Al. {pastasi}, = colonnades.
Next, as to armaments: Will you present a greater terror to the foe if you appear furnished yourself from head to foot with bright emlazonrie and horrent arms;[3] or rather by reason of the warlike aspect of a whole city perfectly equipped?
[3] Or, 'with armour curiously wrought a wonder and a dread.' {oplois tois ekpaglotatois}, most magnificent, awe-inspiring, a poetical word which appears only in this passage in prose (Holden). L. & S. cf. Hom. 'Il.'i. 146, xxi. 589, of persons; 'Od.' xiv. 552, of things. Pind. 'Pyth.' iv. 140; 'Isth.' 7 (6), 30.
And now for ways and means: On which principle do you expect your revenues to flow more copiously--by keeping your own private capital[4] employed, or by means devised to make the resources of the entire state[5] productive?
[4] Reading {idia}, al. {idia}, = 'your capital privately employed.'
[5] Lit. 'of all citizens alike,' 'every single member of the state.'
And next to speak of that which people hold to be the flower of institutions, a pursuit both noble in itself and best befitting a great man--I mean the art of breeding chariot-horses[6]--which would reflect the greater lustre on you, that you personally[7] should train and send to the great festal gatherings[8] more chariots than any Hellene else? or rather that your state should boast more racehorse- breeders than the rest of states, that from Syracuse the largest number should enter to contest the prize?
[6] Cf. Plat. 'Laws,' 834 B.
[7] Breit. cf. Pind. 'Ol.' i. 82; 'Pyth.' i. 173; ii. 101; iii. 96.
[8] 'Our solemn festivals,' e.g. those held at Olympia, Delphi, the Isthmus, Nemea.
Which would you deem the nobler conquest--to win a victory by virtue of a chariot, or to achieve a people's happiness, that state of which you are the head and chief? And for my part, I hold it ill becomes a tyrant to enter the lists with private citizens. For take the case he wins, he will not be admired, but be envied rather, when is is thought how many private fortunes go to swell the stream of his expenditure; while if he loses, he will become a laughing-stock to all mankind.[9]
[9] Or, 'you will be mocked and jeered at past all precedence,' as historically was the fate of Dionysus, 388 or 384 B.C. (?); and for the possible connection between that incident and this treatise see Lys. 'Olymp.'; and Prof. Jebb's remarks on the fragment, 'Att. Or.' i. p. 203 foll. Grote, 'H. G.' xi. 40 foll.; 'Plato, iii. 577.
No, no! I tell you, Hiero, your battlefield, your true arena is with the champion presidents of rival states, above whose lesser heads be it your destiny to raise this state, of which you are the patron and supreme head, to some unprecedented height of fortune, which if you shall achieve, be certain you will be approved victorious in a contest the noblest and the most stupendous in the world.
Since what follows? In the first place, you will by one swift stroke have brought about the very thing you have set your heart on, you will have won the affection of your subjects. Secondly, you will need no herald to proclaim your victory; not one man only, but all mankind, shall hymn your virtue.
Wherever you set foot you shall be gazed upon, and not by individual citizens alone, but by a hundred states be warmly welcomed. You shall be a marvel, not in the private circle only, but in public in the sight of all.
It shall be open to you, so far as safety is concerned, to take your journey where you will to see the games or other spectacles; or it shall be open to you to bide at home, and still attain your object.
Before you shall be gathered daily an assembly, a great company of people willing to display whatever each may happen to possess of wisdom, worth, or beauty;[10] and another throng of persons eager to do you service. Present, regard them each and all as sworn allies; or absent, know that each and all have one desire, to set eyes on you.
[10] Or, 'to display their wares of wisdom, beauty, excellence.'
The end will be, you shall not be loved alone, but passionately adored, by human beings. You will not need to woo the fair but to endure the enforcement of their loving suit.
You shall not know what fear is for yourself; you shall transfer it to the hearts of others, fearing lest some evil overtake you. You will have about you faithful lieges, willing subjects, nimble servitors. You shall behold how, as a matter of free choice, they will display a providential care for you. And if danger threatens, you will find in them not simply fellow-warriors, but champions eager to defend you with their lives.[11]
[11] Not {summakhoi}, but {promakhoi}.
Worthy of many gifts you shall be deemed, and yet be never at a loss for some well-wisher with whom to share them. You shall command a world-wide loyalty; a whole people shall rejoice with you at your good fortunes, a whole people battle for your interests, as if in very deed and truth their own. Your treasure-houses shall be coextensive with the garnered riches of your friends and lovers.
Therefore be of good cheer, Hiero; enrich your friends, and you will thereby heap riches on yourself. Build up and aggrandise your city, for in so doing you will gird on power like a garment, and win allies for her.[12]
[12] Some commentators suspect a lacuna at this point.
Esteem your fatherland as your estate, the citizens as comrades, your friends as your own children, and your sons even as your own soul. And study to excel them one and all in well-doing; for if you overcome your friends by kindness, your enemies shall nevermore prevail against you.
Do all these things, and, you may rest assured, it will be yours to own the fairest and most blessed possession known to mortal man. You shall be fortunate and none shall envy you.[13]
[13] Al. 'It shall be yours to be happy and yet to escape envy.' The concluding sentence is gnomic in character and metrical in form. See 'Pol. Lac.' xv. 9.
