6 D; Dem. 315. 8.

(45) Like Hermia and Helena, "Mids. N. D." iii. 2. 208.

As yes, alack the day! (he answered); and that is why, no doubt, my
shoulder ached for more than five days afterwards, as if I had been
bitten by some fell beast, and methought I felt a sort of scraping at
the heart. (46) Now therefore, in the presence of these witnesses, I
warn you, Critobulus, never again to touch me till you wear as thick a
crop of hair (47) upon your chin as on your head.

(46) Reading {knisma}, "scratching." Plat. "Hipp. maj." 304 A. Al.
{knesma}.

(47) See Jebb, "Theophr. Ch." xxiv. 16.

So pell-mell they went at it, half jest half earnest, and so the medley
ended. Callias here called on Charmides.

Call. Now, Charmides, it lies with you to tell us why you pride yourself
on poverty. (48)

(48) Zeune, cf. "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 35-50.

Charmides responded: On all hands it is admitted, I believe, that
confidence is better than alarm; better to be a freeman than a slave;
better to be worshipped than pay court to others; better to be trusted
than to be suspected by one's country.

Well now, I will tell you how it fared with me in this same city when
I was wealthy. First, I lived in daily terror lest some burglar should
break into my house and steal my goods and do myself some injury. I
cringed before informers. (49) I was obliged to pay these people court,
because I knew that I could injure them far less than they could injure
me. Never-ending the claims upon my pocket which the state enforced
upon me; and as to setting foot abroad, that was beyond the range of
possibility. But now that I have lost my property across the frontier,
(50) and derive no income from my lands in Attica itself; now that my
very household goods have been sold up, I stretch my legs at ease, I get
a good night's rest. The distrust of my fellow-citizens has vanished;
instead of trembling at threats, it is now my turn to threaten; at last
I feel myself a freeman, with liberty to go abroad or stay at home as
suits my fancy. The tables now are turned. It is the rich who rise to
give me their seats, who stand aside and make way for me as I meet them
in the streets. To-day I am like a despot, yesterday I was literally a
slave; formerly it was I who had to pay my tribute (51) to the sovereign
people, now it is I who am supported by the state by means of general
taxation. (52)

(49) "And police agents."

(50) Cf. "Mem." II. viii. 1.

(51