ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS. 105

country for his mother's sake, but his mother in and with his country ; since both his mother and his wife were part and parcel of that endangered country. After harshly repelling public supplications, the entreaties of ambassa- dors, and the prayers of priests, to concede all as a pri- vate favor to his mother was less an honor to her than a dishonor to the city which thus escaped, in spite, it would seem, of its own demerits, through the intercession of a single woman. Such a grace could, indeed, seem merely invidious, ungracious, and unreasonable in the eyes of both parties ; he retreated without listening to the per^* suasions of his opponents, or asking the consent of his friends. The origin of all lay in his unsociable, super-" cUious, and self-willed disposition, which, in all cases, is offensive to most people ; and when combined with a pas* sion for distinction, passes into absolute savageness and mercilessness. Men decline to ask favors of the people, professing not to need any honors from them ; and then are indignant if they do not obtain them. MetelluSj Aristides, and Epaminondas certainly did not beg favors of the multitude ; but that was because they, in real truth, did not value the gifts which a popular body can either confer or refuse ; and when they were more than once driven into exile, rejected at elections, and con- demned in courts of justice, they showed no resentment at the ill-humor of their fellow-citizens, but were willing and contented to return and be reconciled when the feel-' ing altered and they were wished for. He who least likes courting favor, ought also least to think of resent- ing neglect : to feel wounded at being refused a distinc- tion can only arise from an overweening appetite to have it. Alcibiades never professed to deny that it was pleasant to him to be honored, and distasteful to him to be over- looked 5 and, accordingly, he always tried to place him-