The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [247]
3. But if there is in them any reluctance, delay or ill-will in putting such suggestions into effect,
4. Then one ought to come forward oneself and address the people,
5. And not neglecting or slighting the public interests on the ground that because someone else is in office it is not proper for him to meddle in the administration of affairs.
6. For the law always gives the first rank in the government to him who does what is right and recognises what is advantageous.
7. For example: there was in the army a man named Xenophon, neither a general nor a captain,
8. But perceiving what was needed and daring to do it, he put himself in command and saved the Greeks.
9. Certainly it is good to make innovations, not for the sake of small or casual matters, but in cases of necessity, or for glorious causes,
10. As Epameinondas did when contrary to the law he added four months to his tenure of office, in which time he invaded Laconia and carried out his measures at Messene;
11. So that if any accusation or blame be brought against us on this account we may have necessity as our defence,
12. Or the greatness and glory of the action as compensation for the risk.
13. A saying is recorded of Jason, monarch of Thessaly, which he always repeated when taking punitive measures against individuals:
14. ‘It is inevitable that those should act unjustly in small matters who wish to act justly in great matters.’
15. This is recognisable at once as the saying of a despot; a far more statesmanlike precept is this:
16. ‘Win the favour of the people by giving way in small things in order that in greater matters you may oppose them stubbornly and thus prevent them from committing errors.’
17. For a statesman who is always very exact and strenuous about everything,
18. Never yielding at all, but always inexorable,
19. Gets the people into the habit of opposing him and being out of temper with him.
20. It is better that he sometimes joins them graciously, as at public games and spectacles in the theatre, and sometimes pretends not to see or hear their errors,
21. Just as we treat the errors of the young people in a family, in order that the force of rebukes – like that of a medicine – may not become exhausted or stale, but may in matters of greater importance retain its full strength and credit.
22. He thereby takes a stronger hold upon the people and persuades them into compliance.
23. But to the people the statesman will, so far as is possible, permit no outrageous conduct towards the citizens,
24. No confiscation of others’ property, nor distribution of public funds, but by persuasion, arguments and law he will oppose desires of that sort.
25. For by nourishing and increasing such destructive desires Cleon and his partisans produced in the state, as Plato says, ‘a swarm of drones with stings’.
Chapter 29
1. When something important and useful but requiring much conflict and serious effort is to be accomplished,
2. Try to select from among your friends those who are most powerful, or from among the most powerful those who are easiest to get along with;
3. For they are least likely to act against you and most likely to work with you, if they possess wisdom without contentiousness.
4. And, moreover, you should know your own nature, so that for any purpose for which you are naturally less fitted than others, choose as colleagues men who are more able than yourself,
5. As Diomedes, about to go on a scouting expedition, chose as companions men of prudence and passed over the men of courage.
6. For actions are thus more equally balanced, and contention does not arise among men whose ambitions proceed from different virtues and abilities.
7. So, if you are not a good speaker, take an orator as your assistant in a lawsuit or your colleague in an embassy;
8. If you are too lofty of speech and not persuasive in addressing the masses, choose a man who is winning and conciliatory in his oratory;
9. And if you are physically