9. It is nothing to give pension and cottage to the widow who has lost her
son; it is nothing to give food and medicine to the workman who has broken
his arm, or the decrepit woman wasting in sickness. But it is something to
use your time and strength in war with the waywardness and thoughtlessness
of mankind to keep the erring workman in your service till you have made
him an unerring one; and to direct your fellow-merchant to the opportunity
which his dullness would have lost.

10. This is much; but it is yet more, when you have fully achieved the
superiority which is due to you, and acquired the wealth which is the
fitting reward of your sagacity, if you solemnly accept the responsibility
of it, as it is the helm and guide of labor far and near. For you who have
it in your hands, are in reality the pilots of the power and effort of the
State. It is entrusted to you as an authority to be used for good or evil,
just as completely as kingly authority was ever given to a prince, or
military command to a captain. And according to the quantity of it you
have in your hands, you are arbiters of the will and work of the nation;
and the whole issue, whether the work of the State shall suffice for the
State or not, depends upon you.

11. You may stretch out your sceptre over the heads of the laborers, and
say to them, as they stoop to its waving, "Subdue this obstacle that has
baffled our fathers; put away this plague that consumes our children;
water these dry places, plough these desert ones, carry this food to those
who are in hunger; carry this light to those who are in darkness; carry
this life to those who are in death;" or on the other side you may say:
"Here am I; this power is in my hand; come, build a mound here for me to
be throned upon, high and wide; come, make crowns for my head, that men
may see them shine from far away; come, weave tapestries for my feet, that