“He was rather in the habit of praising riches, and we can say that he was a slave to his own wealth-loving nature.”
ἀλλὰ πολύς ἐστιν ἐγκωμιάζων τὸν πλοῦτον, καί φαμεν ἡττᾶσθαι αὐτὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως φιλοχρημάτου τυγχανούσης.
One-Percent-Pindar: Scholion to Olympian 1.1
But was he a wealthy man or merely a sycophant?
(To use a word you love to love)
I imagine that he praised wealth as most of our ancient authors praised virtue: that is, as something which they admired, yet which they wished they had more of.
He was surely doing better than your average Josephos Zmo.
Absolutely. But if he were Seneca, he would not praise riches so…
How like our own politicians praising the value of the rich and dismissing the desire for a fairer society as envy.
SCholiastic burn!