sure, we shall not do worse, if in whatever circumstances
we follow the study of philosophy, or manage public affairs, or go to
the market or to the Academy, or follow our husbandry. Wherefore those
corrections also are not to be rejected which Cleanthes and Antisthenes
have made use of. For Antisthenes, seeing the Athenians all in a tumult
in the theatre, and justly, upon the pronunciation of this verse,--

Except what men think wrong, there's nothing ill,
(From the "Aeolus" of Euripides, Frag. 19.)

presently subjoined this corrective,

What's wrong is so,--believe men what they will.

And Cleanthes, hearing this passage concerning wealth:--

Great is th' advantage that great wealth attends,
For oft with it we purchase health and friends,
(Euripides, "Electra," 428.)

presently altered it thus:

Great disadvantage oft attends on wealth;
We purchase whores with't and destroy our health.

And Zeno corrected that of Sophocles,

The man that in a tyrant's palace dwells
His liberty for's entertainment sells,

after this manner:--

No: if he came in free, he cannot lose
His liberty, though in a tyrant's house;

meaning by a free man one that is undaunted and magnanimous, and one of
a spirit too great to stoop beneath itself. And why may not we also, by
some such acclamations as those, call off young men to the better side,
by using some things spoken by poets after the same manner? For example,
it is said,

'Tis all that in this life one can require,
To hit the mark he aims at in desire.

To which we may reply thus:--

'Tis false; except one level his desire
At what's expedient, and no more require.

For it is an unhappy thing and not to be wished, for a man to obtain and
be master of what he desires if it be inexpedient. Again this saying,

Thou, Agamemnon, must thyself prepare
Of joy and grief by turns to take thy share,
Thy father, Atreus, sure, ne'er thee begat,
To be an unchanged favorite of Fate:
(Euripides, "Iphigenia at Aulus," 29.)

we may thus invert:--

Thy father, Atreus, never thee begat,
To be an unchanged favorite of Fate:
Therefore, if moderate thy fortunes are,
Thou shouldst rejoice always, and grief forbear.

Again it is said,

Alas! this ill comes from the powers divine
That oft we see what's good, yet it decline.
(From the "Chrysippus