r lives. And even among the Greeks themselves you
must be on your guard against admitting close intimacies, except in the
case of the very few, if such are to be found, who are worthy of ancient
Greece. As things now stand, indeed, too many of them are untrustworthy,
false, and schooled by long servitude in the arts of extravagant
adulation. My advice is that these men should all be entertained with
courtesy, but that close ties of hospitality or friendship should only
be formed with the best of them: excessive intimacies with them are not
very trustworthy--for they do not venture to oppose our wishes--and they
are not only jealous of our countrymen, but of their own as well.

VI. And now, considering the caution and care that I would shew in
matters of this kind--in which I fear I may be somewhat
over-severe--what do you suppose my sentiments are in regard to slaves?
Upon these we ought to keep a hold in all places, but especially in the
provinces. On this head many rules may be laid down, but this is at once
the shortest and most easily maintained--that they should behave during
your progresses in Asia as though you were travelling on the Appian way,
and not suppose that it makes any difference whether they have arrived
at Tralles or Formiae. But if, again, any one of your slaves is
conspicuously trustworthy, employ him in your domestic and private
affairs; but in affairs pertaining to your office as governor, or in any
department of the state, do not let him lay a finger. For many things
which may, with perfect propriety, be intrusted to slaves, must yet not
be so intrusted, for the sake of avoiding talk and hostile remark. But
my discourse, I know not how, has slipped into the didactic vein, though
that is not what I proposed to myself originally. For what right have I
to be laying down rules for one who, I am fully aware, in this subject
especially, is not my inferior in wisdom, while in experience he is even
my superior? Yet, after all, if your actions had the additional weight
of my approval, I thought that they would seem more satisfactory to
yourself. Wherefore, let these be the foundations on which your public
character rests: first and foremost your own honesty and self-control,
then the scrupulous conduct of all your staff, the exceedingly cautious
and careful selection in regard to intimacies with provincials and
Greeks, the strict and unbending government of your slaves. These are
creditable even in the con