[14,20] σὺ τοίνυν οὐδὲ περὶ ἐκείνου τοῦ ἔθνους ἀκήκοας, παρ´ οἷς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν πύργῳ πάνυ ὑψηλῷ φυλάττεται, καὶ οὐκ ἔξεστιν αὐτῷ καταβῆναι ἀπὸ τοῦ πύργου; εἰ δέ γε ἀκηκόεις, ἠπίστω ἂν ὅτι καὶ περιειργμένον ἔστιν εἶναι βασιλέα. καὶ τυχὸν ἤκουες ἂν ἐκείνων τῶν ἀνθρώπων θαυμαζόντων, εἰ διηγοῦ σὺ περὶ τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, καὶ ἀπιστούντων ὅτι ἔστι τις βασιλεὺς περιελαύνων ἐφ´ ἅρματος καὶ ὅποι βούλεται ἀπιών. Ἀλλὰ δεδεμένον οὐκ ἀποδείξεις βασιλέα. (14,21) Οὐ τῶν γε ἀνθρώπων τυχόν· ἐπεὶ ὅ γε τῶν θεῶν βασιλεὺς ὁ πρῶτος καὶ πρεσβύτατος δέδεται, ὥς φασιν, εἰ χρὴ πιστεύειν Ἡσιόδῳ τε καὶ Ὁμήρῳ καὶ ἄλλοις σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν, οἳ περὶ Κρόνου ταῦτα λέγουσι, καὶ μὰ Δία οὐχ ὑπ´ ἐχθροῦ ἀδίκως παθόντα τοῦτο, ἀλλ´ ὑπὸ τοῦ δικαιοτάτου καὶ φιλτάτου, δῆλον ὅτι ὡς βασιλικὰ καὶ συμφέροντα ἐκείνῳ δρῶντος. (14,22) οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ἀγνοοῦσι καὶ οὐδέποτ´ ἂν οἰηθεῖεν πτωχὸν ἢ δεσμώτην ἢ ἄδοξον γενέσθαι βασιλέα, καίτοι τὸν Ὀδυσσέα ἀκούοντες ὅτι πτωχὸς ὢν καὶ τοὺς μνηστῆρας αἰτῶν οὐδὲν ἧττον βασιλεὺς ἦν καὶ τῆς οἰκίας κύριος· ὁ δὲ Ἀντίνους καὶ ὁ Εὐρύμαχος, οὓς Ὅμηρος ὠνόμαζε βασιλέας, ἄθλιοι καὶ δυστυχεῖς—ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ὡς ἔφην, ἀγνοοῦσι· σημεῖα δὲ αὐτοῖς περιτιθέασι τιάρας καὶ σκῆπτρα καὶ διαδήματα, μὴ λάθωσι βασιλεῖς ὄντες· ὥσπερ οἶμαι τοῖς βοσκήμασι χαρακτῆρας ἐπιβάλλουσιν οἱ δεσπόται, ὅπως ἐπίσημα ἔσται. (14,23) τοιγαροῦν ὁ Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ὅπως μὲν ἕξει μόνος ὀρθὴν τὴν τιάραν ἐφρόντιζεν, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τοῦτο ἐποίησεν, εὐθὺς ἐκέλευσεν ἀποθνῄσκειν αὐτόν, ὡς οὐ καλὸν οὐδὲ συμφέρον ἐν τοσαύταις μυριάσιν ἀνθρώπων δύο εἶναι φοροῦντας τιάρας ὀρθάς· ὅπως δὲ τὴν γνώμην ὀρθὴν ἕξει καὶ μηδεὶς ἄλλος φρονήσει αὐτοῦ σοφώτερα οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ἔμελεν. (14,24) μὴ οὖν, ὥσπερ τῆς βασιλείας τῆς τότε τοιαῦτα ὑπῆρχε σημεῖα, καὶ νῦν δέῃ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοιαῦτα ὑπάρχειν σύμβολα καὶ βαδίζειν πῖλον ἔχοντα ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἄλλως δὲ οὐ δυνησόμεθα γνῶναι τὸν ἐλεύθερον ἢ τὸν δοῦλον.

[14,20] (Dion) That, as it seems, there is nothing to prevent a queen from being tattooed; but do you think that there is anything to prevent a king? And further, have you never heard of that race, either, where the king is kept under guard in a very high tower and may not descend from that tower? But, if you had heard, you would have understood that it is possible for a man to be king even if kept closely confined. And you might perhaps have heard those people expressing surprise if you had tried to tell them about the Persian King, and refusing to believe that there is such a thing as a king who drives about in a chariot and goes wherever he wishes. — But you cannot give an instance of a king who is in bonds. 21 (Dion) No king of men, perhaps, and yet the King of the Gods, the first and eldest one, is in bonds, they say, if we are to believe Hesiod and Homer and other wise men who tell this tale about Cronos, and indeed he does not receive this treatment unjustly from a personal enemy, but from one most just who loved him dearly, who evidently treats him thus because it is fit treatment for a king and profitable to him. 22 But they do not know this and would never imagine that a beggar or a prisoner or man without repute was once king, although they hear that Odysseus, for all his being a beggar and begging of the suitors, was none the less a king and the owner of the house, (p141) while Antinous and Eurymachus, whom Homer named 'kings,' were miserable and unfortunate wretches. But this, as I said, they do not know, and as badges of royalty they clothe themselves with tiaras and sceptres and crowns so that none may fail to know that they are kings; just as, I imagine, owners mark their cattle to make them easily distinguishable. 23 This undoubtedly is the reason why the King of the Persians ordained that he alone should wear his tiara upright; and if anyone else did this, he straightway ordered his execution, in the belief that it was not good or advantageous that in the midst of so many myriads of people two men should wear tiaras upright; but that he should have his mind upright and that no one should have greater wisdom than himself, for this he had no concern. 24 So I fear that just as in those days there were such symbols of royalty as we have described, so now also there ought to be similar badges to mark the free man, and that he ought to walk abroad wearing a felt skull-cap, else we shall not be able to distinguish between the free man and the slave.