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the most hideous irrationality of all, from which, as from a bitter drink, destructive offshoots accompany it, a dissolute life, greed, murders, wars against God, impieties; given over to these things, even if he may sometimes seem to rule by tyrannical force, yet this man will never in true reason be called a king. For how could he be able to bear the imitation of monarchical authority, who has countless falsely depicted images of demons impressed upon his soul? And how can he be a ruler and lord of all who has drawn upon himself countless bitter masters, and is a slave of shameful pleasure, a slave of intemperate madness for women, a slave of money procured unjustly, a slave of temper and wrath, a slave of fear and terrors, a slave of murderous demons, a slave of soul-destroying spirits? 5.4 Therefore, let him alone be proclaimed king for us, with truth as witness, who is a friend to the all-sovereign God, who is indeed alone free, or rather who is truly lord, and superior to money, stronger than the desire for women, a victor over pleasures and natural impulses, ruling over temper and wrath, but not ruled by them; this man is truly an emperor, bearing a title that corresponds to his actions; truly a victor, who has won the victory over the passions that wrestle down the mortal race, who has been formed in the image of the archetypal idea of the great King and shaped in his mind as in a mirror by the beams of virtue proceeding from it, and from them has been made temperate, good, just, brave, pious, a lover of God. Truly indeed, this man is also the only philosopher-king, who knows himself and who understands the supplies of every good that are poured upon him from without, or rather from heaven, who makes manifest the venerable title of monarchical power by the distinctive garment he wears and who alone is worthily robed in the royal purple that befits him. 5.5 This is the king who by night and day calls upon his heavenly Father, who cries out to Him in his prayers, who yearns for the highest kingdom. For, being conscious that present things are not worthy of the all-sovereign God, things mortal and perishable, flowing like a river and perishing, he longs for the incorruptible and incorporeal kingdom of God, and prays to obtain that, having raised his mind above the vault of heaven through high-minded reasoning, and having stored up in his breast an unspeakable longing for the lights there, in comparison with which he considers the precious things of this present life to be no different from darkness. For he sees that the rule of men is a small and short-lived supervision of a mortal and temporary life, not much better than the rule of goatherds or shepherds or cowherds, but rather he considers it even more laborious and of more difficult charges, and he considers the outcries of the peoples and the voices of flatterers as related to the mob rather than to pleasure, on account of his steadfast character and the genuine training of his soul. 5.6 But also, seeing the bodyguard of his subjects, myriads of armies, servile and obedient multitudes of hoplites, both foot soldiers and cavalry, he is in no way struck with awe, nor is he puffed up by his command of them, turning his mind to himself and seeing the common nature of all men within himself. And indeed, he laughs at his gold-embroidered garment woven with various flowers, and his royal purple with its diadem, when he sees the many astonished and deifying the phantasm just like little children deify some bogeyman. But he himself, having in no way suffered the same things in his soul, through knowledge of the divine, puts on a garment embroidered with self-control and justice and piety and the other virtues, the adornment that is truly fitting for a king. 5.7 Furthermore, in addition to these, the treasures so longed for by the many, I mean gold and silver and all the kinds of stones that are admired, he sees that they are truly useless stones and worthless matter, such as they happen to be by nature, such he also sees that they are, being able to help in no way as a defense against evils. For what are these against

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τὴν παντὸς δυσειδεστάτην ἀλογίαν, ἐξ ἧς ὥσπερ ἀπὸ πικροῦ πόματος τὰ λυμαντικὰ συνομαρτεῖ βλαστήματα, βίος ἄσωτος, πλεονεξίαι, μιαιφονίαι, θεομαχίαι, δυσσέβειαι· τούτοις ἐκδοθείς, κἂν νομίζηταί ποτε τυραννικῇ βίᾳ κρατεῖν, ἀλλ' οὔποτ' ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ χρηματίσει βασιλεὺς οὗτος. πῶς δ' ἂν τὸ μίμημα τῆς μοναρχικῆς ἐξουσίας οἷός τε ἂν εἴη φέρειν ὁ μυρίας ἐψευδογραφημένας δαιμόνων εἰκόνας τῇ αὐτοῦ ψυχῇ τετυπωμένος; πῶς δ' ἄρχων καὶ τῶν ὅλων κύριος ὁ μυρίους καθ' ἑαυτοῦ πικροὺς δεσπότας ἐφειλκυσμένος, καὶ δοῦλος μὲν αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς, δοῦλος δ' ἀκολάστου γυναικομανίας, δοῦλος χρημάτων ἐξ ἀδίκου ποριζομένων, δοῦλος θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς, δοῦλος φόβου καὶ δειμάτων, δοῦλος μιαιφόνων δαιμόνων, δοῦλος ψυχοφθόρων πνευμάτων; 5.4 διὸ δὴ μόνος ἡμῖν βασιλεὺς σὺν ἀληθείᾳ μάρτυρι κεκηρύχθω ὁ τῷ παμβασιλεῖ θεῷ φίλος, ὁ δὴ μόνος ἐλεύθερος μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ κύριος ἀληθῶς, καὶ χρημάτων μὲν ἀνώτερος, γυναικῶν δ' ἐπιθυμίας κρείττων, νικητὴς δὲ ἡδονῶν καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν, κρατῶν δὲ θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς, ἀλλ' οὐ κρατούμενος, αὐτοκράτωρ ἀληθῶς οὗτος, φερώνυμον τῇ πράξει φέρων τὴν ἐπηγορίαν· νικητὴς ἐτύμως ὁ τὴν νίκην τῶν καταπαλαιόντων θνητὸν γένος παθῶν ἀράμενος, ὁ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχέτυπον τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως ἀπεικονισμένος ἰδέαν καὶ ταῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν αὐγαῖς ὥσπερ ἐν κατόπτρῳ τῇ διανοίᾳ μορφωθείς, ἐξ αὐτῶν δὲ ἀποτελεσθεὶς σώφρων, ἀγαθός, δίκαιος, ἀνδρεῖος, εὐσεβής, φιλόθεος. ἀληθῶς δὴ καὶ μόνος φιλόσοφος βασιλεὺς οὗτος ὁ ἑαυτὸν εἰδὼς καὶ τὰς ἔξωθεν αὐτῷ μᾶλλον δ' οὐρανόθεν ἐπαρδομένας παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ χορηγίας ἐξεπιστάμενος, ὁ τῆς μονάρχου δυναστείας τὸ σεβάσμιον πρόσρημα τῷ τῆς ἀμπεχόνης ἐξαιρέτῳ περιβλήματι διαφαίνων καὶ τὴν ἐμπρέπουσαν αὐτῷ βασιλικὴν ἁλουργίδα μόνος ἐπαξίως ἐμπεριειλημμένος. 5.5 βασιλεὺς οὗτος ὁ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν τὸν ἐπουράνιον ἀνακαλούμενος πατέρα, ὁ τοῦτον ἐν ταῖς εὐχαῖς ἐπιβοώμενος, ὁ τῆς ἀνωτάτω βασιλείας ὀριγνώμενος. μὴ γὰρ τὰ παρόντα ἄξια τοῦ παμβασιλέως θεοῦ συνειδώς, τὰ θνητὰ καὶ ἐπίκηρα ποταμοῦ δίκην ῥέοντα καὶ ἀπολλύμενα, τὴν ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀσώματον τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείαν ποθεῖ, κἀκείνης τυχεῖν εὔχεται, διὰ μεγαλόφρονα λογισμὸν ὑπὲρ τὴν οὐράνιον ἁψῖδα τὴν διάνοιαν μετεωρίσας καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ φώτων ἄλεκτον πόθον ἐνεστερνισμένος, ὧν τῇ παραθέσει σκότους οὐδὲν διαφέρειν ἡγεῖται τὰ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τίμια· τήν τε γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ἀρχὴν θνητοῦ καὶ προσκαίρου βίου μικρὰν καὶ ὀλιγοχρόνιον ἐπιστασίαν οὖσαν ὁρᾷ, οὐ μακρῷ κρείττονα τῆς αἰπόλων ἢ ποιμένων ἢ βουκόλων ἀρχῆς μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐργωδεστέραν καὶ δυσκολωτέρων θρεμμάτων ἡγεῖται, τάς τε τῶν δήμων ἐκβοήσεις καὶ τὰς τῶν κολάκων φωνὰς πρὸς ὄχλου τίθεται μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸς ἡδονῆς, διὰ στερρὸν ἦθος καὶ γνησίαν ψυχῆς παίδευσιν. 5.6 ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τῶν ὑπηκόων δορυφορίαν, μυριάδας στρατοπέδων, ὁπλιτῶν πεζῶν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ἱππικῶν δοῦλα καὶ ὑπήκοα πλήθη οὐδαμῶς ὁρῶν καταπλήττεται, οὐδ' ἐπὶ τῇ τούτων ἀρχῇ τυφοῦται, στρέφων εἰς αὐτὸν τὴν διάνοιαν τήν τε κοινὴν ἁπάντων φύσιν καὶ παρ' ἑαυτῷ βλέπων. ἐσθῆτά γε μὴν χρυσοϋφῆ ποικίλοις ἄνθεσιν ἐξυφασμένην ἁλουργίδα τε βασιλικὴν σὺν αὐτῷ διαδήματι γελᾷ τοὺς πολλοὺς θεώμενος ἐκπεπληγμένους καὶ τὸ φάντασμα κομιδῇ νηπίων δίκην οἷόν τι μορμολύκειον θειάζοντας· οὐδαμῶς δ' αὐτὸς τὰ ὅμοια πεπονθὼς τῇ ψυχῇ δι' ἐπιστήμην τοῦ θείου περίβλημα σωφροσύνῃ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ εὐσεβείᾳ τε καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἀρεταῖς πεποικιλμένον τὸν ἐπ' ἀληθείας πρέποντα βασιλεῖ κόσμον περιτίθησιν. 5.7 ἔτι μὴν πρὸς τούτοις τὰ τριπόθητα τοῖς πολλοῖς χρήματα, χρυσὸν λέγω καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ ὅσα λίθων θαυμάζεται γένη, λίθους ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχειν ἀνωφελεῖς καὶ ἄχρηστον ὕλην, οἷα τῇ φύσει ὄντα τυγχάνει τοιαῦτα καὶ ὄντα βλέπει, οὐδὲν πρὸς κακῶν ἀλέξημα οἷά τε ὄντα βοηθεῖν· τί γὰρ ταῦτα πρὸς