Accordingly, if the talk begins to drift off to other channels, pains should be taken to bring it back again to the matter in hand--but with due consideration to the company present; for we are not all interested in the same things at all times or in the same degree.
In his work on moral philosophy, Cicero advises on how to courteously guide conversations back to the main topic while respecting others' interests.
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Accordingly, in encountering danger we should do as doctors do in their practice: in light cases of illness they give mild treatment; in cases of dangerous sickness they are compelled to apply hazardous and even desperate remedies.
There are, on the other hand, two kinds of injustice--the one, on the part of those who inflict wrong, the other on the part of those who, when they can, do not shield from wrong those upon whom it is being inflicted.
But for the most part, people are led to wrong-doing in order to secure some personal end; in this vice, avarice is generally the controlling motive.
For if we bring a certain amount of propriety and order into the transactions of daily life, we shall be conserving moral rectitude and moral dignity.
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