Chapter Thirteen
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Chapter Thirteen
Favor and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honor and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions of the same kind.
What is meant by speaking thus of favor and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position after the enjoyment of favor. The getting that favor leads to the apprehension of losing it, and the losing it leads to the fear of still greater calamity:–this is what is meant by saying that favor and disgrace would seem equally to be feared.
And what is meant by saying that honor and great calamity are to be similarly regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body which I call myself; if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honoring it as he honors his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.
