if he should find fault without reason, but to try to restore him to his
usual disposition; and to be ready to speak well of teachers, as it is
reported of Domitius and Athenodotus; and to love my children truly.

14. From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to
love justice; and through him I learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato,
Dion, Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a polity in which there
is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to equal
rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government
which respects most of all the freedom of the governed; I learned from
him also consistency and undeviating steadiness in my regard for
philosophy; and a disposition to do good, and to give to others readily,
and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am loved by my friends;
and in him I observed no concealment of his opinions with respect to
those whom he condemned, and that his friends had no need to conjecture
what he wished or did not wish, but it was quite plain.

15. From Maximus I learned self-government, and not to be led aside by
anything; and cheerfulness in all circumstances, as well as in illness;
and a just admixture in the moral character of sweetness and dignity, and
to do what was set before me without complaining. I observed that
everybody believed that he thought as he spoke, and that in all that he
did he never had any bad intention; and he never showed amazement and
surprise, and was never in a hurry, and never put off doing a thing, nor
was perplexed nor dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his
vexation, nor, on the other hand, was he ever passionate or suspicious.
He was accustomed to do acts of beneficence, and was ready to forgive,
and was free from all falsehood; and he presented the appearance of a man
who could not be diverted from right, rather than of a man who had been
improved. I observed, too, that no man could ever think that he was