29
Visit the same punishment on false-accusers as on evil-doers. Govern yourself no less than your subjects, and consider that you are in the highest sense a king when you are a slave to no pleasureCf. Isoc. 1.21. but rule over your desires more firmly than over your people. Do not contract any intimacy heedlessly or without reflection, but accustom yourself to take pleasure in that society which will contribute to your advancement and heighten your fame in the eyes of the world.
30
Do not show yourself ambitious for those things which lie within the power of base men also to achieve, but show that you pride yourself on virtue, in which base men have no part.Cf. Isoc. 1.38. Consider that the truest respect is shown you, not in the public demonstrations which are inspired by fear, but when people in the privacy of their homes speak with admiration of your wisdom rather than of your fortune. Let it not be known of men if perchance you take delight in things of small account, but let the world see that you are zealous about matters of the greatest moment.
31
Do not think that while all other people should live with sobriety, kings may live with license; on the contrary, let your own self-control stand as an example to the rest, realizing that the manners of the whole state are copied from its rulers.Cf. Isoc. 3.37; Cicero, Ep. ad Fam. i. 9. 12: “quales in republica principles essent, tales reliquos soler esse cives.” Let it be a sign to you that you rule wisely if you see all your subjects growing more prosperous and more temperate because of your oversight.
