13.  Suppose any man shall despise me.  Let him look to that himself.  But I will look to this, that I be not discovered doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.  Shall any man hate me?  Let him look to it.  But I will be mild and benevolent towards every man, and ready to show even him his mistake, not reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of my endurance, but nobly and honestly, like the great Phocion, unless indeed he only assumed it.  For the interior [parts] ought to be such, and a man ought to be seen by the gods neither dissatisfied with anything nor complaining.  For what evil is it to thee, if thou art now doing what is agreeable to thy own nature, and art satisfied with that which at this moment is suitable to the nature of the universe, since thou art a human being placed at thy post in order that what is for the common advantage may be done in some way?

14.  Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.

15.  How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair way!—­What are thou doing, man?  There is no occasion to give this notice.  It will soon show itself by acts.  The voice ought to be plainly written on the forehead.  Such as a man’s character is,+ he immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith reads everything in the eyes of lovers.  The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not.  But the affectation of simplicity is like a crooked stick.[A] Nothing is more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship [false friendship].  Avoid this most of all.  The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking.

    [A] Instead of [Greek:  skalme] Saumaise reads [Greek:  skambe]. 
    There is a Greek proverb, [Greek:  skambon xylon oudepot
    orthon]:  “You cannot make a crooked stick straight.”

    The wolfish friendship is an allusion to the fable of the sheep
    and the wolves.

16.  As to living in the best way, this power is in the soul, if it be indifferent to things which are indifferent.  And it will be indifferent, if it looks on each of these things separately and all together, and if it remembers that not one of them produces in us an opinion about itself, nor comes to us; but these things remain immovable, and it is we ourselves who produce the judgments about them, and, as we may say, write them in ourselves, it being in our power not to write them, and it being in our power, if perchance these judgments have imperceptibly got admission to our minds, to wipe them out; and if we remember also that such attention will only be for a short time, and then life will be at an end.  Besides, what trouble is there at all in doing this?  For if these things are according to nature, rejoice in them and they will be easy to thee:  but if contrary to nature, seek what is conformable to thy own nature, and strive towards this, even if it bring no reputation; for every man is allowed to seek his own good.