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

BOOK II. ix. 11-18faithful man while acts of the opposite characterdestroy him. And again,, acts of the oppositecharacter strengthen men of the opposite character ;shamelessness strengthens the shameless man,, faithlessnessthe faithless., abuse the abusive,, wrath thebetween what he receiveswrathful,, a disproportionand what he pays out the miserly.That iswhy the philosophers admonish us not tobe satisfied with merely learning, but to add theretopractice also, and then training. For in the courseof years we have acquired the habit of doing theopposite of what we learn and have in use opinionswhich are the opposite of the correct ones. If,therefore,, we do not also put in use the correctopinions,, we shall be nothing but the interpreters ofother men's judgements. For who is there amongus here and now that cannot give a philosophicaldiscourse about good and evil ? It will run likethis : Of things that be, some are good, others evil,,and others indifferent ;now good things are virtuesand everything that partakes in the virtues ;evilare the opposite while;indifferent are wealth^health, reputation. Then, if we are interrupted inthe midst of our speech by some unusually loudnoise, or if someone in the audience laughs at us.,we are upset. Where,, you philosopher, are the.things you are talking about? Where did you getwhat you were just saying? From your lips,andthat is all.Why, then, do you pollute the helpfulprinciples that are not your own Why do ? yougamble about matters of the very utmost concern ?For to store away bread and wine in a pantry is onething, and to eat them is another. What is eaten isdigested, distributed, becomes sinews, flesh, bones^271