Chapter 11. The Just King’s Entrance Is Peaceful and a Joy to His Subjects

¹ You have seen the tyrant’s form—how loathsome and repugnant it is; look now, in turn, at the beauty of the king—how desirable, how truly lovely, like your own, should you choose it. And indeed, in a certain sense I have already painted kingship as well, in the very act of painting the tyrant for you, since this king must stand as the exact opposite of that figure; but let me add a few more touches of color to complete the portrait. First, observe how, from the very threshold, he paints his entrance in colors opposite the tyrant’s: he does not seize power by force, nor dye his royal robe with blood, but comes to it through the goodwill of the multitude and the consenting rush of a sober and grateful people. For he receives kingship as the prize of virtue, and all willingly yield the better to the one who is best. Thus even among bees the king arises by nature, and the whole swarm makes him their leader. So too the very forecourts of his kingship are cheerful and welcoming, not grim and forbidding. Let us go on further now, and behold the kingship itself.