XIV. Heraclitus was invited by king Darius, for his great virtue and learning, to this effect: "Come as soon as thou canst to my presence and royal palace; for the Greeks, for the most part, are not obsequious to wise men, but despise the good things which they deliver. With me thou shalt have the first place, and daily honour and titles: thy way of living shall be as noble as thy instructions." But Heraclitus, refusing his offer, returned this answer: "Heraclitus to Darius the king, health. Most men refrain from justice and truth to pursue insatiableness and vain glory, by reason of their folly: but I, having forgotten all evil, and shunning the society of inbred envy and pride, will never come to the kingdom of Persia, being contented with a little according to my own mind." He also slighted the Athenians. He had great and clear apprehensions of the nature and power of God, maintaining his divinity against the idolatry in fashion. This definition he gives of God: "He is not made with hands. The whole world, adorned with his creatures, is his mansion. Where is God? Shut up in temples? Impious men! who place their God in the dark. It is a reproach to a man to tell him he is a stone, yet the god you profess is born of a rock: you ignorant people! you know not God: his works bear witness of him." Of himself he saith, "O ye men, will ye not learn why I never laugh? It is not that I hate men, but their wickedness. If you would not have me weep, live in peace: you carry swords in your tongues; you plunder wealth, poison friends, betray the trust the people repose in you: shall I laugh when I see men do these things? Their garments, beards, and heads adorned with unnecessary care; a mother deserted by a wicked son; or young men consuming their patrimony; others filling their bellies at feasts more with poison than with dainties. Virtue would strike me blind if I should laugh at your wars. By music, pipes, and stripes you are excited to things contrary to all harmony. Iron, a metal more proper for ploughs and tillage, is fitted for slaughter and death; men raising armies of men, covet to kill one another, and punish them that quit the field for not staying to murder men. They honour as valiants such as are drunk with blood; but lions, horses, eagles, and other creatures, use not swords, bucklers, and instruments of war: their limbs are their weapons,--some their horns, some their bills, some their wings; to one is given swiftness, to another bigness, to a third swimming. No irrational creature useth a sword, but keeps itself within the laws of its creation, except man, that doth not so, which brings the heavier blame, because he hath the greatest understanding.--You must leave your wars, and your wickedness, which you ratify by a law, if you would have me leave my severity. I have overcome pleasure, I have overcome riches, I have overcome ambition, I have mastered flattery: fear hath nothing to object against me,