Codrus
mythological figure · 7 works · 7 mentions · 9 anchored passages
the king of the Athenians
in the texts
An Essay on Crimes and Punishments
Legendary king of Athens said to have sacrificed his own life to save his people, cited as an example of praiseworthy self-sacrifice.
It does not appear, that we could with justice condemn a Codrus, or a Curtius.
On Moral Ends
Legendary last king of Athens who sacrificed himself to save the city, cited as universally praised.
Who does not most highly praise Codrus, the saviour of his city, who the daughters of Erechtheus?
On the Nature of the Gods
Legendary last king of Athens, said to have died fighting for his country's liberty
And if we make him a god, what can we doubt either of Codrus or of the rest who fell fighting for the liberty of their country?
Tusculan Disputations
Legendary king of Athens who sacrificed himself in disguise to secure victory.
they commemorate Codrus, who flung himself into the midst of the enemy in a servant's garb, that he might not be recognized, had he been in royal array — because an oracle had been given that, if the king were slain, Athens would be victorious;
Against Leocrates
Legendary last king of Athens who sacrificed his own life to fulfill an oracle and save the city from Peloponnesian conquest.
The survivor, it is said, enraged with Codrus and thinking him a beggar drew his sword and killed him.
Is there any resemblance between Leocrates’ love for his country and the love of those ancient kings who preferred to die for her and outwit the foe, giving their own life in exchange for the people’s safety?
That at least is true of Codrus, who, they say, told the Athenians to note the time of his death and, taking a beggar’s clothes to deceive the enemy, slipped out by the gates and began to collect firewood in front of the town.
Symposium
Legendary king of Athens who sacrificed himself for his people
Do you suppose, she asked, that Alcestis would have died for Admetus, or Achilles have sought death on the corpse of Patroclus, or your own Codrus have welcomed it to save the children of his queen, if they had not expected to win a deathless memory for valor, which now we keep?
Law in a Free State
Legendary last king of Athens, used as an example of a memorized historical fact of doubtful value.
, or that Codrus was the last of the Athenian kings (if he was, for really one does forget even these things), or that a great many other dry and unimportant events occurred at certain dates;