Then Laelius said: I see, Scipio, that you are very sufficiently provided with authorities; but with me, as with every fair judge, authorities are worth less than arguments.
Scipio replied: Then, Laelius, you shall yourself make use of an argument derived from your own senses.
_Laelius._ What senses do you mean?
_Scipio._ The feelings which you experience when at any time you happen to feel angry with any one.
_Laelius._ That happens rather oftener than I could wish.
_Scipio._ Well, then, when you are angry, do you permit your anger to triumph over your judgment?
No, by Hercules! said Laelius; I imitate the famous Archytas of Tarentum, who, when he came to his villa, and found all its arrangements were contrary to his orders, said to his steward, "Ah! you unlucky scoundrel, I would flog you to death, if it were not that I am in a rage with you." Capital, said Scipio.

Archytas, then, regarded unreasonable anger as a kind of sedition and rebellion of nature which he sought to appease by reflection.

And so, if we examine avarice, the ambition of power or of glory, or the lusts of concupiscence and licentiousness, we shall find a certain conscience in the mind of man, which, like a king, sways by the force of counsel all the inferior faculties and propensities; and this, in truth, is the noblest portion of our nature; for when conscience reigns, it allows no resting-place to lust, violence, or temerity.
_Laelius._ You have spoken the truth.
_Scipio._ Well, then, does a mind thus governed and regulated meet your approbation?
_Laelius._ More than anything upon earth.
_Scipio._ Then you would not approve that the evil passions, which are innumerable, should expel conscience, and that lusts and animal propensities should assume an ascendency over us?
_Laelius._ For my part, I can conceive nothing more wretched than a mind thus degraded, or a man animated by a soul so licentious.
_Scipio._ You desire, then, that all the faculties of the mind should submit to a ruling power, and that conscience should reign over them all?
_Laelius._ Certainly, that is my wish.
_Scipio._ How, then, can you doubt what opinion to form on the subject of the Commonwealth?
in which, if the State is thrown into many hands, it is very plain that there will be no presiding authority; for if power be not united, it soon comes to nothing.
XXXIX.

Then Laelius asked: But what difference is there, I should like to know, between the one and the many, if justice exists equally in many?
And Scipio said: Since I see, my Laelius, that the authorities I have adduced have no great influence on you, I must continue to employ you yourself as my witness in proof of what I am saying.
In what way, said Laelius, are you going to make me again support your argument?
_Scipio._ Why, thus: I recollect, when we were lately at Formiae, that you told your servants repeatedly to obey the orders of more than one master only.
_Laelius._ To be sure, those of my steward.
_Scipio._ What do you at home?
Do you commit your affairs to the hands of many persons?
_Laelius._ No, I trust them to myself alone.
_Scipio._ Well, in your whole establishment, is there any other master but yourself?
_Laelius._ Not one.
_Scipio._ Then I think you must grant me that, as respects the State, the government of single individuals, provided they are just, is superior to any other.
_Laelius._ You have conducted me to this conclusion, and I entertain very nearly that opinion.
XL.

And Scipio said: You would still further agree with me, my Laelius, if, omitting the common comparisons, that one pilot is better fitted to steer a ship, and a physician to treat an invalid, provided they be competent men in their respective professions, than many could be, I should come at once to more illustrious examples.
_Laelius._ What examples do you mean?
_Scipio._ Do not you observe that it was the cruelty and pride of one single Tarquin only that made the title of king unpopular among the Romans?
_Laelius._ Yes, I acknowledge that.
_Scipio._ You are also aware of this fact, on which I think I shall debate in the course of the coming discussion, that after the expulsion of King Tarquin, the people was transported by a wonderful excess of liberty.