Therefore, no athlete is so called upon to train his body as is a king to train his
 soul; Cf. Isoc. 1.12 . 
 for not all the public festivals in the world offer a prize comparable to those for which
 you who are kings strive every day of your lives. This thought you must lay to heart, and
 see to it that in proportion as you are above the others in rank so shall you surpass them
 in virtue; and do not hold the view that while diligence is of use in all other matters it is of no
 avail to make us better and wiser; and do not deem us, the human kind, so unfortunate
 that, although in dealing with wild beasts we have discovered arts by which we tame their
 spirits and increase their worth, yet in our own case we are powerless to help ourselves
 in the pursuit of virtue. This thought and comparison is
 elaborated with verbal echoes from here in Isoc.
 15.209-214 . Cf. the debate on whether virtue can be taught: Theog. 429 ; Xen. Mem. 1.2.19 ff. ; Plat. Meno 95e . A conservative opinion is expressed on the
 question by Isocrates in Isoc. 15.209-214 . On the
 contrary, be convinced that education and diligence are in the highest degree potent to
 improve our nature, and associate yourself with the wisest of those who are about you and send for the wisest
 men from abroad whenever this is possible. And do not imagine that you can afford to be
 ignorant of anyone either of the famous poets or of the sages; rather you should listen to
 the poets and learn from the sages and so equip your mind to judge those who are inferior
 and to emulate those who are superior to yourself; for it is through this training that
 you can soonest become such a man as we have assumed that one must be who is to perform
 properly the duties of a king, and to govern the state as he should. But The passage here to 39 is quoted in a somewhat
 abbreviated form in Isoc. 15.73 . the strongest
 challenge to your task you will find in yourself, if only you consider it monstrous that
 the worse should rule the better, Cf. Isoc. 3.14 ff. and that the more foolish should give orders to men of
 greater wisdom; for the more vigorously you condemn folly in others, the more diligently
 will you train your own understanding. This, then, should be the starting-point for those who set out to do their duty. But, in
 addition, one must be a lover of men and a lover of his country; for neither horses nor
 dogs nor men nor any other thing can be properly controlled except by one who takes
 pleasure in the objects for which it is his duty to care. You must care for the people and
 make it your first consideration to rule acceptably to them,