[134]
Conversation, then, in which the Socratics are the1
best models, should have these qualities. It should
be easy and not in the least dogmatic; it should have
the spice of wit. And the one who engages in conversation should not debar others from participating
in it, as if he were entering upon a private monopoly;
but, as in other things, so in a general conversation he should think it not unfair for each to have
his turn. He should observe, first and foremost,
what the subject of conversation is. If it is grave,
he should treat it with seriousness; if humorous,
with wit. And above all, he should be on the watch
that his conversation shall not betray some defect in
his character. This is most likely to occur, when
people in jest or in earnest take delight in making
malicious and slanderous statements about the absent,
on purpose to injure their reputations.
1 Conversation as an art.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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