Debts & Lessons

[Intro]
Akira
The Don
He's got clout
Ay, ay, ay

My grandfather Verus, character and self-control
My father, integrity and manliness
My mother, her reverence for the divine
Her generosity
Her inability not only to do wrong but even to conceive of doing it
My great-grandfather, to avoid the public school
Hire good private teachers
And accept the resulting costs as money well-spent
My first teacher, not to support this side or that in chariot-racing
This fighter or that in the games
To put up with discomfort and not make demands
Do my own work , mind my own business
And have no time for slanderers
Do my own work, mind my own business
And have no time for slanderers

Diognetus, not to waste time on nonsense
Not taken in by conjurors
Not to be obsessed with quail-fighting
Or other crazes like that
To hear unwelcome truths
To practice philosophy, study
To write dialogues as a student
And to choose the Greek lifestyle
The camp bed
And the cloak

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Rusticus
The recognition that I needed to train and discipline my character
Not to be sidetracked by interest in rhetoric
Not to write treatises on abstract questions
Or deliver moralizing little sermons
Or compose imaginary descriptions
Of ‘The Simple Life’ or ‘The Man Who Lives Only for Others’
To steer clear of oratory, poetry and belles lettres
Not to dress up just to stroll around the house
Write straightforward letters
To behave in a conciliatory way
When people who have angered us want to make up
Read attentively
Not to be satisfied with “just getting the gist of it”
And not to fall for each smooth talker

Apollonius, independence and unvarying reliability
To pay attention to nothing
No matter how fleetingly, except the Logos
To be the same in all circumstances
Intense pain , loss of a child, chronic illness, to see clearly
That a man can show both strength and flexibility
His patience in teaching
To have seen someone who clearly viewed
His expertise and ability as a teacher as the humblest of virtues
And to have learned how to accept favors
From friends without losing your self-respect
Or appearing ungrateful

[Chorus]
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Sextus, kindness
An example of fatherly authority in the home
What it means to live as nature requires
Gravity without airs
To show intuitive sympathy for friends
Tolerance to amateurs and sloppy thinkers
His ability to get along
With everyone
To investigate and analyze
With understanding and logic
The principles we ought to live by
Not to display anger or other emotions
To be free of passion and yet full of love
To praise without bombast
To display expertise without pretension

Literary Critic Alexander
Not to be constantly correcting people
Not to jump on them when they make an error
But just answer their question
Or add another example
Or debate the issue itself
Not their phrasing
Or make some other contribution to the discussion

Fronto
To recognize the malice
Cunning and hypocrisy that power produces
And the peculiar ruthlessness often shown by people from “good families"
Alexander the Platonist
Not be constantly telling people
I’m too busy
Not to be always ducking my responsibilities
Cos of “pressing business.”

Catulus
Not to shrug off a friend’s resentment
Even unjustified resentment
But try to put things right
To show your teachers
Ungrudging respect
And your children
Unfeigned love

[Instrumental Bridge]

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