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B Why, yes! I will stop, certainly, and will now turn to my subject. The talk began with praise of Greece and of the men of Athens, because Philosophy and Poverty have ever been their fuster-brothers, and they do not look with pleasure on any man, be he citizen or stranger, who strives to introduce luxury among them, but if ever anyone comes to them in that frame of mind, they gradually correct him and lend a hand in his schooling and convert him to the simple life.
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For example, he mentioned a millionaire who came to Athens, a very conspicuous and vulgar person with his crowd of attendants and his gay clothes and jewelry, and expected to be envied by all the Athenians and to be looked up to as a happy man. But they thought the creature unfortunate, and undertook to educate him, not in a harsh way, however, nor yet by directly forbidding him to live as he would in a free city. But when he made himself a nuisance at the athletic clubs and the baths by jostling and crowding passers with his retinue, someone or other would say in a low tone, pretending to be covert, as if he were not directing the remark at the man himself: “He is afraid of being murdered in his tub! Why, profound peace reigns in the baths; there is no need of an army, then!” And the man, who never failed to hear, got a bit of instruction in passing. His gay clothes and his purple gown they stripped from him very neatly by making fun of his flowery colours, saying, “Spring already?” ‘How did that peacock get here f” “Perhaps it’s his mother’s” and the like. His other vulgarities they turned into jest in the same way— the number of his rings, the over-niceness of his hair, the extravagance of his life. So he was disciplined little by little, and went away much improved by the public education he had received.
