Greece -- History -- Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C.
assemblage, whether citizens or foreigners, may listen with advantage.
“Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are
rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration
favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a
democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in
their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public
life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being
allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if
a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity
of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends
also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous
surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry
with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those
injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they
inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations
does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief
safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws,
particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they
are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which,
although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.
“Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself
from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round,
and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of
pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our
city draws the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the
Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as
those of his own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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