se. For this reason we ought to seek virtue,
not merely in order to contemplate it, but that we may ourselves derive
some benefit from so doing. Just as those colours whose blooming and
pleasant hues refresh our sight are grateful to the eyes, so we ought by
our studies to delight in that which is useful for our own lives; and
this is to be found in the acts of good men, which when narrated incite
us to imitate them. The effect does not take place in other cases, for
we frequently admire what we do not wish to produce; indeed we often are
charmed with the work, but despise the workman, as in the case of dyes
and perfumery which we take pleasure in, although we regard dyers and
perfumers as vulgar artizans. That was a clever saying of Antisthenes,
who answered, when he heard that Ismenias was a capital flute-player,
"But he must be a worthless man, for if he were not, he would not be
such a capital flute-player!" and King Philip of Macedon, when his son
played brilliantly and agreeably on the harp at an entertainment, said
to him, "Are you not ashamed, to play so well?"

It is enough for a king, if he sometimes employs his leisure in
listening to musicians, and it is quite a sufficient tribute from him to
the Muses, if he is present at the performances of other persons.

II. If a man devotes himself to these trifling arts, the time which he
wastes upon them proves that he is incapable of higher things. No well
nurtured youth, on seeing the statue of Jupiter Olympius at Pisa, wishes
that he were a Pheidias, or that he were a Polykleitus on seeing the
statue of Juno at Argos, nor yet while he takes pleasure in poetry, does
he wish that he were an Anakreon, a Philetas, or an Archilochus; for it
does not necessarily follow that we esteem the workman because we are
pleased with the work. For this reason men are not benefited by any
spectacle which does not encourage them to imitation, and where
reflection upon what they have observed does not make them also wish to
do likewise; whereas we both admire the deeds to which virtue incites,
and long to emulate the doers of them.

We enjoy the good things which we owe to fortune, but we admire virtuous
actions; and while we wish to receive the former, we wish ourselves to
benefit others by the latter. That which is in itself admirable kindles
in us a desire of emulation, whether we see noble deeds presented before
us, or read of them in history. It was with this purpose that I have