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

BOOK II. xxiv. 22-26Hector and drawing your sword against your ownking ? As for you, O best of men,, are you turningyour back on your duties as king,Who has the charge of nations and sustainsSuch mighty cares,1and for the sake of a paltry damsel engage in a fistfightwith the greatest warrior among your allies, aman whom you ought to honour and protect in everyway And ? do you sink below the level of an eleganthigh priest who treats the noble gladiators withall respect ? 2 Do you see the sort of thing thatignorance of what is expedient leads to ?"But I too am rich." You are not,, then, richerthan Agamemnon, are you ? ceBut I am also handsome."You are not, then, handsomer than Achilles,are you ? feBut I have also a fine head of hair."And did not Achilles have a finer, and golden hair,too? And did he not comb it elegantly and dress itup? "But I am also strong." You are not, then,able to lift as large a stone as Hector or Aias lifted,areccyou? But I am also noble born." Yourmother is not a goddess, is she, or your father of theseed of Zeus ? What good, then, does all this do him((when he sits in tears about the damsel ? But I aman orator." And was not he ? Do you not observehow he has dealt with Odysseus and Phoenix, themost skilful of the Greeks in eloquence, how hestopped their 3mouths ?in the opinion of Kpictelus, who had no undue reverence forthe great figures of the JHJpic.3The reference is to the spirited and convincing speechesof Achilles (Iliad, IX.) in answer to the appeals of Odysseusand Phoenix.429