come and claimed the Command, either he would not have obtained it; or, if he had, he would have disgraced himself, before the more Witnesses.
§. 2. Do you too, carefully deliberate upon this Matter: it is not what you think it. "I wear an old Cloke now; and I shall have one then. I sleep upon the hard Ground now; and I shall sleep so then. I will moreover take a Wallet and a Staff, and go about, and will beg of those I meet, and begin by[1] abusing them: and, if I see any one using Means to take off the Hair from his Face, or Body; or setting his Curls, or walking in Purple, I will rebuke him." If you imagine this to be the Thing, avaunt; come not near it: it doth not belong to you. But, if you imagine it to be what it really is, and do not think yourself unworthy of it, consider how great a thing you undertake. First, with regard to yourself: you must no longer, in any Instance, appear like what you do now. You must accuse neither God nor Man. You must totally suppress Desire; and must transfer Aversion to such Things only as are dependent on Choice. You must have neither Anger, nor Resentment, nor Envy, nor Pity. Neither Boy, nor Girl, nor Fame, nor Delicacies in Eating, must have Charms for you. For you must know, that other Men indeed fence themselves with Walls, and Houses, and Darkness, when they do any thing of this kind, and have many Concealments: a Man shuts the Door, places somebody before the Apartment; "Say, He is gone out; say, He is not at Leisure." But the Cynic, instead of all this, must fence himself with virtuous Shame; otherwise He will act indecently, naked, and in the open Air. This is his House; this, his Door; this, his Porter; this, his Darkness. He must not wish to conceal any thing relating to him-
self:
- ↑ For λοιδορειν read λοιδορων. Upton.
