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and would use it fittingly. For it is not as in other cases, if they live indolently, that the harm falls upon the kings themselves; but both the good things are likewise common to their subjects and the bad, and it is necessary that the king's soul be established as an archetype of every good thing. But if not, he will pay the penalty not only for his own indolence, but also for that of the many. What man of sense, having considered these things, would not choose rather to live in great obscurity, since the penalty passes not to some of the lesser things, but to the soul itself, with which both the good and the bad things will alike be immortal? In addition to these things, and during this life, a king will have need of many struggles and labors and dangers, if he intends to use his power not as a secondary matter, but according to reason. For it is always just for him to face danger on behalf of his subjects and not to sacrifice their safety for his own security; and to endure every labor both for the administration of common affairs and for resistance against enemies, both those attacking from without and those plotting from within alike. But if someone should ask for what reason, being aware of the great difficulty in the matter and that a king's soul requires so many labors and struggles, I myself, when it was possible to be rid of all these things in the lot of a private citizen, chose to endure so much to obtain it 3.350 and exposed myself to fearsome dangers and various circumstances, I would truthfully reply that it was not from a desire for royal power, nor gaping at the glory from it, that I willingly cast myself into the struggles, but being plotted against by my own countrymen, who concocted many slanders and calumnies, and being driven to the very pinnacle of evils—for no more wretched hope was left—and realizing that they would not be content if I yielded to them the rule of affairs, but in order to seem to have warred justly, they would cruelly kill me, as one who had committed the ultimate wrongs, and they would destroy my children and relatives and the others, who for many years before seemed to be well-disposed towards me, being not a few, nor contemptible, but the majority and most distinguished of the Romans, for the sake of my own safety and that of my companions I chose the title of emperor, although I had been established as ruler of affairs for a long time before, not for the sake of the glory that would come from the imperial office. Nor to leave the rule to my children like some paternal inheritance. And of this I have provided the clearest proofs throughout the whole time, not only before I became master of the entire dominion, for when all my companions asked that you also be chosen emperor, I was unwilling, but also after I had brought everything 3.351 under my control. For when many, and especially the most distinguished, asked the same things again concerning you, I was so far from ever being persuaded by what they requested, that as soon as I possessed everything and had provided the clearest proofs of the wickedness of the slanderers, I devised every scheme and did everything, so that, having delivered you from the disturbances arising from the rule, I might spend the rest of my life in tranquility and transfer all my care and zeal to that indissoluble and non-transient life. Nevertheless, if anyone should especially say that it was for the sake of glory and of luxury and of the other seeming goods of the empire that I endured so many labors and dangers, I would especially say that I am a credible teacher for others for this very reason. For having learned most clearly from the facts, that to administer such a great empire well and fittingly and in imitation of God who rules over all, would not be for anyone who wishes it, but for as many as, being led by the spirit of God, do all things as it seems good to the one who leads them; such as was David and Constantine the Great among emperors and as many as were like them in virtue, I would most safely advise those who are not such to abstain even from the first attempt, since they are destined to be harmed no less from the rule 3.352 than they think to be benefited, deceiving themselves, luxury and foolishness and the other things concerning life

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χρωμένῳ καὶ προσηκόντως ἂν ἐνέγκοι. οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἂν ῥᾳθύμως, οὕτω δὴ καὶ βασιλεῦσιν ἐφ' ἑαυτοὺς ἡ βλάβη περιγίνεται, βιοτεύωσιν· ἀλλὰ τά τε ἀγαθὰ ὁμοίως κοινὰ τοῖς ὑπηκόοις καὶ τὰ φαῦλα, καὶ δέον ἀγαθοῦ παντὸς ἀρχέτυπον τὴν βασιλέως καθεστάναι ψυχήν· εἰ δὲ μὴ, οὐ τῆς σφετέρας μόνον ῥᾳθυμίας ὀφλήσει δίκας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν πολλῶν. ἃ τίς ἂν νοῦν ἔχων ἐννοήσας, οὐκ ἂν ἕλοιτο μᾶλλον ἀφανείᾳ πολλῇ συζῇν, τῆς ζημίας οὐκ εἴς τι τῶν φαυλοτέρων, ἀλλ' εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν διαβαινούσης, ᾗ τά τε ἀγαθὰ ὁμοίως καὶ τὰ φαῦλα ἀθάνατα συνέσται; ἐπὶ τούτοις δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον πολλῶν ἀγώνων καὶ πόνων καὶ κινδύνων τῷ βασιλεύοντι δεήσει, εἰ μέλλοι μὴ παρέργως, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν λόγον χρῆσθαι τῇ ἀρχῇ. προκινδυνεύειν γὰρ τῶν ὑπηκόων δίκαιον ἀεὶ καὶ μὴ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀσφαλεῖ προΐεσθαι τὴν ἐκείνων σωτηρίαν· καὶ πάντα πόνον ὑπομένειν καὶ πρὸς τὴν διοίκησιν τῶν κοινῶν καὶ πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων τὴν ἀντίστασιν, τῶν τε ἔξωθεν ἐπιόντων καὶ τῶν ἔνδοθεν ὁμοίως ἐπιβουλευόντων. ἂν δέ τις ἔροιτο, ὅτου χάριν πολλὴν τῷ πράγματι δυσχέρειαν συνειδὼς καὶ τοσούτων πόνων καὶ ἀγώνων τὴν βασιλέως δεομένην ψυχὴν, αὐτὸς, ἐνὸν ἐν ἰδιώτου μοίρᾳ πάντων ἀπηλλάχθαι, τοσαῦτα ὑπὲρ τοῦ τυ 3.350 χεῖν εἱλόμην ὑπομένειν καὶ κινδύνοις φοβεροῖς καὶ περιστάσεσι ποικίλαις προηκάμην ἐμαυτὸν, ἐκεῖνο ἂν ἀποκριναίμην φιλαληθῶς, ὅτι μὴ βασιλικῆς ἀρχῆς ἐρῶν, μηδὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐκ ταύτης δόξαν κεχηνὼς, ἑκὼν εἶναι καθῆκα ἐμαυτὸν εἰς τοὺς ἀγῶνας, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἐπιβουλευθεὶς, πολλὰς συκοφαντίας καὶ διαβολὰς συσκευασάντων, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν κολοφῶνα τῶν κακῶν συνελαθεὶς, οὐδεμία γὰρ ἐλπὶς ὑπελείπετο πονηροτέρα, καὶ συνιδὼν, ὡς οὐχ ἀγαπήσουσιν, ἂν αὐτοῖς παραχωρήσω τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τοῦ δοκεῖν δικαίως πεπολεμηκέναι ὠμῶς ἀποκτενοῦσιν, ὡς τὰ ἔσχατα ἠδικηκότα, καὶ παῖδας διαφθεροῦσι καὶ οἰκείους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, ὅσοι πρότερον ἔτεσι πολλοῖς εὔνως ἔχειν ἐδόκουν πρὸς ἐμὲ, ὄντες οὐκ ὀλίγοι τινὲς, οὐδὲ εὐκαταφρόνητοι, ἀλλ' οἱ πλείους καὶ περιφανέστεροι Ῥωμαίων, ὑπὲρ τῆς σφετέρας τε καὶ τῶν συνόντων σωτηρίας εἱλόμην τὴν βασιλέως προσηγορίαν, καίτοι πρὸ πολλοῦ τοῦ χρόνου τῶν πραγμάτων ἄρχων καθεστὼς, οὐ δόξης ἕνεκα τῆς ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας ἐσομένης· οὐδὲ τοῦ τοῖς παισὶν ὥσπερ τινὰ πατρῷον κλῆρον καταλείπειν τὴν ἀρχήν. καὶ τούτου δείγματα παρεσχόμην ἐναργέστατα διὰ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου οὐ μόνον πρὶν ἁπάσης ἐγκρατὴς γενέσθαι τῆς ἡγεμονίας, δεομένων γὰρ ἁπάντων τῶν συνόντων καὶ σὲ αἱρεῖσθαι βασιλέα, οὐκ ἠθέλησα, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὸ πᾶσαν 3.351 ποιήσασθαι ὑπ' ἐμαυτόν· δεηθέντων γὰρ πολλῶν, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων, τὰ ἴσα αὖθις περὶ σοῦ, τοσοῦτον τοῦ πεισθήσεσθαί ποτε ἀπέσχον, οἷς αὐτοὶ ἠξίουν, ὥσθ' ἅμα τῷ πᾶσαν ἔχειν καὶ τῆς μοχθηρίας τῶν συκοφαντῶν ἐναργεστάτας παρασχέσθαι ἀποδείξεις, πᾶσαν ἐπενόουν μηχανὴν καὶ πάντα ἔπραττον, ὥστε τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς θορύβων ἀπαλλάξας, ἀπραγμοσύνῃ τὸν ἐπίλοιπον συνεῖναι βίον καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄλυτον ἐκείνην καὶ μὴ διαῤῥέουσαν ζωὴν πᾶσαν μεταθέσθαι καὶ φροντίδα καὶ σπουδήν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ μάλιστά τις φαίη τῆς δόξης ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν δοκούντων ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας ἀγαθῶν τοὺς πόνους ἐμὲ καὶ τοὺς κινδύνους τοὺς τοσούτους ὑποστῆναι, μάλιστ' ἂν ἔγωγε φαίην ἀξιόχρεως καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς ἄλλοις εἶναι παιδευτής. σαφέστατα γὰρ ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων συνιδὼν, ὡς τὸ τηλικαύτην ἀρχὴν διέπειν καλῶς καὶ προσηκόντως καὶ κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ πάντων βασιλεύοντος θεοῦ, οὐκ ἂν εἴη παντὸς τοῦ βουλομένου, ἀλλ' ὅσοι πνεύματι θεοῦ ἀγόμενοι, πάντα πράττουσιν, ὅπως ἂν τῷ ἄγοντι δοκοίη· οἷος ἦν ∆αυὶδ καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ μέγας ἐν βασιλεῦσι καὶ ὅσοι κατ' ἐκείνους τὴν ἀρετὴν, ἀσφαλέστατ' ἂν συμβουλεύσαιμι τοῖς μὴ τοιούτοις καὶ τῆς πρώτης πείρας ἀποσχέσθαι, μέλλουσιν οὐκ ἐλάττω βλάπτεσθαι ἐκ τῆς ἀρ 3.352 χῆς, ἢ ὅσα νομίζουσιν ὠφελεῖσθαι, σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐξαπατῶντες, τὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τὴν βλακείαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην πρὸς τὸν βίον