Page:Encheiridion of Epictetus - Rolleston 1881.pdf/74

38 F you have assumed a part beyond your power to play, then you have not only come to shame in that, but have missed one which you could have thoroughly fulfilled.

N going about, as you are careful not to step upon a nail or twist your foot, even so be careful that you do no injury to your own essential part. And if we observe this we shall the more safely undertake whatever we have to do.

HE measure of gain for every man is the body, as the foot is of the shoe. If you take this as your standpoint, you will preserve the measure. But if you go beyond it, you must thenceforward of necessity be borne, as it were, down a steep for the rest of the way. And so it is with the shoe; if you go beyond [what is proper for] the foot, you will have your shoe first gilded, then dyed purple, then embroidered. For there is no end to that which has once transgressed its measure.

ROM the age of fourteen years upwards women are accustomed to the flattery of men.