For Themistocles's victory served the state once and only once; while Solon's work will be of service for ever.
Cicero: “For Themistocles's victory served the state once and only once; while Solon's work will be of service for ever.”
Editor's note · Context
Illustrating the lasting impact of peaceful contributions, Cicero contrasts the temporary benefit of Themistocles's military victory with the eternal service of Solon's legislative work.
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There are, on the other hand, two kinds of injustice--the one, on the part of those who inflict wrong, the other on the part of those who, when they can, do not shield from wrong those upon whom it is being inflicted.
And so, when we have leisure from the demands of business cares, we are eager to see, to hear, to learn something new, and we esteem a desire to know the secrets or wonders of creation as indispensable to a happy life.
But while they steer clear of the one kind of injustice, they fall into the other: they are traitors to social life, for they contribute to it none of their interest, none of their effort, none of their means.
Such acts of generosity are not to be so highly esteemed as those which are performed with judgment, deliberation, and mature consideration.





