Chapter 19. A King’s Recognized Favor Has a Wonderful Power to Draw Along His Subjects’ Pursuits
1 When officials are of this kind, they will swiftly bring the kingdom to a better state, forming many others besides in their own likeness. For whatever kings pursue with zeal tends to grow: if the emperor is fond of rhetoric, ah, what a downpour of sophists then floods the palace with their public readings! And if he seems devoted to philosophy, occupying himself with learned studies, then men full of Plato crowd the royal gates, and not even the gatekeepers fail to recognize Archimedes, Euclid, and Hypsicles.[1] But if he is thought a lover of horses, the palace grows crowded instead with Nisaean and Italian steeds.[2]