|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: speakers themselves as of those whom they discussed.
To be cheated by a friend was scarcely censurable, but he could find
no comdemnation strong enough for him who was outwitted by a foe. Or
again, to dupe the incredulous might argue wit, but to take in the
unsuspecting was veritably a crime.
The praise of a critic who had courage to point out his defects
pleased him; and plainness of speech excited in him no hostility. It
was against the cunning rather of the secretive person that he guarded
himself, as against a hidden snare.
The calumniator he detested more than the robber or the thief, in
proportion as the loss of friends is greater than the loss of
| 
