[22]
“You mean to say, father, that nothing is more effectual toward keeping one's men obedient than to seem to be wiser than they?”“Yes,” said he, “that is just what I mean.”“And how, pray, father, could one most quickly acquire such a reputation for oneself?”“There is no shorter road, my son,” said he, “than1 really to be wise in those things in which you wish to seem to be wise; and when you examine concrete instances, you will realize that what I say is true. For example, if you wish to seem to be a good farmer when you are not, or a good rider, doctor, flute-player, or anything else that you are not, just think how many schemes you must invent to keep up your pretensions. And even if you should persuade any number of people to praise you, in order to give yourself a reputation, and if you should procure a fine outfit for each of your professions, you would soon be found to have practised deception; and not long after, when you were giving an exhibition of your skill, you would be shown up and convicted, too, as an impostor.”
1 Be what you would seem to be
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 5 and 6. Walter Miller. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1914.
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