Epictetus. I mean, by lending it to thy conduct. And now let me console and comfort thee, under the calamity I brought on thee by calling thee my friend. If thou art not my friend, why send for me? Enemy I can have none: being a slave, Fortune has now done with me.
Seneca. Continue, then, your former observations. What were you saying?
Epictetus. That which thou interruptedst.
Seneca. What was it?
Epictetus. I should have remarked that, if thou foundest ingenuity in my writings, thou must have discovered in them some deviation from the plain, homely truths of Zeno and Cleanthes.
Seneca. We all swerve a little from them.
Epictetus. In practice too?
Seneca. Yes, even in practice, I am afraid.
Epictetus. Often?
Seneca. Too often.