Banquet

If, then, you would be in his good graces, you must try to find out what sort of knowledge it was that made Themistocles able to give Greece liberty; you must try to find out what kind of knowledge it was that gave Pericles the name of being his country’s wisest counsellor; you must reflect, further, how it was that Solon by deep meditation established in his city laws of surpassing worth; you must search and find out what kind of practices it is that gives the Lacedaemonians the reputation of being pre-eminent military commanders; for you are their proxenus,[*](In the absence of regular consular representation, any Greek city-state could secure commercial and political agentsin other cities only by getting influential citizens there to consent to use their good offices, as occasion might arise, in its behalf or in behalf of its citizens when abroad. Such a local native representative of another state was called a proxenus.) and their foremost citizens are always being entertained at your house.