13
So I am willing to be bolder than I need be, to close with the charge against me, and to advance beyond defence. Moreover I say to you that no one does anything without pay, not even if you instance those at the head of things, for not even the emperor himself is unpaid. I do not mean tributes and taxes that come in every year from his subjects; no, the king’s most important reward is praise, universal fame, reverence for his benefactions, statues and temples and shrines bestowed on him by his subjects—all these are payment for the thought and care which such men evidence in their continual watch over the common weal and its improvement. To compare small with great, if you will begin at the top of the heap and descend to each of its component parts, you will see that we differ from those at the top in size, but that in other respects we are all wage-earners alike.
14
Now if I had laid down a law that no one must do any work, I would rightly be thought guilty of breaking it; but if this was nowhere said in my essay, but rather that a good man ought to be active, how better could he employ himself than to work with his friends for the best ends and in full view under the open sky to let his loyalty, seriousness of purpose, and good will in his undertakings be put to the test, so that he may not be “a useless burden to the earth” Homer, Il. xviii, 104. in Homer’s words?
