Galen, On the Passions: Everyone who wishes to conduct themselves properly in life needs a guide. What we require of the guide are certain moral qualities: First, frankness, the exercise of speaking freely. We have to test the frankness and truthfulness of the person who speaks about himself. Second, he should possess a moral quality by showing by his life that he is a decent man.
Seneca, Letter 7: Philosophy does not renounce the charms of the mind. But one should not take such great pains over words. Let us say what we think and think what we say; let speech harmonize with conduct. That man who is the same both when you see him and when you hear him has fulfilled his commitments. We will see the originality of his nature, its greatness. Our discourse should strive not to please, but to be useful. If you can attain eloquence without painstaking, if it comes naturally and at slight cost, accept it, so that it may serve the finest thing sand so that it shows things rather than displays itself. Other arts are concerned solely with cleverness, but we are concerned only with the soul.
A sick man does not go in search of an eloquent doctor. However, if he finds that the man who can cure also discourses elegantly about the treatment to be followed, the patient will reconcile himself to this. But this will be no reason for him to congratulate himslef on having discovered a doctor who, in addition to his skill, is eloquent.
Seneca: It is a matter of showing what I feel rather than speaking, if I have conveyed my thought without studied embellishment or platitude. Not only do I feel and consider the things I say to be true, but I even love them. I am attached to them and my whole life is governed by them.
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