70
When Lampis, the naval commander, was asked how he acquired wealth, he answered, that great wealth cost but little trouble, but that a little wealth [at the beginning] cost a great deal.
71
When Solon was silent at an entertainment, and was asked by Periander whether he was silent for want of words or from folly, No fool, answered he, can be silent at a feast.
72
Consult nothing so much, upon every occasion, as discretion. Now, it is more discreet to be silent than to speak, and to omit speaking whatever is not accompanied with sense and reason.
73
As light-houses in harbors, by kindling a great flame from a few fagots, afford a considerable assistance to ships wandering on the sea; so an illustrious person, in a state harassed by storms, confers great benefits on his fellow-citizens, when himself contented with little.
74
You would certainly, if you undertook to steer a ship, learn the steersman’s art. And as in that case you can steer the whole ship, so, in another case, the whole state.
75
If you have a mind to adorn your city by consecrated monuments, first consecrate in yourself the most beautiful monument,—of gentleness and justice and benevolence.
76
You will confer the greatest benefits on.your city, not by raising its roofs, but by exalting its souls. For it is better that great souls should live in small habitations, than that abject slaves should burrow in great houses.
77
Do not variegate the structure of your walls with Euboean and Spartan stone, but adorn both the minds of the citizens and of those who govern them by the Greek culture. For cities are made good habitations by the sentiments of those who live in them, not by wood or stone.
78
As, if you were to breed lions, you would not be solicitous about the magnificence of their dens, but about the qualities of the animals; so, if you undertake to preside over your fellow-citizens, be not so solicitous about the magnificence of the buildings as careful of the nobleness of those who inhabit them.
