Note 230-5 — Chapter II

Compare Cicero, pro Murena, 36. The Athenians under Pericles, in times of peace, spent more than one-third of their state-income on plastic and architectural works of art. The annual state-income amounted to 1,000 talents (Xenoph., Exp. Cyri, VII, 1, 27), while the propylea alone cost, within 5 years, 2,012 talents. (Böckh, Staatsh., I, 283.) On the other hand, Demosthenes complains of the shabbiness of public buildings, and the magnificence of private ones in his time. (adv. Aristocr., 689, Syntax., 174 seq.)

Demetrius Phalereus blames even Pericles, on account of his extravagance on the propylea, although Lycurgus had been, not long before, addicted to luxury after the manner of Pericles. (Cicero, De Off., II, 17.)