.

IN WHAT MANNER SOCRATES DISSUADED MEN FROM SELF-CONCEIT AND.
OSTENTATION.
But let us now see whether by dissuading his friends from a vain ostentation he did not exhort them to the pursuit of virtue.

He frequently said that there was no readier way to glory than to render oneself excellent, and not to affect to appear so.

To prove this he alleged the following example:--"Let us suppose," said he, "that any one would be thought a good musician, without being so in reality; what course must he take?
He must be careful to imitate the great masters in everything that is not of their art; he must, like them, have fine musical instruments; he must, like them, be followed by a great number of persons wherever he goes, who must be always talking in his praise.

And yet he must not venture to sing in public: for then all men would immediately perceive not only his ignorance, but his presumption and folly likewise.