Commonplace Book, Pericles

The rule of Pericles has been described as an aristocratical government, that went by the name of a democracy, but was, indeed, the supremacy of a single great man; while many say, that by him the common people were first encouraged and led on to such evils as appropriations of subject territory, allowances for attending theatres, payments for performing public duties, and by these bad habits were, under the influence of his public measures, changed from a sober, thrifty people, that maintained themselves by their own labors, to lovers of expense, intemperance, and license.

Pericles, from Plutarch's Lives

I am so often struck by how au courant Plutarch is, that it's easy to wonder if he was removed from the public school program in this country precisely for that reason.