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Consider that nothing in human life is stable;1 for then you will not exult overmuch in prosperity, nor grieve overmuch in adversity.2 Rejoice over the good things which come to you, but grieve in moderation over the evils which befall you, and in either case do not expose your heart to others;3 for it were strange to hide away one's treasure in the house, and yet walk about laying bare one's feelings to the world.
1 Cf. Isoc. 1.29; Theog. 585.
2 Cf. Isoc. 2.39; Isoc. 12.30; Theog. 591 ff.: τολμᾶν χρή, τὰ διδοῦσι θεοὶ θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν, ῥηιδίως δὲ φέρειν ἀμφοτέρων τὸ λάχος, μήτο κακοῖσιν ἀσῶντα λίην φρένα, μήτ᾽ ἀγαθοῖσιν τερφθέντ᾽ ἐξαπίνης, πρὶν τέλος ἄκρον ἰδεῖν. and Kipling: “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same.”
3 Cf. Theog. 1162.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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