>>32275301From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government
of my temper.
From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly
character.
From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from
evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in
my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.
From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools,
and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things
a man should spend liberally.
From my governor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party
at the games in the Circus, nor a partizan either of the Parmularius
or the Scutarius at the gladiators' fights; from him too I learned
endurance of labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands,
and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready
to listen to slander.
From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not
to give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers about
incantations and the driving away of daemons and such things; and
not to breed quails for fighting, nor to give myself up passionately
to such things; and to endure freedom of speech; and to have become
intimate with philosophy; and to have been a hearer, first of Bacchius,
then of Tandasis and Marcianus; and to have written dialogues in my
youth; and to have desired a plank bed and skin, and whatever else
of the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline.
From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required
improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray
to sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor
to delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off
as a man who practises much discipline, or does benevolent acts in
order to make a display; and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry,
and fine writing; and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor
dress, nor to do other things of the kind; and to write my letters
with simplicity, like the letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa
to my mother; and with respect to those who have offended me by words,
or done me wrong, to be easily disposed to be pacified and reconciled,
as soon as they have shown a readiness to be reconciled; and to read
carefully, and not to be satisfied with a superficial understanding
of a book; nor hastily to give my assent to those who talk overmuch;
and I am indebted to him for being acquainted with the discourses
of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out of his own collection.
From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness
of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except
to reason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, on the occasion
of the loss of a child, and in long illness; and to see clearly in
a living example that the same man can be both most resolute and yielding,
and not peevish in giving his instruction; and to have had before
my eyes a man who clearly considered his experience and his skill
in expounding philosophical principles as the smallest of his merits;
and from him I learned how to receive from friends what are esteemed
favours, without being either humbled by them or letting them pass
unnoticed.