orm to
the policy and principles which you lay down. But should any one of
these adopt a lower standard of conduct, you should tolerate such
behaviour, if it goes no farther than a breach, in his private capacity,
of the rules by which he was bound, but not if it goes to the extent of
employing for gain the authority which you granted him as a promotion.
For I am far from thinking, especially since the moral sentiments of the
day are so much inclined to excessive laxity and self-seeking, that you
should investigate every case of petty misconduct, and thoroughly
examine every one of these persons; but that you should regulate your
confidence by the trustworthiness of its recipient. And among such
persons you will have to vouch for those whom the Republic has itself
given you as companions and assistants in public affairs, at least
within the limits which I have before laid down.

IV. In the case, however, of those of your personal staff or official
attendants whom you have yourself selected to be about you--who are
usually spoken of as a kind of praetor's cohort--we must vouch, not only
for their acts, but even for their words. But those you have with you
are the sort of men of whom you may easily be fond when they are acting
rightly, and whom you may very easily check when they shew insufficient
regard for your reputation. By these, when you were raw to the work,
your frank disposition might possibly have been deceived--for the better
a man is the less easily does he suspect others of being bad--now,
however, let this third year witness an integrity as perfect as the two
former, but still more wary and vigilant. Listen to that only which you
are supposed to listen to; don't let your ears be open to whispered
falsehoods and interested suggestions. Don't let your signet ring be a
mere implement, but, as it were, your second self: not the minister of
another's will, but a witness of your own. Let your marshal hold the
rank which our ancestors wished him to hold, who, looking upon this
place as not one of profit, but of labour and duty, scarcely ever
conferred it upon any but their freedmen, whom they indeed controlled
almost as absolutely as their slaves. Let the lictor be the dispenser of
your clemency, not his own; and let the fasces and axes which they carry
before you constitute ensigns rather of rank than of power. Let it, in
fact, be known to the whole province that the life, children, fame, and
fortunes of all over