FREE MUSONIUS RUFUS LECTURES AND SAYINGS 1ST EDITION PDF

Cynthia King | 9781456459666 | | | | | Musonius Rufus | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Renowned as a great Stoic teacher, Musonius conceived of philosophy as nothing but the practice of noble behavior. He advocated a commitment to live for virtue, not pleasure, since virtue saves us from the mistakes that ruin life. Though philosophy is more difficult to learn than other subjects, it is more important because it corrects the errors Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition thinking that lead to errors Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition acting. He also called for austere personal habits, including the simplest vegetarian diet, and minimal, inexpensive garments and footwear, in order to achieve a good, sturdy life in accord with the principles of Stoicism. He believed that philosophy must be studied not to cultivate brilliance in arguments or an excessive cleverness, but to develop good character, a sound mind, and a tough, healthy body. Musonius condemned all luxuries and disapproved of sexual activity outside of marriage. He argued that women should receive the same education in philosophy as men, since the virtues are the same for both sexes. He praised the married life with lots of children. He affirmed Stoic orthodoxy in teaching that neither death, injury, insult, pain, poverty, nor exile is to be feared since none of them are evils. Gaius Musonius Rufus was born before 30 C. He was a friend of Rubellius Plautus, whom emperor Nero saw as a threat. When Nero banished Rubellius around 60 C. After Rubellius died in 62 C. Musonius returned to Rome, where he taught and practiced Stoicism, which roused the suspicion of Nero. On discovery of the great conspiracy against Nero, led by Calpurnius Piso in 65 C. He returned to Rome under the reign of Galba in 68 C. In 70 C. Musonius secured the conviction of the philosopher Publius Egnatius Celer, who had betrayed Barea Soranus, a friend of Rubellius Plautus. Musonius was exiled a second time, by Vespasian, but returned to Rome in the reign of Titus. Musonius was highly respected and had a considerable following during his life. He died before C. Either Musonius wrote nothing himself, or what he did write is lost, because none of his own writings survive. For this reason, it is likely that he lectured in Greek. Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition favored a direct and concise style of instruction. He taught that the teacher of philosophy should not present many arguments but rather should offer a few, clear, practical arguments oriented to his listener and couched in terms known to be persuasive to that listener. Musonius believed that Stoic philosophy was the most useful thing. Philosophy persuades us, according to Stoic teaching, Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition neither life, nor wealth, nor pleasure is a good, and that neither death, nor poverty, nor pain is an evil; thus the latter are not to be feared. Virtue is the only good because it alone keeps us from making errors in living. Moreover, it is only the philosopher who seems to make a study of virtue. The person who claims to be studying philosophy must practice it more diligently than the person studying medicine or some other skill, because philosophy is more important, and more difficult to understand, than any other pursuit. Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition is because, unlike other skills, people who study philosophy have been corrupted in their souls with vices and thoughtless habits by learning things contrary to what they will learn in philosophy. But the philosopher does not study virtue just as theoretical knowledge. Rather, Musonius insists that practice is more important than theory, as practice more effectively leads us to action than theory. He held that though everyone is naturally disposed to live without error and has the capacity to be virtuous, someone who has not actually learned the skill of virtuous living cannot be expected to live without error any more than someone who is not a trained doctor, musician, scholar, helmsman, or athlete could be expected to practice those skills without error. In one of his lectures Musonius recounts the advice he offered to a visiting Syrian king. A king must protect and help his subjects, so a king must know what is good or bad, helpful or harmful, useful or useless for people. Since a king must also know what justice is and make just decisions, a king must study philosophy. A king must possess self-control, frugality, modesty, courage, wisdom, magnanimity, the ability to prevail in speech over others, the ability to endure pain, and must be free of error. Philosophy, Musonius argued, is the only art that provides all such virtues. To show his gratitude the king offered him anything he Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition, to which Musonius asked only that the king adhere to the principles set forth. Musonius held that since a human being is Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition of body and soul, we should train both, but the latter demands greater attention. This dual method requires becoming accustomed to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, scarcity of food, a hard bed, abstaining from pleasures, and enduring pains. This method strengthens the body, inures it to suffering, and makes it fit for every task. He believed that the soul is similarly strengthened by developing courage through enduring hardships, and by making it self-controlled through abstaining from pleasures. Musonius insisted that exile, poverty, physical injury, and death are not evils and a philosopher must scorn all such things. A philosopher regards being beaten, jeered at, or spat upon as neither injurious nor shameful and so would never litigate against anyone for any such acts, according to Musonius. He argued that since we acquire all good things by pain, the person who refuses to endure pain all but condemns himself to not being worthy of anything good. Musonius criticized cooks and chefs while defending farming as a suitable occupation for a philosopher and no obstacle to learning or teaching essential lessons. For example, he emphasized that what one eats has significant consequences. He argued that the purpose of food is to nourish and strengthen the body and to sustain life, not to provide pleasure. Digesting our food gives us no pleasure, he reasoned, and the time spent digesting food far exceeds the time spent consuming it. It is digestion which nourishes the body, not consumption. The proper diet, according to Musonius, was lacto-vegetarian. These foods are least expensive and most readily available: raw fruits in season, certain raw vegetables, Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition, cheese, and honeycombs. Cooked grains and some cooked vegetables are also suitable for humans, whereas a meat-based diet is too crude for human beings and is more suitable for wild beasts. Those who eat relatively large amounts of meat seemed slow-witted to Musonius. We are worse than brute animals when it comes to food, he thought, because we are obsessed with embellishing how our food is presented and fuss about what we eat and how we prepare it merely to amuse our palates. Moreover, too much rich food harms the body. For these reasons, Musonius thought that gastronomic pleasure is undoubtedly the most difficult pleasure to combat. He consequently rejected gourmet cuisine and delicacies as a dangerous habit. He judged gluttony and craving gourmet food to be most shameful and to show a lack of moderation. Indeed, Musonius was of the opinion that those who eat the least expensive food can work harder, are the least fatigued by working, become sick less often, tolerate cold, heat, and lack of sleep better, and are stronger, than those who eat expensive food. These preferences Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition self-control and goodness. Musonius advocated a similarly austere philosophy about clothes. The purpose of our clothes and footwear is strictly protection from the elements. So clothes and shoes should be modest and inexpensive, not attract the attention of the foolish. One should dress to strengthen and toughen the body, not to bundle up in many layers so as never to experience cold and heat and make the body soft and sensitive. Musonius recommended dressing to feel somewhat cold in the winter and avoiding shade in the summer. If possible, he advised, go shoeless. The purpose of houses, he believed, was to protect us from the elements, to keep out cold, excessive heat, and the wind. Our dwelling should protect us and our food the way a Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition would. Beds or tables of ivory, silver, or gold, hard-to-get textiles, cups of gold, silver, or marble—all such furnishings are entirely unnecessary and shamefully extravagant. Items that are expensive to acquire, hard to use, troublesome to clean, difficult to guard, or impractical, are inferior when compared with inexpensive, useful, and practical items made of cast iron, plain ceramic, wood, and the like. Thoughtless people covet expensive furnishings they wrongly believe are good and noble. He said Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition would rather be sick than live in luxury, because illness harms only the body, whereas living in luxury harms both the body and the soul. Luxury makes the body weak and soft and the soul undisciplined and cowardly. Musonius judged that luxurious living fosters unvarnished injustice and greed, so it must be completely avoided. For the ancient Roman philosophers, following their Greek predecessors, the beard was the badge of a philosopher. Musonius said that a man should cut the hair on his scalp the way he prunes vines, by removing only what is useless and bothersome. Hair should never be trimmed to beautify or to please women or boys. Hair is no Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition trouble for men than feathers are for birds, Musonius said. Musonius supported his belief that women ought to receive the same education in philosophy as men with the following arguments. First, the gods have Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition women the same power of reason as men. Reason considers whether an action is good or bad, honorable or Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition. Second, women have the same senses as men: sight, hearing, smell, and the rest. Third, the sexes share the same parts of the body: head, torso, arms, and legs. Fourth, women have an equal desire for virtue and a natural affinity for it. Women, no less than men, are by nature pleased by noble, just deeds and censure their opposites. Therefore, Musonius concluded, it is just as appropriate for women to study philosophy, and thereby to consider how to live honorably, as it is for men. Moreover, he reasoned, a woman must be able to manage an estate, to account for things beneficial to it, and to supervise the household staff. A woman must also have self-control. She must be free from sexual improprieties and must exercise self-control over other pleasures. She must neither be a slave to desires, nor quarrelsome, nor extravagant, nor vain. A self-controlled woman, Musonius believed, controls her anger, is not overcome by grief, and Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition stronger than every emotion. But these are the character traits of a beautiful person, whether male or female. Musonius argued that a woman who studies philosophy Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition be just, a blameless partner in life, a good and like-minded co-worker, a careful guardian of husband and children, and completely free from the love of gain and greed. No one, Musonius insisted, would be more just than she. Moreover, a philosophic woman would love her children more than her own life. She would not hesitate to fight to protect her children any more than a hen that fights with predators much larger than she is to protect her chicks. Musonius Rufus' Lectures & Sayings – Massimo Pigliucci

Musonius Rufus c. This volume also includes a preface by William B. Read more Read less. Each day we unveil a new book deal at a specially discounted price - for that day only. See today's deal or sign up for the newsletter. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. Previous page. Discourses and Selected Writings Penguin Classics. Kindle Edition. William B. Massimo Pigliucci. Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical wisdom for everyday life: embrace perseverance, strength and happiness with stoic philosophy Teach Yourself. Donald Robertson. Next page. About the Author Cynthia King translator is associate professor, emerita, of classics, and William B. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Chuck Chakrapani. Customer reviews. How are ratings calculated? Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness. Review this product Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Top reviews Most recent Top reviews. Top review from Australia. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Verified Purchase. It is great to have well written and well researched books like this that give us more insight into stoicism. See all reviews. Top reviews from other countries. Translate all reviews to English. Musonius left no writings of his own, and what is here are preserved fragments, written down by those who had heard his lectures much like the much more copious writings about Epictetus written down by Arrian. Because the writings are essentially short fragments and there are not that many of them, the reader will not obtain a great insight into Stoic practice from reading them. I would advise the interested to go straight to the more substantial writings by or about other great Roman Stoic writers, namely Seneca his letters and moral essaysEpictetus the Discourses and Enchiridion, written by Arrian and Marcus Aurelius the so-called Meditations. This book could have been written two weeks ago let alone nearly years Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition, I found it very helpful in re-evaluating my life, recommended to anyone interested in ancient stoics and their theories. A lovely, very readable book. Highly recommended. Report abuse. Musonius was clearly a very wise man whose work and influence on later philosophers, Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition as Epictetus, deserves to be better known. One person found this helpful. Musonius Rufus hat keine eigenen Schriften hinterlassen. Der 1. Wie man sein Haus einrichten sollte. Wie man Schmerzen ertragen sollte. Warum sich Frauen mit Philosophie befassen sollten. Warum Praxis wichtiger ist als Theorie. Das alles wird einfach und praktikabel abgehandelt. Das Gesagte gilt heute noch genauso wie vor Jahren. Report abuse Translate Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition to English. Back to top. Get to Know Us. Length: pages. Word Wise: Enabled. Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled. Page Flip: Enabled. Language: English. Gaius Musonius Rufus - Wikipedia

Abstract: The lectures, or discourses, of Gaius Musonius Rufus fl. There are 21 lectures and 53 fragments extant of Musonius Rufus on Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition philosophy. ACCORDING to Philostratus, 1 writing a century and a half after the event, once when Musonius was lying chained in the prison of Nero, his friend the Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition Apollonius of Tyana secretly communicated with him, inquiring what he might do to help release him. In the fourth century, the emperor Julian wrote a letter 3 to commend the high-priest Theodorus for his meretorious behavior when he was insolently abused by the governor of Greece. In these three instances, the names of the Greek and the Roman philosophers are linked together as preeminent examples of men who professed the highest ethical standards and lived lives in harmony with their teachings. From these implied comparisons, given simply, without any explanatory material to lend them persuasive force, one may suspect that the comparison was not at all strained, but was in fact one which was current and familiar. To us who might find it difficult to name a point in our lives when the name Socrates was new to us, and who have only a vague recollection of Musonius as one of the Stoic martyrs in the pages of Tacitus, the juxtaposition of the names may seem extravagant. The obscurity which has dimmed the name and reputation of Musonius is one of the unfortunate accidents of historical record, for even the extant testimonia of ancient writers, meager as they are, lead us to the conclusion that Musonius was a much more compelling personage than his surviving works permit us to suspect, in fact one of the most significant figures of his age. Although a professor of Stoic doctrine, 5 Musonius was by no means restricted by sectarian boundaries; his teachings were his own humanitarian interpretation of the fundamental principles regulating human conduct, truly the fruit of a good life and the expression of a great personality. But the exactness of the comparison becomes vivid and impressive when one notes how numerous are the points of similarity suggested by a consideration of the life of Musonius, his aims and methods, and the content arid temper of his teachings. Perhaps the least significant, if the most definite, point of similarity is that, though both men spent their lives teaching, they were so indifferent to preserving their thoughts that they made little effort to commit them to writing. The fragments which we have were preserved among the works of other authors and were not collected Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition when they were first brought together by the Dutch scholar, 11 I. This small collection of discourses and sayings may be divided into two groups. These fragments fall rather naturally into several classes. Those preserved by Stobaeus are divided into two sets. Epictetus relates half a dozen incidents about his teacher, Musonius. As it happens, there is some evidence of the existence at one time of such a book of reminiscences of Musonius. The majority of modern scholars are agreed that Valerius Pollio, a grammarian living in the time of Hadrian, was the person who made the collection, 28 but the theory that it was Annius Pollio 29 seems more plausible, since he belonged to a family which was close to Musonius. Annius was the husband of Servilia, daughter of Barea Soranus, and he was exiled at the time of the Pisonian conspiracy. This man, being a contemporary of Musonius, would have been in a position to make notes of the talks of the philosopher. Then too, Annius would have a debt of gratitude to Musonius which he might well have been glad to repay by perpetuating his words in this way. This confusion seems easier to grant than that of Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition with Valerius. Whoever the compiler 30 may have been, only fragments of his work remain. It would seem, then, that there were two compilations of the work of Musonius, one by Lucius and preserved in part in the discourses in Stobaeus, 32 and the other by Pollio, the remains of which we have in the fragments collected from several sources and grouped together in the edition of Hense. There is a very remarkable difference in the pictures that these two early editors have succeeded in producing of the same man. Lucius is very consciously playing the role of Xenophon 33 to his Socrates and so consistently transforming what must have been scenes of vivid discussion full of the rapid give and take of debate into rather conventionalized essays on ethical questions that the portrait of Musonius loses sharpness and vigor. Briefly they are the following. Caius Musonius Rufus, 39 the son of Capito, 40 was born of an Etruscan family 41 in the town of Volsinii, 42 probably sometime before 30 A. Celer was defended by Demetrius the Cynic, 56 but lost his case and was executed. Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition Vespasian, at the instigation of Mucianus, banished all the philosophers in 71, Musonius was especially exempted by the emperor. Probably it was during this second banishment that Pliny met him in Syria where he was spending his year as military tribune. Pliny mentions the fact that Musonius might have chosen any one of a large group of admirers from all social classes for his son-in- law, and that the choice fell to the Stoic philosopher Artemidorus. His arguments met with such warm opposition that Musonius found it advisable to leave Athens. His family seems to have survived at least for several centuries. It was a descendant of his, Rufius Festus Avienus, who is honored by an inscription on a stone found in his native Volsinii. Rubellius Plautus, 67 Barea Soranus, 68 and Thrasea, 69 all friends of Musonius to whom he seems to have acted as spiritual adviser, belong in tlte set of Stoic martyrs. So, at Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition rate, one may judge to be the case of the fanciful Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition about Musonius which were disseminated, for the most part, by Philostratus. There is the tale, already alluded to, 84 of the imprisonment of Musonius and the secret exchange of letters with Apollonius of Tyana. Musonius gives the official Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition that some Egyptian surveyors convinced Nero that the sea was higher on one side than the other and that if a canal were dug, the land would be submerged, 90 but offers as his own opinion that Nero was preoccupied with the activities of Vindex. His conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition ship bringing the welcome news of the end of Nero. They do well to emphasize the fact that, unlike some philosophers, Musonius was no doctor umbraticusbut was rather a public figure, a conspicuous participant in civic affairs. The courage and spirit which he showed in this crisis in his life were the same high qualities which he demonstrated over and over again in the course of his varied career. Always consistent himself in facing life with courage, he constantly challenged his fellow men to be brave and strong. As a noble example of the good life, Musonius would be an outstanding character in any age; against the background of spiritual poverty and moral decay of his own generation, he appears a truly heroic figure. Indeed Lucius made no attempt to delineate the philosophic system of his master or to set forth the fundamentals of Stoic dogma. Excluding systematic presentation and even technical language, 95 he has reported only the informal discussions which must have been stimulated by the class exercises. Apparently these discussions or conversations were an important aspect of the teaching program 96 of Musonius who Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition the greatest emphasis upon the constant need for making practical application of theoretical principles. The fact that Lucius, in preparing literary accounts of these conversations, has generally recast the dialogue into an essay has muffled the original tone of his teacher and caused his humor to vanish, but here and there one can still see traces of a fine irony in his manner of speaking. For example, he demonstrates his use of the inductive method in answering the question whether theory or practice is more effective. It was a singular role that Musonius played in thus treating Stoic doctrine according to Socratic method. As one would expect from the nature of the discussions, there is no treatment of physics, metaphysics, or logic, but the Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition concern is with ethics. The primary concern of philosophy is the care of the soul in order that the qualities of prudence, temperance, justice, and courage may be perfected in it. This education should begin in infancy and continue throughout life, for every member of human society. Of these virtues, prudence or understanding will enable a person to make correct judgments concerning all the phenomena which touch his life. By means of it he will realize that virtue is the only good and vice the only evil, that everything else is indifferent. Hence he will raise himself above all indifferent things and achieve inner freedom. Understanding the good, he will, of course, avoid all wrong and engage only in honorable action. Through temperance a man will so toughen his body and discipline his mind, that he will achieve mastery of himself. Such was the simple theme which Musonius chose to impress upon his pupils by stressing some aspect of it in every one of his conversations. His suggestions for the details of their physical existence are given in four discourses, somewhat different in treatment and temper from the others, on the elementary matters of food, clothing, and shelter. In them he advocates a rigorous austerity which seems closer to the Cynic than to the Stoic ideal. Although he makes no compromise with any deviation from the right, yet in dealing with wrong-doers he preaches forbearance and forgiveness. There are two editions of the text of Musonius Rufus, that of I. Venhuizen Peerlkamp Haarlem, and that of O. Hense Leipzig, With the exception of thirteen fragments and part of discourse XV which is preserved only in the Rendel Harris Papyri ed. Enoch Powell, Cambridge, I, the discourses and fragments were assembled from the two works of Stobaeus, the Anthologium ed. Wachsmuth, Berlin, and the Florilegium ed. Meineke, Leipzig, The present edition follows the text of O. Hense, except in a few instances which are indicated in the footnotes. Once when discussion turned upon proofs or demonstrations, such as beginners must learn from their teachers of philosophy in gaining a mastery of whatever they are studying, Musonius said that there was no sense in seeking many Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition for each point, but rather cogent and lucid ones. Thus just as the physician who prescribes many drugs for his patients deserves less praise than the one who succeeds in helping them with a few, so the philosopher who teaches his pupils with the use of many proofs is less effective than the one who leads them to the desired goal with few. And the pupil too, the quicker his intelligence, the fewer proofs he will require, and the sooner he will assent to the Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition of the argument in question, provided it be sound. But those who require proofs at every point, even where the matter is perfectly clear, or demand to have demonstrated at length things which could be explained briefly are completely inept and dull-witted. The gods, we may assume, need no proof of anything inasmuch as nothing to them lacks clearness or is obscure, and it is only in reference to obscurity that there is any need of proof. Man, however, must needs seek to find out that which is not plain nor self-evident through the medium of the plain and obvious. That is the function of proof. Take for example the proposition that pleasure is not a good. At first sight we do not recognize it as true, since in fact pleasure appeals to us as a good. But starting from the generally accepted premise that every good is desirable and adding to it a second equally accepted that some pleasures are not desirable, we succeed in proving that pleasure is not a good: that is we prove the unknown or unrecognized by means of the known or recognized. Or again, that toil is not an evil is not on the face of it a persuasive proposition, while its opposite, that toil is an evil, seems much more persuasive. But starting from the known and accepted premise that every evil is a thing to be avoided, and adding to it another obvious one, namely that many forms of toil are not in the category of things to be avoided, we conclude that toil is not an evil. Since this, then, is the nature of proof, when we consider that some men are quicker of wit and others duller, that some are reared in better environment, others in worse, those of the latter class being inferior in character and native disposition will require more proofs and more diligent attention to be led to master the teachings in question and to be moulded by them; just as defective physiques, when the goal is to restore perfect health, require very diligent and prolonged treatment. On the other hand such pupils as Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition of a finer nature and have enjoyed better training will more easily and Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition quickly, and with few proofs, assent to sound reasoning and put it into practice. How true this is we may readily recognize if we chance to know two lads or young men, of whom one has been reared in luxury, his body effeminate, his spirit weakened by soft living, and having besides a dull and torpid disposition; the other reared somewhat in the Spartan manner, unaccustomed to luxury, practiced in self-restraint, and ready to listen to sound reasoning. If then we place these two young men in the position of pupils of a philosopher arguing that death, toil, poverty, and the like are not evils, or again that life, pleasure, wealth, and the like are not goods, do you imagine that both will give heed to the argument in the same fashion, and that one will be persuaded Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition it in the same degree as the other? Far from it. The one reluctantly and slowly, and fairly pried loose Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition a thousand arguments, will perhaps in the end give sign of assent Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition I mean of course the dullard. The other quickly and readily will accept the argument as cogent and relevant to himself, and will not require many proofs nor a fuller treatment. Was not just such a lad that Spartan boy who asked Cleanthes the philosopher if toil was not a good? He made it plain that he was so well- endowed by nature and by training for the practice Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition virtue as to consider toil closer to the nature of good than of evil, in that he asked whether toil was not perchance a good, as if it were conceded that it was not an evil. To come back to the starting point of my discussion, I repeat that it is mistaken zeal for the teacher, if he be a true philosopher, to rehearse Musonius Rufus Lectures and Sayings 1st edition multitude of arguments and proofs to his pupils. He should rather touch upon each one with just measure, seek to penetrate to the very intellect of his hearer, and present persuasive arguments and such as cannot easily be refuted. But most of all his treatment should consist in showing himself not only as one who utters words which are most helpful, but as one who acts consistently with them. As for the pupil, it is his duty to attend diligently to what is said and to be on his guard lest he accept unwittingly something false. But of what he accepts as truth, his effort should not be directed toward learning numbers of proofs — far from it — but only such as are plain and lucid. Finally whatever precepts enjoined upon him he is persuaded are true, these must he follow out in his daily life. For only in this way will philosophy be of profit to anyone, if to sound teaching he adds conduct in harmony with it.