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384 not believe you are jesting I should reproach you for accepting so wretched a sophism, worthy only of the most paltry barbarian. As if in this complexity of life we could govern ourselves by such foolishly over-simple and rigid rules! As if the great variety of the world did not call for as great a variety of men! Must the emperor conduct himself as the freedman, the senator as the slave, the matron as the courtesan? Shall the fisherman ask himself: Did all men fish would it be well for the world? Shall the philosopher leave to speculate because if all men imitated him human life would cease? This question of yours cannot but be some foolish trope brought to Rome by a glib uneducated Pict. The Empire needs men of many kinds; some to give it wealth; some military strength; some justice; some dignity; some wisdom; some tranquillity and sweetness. It may be necessary for the Empire at times to make use of the wickedness of evil men whose company we ourselves would avoid; and indeed were Rome filled with none but good men the imperium romanum would vanish in a decade. No, let us not ask ourselves so foolish and useless a question; let us rather seek to discover the true nature of our own minds and fit them to that manner of life which is most harmonious; for if we try to serve the Empire in a manner for which we are conspicuously unfit we may bring contempt upon the majesty of Rome, whereas if we do those things consonant with our nature we may serve it even though we appear to do nothing. We cannot all be proconsuls; we cannot all be excellent. I am sure innocence cannot harm the Empire; I even think vice may serve it; when I am convinced my manner of life injures the Empire—dearer to me than life—I shall change it. You tell me that the venality and incapacity of administrators make it urgent for every honest man to seek the utmost power he can obtain in order that justice may be done; and you regret the purer morals of the Republic. I cannot think you are right; a vast number of men is continually pressing to obtain these posts and surely none who was unfit either morally or intellectually would offer to take upon himself such a responsibility? You know I did not refuse to serve the Empire, even in a post for which I was grotesquely incapable, when it was forced upon me; I should not refuse if I were commanded to a dignity so imposing even as that of proconsul of Achaea, but I should lament it as a difficult and burdensome duty that had perforce to be undertaken, not as an honour to be enjoyed. I prefer an easy obscurity and tranquillity to distracting and arduous dignities.