The petty men by nature in the mundane world

All rejoice in men's agreeing with themselves

And dislike men's being different from them.

This rejoicing and this dislike arise from

Their being bent on making themselves

Distinguished above all other people.

But have they who have this object at heart

So risen out above others? They depend on them

To rest quietly in the position which they desire

And their knowledge is not equal to the multitude

Of the arts and skills of all the others.

When they administer a state for their government,

They proceed to employ all the methods

Which their superiors have considered profitable

Without seeing probable evils of such a course.

This is to make the state depend on contingency

Of their good luck. But how seldom it is that

That contingency does not issue in the state's collapse?

Not once in a thousand cases will such men preserve

Their government; not once will they succeed and

In more than a thousand cases will they ruin the state.

Alas that their superiors should not know

The danger of employing such men up and about.