4
Nevertheless, even if you had adopted none of the measures, and had received back no one of the exiles, the restoration of these individuals is to your advantage, I think; for it is disgraceful that while your city is universally acknowledged to be most devoted to music and the most notable artists in that field have been born among you,e.g., Terpander, Alcaeus, and Sappho. yet he who is the foremost authority of living men in that branch of culture is an exile from such a city; and that while all other Greeks confer citizenship upon men who are distinguished in any of the noble pursuits, even though they are foreigners, yet you suffer those who are both famous among the other Greeks and share in your own racial origin to live abroad in exile.
5
I marvel that so many cities judge those who excel in the athletic contests to be worthy of greater rewards than those who, by painstaking thought and endeavor, discover some useful thing,For this same complaint see Isoc. 4.1-2, note, and Isoc. 15.250. and that they do not see at a glance that while the faculties of strength and speed naturally perish with the body, yet the arts and sciences abide for eternity, giving benefit to those who cultivate them.
6
Intelligent men, therefore, bearing in mind these considerations, should esteem most highly, first those who administer well and justly the affairs of their own city, and, second, those who are able to contribute to its honor and glory; for all the world uses such men as examples and all their fellow-citizens are judged to be of like excellence.
