21. He who has not one and always the same object in life, cannot be one and the same all through his life. But what I have said is not enough, unless this also is added, what this object ought to be. For as there is not the same opinion about all the things which in some way or other are considered by the majority to be good, but only about some certain things, that is, things which concern the common interest, so also ought we to propose to ourselves an object which shall be of a common kind [social] and political. For he who directs all his own efforts to this object, will make all his acts alike, and thus will always be the same. 22. Think of the country mouse and of the town mouse, and of the alarm and trepidation of the town mouse.[A] 23. Socrates used to call the opinions of the many by the name of Lamiae,--bugbears to frighten children. 24. The Lacedaemonians at their public spectacles used to set seats in the shade for strangers, but themselves sat down anywhere. 25. Socrates excused himself to Perdiccas[B] for not going to him, saying, It is because I would not perish by the worst of all ends; that is, I would not receive a favor and then be unable to return it. 26. In the writings of the [Ephesians][C] there was this precept, constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who practiced virtue. [A] The story is told by Horace in his Satires (ii. 6), and by others since but not better. [B] Perhaps the emperor made a mistake here, for other writers say that it was Archelaus, the son of Perdiccas, who invited Socrates to Macedonia. [C] Gataker suggested [Greek: Epekoureiôn] for [Greek: Ephesiôn]. 27. The Pythagoreans bid us in the morning look to the heavens that we may be reminded of those bodies which continually do the same things and in the same manner perform their work, and also be reminded of their purity and nudity. For there is no veil over a star. 28. Consider what a man Socrates was when he dressed himself in a skin, after Xanthippe had taken his cloak and gone out, and what Socrates said to his friends who were ashamed of him and drew back from him when they saw him dressed thus. 29. Neither in writing nor in reading wilt thou be able to lay down rules for others before thou shalt have first learned to obey rules thyself. Much more is this so in life. 30. A slave thou art: free speech is not for thee. 31. And my heart laughed within. _Odyssey_, ix. 413. 32. And virtue they will curse, speaking harsh words. HESIOD, _Works and Days_, 184. 33. To look for the fig in winter is a mad-man's act: such is he who looks for his child when it is no longer allowed (Epictetus, iii. 24, 87).