Again, in agreement with Plato and Aristotle, Isocrates opposes the doctrine of mere arithmetical equality, and insists that the true equality apportions to each what befits his capacity.512
But though he is hostile to the crasser type of communism, he makes the chief characteristic of the ideal past a noble community feeling and spirit of co-operation. In that happy time, the common weal was first in the thought of all, each had regard for others’ interests, the poor were not jealous of the rich, and the rich assisted the poor.513
At times, he even approaches the modern humanitarian sentiment for the submerged classes. He defines true national prosperity as a condition in which no citizen is lacking the means of livelihood,514 and thinks the poor might well be pardoned for their indifference to public welfare, in their anxiety over the daily means of subsistence.515
He also states the somewhat socialistic principle so emphasized by Plato, that the character of the state will be like that of the ruler.516