1And so, as in lyres the ears of musicians perceive even the slightest faults, so we, if we wish to be keen and diligent observers of faults, shall often learn great things from small ones. 1From the glance of the eyes, from the relaxing or contracting of the brows, from sadness, from cheerfulness, from laughter, from speech, from silence, from raising the voice, from lowering it, from other similar things we shall easily judge which of them is done fittingly and which is at odds with duty and nature. 1In this matter it is not unhelpful to judge from others what each of these things is like, so that, if anything is unbecoming in them, we ourselves may avoid it; 1for somehow it happens that we perceive faults more in others than in ourselves, if anything goes amiss.
1And so those pupils are most easily corrected in learning whose faults their teachers imitate in order to correct them. 147Nor indeed is it out of place, in deciding matters that raise doubt, to call in learned men or even men experienced in practice, and to ask what they think about each kind of duty. 147For the majority are usually carried more or less where they are led by nature herself. 147In these cases we must consider not only what each person says but also what each thinks, and also for what reason each thinks it. 147For as painters and those who make statues, and indeed poets too, each wish their work to be examined by the public, so that, if anything has been criticised by many, it may be corrected, and they inquire both of themselves and of others what fault there is in it, so a great many things must be done and not done, changed and corrected by us at the judgement of others.
148But concerning things done in accordance with custom and civic usage, no rules need be given; 148for these are themselves rules, and no one ought to be led into this error, that, if Socrates or Aristippus did or said something against custom and civic usage, he should think the same is permitted to himself; 148they gained this licence by their great and godlike qualities. 148The whole system of the Cynics, however, must be cast out; 148for it is hostile to modesty, without which nothing can be right, nothing honourable. 149Those, moreover, whose life has been tested in honourable and great affairs, who think well of the state and have served or are serving it well, we ought to respect and honour as if they had been invested with some office or command; we should also defer much to old age, give way to those who hold office, make a distinction between citizen and foreigner, and, in the case of the foreigner himself, whether he has come privately or in an official capacity.
149In sum, not to treat each case singly, we ought to cherish, protect and preserve the common union and fellowship of the whole human race.