[145] _Atqui_ Müller, Heine; _atque_ MSS., Bt. [146] _iis_ Edd.; _his_ MSS. [147] _videndum_ L c, Edd.; _vivendum_ B H a b. #Orderliness--the right thing at the right time.# *142* XL. Next, then, we must discuss orderliness of conduct and seasonableness of occasions. These two qualities are embraced in that science which the Greeks call εὐταξία--not that εὐταξία which we translate with _moderation_ [_modestia_], derived from _moderate_; but this is the εὐταξία by which we understand _orderly conduct_. And so, if we may call it also _moderation_, it is defined by the Stoics as follows: "Moderation is the science of disposing aright everything that is done or said." So the essence of orderliness and of right-placing, it seems, will be the same; for _orderliness_ they define also as "the arrangement of things in their suitable and appropriate places." By "place of action," moreover, they mean _seasonableness of circumstance_; and the _seasonable circumstance_ for an action is called in Greek εὐκαιρία, in Latin _occasio_ (occasion). So it comes about that in this sense _moderation_, which we explain as I have indicated, is the science of doing the right thing at the right time. *143* A similar definition can be given for prudence, of which I have spoken in an early chapter. But in this part we are considering temperance and self-control and related virtues. Accordingly, the properties which, as we found, are peculiar to prudence, were discussed in their proper place, while those are to be discussed now which are peculiar to these virtues of which we have for some time been speaking and which relate to considerateness and to the approbation of our fellow-men. *144* Such orderliness of conduct is, therefore, to be observed, that everything in the conduct of our life shall balance and harmonize, as in a finished speech. #Seasonableness of speech.# For it is unbecoming and highly censurable, when upon a serious theme, to introduce such jests as are proper at a dinner, or any sort of loose talk. When Pericles was associated with the poet Sophocles as his colleague in command and they had met to confer about official business that concerned them both, a handsome boy chanced to pass and Sophocles said: "Look, Pericles; what a pretty boy!" How pertinent was Pericles's reply: "Hush, Sophocles, a general should keep not only his hands but his eyes under control." And yet, if Sophocles had made this same remark at a trial of athletes, he would have incurred no just reprimand. So great is the significance of both place and circumstance. For example, if anyone, while on a journey or on a walk, should rehearse to himself a case which he is preparing to conduct in court, or if he should under similar circumstances apply his closest thought to some other subject, he would not be open to censure; but if he should do that same thing at a dinner, he would be thought ill-bred, because he ignored the proprieties of the occasion.