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. 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; 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 times Especially 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. Kings, however, have no such help; on the contrary, they, who more than other men should
 be thoroughly trained, live all their lives, from the time when they are placed in
 authority, without admonition; for the great majority of people do not come in contact
 with them, and those who are of their society consort with them to gain their favor.
 Indeed, although they are placed in authority over vast wealth and mighty affairs, they
 have brought it about because of their misuse of these advantages that many debate whether
 it were best to choose the life of men in private station who are reasonably prosperous,
 or the life of princes. For when men look at their honors, their wealth, and their powers, they all think that
 those who are in the position of kings are the equals of the gods; but when they reflect
 on their fears and their dangers, and when, as they review the history of monarchs, they
 see instances where they have been slain by those from whom they least deserved that fate,
 other instances where they have been constrained to sin against those nearest and dearest
 to them, and still others where they have experienced both of these calamities, then they
 reverse their judgement and conclude that it is better to live in any fashion whatsoever
 than, at the price of such misfortunes, to rule over all Asia .