assigned to him as his portion; and not often, nor yet without great
necessity and for the general interest, imagining what another says, or
does, or thinks. For it is only what belongs to himself that he makes the
matter for his activity; and he constantly thinks of that which is
allotted to himself out of the sum total of things, and he makes his own
acts fair, and he is persuaded that his own portion is good. For the lot
which is assigned to each man is carried along with him and carries him
along with it. And he remembers also that every rational animal is his
kinsman, and that to care for all men is according to man's nature; and a
man should hold on to the opinion not of all, but of those only who
confessedly live according to nature. But as to those who live not so, he
always bears in mind what kind of men they are both at home and from
home, both by night and by day, and what they are, and with what men they
live an impure life. Accordingly, he does not value at all the praise
which comes from such men, since they are not even satisfied with
themselves.

5. Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor
without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor let studied ornament
set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or busy
about too many things. And further, let the deity which is in thee be the
guardian of a living being, manly and of ripe age, and engaged in matter
political, and a Roman, and a ruler, who has taken his post like a man
waiting for the signal which summons him from life, and ready to go,
having need neither of oath nor of any man's testimony. Be cheerful also,
and seek not external help nor the tranquillity which others give. A man
then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.

6. If thou findest in human life anything better than justice, truth,
temperance, fortitude, and, in a word, anything better than thy own