End Of Book V.
CHAPTER VIII
He who is not supremely indifferent to praise will be subject to many troubles
484. If he should be overtaken with a desire for unreasonable praises, he will get no gain from his many labours, nor from his ability in speaking. For the soul which cannot endure the thoughtless accusations of the multitude is enervated, and abandons all diligence about speaking. Therefore we must be instructed chief of all to despise applause: for knowing how to speak is not sufficient for the preservation of the ability, unless the other (contempt of praise) be added.
485. But if any body would closely examine him that is not endowed with this faculty, he would discover him to lack contempt of praise no less than the other.
486. He will be impelled to many sins, who is overcome by popular opinion. For being incapable of equalling those of reputation in the art of speaking, he will not be loth to plot against them, to be jealous, to blame without cause, and to misbehave himself in many such ways; nay, he will venture everything, even though he must lose his own soul, to reduce their renown to the low level of his own insignificance.
487. And besides these things, he will stand aloof from the drudgery of labour, as though his soul were pervaded by torpidity. For that he should labour much and receive small praise, is sufficient to cast and send into a deep sleep him that is unable to despise commendation. For the husbandman, when he tills a barren soil, and is forced to cultivate stony places, quickly desists from labouring, unless he has great earnestness in his work, or is pressed by fear of famine.
488. If they who are able to speak with much authority, require so much exertion to preserve their attainment, what difficulty, what trial, and what trouble will he be subject to, who has made no provision whatever, but is compelled to take anxious thought even in his exercises, that he may be able to bring together some little matter by great effort?
489. But if one of those who are associated with him, and occupy an inferior post, is able to make more display in this respect than he can; in such a case he has need of a soul in some sort divine, that he may not be led captive by envy, nor be subject to despondency. For that he who occupies a higher position should be surpassed by his inferiors, and yet bear it nobly, calls for no common and everyday soul, but one of adamant.
490. If he who gains the pre-eminence is gentle and moderate, the evil is in one way or another endurable; but if he is forward, ostentatious, and vain-glorious, the death of the one will be daily desirable, so bitter will the other render his life, by openly spurning him, secretly ridiculing him, derogating much from his authority, and wishing himself to be everybody; and his greatest security in all this will be the freedom he has acquired in speaking, the zeal of the multitude respecting him, and the affection of all his subordinates.
491. Know you not how great a love of preaching at present possesses the souls of Christians; and that they who exercise themselves herein are chiefly held in honour, not only by those who are without, but by the household of faith?
492. How then can any one endure such a disgrace as that all should be blank silence when he speaks, and think it an annoyance, and expect the end of the discourse like a rest from their labours, and yet, that when another speaks at any length, they should hear him cheerfully, and be sorry when he is about to conclude, and be vexed when he wishes to be silent?
493. Although these things may appear to you trifling and despicable, because you are inexperienced, still they are enough to extinguish the promptitude, and relax the energy of the soul, unless one should dispossess himself of all human affections, and study to become like those incorporeal powers, which are haunted neither by envy nor love of glory, nor any similar disorder.
494. If, therefore, any man is such as to be able to subjugate popular applause, that wild beast so difficult to overtake, so hard to defeat, and so untameable, and to cut off its many heads, or rather not to allow them even to grow, he will be able easily to repel many other assaults, and to enjoy a peaceful haven. But while he is not delivered from this, he will sow broadcast in his soul, a multifarious war, constant trouble, dejection, and a host of other emotions.
495. What need have I to enumerate remaining difficulties, which nobody will be able to name or to understand, save he who is engaged in these affairs?