Self Control

[Chorus]
Hard work and persistence
Self-reliance, always
Strength, perseverance, self-control
Hard work and persistence
Self-reliance, always cheerful
Strength, perseverance, self-control
Ay

[Verse 1]
Compassion
Unwavering adherence to decisions once he’d reached them
Indifference to superficial honors
Listening to anyone who could contribute to the public good
His dogged determination to treat people as they deserved
A sense of when to push and when to back off
His altruism
Not expecting his friends to keep him entertained at dinner
Or to travel with him
And anyone who had to stay behind to take care of something
Always found him the same when he returned

[Verse 2]
His searching questions at meetings
A kind of single-mindedness
Almost
Never content with first impressions
Or breaking off the discussion prematurely
His constancy to friends
Never getting fed up with them
Or playing favorites

[Verse 3]
And his advance planning
Well in advance
And his discreet attention to even minor things
His restrictions on acclamations
And all attempts to flatter him
His constant devotion to the empire’s needs
His stewardship at the treasury
Willingness to take responsibility
And blame
For both
His attitude to the gods—
No superstitiousness
His attitude to men—
No demagoguery
No currying favor, no pandering
Always sober, always steady
Never vulgar or a prey to fads
No currying favor, no pandering
Always sober, always steady
Never vulgar or a prey to fads

[Chorus]
Hard work and persistence
Self-reliance, always
Strength, perseverance, self-control
Hard work and persistence
Self-reliance, always cheerful
Strength, perseverance, self-control
Ay

[Verse 4]
The way he handled the material comforts
That fortune had supplied him in such abundance
Without arrogance and without apology
If they were there, he took advantage
If not, he didn’t miss them
No one ever called him glib
Or shameless, or pedantic
They saw him for what he was—
A man tested by life
Accomplished
Unswayed by flattery
Qualified to govern
Both himself and them
Both himself and them
Ay

[Verse 5]
His respect for people who practiced philosophy
At least, for those sincere about it
But without denigrating the others
Or listening to them
His ability to feel at ease with people
And to put them at their ease without being pushy
Ay

[Verse 6]
His willingness to take adequate care of himself
Not a hypochondriac obsessed with his appearance
But not ignoring things either
With the result that he hardly ever needed medical attention
Or drugs or any sort of salve or ointment
This in particular (This in particular)
His willingness to yield the floor to experts
In oratory, law, psychology, whatever
And to support them energetically
So each could fulfill his potential
He respected tradition
Without need to constantly congratulate himself for
Safeguarding traditional values
Not prone to go off on tangents
Or pulled in all directions
But sticking with the same old places
And the same old things
The way he could have one of his migraines
Then go right back to what he was doing
Fresh and at the top of his game
That he had so few secrets
Only state secrets
In fact
And not
All that many
Of those
The way he kept public actions
Within reasonable bounds
Games, building projects
Because he looked to what needed doing
And not the credit to be gained from doing it

[Verse 7]
No bathing at strange hours
No self-indulgent building projects
No concern for food, or the cut and color of his clothes
Or having attractive slaves
He never exhibited rudeness, lost control of himself, turned violent
No one saw him sweat
Everything was to be approached logically
And with due consideration
In a calm and orderly fashion
But decisively
With no loose ends
You could have said of him
That he knew how to enjoy and abstain from things
That most find hard to abstain from and all too easy to enjoy
But to be strong enough
Both, to bear the one, and be sober in the other
Is the mark of a man with a perfect and invincible soul
Ay
But to be strong enough
Both, to bear the one, and be sober in the other
Is the mark of a man with a perfect and invincible soul

[Chorus]
Hard work and persistence
Self-reliance, always
Strength, perseverance, self-control
Hard work and persistence
Self-reliance, always cheerful
Strength, perseverance, self-control