These men were the richest, not only of the islanders but also of the most affluent mainlainders. So while they were paying the tithe to Delphi in an orderly fashion and obeying the oracle which had stipulated this, the products of their wealth, after the discovery of the silver mines, gave them a contribution. But when they discontinued the payment of the first-fruits, the sea rose up and flooded and obliterated the basis of their wealth, and they were reduced to the poverty of [sc. other!] islanders and terrible destitution.[1]
From the Phrouroi of Ion.[2] Also Aristophanes says: 'it longs for, yet detests, yet wishes to have'. That is, the city of Athens longs for Alkibiades as a man of action but hates him as a would-be despot. For [Aristophanes] adds, 'I hate a citizen who will show himself slow to benefit his country but quick to do it great injury; and [I hate one who is] resourceful for himself but has no ideas for the city'. This too [is] about Alkibiades, who is slow in benefiting his native land but quick in harming it.[3]