Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).

Cyrus said that those who are unwilling to procure good things for themselves must of necessity procure them for others. He also said that no man has any right to rule who is not better than the people over whom he rules.[*](Cf. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, i. 6. 8, and vii. 5. 83. The sentiment is not novel, and may be found in other writers.)