"Certain members of the party, the timid ones, who were encumbered with a load of useless scruples, soon succumbed to the weight of their burdens.
"Others, the fearful ones, became panic-stricken at the difficulties they encountered in battling with the earlier stages of the journey.
"The modest, after several days' marching, fell to the rear, from fear of attracting too much attention, and were very soon lost sight of.
"The careless, wearied by their efforts, took to resting in the ditches along the road, and ate all their store of provisions for the journey without worrying at all about the time when they might be hungry.
"The braggarts and the boasters, after exhibiting a temporary enthusiasm, gave out at the first dangers encountered on the march.
"The curious, instead of striving to maintain the courage of those who walked at the head of the column, kept leading them into difficulties, in which many of the foremost were lost.
"The rash were greatly reduced in numbers by their own foolhardiness.
"The final result was that only a handful of men, after many weary days and nights, reached the Eden that they had set out to attain.
"These men were disciples of energy, those to whom this virtue had given courage, ambition, the self-control and the self-mastery needed to vanquish and overcome the perils of the way; those who, by their cool and courageous bearing, had been able to impress upon their companions, now become their disciples, the indomitable hardihood with which they were themselves filled."
We see in this fable how all the qualities of poise worked together for the accomplishment of the destined end.