Ancient politicians talked incessantly about morality and virtue; our politicians talk only about business and money. One will tell you that in a particular country a man is worth the sum he could be sold for in Algiers; another, by following this calculation, will find countries where a man is worth nothing, and others where he is worth less than nothing. They assess men like herds of livestock. According to them, a man has no value to the State apart from what he consumes in it. Thus one Sybarite would have been worth at least thirty Lacedaemonians.* Would someone therefore hazard a guess which of these two republics, Sparta or Sybaris, was overthrown by a handful of peasants and which one made Asia tremble?
This one reminded me of The Ancient's comment that all Alexander left us was the Legend of Alexander:
Athens became the abode of politeness and good taste, the land of orators and philosophers. The elegance of the buildings there corresponded to that of its language. In every quarter there, one could see marble and canvas brought to life by the hands of the most accomplished masters. From Athens came those amazing works which would serve as models in all corrupt ages. The picture of Lacedaemon is less brilliant. "In that place," other peoples used to say, "the men are born virtuous, and even the air of the country seems to inspire virtue." Nothing is left for us of its inhabitants except the memory of their heroic actions. Should monuments like that be less valuable for us than those remarkable marbles which Athens has left us?
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