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Be courteous in your manner, and cordial in your address. It is the part of courtesy to greet those whom you meet; and of cordiality to enter into friendly talk with them. Be pleasant to all, but cultivate the best; thus you will avoid the dislike of the former and have the friendship of the latter. Avoid frequent conversations with the same persons, and long conversations on the same subject; for there is satiety in all things.Cf. Hom. Il. 13.636 πάντων μὲν κόρος ἐστί; Aristoph. Pl. 189 τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων ἐστὶ πάντων πλησμονή.
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Train yourself in self-imposed toils, that you may be able to endure those which others impose upon you.So also Democritus, Stobaeus, Flor. xxix. 63. Practice self-control in all the things by which it is shameful for the soul to be controlled,The Greek ideal of freedom through self-control, See Socrates in Xen. Mem. 4.5. Cf. Isoc. 3.29. namely, gain, temper, pleasure, and pain. You will attain such self-control if you regard as gainful those things which will increase your reputation and not those which will increase your wealth; if you manage your temper towards those who offend against you as you would expect others to do if you offended against them; if you govern your pleasures on the principle that it is shameful to rule over one’s servants and yet be a slave to one’s desires; and if, when you are in trouble, you contemplate the misfortunes of others and remind yourself that you are human.
