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THE LYSISTRATA 105
war, came forth some of the finest and freest
criticism with which the world has ever been
blest, we shall incline to suspect that even
in her decline Athens was decidedly more
civilized than most states at their apogee.
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aye^e'racTTo? /8/O9 ou /Stwro?, said
Socrates a life unsifted is a life
unspent.
Because the Athenians really believed this,
because they saw dimly that good states of
mind, not wealth nor comfort nor power nor
prestige which are but means but states
of mind, which alone are good in themselves,
are the proper end of existence, they refused
to sacrifice individual liberty to any god of
efficiency.
It was to the mind of the individual
they looked for absolute : good the state was
but a means. Therefore at Athens, after
twenty years of stultifying war, the right of
the individual to free expression and selfdevelopment
was scrupulously respected. In
this truly liberal atmosphere vivid and original
characters grew and flourished, thought and
felt, and of their thoughts and feelings have
left such record as still charms and tantalizes
less fortunate generations. This belief in
personal liberty, this respect for the individual
mind as the sole source of truth and
beauty, made possible Athens, a small shortlived
state in the distant past, an ideal towards
which the best minds are ever looking back,