[13] Let him, then, who would obtain genuine fame discharge the duties of justice. What these are I have shown in the First Book.
But in order that we may be taken for what we really are, though there is the greatest efficacy in our being
what we would be taken for, yet some additional rules are to be given. If, indeed, one from early youth finds
himself in a position of celebrity and reputation, either inherited from his father (as I think is the case
with you, my Cicero,) or by some chance or happy combination of circumstances, the eyes of all are turned
to him; inquiry is made about him, what he is doing, how he is living, and, as if he were moving in the clearest
light, nothing that he says or does can be concealed. But those whose first years, on account of their lowly
and obscure condition, are passed out of the knowledge of men, as soon as they emerge from childhood, ought
to hold great aims in view, and to strive after them with unswerving diligence, which they will do with the
greater confidence, since that age is not only exempt from envious regard, but is even looked upon with favor.
A youth, then, has the first title to fame, if he have the opportunity of obtaining it by military service,
in which many in the days of our ancestors won early distinction; for wars were almost perpetual. But your
time of service fell upon the epoch of that war in which one party was exceedingly guilty, the other unsuccessful.
Yet in this war, when Pompey had made you commander of the left wing of his army, you won great praise both
from that illustrious man and from your fellow-soldiers for your horsemanship, your skill in the use of weapons,
and your endurance of all the hardships of the camp and the field. This reputation of yours sank, indeed,
simultaneously with the state. I have undertaken this discussion, however, not with reference to you alone, but
with reference to young men as a class. Let us then pass on to the remaining subjects.
As in all other respects mental are much greater than bodily achievements, so those things which we
accomplish by intellect and reason win greater favor than those which we perform by mere physical strength.
The first claim that can be proffered for the general esteem proceeds from regularity of conduct, with
filial piety and kindness to those of one’s own family. Then, too, young men become most favorably known
when they seek the society of eminent, wise, and patriotic citizens, with whom if they are intimate, they
inspire the people with the expectation that they are going to resemble those whom they have chosen as models
for imitation. His frequenting the house of Publius Mucius gave the youth of Publius Rutilius the reputation
both of moral purity and of legal knowledge. On the other hand, however, Lucius Crassus, while yet a mere boy,
sought no countenance from his elders, yet won for himself the highest reputation from that splendid and famous
accusation; and (as we learn was the case with Demosthenes), at the very age when young men are wont to be
applauded for their exercises in declamation, Lucius Crassus showed that he could already do to perfection
before the judges what it would have been to his credit to have merely rehearsed by way of practice at home.