# Περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος 5.15

Aelian, Περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος, Book 5. Ancient Greek.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/greek/aelian/text/5.15

βασιλεύονται δὲ ἄρα καὶ σφῆκες, ἀλλʼ οὐ τυραννοῦνται ὡς ἄνθρωποι. καὶ τὸ μαρτύριον, ἄκεντροι καὶ οἵδε εἰσί. καὶ οἱ μὲν ὑπήκοοι τὰ ἔργα πλάττειν αὐτοῖς νόμον ἔχουσιν, οἱ δὲ ἄρχοντές εἰσι διπλάσιοι μὲν τὸ μέγεθος, πρᾶοι δὲ καὶ οἷοι μήτε ἑκόντες λυπεῖν ἔχειν μήτε ἄκοντες. τίς οὖν οὐκ ἂν μισήσειε Διονυσίους τοὺς ἐν Σικελίᾳ καὶ Κλέαρχον τὸν ἐν Ἡρακλείᾳ καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρον τὸν Κασανδρέων λευστῆρα καὶ τὸν Λακεδαιμονίων λυμεῶνα τὸν Νάβιν, εἴγε οἳ μὲν ἐθάρρουν τῷ ξίφει, τῷ δὲ ἀκέντρῳ καὶ τῇ πραότητι οἱ τῶν σφηκῶν βασιλεῖς;

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Aelian, Περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος, ed. Rudolf Hercher, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff. Text: The Greek Library, from the Perseus Digital Library and other open sources, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: apostrophes normalised and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Source: https://thegreeklibrary.pages.lisn.upsaclay.fr/works/tlg0545.tlg001.local001/.