epting with all his soul everything which happens and
is 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
mind's self-satisfaction in the things which it enables thee to do
according to right reason, and in the condition that is assigned to thee
without thy own choice; if, I say, thou seest anything better than this,
turn to it with all thy soul, and enjoy that which thou hast found to be
the best. But if nothing appears to be better than the Deity which is
planted in thee, which has subjected to itself all thy appetites, and
carefully examines all the impressions, and, as Socrates sa