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Moreover, to be no longer thrown into great confusion, or to blush, or to conceal or rearrange some personal detail at the sudden appearance of a man of high repute and principles, but to be able to advance and meet such persons without timidity, gives a man some assurance that he knows where he stands. So Alexander, as it appears, on seeing a messenger hastening toward him with exceeding joy and holding out his hand, said, What are you going to report to me, my good friend ? That Homer has come to life again ? For he thought that his exploits lacked nothing save commemoration for posterity. Cf. Cicero, Pro Archia, chap. x. In the young man, however, who is still improving in character no love is more firmly implanted than that of taking a real pleasure in the presence of good and honourable men, and of affording to them free opportunity to see his house, his table, his wife, his children, his pursuits, his discourses, whether spoken or written; and in consequence he feels a pang when he recalls a father or professor now dead who never saw him in such condition, and for no blessing would he pray God so earnestly as that they might come to life again, and become observers of his life and actions. On the other hand, in direct contrast with such men as these, those who have ruined themselves through their own neglect cannot even in their dreams look upon their relatives without fear and trembling.
