And I now give the name ‘honours’ to those
which the multitude, to quote Empedocles,
1
Do not call as is right; and I, too, myself follow custom.2
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 Democritus
3 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.
4 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 right
5 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
[p. 277]
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,’
6
so the trust which the citizens reposed in Archytas
7
and their goodwill towards Battus
8 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,9
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,
10
killed them, and then burned their bodies and scattered the ashes from a boat over the sea. But when
[p. 279]
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.
