7. From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required
improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray
to sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to
delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a man
who practices much discipline, or does benevolent acts in order to make a
display; and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine writing; and
not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress, nor to do other
things of the kind; and to write my letters with simplicity, like the
letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to my mother; and with respect
to those who have offended me by words, or done me wrong, to be easily
disposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a
readiness to be reconciled; and to read carefully, and not to be
satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book; nor hastily to give
my assent to those who talk overmuch; and I am indebted to him for being
acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated to me
out of his own collection.

8. From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness
of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to
reason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, on the occasion of the
loss of a child, and in long illness; and to see clearly in a living
example that the same man can be both most resolute and yielding, and not
peevish in giving his instruction; and to have had before my eyes a man
who clearly considered his experience and his skill in expounding
philosophical principles as the smallest of his merits; and from him I
learned how to receive from friends what are esteemed favors, without
being either humbled by them or letting them pass unnoticed.

9. From Sextus, a benevolent disposition, and the example of a family