1Every action, moreover, ought to be free of rashness and carelessness, nor should one do anything for which one cannot give a plausible reason; 1for this is more or less the definition of duty. 102We must bring it about that the appetites obey reason and neither run ahead of it nor desert it through sloth or cowardice, and that they are calm and free of every disturbance of mind; 102from this all constancy and all moderation will shine forth. 102For appetites that range too far and, as if bolting, whether in desire or in aversion, are not held back enough by reason, without doubt overstep limit and measure; 102for they abandon and cast off obedience and do not obey reason, to which they are subject by the law of nature; 102and by them not only minds are thrown into disorder but bodies too.
102One can see the very faces of those who are angry, or of those who are stirred by some lust or fear, or who exult in excessive pleasure; 102the expressions, voices, movements and postures of all of these are changed. 103From this it is understood, to return to the outline of duty, that all the appetites must be restrained and calmed, and that attentiveness and diligence must be roused, so that we do nothing rashly and at random, nothing thoughtlessly and carelessly. 103For we have not been so made by nature that we seem created for play and jest, but rather for seriousness and for certain weightier and greater pursuits.
103Play and jest one may indeed use, but as we use sleep and other kinds of rest, only when we have done enough for serious and weighty matters. 103And the very manner of joking should not be extravagant or immodest, but gentlemanly and witty. 103For as we do not give boys every licence to play, but only that which is not out of keeping with honourable activities, so in joking itself let some light of an upright character shine out. 104There are, in general, two kinds of joking: one ungentlemanly, insolent, shameful, obscene; the other elegant, urbane, clever, witty. 104With this second kind not only our own Plautus and the Old Comedy of the Athenians are filled, but also the books of the Socratic philosophers, as are many witty sayings of many men, like those collected by old Cato, which they call apophthegms.
104The distinction, then, between gentlemanly and ungentlemanly joking is easy. 104The one, if it is made at the right time, for instance when the mind is relaxed, is worthy of the most serious man; the other is not worthy even of a free man, if obscenity of words is applied to shameful matters. 104In play too a certain limit must be kept, so that we do not pour everything out too freely and, carried away by pleasure, slip into some disgrace. 104Our Campus, moreover, and the pursuit of hunting supply honourable examples of recreation.