rtune and became a teacher
of household management and husbandry to others, by collecting much
useful information on these matters. On the other hand, Aristeides
made his poverty a reproach to justice, which by his example was made
to seem a ruinous virtue which brought men to want, and was totally
useless to those who practised it. Yet the poet Hesiod, when
encouraging men to act justly and manage their household affairs well,
blames idleness as the origin of injustice, and the same idea is well
stated in Homer's lines:--

"Work was never my delight,
Nor household cares, that breed up children bright;
But ever loved I ships with banks of oars,
And arrows keen, and weapons for the wars,"

where we see that the same men neglect their duties at home, and gain
their living by injustice and piracy abroad. The physicians tell us
that oil is most useful, outwardly used, and most harmful when taken
inwardly; but it is not true of the just man that he is most useful to
his friends, but useless to himself. It seems to me to be a blot on
Aristeides' fame, if it be true that he could not even provide money
for his daughters' dowry or for his own funeral expenses. The family
of Cato for four generations, supplied Rome with praetors and consuls,
for his grandchildren, and their children too, all rose to the highest
offices in the state; while the hopeless poverty of Aristeides, though
he was the foremost man of his time in Greece, reduced some of his
family to the disreputable profession of interpreting dreams, and
forced others to live on public charity, putting it quite out of their
power to emulate the glorious actions of their ancestor.

IV. Some, indeed, may dispute this; for it is true that poverty is no
disgrace in itself, but only when it is a proof of indolence,
extravagance, or folly. The poverty of a laborious, upright, temperate
statesman combines well with his other virtues, and shows true
greatness of mind: for a man whose attention is given to little
things, can never succeed in doing great ones; nor can a man help
others if he is in need of help himself. A statesman requires, not
wealth, but contentment, in order that his attention may not be
diverted from public affairs by his own cravings for useless luxuries.
God alone is entirely without wants, and we approach nearest to the
divine ideal when we can reduce our wants to the fewest possible. Just
as a healthy man requires neit