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[30] Do not show yourself ambitious for those things which lie within the power of base men also to achieve, but show that you pride yourself on virtue, in which base men have no part.1 Consider that the truest respect is shown you, not in the public demonstrations which are inspired by fear, but when people in the privacy of their homes speak with admiration of your wisdom rather than of your fortune. Let it not be known of men if perchance you take delight in things of small account, but let the world see that you are zealous about matters of the greatest moment.

1 Cf. Isoc. 1.38.

Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.

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  • Commentary references to this page (2):
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2, 2.62
    • Edward S. Forster, Isocrates Cyprian Orations, 43
  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
    • Isocrates, To Demonicus, 38
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (1):
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