Letter 7: To Timotheus (5-7)

nor should they, while being harshly and cruelly disposed toward all, yet be careless of their own safety; on the contrary, their conduct of affairs should be so gentle and so in accordance with the law that no one will venture to plot against them; yet they should rigorously guard their persons as if everybody wished to kill them. For if they should adopt this policy, they would themselves be free from danger and at the same time be highly esteemed by all; blessings greater than these it would be difficult to discover.

I have been thinking, as I write, how happily everything has fallen out for you. The wealth which could only have been acquired forcibly and despotically and at the cost of much hatred, has been left to you by your father, but to use it honorably and for the good of mankind has devolved upon you[*]; and to this task you should devote yourself with great diligence.

These, then, are my views; but this is the application: If your heart is set upon money and greater power and dangers too, through which these possessions are acquired, you must summon other advisers; but if you already have enough of these and wish virtue, fair reputation, and the goodwill of your subjects in general, you should heed my words and emulate those rulers who govern their states well and should endeavor to surpass them.