1.From my grandfather Verus,a kindly disposition and sweetness of t emper.
2.From what I heard of my father and my memory of him,modesty and manliness.
3.From my mother,the fear of God,and generosity;and abstention n ot only from doing ill but even from the very thought of doing it;and f urthermore to live the simple life,far removed from the habits of the r ich.
4.From my grandfather's father,to dispense with attendance at pub lic schools,and to enjoy good teachers at home,and to recognize that o n such things money should be eagerly spent.
5.From my Tutor,not to side with the Green Jacket or the Blue at t he races,or to back the Light-Shield Champion or the Heavy-Shield in th e lists;not to shirk toil,and to have few wants,and to do my own work,and mind my own concerns;and to turn a deaf ear to slander.
6.From Diognetus,not to be taken up with trifles;and not to give credence to the statements of miracle-mongers and wizards about incantat ions and the exorcizing of demons,and such-like marvels;and not to kee p quails,nor to be excited about such things:not to resent plain speak ing;and to become familiar with philosophy and be a hearer first of Bac cheius,then of Tandasis and Marcianus;and to write dialogues as a boy;and to set my heart on a pallet-bed and a pelt and whatever else tallied with the Greek regimen.
7.From Rusticus,to become aware of the fact that I needed amendmen t and training for my character;and not to be led aside into an argumen tative sophistry;nor compose treatises on speculative subjects,or deli ver little homilies,or pose ostentatiously as the moral athlete or unse lfish man;and to eschew rhetoric,poetry,and fine language;and not to go about the house in my robes,nor commit any such breach of good taste;and to write letters without affectation,like his own letter written to my mother from Sinuessa;to shew oneself ready to be reconciled to th ose who have lost their temper and trespassed against one,and ready to meet them halfway as soon as ever they seem to be willing to retrace the ir steps;to read with minute care and not to be content with a superfic ial bird's-eye view;nor to be too quick in agreeing with every voluble talker;and to make the acquaintance of the Memoirs of Epictetus,which he supplied me with out of his own library.