6
I have been thinking, as I write, how happily everything has fallen out for you. The wealth which could only have been acquired forcibly and despotically and at the cost of much hatred, has been left to you by your father, but to use it honorably and for the good of mankind has devolved upon youCf. Isoc. 9.25 for a somewhat similar passage.; and to this task you should devote yourself with great diligence.
7
These, then, are my views; but this is the application: If your heart is set upon money and greater power and dangers too, through which these possessions are acquired, you must summon other advisers; but if you already have enough of these and wish virtue, fair reputation, and the goodwill of your subjects in general, you should heed my words and emulate those rulers who govern their states well and should endeavor to surpass them.
8
I hear that Cleommis, who in Methymna holds this royal power, is noble and wise in all his actions, and that so far from putting any of his subjects to death, or exiling them, or confiscating their property, or injuring them in any other respect, he provides great security for his fellow-citizens, and restores the exiles, returning to those who come back their lost possessions,
