e symbol of success, in
that he can on all occasions do what it pleases him to do, and with no
regard for the feelings of others. Now Socrates in his reply is not
satisfied to show that even the tyrant must have some scruples; he goes
to the length of asserting that the tyrant must of all persons in the
community have the _most_ scruples. And the reason which Socrates
advances is unanswerable. The tyrant is the one person in the
community who has to _please everybody_. He owes his position and
power, not to any directly productive activity, such as agriculture,
industry, or military service, but wholly to his skill in {137}
organizing and promoting interests that are not primarily his own. To
be sure, he has his hire; but to earn it he must pay every man his
price.

Now let us apply this to the general case of the man of affairs. It
follows that just in so far as action is broad in scope, it must be
considerate and just. To conduct enterprises on a large scale involves
contact with many interests, and these interests, once affected, must
either be understood and provided for or else antagonized. The greater
the enterprise, the more truly does it exist by sufferance; it depends
on the support of those who profit by it, and if that support be
withdrawn, it collapses into absolute impotence. The ancient Cynics
were right in thinking that the only man who can afford to be
indifferent to the interests of his fellows is the man who renounces
ambition and retires to his tub.

Once the era of civilization is inaugurated, power depends on moral
capacity, that is, the capacity to protect and promote a considerable
number of interests, and thus win their backing. This is proved in
every field of human activity, military, political, religious,
intellectual, social, or commercial. Commerce and industry afford at
present the most striking examples. The man who succeeds is the man
who can satisfy the greatest number of appetites. And the more his
enterprise grows the more it becomes a public concern; {138} and the
more, therefore, must he be studious of public welfare and responsive
to public opinion. Thus manufacturing, transportation, or banking,
when conducted on a large scale, touch life at so many points, that he
who seeks to gain power or wealth by means of them will gradually and
without any abrupt change of motive approximate the method of
disinterested service. So every station in life, from that of the
rule