Chapter 25. It Is Unbecoming for the King to Give His Attention to Actors and Buffoons, but Fitting Rather That He Live Among Thoughtful Men and Keep Company With the Educated

¹ How could such a man find time for mimes and buffoons? How could he fail to draw everyone’s goodwill to himself, when they see him caring for their interests and training on their behalf? Whereas, on the contrary, if the palace opens its doors to stage performers and the licentious, if the imperial residence welcomes men fit only for the pit—men who will join the master of the whole world in his disgrace, reprobates who will chime in with him and sit in judgment on the matters under deliberation—while men worthy even of ruling find the very first gate slammed in their faces by the gatekeepers; and if the man who has mimicked a parrot or trilled like a nightingale is the one honored, while those who speak human words—or rather, utter divine ones—go about dishonored, themselves fed on nothing, and so starved that even the lice on their bodies go hungry; if prizes are set out for insolence and indecency, while virtue is left a worthless thing, covered in filth and mildew—then how do you suppose matters will stand for such men? Surely it is obvious to everyone, even without my saying it.