Book 2, Chapter 26

62 “‘You accomplish nothing, pain! However troublesome you are, I shall never admit that you are an evil.’ Indeed, all toil that brings distinction and renown at once becomes bearable too. Do we not see that where the games called athletic contests are highly honored, those who enter them avoid no pain? Where hunting and horsemanship are admired, those who seek this praise shrink from no pain. Why speak of our own campaigns for office, our craving for honors? What flame have men not run through, those who once gathered these honors vote by vote? Africanus therefore always had Xenophon the Socratic in his hands. He especially praised Xenophon’s statement that the same toils do not weigh equally on a general and a soldier, because honor itself lightens the general’s toil.

63 “Yet the result is that among the unwise multitude the appearance of honor has power, since they cannot see honor itself. They are swayed by reputation and the judgment of the many, thinking honorable what most people praise. But even if you are in the public eye, I would not have you abide by the multitude’s judgment, or think most beautiful what it thinks so. You must use your own judgment. If you satisfy yourself by approving what is right, you will have conquered not only yourself, as I advised a little earlier, but everyone and everything.

64 “Set this before yourself, then: greatness of spirit, a raising of the mind to the loftiest possible height, displayed above all in disregarding and despising pain, is the single most beautiful thing of all. It is more beautiful still if, free of an audience and without courting applause, it nevertheless delights in itself. Indeed, I think everything done without self-advertisement and without the public as witness deserves greater praise. Not that the public should be shunned: all good deeds wish to stand in the light. Still, virtue has no greater theater than conscience.”

62 “‘Pain, you achieve nothing! Bother me as much as you like: I’ll never acknowledge you as bad.’ Indeed, give any hardship fame and distinction, and it at once becomes something people can bear. Look at the places where the so-called athletic games command great respect: competitors there won’t avoid any pain. Where riding and hunting are praised, those in pursuit of that praise won’t run from pain either. Need I mention our electioneering and hunger for office? The men who once gathered offices vote by vote would have raced through any fire for them. That’s why Africanus was forever reading Xenophon, the follower of Socrates. One observation he especially admired was that a commander and a soldier don’t find the same work equally taxing. The distinction attached to command itself eases the commander’s work.

63 “Still, what happens is that the crowd of foolish people responds to an impression of moral goodness, since they can’t see goodness itself. So they’re moved by reputation and the crowd’s judgment. They think whatever most people praise is morally right. But even if you’re in the public eye, I don’t want you to stand by the public’s judgment or think what it thinks is the finest thing. You must use your own judgment. If you approve of what’s right and can satisfy yourself, then you’ll have overcome not just yourself, as I was urging a little while ago, but everyone and everything.

64 “So put this before yourself: greatness of spirit, a lifting of the spirit to the highest possible level, so to speak, stands out most in disregarding pain and looking down on it. It’s the finest thing of all. And it’s finer still if it’s away from the crowd, not hunting for applause but taking pleasure in itself. In fact, I find everything done without self-promotion and without the public as a witness more praiseworthy. Not because we should avoid the public—all good deeds want to stand in the light. Even so, virtue has no greater audience than its own conscience.”