The Secret of Secrets of Aristotle

to the needy and worthy according to your means and with measure. Whoever gives otherwise sins and exceeds the rule of generosity, because he who lavishes his gifts on those not in need acquires no praise. And he who gives out of his own time is like one scattering false waters on the seashore, and whatever is given to the unworthy is lost. He who pours out his riches beyond measure will soon come to the bitter shores of poverty. He is likened to one who always gives his own victory to his enemies. Therefore, he who gives from his goods in time of necessity to needy men, such a king is generous to himself and his subjects; his kingdom will prosper, his command will be observed; the ancients praised such a king; such a one is called virtuous, generous, and moderate.

He who indeed pours out the goods of his kingdom on the unworthy and those not in need is a depopulator of the commonwealth, a destroyer of the kingdom, and incompetent in rule. Hence, he is called a prodigal, in that his prudence is far from the kingdom. The name of avarice, however, very much disfigures a king and is inconsistent with royal majesty. If, therefore, any king has one of these vices, either avarice or prodigality, if he wishes to consult for himself, he must with the utmost diligence provide a faithful, discreet, and elect man from among many, to whom he ought to commit the public affairs to be dispensed and the riches of the kingdom to be preserved.

Oh Alexander, I firmly say to you: whatever king superfluously continues donations beyond what his kingdom can support, such a king, without doubt, destroys himself and destroys his kingdom. I say, therefore, again that which I have never ceased to say to your clemency, that the avoidance of prodigality and avarice and the acquisition of generosity is the glory of kings and the perpetuity of kingdoms. And this happens when the king abstains and withdraws his hand from the goods and possessions of his subjects. Whence I found it written in the receipts of the great doctor Hermogenes Hermogenes of Tarsus, a rhetorician that the highest and mere goodness, charity, and intellect, and the fullness of the law and the sign of perfection in a king is abstinence from the money and possessions of his subjects, which was the cause of the destruction of the kingdom of the calculi likely referring to a specific historical or legendary people. Whence, because the superfluity of expenses exceeds the revenues of the cities, and thus the revenues failing and the expenses...