[146]
41. As, therefore, a musical ear detects even the1
slightest falsity of tone in a harp, so we, if we wish2
to be keen and careful observers of moral faults, shall
often draw important conclusions from trifles. We
observe others and from a glance of the eyes, from
a contracting or relaxing of the brows, from an air
of sadness, from an outburst of joy, from a laugh,
from speech, from silence, from a raising or lowering
of the voice, and the like, we shall easily judge which
of our actions is proper, and which is out of accord
with duty and Nature. And, in the same manner, it
is not a bad plan to judge of the nature of our every
action by studying others, that so we may ourselves
avoid anything that is unbecoming in them. For it
happens somehow or other that we detect another's
failings more readily than we do our own; and so
in the school-room those pupils learn most easily
to do better whose faults the masters mimic for the
sake of correcting them.
[p. 151]
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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