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From 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.

From Sextus, a benevolent disposition, and the example of a family

governed in a fatherly manner, and the idea of living conformably

to nature; and gravity without affectation, and to look carefully

after the interests of friends, and to tolerate ignorant persons,

and those who form opinions without consideration: he had the power

of readily accommodating himself to all, so that intercourse with

him was more agreeable than any flattery; and at the same time he

was most highly venerated by those who associated with him: and he

had the faculty both of discovering and ordering, in an intelligent

and methodical way, the principles necessary for life; and he never

showed anger or any other passion, but was entirely free from passion,

and also most affectionate; and he could express approbation without

noisy display, and he possessed much knowledge without ostentation.

From Alexander the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding, and

not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous

or solecistic or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to introduce

the very expression which ought to have been used, and in the way

of answer or giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the

thing itself, not about the word, or by some other fit suggestion.

From Fronto I learned to observe what envy, and duplicity, and hypocrisy

are in a tyrant, and that generally those among us who are called

Patricians are rather deficient in paternal affection.

From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity

to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure;

nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation

to those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.

From Catulus, not to be indifferent when a friend finds fault, even

if he should find fault without reason, but to try to restore him

to his usual disposition; and to be ready to speak well of teachers,

as it is reported of Domitius and Athenodotus; and to love my children

truly.

From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to

love justice; and through him I learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius,

Cato, Dion, Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a polity in

which there is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard