“Oh!” cried La Fontaine, “if we become bad citizens, it is not through following the maxims of our master. Listen to one of his principal aphorisms.”
“I—will.”
“Pray for good leaders.”
“Well?”
“Well! what does M. Fouquet say to us every day? ‘When shall we be governed?’ Does he say so? Come, Conrart, be frank.”
“He says so, that is true.”
“Well, that is a doctrine of Epicurus.”
“Yes; but that is a little seditious, observe.”
“What! seditious to wish to be governed by good heads or leaders?”
“Certainly, when those who govern are bad.”