Hence it is necessary that a king should not be vanquished by
pleasure, but that he should vanquish it; that he should not be
similar to, but far excel the multitude; and that he should not
conceive his proper employment to consist in the pursuit of pleasure,
but rather in the acquisition of probity. At the same time also it is
fit that he who has occasion to rule over others should first be able
to govern his own passions.
But with respect to the desire of obtaining great property, it must
be observed, that a king ought to be wealthy in order that he may
benefit his friends, relieve those that are in want, and justly
punish his enemies. For the enjoyment of prosperity in conjunction
with virtue is most delightful. The same thing must be said
concerning the transcendency of a king. For since he always surpasses
others in virtue, it is fit to form a judgment of his empire with
reference to virtue, and not with reference to riches, or power, or
his military strength. For he possesses one of these [viz. riches]
in common with any casual persons; another [viz. power] in common
with irrational animals; and the last in common with tyrants. But
virtue is alone the peculiarity of good men. Hence, whatever king is
temperate with respect to pleasures, liberal with respect to money,
and prudent and most skilful in governing, he will be in reality
a king. The people, however, have the same analogy with respect
to the virtues and the vices, as the parts of the human soul. For
the desire of accumulating more than is fit subsists about the
irrational part of the soul: for desire is not rational[15]. But
ambition and ferocity subsist about the irascible part: for this is
the fervid and strenuous part of the soul. And the love of pleasure
subsists about the epithymetic part: for this is the effeminate and
yielding part of the soul. But injustice, which is the most perfect
vice, and is of a composite nature, subsists about the whole soul.
Hence it is necessary that the king should coharmonize like a lyre
the city that is furnished with good laws, first establishing in
himself the most just boundary and order of law, as knowing that
the proper arrangement of the people, over whom divinity has given
him dominion, ought to be coadapted to this boundary. It is also
necessary that a good king should establish becoming positions
and habits in the delivery of public orations, conducting himself
politically, seriously, and earnestly, in order that he may neither
appear to be rough to the multitude; nor may be contemptible; but
may be agreeable and easy in his manners. He will however obtain
these things, if in the first place he is venerable in his aspect and
his discourse, and appears to deserve the sovereign authority which
he possesses. But, in the second place, if he proves himself to be
benign from his behaviour to those whom he may happen to meet, from
his countenance and his beneficence. And in the third place, if he is
formidable from his hatred of depravity, from the punishment which he
inflicts on it, from his celerity in inflicting it, and, in short,
from his skill and exercise in the art of government. For venerable
gravity, being a thing which imitates divinity, is capable of causing
him to be admired and honoured by the multitude. Benignity will
render him pleasing and beloved. And his being formidable will cause
him to be terrible to and unconquered by his enemies, and magnanimous
and confident to his friends.
It is necessary, however, that his gravity should have nothing in
it of an abject or vulgar nature, but that it should be admirable,
and such as becomes the dignity of empire and a sceptre. Nor should
he ever contend with his inferiors, or his equals, but with those
that are greater than himself; and he should conceive, conformably to
the magnitude of his empire, that those pleasures are the greatest
which are derived from beautiful and great deeds, and not those which
arise from sensual gratifications; separating himself indeed from
human passions, and approximating to the Gods, not through arrogance,
but through magnanimity and an invincible transcendency of virtue.
Hence he should invest himself with such a gracefulness and majesty
in his aspect and his reasonings, in the conceptions of his mind,
in the manners of his soul, and in his actions and the motions and
gesture of his body, that those who survey him may perceive that he
is adorned and fashioned with modesty and temperance, and a decorous
disposition. For a good king should convert to himself the souls
of those that behold him, no less than the sound of a flute and
harmony attract the attention of those that hear them. And thus much
concerning the venerable gravity of a king.
But I shall now endeavour to speak of his benignity. Universally,
therefore, every king will be benign, if he is just, equitable, and
beneficent. For justice is a connective and collective communion,
and is alone that disposition of the soul which adapts itself to
those that are near to us. For as rhythm is to motion, and harmony
to the voice, so is justice to communion; since it is the common
good of those that govern, and those that are governed, because it
coharmonizes political society. But equity and benignity are certain
assessors of justice; the former indeed softening the severity of
punishment; but the latter extending pardon to less guilty offenders.
It is necessary, however, that a good king should give assistance to
those that are in want of it, and be beneficent. But his assistance
should be given not in one way only, but in every possible way. And
it is requisite to be beneficent, not looking to the magnitude of
honour, but to the manner and deliberate choice of him by whom honour
is conferred. It is likewise necessary that a worthy king should
so conduct himself towards all men as to avoid being troublesome
to them, but especially towards men of an inferior rank and of a
slender fortune: for these, like diseased bodies, can endure nothing
of a troublesome nature. Good kings, indeed, have dispositions
similar to those of the Gods, and which especially resemble those
of Jupiter, the ruler of all things. For he is venerable and
honourable, through transcendency and magnitude of virtue. He is
benign, because he is beneficent, and the giver of good; and hence
he is said by the Ionic poet [Homer] to be the father of men and
Gods. He is also terrible and transcendent, because he punishes the
unjust, and reigns and rules over all things. But he carries thunder
in his hand, as a symbol of his formidable excellence. From all these
particulars, therefore, it is requisite to remember that a kingdom is
a God-resembling thing.