For if true love for a boy^[1] or a woman does not seek witnesses, but enjoys the fruits of pleasure even if it consummate its desire in secret, it is even more to be expected that the lover of honour and wisdom, in the familiar intercourse with virtue which comes through his actions, should keep his pride in himself to himself and be silent, feeling no need of eulogists and auditors. […]

It is therefore the mark of a man who is making progress, not only when he has given to a friend or done a kindness to an acquaintance to refrain from telling of it to others, but also when he has given an honest judgement amidst a numerous and dishonest majority, when he has peremptorily declined a discreditable conference with some rich man or some official, when he has scorned bribes, and even when he has felt a craving in the night for a drink and has not taken it, or when he has fought a good fight, like Agesilaos, against a kiss of a lovely girl or youth,^[2] to keep all this to himself and put the seal of silence on it.

[80e] εἰ γὰρ ἀληθινὸς ἔρως παιδὸς ἢ γυναικὸς οὐ ζητεῖ μάρτυρας, ἀλλὰ καρποῦται τὸ ἡδὺ κἂν κρύφα κατεργάσηται τὸν πόθον, ἔτι μᾶλλον εἰκός ἐστι τὸν φιλόκαλον καὶ φιλόσοφον συνόντα διὰ τῶν πράξεων τῇ ἀρετῇ καὶ χρώμενον αὐτὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ σιωπῇ μέγα φρονεῖν, [f] ἐπαινετῶν καὶ Fἀκροατῶν μηδὲν δεόμενον. […]

[81a] ἔστιν 81οὖν τοῦ προκόπτοντος οὐ μόνον δόντα τῷ φίλῳ καὶ γνώριμον εὐεργετήσαντα μὴ φράσαι πρὸς ἑτέρους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ψῆφον ἐν πολλαῖς θέμενον ἀδίκοις δικαίαν καὶ πρὸς ἔντευξιν αἰσχρὰν πλουσίου τινὸς ἢ ἄρχοντος ἀπισχυρισάμενον καὶ δωρεὰς ὑπεριδόντα καὶ νὴ Δία διψήσαντα νύκτωρ καὶ μὴ πιόντα ἢ πρὸς φίλημα καλῆς ἢ καλοῦ διαμαχεσάμενον, ὡς ὁ Ἀγησιλαος, ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατασχεῖν καὶ σιγῆσαι.