[71]
And, in that poetry, any one
who pleases can see that fellow's way of life reflected as in a mirror. And
I would recite you much of it, which many men have read or heard, if I were
not afraid that even the kind of speech which I am indulging in at this
moment is at variance with the general usages of this place; and at the same
time, I do not wish to do any injury to the character of the man who wrote
it.
For if he had had better fortune in getting a pupil, perhaps he might have turned out a more strict and dignified man himself; but chance has led him into a habit of writing in this manner, very unworthy of a philosopher; if at least philosophy does, as is reported, comprehend the whole system of virtue, and duty, and living properly; and a man who professes it appears to me to have taken on himself a very serious and difficult character.