opinion each one of us holds about them, such they seem to be. For
instance, mankind do not universally apply the term 'dishonor' to the
same conditions, but certain deeds which are reprehensible in some
regions are praised in others and various actions honored by this people
are punishable by that. Some do not so much as know the name, nor the
fact which it implies. This is quite natural. For whatever does not
touch what belongs to man's nature is thought to have no bearing upon
him. Just exactly as it would be most ridiculous, surely, if some
judgment or decree were delivered that so-and-so is sick or so-and-so is
base, so does the case stand regarding dishonor.

[-24-] "The same thing I find to be true in regard to exile. Living
abroad is somehow in a way dishonorable, so that if dishonor pure and
simple contains no evil, surely an evil reputation can not be attached
to exile either. You know at any rate that many live abroad the longest
possible time, some unwillingly and others willingly; and some even
spend their whole life traveling about, just as if they were expelled
from every place: and yet they do not regard themselves as being injured
in doing so. It makes no difference whether a man does it voluntarily or
not. The person who trains unwillingly gets no less strong than he who
is willing about it, and the person who navigates unwillingly obtains no
less benefit than the other. And as for this very element of
unwillingness, I do not see how it can encounter a man of sense. If the
difference between being well and badly off is that some things we
readily volunteer to do and others we are unwilling and grudge to
perform, the trouble can be easily mended. For if We endure willingly
all necessary things and show the white feather before none of them, all
those matters in which one might assume unwillingness have been
abolished. There is, indeed, an old saying and a very good one, to the
effect that we ought not to think it requisite for whatever we wish to