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What is ‘return-interest’?1
When the Megarians had expelled Theagenes,2
their despot, for a short time they were sober and
sensible in their government. But later when the
popular leaders poured a full and heady draught of
freedom for them, as Plato3 says, they were completely corrupted and, among their shocking acts of
misconduct toward the wealthy, the poor would enter
their homes and insist upon being entertained and
banqueted sumptuously. But if they did not receive
what they demanded, they would treat all the household with violence and insult. Finally they enacted
a decree whereby they received back again the
[p. 199]
interest which they chanced to have paid to their
creditors, calling the measure ‘return-interest.’
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4.
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