not convinced of it, why shall he not follow that which seems to be
for his own "Your neighbour has thrown stones." Have you then done
anything wrong? "But the things in the house have been broken." Are
you then a utensil? No; but a free power of will. What, then, is given
to you in answer to this? If you are like a wolf, you must bite in
return, and throw more stones. But if you consider what is proper
for a man, examine your store-house, see with at faculties you came
into the world. Have you the disposition of a wild beast, Have you the
disposition of revenge for an injury? When is a horse wretched? When
he is deprived of his natural faculties; not when he cannot crow
like a cock, but when he cannot run. When is a dog wretched? Not
when he cannot fly, but when he cannot track his game. Is, then, a man
also unhappy in this way, not because he cannot strangle lions or
embrace statues, for he did not come into the world in the
possession of certain powers from nature for this purpose, but because
he has lost his probity and his fidelity? People ought to meet and
lament such a man for the misfortunes into which he has fallen; not
indeed to lament because a man his been born or has died, but
because it has happened to him in his lifetime to have lost the things
which are his own, not that which he received from his father, not his
land and house, and his inn, and his slaves; for not one of these
things is a man's own, but all belong to others, are servile and
subject to account, at different times given to different persons by
those who have them in their power: but I mean the things which belong
to him as a man, the marks in his mind with which he came into the
world, such as we seek also on coins, and if we find them, we
approve of the coins, and if we do not find the marks, we reject them.
What is the stamp on this Sestertius? "The stamp of Trajan." Present
it. "It is the stamp of Nero." Throw it away: it cannot be accepted,
it is counterfeit. So also in this case. What is the stamp of his
opinions? "It is gentleness, a sociable disposition, a tolerant
temper, a disposition to mutual affection." Produce these qualities. I
accept them: I consider this man a citizen, I accept him as a
neighbour, a companion in my voyages. Only see that he has not
Nero's stamp. Is he passionate, is he full of resentment, is he
faultfinding? If the whim seizes him, does he break the heads of those
who come in his way? Why, then did you say that he is a man? Is
everything judged by the bare form? If that is so, say that the form
in wax is all apple and has the smell and the taste of an apple. But
the external figure is not enough: neither then is the nose enough and
the eyes to make the man, but he must have the opinions of a man. Here
is a man who does not listen to reason, who does not know when he is
refuted: he is an ass: in another man the sense of shame is become
dead: he is good for nothing, he is anything rather than a man. This
man seeks whom he may meet and kick or bite, so that he is not even
a sheep or an ass, but a kind of wild beast.
"What then would you have me to be despised?" By whom? by those
who know you? and how and how shall those who know you despise a man
who is gentle and modest? Perhaps you mean by those who do not know
you? What is that to you? For no other artisan cares for the opinion