BOOK II. VIII. 25-IX. 3
right bearing; then, when the statue is finished and polished, I will show it to you. What do you think of it? A lofty air, say you? Heaven forbid! For the Zeus at Olympia does not show a proud look, does he? No, but his gaze is steady, as befits one who is about to say.
No word of mine can be revoked or prove untrue.[1]
Of such character will I show myself to you—faithful, reverent, noble, unperturbed. You do not mean, therefore, immortal, or ageless, or exempt from disease? No, but one who dies like a god, who bears disease like a god. This is what I have; this is what I can do; but all else I neither have nor can do. I will show you the sinews of a philosopher. What do you mean by sinews? A desire that fails not of achievement, an aversion proof against encountering what it would avoid, an appropriate choice, a thoughtful purpose, a well-considered assent. This is what you shall see.
CHAPTER IX
That although we are unable to fulfil the profession of a man, we adopt that of a philosopher
It is no simple task, this of fulfilling merely the profession[2] of a man. For what is a man? A rational, mortal animal, someone says. To begin with, from what are we distinguished by the rational element? From the wild beasts. And from what else? From sheep and the like. See to it, then, that you never act like a wild beast; if you do, you will have destroyed the man in you, you have not fulfilled
- ↑ Homer, Iliad, I. 526, Bryant's translation.
- ↑ That is, what a person or a thing promises or is expected to perform. In rendering ἐπαγγελία the same word has been retained throughout the chapter, even in unusual collocations, so as to preserve clearly the point of the analogy.
