Textus Originalis

Traduzione

dignity, was Hiero. He had been reared in the household of Nicias, and thoroughly instructed by him in letters and literature. He pretended to be the son of Dionysius, surnamed Chalcus, whose poems are indeed extant, and who, as leader of the colonizing expedition to Italy, founded Thurii. This Hiero it was who managed for Nicias his secret dealings with the seers, and who was forever putting forth among the people moving tales about the life of severe hardships which his patron led for the sake of the city. “Why!” said he, “even when he takes his bath and when he eats his dinner, some public business or other is sure to confront him ; he neglects his private interests in his anxiety for the common good, and scarcely gets to sleep till others wake. That’s the reason why he is physically all run down, and is not affable or pleasant to his friends, nay, he has actually lost these too, in addition to his sub- stance, and all in the service of the city. Other public men not only win friends but enrich them- selves through their influence as public speakers, and then fare sumptuously, and make a plaything of the service of the city.” In point of fact, such was the life of Nicias that he could say of himself what Agamemnon did :— “Sooth, as master of my life My pomp I have, and to the populace I’m a slave.” VI. He saw that the people, upon occasion, served their own turn with experienced men of eloquence or surpassing ability, but ever looked with suspicious and cautious eyes upon such powers, and tried to