person
Neoptolemus
also: Pyrrhus
Son of Achilles, reared on Scyros by his grandfather Lycomedes; without him Troy could not be taken. Laelius (from a play) cites his refusal to heed Lycomedes' tearful plea to stay as an example of rightly parting from a friend for a great cause.
Reading notes
- Laelius, On Friendship §75 Neoptolemus could not have taken Troy
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, reared on Scyros by his grandfather Lycomedes, was indispensable to the fall of Troy. From a Roman tragedy, his refusal of Lycomedes' tearful plea to stay illustrates rightly leaving a friend for a great cause.
- Tusculan Disputations §2.1 Neoptolemus, in Ennius
The son of Achilles, here a character in Ennius's tragedy (probably the Andromacha or a Neoptolemus play), who says he must do a little philosophy but not much. Cicero adapts the proverbial line as a foil for his own program of doing philosophy thoroughly.