es
they had established. This strictness on his part would have been
thought harsh, had it not been rendered palatable by many sweetening
influences of courtesy. But if this gentleness was sufficient to make
him popular at Rome, where there is such haughtiness of spirit, such
unrestrained liberty, such unlimited licence of individuals, and, in
fine, so many magistrates, so many means of obtaining protection, such
vast power in the hands of the popular assembly, and such influence
exercised by the senate, how welcome must a praetor's courtesy be in
Asia, in which there is such a numerous body of citizens and allies, so
many cities, so many communities, all hanging on one man's nod, and in
which there are no means of protection, no one to whom to make a
complaint, no senate, no popular assembly! Wherefore it requires an
exalted character, a man who is not only equitable from natural impulse,
but who has also been trained by study and the refinements of a liberal
education, so to conduct himself while in the possession of such immense
power, that those over whom he rules should not feel the want of any
other power.

VIII. Take the case of the famous Cyrus, portrayed by Xenophon, not as
an historical character, but as a model of righteous government, the
serious dignity of whose character is represented by that philosopher as
combined with a peculiar courtesy. And, indeed, it is not without reason
that our hero Africanus used perpetually to have those books in his
hands, for there is no duty pertaining to a careful and equitable
governor which is not to be found in them. Well, if _he_ cultivated
those qualities, though never destined to be in a private station, how
carefully ought those to maintain them to whom power is given with the
understanding that it must be surrendered, and given by laws under whose
authority they must once more come? In my opinion all who govern others
are bound to regard as the object of all their actions the greatest
happiness of the governed. That this is your highest object, and has
been so since you first landed in Asia, has been published abroad by
consistent rumour and the conversation of all. It is, let me add, not
only the duty of one who governs allies and citizens, but even of one
who governs slaves and dumb animals, to serve the interests and
advantage of those under him. In this point I notice that everyone
agrees that you take the greatest pains: no new debt is being contracted
by the