That's not the thesis of the article. The thesis is basically that Simonides and other writers got alot of flak for wanting to be paid, but the author believed

That's not the thesis of the article. The thesis is basically that Simonides and other writers got alot of flak for wanting to be paid, but the author believed that the flak was really for pointing out a relationship that was already in place, just in a kind of reciprocal gift economy instead. More to the point, that the gift of words in the previous economy was always reciprocated by something more valuable so that the writer would remain in the patron's debt. So the people who believe that writing should always be untainted by money (or reciprocity) are failing to understand and live up to either the patronage system or the "modern" monetary payment system.