On the Philosopher- King

Master FVB, The Judgement of Solomon, engraving, c. 1490, Museum of Fine Arts Boston


"This was the intention of the divine Plato, that the king should be perfect in all three kinds of perfections which are truly perfect. They are as follows: [a] the perfection of the intellectual virtue governing practical affairs of nation and the states; [b] the perfection of contemplation of what comes afterwards, which is the object of his existence; [c] the perfection of the knowledge of the Torah, which provides everlasting good in this world and in the world to come."

Yohanan Alemanno, Hai ha-Olamim (Eternal Life), manuscript Mantua, 21. Translation by Abraham Melamed.

Alemanno was an Italian rebbe of the late 15th century, and famed as a teacher of Pico della Mirandola.