Asimov PP: 9/1989: "The True Rulers"

I'm going through Isaac Asimov's F&SF essays in reverse order by date to share the Personal Paragraphs with which he invariably opened each essay.

I have always found the history of ancient Greece to be a gold mine of good stories, and for some reason, I remember them all.

Asimov then goes on for another page and 6/8ths, to tell the story of Themistocles, the Athenian leader who persuaded the city to invest in a fleet while they waited the attack of the Persians (which would culminate in the Battle of Salmis.)

He ends it with:

But my favorite Themistocles story is the one in which he pointed to his infant sun and said, "There is the ruler of Greece."

"That child," said someone in amazement.

"Certainly," said Themistocles. "for Athens rules GReece, and I rule athens, and my wife rules me me, and that child rules my wife."

So let's find out who rules the Earth.

Asimov then goes on to talk about ... bacteria.