Page:Discourses of Epictetus.djvu/473



As the stone which tests the gold is not at all tested itself by the gold, so it is with him who has the faculty of judging.

It is shameful for the judge to be judged by others.

As nothing is straighter than that which is straight, so nothing is juster than that which is just.

Who among us does not admire the act of Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian? For after he was maimed in one of his eyes by one of the citizens, and the young man was delivered up to him by the people that he might punish him as he chose, Lycurgus spared him and after instructing him and making him a good man he brought him into the theatre. When the Lacedaemonians expressed their surprise, Lycurgus said, I received from you this youth when he was insolent and violent: I restore him to you gentle and a good citizen.

Pittacus after being wronged by a certain person and having the power of punishing him let him go, saying, Forgiveness is better than revenge: for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge the sign of a savage nature.