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And I now give the name honours to those which the multitude, to quote Empedocles,Mullach, Frag. Phil. Graec. i. p. 3, 112. Do not call as is right; and I, too, myself follow custom.Quoted with slightly different wording by Plutarch, Moralia, 1113 b. For the statesman will not despise the true honour and favour founded upon the goodwill and disposition of those who remember his actions, nor will he disdain reputation and avoid pleasing his neighbours, as DemocritusMullach, Frag. Phil. Graec. i. p. 355. demanded. For not even the greeting of dogs nor the affection of horses is to be spurned by huntsmen and horse-trainers, but it is both advantageous and pleasant to instil into animals which are brought up with us and live with us such a disposition towards us as was exhibited by the dog of Lysimachus and as the poet tells us that Achilles’ horses felt towards Patroclus.Homer, Il. xix. 404 ff.; Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 25. And I believe even bees would come off better if they would only welcome and placate their keepers and attendants instead of stinging them and making them angry. But as it is, people punish bees with smoke and lead unruly horses and runaway dogs by force of bits and dog-collars; but nothing makes a man willingly tractable and gentle to another man except trust in his goodwill and belief in his nobility and justice. And therefore Demosthenes is rightDemosthenes, vi. (second Philippic) 24. in declaring that the greatest safeguard States possess against tyrants is distrust; for that part of the soul with which we trust is most easily taken captive. Therefore just as Cassandra’s prophetic power was useless to the citizens because she was held in no esteem, For God, she says, has made me prophesy in vain, And those who suffer or have suffered woes Have called me wise; but ere they suffer, mad, Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 919, no. 414. From an unknown play. so the trust which the citizens reposed in ArchytasArchytas of Tarentum was a statesman, Pythagorean philosopher, and mathematician. He was seven times general and never defeated. He lived in the fourth century b.c. and was a friend of Plato. and their goodwill towards BattusProbably Battus III. of Cyrene is meant, under whom the constitution of the city was reformed about the middle of the sixth century b.c. was, on account of their reputation, of great advantage to those who made use of them. The first and most important advantage inherent in the reputation of statesmen is this: the trust in them which affords them an entrance into public affairs; and the second is that the goodwill of the multitude is a weapon of defence for the good against the slanderous and wicked, as when a mother Wards off a fly from her child when he lieth asleep in sweet slumber,Homer, Il. iv. 130. keeping off envy and in the matter of power making the low-born equal to the nobles, the poor to the rich, and the private citizen to the office-holders; and in short, when truth and virtue are added to it, such goodwill is a steady fair wind wafting a man into political office. Now consider the contrary disposition and learn of it by examples. For the men of Italy Violated the daughters and the wife of Dionysius,Dionysius II. of Syracuse; cf. Life of Timoleon, chap. xiii., and Aelian, Var. Hist. vi. 12. killed them, and then burned their bodies and scattered the ashes from a boat over the sea. But when a certain man named Menander, who had been a good king of the Bactrians, died in camp, the cities celebrated his funeral as usual in other respects, but in respect to his remains they put forth rival claims and only with difficulty came to terms, agreeing that they should divide the ashes equally and go away and should erect monuments to him in all their cities. But, on the other hand, the Agrigentines, when they had got rid of Phalaris, decreed that no one should wear a grey cloak; for the tyrant’s servants had worn grey garments. But the Persians, because Cyrus was hook-nosed, even to this day love hook-nosed men and consider them the most handsome.
