The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [245]
14. He will prefer to be himself defeated among his fellow-citizens rather than to be successful by outraging and destroying the principles of justice in his own city,
15. And he will beg everyone else to do likewise, and will teach them how great an evil is contentiousness.
16. But as it is, not only do they not make honourable and gracious compromises with their fellow-citizens and tribesmen at home and with their neighbours and colleagues in office,
17. But they carry their dissensions outside and put them in the hands of lawyers, to their own great injury and disgrace.
18. For when physicians cannot entirely eradicate diseases, they turn them outwards to the surface of the body;
19. But the statesman, if he cannot keep the state entirely free from troubles, will at any rate try to cure and control whatever disturbs it,
20. Keeping it meanwhile within the state, so that it may have as little need as possible of physicians and medicine drawn from outside.
21. For the policy of the statesman should be that which holds fast to security and avoids the tumultuous and mad impulse of empty opinion.
22. For he must not create storms himself, and yet he must not desert the state when storms fall upon it;
23. He must not stir up the state and make it reel perilously, but when it is reeling and in danger, he must come to its assistance and employ his frankness of speech as an anchor.
24. You would not see the man who is really a statesman cowering in fear,
25. Nor would you see him throwing blame upon others and putting himself out of danger,
26. But you will see him serving on embassies, sailing the seas,
27. And even though he had no part in the wrongdoing of the people, taking dangers upon himself on their behalf.
28. For this is noble; and besides being noble, one man’s excellence and wisdom, by earning admiration,
29. Has often mitigated anger which has been aroused against the whole people and has dissipated the threatened terror and bitterness.
30. Something of that sort seems to have happened in the case of Pompey regarding Sthenno,
31. When, as he was going to punish the Mamertines for revolting, Sthenno told him that he would be doing wrong if he should destroy many innocent men for the fault of one man;
32. For, he said, it was he himself who had caused the city to revolt by persuading his friends and compelling his enemies.
33. This so affected Pompey that he let the city go unpunished and also treated Sthenno kindly.
34. But Sulla’s guest-friend, practising virtue of the same sort but not having to do with the same sort of man, met with a noble end.
35. For when Sulla, after the capture of Praeneste, was going to slaughter all the rest of the citizens but was letting that one man go on account of his guest-friendship,
36. The latter declared that he would not be indebted for his life to the slayer of his fatherland,
37. And then mingled with his fellow-citizens and was cut down with them.
Chapter 27
1. Deeming every public office to be something great and important, we should respect one who holds an office, and understand the difficulty of its performance;
2. But the honour of an office resides in honesty and diligence, and in concord with colleagues, much more than in titles and uniforms or a purple-bordered robe.
3. But those who consider that serving together in a campaign or in school is the beginning of friendship,
4. But regard joint service in the generalship or other office as the cause of enmity, have failed to avoid one of the three evils;
5. For either they regard their colleagues as their equals and are themselves factious, or they envy them as their superiors, or despise them as their inferiors.
6. But a man ought to conciliate his superior, add prestige to his inferior, honour his equal,
7. And be affable and friendly to all, considering that they have been made all alike by vote of the people,
8. And that they bear goodwill towards one another as a heritage, from their country.
9.