that of thy neighbor, that thou mayst know whether he has acted
ignorantly or with knowledge, and that thou mayst also consider that his
ruling faculty is akin to thine.

23. As thou thyself art a component part of a social system, so let every
act of thine be a component part of social life. Whatever act of thine
then has no reference either immediately or remotely to a social end,
this tears asunder thy life, and does not allow it to be one, and it is
of the nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular assembly a man
acting by himself stands apart from the general agreement.

24. Quarrels of little children and their sports, and poor spirits
carrying about dead bodies [such is everything]; and so what is exhibited
in the representation of the mansions of the dead strikes our eyes more
clearly.

25. Examine into the quality of the form of an object, and detach it
altogether from its material part, and then contemplate it; then
determine the time, the longest which a thing of this peculiar form is
naturally made to endure.

26. Thou hast endured infinite troubles through not being contented with
thy ruling faculty when it does the things which it is constituted by
nature to do. But enough [of this].

27. When another blames thee or hates thee, or when men say about thee
anything injurious, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see
what kind of men they are. Thou wilt discover that there is no reason to
take any trouble that these men may have this or that opinion about thee.
However, thou must be well disposed towards them, for by nature they are