, by whatever name it may be
called, is required to rein and tame a monster far more multiform and
intractable, whenever it can accomplish it, which indeed is seldom. It
is necessary to hold in with a strong hand that ferocious[329] * * *

XLI. * * * [beast, denominated the mob, which thirsts after blood] to
such a degree that it can scarcely be sated with the most hideous
massacres of men. * * *

But to a man who is greedy, and grasping, and lustful, and
fond of wallowing in voluptuousness.

The fourth kind of anxiety is that which is prone to mourning
and melancholy, and which is constantly worrying itself.

[_The next paragraph, "Esse autem angores," etc.,
is wholly unintelligible without the context._]

As an unskilful charioteer is dragged from his chariot,
covered with dirt, bruised, and lacerated.

The excitements of men's minds are like a chariot, with
horses harnessed to it; in the proper management of which,
the chief duty of the driver consists in knowing his road:
and if he keeps the road, then, however rapidly he proceeds,
he will encounter no obstacles; but if he quits the proper
track, then, although he may be going gently and slowly, he
will either be perplexed on rugged ground, or fall over some
steep place, or at least he will be carried where he has no
need to go.[330]

XLII. * * * can be said.

Then Laelius said: I now see the sort of politician you require, on whom
you would impose the office and task of government, which is what I
wished to understand.

He must be an almost unique specimen, said Africanus, for the task
which I set him comprises all others. He must never cease from
cultivating and studying himself, that he may excite others to imitate
him, and become, through the splendor of his talents and enterprises, a
living mirror to his countrymen. For as in flutes and harps, and in all
vocal performances, a certain unison and harmony must be preserved
amidst the distinctive tones, which cannot be broken or violated
without offending experienced ears; and as this concord and delicious
harmony is produced by the exact gradation and modulation of dissimilar
notes; even so, by means of the just apportionment of the highest,
middle, and lower classes, the State is maintained in concord and peace
by the harmonic subordination of its discordant elements: and thus,
that which is by musicians cal