"That men should not be frightened by your journeys hither and thither--that they should not be eaten up by your extravagance--that they should not be disturbed by your coming among them--that there should be joy at your approach; when each city should think that its guardian angel, not a cruel master, had come upon it--when each house should feel that it entertained not a robber but a friend.

Practice has made you perfect in this.

But it is not enough that you should exercise those good offices yourself, but that you should take care that every one of those who come with you should seem to do his best for the inhabitants of the province, for the citizen of Rome, and for the Republic." I wish that I could give the letter entire--both in English, that all readers might know how grand are the precepts taught, and in Latin, that they who understand the language might appreciate the beauty of the words--but I do not dare to fill my pages at such length.

A little farther on he gives his idea of the duty of all those who have power over others--even over the dumb animals.[246] "To me it seems that the duty of those in authority over others consists in making those who are under them as happy as the nature of things will allow.

Every one knows that you have acted on this principle since you first went to Asia." This, I fear, must be taken as flattery, intended to gild the pill which comes afterward "This is not only his duty who has under him allies and citizens, but is also that of the man who has slaves under his control, and even dumb cattle, that he should study the welfare of all over whom he stands in the position of master!" Let the reader look into this, and ask himself what precepts of Christianity have ever surpassed it.
Then he points out that which he describes as the one great difficulty in the career of a Roman Provincial Governor.[247] The collectors of taxes, or "publicani," were of the equestrian order.