V. Alkibiades made no secret of his delight in being honoured and his
vexation when slighted, and in consequence endeavoured to make himself
acceptable to all with whom he had to do. Marcius was prevented by his
pride from courting those who could have bestowed honour and advancement
upon him, while his ambition tortured him if these were withheld.
These are the points which we find to blame in his character, which in
all other respects was a noble one. With regard to temperance, and
contempt for money, he may be compared with the greatest and purest men
of Greece, not merely with Alkibiades, who cared only too little for
such things, and paid no regard to his reputation.
LIFE OF TIMOLEON.
It was for the sake of others that I first undertook to write
biographies, but I soon began to dwell upon and delight in them for
myself, endeavouring to the best of my ability to regulate my own life,
and to make it like that of those who were reflected in their history as
it were in a mirror before me. By the study of their biographies, we
receive each man as a guest into our minds, and we seem to understand
their character as the result of a personal acquaintance, because we
have obtained from their acts the best and most important means of
forming an opinion about them. "What greater pleasure could'st thou gain
than this?" What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?
Demokritus says, that we ought to pray that we may meet with propitious
phantasms, and that from the infinite space which surrounds us good and
congenial phantasms, rather than base and sinister ones, may be brought
into contact with us.
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