Now the Olympiad Comes On
Whatever rules you have adopted, abide by them as laws, as if you would be impious to transgress them. Do not regard what anyone says of you. How long will you delay to demand of yourself the noblest improvements? You have received the principles. You have been conversant with them. For what other master do you wait as an excuse for this delay in self-reformation? You are no longer a boy but a grown man. Add procrastination to procrastination, purpose to purpose, and you will insensibly accomplish nothing, living and dying of vulgar mind. This instant, think yourself worthy of living as a man grown up. Remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off. Though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought to live as one seeking to be a Socrates.
Key Insight
The handbook refuses both costumes: the graduate who has arrived, and the student who is still waiting for a later term. Seeking is the present tense. The games have started. Another master will not write you a deferment.
“Remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off. And though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one seeking to be a Socrates.”Explore full theme analysis
