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But even if our enemies by flattery, knavery, bribery, or hireling service appear to reap their reward in the form of dishonourable and sordid influence at court or in the government, they will not be a source of annoyance but rather of joy to us when we compare our own freedom, the simplicity of our life, and its immunity from scurrilous attack. For all the gold on earth and beneath the earth is not worth so much as virtue, as Plato Plato, Laws, p. 728 A; quoted also by Plutarch, Moralia1124 E. says, and we must always keep ready in mind the sentiment of Solon Quoted more fully in Moralia, 78 C, and as here, 472 E.: But we will not take in exchange All of their wealth for our virtue, nor yet the acclamations of spectators who have dined at our expense, nor honours such as front seats among eunuchs and concubines, and royal governorships; for nothing enviable or noble ever springs from dishonour. But since love is blind regarding Quoted more fully in Moralia, 78 c, and as here, 472 e. the loved one, as Plato A reminiscence from Plato; see the note on 90 A supra. says, and it is rather our enemies who by their unseemly conduct afford us an opportunity to view our own, neither our joy at their failures nor our sorrow at their successes ought to go without being employed to some purpose, but we should take into account both their failures and successes in studying how by guarding against the former we may be better than they, and by imitating the latter no worse. A reminiscence from Plato; see the note on 90 a supra.
