Kitap 1
2
Ay, but this is not suitable to my character.
2
It is you who are to consider that, not I; for it is you who know yourself, what value you set upon yourself, and at what rate you sell yourself; for different people sell themselves at different prices.
2
Hence Agrippinus, Nero was remarkably fond of theatrical entertainments, and used to introduce upon the stage the descendants of noble families, whom want had rendered venal. Tacitus, Ann. 14. c. 14. —C. when Florus was deliberating whether he should go to Nero’s shows, and perform some part in them himself, bid him go. But why do not you go, then? says Florus. Because, replied Agrippinus, do not deliberate about it. For he who once sets himself about such considerations, and goes to calculating the worth of external things, approaches very near to those who forget their own character. Why, then, do you ask me whether death or life be the more eligible? I answer, life. Pain or pleasure? I answer, pleasure. But if I do not act a part, I shall lose my head. Go and act it, then, but I will not. Why? Because you esteem yourself only as one thread of many that make up the piece. What then? You have nothing to care for, but how to be like the rest of mankind, as one thread desires not to be distinguished from the others. But I would be the purple,An allusion to the purple border which distinguished the dress of the Roman nobility.—C. that small and brilliant part, which gives a lustre and beauty to the rest. Why, then, do you bid me resemble the multitude? At that rate, how shall I be the purple?
