Chapter 18. In What Manner the King Will Put Good Friends to the Test

¹ These same friends he will set over the administration of cities, but only after he has taken full proof of them, that they will govern well. And what is this proof? Follow my reasoning here more closely, for I am about to hand you the very touchstone of gold.[1] There are three things we must examine in this test: the man, his household, and the city. First, then, observe the man—whether he has ordered his own character rightly, so that neither anger nor desire, those slavish and subject things, escape the mastery and control of reason. And when you find such a man, raise him to the management of a household; and if there too you find him proven, raise him a further step, and entrust him with the governance of a city. For how could a man who cannot govern himself properly oversee a household? And how could a man who has not managed his household well govern a city? Let this be your unerring standard for judging officials: advance those who have proven themselves in smaller matters to the common affairs of state. For he who is faithful in a little is faithful also in much, as we have learned; just as, if a man does not know how to manage his own household, the Apostle will not entrust him with a church either.