the close of the Latin
war (Livy, 8, c. 14).]

[Footnote 727: The reason according to Plutarch why people envy the
man who has a high reputation for integrity, is because of the power
and credit which it gives. Whatever then gives power and credit should
be also an object of envy, as wealth; and so it is. The notion of envy
implies a desire to see the person who is the object of it humbled and
cast down. The Greeks attributed this feeling to their gods, who
looked with an evil eye on great prosperity, and loved to humble it.
But the feeling of envy, if that is the right term, towards him who
has power and credit by reason of his high character for integrity, is
not the same feeling as envy of the wealthy man. The envious of wealth
desire to have the wealth both for itself and for its uses. The
envious of character desire to have the opinion of the character,
because of the profit that is from it, but they may not desire to have
that which is the foundation of the character. If they did, their
desire would be for virtue, and the envious feeling would not exist.
Courage and wisdom are less objects of envy than good character or
wealth, and perhaps, because most men feel that they are not capable
of having the one or the other. The notion of envy implies that the
person has, or thinks he has, the same capability as another who has
something which he has not. A man who is not a painter does not envy a
great painter; a man who is a painter may envy a great painter. The
mass may admire the honest man who is of higher rank than themselves,
even if they have no regard for honesty; but they do not envy; they
wonder as at something which is above them. But if the honest man is
of their own station in life, and has a character of integrity, they
may envy him for his superiority. It appears that if there is a number
of people who are generally on a footing of equality, any superiority
which one may acquire over the rest, makes him an object of envy. If
high character for integrity brings power and credit with it, there
must be some persons with whom the power and the credit prevail, but
these are the persons who are farthest removed from rivalry with him
who has the credit. Those who are nearer to him are the persons who
envy, who feel that the superiority of one man makes their
inferiority. Plutarch assumes the existence of a class who love the
just and give them credit, and of a class who envy them; but the two
classes of person