Cleobulus (; , ''Kleoboulos ho Lindios''; fl. 6th century BC) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

poet and a native of

Lindos Lindos (; ) is an archaeological site, a fishing village and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is a municipal unit. ...

. He is one of the

Seven Sages of Greece The Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men was the title given to seven philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 7th–6th centuries BCE who were renowned for their wisdom Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, ...

Life

Cleobulus was the son of Evagoras and a citizen of

Lindus Lindus or Lindos () was one of the most important towns in ancient Rhodes. History It was situated on the eastern coast, a little to the north of a promontory bearing the same name. The district was in ancient times very productive in wine and fi ...

in Rhodes.

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

called Cleobulus king of the Lindians, and

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

spoke of him as the

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

. The letter quoted by

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

, in which Cleobulus invites

Solon Solon (; ; BC) was an Archaic Greece#Athens, archaic History of Athens, Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. ...

to Lindus as a democratic place of refuge from the tyrant

Peisistratus Pisistratus (also spelled Peisistratus or Peisistratos; ; – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, is undoubtedly a later forgery. Cleobulus is also said to have studied philosophy in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

.Diogenes Laërtius, i. 89 He had a daughter,

Cleobulina Cleobulina (, 6th century BC) or Eumetis (Εὔμητις) was an ancient Greek poet. She was known for writing riddles, and three riddles attributed to her survive. According to Athenaeus and Diogenes Laërtius, Cleobulina came from Lindos on the ...

, who found fame as a poet, composing riddles in hexameter verse. Cleobulus is said to have lived to the age of seventy, and to have been greatly distinguished for strength and beauty of person.

Extant fragments

Cleobulus apparently wrote lyric poems, as well as riddles in verse. Diogenes Laërtius also ascribes to him the inscription on the tomb of

Midas Midas (; ) was a king of Phrygia with whom many myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house. His father was Gordias, and his mother was Cybele. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek m ...

, of which

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

was considered by others to have been the author: I am a brazen maiden lying here Upon the tomb of Midas. And as long As water flows, as trees are green with leaves, As the sun shines and eke the silver moon, As long as rivers flow, and billows roar, So long will I upon this much wept tomb, Tell passers by, "Midas lies buried here." The

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

mentions him, and farther down, his daughter Cleobulina. An epigram of his is in the

Palatine Anthology The ''Palatine Anthology'' (or ''Anthologia Palatina''), sometimes abbreviated ''AP'', is the collection of Greek poems and epigrams discovered in 1606 in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg. It is based on the lost collection of Constantine Keph ...

(VII, 153), and in another place records two epigrams together as "One of Homer, or of Cleobulus", without specifying which is the latter's. French scholar Pierre Waltz analyzed the problem in the ''Anthologie Grecque'' Likewise an

enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York–based data-technology startup *Enigma machine, a famil ...

is attributed to him is recorded in the Palatine Anthology (XIV). Many sayings were attributed to Cleobulus: *"Ignorance and talkativeness bear the chief sway among men." *"Cherish not a thought." *"Do not be fickle, or ungrateful." *"Be fond of hearing rather than of talking." *"Be fond of learning rather than unwilling to learn." *"Seek virtue and

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