On his departure the law took effect; so far from meeting with any opposition, it was supported, as soon as he was once out of the way, by those very persons (among others) who were thought to be the foremost movers in Cicero's behalf. His property was confiscated, his house was razed to the ground, as though it had been an enemy's, and its foundation was dedicated for a temple of Liberty. Upon the orator himself exile was imposed, and a continued stay in Sicily was forbidden him: he was banished three thousand seven hundred and fifty stadia[43] from Rome, and it was further proclaimed that if he should ever appear within those limits, both he and those who harbored him might be killed with impunity. [-18-] He, accordingly, went over to Macedonia and was living in the depths of grief. But there met him a man named Philiscus, who had made his acquaintance in Athens and now by chance fell in with him again. "Are you not ashamed, Cicero," said this person, "to be weeping and behaving like a woman? Really, I should never have expected that you, who have partaken of much education of every kind, who have acted as advocate to many, would grow so faint-hearted." "Ah," replied the other, "it's not the same thing, Philiscus, to speak for others as to advise one's own self. The words spoken in others' behalf, proceeding from a mind that stands erect, undeteriorated, have the greatest possible effect. But when some affliction overwhelms the spirit, it is made turbid and dark and can not think out anything appropriate. Wherefore, I suppose, it has well been said that it is easier to counsel others than one's self to be strong under suffering." "Yours is a very human objection," rejoined Philiscus. "I did not think, however, that you, who have shown so much wisdom and have trained yourself in so much learning, had failed to prepare yourself for all human possibilities, so that if any unexpected accident should happen to you, it would not find you unfortified. Since, notwithstanding, you are in this plight, why I might benefit you by rehearsing what is good for you. Thus, just as men who put a hand to people's burdens relieve them, so I might lighten this misfortune of yours, and the more easily than they inasmuch as I shall take upon myself the smallest share of it. You will not deem it unworthy, I trust, to receive some encouragement from another. If you were sufficient for your own self, we should have no need of these words. As it is, you are in a like case to Hippocrates or Democedes or any other of the great physicians, if one of them should fall a victim to a disease hard to cure and should need another's hand to bring about his own recovery."