ON JOSEPH that is, the life of the statesman
[1] The factors which produce consummate excellence are three in number: learning, nature, practice. And these names are represented in three of the wise men to whom Moses gives the senior place. Since I have described the lives of these three, the life which results from teaching, the life of the self-taught and the life of practice, I will carry on the series by describing a fourth life, that of the statesman. This name again has its representation in one of the patriarchs who, as Moses shews, was trained to his calling from his earliest youth.
[2] This training was first given to him at about the age of seventeen by the lore of the shepherd’s craft, which corresponds closely to the lore of statesmanship. And therefore I think the order of poets often speaks of kings as shepherds of peoples, for success in shepherding will produce the best king, since through the charge of flocks which deserve less thought and care he has been taught the charge of the noblest flock of living creatures—mankind.
[3] And, just as to the future leaders in wars, or in commanding armies, practice in the hunting-field is most necessary, so to those who hope to superintend a state nothing is so suitable as shepherding, which gives practice in the exercise of authority and generalship.
[4] So his father, observing in him a noble spirit which rose above ordinary conditions, rendered to him high admiration and respect, while his love for this child of his later years—and nothing conduces to affection more than this—exceeded his love for his other sons. And being himself a lover of excellence, by special and exceptional attentions he fostered the fire of the boy’s nature, in the hope that it would not merely smoulder but burst rapidly into flame.