mankind, did it ever strike you to consider to which of the two you
are best entitled to belong?

Yes I have (replied Aristippus). I do not dream for a moment of
ranking myself in the class of those who wish to rule. In fact,
considering how serious a business it is to cater for one's own
private needs, I look upon it as the mark of a fool not to be content
with that, but to further saddle oneself with the duty of providing
the rest of the community with whatever they may be pleased to want.
That, at the cost of much personal enjoyment, a man should put himself
at the head of a state, and then, if he fail to carry through every
jot and tittle of that state's desire, be held to criminal account,
does seem to me the very extravagance of folly. Why, bless me! states
claim to treat their rulers precisely as I treat my domestic slaves. I
expect my attendants to furnish me with an abundance of necessaries,
but not to lay a finger on one of them themselves. So these states
regard it as the duty of a ruler to provide them with all the good
things imaginable, but to keep his own hands off them all the
while.[12] So then, for my part, if anybody desires to have a heap of
pother himself,[13] and be a nuisance to the rest of the world, I will
educate him in the manner suggested, and he shall take his place among
those who are fit to rule; but for myself, I beg to be enrolled
amongst those who wish to spend their days as easily and pleasantly as
possible.

[12] Or, "but he must have no finger in the pie himself."

[13] See Kuhner ad loc.

Soc. Shall we then at this point turn and inquire which of the two are