Tuning the lyre and handling the harp are no accomplishments of mine, but rather taking… — Themistocles

Tuning the lyre and handling the harp are no accomplishments of mine, but rather taking in hand a city that was small and inglorious and making it glorious and great.

In the original Greek

ὅτι λύραν μὲν ἁρμόσασθαι καὶ μεταχειρίσασθαι ψαλτήριον οὐκ ἐπίσταται, πόλιν δὲ μικρὰν καὶ ἄδοξον παραλαβὼν ἔνδοξον καὶ μεγάλην ἀπεργάσασθαι.

Quoted in Plutarch's Lives, by Plutarch · 119
★ 3.6
Provenance
Current citation
Themistocles. Quoted in "Themistocles." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 2, sect. 3.
Original citation
Themistocles. Quoted in "Themistocles." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. c. 2nd century BC, ch. 2, sect. 3.