BOOK III. XXII. 94-99
afford[1] the privilege of censuring certain persons, and the power also to punish those who do wrong, no matter how guilty they themselves were; whereas to the Cynic it is his conscience which affords him this power, and not his arms and his bodyguards. 95When he sees that he has watched over men, and toiled in their behalf; and that he has slept in purity, while his sleep leaves him even purer than he was before; and that every thought which he thinks is that of a friend and servant to the gods, of one who shares in the government of Zeus; and has always ready at hand the verse
Lead thou me on, O Zeus, and Destiny,[2]
and "If so it pleases the gods, so be it,"[3] why should he not have courage to speak freely to his own brothers, to his children, in a word, to his kinsmen?
That is why the man who is in this frame of mind is neither a busybody nor a meddler; for he is not meddling in other people's affairs when he is overseeing the actions of men, but these are his proper concern. Otherwise, go call the general a meddler when he oversees and reviews and watches over his troops, and punishes those who are guilty of a breach of discipline. But if you censure other men while you are hiding a little sweet-cake under your arm, I'll say to you: Wouldn't you rather go off into a corner and eat up what you have stolen? What have you to do with other people's business?
- ↑ The rather curious imperfect tense here (at which several scholars have taken offence) may be due to an attempt to avoid the suggestion that the Roman emperors might also be evil men themselves.
- ↑ See note on II. 23, 42, in Vol. I.
- ↑ Plato, Crito, 43 D.
