[22] The man of worth on the other hand, having acquired a desire for a quiet life, withdraws from the public and loves solitude, and his choice is to be unnoticed by the many, not because he is misanthropical, for he is eminently a philanthropist, but because he has rejected vice which is welcomed by the multitude who rejoice at what calls for mourning and grieve where it is well to be glad.
[23] And therefore he mostly secludes himself at home and scarcely ever crosses his threshold, or else because of the frequency of visitors he leaves the town and spends his days in some lonely farm, finding pleasanter society in those noblest of the whole human race whose bodies time has turned into dust but the flame of their virtues is kept alive by the written records which have survived them in poetry or in prose and serve to promote the growth of goodness in the soul.
[24] That was why he said that the “transferred” was not found, being hard to find and hard to seek. So he passes across from ignorance to instruction, from folly to sound sense, from cowardice to courage, from impiety to piety, and again from voluptuousness to self-control, from vaingloriousness to simplicity. And what wealth is equal in worth to these, or what possession of royalty or dominion more profitable?
[25] For in very truth the wealth which is not blind but keen of sight is abundance of virtues, which consequently we must needs hold to be, in contrast to the bastard governments falsely so-called, genuine and equitable sovereignty ruling in justice over all.
[26] But we must not forget that repentance holds the second place to perfection, just as a change from sickness to health is second to a body free from disease; so, then, unbroken perfection of virtues stands nearest to divine power, but improvement in the course of time is the peculiar treasure of a soul gifted by nature, which does not stay in childish thoughts but by such as are more robust and truly manly seeks to gain a condition of serenity and pursues the vision of the excellent.