in the first place, that one should define
and foresee the end, and in the second place, that one should be
sagacious and watchful in the service of it. Purpose is the virtue of
the understanding, of a mind which is adventurous enough to project an
enterprise, but has enough of home-keeping wit to judge nicely of cause
and effect or of part and whole.

There are many virtues which contribute to purpose, and of these none
is more indispensable than _patience_, or the capacity to labor without
hire for a prize deferred. "Better is the end of a thing," says the
Preacher, "than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is
better than the proud in spirit." Steadiness of purpose under adverse
or confusing circumstances is called _persistence, courage, loyalty,_
or _zeal_, with {96} differences of meaning that reflect the nature
either of the purpose or the circumstances.

But since purpose is so much an intellectual virtue, special importance
attaches in this economy to _truthfulness_. If one's purpose be some
form of personal achievement, one must deal honestly with one's self.
And this is not easily done. Epictetus told his pupils that men were
loath to admit any fault that they held to be really blameworthy:

Some things men readily confess, and other things they do not. No one
then will confess that he is a fool or without understanding; but quite
the contrary you will hear all men saying, I wish that I had fortune
equal to my understanding. But men readily confess that they are
timid, and they say: I am rather timid, I confess; but as to other
respects you will not find me to be foolish. A man will not readily
confess that he is intemperate; and that he is unjust, he will not
confess at all. He will by no means confess that he is envious or a
busybody. Most men will confess that they are compassionate.[12]

Now if one is to attain anything difficult, he cannot afford to indulge
in vanity or self-satisfaction; for action can be kept true to its end
only when the least obliquity is marked and corrected. Hence the
strong man does not attribute his failure to fortune or to his amiable
virtues, but to his folly; for he knows that to be the crucial fault
which it lies within his power to remedy. On the other hand, if the
purpose be one {97} which involves the co-operation of several persons,
it is necessary that these should deal openly and candidly with one
another. Truthfulness is a condition of an