1
When men make it a habit, Nicocles, to bring to you who are rulers of kingdoms articles of dress or of bronze or of wrought gold,Echoed from Hom. Od. 16.231. or other such valuables of which they themselves have need and you have plenty, it seems to me all too evident that they are not engaged in giving but in bargaining, and that they are much more skillful in disposing of their wares than those who are professedly in trade.
2
For my part, I should think that this would be the finest and the most serviceable present and the most suitable for me to give and for you to receive—I could prescribe what pursuits you should aspire to and from what you should abstain in order to govern to the best advantage your state and kingdom. For when men are in private life, many things contribute to their education: first and foremost, the absence of luxury among them, and the necessity they are under to take thought each day for their livelihood;
3
next, the laws by which in each case their civic life is governed; furthermore, freedom of speech and the privilege which is openly granted to friends to rebuke and to enemies to attack each other’s faults; besides, a number of the poets of earlier timesEspecially the “gnomic” poets mentioned in 43. have left precepts which direct them how to live; so that, from all these influences, they may reasonably be expected to become better men.
