What then must a man have ready to help him in such emergencies? Surely this: he must ask himself, 'What is mine, and what is not mine? What may I do, what may I not do?

.... because you count yourself to be but an ordinary thread in the tunic. What follows then? You ought to think how you can be like other men, just as one thread does not wish to have something special to distinguish it from the rest: but I want to be the purple, that touch of brilliance which gives distinction and beauty to the rest.

'And I am bound to say what seems right to me.'
'But, if you say it, I will kill you.'
'When did I tell you, that I was immortal? You will do your part, and I mine.'

'What am I to do then? Since I have no natural gifts, am I to make no effort for that reason?'

If these statements of the philosophers are true, that God and men are akin, there is but one course open to men, to do as Socrates did: never to reply to one who asks his country 'I am an Athenian', or 'I am a Corinthian', but 'I am a citizen of the universe'.