Letter 6: To the Children of Jason (6-10)

but because I see that your troubles are many and serious and wish to give you my own opinion concerning them. And I think that for the giving of counsel I am in my prime—for men of my age are trained by experience, which enables them to perceive more clearly than the younger men the best course of action—but to speak upon any proposed subject with grace, elegance, and finish is no longer to be expected at my age[*]; indeed, I shall be content if I discuss these matters in a not altogether negligent fashion.

Do not be surprised if I am found saying something which you have heard before; for one statement I may perhaps chance upon unwittingly, another I may consciously employ, if it is pertinent to the discussion. Certainly I should be foolish if, although I see others using my thoughts, I alone should refrain from employing what I have previously said.[*]

This is the reason, then, for these introductory words, that the very first precept I shall present is one of those most often repeated. I am accustomed, that is, to tell the students in my school of rhetoric[*] that the first question to be considered is—what is the object to be accomplished by the discourse as a whole and by its parts? And when we have discovered this and the matter has been accurately determined, I say that we must seek the rhetorical elements whereby that which we have set out to do may be elaborated and fulfilled. And this procedure I prescribe with reference to discourse, yet it is a principle applicable not only to all other matters, but also to your own affairs.

For nothing can be intelligently accomplished unless first, with full forethought, you reason and deliberate how you ought to direct your own future, what mode of life you should choose, what kind of repute you should set your heart upon, and which kind of honors you should be contented with—those freely granted by your fellow-citizens or those wrung from them against their will; and when these principles have been determined, then and only then should your daily actions be considered, in order that they may be in conformity with the original plan.

If in this way you seriously search and study, you will take mental aim, as at a mark, at what is expedient for you, and will be the more likely to hit it. And if you have no such plan, but attempt to act in casual fashion, inevitably you will go astray in your purposes and fail in many undertakings.