Chapter XII.
How the upright man ought to be like a stamp not of wax
but of hard steel.
And
so the mind of the upright
man ought not to be like wax or any other soft material which always
yields to the shape of what presses on it, and is stamped with its form
and impress and keeps it until it takes another shape by having another
seal stamped upon it; and so it results that it never retains its own
form but is turned and twisted about to correspond to whatever is
pressed upon it. But he should rather be like some stamp of hard steel,
that the mind may always keep its proper form and shape inviolate, and
may stamp and imprint on everything which occurs to it the marks of its
own condition, while upon it itself nothing that happens can leave any
mark.