Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
dition of things that usually exists where there is no
strong and wholesome public opinion. The usurpers
in the Greek cities, and later, the Roman provincial
governors, were, with rare exceptions, men of loose
nioials if not worse. The private life of its repre
sentatives was a matter with which the home govern
ment did not concern itself, and the subjects were
const:aiiied to be dumb. Now and then one of these
petty sovereigns ruled wisely according to the stand
ards of: the time, and the public was satisfied,
especially if they knew how to maintain brilliant
courts, and to adorn their capitals with imposing
structures.
It was so easy to trump up the charge of
sedition against persons who refused to be servile
flatterers, that only the most courageous dared to
stand aloof.
Finlay, though somewhat given to paint
ing in strong colors, is probably not far wrong when
he says: It is difficult to imagine a society more
completely destitute of moral restraint than that in
which the Asiatic Greeks lived. Public opinion was
powerless to enforce even an outward respect for
virtue; mi.itary accomplishments, talents for civil ad
ministration, literary eminence and devotion to the
power of an arbitrary sovereign, were the direct roads
to distinction and wealth; honesty and virtue were
very secondary qualities. In old countries or societies
where a class becomes predominant, a conventional
character is formed, according to the exigencies of
the case, as the standard of an honorable man; and it
is usually very different indeed from what is really
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