The Secret of Secrets of Aristotle

works to commend, to pray to God for the royal life, and to narrate the wisdom performed through the cities and families of the king. And for this reason, they teach their children from infancy and induce them to the love, honor, obedience, and fear of the king; in this way, the fame of the king is published and grows in secret and in public. They were also accustomed at such a time to punish evildoers and the wicked and to remove them from the midst, so that the way of doing harm might be precluded by presumptions, and others might be corrected. They are also accustomed at such a time to alleviate tributes, to deal with merchants, to remit parts of them from the revenues, and to diligently defend and guard them with their goods; and this is the reason why India is very populous. For there, merchants willingly congregate from everywhere and are well received, and the rich and the poor, citizens and foreigners, profit; thence it is that the royal tributes and revenues are augmented. One must, therefore, guard against the injury and offense of merchants; they are indeed the bringers of praise, reporting the fame of men throughout the whole world. To everyone, therefore, must be rendered what is his own, for thus cities are fortified, revenues are multiplied, and the honor and glory of the king grow; thus enemies tremble and are repressed. The king therefore lives peacefully and securely, and thus he pursues the desires of pleasure.

What a man ought to desire.

Alexander, do not desire what is corruptible and transitory and what it behooves you to leave quickly; seek incorruptible riches, an immutable life, an eternal kingdom, a glorious durability. Direct, therefore, your thoughts into the good; always render yourself venerable and glorious. Avoid the ways of lions and beasts in their filth. Do not be cruel and inflexible in sparing those over whom you have had victory. Think about future and accidental cases, because you do not know what the future day may bring forth.

Concerning chastity.

Do not imitate desires in eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, and long sleep. O clement emperor, do not incline yourself to the intercourse of women, for intercourse is a certain property of pigs. What glory, therefore, will it be to you if you exercise the rite of irrational beasts and the acts of brutes? Believe me, without doubt, that intercourse is the destruction of the body, the abbreviation of life, the corruption of virtues, the transgression of the law; it generates feminine manners...