Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming
in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew
or taught anything. . . . Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it
indeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself.

LXXXVI

How are we constituted by Nature? To be free, to be noble, to be modest
(for what other living thing is capable of blushing, or of feeling the
impression of shame?) and to subordinate pleasure to the ends for which
Nature designed us, as a handmaid and a minister, in order to call forth
our activity; in order to keep us constant to the path prescribed by
Nature.

LXXXVII

The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body;
the wise man with his own Mind.

LXXXVIII

Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young
citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people
to be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all
vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him.
Producing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished
Spartans:--"I received this young man at your hands full of violence
and wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to
serve his country."

LXXXIX

A money-changer may not reject Caesar's coin, nor may the seller of
herbs, but must when once the coin is shown, deliver what is sold for
it, whether he will or no. So is it also with the Soul. Once the Good
appears, it attracts towards itself; evil repels. But a clear and
certain impression of the Good the Soul will never reject, any more than
men do Caesar's coin. On this hangs every impulse alike of Man and God.

XC

Asked what Common Sense was, Epictetus replied:--

As that may be called a Common Ear which distinguishes only sounds,
while that which distinguishes musical notes is not common but produced
by training; so there are certain things which men not entirely
perverted see by the natural principles common to all. Such a
constitution of the Mind is called Common Sense.

XCI

Canst thou judge men? . . . then make us imitators of thyself, as
Socrates did. Do this, do not do that, else will I cast thee into
prision; this is not governing men like reasonable creatures. Say
rather, As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer chastisement
and loss. Askest thou what loss? None other than this: To