*33* Secondly, the command of confidence can be secured on two
conditions: (1) if people think us possessed of practical wisdom
combined with a sense of justice. For we have confidence in those who we
think have more understanding than ourselves, who, we believe, have
better insight into the future, and who, when an emergency arises and a
crisis comes, can clear away the difficulties and reach a safe decision
according to the exigencies of the occasion; for that kind of wisdom the
world accounts genuine and practical. But (2) confidence is reposed in
men who are just and true--that is, good men--on the definite assumption
that their characters admit of no suspicion of dishonesty or
wrong-doing. And so we believe that it is perfectly safe to entrust our
lives, our fortunes, and our children to their care.
#Justice _vs._ Wisdom;#
*34* Of these two qualities, then, justice has the greater power to
inspire confidence; for even without the aid of wisdom, it has
considerable weight; but wisdom without justice is of no avail to
inspire confidence; for take from a man his reputation for probity, and
the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he
becomes. Therefore, justice combined with practical wisdom will command
all the confidence we can desire; justice without wisdom will be able to
do much; wisdom without justice will be of no avail at all.
[AM] Now lost, though they were still known to Petrarch.
[AN] Cicero means by "kind services" the services of the
lawyer; he was forbidden by law to accept a fee; his
services, if he contributed them, were "acts of kindness."
*35* X. Sed ne quis sit admiratus, cur, cum inter omnes philosophos
constet a meque ipso saepe disputatum sit, qui unam haberet, omnes
habere virtutes, nunc ita seiungam, quasi possit quisquam, qui non idem
prudens sit, iustus esse, alia est illa, cum veritas ipsa limatur in
disputatione, subtilitas, alia, cum ad opinionem communem omnis
accommodatur oratio. Quam ob rem, ut volgus, ita nos hoc loco loquimur,
ut alios fortes, alios viros bonos, alios prudentes esse dicamus;
popularibus enim verbis est agendum et usitatis, cum loquimur[194] de
opinione populari, idque eodem modo fecit Panaetius. Sed ad propositum
revertamur.
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