To Nicocles (13-14)

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 strongest challenge to your task you will find in yourself, if only you consider it monstrous that the worse should rule the better,[*] 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.