על יוסף י״דOn Joseph 14
א׳
1[67] Now the true statesman knows quite well that the people has the power of a master, yet he will not admit that he is a slave, but regards himself as a free man and shapes his activities to please his own soul. He will frankly say, “I have never learned to cringe to the people, and I will never practise it. But since the leadership and charge of the state is put into my hands I will know how to hold it as a good guardian or an affectionate father, guilelessly and sincerely without the dissimulation which I hate.
ב׳
2[68] Being thus minded, I will not be found cloaking and hiding anything as a thief might do, but I will keep my conscience clear as in the light of the sun, for truth is light. I will fear none of the tyrant’s menaces, even though he threaten me with death, for death is a less evil than dissimulation.
ג׳
3[69] And why should I submit to it? For, though the people be a master, I am not a slave, but as highly-born as any, one who claims enrolment among the citizens of that best and greatest state, this world.
ד׳
4[70] For when neither presents nor appeals nor craving for honours nor desire for office nor spirit of pretentiousness nor longing for reputation, nor incontinence, nor unmanliness, nor injustice, nor any other creation of passion and vice can subdue me, what domination is still left for me to fear?
ה׳
5[71] Clearly, it can only be that of men, but men, while they assume the sovereignty of my body, are not sovereigns of the real I. For I take my title from the better part, the understanding within me, and by that I am prepared to live with little thought of the mortal body, the shell-like growth which encases me. And, though some may maltreat it, yet, if I be free from the hard masters and mistresses within, I shall suffer no affliction, since I have escaped the cruellest tyranny of all.
ו׳
6[72] If then I have to serve on a jury, I will give my verdict without favouring the rich because of his abundant wealth, or the poor through pity of his misfortunes, but drawing a veil over the dignity or the outward appearance of the litigants I will in all honesty award what shall appear just.
ז׳
7[73] If I act as a councillor I will introduce such proposals as are for the common good, even if they be not agreeable. If I speak in the general assembly I will leave all talk of flattery to others and resort only to such as is salutary and beneficial, reproving, warning, correcting in words studied to shew a sober frankness without foolish and frantic arrogance.
ח׳
8[74] He who does not gladly receive improving advice must to be consistent censure parents and guardians and teachers and all persons in charge, because they reprimand and sometimes even beat their own children or orphan-wards or pupils, though really it is against all morality to call such treatment evil-speaking or outrage instead of friendliness and benevolence.
ט׳
9[75] For it were a quite unworthy thing that I, the statesman, to whom are committed all the interests of the people, should, in planning for their benefit, shew myself inferior to anyone who practises the physician’s art.
י׳
10[76] He cares not how brilliant is the good fortune, as men hold it, which attends his patient or that he is high-born or wealthy or the most glorious king or despot of his time, but devotes himself to one object only, to save him to the best of his ability, even if he must use cautery or surgery, and he applies the fire or the knife, he the subject to his ruler, he the so-called slave to his master.
י״א
11[77] And I, who am called to attend not on a single person but on the whole state afflicted by the more powerful distempers which its inbred lusts have produced, what ought I to do? Shall I sacrifice the future welfare of all and minister to the cares of this man and that man with flattery utterly slave-like and unworthy of the free? I would rather lie dead than with some pleasant words conceal the truth and disregard real welfare.
י״ב
12[78] As the tragedian says:
י״ג
13So then come fire, come sword.
Burn me, consume my flesh, drink my dark blood,
Take fill of me; for sooner shall the stars
Go ’neath the earth, and earth go up to sky
Than thou shalt from these lips hear fawning word.
Burn me, consume my flesh, drink my dark blood,
Take fill of me; for sooner shall the stars
Go ’neath the earth, and earth go up to sky
Than thou shalt from these lips hear fawning word.
י״ד
14[79] When the statesman stands thus aloof from all passions, from pleasure, from fear, from pain, from desire, with the spirit of a true man, the despot-people cannot away with him, but takes him and chastises as an enemy its friend and well-wisher. And thus it lays upon itself rather than on its victim the greatest of punishments, indiscipline, whereby it fails to learn the lesson of submission to government, that lesson most excellent and of life-long profit, which he who learns learns also how to govern.