[21]
But the greatest difference is this: men under other governments give attention to the affairs of state as if they were the concern of others; monarchs, as if they were their own concern;1 and the former employ as their advisers on state affairs the most self-assertive of their citizens, while the latter single out and employ the most sagacious; and the former honor those who are skilful in haranguing the crowd, while the latter honor those who understand how to deal with affairs.
1 But it was, he says elsewhere, the virtue of the old democracy that they did not slight the commonwealth, but cared for it as their personal concern, Isoc. 4.76; Isoc. 7.24-25.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
