ἅμα δὲ καὶ (7) εἰκότως τοῦτο πάσχουσιν(πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσιν οἱ δεόμενοι τῶν (8) ἐχόντων·
ὅθεν καὶ τὸ Σιμωνίδου εἴρηται περὶ τῶν σοφῶν καὶ (9) πλουσίων πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν Ἱέρωνος ἐρομένην πότερον (10) γενέσθαι κρεῖττον πλούσιον ἢ σοφόν·
“πλούσιον” εἰπεῖν· τοὺς (11) σοφοὺς γὰρ ἔφη ὁρᾶν ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν πλουσίων θύραις δια(12)τρίβοντας), καὶ τὸ οἴεσθαι ἀξίους εἶναι ἄρχειν·
ἔχειν γὰρ (13) οἴονται ὧν ἕνεκεν ἄρχειν ἄξιον.
καὶ ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ, ἀνοήτου (14) εὐδαίμονος ἦθος <ἦθος> πλούτου ἐστίν.
διαφέρει δὲ τοῖς (15) νεωστὶ κεκτημένοις καὶ τοῖς πάλαι τὰ ἤθη τῷ ἅπαντα μᾶλλον (16) καὶ φαυλότερα τὰ κακὰ ἔχειν τοὺς νεοπλούτους (ὥσπερ γὰρ (17) ἀπαιδευσία πλούτου ἐστὶ τὸ νεόπλουτον εἶναι),
καὶ ἀδικήματα (18) ἀδικοῦσιν οὐ κακουργικά, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ὑβριστικὰ τὰ δὲ ἀκρα(19)τευτικά, οἷον εἰς αἰκίαν καὶ μοιχείαν.
It is indeed quite natural that they should be affected thus; for if you have money, there are always plenty of people who come begging from you.
Hence the saying of Simonides about wise men and rich men, in answer to Hiero’s wife, who asked him whether it was better to grow rich or wise.
’Why, rich,’ he said; ‘for I see the wise men spending their days at the rich men’s doors.’ Rich men also consider themselves worthy to hold public office;
for they consider they already have the things that give a claim to office.
In a word, the type of character produced by wealth is that of a prosperous fool.
There is indeed one difference between the type of the newly—enriched and those who have long been rich: the newly—enriched have all the bad qualities mentioned in an exaggerated and worse form——to be newly—enriched means, so to speak, no education in riches.
The wrongs they do others are not meant to injure their victims, but spring from insolence or self—indulgence, e.g. those that end in assault or in adultery.
