THAT EVERY MAN FULFILL HIS OWN TASK.
1. Let such thoughts never afflict thee as, _I shall live unhonored,
and never be anybody anywhere_. For if lack of honor be an evil, thou
canst no more fall into evil through another's doings than into vice. Is
it, then, of thy own doing to be made a governor, or invited to feasts?
By no means. How, then, is this to be unhonored? How shouldst thou
_never be anybody anywhere_, whom it behooves to be somebody only in the
things that are in thine own power, wherein it lies with thee to be of
the greatest worth?
2. _But I shall not be able to serve my friends._ How sayst thou? to
serve them? They shall not have money from thee, nor shalt thou make
them Roman citizens. Who, then, told thee that these were of the things
that are in our power, and not alien to us? And who can give that which
himself hath not?
3. _Acquire, then_, they say, _that we may possess_. If I can acquire,
and lose not piety, and faith, and magnanimity withal, show me the way,
and I will do it. But if ye will have me lose the good things I possess,
that ye may compass things that are not good at all, how unjust and
unthinking are ye? But which will ye rather have--money, or a faithful
and pious friend? Then, rather take part with me to this end; and ask me
not to do aught through which I must cast away those things.
4. _But_, he saith, _I shall not do my part in serving my country_.
Again, what is this service? Thy country shall not have porticos nor
baths from thee, and what then? Neither hath she shoes from the smith,
nor arms from the cobbler; but it is enough if every man fulfill his own
task. And if thou hast made one other pious and faithful citizen for
her, art thou, then, of no service? Wherefore, neither shalt thou be
useless to thy country.
5. _What place, then_, he saith, _can I hold in the State_? Whatever
place thou canst, guarding still thy faith and piety. But if in wishing
to serve her thou cast away these things, what wilt thou profit her
then, when perfected in shamelessness and faithlessness?