Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
And all this was not on any special occasion, or when his administration
was especially popular, but for forty years he held the first place
among such men as Ephialtes, Leokrates, Myronides, Kimon, Tolmides, and
Thucydides; and, after the fall and banishment of Thucydides by
ostracism, he united in himself for five-and-twenty years all the
various offices of state, which were supposed to last only for one year;
and yet during the whole of that period proved himself incorruptible by
bribes. As to his paternal estate, he was loth to lose it, and still
more to be troubled with the management of it; consequently, he adopted
what seemed to him the simplest and most exact method of dealing with
it. Every year's produce was sold all together, and with the money thus
obtained, he would buy what was necessary for his household in the
market, and thus regulate his expenditure. This did not make him
popular with his sons when they grew up; nor yet did the women of his
family think him a liberal manager, but blamed his exact regulation of
his daily expenses, which allowed none of the superfluities common in
great and wealthy households, but which made the debit and credit
exactly balance each other. One servant, Euangelos, kept all his
accounts, as no one else had either capacity or education enough to be
able to do so. These proceedings differed greatly from those of
Anaxagoras the philosopher, who left his house, and let his estate go to
ruin, while he pursued his lofty speculations. I conceive, however, that
the life of a philosopher and that of a practical politician are not the
same, as the one directs his thoughts to abstract ideas, while the other
devotes his genius to supplying the real wants of mankind, and in some
cases finds wealth not only necessary, but most valuable to him, as
indeed it was to Perikles, who assisted many of the poorer citizens. It
is said that, as Perikles was engaged in public affairs, Anaxagoras, who
was now an old man and in want, covered his head with his robe, and
determined to starve himself to death; but when Perikles heard of this,
he at once ran to him, and besought him to live, lamenting, not
Anaxagoras's fate, but his own, if he should lose so valuable a
political adviser. Then Anaxagoras uncovered his head, and said to him,
"Perikles, those who want to use a lamp supply it with oil."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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