§18.1ἤνεγκε δέ τινα τῷ Κάτωνι καὶ Λεύκιος ὁ Σκηπίωνος ἀδελφὸς ἐπίφθονον αἰτίαν, θριαμβικὸς ἀνὴρ ἀφαιρεθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἵππον· ἔδοξε γὰρ οἷον ἐφυβρίζων Ἀφρικανῷ Σκηπίωνι τεθνηκότι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι.
Lucius, the brother of Scipio, also brought some envious blame upon Cato, because, though he was a man of triumphal rank, he was deprived of his horse by him; for Cato was thought to have done this as if in insult to the deceased Scipio Africanus.
τοὺς δὲ πλείστους ἠνίασε μάλιστά τῇ περικοπῇ τῆς πολυτελείας, ἣν ἄντικρυς μὲν ἀφελέσθαι, νενοσηκότων ἤδη καὶ διεφθαρμένων ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῶν πολλῶν, ἀδύνατον ἦν, κύκλῳ δὲ περιϊὼν ἠνάγκαζεν ἐσθῆτος, §18.2ὀχήματος, κόσμου γυναικείου, σκευῶν τῶν περὶ δίαιταν, ὧν ἑκάστου τὸ τίμημα δραχμὰς χιλίας καὶ πεντακοσίας ὑπερέβαλλεν, ἀποτιμᾶσθαι τὴν ἀξίαν εἰς τὸ δεκαπλάσιον, βουλόμενος ἀπὸ μειζόνων τιμημάτων αὐτοῖς μείζονας καὶ τὰς εἰσφορὰς εἶναι, καὶ προσετίμησε τρεῖς χαλκοῦς πρὸς τοῖς χιλίοις, ὅπως βαρυνόμενοι ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς καὶ Τοὺς εὐσταλεῖς καὶ λιτοὺς ὁρῶντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἴσων ἐλάττονα τελοῦντας εἰς τὸ δημόσιον ἀπαγορεύωσιν.
But what annoyed most people the most was his curtailment of luxury. Since the majority of people were already diseased and corrupted by it, it was impossible to take it away outright, but by going around it indirectly, he compelled them, in regard to clothing, carriages, women's ornaments, and household furnishings, of which the valuation of each exceeded fifteen hundred drachmas, to have their value assessed at ten times that amount. He did this because he wished that from larger valuations they should also have larger taxes, and he imposed an additional tax of three bronze coins for every thousand, so that, being burdened by the assessments and seeing that the orderly and simple people paid less into the public treasury from equal property, they might give up their luxury.
§18.3ἦσαν οὖν αὐτῷ χαλεποὶ μὲν οἱ τὰς εἰσφορὰς διὰ τὴν τρυφὴν ὑπομένοντες, χαλεποὶ δʼ αὖ πάλιν οἱ τὴν τρυφὴν ἀποτιθέμενοι διὰ τὰς εἰσφοράς, πλούτου γὰρ ἀφαίρεσιν οἱ πολλοὶ νομίζουσι τὴν κώλυσιν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐπιδείξεως, ἐπιδείκνυσθαι δὲ τοῖς περιττοῖς, οὐ τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις.
Therefore, those who submitted to the taxes for the sake of their luxury were hostile to him, and on the other hand, those who put away their luxury because of the taxes were also hostile; for the majority of people consider the prevention of the display of wealth to be the deprivation of wealth itself, since display is made in superfluous things, not in necessary things.
ὃ δὴ καὶ μάλιστά φασι τὸν φιλόσοφον Ἀρίστωνα θαυμάζειν, ὅτι Τοὺς τὰ περιττὰ κεκτημένους μᾶλλον ἡγοῦνται μακαρίους ἢ Τοὺς τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ χρησίμων εὐποροῦντας.
This is indeed what they say the philosopher Ariston especially wondered at, namely, that people consider those who possess superfluous things happier than those who have an abundance of necessary and useful things.
§18.4Σκόπας δὲ ὁ Θετταλὸς αἰτουμένου τινὸς τῶν φίλων παρʼ αὐτοῦ τι τοιοῦτον, ὃ μὴ σφόδρα ἦν χρήσιμον ἐκείνῳ, καὶ λέγοντος, ὡς οὐδὲν αἰτεῖ τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ χρησίμων
καὶ μὴν ἐγὼ τούτοις
εἶπεν,
εὐδαίμων καὶ πλούσιός εἰμι, τοῖς ἀχρήστοις καὶ περιττοῖς. οὕτως ὁ τοῦ πλούτου ζῆλος οὐδενὶ πάθει φυσικῷ συνημμένος ἐκ τῆς ὀχλώδους καὶ θυραίου δόξης ἐπεισόδιός ἐστιν.
And Scopas the Thessalian, when one of his friends asked him for something of this sort which was of no great use to him, and said that he was asking for nothing of the necessary and useful things, "And yet, it is by these very things, said he, "the useless and superfluous, that I am happy and rich." Thus the zeal for wealth, being attached to no natural passion, is an adventitious thing arising from the opinion of the vulgar and those outside.