Composure without bustle. A two-part passage. The first is a brief code of EXERCISEcomposure: do not "drag" (ἐπισύρειν) in your actions, do not "muddle" (φύρειν) in conversation, do not "wander" (ἀλᾶσθαι) in TERMimpressions, do not let the TERMsoul either "contract" (συνέλκεσθαι — shrink in dejection) or "leap out" (ἐκθόρνυσθαι — rush in excitement), do not be "over-busied" (ἀσχολεῖσθαι) in life. Five "nots" trace an even, unscattered state — the very poise between contraction and rush that keeps the mind-sphere in true.

A spring, not a well. The second part is the image of the MOTIFundefilable spring. Let them "kill, tear in pieces, drive with curses" (κτείνουσι, κρεανομοῦσι) — what is that against the DOGMA"mind's remaining pure, sound, sensible, just"? Like a clear sweet fount: revile it, cast mud or dung into it — it "is in no way stained" (οὐδαμῶς βαφήσεται), but at once disperses and washes them out. The key fork: MOTIF"an ever-flowing spring (πηγὴ ἀέναος), not a stagnant well (φρέαρ)" — a living source cannot be muddied, standing water takes in everything. The condition is active: to guard oneself "every hour toward freedom, with kindliness, simplicity, and modesty." A kin of the image is 7.59 ("dig within — there is the spring of good"). The strict terms by the word are ψυχή, φαντασία; σώφρονα/δικαίαν are adjectives, not entered among the terms. The governing discipline is assent (to keep the mind pure), the sustaining one action (composure in one's acts).