[4]
And I have a greater burden on me than those who have accused other men, (if that
deserve to be called a burden which you bear with pleasure and
delight,)—but still I have in one respect undertaken a greater burden than
others who have done the same thing, because all men are required to abstain most
especially from those vices for which they have reproved another. Have you accused
any thief or rapacious man? You must for ever avoid all suspicion of avarice. Have
you prosecuted any spiteful or cruel man? You must for ever take care not to appear
in any matter the least harsh or severe. A seducer? an adulterer? You must, take
care most diligently that no trace of licentiousness be ever seen in your conduct.
In short, everything which you have impeached in another must be earnestly avoided
by you your self. In truth, not only no accuser, but no reprover even can be
endured, who is himself detected in the vice which he reproves in another.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.