I first lay this down for an axiom, that there ought
to be seen in men's lives an agreement with their doctrines.
For it is not so necessary that the pleader (as Aeschines
has it) and the law speak one and the same thing, as that
the life of a philosopher be consonant to his speech. For
the speech of a philosopher is a law of his own and voluntarily imposed on himself, unless they esteem philosophy
to be a game, or an acuteness in disputing invented for the
gaining of applause, and not—what it really is—a thing
deserving our greatest study.
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