read the poorer ones as though he had nothing else to do ? On my word, father, I not only cannot endure to hear any other poet recited but Homer, but even object to any other metre than Homer's heroic hexameter." Then Philip admired his son greatly for his noble spirit, since it was plain that he harboured no unworthy or ignoble ideas but made the heroes and demigods his examples. Nevertheless, in his desire to arouse him, he said, " But take Hesiod, Alexander ; do you judge him of little account as a poet? " "Nay, not I," he replied, " but of every account, though not for kings and generals, I suppose." "Well, then, for whom?" And Alexander answered with a smile : " For shepherds, carpenters, and farmers ; since he says that shepherds are beloved by the Muses, and to carpenters he gives very shrewd advice as to how large they should cut an axle, and to farmers, when to broach a cask." "Well," said Philip, " and is not such advice useful to men ? " "Not to you and me, father," he replied, " nor to the Macedonians of the present day, though to those of former times it was useful, when they lived a slave's life, herding and farming for Illyrians and Triballians." "But do you not like these magnificent lines of Hesiod about seed-time and harvest ? " said Philip : "Mark well the time when the Pleiads, daughters of Atlas, are rising ; Then begin with the harvest, but do not plough till their setting."