Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK I. XXL 2-xxn. 5and assent. Why,, then, do you walk around in ourpresence as though you had swallowed a spit ? 1 "Ithas always been my wish that those who meet meshould admire me and as they follow me shouldexclaim, O * ' "the great philosopher! Who arethose people by whom you wish to be admired?Are they not these about whom you are in the habitof saying that they are mad What ? then Do ? youwish to be admired by the mad ?CHAPTER XXIIOf our preconceptionsPRECONCEPTIONS are common to all men, and onepreconception does not contradict another. For whoamong us does not assume that the good is profitableand something to be chosen, and that in everycircumstance we ought to seek and pursueit ? Andwho among us does not assume that righteousnessisbeautiful and becoming ? When, then, does contradictionarise? It arises in the application of ourpreconceptions to the particular cases, when oneperson says, "He did nobly, he is brave " ; another,