on what is the line--I
do not say of action, but of keeping quiet--that we ought by his good
leave and favor to adopt. Farewell!

III

OF BRAVE AND ELEVATED SPIRITS[23]

A spirit altogether brave and elevated is chiefly discernible by two
characters. The first consists in a low estimate of mere outward
circumstances, since it is convinced that a man ought to admire,
desire, or court nothing but what is virtuous and becoming; and that
he ought to succumb to no man, nor to any perturbation either of
spirit or fortune. The other thing is that, possest of such a spirit
as I have just mentioned, you should perform actions which are great
and of the greatest utility, but extremely arduous, full of
difficulties and danger both to life and the many things which
pertain to life.

In the latter of those two characters consist all the glory, the
majesty, and, I add, the utility; but the causes and the efficient
means that form great men is in the former, which contains the
principles that elevate the soul, and gives it a contempt for
temporary considerations. Now, this very excellence consists in two
particulars: you are to deem that only to be good is to be virtuous,
and that you be free from all mental irregularity. For we are to look
upon it as the character of a noble and an elevated soul, to slight
all those considerations that the generality of mankind account great
and glorious, and to despise them, upon firm and durable principles;
while strength of mind and greatness of resolution are discerned in
bearing those calamities which, in the course of man's life, are many
and various, so as not to be driven from your natural disposition, nor
from the dignity of a wise man; for it is not consistent that he who
is not subdued by fear should be subjugated by passion, nor that he
who has shown himself invincible by toil should be conquered by
pleasure. Wherefore, we ought to watch and avoid the love of money;
for nothing so truly characterizes a narrow, groveling disposition as
to love riches; and nothing is more noble and more exalted than to
despise riches if you have them not, and if you have them, to employ
them in beneficence and liberality.

An inordinate passion for glory, as I have already observed, is
likewise to be guarded against; for it deprives us of liberty, the
only prize for which men of elevated sentiments ought to contend.
Power is so far from being desirable in itself that it sometimes ought
to be