[71]
So perhaps those men of extraordinary genius
who have devoted themselves to learning must be
excused for not taking part in public affairs; likewise, those who from ill-health or for some still
more valid reason have retired from the service of
the state and left to others the opportunity and the
glory of its administration. But if those who have
no such excuse profess a scorn for civil and military
offices, which most people admire, I think that this
should be set down not to their credit but to their
discredit; for in so far as they care little, as they
say, for glory and count it as naught, it is difficult
not to sympathize with their attitude; in reality,
however, they seem to dread the toil and trouble
and also, perhaps, the discredit and humiliation of
political failure and defeat. For there are people
who in opposite circumstances do not act consistently: they have the utmost contempt for pleasure,
but in pain they are too sensitive; they are indifferent to glory, but they are crushed by disgrace;
and even in their inconsistency they show no great
consistency.
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