“These were Thales of Miletus, Pittacus of Mytilene, Bias of Priene, our own Solon, Cleobulus of Lindus, Myson of Chen, and the Spartans made the seventh Chilon.1”

Plato Protagoras [the Seven Sages]

“In the ante-chamber of the temple at Delphi are inscribed maxims for the bettering of human life. Their authors are the men the Greeks say were wise, namely. … These men came to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo the well-known sayings Know thyself and Moderation in all things .2”

Pausanias Description of Greece

“… Cleobulus the despot of Lindus.”

Plutarch The E at Delphi

“Cleobulus declared that we ought to give our daughters to their husbands maidens in years but women in wits.”

Stobaeus Anthology [on wooing]

“According to Cleobulus, the best home is that whose master has more that love him than fear him.” Stobaeus

The Seven Sages [on domestic economy]

“It is proper to virtue to hate unrighteousness and cherish piety; Cleobulus.”

Apostolius Proverbs

See also Κλεοβουλίνη and Κλεόβουλος , Anth. Pal. 7. 81, 9. 366, Ael. V.H. 3. 17, Plut. Sept. Sap. , Dem. Phal. ap. Stob. Fl. 3. 79, Fl. Mon , ibid. app. 207, Dict. Sap. ibid. 3, Sch. Luc. Phal. i. 7. Ath. 10. 445 a, Themist. Or. 17 p. 215, 34 c. 3

Cleobulus son of Euagoras, of Lindus; according to Duris a Carian; some writers make his lineage go back to Heracles, and say that he was of remarkable strength and beauty, and acquainted with the learning of Egypt. He had a daughter Cleobulina, a poetess who wrote riddles in hexameter verse and is mentioned by Cratinus in the play which bears her name in the plural number. He is also said to have rebuilt the temple of Athena founded by Danaus. He wrote Songs and Riddles amounting to 3000 lines. Some authorities ascribe to him the Epitaph on Midas:3.

A maiden of brass am I and I lie on the tomb of Midas. So long as water shall flow and tall trees grow green, Sun rise and shine and Moon give light, rivers run and sea wash shore, ever shall I abide upon this sore-lamented tomb and tell the passers–by that this is the grave of Midas.

And they find evidence for this in a poem of Simonides4 where he says: ‘Who that hath understanding would praise Cleobulus the man of Lindus for his pitting of the might of a grave-stone against the ever-running rivers and the flowers of the Spring, against the flame of Sun and of golden Moon, and against the eddies of the ocean-wave? All these are subject to the Gods; but a stone, even mortal hands may break it. This is the rede of a fool.’ For they deny that the epitaph is Homer's, who lived, say they, many years before Midas. Pamphila's Notes preserve the following Riddle of his:5

The father is one, the sons twelve, and each of these has twice thirty daughters of features twain; some are white and others are black, and though they be immortal they all perish.

The answer is ‘the year.’ … He died an old man, seventy years of age, and his epitaph was: ‘This his birthplace Lindus, whose pride is the sea, mourns for a wise man, Cleobulus.’

Diogenes Laertius Lives of the Philosophers

1 cf. Str. 14. 655

2 lit. Do nothing too much

3 cf. A.P. 7. 153, Philop. in Arist. 77 b. 32 （p. 156 Wall.）

4 31 L.G.

5 cf. Suid Κλεοβουλίνη , A.P. 14. 101, Stob. Ecl. Phys. i. 8. 37