Letter 849: The priesthood is a sacred trust, not a career.

Authority and kingship, that which all men fight to possess, have taken away from many not only the good life, but often life itself. Let them therefore not consider this alone — whether failure attends those who pursue power — but let them also weigh whether the power they attain brings them happiness or misery. For history is filled with the names of kings who gained their thrones through blood and lost them through treachery, who spent their reigns in fear and their final hours in agony. The crown sits heavy on a troubled head, and the scepter is a burden to the hand that holds it unjustly. How many have exchanged the peaceful obscurity of private life for the glittering torment of public authority, only to discover too late that they had traded contentment for anxiety, freedom for chains of gold? The wise man, seeing these things, does not covet the throne but pities the one who sits upon it. For the ruler is the servant of all, and the greater the authority, the greater the accountability. He who rules must give account not only for his own soul but for the souls of all those entrusted to his care — and this is a burden that would crush even the strongest, were it not sustained by the grace of God.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ Λ΄. δήσε χειρας. ᾿Αρχὴ δὲ καὶ βασιλεία, ἡ πᾶσι περιμά- χητος, οὐ μόνον τὸ εὖ ζῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ εὖ ζῆν πολλάκις προσαφείλετο. Μὴ τοίνυν τοῦτο μόνον σκοι πείτωσαν, εἰ ἀποτυχία πρόσεστι τοῖς πράγμασιν (97)) ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μὴ πολλάκις πενία πλούτου χρησιμωτέρα τοῖς ἔχουσι γέγονε, τῆς Προνοίας καταβοάτωσαν, μηδέτι ἑαυτοῖς παρεχέτωσαν τῆς κρίσεως τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς σοφοῖς τοῖς παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀδομένοις. Δι᾿ ἣν γὰρ αἰτίαν Σωκράτης μὲν κωνείῳ κατακριθεὶς, οὐκ ἐνόμισεν ἀδικεῖσθαι; Πλάτων δ᾿ ἀπεμποληθεὶς οὐχ ἡγεῖτο ἐκπεπτωκέναι τῆς ἐλευθερίας; Διογένης δὲ ἐν ῥακίοις ζῶν, τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως ἡγεῖτο ἑαυτὸν πλουσιώτερον; ᾿Αντισθένης δὲ ῥυπῶν καὶ αὐχμῶν ἔχαιρε, καὶ κατὰ τῶν τρυφώντων ὤπλιζε τὴν γλῶτ- ταν; Φωκίων δὲ ἀπαγόμενος μετὰ φίλων τινῶν, καὶ τινος ἐξ αὐτῶν δακρυσάντος, καὶ ὀλοφυρμῶν τὴν ὁδὸν ἐμπλήσαντος, Ἔλεγεν, Οὐκ ἀγαπᾷς μετὰ Φωκίωνος ἀποθανούμενος; Εἰ τοίνυν τοὺς σοφοὺς οὔτε θάνατος, οὔτε δουλεία, οὔτε πενία ἐθορύβησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν- εκαλλωπίζοντο τούτοις (ᾔδεσαν γὰρ στάδιον μὲν εἶναι τὸν τῇδε βίον, τὸν δὲ μέλλοντα τῶν ἐπάθλων τίκτοντα τὸ γέρας [98])· δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν οὗτοι τρυφῇ καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ ἀρχῇ τὴν μακαριότητα ὁριζόμενοι, ἀπὸ τῶν τἀναντία ὑπομενόντων, ὁπλίζουσι κατὰ τῆς Προ- νοίας τὴν γλῶτταν, τῆς τὸ συμφέρον ἐπισταμένης, καὶ ἑκάστῳ ἢ συγχωρούσης, ἢ ἀπονεμούσης, ἵνα καὶ ὁ πλούσιος δοκίμια τῆς οἰκείας προαιρέσεως δοίη, καὶ ὁ πένης, ὥσπερ ἐν πυρὶ χρυσός, τῇ πενίᾳ βασα- νιζόμενος στεφθείη; Εἰ δὲ λέγοιεν· ῎Εχρῆν καὶ διὰ πλούτου καὶ διὰ πενίας πάντας δοκιμασθῆναι· φή- σομεν, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν πολλοὶ καὶ οὕτως ἐδοκιμά- σθησαν · καὶ ἐν μὲν πλούτῳ ὑπερήφανοι, ἐν δὲ πενίᾳ ἄνανδροι ὤφθησαν. Εἰ δὲ μὴ πάντες, μάλιστα μὲν διὰ τούτων καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀπολογήσασθαι οἷόν τε. Πλὴν οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον φήσαιμι, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκεῖνο μᾶλλον εἴποιμι, ὅτι οὐδὲν παραβλάπτονται οἱ τῇδε βασανι- ζόμενοι φιλάρετοι, ἐκεῖσε τῶν στεφάνων αὐτοῖς ἀπο- κειμένων, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τότε ἐλαττοῦται αὐτῶν ὁ στέ- φανος, ὅτε ἐνταῦθα ἀμοιβῆς τινος καὶ εὐημερίας τύ- χοιεν. Μὴ τοίνυν πάντα ἐνταῦθα ζητείτωσαν, ἀλλ' ἐννοείτωσαν, ὅτι κρίσις ἀδέκαστος ἔσται, ἣν καὶ λο- γογράφοι, καὶ ποιηταὶ, καὶ ῥήτορες, καὶ συγγραφεῖς ἀνυμνοῦσιν (99). Εἰ γὰρ τῆς ἀκριβείας οὐκ ἐφίκοντο, ἀλλάγε ὅτι πάντως ἔσται ἐδογμάτισαν. ---CONTINUES---