i will feed dennis's obsession

today while reading a general history of rome, i came across a reference to dennis's dude, philodemus. it comes in a section on epicurean teaching concerning the avoidance of involvement in public affairs in the context of the emergence of the empire. i quote:

'Several testimonies to that proposition have come down to us. One of the most striking consists of fragments of a political treatise, 'The Good King according to Homer', written by Philodemus of Gadara, possibly in 45 BC, demonstrating that good kings could exist. Enlightened by wise counselors, it is the duty of the good king to be moderate, to make sure that his personal conduct conforms to the rules of morality, to show himself to be just toward men and pious toward the gods, and to see that unity and peace exist between his subjects.'

(Le Glay, Voisin, Le Bohec and Cherry [tr. Nevill])