History of the Peloponnesian War

And not only in our public life are we liberal, but also as regards our freedom from suspicion of one another in the pursuits of every-day life; for we do not feel resentment at our neighbour if he does as he likes, nor yet do we put on sour looks which, though harmless, are painful to behold.

But while we thus avoid giving offence in our private intercourse, in our public life we are restrained from lawlessness chiefly through reverent fear, for we render obedience to those in authority and to the laws, and especially to those laws which are ordained for the succour of the oppressed and those which, though unwritten, bring upon the transgressor a disgrace which all men recognize.

"Moreover, we have provided for the spirit many relaxations from toil: we have games[*](Referring especially to the contests at the chief festivals, like the Panathenaea and Dionysia, which by their artistic setting and performance were recreations of the mind and spirit quite as much as physical exercises.) and sacrifices regularly throughout the year and homes fitted out with good taste and elegance; and the delight we each day find in these things drives away sadness.

And our city is so great that all the products of all the earth flow in upon us, and ours is the happy lot to gather in the good fruits of our own soil with no more home-felt security of enjoyment than we do those of other lands.[*](Thucydides refers to thes spiritual no less than to the physical products which the greatness of Athens attracts to her, to the poetry, music, and art which find there a congenial home as well as to articles of commerce. On these latter compare a passage in the pseudo-Xenophontic Constitution of the Athenians, written somewhat earlier than this portion of Thucydides' history: Whatever desirable thing is found in Sicily, Italy, Cyprus, Egypt, Lydia, the Pontus, the Peloponnesus, or anywhere else, all these things are brought together at Athens on account of her mastery of the sea.Ps. Xen. Const. Ath. 2.7.)