to mutual affections.  Produce these qualities.  I accept them:  I consider this man a citizen, I accept him as a neighbor, a companion in my voyages.  Only see that he has not Nero’s stamp.  Is he passionate, is he full of resentment, is he fault-finding?  If the whim seizes him, does he break the heads of those who come in his way? (If so), why then did you say that he is a man?  Is everything judged (determined) by the bare form?  If that is so, say that the form in wax is an apple and has the smell and the taste of an apple.  But the external figure is not enough:  neither then is the nose enough and the eyes to make the man, but he must have the opinions of a man.  Here is a man who does not listen to reason, who does not know when he is refuted:  he is an ass; in another man the sense of shame is become dead:  he is good for nothing, he is anything rather than a man.  This man seeks whom he may meet and kick or bite, so that he is not even a sheep or an ass, but a kind of wild beast.

What then? would you have me to be despised?—­By whom? by those who know you? and how shall those who know you despise a man who is gentle and modest?  Perhaps you mean by those who do not know you?  What is that to you?  For no other artisan cares for the opinion of those who know not his art.  But they will be more hostile to me for this reason.  Why do you say “me”?  Can any man injure your will, or prevent you from using in a natural way the appearances which are presented to you?  In no way can he.  Why then are you still disturbed and why do you choose to show yourself afraid?  And why do you not come forth and proclaim that you are at peace with all men whatever they may do, and laugh at those chiefly who think that they can harm you?  These slaves, you can say, know not either who I am, nor where lies my good or my evil, because they have no access to the things which are mine.

In this way also those who occupy a strong city mock the besiegers (and say):  What trouble these men are now taking for nothing; our wall is secure, we have food for a very long time, and all other resources.  These are the things which make a city strong and impregnable; but nothing else than his opinions makes a man’s soul impregnable.  For what wall is so strong, or what body is so hard, or what possession is so safe, or what honor (rank, character) so free from assault (as a man’s opinions)?  All (other) things everywhere are perishable, easily taken by assault, and if any man in any way is attached to them, he must be disturbed, except what is bad, he must fear, lament, find his desires disappointed, and fall into things which he would avoid.  Then do we not choose to make secure the only means of safety which are offered to us, and do we not choose to withdraw ourselves from that which is perishable and servile and to labor at the things which are imperishable and by nature free; and do we not remember that no man either hurts another or does good to another, but