[24]
Be not willing to show your authority by harshness or by undue severity in punishment, but by causing your subjects one and all to defer to your judgement and to believe that your plans for their welfare are better than their own. Be warlike in your knowledge of war and in your preparations for it, but peaceful in your avoidance of all unjust aggression.1 Deal with weaker states as you would expect stronger states to deal with you.2
1 Cf. Isoc. 8.136.
2 For the golden rule in the relations of states compare Isoc. 4.81. Cf. Isoc. 1.14 and note.