esteeming him who heaps up treasures by the management of public
affairs to rob the temples, plunder graves, and steal from his friends,
and enriching himself by treachery and bearing of false witness, to be
an unfaithful counsellor, a perjured judge, a bribe-taking magistrate,
and in brief, free from no injustice. Whence it is not necessary to say
much concerning this matter.
27. Now ambition, though it is more specious than covetousness, brings
yet no less plagues into a state. For it is usually more accompanied
with boldness, as being bred, not in slothful and abject spirits,
but chiefly in such as are vigorous and active; and the vogue of the
people, frequently extolling it and driving it by their praises,
renders it thereby headstrong and hard to be managed. As therefore
Plato advised, that we should even from our infancy inculcate into
young people, that it is not fit for them to wear gold about them
abroad nor yet to be possessors of it, as having a peculiar treasure
of their own, immixed with their souls,—enigmatically, as I conceive,
insinuating the virtue propagated in their natures from the race
or stock of which they are descended,—so let us also moderate our
ambition by saying, that we have in ourselves uncorrupted gold, that
is, honor unmixed, and free from envy and reprehension, which is still
augmented by the consideration and contemplation of our acts and jests
in the service of the commonweal. Wherefore we stand not in need of
honors painted, cast, or engraven in brass, in which what is most
admired frequently belongs to another. For the statue of a trumpeter
or halberdier is not commended or esteemed for the sake of the person
whom it is made to represent, but for that of the workman by whom it is
made. And Cato, when Rome was in a manner filled with statues, would
not suffer his to be erected, saying, I had rather men should ask why
my statue is not set up, than why it is. For such things are subject
to envy, and the people think themselves obliged to those who have
not received them; whereas those who have received them are esteemed
burthensome, as seeking public employs for a reward. For as he does
no great or glorious act who, having without danger sailed along the
Syrtis, is afterwards cast away in the harbor; so he who, having kept
himself safe in passing through the treasury and the management of
the public revenues, is caught with a presidency or a place in the
Prytaneum, not only dashes against an high promontory, but is likewise
drowned.
He then is best, who desires none of these things, but shuns and
refuses them all. But if perhaps it is not easy wholly to decline a
favor or testimonial of the people’s amity, when they are fully bent to
bestow it, yet for those who have in the service of the state contended
not for silver or presents, but have fought a fight truly sacred and
deserving a crown, let an inscription, a tablet, a decree, or a branch
of laurel or olive suffice, such as Epimenides received out of the
castle of Athens for having purified the city. So Anaxagoras, putting
back the other honors that were given him, desired that on the day of
his death the children might have leave to play and intermit their
studies. And to the seven Persians who killed the Magi it was granted
that they and their posterity should wear their turban on the fore part
of the head; for this, it seems, they had made the signal, when they
went about that attempt. The honor also which Pittacus received had
something political; for being bid to take what portion he would of the
land he had gotten for his citizens, he accepted as much as he could
reach with the cast of his dart. So Cocles the Roman took as much as he
himself, being lame, could plough in a day. For the honor should not be
a recompense of the action, but an acknowledgment of gratitude, that
it may continue also long, as those did which we have mentioned. But
of the three hundred statues erected to Demetrius Phalereus, not one
was eaten into by rust or covered with filth, they being all pulled
down whilst himself was yet alive; and those of Demades were melted
into chamber-pots. Many other honors also have undergone the like fate,
being regarded with an ill eye, not only for the wickedness of the
receiver, but also for the greatness of the gift. A moderation in the
expense is therefore the best and surest preservative of honors; for
such as are great, immense, and ponderous are like to unproportioned
statues, soon overthrown.