[77]
There is, then, to bring the discussion back to the1
point from which it digressed, no vice more offensive
than avarice, especially in men who stand foremost
and hold the helm of state. For to exploit the state
for selfish profit is not only immoral; it is criminal,
infamous. And so the oracle, which the Pythian
Apollo uttered, that “Sparta should not fall from any
other cause than avarice,” seems to be a prophecy
not to the Lacedaemonians alone, but to all wealthy
nations as well. They who direct the affairs of
state, then, can win the good-will of the masses by
no other means more easily than by self-restraint
and self-denial.
1 Integrity vs. avarice.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.