In every act observe the things which come first, and those which
follow it; and so proceed to the act. If you do not, at first you will
approach it with alacrity, without having thought of the things which
will follow; but afterwards, when certain base (ugly) things have shown
themselves, you will be ashamed. A man wishes to conquer at the Olympic
games. I also wish indeed, for it is a fine thing. But observe both the
things which come first, and the things which follow; and then begin
the act. You must do everything according to rule, eat according to
strict orders, abstain from delicacies, exercise yourself as you are
bid at appointed times, in heat, in cold, you must not drink cold
water, nor wine as you choose; in a word, you must deliver yourself up
to the exercise master as you do to the physician, and then proceed to
the contest. And sometimes you will strain the hand, put the ankle out
of joint, swallow much dust, sometimes be flogged, and after all this
be defeated. When you have considered all this, if you still choose, go
to the contest: if you do not you will behave like children, who at one
time play at wrestlers, another time as flute players, again as
gladiators, then as trumpeters, then as tragic actors. So you also will
be at one time an athlete, at another a gladiator, then a rhetorician,
then a philosopher, but with your whole soul you will be nothing at
all; but like an ape you imitate everything that you see, and one thing
after another pleases you. For you have not undertaken anything with
consideration, nor have you surveyed it well; but carelessly and with
cold desire. Thus some who have seen a philosopher and having heard one
speak, as Euphrates speaks—and who can speak as he does?—they wish to
be philosophers themselves also. My man, first of all consider what
kind of thing it is; and then examine your own nature, if you are able
to sustain the character. Do you wish to be a pentathlete or a
wrestler? Look at your arms, your thighs, examine your loins. For
different men are formed by nature for different things. Do you think
that if you do these things, you can eat in the same manner, drink in
the same manner, and in the same manner loathe certain things? You must
pass sleepless nights, endure toil, go away from your kinsmen, be
despised by a slave, in everything have the inferior part, in honor, in
office, in the courts of justice, in every little matter. Consider
these things, if you would exchange for them, freedom from passions,
liberty, tranquillity. If not, take care that, like little children,
you be not now a philosopher, then a servant of the publicani, then a
rhetorician, then a procurator (manager) for Cæsar. These things are
not consistent. You must be one man, either good or bad. You must
either cultivate your own ruling faculty, or external things. You must
either exercise your skill on internal things or on external things;
that is you must either maintain the position of a philosopher or that
of a common person.