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39“These are the things I would have you do—these and others of like nature; for there are many which I must pass over, since it is impossible to include them all in a single discussion. There is, however, one statement which will serve as a summary with respect both to what has been said and to what has been left unsaid: 2if you of your own accord do all that you would wish another to do if he became your ruler, you will err in nothing and succeed in everything, and in consequence you will find your life most happy and utterly free from danger. 3For how can men help regarding you with affection as father and saviour, when they see that you are orderly and upright in your life, successful in war though inclined to peace; when you refrain from insolence and greed; when you meet them on a footing of equality, 4do not grow rich yourself while levying tribute on them, do not live in luxury yourself while imposing hardships upon them, are not licentious yourself while reproving licentiousness in them,—when, instead of all this, your life is in every way and manner precisely like theirs? Therefore, since you have in your own hands a mighty means of protection,—that you never do wrong to another,—be of good courage and believe me when I tell you that you will never become the object of hatred or of conspiracy. 5And since this is so, it follows of necessity that you will also lead a happy life; for what condition is happier, what more blissful, than, possessing virtue, to enjoy all the blessing which men can know and to be able to bestow them upon others?
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