prevent from supping with him; but as for the favorites of those
execrable tyrants Apollodorus, Phalaris, and Dionysius, they racked
them, they flayed them alive, they roasted them at slow fires,
looked on them as the very pests of society and disgraces of human
nature; for to debauch a simple person is indeed an ill thing, but
to corrupt a prince is an infinite mischief. In like manner, he
who instructs an ordinary man makes him to pass his life decently
and with comfort; but he who instructs a prince, by correcting his
errors and clearing his understanding, is a philosopher for the
public, by rectifying the very mould and model by which whole
nations are formed and regulated. It is the custom of all nations
to pay a peculiar honor and deference to their priests; and the
reason of it is, because they do not only pray for good things for
themselves, their own families and friends, but for whole
communities, for the whole state of mankind. Yet we are not so
fond as to think that the priests make the gods to be givers of
good things, or inspire a vein of beneficence into them; but they
only make their supplications to a being which of itself is
inclinable to answer their requests. But in this a good tutor hath
the privilege above the priests,--he effectually renders a prince
more disposed to actions of justice, of moderation, and mercy, and
therefore hath a greater satisfaction of mind when he reflects
upon it.

For my own part, I cannot but think that an ordinary mechanic--for
instance, a maker of musical instruments--would be much more
attentive and pleased at his work, and if his harp would be touched
by the famous Amphion, and in his hand to serve for the builder of
Thebes, or if that Thales had bespoke it, who was so great a master
by the force of his music he pacified a popular tumult amongst the