a nightingale, I should do after the manner of a nightingale. Were I
a swan, I should do after the manner of a swan. But now, since I am a
reasonable being, I must sing to God: that is my work: I do it, nor will
I desert this my post, as long as it is granted me to hold it; and upon
you too I call to join in this self-same hymn.




II

How then do men act? As though one returning to his country who had
sojourned for the night in a fair inn, should be so captivated thereby
as to take up his abode there.

"Friend, thou hast forgotten thine intention! This was not thy
destination, but only lay on the way thither."

"Nay, but it is a proper place."

"And how many more of the sort there may be; only to pass through
upon thy way! Thy purpose was to return to thy country; to relieve thy
kinsmen's fears for thee; thyself to discharge the duties of a citizen;
to marry a wife, to beget offspring, and to fill the appointed round of
office. Thou didst not come to choose out what places are most pleasant;
but rather to return to that wherein thou wast born and where wert
appointed to ba a citizen."