this career, and preferred to be the first at home instead of one the more among the many senators. It was the great-grandson of Lachares, Herclanus, who first in the time of Trajan entered the Roman senate; and in the family of Herodes probably his father was the first to do so about the same time.[184] [Sidenote: Personal service of the emperor.] The other career, which only opened up in the imperial period--the personal service of the emperor--gave doubtless in favourable circumstances riches and influence, and was earlier and more frequently pursued by the Greeks; but, as most, and the most important, of these positions were associated with service as officers, there seems to have been for a considerable time a _de facto_ preference of Italians for these places, and the direct way was here also in some measure barred to Greeks. In subordinate positions Greeks were employed at the imperial court from the first and in great numbers, and they often in circuitous ways attained to trust and influence; but such persons came more from the Hellenised regions than from Hellas itself, and least of all from the better Hellenic houses. For the legitimate ambition of the young man of ancestry and estate there was, if he was a Greek, but limited scope in the Roman empire. [Sidenote: Municipal administration.] [Sidenote: Plutarch's view of its duties.] There remained to him his native land, and in its case to be active for the common weal was certainly a duty and an honour. But the duties were very modest and the honours more modest still. "Your task," Dio says further to his Rhodians, "is a different one from that of your ancestors. They could develop their ability on many sides, aspire to government, aid the oppressed, gain allies, found cities, make war and conquer; of all this you can no longer do aught. There is left for you the conduct of the household, the administration of the city, the bestowal of honours and distinctions with choice and moderation, a seat in council and in court, sacrifice to the gods and celebration of festivals; in all this you may distinguish yourselves above other towns. Nor are these slight matters: the decorous bearing, the care for the hair and beard, the sedate pace in the street, so that the foreigners accustomed to other things may by your side unlearn their haste, the becoming dress, even, though it may seem ridiculous, the narrow and neat purple-border, the calmness in the theatre, the moderation in applause--all this forms the honour of your town; therein more than in your ports and walls and docks appears the good old Hellenic habit; and thereby even the barbarian, who knows not the name of the city, perceives that he is in Greece and not in Syria or Cilicia." All this was to the point; but, if it was no longer required now of the citizen to die for the city of his fathers, the question was at any rate not without warrant, whether it was still worth the trouble to live for that city. There exists a disquisition