ABSTRACT
Any one who looks at Samuelson's collection of scientific papers realises the breadth and depth of his contribution to economics. His Principles of Economics and Economic Foundations laid a new groundwork and set the standards of post-war modern economics. There is no need to remind the profession that Samuelson is an icon. An unusual diversion from the impressive substantive content of his work is taken in this contribution, where of particular interest is a personal stylistic facet of Samelson's writing, his vain, provocative mannerisms. The paradox of the world-renown scholar indulging in gratuitous self-promotion is in fact quite curious, and the present short paper advances a possible explanation for Samuelson's persona's lifetime of overindulging in vanity. The exercise here of applying the astute 'intelligence-vanity' maxim of Cicero's Hortensius and Augustine's Confessions to Samuelson appeal's to affirm both that this very duality is also his driving force and that the vanity of Samuelson, tolerated, if not fostered by the profession, seems to be telling us more about the lacklustre state of the discipline he loves than about the man himself...
