Chapter XVII of the treatise on “Rhetoric.”

AND in the same way on the subject of power, the most striking almost of its dispositions are evident; for of these power has some in common with wealth, and others which are better. For men in power are more ambitious and more manly in their dispositions than the wealthy; from their aiming at all duties whatsoever, which from their power they have the means of discharging. And they are less given to trifling, because, from a necessity of looking carefully to their power, they are constrained to a diligent attention. And they comport themselves with a dignity which is conciliatory rather than repulsive; for their claims for dignity render them more conspicuous; on which account, they bear themselves moderately: but conciliatory dignity is a softened and graceful sedateness. And, if they do transgress the bounds of right, it is not in small points, but in those which are of importance, that they are guilty.

  But good fortune, according to its constituents, is of the disposition of the states which have been described; since those which appear to be the greatest instances of good fortune resolve themselves ultimately into these states: and, besides these, to the excellence of one’s progeny, and to personal advantages. But men are usually more overbearing and inconsiderate in consequence of prosperity. But one disposition, and that most excellent, is a concomitant of good fortune, viz., that the fortunate are lovers of the gods, and are disposed toward the Deity with a sort of confidence, in consequence of the goods which have accrued to them from fortune.

  The subject, then, of the dispositions as they conform to age and to fortune has been discussed; for from the opposites of my remarks the opposite subjects will be evident; the subject, for example, of the disposition of a poor, or unfortunate person, or of one out of power.