BIAS  of

Priene in Ionia, one of the so-called Seven Sages of Greece, son of Teutamus, flourished about 570 B.C . He was famous for his patriotism, the nobility of his character and his eloquence . A number of gnomes or aphorisms are attributed to him, which may be found collected in F . W . A . Mullach, Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum (186o) . He is said to have written a poem on the best means of making Ionia prosperous . His advice to its inhabitants, at the time of the Persian invasion, to migrate to Sardinia and there found a single pan-Ionic city (Herodotus i . 170), has generally been regarded as historical . One much-quoted saying of his may be mentioned . When his native town was besieged by the enemy, the inhabitants resolved to escape with their most valuable belongings . One of them seeing Bias without anything, advised him to follow the example of the rest .

" I am doing so," said he, " for I carry all my belongings with me " (omnia mea mecum

porto) . He was honoured with a splendid funeral, and a sanctuary called Teutamium was dedicated to him . See Bohren, De Septem Sapientibus (186o) .