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Now, generally speaking, you will find that no one of the so-called sophists has accumulated a great amount of money, but that some of them have lived in poor, others in moderate circumstances. The man who in our recollection laid up the most was Gorgias of Leontini.See General Introd. p. xii. He spent his time in Thessaly when the Thessalians were the most prosperousSee Isoc. 8.117. people in Hellas; he lived a long lifeHe lived one hundred and seven years according to Cicero, De senect. v. and devoted himself to the making of money;
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he had no fixed domicile in any city and therefore paid out nothing for public weal nor was he subject to any tax; moreover, he did not marry and beget children, but was free from this, the most unremitting and expensive of burdens; and yet, although he had so great an advantage toward laying up more wealth than any other man, he left at his death only a thousand staters.A gold coin about equal in value to the guinea.
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And surely on the subject of each other’s incomes we must not credit people who make charges at haphazard nor think that the earnings of the sophists are equal to those of the actors,Popular actors, especially in comedy, received high pay. See Böckh, Public Economy of Athens p. 120. but should judge men of the same profession in reference to each other and go on the principle that those of the same order of talent in each profession have incomes which are comparable.
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If, then, you will class me with the sophist who has made more money than any other, and will compare me with him, you will not seem to engage in utterly blind conjectures on such matters, nor shall I be found to have managed badly in providing either for the public welfare or for my own, although, as a matter of fact, I have lived on less than I have expended on my public duties. And surely it is deserving of praise when a man is more frugal in what he spends on his own household than in what he pays out for the common weal.
