We are
in the habit of saying
that it was not in our power
to choose the parents who were
allotted to us, that they were given
to us by chance. But we can choose whose
children we would like to be. There are households
of the noblest intellects: choose the one into which you wish
to be adopted, and you will inherit not only their name
but their property too. Nor will this property
need to be guarded meanly or grudgingly:
the more it is shared out,
the greater it will
become.