self: for, if he doth, he is gone; he hath lost the Cynic; the open, the free Character: he hath begun to fear something external: he hath begun to need a Concealment; nor can he get it when he will. For where shall he conceal himself, or how? For if this Tutor, this Pedagogue of the Public, should happen to flip, what must he suffer? Can he then, who dreads these Things, be thoroughly bold within, and prescribe to other Men? Impracticable; impossible.
§. 3. In the first place then, you must purify your own ruling Faculty, conformably[1] to this Method of Life. Now the Subject-matter for me to work upon, is my own Mind; as Wood is for a Carpenter, or Leather for a Shoemaker: and my Business is, a right Use of the Appearances of Things. But Body is nothing to me; its Parts nothing to me. Let Death come when it will; either of the Whole, or of a Part. "Go into Exile." And whither? Can any one turn me out of the World? He cannot. But where-ever I go, there is the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, Dreams, Augurics, Communication with God. And even this Preparation is, by no means, sufficient for a true Cynic. But it must farther be known, that he is a Messenger sent from Jupiter to Men, concerning Good and Evil; to show them, that they are mistaken, and seek the Essence of Good and Evil where it is not; but do not observe it where it is: that He is a Spy, like Diogenes, when he was brought to Philip, after the Battle of Chæronea[2]. For, in effect, a Cynic is a Spy, to discover what Things are friendly, what hostile, to Man: and he must, after making an accurate Observation, come and tell them the Truth: not be struck with Terror, so as to point
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