Has not the intemperate been censured of old, because in 304 him the huge multiform monster is allowed to be too much at large?
Clearly.
Proofs:–(1) Men are blamed for the predominance of the lower nature, And men are blamed for pride and bad temper when the [B]lion and serpent element in them disproportionately grows and gains strength?
Yes.
And luxury and softness are blamed, because they relax and weaken this same creature, and make a coward of him?
Very true.
And is not a man reproached for flattery and meanness who subordinates the spirited animal to the unruly monster, and, for the sake of money, of which he can never have enough, habituates him in the days of his youth to be trampled in the mire, and from being a lion to become a monkey?
[C]as well as for the meanness of their employments and character: True, he said.
And why are mean employments and manual arts a reproach? Only because they imply a natural weakness of the higher principle; the individual is unable to control the creatures within him, but has to court them, and his great study is how to flatter them.
(2) It is admitted that every one should be the servant of a divine rule, or at any rate be kept under control by an external authority: Such appears to be the reason.