Simplicius, Commentary on Epictetus 12.2

. . . Now the allusion he has made use of for this purpose seems to be exceeding proper and pertinent; for the old moralists in their fables have commonly chosen the sea to represent the mortal state. The roughness of its waves, its frequent ebbs and floods, the tempestuous weather to which it lies exposed, and the suffocating all that sink into it, do abundantly justify the metaphor. 

By the ship may be meant, that which unites the soul to the body, and brings her into this mortal state, whether it be fate, or fortune, or whatever else you will please to call it. 

The master of this ship is God, who governs and disposes all things, and commands the souls into their respective bodies, according as His own Infinite Wisdom and tender care sees fit, and in proportion to their own deserts. 

The bringing this ship into port is the assigning to these souls their proper station, and country, and family; by virtue whereof, some are born in one climate and nation, and some in another: some are descended from great and noble families, and others meanly born; some of virtuous or healthful parents, and others of vicious and diseased ones. 

The going out for fresh water, is the care we take for supplying the necessities of nature, without which it is impossible that life should be supported: and indeed, what is there in this state of mortality of such general use? What that we can so little want, both for the making of our meat and drink, as water? 

What is intended by gathering salads, or shellfish by the by, himself has very elegantly informed us, by instancing in a wife, and an estate; and acquainting us withal, that when Providence is pleased to bestow them upon us, we are not to refuse them, but so neither are we to receive or value them, as either the principal and most desirable goods, or indeed such as are properly ours. 

For the first and chief good is that disposition of mind, which is ever obedient to the master of the ship, ever attentive to his call. Nor must we lay ourselves out upon these matters, as we were allowed to do upon water, or necessary things, but look upon them as additional comforts only, and such as help to make life easy and convenient. 

Now if this master calls us to the ship, and gives order for our returning back to himself, and to that which is our true, our native country: make the best of your way, says he, to the ship; leave everything that relates to this mortal life, be ready to obey his first orders, and do not loiter, or hanker upon anything behind, for fear, when nature cuts the cable, your inclinations still be left on shore. 

Go you must, that’s most certain, and therefore it is that he tells you, if you do not follow readily and cheerfully, and quit all of your own accord, you shall be tied neck and heels, like sheep, and thrown under the hatches. That is, you shall be forced, and torn away, and thrust out of the world, like those foolish and sheepish wretches, who die with cowardice, and reluctancy, and unmanly lamentations of themselves and their friends. 

But there is yet another caution observable here, which is that the person to whom the enjoyment of marriage, and such others as are the additional advantages of life, are allowed, must be sure to indulge himself in such enjoyment of them only, as is seasonable; that so, when he has taken as much of these as is fit for him, he may remove without any delay, and readily comply with the master’s first call. 

But if a man be old, and draws near his end, he will do best to keep himself wholly disengaged, and entertain himself with nothing so much, as the constant thought and expectation of the ship’s sailing, and his quitting the shore; for fear, when the time of his return comes, and the master calls, he be retarded by his burden, and fastened down to land, and be forced, with a great deal of unbecoming concern, to leave a young wife, and pretty children behind. 

And surely an old man, upon all accounts, has much greater reason to prepare for leaving the world, than to entertain himself with vain projects of settling in it. 

Dio Chrysostom, On Training for Public Speaking 3

When it comes to the orators, however, who does not know which are the best—Demosthenes for the vigor of his style, the impressiveness of his thought, and the copiousness of his vocabulary, qualities in which he surpasses all other orators; and Lysias for his brevity, the simplicity and coherence of his thought, and for his well concealed cleverness. 

However, I should not advise you to read these two chiefly, but Hypereides rather and Aeschines; for the faculties in which they excel are simpler, their rhetorical embellishments are easier to grasp, and the beauty of their diction is not one whit inferior to that of the two who are ranked first. But I should advise you to read Lycurgus⁠ as well, since he has a lighter touch than those others and reveals a certain simplicity and nobility of character in his speeches. 

At this point I say it is advisable—even if some one, after reading my recommendation of the consummate masters of oratory, is going to find fault—also not to remain unacquainted with the more recent orators, those who lived a little before our time;⁠ I refer to the works of such men as Antipater,⁠ Theodorus,⁠ Plution,⁠ and Conon,⁠ and to similar material. 

For the powers they display can be more useful to us because, when we read them, our judgment is not fettered and enslaved, as it is when we approach the ancients. For when we find that we are able to criticize what has been said, we are most encouraged to attempt the same things ourselves, and we find more pleasure in comparing ourselves with others when we are convinced that in the comparison we should be found to be not inferior to them, with the chance, occasionally, of being even superior. 

I shall now turn to the Socratics,⁠ writers who, I affirm, are quite indispensable to every man who aspires to become an orator. For just as no meat without salt will be gratifying to the taste, so no branch of literature, as it seems to me, could possibly be pleasing to the ear if it lacked the Socratic grace. 

It would be a long task to eulogize the others; even to read them is no light thing. But it is my own opinion that Xenophon, and he alone of the ancients, can satisfy all the requirements of a man in public life. 

Whether one is commanding an army in time of war, or is guiding the affairs of a state, or is addressing a popular assembly or a senate, or even if he were addressing a court of law and desired, not as a professional master of eloquence merely, but as a statesman or a royal prince, to utter sentiments appropriate to such a character at the bar of justice, the best exemplar of all, it seems to me, and the most profitable for all these purposes is Xenophon. 

For not only are his ideas clear and simple and easy for everyone to grasp, but the character of his narrative style is attractive, pleasing, and convincing, being in a high degree true to life in the representation of character, with much charm also and effectiveness, so that his power suggests not cleverness but actual wizardry. 

If, for instance, you should be willing to read his work on the March Inland very carefully, you will find no speech, such as you will one day possess the ability to make, whose subject matter he has not dealt with and can offer as a kind of norm to any man who wishes to steer his course by him or imitate him. 

If it is needful for the statesman to encourage those who are in the depths of despondency, time and again our writer shows how to do this; or if the need is to incite and exhort, no one who understands the Greek language could fail to be aroused by Xenophon's hortatory speeches. My own heart, at any rate, is deeply moved and at times I weep even as I read his account of all those deeds of valor. 

Or, if it is necessary to deal prudently with those who are proud and conceited and to avoid, on the one hand, being affected in any way by their displeasure, or, on the other, enslaving one's own spirit to them in unseemly fashion and doing their will in everything, guidance in this also is to be found in him. 

And also how to hold secret conferences both with generals apart from the common soldiers and with the soldiers in the same way;⁠ the proper manner of conversing with kings and princes; how to deceive enemies to their hurt and friends for their own benefit; how to tell the plain truth to those who are needlessly disturbed without giving offense, and to make them believe it; how not to trust too readily those in authority over you, and the means by which such persons deceive their inferiors, and the way in which men outwit and are outwitted—on all these points Xenophon's treatise⁠ gives adequate information. 

For I imagine that it is because he combines deeds with words, because he did not learn by hearsay nor by copying, but by doing deeds himself as well as telling of them, that he made his speeches most convincingly true to life in all his works and especially in this one which I chanced to mention. 

And be well assured that you will have no occasion to repent, but that both in the senate and before the people you will find this great man reaching out a hand to you if you earnestly and diligently read him.