How a Man May Become Aware of His Progress in Virtue (15-17)

Whenever, therefore, we begin so to love good men, that not only, as Plato [*] puts it, do we regard as blessed the man himself who has self-control, and blessed, too, anyone of the company which hears the words that come from the lips of such a man, but also, through our admiration and affection for his habit, gait, look, and smile, we are eager to join, as it were, and cement ourselves to him, then we must believe that we are truly making progress. Still more is this the case if we do not limit our admiration of the good to their days of unclouded fortune, but if, just as lovers fondly welcome even lisping or pallor in their fair ones,[*] and as the tears and dejection of Pantheia [*] in all her grief and wretchedness smote the heart of Araspes, so we do not shrink at the thought of the exile of Aristeides, [*] the imprisonment of Anaxagoras, or the penury of Socrates, or the sentence pronounced on Phocion, [*] but because we believe that virtue, even when attended by such afflictions, is worthy of our love, we try to approach close to it, and at each experience of this sort give utterance to this sentiment of Euripides, [*]

The noble honour find in everything.

For an enthusiasm which carries its possessor to the point where he feels no disquietude, but only admiration and emulation of what seems terrible, can never more be turned aside from what is honourable. With men of this sort it has already become a constant practice, on proceeding to any business, or on taking office, or on encountering any dispensation of Fortune, to set before their eyes good men of the present or of the past, [*] and to reflect: What would Plato have done in this case ? What would Epameinondas have said ? How would Lycurgus have conducted him self, or Agesilaus ? And before such mirrors as these, figuratively speaking, they array themselves or readjust their habit, and either repress some of their more ignoble utterances, or resist the onset of some emotion. True it is that those who have got by heart the names of the Idaean Dactyls [*] use them as charms against terrors, repeating each name with calm assurance; but it is also true that the thought and recollection of good men almost instantly comes to mind and gives support to those who are making progress towards virtue, and in every onset of the emotions and in all difficulties keeps them upright and saves them from falling. Wherefore let this also serve you as a token by which you can mark the man who is advancing towards virtue.

Moreover, to be no longer thrown into great confusion, or to blush, or to conceal or rearrange some personal detail at the sudden appearance of a man of high repute and principles, but to be able to advance and meet such persons without timidity, gives a man some assurance that he knows where he stands. So

Alexander, as it appears, on seeing a messenger hastening toward him with exceeding joy and holding out his hand, said, What are you going to report to me, my good friend ? That Homer has come to life again ? For he thought that his exploits lacked nothing save commemoration for posterity. [*] In the young man, however, who is still improving in character no love is more firmly implanted than that of taking a real pleasure in the presence of good and honourable men, and of affording to them free opportunity to see his house, his table, his wife, his children, his pursuits, his discourses, whether spoken or written; and in consequence he feels a pang when he recalls a father or professor now dead who never saw him in such condition, and for no blessing would he pray God so earnestly as that they might come to life again, and become observers of his life and actions. On the other hand, in direct contrast with such men as these, those who have ruined themselves through their own neglect cannot even in their dreams look upon their relatives without fear and trembling.

Still another, and a not unimportant indication of progress, which, if you will, you may add to the foregoing, is this: a man no longer holds the opinion that any one of his sins is unimportant, but is studiously circumspect and heedful regarding all. For just as those who have given up the hope of ever being rich make nothing of their small expenditures, with the idea that whatever is added to a little will make nothing great, [*] whereas Hope as it draws nearer to its goal joins hands with wealth in increasing the desire for wealth, so it is with the activities which bear upon virtue: the man who does not acquiesce much in the sentiments What difference does this

make ? and This way now; better next time, but who gives heed to each separate thing, and is impatient and vexed if vice ever finds its way into the most insignificant of his errors and suggests a reason for condoning it—this man already shows plainly that he is winning for himself a spotless treasure and that he scorns to sully himself in any way whatever. On the other hand, to imagine that nothing can cause any great disgrace, or can even be of any great importance, makes men easy-going and careless about little things. True enough, it makes no difference, when men are building some rough wall which is to have a coping, whether they throw into the foundation a chance piece of timber or a stone picked up from the ground, or whether they put into the lower courses a fallen slab from some tomb, the same sort of thing that moral slovens do when they bring together promiscuously and accumulate actions and conduct of every kind; but those who are making progress, of whose life already, as of some holy temple or regal palace,

The golden foundation hath been wrought,[*]

do not indiscriminately accept for it a single action, but, using reason to guide them, they bring each one into place and fit it where it belongs. And we may well conceive that Polycleitus had this in mind when he said that the task is hardest for those whose clay has reached the stage when they must use the finger-nail.[*]