you openly for anything. No one would do this, not even if he should be
violently wronged. Quite the reverse,--many are compelled in public to
praise their oppressors, and while engaged in opposition not to manifest
their wrath. The ruler must infer the disposition of people not from what
they say but from the way it is natural for them to feel.

[-39-] "This and a similar policy is the one I wish you to pursue. I pass
over many matters because it is not feasible to speak of them all at one
time and within present limits. One suggestion therefore I will make to
sum up both previous remarks and whatever is lacking. If you yourself by
your own motion do whatever you would wish some one else who ruled you
to do, you will make no mistakes and will be always successful, and
consequently your life will be most pleasant and free from danger. How
can all fail to regard you and to love you as father and preserver, when
they see you are orderly, leading a good life, good at warfare, but a man
of peace: when you are not wanton, do not defraud: when you meet them
on a footing of equality, and do not yourself grow rich while demanding
money from others: are not yourself given to luxury while imposing
hardships upon others: are not yourself unbridled while reproving others:
when, instead, your life in every way without exception is precisely
like theirs? Be of good cheer, for you have in your own hands a great
safeguard by never wronging another. And believe me when I tell you that
you will never be the object of hatred or plots. Since this is so, you
must quite inevitably lead a pleasant life. What is pleasanter, what is
more conducive to prosperity, than to enjoy in a rightful way all the
blessings among men and to have the power of granting them to others?

[-40-] "With this in mind, together with all the rest that I have told
you, heed my advice and let not that fortune slip which has chosen you
out of all and set you at the head of all. If you would choose the