Is someone else getting better treatment than you at parties, social events, or private conversations? If these things are good, you should be happy that person has them. If they're bad, don't feel sorry that you don't have them. Remember: you can't compete with others for external rewards without doing what they do to get them. How can someone who won't hang around powerful people's doors, won't attend to them, and won't flatter them expect the same treatment as someone who does all that? You're being unfair and unreasonable if you want these things but won't pay the price they cost. You want them for free. How much do lettuces cost? One obulus, for example.
Is anyone preferred before you at an entertainment, or in courtesies, or in confidential intercourse? If these things are good, you ought to rejoice that he has them; and if they are evil, do not be grieved that you have them not. And remember that you cannot be permitted to rival others in externals without using the same means to obtain them. For how can he who will not haunt the door of any man, will not attend him, will not praise him, have an equal share with him who does these things? You are unjust, then, and unreasonable if you are unwilling to pay the price for which these things are sold, and would have them for nothing. For how much are lettuces sold? An obulus, for instance.