[144]
Such orderliness of conduct is, therefore, to be observed, that everything in the conduct of our life
shall balance and harmonize, as in a finished speech. 1
For it is unbecoming and highly censurable, when
upon a serious theme, to introduce such jests as are
proper at a dinner, or any sort of loose talk. When
Pericles was associated with the poet Sophocles as
his colleague in command and they had met to
confer about official business that concerned them
both, a handsome boy chanced to pass and Sophocles
said: “Look, Pericles; what a pretty boy!” How
pertinent was Pericles's reply: “Hush, Sophocles,
a general should keep not only his hands but his
eyes under control.” And yet, if Sophocles had
made this same remark at a trial of athletes, he
would have incurred no just reprimand. So great
is the significance of both place and circumstance.
For example, if anyone, while on a journey or on a
walk, should rehearse to himself a case which he is
preparing to conduct in court, or if he should under
similar circumstances apply his closest thought to
some other subject, he would not be open to censure
[p. 149]
but if he should do that same thing at a dinner,
he would be thought ill-bred, because he ignored
the proprieties of the occasion.
1 Seasonableness of speech.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.