1O worthy to be called by fathers into their councils! 1O worthy to be written down as joint heir with innocent children! 1This is the clemency that befits a prince; 1wherever he comes, let him make everything gentler. 1Let no one be so worthless to a king that he does not feel his loss; whatever he is, he is part of the empire. 2For great powers let us seek an example from lesser ones. 2There is not just one kind of rule; 2the prince rules his citizens, the father his children, the teacher his pupils, the tribune or centurion his soldiers. 3Will he not seem the worst of fathers who restrains his children with constant blows even for the slightest reasons?
3And which teacher is more worthy of liberal studies, one who will torture his pupils if their memory has failed or if an eye not quick enough in reading has stumbled, or one who prefers to correct and teach by advice and by appeal to their sense of shame? 3Give me a savage tribune or centurion: he will make deserters, and they are nonetheless pardoned. 4Is it right, then, that a man should be ruled more harshly and severely than dumb animals are ruled? 4Yet a master skilled in breaking horses does not frighten a horse with frequent blows; 4for it will become timid and stubborn unless you soothe it with a coaxing touch.
5The huntsman does the same, both the one who teaches puppies to follow tracks and the one who uses dogs already trained to rouse or pursue wild beasts: he neither threatens them often (for he will crush their spirit, and whatever natural quality they have will be broken by degenerate fear) nor allows them freedom to stray and wander everywhere. 5You may add to these the beasts of burden that are slower in their work, which, though they are born to insult and misery, are driven by excessive cruelty to refuse the yoke.