Nicocles or the Cyprians (21-25)

But the greatest difference is this: men under other governments give attention to the affairs of state as if they were the concern of others; monarchs, as if they were their own concern;[*] and the former employ as their advisers on state affairs the most self-assertive of their citizens, while the latter single out and employ the most sagacious; and the former honor those who are skilful in haranguing the crowd, while the latter honor those who understand how to deal with affairs.

And not only in matters of ordinary routine and of daily occurrence do monarchies excel, but in war they have compassed every advantage;[*] for in raising troops, and handling them so as to mislead and forestall the enemy, and in winning people over, now by persuasion, now by force, now by bribery, now by other means of conciliation, one-man rule is more efficient than the other forms of government. And of this one may be assured by facts no less than by words;

for, in the first place, we all know that the empire of the Persians attained its great magnitude, not because of the intelligence of the population, but because they more than other peoples respect the royal office; secondly, that Dionysius,[*] the tyrant, taking charge of Sicily when the rest of it had been devastated by war and when his own country, Syracuse, was in a state of siege, not only delivered it from the dangers which then threatened, but also made it the greatest of Hellenic states;

and again, we know that while the Carthaginians and the Lacedaemonians, who are the best governed peoples of the world,[*] are ruled by oligarchies at home, yet, when they take the field, they are ruled by kings. One might also point out that the state[*] which more than any other abhors absolute rule meets with disaster when it sends out many generals,[*] and with success when it wages war under a single leader.

And, indeed, how could any one show more convincingly than through these instances that monarchy is the most excellent of governments? For we see that those who are permanently ruled by kings have the greatest powers; that those who live in well- conducted oligarchies, when it comes to matters about which they are most concerned, appoint one man, in some cases a general, in others a king, to have full powers over their armies in the field; and that those who abhor absolute rule, whenever they send out many leaders, fail to accomplish a single one of their designs.