Chapter 21. The King Should Attend to the State as a Helmsman Attends to His Ship

¹ Kingship ought not to consist in having more than one’s share of pleasures, but in willingly taking on the weight of labors and cares. Or do you not see the helmsman—how he is forever active, and while the others sleep pleasantly and pass their time riding the deep swell, he alone clings to his watch, sleepless? And even if he snatches some sleep by day when the moment allows, his sleep is so often broken that it turns into a kind of wakefulness, so that he is constantly calling out: “Furl the sail! Let out the sheet! Bring the rudder about! But listen—the yard creaks! But look—avoid that jutting rock!” And so, sleeping, he accomplishes very nearly more than those who are wide awake. Let the king, then, give himself over to labors, making his kingship not a place of luxury but a place of care.