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Now both of these arise from each other.
Most people say and believe that it is the business
of political teaching to cause men to be good subjects ; for, they say, the subject class is in every
State larger than the ruling class; and each official
rules but a short time, whereas he is ruled all the
time, if he is a citizen of a democracy ; so that it is
a most excellent and useful thing to learn to obey
those in authority, even if they happen to be deficient in power and reputation. For it is absurd
that in a tragedy the chief actor, even though he is
[p. 255]
a Theodorus or a Polus,1 often makes his entrance
after a hireling who takes third-class parts and addresses him in humble fashion, just because the
latter wears the diadem and sceptre, but that in real
affairs and in government the rich and famous man
belittles and despises the official who is plebeian and
poor, thereby using his own high standing to insult
and destroy that of the State, instead of enhancing
it rather and adding to the office the esteem and
power derived from himself. So at Sparta the kings
gave precedence to the ephors, and if any other
Spartan was summoned, he did not walk slowly in
obeying the summons, but by running eagerly at
full speed through the market-place they exhibited
to their fellow-citizens their spirit of obedience,
rejoicing in paying honour to their rulers. They
did not behave like some uncultured and unmannerly
persons who, as if swaggering in the excess of their
own power, abuse the umpires at the games, revile
the choregi at the Dionysiac festival, and jeer at
generals and gymnasiarchs, not knowing and not
understanding that it is often more glorious to pay
honour than to receive it. For to a man who has
great power in the State greater distinction accrues
through serving in the bodyguard and the escort of
an official than through being so served and escorted
by him, or rather the latter brings him dislike and
[p. 257]
envy, but the former brings true reputation, that
which comes from goodwill; and by being seen
sometimes at the official's door, by greeting him
first, and by putting him in the middle place2 in
walking a man adds lustre to the State without
taking anything from himself.
1 Theodorus and Polus were famous actors at Athens in the fourth century b.c. See J. B. O'Connor, Chapters in the History of Actors and Acting in Ancient Greece, pp. 100, 128. The terms τραγῳδός and κωμῳδός were used for actors who had been assigned to the highest rank and were privileged to bring out old plays at the festivals, and they stand in sharp contrast to the ‘hireling’ actors, usually referred to after Demosthenes' time as ‘tritagonists,’ to whom were often given the ‘third-class’ roles of kings; see ibid. chap. i.
2 Cf. Life of Cicero, chap. ii., ‘Cicero placed in their midst, as a mark of honour,’ Perrin's translation, L.C.L.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Harold North Fowler. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 10.
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