From the gods: to have had good grandparents, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good family, relatives, and friends - almost everything; and that I did not blunder into offending any of them, even though I had the sort of disposition which might indeed have resulted in some offense, given the occasion - it was the grace of the gods that no set of circumstances likely to show me up ever arose. That I was not brought up any longer than I was with my grandfather's mistress, and that I kept my innocence, leaving sexual experience to the proper time and index somewhat beyond it. That I came under a ruler and a father who was to strip me of all conceit and bring me to realize that it is possible to live in a palace without feeling the need for bodyguards or fancy uniforms, candelabra, statues or the other trappings of suchlike pomp, but that one can reduce oneself to the station of a private citizen and thereby not lose any dignity or vigor in the conduct of a ruler's responsibility for the common good.
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