[4,25] ἢ σὺ οἴει τὸν ἀδύνατον ἡνιοχεῖν ἡνίοχον εἶναι τοῦτον; ἢ τὸν ἄπειρον τοῦ κυβερνᾶν κυβερνήτην, ἢ τὸν οὐκ ἐπιστάμενον ἰᾶσθαι ἰατρόν; οὐκ ἔστιν. καθάπερ οὖν οὐκ ἔστι κυβερνᾶν μὴ κυβερνητικῶς, οὕτως οὐδὲ βασιλεύειν μὴ βασιλικῶς, οὐδ´ ἂν πάντες φῶσιν Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι καὶ πολλὰ διαδήματα καὶ σκῆπτρα καὶ τιάρας προσάψωσιν αὐτῷ, καθάπερ τὰ περιδέραια τοῖς ἐκτιθεμένοις (26) παιδίοις, ἵνα μὴ ἀγνοῆται. καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος φοβηθεὶς μὴ ἄρα ἄπειρος ἀναφανῇ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐπιστήμης, Καὶ τίς, ἔφη, (27) σοι δοκεῖ τὴν τέχνην ταύτην παραδιδόναι; ἢ ποῖ δεῖ πορευθέντα μαθεῖν; ὁ οὖν Διογένης εἶπεν, Ἀλλ´ ἐπίστασαι αὐτήν, εἴπερ ἀληθὴς ὁ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος λόγος καὶ γέγονας ἐκ τοῦ Διός· ἐκεῖνος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ταύτην πρῶτος καὶ μάλιστα ἔχων καὶ οἷς ἐθέλει μεταδιδούς· οἷς δὲ ἂν μεταδῷ, πάντες οὗτοι Διὸς παῖδές (28) εἰσί τε καὶ λέγονται. ἢ σὺ οἴει τοὺς σοφιστὰς εἶναι τοὺς διδάσκοντας βασιλεύειν; ἀλλ´ ἐκείνων μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ οὐχ ὅπως βασιλεύειν, (29) ἀλλ´ οὐδὲ ζῆν ἴσασιν. οὐκ οἶσθα, ἔφη, ὅτι διττή ἐστιν ἡ παιδεία, ἡ μέν τις δαιμόνιος, ἡ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνη; ἡ μὲν οὖν θεία μεγάλη καὶ ἰσχυρὰ καὶ ῥᾳδία, ἡ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνη μικρὰ καὶ ἀσθενὴς καὶ πολλοὺς ἔχουσα κινδύνους καὶ ἀπάτην οὐκ ὀλίγην· ὅμως δὲ ἀναγκαία προσγενέσθαι ἐκείνῃ, εἰ ὀρθῶς γίγνοιτο.

[4,25] Or do you think a man is a charioteer if he cannot drive, or that one is a pilot if he is ignorant of steering, or is a physician if he knows not how to cure ? It is impossible, nay, though all the Greeks and barbarians acclaim him as such and load him with many diadems and sceptres and tiaras like so many necklaces that are put on castaway children lest they fail of recognition. Therefore, just as one cannot pilot except after the manner of pilots, so no one can be a king except in a kingly way." (26) Then Alexander in alarm, lest after all he might be found ignorant of the science of kingship, said, "And who, think you, imparts this art, or where must one go to learn it? " To which Diogenes replied, "Well, you know it if the words of Olympias are true and you are a son of Zeus, for it is he who first and chiefly possesses this knowledge and imparts it to whom he will; and all they to whom he imparts it are sons of Zeus and are so called. Or do you think that it is the sophists who teach kingship ? Nay, the most of them do not even know how to live, to say nothing of how to be king. Do you not know,"he continued, "that education is of two kinds, the one from heaven, as it were, the other human ? Now the divine is great and strong and easy, while the human is small and weak and full of pitfalls and no little deception ; and yet it must be added to the other if everything is to be right.