You will grant that the greatest piety toward the gods is a characteristic of a good man; and so whatever may befall him he will bear with equanimity, for he will know that it has happened in harmony with that divine law by which all things are governed. No one is strong enough to rise by his own strength; every man needs some one to extend a hand, some one to lead him. So let us live, so let us talk, that our destiny may find us prepared and ready to follow it. Great is the soul that has yielded itself to God; on the other hand, that one is cowardly and degenerate that resists, that finds fault with the order of the world, and is more ready to set the the gods right than itself. We ought to have before our minds some one whom we revere; some one whose influence makes even our most secret thoughts holier. Long is a way by precepts; short and effectual, by examples. Weaker minds, however, have need of some one to go before who shall say, “This avoid, this do.” The community of which we form a part is very much like an arch built of stone; it would at once fall down if one did not support another. We are members of an immense body. Nature begat us as kinsmen, since it formed us of the same elements and for the same end. What is it that draws us in one direction when we would go in another, that urges us on when we want to resist, that strives against our desires and does not permit us to do what we purpose? If thou wishest to be loved, love! No one is free that is the slave of his body. We ought to live in this thought: I was not born for a corner only; my country is this entire world. The beginning of salvation is the knowledge of sin. _Quoted from Epicurus._ Philosophy sheds its light upon all men. It is so difficult for us to get well because we do not know that we are sick. It is the strongest evidence that our mind is directed toward its own improvement when we see faults that we had not before observed. It is an infirmity of mind not to be able to bear riches. To live right is in the power of everybody. The acknowledgement of a fault is the beginning of a better life. He who does not admit his proneness to do wrong has no desire to be corrected. You must recognize your errors before you can correct them. The ancients held the first requisite of repentance to be an examination of one’s self, especially since without this, life would not be worth living. There is no vice without some excuse. You ask me what you should particularly avoid. (I answer,) a crowd. You cannot with safety to yourself mingle in a large company. I must verily confess my own weakness. I never bring back the same character that I took with me; something which I had banished, returns; something else that I had quieted, is aroused.... But nothing is so damaging to a good character as to spend much time at public spectacles, for with the pleasure we receive vices the more easily creep in unawares.