The writings of the
Stoics are crowded with sentences to the same effect. "Nothing for
opinion, all for conscience." "He who wishes his virtue to be blazed
abroad is not labouring for virtue but for fame." "No one is more
virtuous than the man who sacrifices the reputation of a good man rather
than sacrifice his conscience." "I do not shrink from praise, but I
refuse to make it the end and term of right." "If you do anything to
please men, you have fallen from your estate." "Even a bad reputation
nobly earned is pleasing." "A great man is not the less great when he
lies vanquished and prostrate in the dust." "Never forget that it is
possible to be at once a divine man, yet a man unknown to all the
world." "That which is beautiful is beautiful in itself; the praise of
man adds nothing to its quality." Marcus Aurelius, following an example
that is ascribed to Pythagoras, made it a special object of mental
discipline, by continually meditating on death, and evoking, by an
effort of the imagination, whole societies that had passed away, to
acquire a realised sense of the vanity of posthumous fame.
Pages:
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601