 Now, at this point, the young professor of rhetoric has a practical problem. Because of his conversion, he must resign from his job and even end his career because he can no longer in good conscience perform its duties. He has noted throughout the confessions how the rhetorical skills he taught his students would enable most of them to act dishonestly in the public realm as lawyers or political advisors engaging in what he calls deceitful follies and battles in the forum. He saw himself as a salesman in the talking markets, earning a living in a way that ultimately would contribute to the corruption of his students and of the larger society.