Aelian, Varia Historia 4.14

πολλάκις τὰ κατ’ ὀβολὸν μετὰ πολλῶν πόνων συναχθέντα χρήματα κατὰ τὸν Ἀρχίλοχον εἰς πόρνης γυναικὸς ἔντερον καταρρέει. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐχῖνον λαβεῖν μὲν ῥᾴδιον συνέχειν δὲ χαλεπόν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ χρήματα. καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας ἐν τῷ περὶ βασιλείας φησὶ χαλεπὸν χρήματα συναγείρασθαι, χαλεπώτερον δὲ φυλακὴν τούτοις περιθεῖναι.

According to Archilochus, wealth which has been collected penny by penny with many labours is often poured out into the belly of a prostitute; just as it is easy to catch a hedgehog and difficult to keep hold of it, so it is with money as well. Anaxagoras too says (in his book On Kingship) that it is difficult to get together money, but more difficult to keep a guard over it.

Aelian, Varia Historia 14.44

Λακωνικὸν μειράκιον ἐπρίατο χωρίον ὑπερεύωνον, εἶτα ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἤχθη καὶ ἐζημιώθη. τὸ δὲ αἴτιον τῆς καταδίκης ἐκεῖνο ἦν, ἐπεὶ νέος ὢν τοῦ κερδαίνειν ὀξύτατα ἤρα. ἦν δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα ἀνδρικὸν καὶ τοῦτο, μὴ πρὸς μόνους πολεμίους παρατετάχθαι ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀργύριον.

A Spartan lad bought a piece of land for a very cheap price, for which he was taken to the magistrates and fined. The reason for the judgement was that, even at a young age, he had a very keen desire for gain. This was one of the Spartans’ most manly qualities – that they arrayed themselves in battle-order not only against their enemies but also against money.

Aelian, On the Nature of Animals 1.12

Ἔρωτος δὲ ἰσχὺν καὶ ἰχθύων γένη πολλὰ ἔγνω, τοῦ τοσούτου θεοῦ μηδὲ τοὺς κάτω καὶ ἐν τῷ βυθῷ τῆς θαλάσσης ὑπεριδόντος καὶ ἀτιμάσαντος.

The species of fish also know the power of Love: such a great god has neither overlooked nor disdained those below in the depths of the sea.

Aelian, Varia Historia 14.3a

ὅτι Τιμόθεος πρὸς Ἀριστοφῶντα ἄσωτον ὄντα πικρότατα καθικόμενος αὐτοῦ εἶπεν· “ᾧ ἱκανὸν οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ τούτῳ γε αἰσχρὸν οὐδέν.”

Note that Timotheus most bitterly attacked Aristophon, a dissolute man, saying, ‘For the man who is satisfied by nothing, nothing is shameful.’

Aelian, Varia Historia 14.18

Probably no such inconvenience at next year’s London Olympics, I’ll wager…

ἀνὴρ Χῖος ὀργιζόμενος τῷ οἰκέτῃ “ἐγώ σε” ἔφη “οὐκ εἰς μύλην ἐμβαλῶ, ἀλλ’ εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν ἄξω.” πολλῷ γὰρ ᾤετο πικροτέραν, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, εἶναι τιμωρίαν ἐκεῖνος ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ θεώμενον ὑπὸ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ὀπτᾶσθαι ἢ ἀλεῖν μύλῃ παραδοθέντα.

A man from Chios got angry with his house-slave and said, ‘I shan’t put you on the treadmill, but I will take you to Olympia.’ For the master thought it a much harsher punishment, as it seems, that he should watch at Olympia, and be baked under the sun, than that he should be sent to grind corn on the treadmill.

Aelian, Varia Historia 12.3.7

ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρος τὸν Ἀχιλλέως τάφον ἐστεφάνωσε καὶ Ἡφαιστίων τὸν τοῦ Πατρόκλου, αἰνιττόμενος ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἐρώμενος τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, ὥσπερ Ἀχιλλεῖ ὁ Πάτροκλος.

Note that Alexander laid a garland on Achilles’ tomb and Hephaestion laid one on Patroclus’ tomb, hinting that he was the beloved of Alexander, just as Patroclus had been to Achilles.

Aelian, Varia Historia 10.10

To start us off, here is a passage from Aelian, one of the ancient world’s greatest Random Readers!

ὅτε ὑπήρχετο ἡ γραφικὴ τέχνη, καὶ ἦν τρόπον τινὰ ἐν γάλαξι καὶ σπαργάνοις, οὕτως ἄρα ἀτέχνως εἴκαζον τὰ ζῷα ὥστε ἐπιγράφειν αὐτοῖς τοὺς γραφέας· “τοῦτο βοῦς. ἐκεῖνο ἵππος. ἐκεῖνο δένδρον.”

When the art of painting was just beginning, and it was, in a manner of speaking, unweaned and in its baby-clothes, animals were so unskilfully represented that the painters would write inscriptions on them: “This is an ox. That is a horse. That is a tree.”

Pliny the Elder says something similar about the earliest artists at Natural History 35.5:

inventam liniarem a Philocle Aegyptio vel Cleanthe Corinthio primi exercuere Aridices Corinthius et Telephanes Sicyonius, sine ullo etiamnum hi colore, iam tamen spargentes linias intus. ideo et quos pinxere adscribere institutum.

The first to practise line-drawing (which was invented by Philocles the Egyptian, or by Cleanthes the Corinthian) were Aridices the Corinthian and Telephanes the Sicyonian; without yet using any colours, these men nonetheless shaded the inside of the outline with lines. Therefore it was also their custom to put the name of the people they painted.