BOOK I. 15 



have bought the things which he needed for the necessaries of life, and he 

 would not, by reason of his poverty, have then been obliged to flatter the 

 tyrant Dionysius, nor would he ever have been called by him a King's dog. 

 For this reason Horace, speaking of Damasippus when reviling Staberus for 

 valuing riches very highly, says : 



" What resemblance has the Grecian Aristippus to this fellow ? 

 He who commanded his slaves to throw away the gold in the midst of 

 Libya because they went too slowly, impeded by the weight of their 

 burden — which of these two men is the more insane ? "'^ 

 Insane indeed is he who makes more of riches than of virtue. Insane 

 also is he who rejects them and considers them as worth nothing, instead of 

 using them with reason. Yet as to the gold which Aristippus on another 

 occasion flung into the sea from a boat, this he did with a wise and prudent 

 mind. For learning that it was a pirate boat in which he was sailing, and 

 fearing for his life, he counted his gold and then throwing it of his own will 

 into the sea, he groaned as if he had done it unwillingly. But afterward, 

 when he escaped the peril, he said : " It is better that this gold itself should 

 be lost than that I should have perished because of it." Let it be granted 

 that some philosophers, as well as Anacreon of Teos, despised gold and 

 silver. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae also gave up his sheep-farms and 

 became a shepherd. Crates the Theban too, being annoyed that his 

 estate and other kinds of w^ealth caused him worry, and that in his con- 

 templations his mind was thereby distracted, resigned a property valued at 

 ten talents, and taking a cloak and wallet, in poverty devoted all his 

 thought and efforts to philosophy. Is it true that because these philo- 

 sophers despised money, all others declined wealth in cattle ? Did they 

 refuse to cultivate lands or to dwell in houses ? There were certainly many, 

 on the other hand, who, though affluent, became famous in the pursuit of 

 learning and in the knowledge of di\ane and human laws, such as Aristotle, 

 Cicero, and Seneca. As for Phocion, he did not deem it honest to accept the 

 gold sent to him by Alexander. For if he had consented to use it, the 

 king as much as himself would have incurred the hatred and aversion of 

 the Athenians, and these very people were afterward so ungrateful toward 

 this excellent man that they compelled him to drink hemlock. For what 

 would have been less becoming to Marcus Curius and Fabricius Luscinus 

 than to accept gold from their enemies, who hoped that by these means 

 those leaders could be corrupted or would become odious to their fellow 

 citizens, their purpose being to cause dissentions among the Romans and 

 destroy the Republic utterly. Lycurgus, however, ought to have given 

 instructions to the Spartans as to the use of gold and silver, instead of 

 abolishing things good in themselves. As to the Babytacenses, who does 

 not see that they were senseles-^ and envious ? For with their gold they might 

 have bought things of which'they were in need, or even given it to neigh- 

 bouring peoples to bind them more closely to themselves with gifts and 

 favours. Finally, the Scythians, by condemning the use of gold and silver 

 "Horace. Satires, 11., 3. 11., 99-103. 



