Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/197

VI State; and when he came to serve his State, the very fact that he was associated with others on official boards, on juries, and in the Ecclesia, must have still further sharpened his wits, while at the same time it taught him how to subordinate his own judgment to that of his fellows, and to reserve his own opinion till it was clearly called for. Even if we stopped here in considering the reasonable freedom of the individual at Athens, we should find Pericles' proud boast in great measure justified, for however low a man's birth or circumstances, he would still be able to bring his individual intelligence to bear upon public affairs, "."

But there was another aspect of Athenian life which goes to confirm our impression that Pericles' ideal was in some degree realised. At this I can only glance very hurriedly. We may perhaps best appreciate it by considering how the public wealth was spent at Athens. At Sparta, owing to the peculiar constitution and discipline of the State, there was no surplus public wealth at all, — none, that is, except the land and its products. At Rome the resources of the State had a constant tendency to pass into the hands of individuals of the ruling class, and were as constantly spent by them on their own private and material advancement. At Athens such a tendency was practically impossible. There were moderately rich men at Athens, such as Nikias, who had large property in Attica, or Thucydides the historian, who owned mines on the coast of Thrace; but they had to contribute heavily to public