‘Indeed, Sokrates, I think it is sweet to gain glory in fighting for one’s country.’
‘And dost thou think thy country will render glory to thee long?’
‘Indeed, I hope so, if I continue to deserve it.’
‘Hast thou lived, then, all the years since I first met thee on the banks of the Ilissos, and yet hast not learnt the evil nature of this beast called Demos?’
‘I think I ought by this time to know something of its nature, Sokrates.’
‘Then is it better, think you, to save a people from its enemies, or to save it from itself and teach it wisdom?’
‘Why, I should say it is better to free it from its enemies first, and teach it wisdom afterwards, as I now hope to do.’
‘Tell me, then, oh much-wandering, much-enduring man, where in thy travels thou hast learnt this wisdom, that I, too, may go to seek it.’
‘Alas! Sokrates, in all my wanderings I have found mankind alike in need of it, alike in want of it; and I would come to you, the wisest of the Greeks, to learn it.’
‘Then tell me, great strategos Autokrator, when all thy possessions were taken from thee by this demos, and thou hadst scarce wherewithal to pay for thy black broth in Lakedaimon, couldst thou bestow much money on thy hosts?’