[107]
We must realize also that we are invested by1
Nature with two characters, as it were: one of these
is universal, arising from the fact of our being all
alike endowed with reason and with that superiority
which lifts us above the brute. From this all
morality and propriety are derived, and upon it
depends the rational method of ascertaining our
duty. The other character is the one that is2
assigned to individuals in particular. In the matter
of physical endowment there are great differences;
some, we see, excel in speed for the race, others in
strength for wrestling; so in point of personal appearance, some have stateliness, others comeliness.
Diversities of character are greater still.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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