If you're a senator, remember you're a senator. If you're young, remember you're young. If you're old, remember you're old. Each role has its duties. But if you go and blame your brother, you've forgotten who you are and what your role demands. Think about it this way: if you were a blacksmith and used your hammer wrong, you'd have forgotten how to be a blacksmith. If you've forgotten how to be a brother and become an enemy instead, haven't you traded one thing for another? And if you've stopped being human — a gentle, social creature — and become a vicious wild animal that's sneaky and cruel, haven't you lost something important?
Next to this, if you are a senator of any state, remember that you are a senator; if a youth, that you are a youth; if an old man, that you are an old man; for each of such names, if it comes to be examined, marks out the proper duties. But if you go and blame your brother, I say to you, You have forgotten who you are and what is your name. In the next place, if you were a smith and made a wrong use of the hammer, you would have forgotten the smith; and if you have forgotten the brother and instead of a brother have become an enemy, would you appear not to have changed one thing for another in that case? And if instead of a man, who is a tame animal and social, you are become a mischievous wild beast, treacherous, and biting, have you lost nothing?