Bona mens omnibus patet, omnes ad hoc sumus nobiles. Nec reicit quemquam philosophia nec eligit; omnibus lucet. Patricius Socrates non fuit. Cleanthes aquam traxit et rigando horto locavit manus. Platonem non accepit nobilem philosophia, sed fecit.
A noble mind is available to everyone; according to this principle, all of us may gain distinction. Philosophy neither rejects nor selects anyone; it shine for everyone. Socrates was not a patrician. Cleanthes was employed as a hired hand drawing water from a well and watering a garden. Philosophy did not receive Plato as a an aristocrat, but made him one.
Seneca,
Epistulae, V.44.2-3. My translation.