Plato, Laws 945c

οὐδαμῶς εὑρεῖν τῶν ἀρχόντων ἄρχοντα ὑπερβάλλοντα πρὸς ἀρετήν, ὅμως δὲ πειρατέον εὐθυντάς τινας ἀνευρίσκειν θείους. ἔχει γὰρ οὖν οὕτω. πολλοὶ καιροὶ πολιτείας λύσεώς εἰσιν, καθάπερ νεὼς ἢ ζῴου τινός, οὓς ἐντόνους τε καὶ ὑποζώματα καὶ νεύρων ἐπιτόνους, μίαν οὖσαν φύσιν διεσπαρμένην, πολλαχοῦ πολλοῖς ὀνόμασιν προσαγορεύομεν· εἷς δὲ οὗτος οὐ σμικρότατος καιρὸς τοῦ σῴζεσθαί τε καὶ διαλυθεῖσαν

It is by no means easy to find an officer of officers, who surpasses them in excellence, but still one must try to find some examiners of a divine quality. In fact, the case stands thus:—The dissolution of a polity, like that of a ship’s frame, depends upon many critical factors: these (in the case of a ship) though one in nature are separated into many parts, and we call them by many names—such as stays, under-girders, bracing-ropes. For the preservation, or dissolution and disappearance, of a polity the office of examiner is such a critical factor, and that of the gravest kind.