INTRODUCTION
tences are mostly compressed and highly elliptical, to the point sometimes of obscurity. It follows that translation, as with Aristotle, must be to some extent paraphrase. The thirty sketches of 'Characters' ascribed to Theophrastus, which have found many imitators, and which are well known in this country through Sir R. Jebb's brilliant translation, stand on a quite different footing; the object of this curious and amusing work is discussed in Sir R. Jebb's Introduction and in the more recent edition of Edmonds and Austen. Well may Aristotle, as we are assured, have commended his pupil's diligence. It is said that, when he retired from the headship of the school, he handed it over to Theophrastus. We are further told that the latter was once prosecuted for impiety, but the attack failed; also that he was once banished from Athens for a year, it does not appear under what circumstances. He was considered an attractive and lively lecturer. Diogenes' sketch ends with the quotation of some sayings attributed to him, of which the most noteworthy are 'Nothing costs us so dear as the waste of time,' 'One had better trust an unbridled horse than an undigested harangue.' He was followed to his grave, which we may hope was, in accordance with his own wish, in some peaceful corner of the Lyceum garden, by a great assemblage of his fellow townsmen.
