[209]
In those days Aristeides had
full control of the assessment of the tribute, but his own fortune was not
increased by a single shilling; and when he died he was actually buried at the
public expense. Whenever you wanted anything, you had more money in your
treasury than any other Hellenic people, insomuch that you always started on any
expedition with pay for the full period named in the decree authorizing such
expedition. Now, while the administrators of public affairs have risen from
poverty to affluence, and are provided with ample maintenance for a long time to
come, you have not enough money laid by for a single day's expenditure, and when
something must be done, you are at once without the means of doing it. The
nation was then the master, as it is now the servant, of the politicians.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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