<blockquote>Nigrinus’s first words were in praise of Greece, and in particular of the Athenians. They are brought up, he said, to poverty and to philosophy.</blockquote>

It’s curious how the idea that the golden ideas of antiquity derive from Athens in the ancient world, and if you read the evidence, there is a lot point towards this idea. Romans = brute soldiers and emperors; Athenians = philosophers and ideal statesmen [think Phocion].

http://lucianofsamosata.info/Nigrinus.html