Athenian Citizenship

We regard wealth as being something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. Here each individual is interested not only in his own affairs but in the affairs of the state as well: even those who are generally occupied with their own business are extremely well-informed on general politics - this is a peculiarity of ours: we do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all....

... each single one of our citizens, in all the manifold aspects of life, is able to show himself the rightful lord and owner of his own person, and do this, moreover, with exceptional grace and exceptional versatility.

Pericles, as quoted by Thucydides in The History of the Peloponnesian Wars

The Athenian notion of citizenship - obviously idealised by Pericles - is tremendously appealing. Notice that - unlike Rousseau - he does not treat financial inequality as a complete block to active citizenship. However he sees wealth as a public responsibility, not as a private luxury. Citizenship requires, not absolute equality, but freedom from dependence and the ability of citizens to see themselves with public, as well as private, responsibilities.