be not known what you are: be a philosopher to yourself a short
time. Fruit grows thus: the seed must be buried for some time, hid,
grow slowly in order that it may come to perfection. But if it
produces the ear before the jointed stem, it is imperfect, a produce
of the garden of Adonis. Such a poor plant are you also: you have
blossomed too soon; the cold weather will scorch you up. See what
the husbandmen say about seeds when there is warm weather too early.
They are afraid lest the seeds should be too luxuriant, and then a
single frost should lay hold of them and show that they are too
forward. Do you also consider, my man: you have shot out too soon, you
have hurried toward a little fame before the proper season: you
think that you are something, a fool among fools: you will be caught
by the frost, and rather you have been frost-bitten in the root below,
but your upper parts still blossom a little, and for this reason you
think that you are still alive and flourishing. Allow us to ripen in
the natural way: why do you bare us? why do you force us? we are not
yet able to bear the air. Let the root grow, then acquire the first
joint, then the second, and then the third: in this way, then, the
fruit will naturally force itself out, even if I do not choose. For
who that is pregnant and I filled with such great principles does
not also perceive his own powers and move toward the corresponding
acts? A bull is not ignorant of his own nature and his powers, when
a wild beast shows itself, nor does he wait for one to urge him on;
nor a dog when he sees a wild animal. But if I have the powers of a
good man, shall I wait for you to prepare me for my own acts? At
present I have them not, believe me. Why then do you wish me to be
withered up before the time, as you have been withered up?

CHAPTER 9

To a person who had been changed to a character of shamelessness

When you see another man in the possession of power, set against
this the fact that you have not the want of power; when you see
another rich, see what you possess in place of riches: for if you
possess nothing in place of them, you are miserable; but if you have
not the want of riches, know that you possess more than this man
possesses and what is worth much more. Another man possesses a
handsome woman: you have the satisfaction of not desiring a handsome
wife. Do these things appear to you to he small? And how much would
these persons give, these very men who are rich and in possession of
power, and live with handsome women, to be able to despise riches
and power and these very women whom they love and enjoy? Do you not
know, then, what is the thirst of a man who has a fever? He
possesses that which is in no degree like the thirst of a man who is
in health: for the man who is in health ceases to be thirsty after
he has drunk; but the sick man, being pleased for a short time, has
a nausea; he converts the drink into bile, vomits, is griped, and more
thirsty. It is such a thing to have desire of riches and to possess
riches, desire of power and to possess power, desire of a beautiful