Letter 462: You may wonder why I continue to write rather than coming to speak with you face to face.
To Theodorus the Augustalis: The boastful and overbearing manner is not the mark of a ruling spirit, as you suppose, but rather the gentle and approachable manner, and treating everyone with fairness. For the former is fitting for beasts and serpents, while the latter is fitting for rulers and most beneficial to their subjects. For the affairs of subjects prosper not from the haughtiness of their governors but from their prudence. The former is perilous both for the rulers themselves and for the governed, while the latter is secure for both: for the subjects, if they persuade the ruler's authority to incline toward a more popular temper; and for the rulers, if they turn their governing fairness into a love greater than fear.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΥΞΒ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΑΛΙΩ.
Οὐ τὸ ἀλαζονικὸν καὶ ὑπέρογκον δεῖγμα ἀρχοντικοῦ ἐστιν, ὡς ἡγῇ, φρονήματος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἥμερον καὶ εὐπρόσιτον, καὶ τὸ πᾶσιν μετ᾿ ἐπιεικείας προσφέρεσθαι. Ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ θηριοπρεπὲς καὶ ὀφιῶδες, τοῦτο δὲ ἀρχικὸν, καὶ τοῖς ὑπηκόοις λυσιτελέστατον. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ φρονήματος, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπὸ φρονήσεως τῶν ἡγεμόνων τὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων κατορθοῦται πράγματα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ καὶ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀρχομένοις σφαλερόν, ἡ δὲ ἑκατέροις ἀσφαλῆς· τοῖς μὲν (45), εἰ τὸ ἀρχικὸν ἐπὶ τὸ δημοτικώτερον νεύειν ἀναπείθοιεν· τοῖς δὲ, εἰ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν τὴν ἡγεμονικὴν εἰς ἀγάπην μείζονα τοῦ φόβου τυγχάνουσαν τρέψοιεν.
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