as honey irritates wounds and sores, so does true and sensible
advice exasperate the unfortunate, if it be not of a gentle and
soothing nature: exactly as the poet calls sweet things agreeable,
because they agree with the taste, and do not oppose or fight against
it. An inflamed eye prefers the shade, and shuns strong lights: and a
city, when involved in misfortunes, becomes timid and weak through its
inability to endure plain speaking at a time when it especially needs
it, as otherwise its mistakes cannot be repaired. For this reason the
position of a statesman in a democracy must always be full of peril;
for if he tries merely to please the people he will share their ruin,
while if he thwarts them he will be destroyed by them.

Astronomers teach us that the sun does not move in exactly the same
course as the stars, and yet not in one which is opposed to them, but
by revolving in an inclined and oblique orbit performs an easy and
excellent circuit through them all, by which means everything is kept
in its place, and its elements combined in the most admirable manner.
So too in political matters, the man who takes too high a tone, and
opposes the popular will in all cases, must be thought harsh and
morose, while on the other hand he who always follows the people and
shares in all their mistakes pursues a dangerous and ruinous policy.
The art of government by which states are made great consists in
sometimes making concessions to the people, and gratifying them when
they are obedient to authority, and at the same time insisting upon
salutary measures. Men willingly obey and support such a ruler if he
does not act in a harsh and tyrannical fashion: but he has a very
difficult and laborious part to play, and it is hard for him to
combine the sternness of a sovereign with the gentleness of a popular
leader, If, however, he succeed in combining these qualities, they
produce the truest and noblest harmony, like that by which God is
said to regulate the universe, as everything is brought about by
gentle persuasion, and not by violence.

III. All this was exemplified in the case of the younger Cato: for he
had not the art of persuasion and was unacceptable to the people, nor
did he rise to eminence by the popular favour, but Cicero[622] says
that he lost his consulship because he acted as if he were living in
the Republic of Plato, and not in the dregs of Romulus. Such men seem
to me to resemble fruits which grow out of seaso