Plato, Letters 356b

πολεμίων ἄρχοντα στρατοπέδου, Διονύσιον τὸν Διονυσίου, ἐὰν ἐθέλῃ ἑκὼν εἰς βασιλέως σχῆμα ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, δεδιὼς μὲν τὰς τύχας, ἐλεῶν δὲ πατρίδα καὶ ἱερῶν ἀθεραπευσίαν καὶ τάφους, μὴ διὰ φιλονικίαν πάντως πάντα ἀπολέσῃ βαρβάροις ἐπίχαρτος γενόμενος. τρεῖς δʼ ὄντας βασιλέας, εἴτʼ οὖν τὴν Λακωνικὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῖς δόντες εἴτε ἀφελόντες καὶ συνομολογησάμενοι, καταστήσασθε τρόπῳ τινὶ τοιῷδε,

commander of your enemies’ army, Dionysius, son of Dionysius, if so be that he is willing of his own accord to transform himself into a king, being moved thereto by fear of fortune’s changes, and by pity for his country and the untended state of her temples and her tombs, lest because of his ambition he utterly ruin all and become a cause of rejoicing to the barbarians. And these three,—whether you grant them the power of the Laconian kings or curtail that power by a common agreement,—you should establish as kings in some such manner as the following,