Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

 13 September 2012

[The text below replaces an earlier text under the title “Cicero”]

Commending the modest lifestyle of the great Athenians of old, the Athenian orator Demosthenes (384-322 BC) said: “In their private life they were so moderate and so loyal to the spirit of the constitution that even if any of you happens to know what the house of Aristides or Miltiades or any famous man of those days is like, he sees that it is in no way more grand than his neighbour’s; for they did not conduct the city’s affairs with an eye to advantage, but each thought it his duty to increase the common good.”   Olynthiac 3. Lines 23 to 26.

Miltiades (550-489 BC) was the Athenian general who defeated the army of the Persian King Darius at Marathon in 490 BC.  Aristides (530-468 BC) commanded the Athenian contingent in the Greek victory at Plataea in 479 BC against the army of the Persian King Xerxes.

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 You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts.  For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question(3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices(2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice  (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder  (21 June 2012)

 6. A tale of two cities (1)  (6 June 2012)

 7. A tale of two cities (2)  (7 June 2012)

 8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat(31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

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