"And Aristippus is to have the place of honor?
I have no objection--though he teaches that man must subjugate matter and not become subject to it .-- ['Mihi res, non me rebus subjungere.']--This indeed is easier to say than to do, and there is no man to whom it is more impossible than to a king who has to keep on good terms with Greeks and Egyptians, as we have, and with Rome as well.

And besides all this to avoid quarrelling with a jealous brother, who shares our kingdom! If men could only know how much they would have to do as kings only in reading and writing, they would take care never to struggle for a crown! Up to this last half hour I have been examining and deciding applications and petitions.

Have you got through yours, Euergetes?
Even more had accumulated for you than for us." "All were settled in an hour," replied the other promptly.

"My eye is quicker than the mouth of your reader, and my decisions commonly consist of three words while you dictate long treatises to your scribes.

So I had done when you had scarcely begun, and yet I could tell you at once, if it were not too tedious a matter, every single case that has come before me for months, and explain it in all its details." "That I could not indeed," said Philometor modestly, "but I know and admire your swift intelligence and accurate memory." "You see I am more fit for a king than you are;" laughed Euergetes.