93
If, therefore, anyone were to ask us whether we should choose to see Athens in such distress as the price of having ruled so long a time,From 478 to 405 B.C. who could answer yes, except some utterly abandoned wretch who cared not for sacred matters nor for parents nor for children nor for any other thing save for the term of his own existence? We, however, ought not to emulate the judgement of such men but rather that of those who exercise great forethought and are no less jealous for the reputation of the state than for their own—men who prefer a moderate competence with justice to great wealth unjustly gained.
94
For our ancestors,See Isoc. 8.90. proving themselves to be men of this character, handed on the city to their descendants in a most prosperous condition and left behind them an imperishable memorial of their virtue. And from this we may easily learn a double lesson: that our soil is able to rear better men than the rest of the worldCf. Isoc. 7.74. and that what we call empire, though in reality it is misfortune,Cf. Eur. Alc. 802: οὐβίος ἀληθῶς ὁ βίος, ἀλλὰ συμφορά. is of a nature to deprave all who have to do with it.