Letter 11: Formatting and phrasing

_drafts/letter-to-lucilius-11.md

@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
 ---
-     tabtitle: "Seneca's Letter to Lucilius, Letter 3"
-     title: "Seneca's Letter to Lucilius, Letter 3:  On True and False
+     tabtitle: "Seneca's Letter to Lucilius, Letter 11"
+     title: "Seneca's Letter to Lucilius, Letter 11: On the Blush of Modesty"
      Friendship"
      topics: [philosophy]
-     pub: "2018-01-20"
-     short_desc: "Letter 3 deals with friends, and I don't mean the number shown
-     on Facebook. True Friendship, to Seneca, is a place of honor!"
+     pub: "2018-01-28"
+     short_desc: "Letter 11 deals with accepting our faults, staring an
+     unexpected quote from Epicurus."
 ---
 
 # Letter 11: On the Blush of Modesty
 
 ## Original Text
 
-1. Your friend and I have had a conversation. He is a man of ability; his very
+[1] Your friend and I have had a conversation. He is a man of ability; his very
 first words showed what spirit and understanding he possesses, and what progress
 he has already made. He gave me a foretaste, and he will not fail to answer
 thereto. For he spoke not from forethought, but was suddenly caught off his
@@ -22,32 +22,32 @@ face seemed so to rise from the depths. And I feel sure that his habit of
 blushing will stay with him after he has strengthened his character, stripped
 off all his faults, and become wise. For by no wisdom can natural weaknesses of
 the body be removed. That which is implanted and inborn can be toned down by
-training, but not overcome. 2. The steadiest speaker, when before the public,
+training, but not overcome. [2] The steadiest speaker, when before the public,
 often breaks into a perspiration, as if he had wearied or over-heated himself;
 some tremble in the knees when they rise to speak; I know of some whose teeth
 chatter, whose tongues falter, whose lips quiver. Training and experience can
 never shake off this habit; nature exerts her own power and through such a
-weakness makes her presence known even to the strongest. 3. I know that the
+weakness makes her presence known even to the strongest. [3] I know that the
 blush, too, is a habit of this sort, spreading suddenly over the faces of the
 most dignified men. It is, indeed more prevalent in youth, because of the warmer
 blood and the sensitive countenance; nevertheless, both seasoned men and aged
 men are affected by it.  Some are most dangerous when they redden, as if they
-were letting all their sense of shame escape. 4. Sulla, when the blood mantled
+were letting all their sense of shame escape. [4] Sulla, when the blood mantled
 his cheeks, was in his fiercest mood. Pompey had the most sensitive cast of
 countenance; he always blushed in the presence of a gathering, and especially at
 a public assembly. Fabianus also, I remember, reddened when he appeared as a
 witness before the senate; and his embarrassment became him to a remarkable
-degree. 5. Such a habit is not due to mental weakness, but to the novelty of a
+degree. [5] Such a habit is not due to mental weakness, but to the novelty of a
 situation; an inexperienced person is not necessarily confused, but is usually
 affected, because he slips into this habit by natural tendency of the body. Just
 as certain men are full-blooded, so others are of a quick and mobile blood, that
 rushes to the face at once.
 
-6. As I remarked, Wisdom can never remove this habit; for if she could rub out
+[6] As I remarked, Wisdom can never remove this habit; for if she could rub out
 all our faults, she would be mistress of the universe. Whatever is assigned to
 us by the terms of our birth and the blend in our constitutions, will stick with
 us, no matter how hard or how long the soul may have tried to master itself. And
-we cannot forbid these feelings any more than we can summon them. 7. Actors in
+we cannot forbid these feelings any more than we can summon them. [7] Actors in
 the theatre, who imitate the emotions, who portray fear and nervousness, who
 depict sorrow, imitate bashfulness by hanging their heads, lowering their
 voices, and keeping their eyes fixed and rooted upon the ground. They cannot,
@@ -55,28 +55,28 @@ however, muster a blush; for the blush cannot be prevented or acquired. Wisdom
 will not assure us of a remedy, or give us help against it; it comes or goes
 unbidden, and is a law unto itself.
 
-8. But my letter calls for its closing sentence. Hear and take to heart this
-useful and wholesome motto:[1] "Cherish some man of high character, and keep him
+[8] But my letter calls for its closing sentence. Hear and take to heart this
+useful and wholesome motto: "Cherish some man of high character, and keep him
 ever before your eyes, living as if he were watching you, and ordering all your
-actions as if he beheld them." 9. Such, my dear Lucilius, is the counsel of
-Epicurus;[2] he has quite properly given us a guardian and an attendant. We can
-get rid of most sins, if we have a witness who stands near us when we are likely
-to go wrong. The soul should have someone whom it can respect, – one by whose
-authority it may make even its inner shrine more hallowed.[3] Happy is the man
-who can make others better, not merely when he is in their company, but even
-when he is in their thoughts! And happy also is he who can so revere a man as to
-calm and regulate himself by calling him to mind! One who can so revere another,
-will soon be himself worthy of reverence. 10. Choose therefore a Cato; or, if
-Cato seems too severe a model, choose some Laelius, a gentler spirit. Choose a
-master whose life, conversation, and soul-expressing face have satisfied you;
-picture him always to yourself as your protector or your pattern. For we must
-indeed have someone according to whom we may regulate our characters; you can
-never straighten that which is crooked unless you use a ruler. Farewell.
+actions as if he beheld them." [9] Such, my dear Lucilius, is the counsel of
+Epicurus; he has quite properly given us a guardian and an attendant. We can get
+rid of most sins, if we have a witness who stands near us when we are likely to
+go wrong. The soul should have someone whom it can respect, – one by whose
+authority it may make even its inner shrine more hallowed. Happy is the man who
+can make others better, not merely when he is in their company, but even when he
+is in their thoughts! And happy also is he who can so revere a man as to calm
+and regulate himself by calling him to mind! One who can so revere another, will
+soon be himself worthy of reverence. [10] Choose therefore a Cato; or, if Cato
+seems too severe a model, choose some Laelius, a gentler spirit. Choose a master
+whose life, conversation, and soul-expressing face have satisfied you; picture
+him always to yourself as your protector or your pattern. For we must indeed
+have someone according to whom we may regulate our characters; you can never
+straighten that which is crooked unless you use a ruler. Farewell.
 
 ## Response
 
 This letter stikes me as another casual writing of Seneca's. Some of his letters
-are so serious, but some are much more conversational. In this letter, Seneca
+seem very serious, and some are much more conversational. In this letter, Seneca
 remninds us that the faults which nature gave us are beyond the power of wisdom
 to fix. This, he assures us, is not something we should feel ashamed of or take
 as a weakness, since it lies outside our control. His examples generally focus