13
and associate yourself with the wisest of those who are about you and send for the wisest men from abroad whenever this is possible. And do not imagine that you can afford to be ignorant of anyone either of the famous poets or of the sages; rather you should listen to the poets and learn from the sages and so equip your mind to judge those who are inferior and to emulate those who are superior to yourself; for it is through this training that you can soonest become such a man as we have assumed that one must be who is to perform properly the duties of a king, and to govern the state as he should.
14
ButThe passage here to 39 is quoted in a somewhat abbreviated form in Isoc. 15.73. the strongest challenge to your task you will find in yourself, if only you consider it monstrous that the worse should rule the better,Cf. Isoc. 3.14 ff. and that the more foolish should give orders to men of greater wisdom; for the more vigorously you condemn folly in others, the more diligently will you train your own understanding.
15
This, then, should be the starting-point for those who set out to do their duty. But, in addition, one must be a lover of men and a lover of his country; for neither horses nor dogs nor men nor any other thing can be properly controlled except by one who takes pleasure in the objects for which it is his duty to care. You must care for the people and make it your first consideration to rule acceptably to them,
