'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed."


The errors of private persons he bore with gently, but those of rulers
he looked upon as grave; since the mischief wrought in the one case
was so small, and so large in the other. The proper attribute of
royalty was, he maintained, not an avoidance of responsibility, but a
constant striving after nobleness.[3]

[3] On the word {kalokagathia} so translated, see Demosth. 777, 5.

Whilst he would not suffer any image[4] of his bodily form to be set
up (though many wished to present him with a statue), he never ceased
elaborating what should prove the monument of his spirit, holding that
the former is the business of a statuary, the latter of one's self.
Wealth might procure the one, he said, but only a good man could
produce the other.

[4] See Plut. "Ages." ii. (Clough, iv. p. 2); also Plut. "Ap. Lac." p.
115; ib. p. 103; Cic. "ad Div." V. xii. 7.

As for riches, he employed them not with justice merely, but with
liberality, holding that for a just man it is sufficient if he let
alone the things of others, but of a liberal man it is required that
he should take of his own and give to supply another's needs.

He was ever subject to religious fear,[5] believing that no man during