"But it is so often impossible, my dear boy," continued Mr. Bernard,
"that it is far better to make implicit obedience the groundwork of your
conduct, particularly when the commands are from your excellent mother;
to whom you all owe so much, and whose wishes are ever dictated by
reason, though it may not be always either necessary or proper to
disclose those reasons to you. The Lacedeaeonians carried the doctrine
of submission so far, that they obliged their Ephori to submit to the
ridiculous ceremony of being shaved, when they entered upon their
office; signifying, by this act, that they knew how to practise
submission to the laws of their country. In short, my dear boy, it is a
universal rule, that he who will gain any thing, must give up something;
he that wishes to improve his understanding, his manners, or his health,
must contradict his will. This may not be an easy task; but you will
find it much harder to suffer that contempt, which is always the portion
of those who neglect the acquirement of wisdom and of virtue. The wisest
of men are often obliged to adopt the principle I have been recommending
to you. I will tell you an anecdote, in confirmation of this assertion:
'A gentleman appointed to a government abroad, consulted an eminent
person, who was at that time the oracle of the law, as to the rule of
his future conduct in his office, and begged his instructions.
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