d stooped to court their favour by any unworthy
means, never flattered them in their follies, nor complied with their
passions against their true interests and my own better judgment; but
used the power of my eloquence to keep them in the bounds of a wise
moderation, to raise their spirits when too low, and show them their
danger when they grew too presumptuous, the good effects of which conduct
they had happily experienced in all their affairs. Whereas those who
succeeded to me in the government, by their incapacity, their corruption,
and their servile complaisance to the humour of the people, presently
lost all the fruits of my virtue and prudence. Xerxes himself, I am
convinced, did not suffer more by the flattery of his courtiers than the
Athenians, after my decease, by that of their orators and Ministers of
State.

_Cosmo_.--Those orators could not gain the favour of the people by any
other methods. Your arts were more noble--they were the arts of a
statesman and of a prince. Your magnificent buildings (which in beauty
of architecture surpassed any the world had ever seen), the statues of
Phidias, the paintings of Zeuxis, the protection you gave to knowledge,
genius, and abilities of every kind, added as much to the glory of Athens
as to your popularity. And in this I may boast of an equal merit to
Florence. For I embellished that city and the whole country about it
with excellent buildings; I protected all arts; and, though I was not
myself so eloquent or so learned as you, I no less encouraged those who
were eminent in my time for their eloquence or their learning. Marcilius
Ficinus, the second father of the Platonic philosophy, lived in my house,
and conversed with me as intimately as Anaxagoras with you. Nor did I
ever forget and suffer him so to want the necessaries of life as you did
Anaxagoras, who had like to have perished by that unfriendly neglect; but
to secure him at all times from any distress in his circumstances, and
enable him to pursue his sublime speculations unmolested by low cares, I
gave him an estate adjacent to one of my favourite villas. I also drew
to Florence Argiropolo, the most learned Greek of those times, that,
under my patronage, he might teach the Florentine youth the language and
sciences of his country. But with regard to our buildings, there is this
remarkable difference--yours were all raised at the expense of the
public, mine at my own.

_Pericles_.--My estate would b