WISDOM OFTHE STOICS

• 'Frances and Henry Hazlitt

UNIVERSITYPRESSOFAMERICA

Copyright 1984, by Frances and Henry Hazlitt

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Main entry under title:

The Wisdom of the Stoics.

1. Stoics—Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Hazlitt,Frances Kanes. II. Hazlitt, Henry, 1894-III. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65. Selections.English. 1984. IV. Epictetus. Selections. English.1984. V. Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121-180.Selections. English. 1984.B528.W54 1984 188 84-3493ISBN 0-8191-3870-3 (alk. paper)ISBN 0-8191-3871-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Seneca

3. Epictetus

4. Epictetus: The Enchiridion

5. Marcus Aurelius

INTRODUCTION

The Stoic philosophy was founded by Zeno, aPhoenician (c, 320-c. 250 B.C.), but nothing by himhas come down to us except a few fragmentaryquotations. He was followed by Cleanthes, then byChrysippus, and still later by Panaetius andPosidonus. But though Chrysippus, for example, issaid to have written 705 books, practically nothingis extant by any of these philosophers except insecond-hand accounts. Only three of the ancientStoics, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius,survive in complete books.

None of the three has ever had a large audience.The history of their reputations is curious. In theseventeenth century Seneca was certainly the bestknown. Then, in the late nineteenth and earlytwentieth century, he was almost completely forgot-ten, and popularity alternated between Epictetus andMarcus Aurelius. Under the influence of MatthewArnold, the latter became a sort of cultural "must"for mid-Victorians. As an example of what was beingwritten in the early years of this century, I quotefrom one of the self-improvement books written by thenovelist Arnold Bennett:

I suppose there are some thousands ofauthors who have written with more orless sincerity on the management ofthe human machine. But the twowhich, for me, stand out easily aboveall the rest are Marcus AureliusAntoninus and Epictetus.... Aureliusis assuredly regarded as the greatestof writers in the human machineschool, and not to read him daily isconsidered by many to be a bad habit.As a confession his work standsalone. But as a practical 'Bradshaw'of existence, I would put thediscourses of Epictetus beforeM. Aurelius....He is brimming over

with actuality for readers of theyear 1908. Nevertheless [Aurelius]is of course to be read, and re-readcontinually. When you have gonethrough Epictetus - - a single page orparagraph per day, well masticatedand digested, suffices -- you can gothrough M. Aurelius, and then you canreturn to Epictetus, and so on,morning by morning, or night bynight, till your life's end. 1

Two things are worth remarking about thispassage. First, it presents both writers simply asguides to living; it nowhere mentions their Stoicphilosophy or its implications. And second, itnowhere mentions Seneca. In this it was typical notonly of Arnold Bennett's own frequent references tothe two later Stoics but to the references of hiscontemporaries and those of other writers down tothe present day. Yet Seneca was the first of thethree great Stoic philosophers whose writings arestill extant. He lived half a century beforeEpictetus and more than a century before Marcus.His output was far greater than that of either ofhis successors, and he surpassed them in purelyliterary gifts. In his writings on philosophy onememorable aphorism follows another. There arealmost none of the obscurities that one so oftenencounters in Epictetus and Marcus. His longneglect seems all but unaccountable.

It is the purpose of this volume to makeavailable generous selections from all three of thegreat Stoic philosophers. So far as the editorsknow, this has not been done elsewhere. There areonly one or two books that even bring reasonablyadequate excerpts of Epictetus and Marcus together;most often readers have had to find them in separatevolumes. And adequate selections from Seneca'swritings on Stoicism do not seem to exist in anybook at present in print.

Moreover, most readers today, we are convinced,will much prefer to read selections from each of the

1 The Human Machine, 1908.

great Stoics rather than have to confront theiroutput in its entirety. Because of the very way inwhich their work was composed or reported, it isfull of repetitions. The Meditations of Marcus, forexample, were apparently a journal, kept solely forhis own eyes, in which he put down each evening ormorning some reflection, resolve, or piece of adviceto himself, without looking back to see whether hehad written substantially the same thing a week or amonth before. Again, nothing that has come down tous from Epictetus was written by him directly; it isthe record of his discourses taken down by hisdisciple Arrian. In consequence, when Epictetusdelivered very similar harangues to differentaudiences on different occasions, we have the recordof each. Seneca, finally, repeated himself againand again and was conscious of it. He excusedhimself by remarking that "he does but inculcateover and over the same counsels to those that overand over commit the same faults."

So selection seemed to the present editors bothnecessary and desirable, not only greatly to reducerepetition or to minimize obscurities but in orderto concentrate on what is most representative ormost memorable.

Of course there is no way of selecting "thebest" objectively. Selection must necessarilydepend to a large extent on the judgment and tasteof the editors; and with so much richness to choosefrom, many decisions on what to put in or leave outhad to be arbitrary. We can only plead that we havebeen as conscientious and "objective" as we knowhow.

We have taken approximately equal selectionsfrom Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, but a slightlygreater amount from Seneca, to compensate for thecomparative inaccessibility of his work and for theprevious undeserved neglect into which it hasfallen.

The three great Stoics came from astonishinglydifferent backgrounds. Seneca (c. 4 B.C. to A.D. 65)was a Spaniard who was brought to Rome at an earlyage. He studied rhetoric and philosophy, and soongained a reputation at the Bar. He was banished inA.D. 41 by the Emperor Claudius, but recalled eight

years later by Agrippina to become tutor to her sonDomitius, afterwards the Emperor Nero, then 11 yearsold. When Nero came to the throne at 17, Seneca'spower was still further increased. Though a Stoic,professedly despising riches, he amassed a hugefortune. This was probably a mistake. His presencein time became irksome to Nero, and his enormouswealth excited his cupidity. Finally, in A.D. 65Nero charged Seneca with complicity in a conspiracyagainst him, and ordered him to commit suicide.Tactitus describes the scene:

"Undismayed, he asked for tablets tomake his will. When this was refusedby the centurion, he turned to hisfriends and said that, since he wasprevented from rewarding theirservices, he would leave them theonly thing, and yet the best thing,that he had to leave -- the patternof his life....At the same time hereminded his weeping friends of theirduty to be strong....asking them whathad become of the precepts of wisdom,of the philosophy which for so manyyears they had studied in the face ofimpending evils....Then he embracedhis wife" -- and slit his wrists.

He was very prolific, and wrote altogether theequivalent of more than twenty volumes, including, inaddition to his essays on practical ethics and otherworks on philosophy, nine tragedies, many satires andepigrams, and books on natural science, astronomy andmeteorology.

Little is known about Epictetus. There is noagreement even about the years of his birth or death.The first has been set by various writers anywherebetween A.D. 50 and 60, and the second betweenA.D. 100 and 135. He was probably from Hierapolis inPhrygia. As a boy he was a slave in Rome in thehouse of Epaphroditus, a favorite of Nero's. Onreceiving his freedom, he became a professor ofphilosophy, which he had learned from attending thelectures of the Stoic Musonius Rufus.

He taught at Rome, but was expelled with otherphilosophers by Domitian in A.D. 90, and then went to

Nicopolis in Epirus, where he appears to have spentthe rest of his life.

He was lame, weak, and chronically poor. Astory has it that one day his master started to twisthis leg. Epictetus, smiling, told him: "If you goon, you will break my leg." This happened; andEpictetus continued, just as calmly: "Did I not tellyou that you would break my leg?" Whether thisactually happened we do not know; but it would befully in accord with what we do know of the philos-opher's character.

Epictetus wrote nothing. His teaching wastransmitted by a pupil, Arrian, who recorded hisdiscourses and compiled the short manual, theEnchiridion.

Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 121 to 180) was at theother end of the social scale. He was the adoptedson of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. He was privatelyeducated, but abandoned the study of literature forthat of philosophy and law under the Stoics Rusticusand Moecianus. He became Emperor in A.D. 161, buthis reign from the beginning was a tragically unluckyone, and he was forced to spend most of his timefighting frontier wars, putting down insurrections,and combatting the effects of plague and demoraliza-tion. Notwithstanding all this, he found time towrite his famous Meditations.

There has been much dispute among critics as towhich of the three great Stoics was the best writer;but most present-day readers will be content torelish their variety. Seneca has the most copiusvocabulary, is the richest in aphorisms, writes themost finished prose, and appeals by his strong andconsistent common sense. Epictetus (as transcribedby Arrian) is the wittiest and most humorous, butalso the most harshly uncompromising, and while healways keeps his reader awake, he also tends to puthim off by his apparent coldness. Marcus lacks someof the gifts of either of his predecessors, butwrites with a nobility and sincerity that has fewequals in the whole realm of literature.

Though Stoicism expounded an elaborate cosmol-ogy, it was essentially a guide to the conduct oflife. Man should live in accordance with nature. By

this the Stoics meant not at all, however, that heshould yield to his bodily appetites, but that heshould be ruled by Reason. The highest good was thevirtuous life. Virtue alone is happiness. Virtue isits own sufficient reward, and vice its own punish-ment. Good must be found by every man within himself.All outward things that are commonly regarded as goodor bad, such as wealth and poverty, pleasure andpain, health and sickness, are matters of indiffer-ences to the true Stoic. He can be as happy stretch-ed upon a rack as reposing on a bed of roses.

The Stoics made a sharp distinction betweenthings that are in our power and things that are not.Desire and dislike, opinion and affection, are withinthe power of the will; health, wealth, position,reputation, and the like are commonly not.

The Stoics strongly insisted on the unity of theuniverse, and on man's duty as part of a great whole.They were the first to preach "cosmopolitanism.""There is no difference between Greeks and barbar-ians; the world is our city." They were alsoapparently the first who pronounced positive benefic-ence a virtue. "Love of one's neighbor" for example,was enjoined by Marcus Aurelius. The Stoics deeplyinfluenced the later morality of Christianity.

The three great Stoics represented here preachedessentially the same doctrines, though colored bytheir individual experience and temperaments.

In comparison with the two others, the wealthySeneca expounded only a modified Stoicism, with amuch greater admixture of worldly wisdom. Yet it washe who reminded his readers: "If what you have seemsinsufficient to you, then, though you possess theworld, you will yet be miserable." And he tells usalso that "the sum of human duty" is "patience, wherewe are to suffer, and prudence in the things we do."

When we come to Epictetus, there is no compro-mise with worldliness: "Let death and exile be dailybefore your eyes." "Better to die in hunger, exemptfrom grief and fear, than to live in affluence withperturbation."

Marcus is not as unfeeling as Epictetus some-times appears to be, yet such consolation as he

offers must be bought at a high price. "Let it makeno difference to thee whether thou art cold or warm,if thou art doing thy duty." He even tells himselfat one point: "Do not then consider life a thing ofany value."

These quotations, we must add in fairness, givefar too grim an impression of the bulk of the writ-ings of the Stoics, most of whose advice on theconduct of life is not widely different from thatgiven to this day by many non-Stoic philosophers.But the quotations do point to an apparent contra-dication in the Stoic system. If we are to takeliterally its contentions that happiness as ordinar-ily understood is not necessary, and pain no evil,what is the point in morality or in any humanstriving whatever?

For many modern readers, in fact, it may be hardto see what there was in the doctrines of Stoicism toattract adherents. Epicureans were told they couldlook for pleasure or at least tranquillity in thepresent life. Rationalists could recognize that ifthey refrained from overindulgence in their physicalappetites they could probably enjoy better health andlonger life, and that peaceful cooperation withothers would bring great benefits to themselves aswell as to their fellow men. Christians were promisedat least future rewards for goodness or futurepunishment for sins. But the Stoic was told onlythat the reward of virtue was that of being virtuous.

Yet Stoicism did in fact appeal to the noblestamong the ancients, and it has held that appeal formore than two thousand years. It is one of thepermanent philosophies of life. In fact, it is stillan indispensable element in any rational philosophy.For all men must eventually face death; and beforethat, the loss of loved ones; and nearly all, nomatter how prudently or wisely they try to managetheir lives, must at some time suffer disappointment,hardship, accident, defeat, ingratitude, rejection,affronts, humiliation, pain, and even periods ofagony. There will always be times when men have needfor patience, endurance and fortitude. These are thegreat virtues that the Stoic philosophy instills.And when men need these virtues most, they will wantto turn to the calm wisdom of Seneca, to the sternadmonishments of Epictetus, or to the lofty serenity

of the Marcus Meditations, to renew their own courageand strength.

A note on the sources of the excerpts: Theselections from Seneca are taken from the seven-teenth-century translation by Sir Roger L1Estrangewas published in Burt's Home Library series in theearly 1900s. It is hard to believe that this trans-lation was not modernized by someone sometime alongthe way, for it is amazingly smooth and clear. ForEpictetus we have chosen the Elizabeth Carter trans-lation of 1758 as still the most satisfactory. Inaddition to the numerous short excerpts, we havetaken the whole of the Enchiridion, as this seems tohave been specifically designed as a summary of hisphilosophy. For Marcus Aurelius we have for the mostpart used the George Long translation of 1862 --though in just a few passages we have returned to theold Meric Casaubon text of 1634, where we thought itclearer or more colorful.

In the selections from both Epictetus and Marcuswe have retained the same "Book" numeration as in thefull editions; but for the individual thoughts theselected numbering is our own, and has been adoptedpurely for convenience in reference.

S E N E C A

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SENECA

OF A HAPPY LIFE

There is not anything in this world, perhaps,that is more talked of, and less understood, than thebusiness of a happy life. It is every man's wish anddesign; and yet not one of a thousand that knowswherein that happiness consists. We live, however,in a blind and eager pursuit of it; and the morehaste we make in a wrong way, the further we are fromour j ourney's end.

Let us therefore, first, consider what it is weshould be at; and, secondly, which is the readiestway to compass it. If we be right, we shall findevery day how much we improve; but if we eitherfollow the cry, or the track, of people that are outof the way, we must expect to be misled, and tocontinue our days in wandering and error. Wherefore,it highly concerns us to take along with us a skill-ful guide; for it is not in this, as in other voyages,where the highway brings us to our place of repose;or if a man should happen to be out, where theinhabitants might set him right again; but on thecontrary, the beaten road is here the most dangerous,and the people, instead of helping us, misguide us.Let us therefore not follow, like beasts, but rathergovern ourselves by reason, than by example.

It fares with us in human life as in a routedarmy, one stumbles first, and then another falls uponhim, and so they follow, one upon the neck of another,until the whole field comes to be but one heap ofmiscarriages. And the mischief is that the number ofthe multitude carries it against truth and justice.So that we must leave the crowd if we would be happy:for the question of a happy life is not to be decidedby vote: nay, so far from it, that plurality ofvoices is still an argument of the wrong; the commonpeople find it easier to believe than to judge, andcontent themselves with what is usual, never examin-ing whether it is good or not.

By the common people is intended the man oftitle as well as the clouted shoe: for I do not

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distinguish them by the eye, but by the mind, whichis the proper judge of the man. Worldly felicity, Iknow, makes the head giddy; but if ever a man comesto himself again he will confess that whatsoever hehas done, he wishes undone; and that the things hefeared were better than those he prayed for.

The true felicity of life is to be free fromperturbations; to understand our duties toward Godand man; to enjoy the present without any anxiousdependence upon the future. Not to amuse ourselveswith either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfiedwith what we have, which is abundantly sufficient;for he that is so wants nothing. The great blessingsof mankind are within us, and within our reach; butwe shut our eyes and, like people in the dark, wefall foul upon the very thing we search for withoutfinding it.

Tranquility is a certain equality of mind, whichno condition of fortune can either exalt or depress.Nothing can make it less, for it is the state ofhuman perfection: it raises us as high as we can go;and makes every man his own supporter. Whereas hethat is borne up by anything else may fall. He thatjudges aright, and perseveres in it, enjoys a perpet-ual calm: he takes a true prospect of things; heobserves an order, measure, a decorum in all hisactions; he has a benevolence in his nature; hesquares his life in accordance with reason; and drawsto himself love and admiration: but he that alwayswills or nills the same things is undoubtedly in theright.

Liberty and serenity of mind must necessarilyensue upon the mastering of those things which eitherallure or affright us when, instead of those flashypleasures (which even at the best are both vain andhurtful together), we shall find ourselves possessedof joy transporting and everlasting.

It must be a sound mind that makes a happy man;there must be a constancy in all conditions, a carefor the things of this world, but without trouble;and such an indifferency for the bounties of fortune,that either with them, or without them, we may livecontentedly. There must be neither lamentation, norquarrelling, nor sloth, nor fear; for it makes adiscord in a man's life. He that fears, serves.

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The joy of a wise man stands firm withoutinterruption. In all places, at all times and in allconditions, his thoughts are cheerful and quiet. Asit never came in to him from without, so it willnever leave him; but it is born within him, andinseparable from him. It is a solicitous life thatis egged on with the hope of anything, though neverso open and easy, nay, though a man should neversuffer any sort of disappointment. I do not speakthis either as a bar to the fair enjoyment of lawfulpleasures, or to the gentle flatteries of reasonableexpectations; but, on the contrary, I would have mento be always in good humor, provided that it arisesfrom their own souls, and be cherished in their ownbreasts. Other delights are trivial; they may smooththe brow, but they do not fill and affect the heart.

True joy is a serene and sober motion, and theyare miserably out that take laughing for rejoicing.The seat of it is within, and there is no cheerful-ness like the resolution of a brave mind, that hasfortune under his feet. He that can look death inthe face and bid it welcome; open his door to poverty,and bridle his appetites; this is the man whomProvidence has established in the possession ofinviolable delights.

The pleasures of the vulgar are ungrounded,thin, and superficial; but the other are solid andeternal. As the body itself is rather a necessarything than a great, so the comforts of it are buttemporary and vain; besides that, without extra-ordinary moderation, their end is only pain andrepentance; whereas a peaceful conscience, honestthoughts, virtuous actions, and an indifference forcasual events, are blessings without end, satiety, ormeasure.

This consummated state of felicity is only asubmission to the dictate of right nature. Thefoundation of it is wisdom and virtue; the knowledgeof what we ought to do, and the conformity of thewill to that knowledge.

Happiness Founded Upon Wisdom

Taking for granted that human happiness isfounded upon wisdom and virtue, we shall treat of

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these two points in order as they lie: and, first, ofwisdom; not in the latitude of its various opera-tions, but as it has only a regard to a good life,and the happiness of mankind.

Wisdom is a right understanding, a faculty ofdiscerning good from evil; what is to be chosen andwhat rejected; a judgment grounded upon the value ofthings, and not the common opinion of them; anequality of force, and a strength of resolution. Itsets a watch over our words and deeds, it takes us upwith the contemplation of the works of nature, andmakes us invincible by either good or evil fortune.It is large and spacious, and requires a great dealof room to work in; it ransacks heaven and earth; ithas for its object things past and to come, trans-itory and eternal. It examines all the circumstancesof time, what it is, when it began, and how long itwill continue: and so for the mind; whence it came;what it is; when it begins; how long it lasts;whether or not it passes from one form to another, orserves only one, and wanders when it leaves us;whether it abides in a state of separation, and whatthe action of it; what use it makes of its liberty;whether or not it retains the memory of things past,and comes to the knowledge of itself.

To be wise is the use of wisdom, as seeing isthe use of eyes, and well-speaking the use of elo-quence. He that is perfectly wise is perfectlyhappy; nay, the very beginning of wisdom makes lifeeasy to us. Neither is it enough to know this,unless we print it in our minds by daily meditation,and so bring a good-will to a good habit.

And we must practice what we preach: for philoso-phy is not a subject for popular ostentation; nordoes it rest in words, but in things. It is not anentertainment taken up for delight, or to give ataste to our leisure; but it fashions the mind,governs our actions, tells us what we are to do, andwhat not. It sits at the helm, and guides us throughall hazards: nay, we cannot be safe without it, forevery hour gives us occasion to make use of it. Itinforms us in all the duties of life, piety to ourparents, faith to our friends, charity to the miser-able, judgment in counsel; it gives us peace byfearing nothing, and riches by coveting nothing.

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There is no condition of life that excludes awise man from discharging his duty. If his fortunebe good, he tempers it; if bad, he masters it; if hehas an estate, he will exercise his virtue in plenty;if none, in poverty: if he cannot do it in hiscountry, he will do it in banishment; if he has nocommand, he will do the office of a common soldier.

Wisdom does not teach our fingers, but ourminds: fiddling and dancing, arms and fortifications,were the works of luxury and discord; but wisdominstructs us in the way of nature, and in the arts ofutiity and concord, not in the instruments, but in thegovernment of life; not to make us live only, but tolive happily. She teaches us what things are good,what evil, and what only appear so; and to distin-guish betwixt true greatness and tumor. She clearsour minds of dross and vanity; she raises up ourthoughts to heaven, and carries them down to hell:she discourses of the nature of the soul, the powersand faculties of it; the first principles of things;the order of Providence: she exalts us from thingscorporeal to things incorporeal and retrieves thetruth of all: she searches nature, gives laws tolife; and tells us that it is not enough to know God,unless we obey him. She looks upon all accidents asacts of Providence: sets a true value upon things;delivers us from false opinions, and condemns allpleasures that are attended with repentance. Sheallows nothing to be good that will not be so forever: no man to be happy but he that needs no otherhappiness than what he has within himself; no man tobe great or powerful that is not master of himself.

This is the felicity of human life; a felicitythat can neither be corrupted nor extinguished: itinquires into the nature of the heavens, the influ-ence of the stars; how far they operate upon ourminds and bodies: which thoughts, though they do notform our manners, they do yet raise and dispose usfor glorious things.

It is agreed upon at all hands, that rightreason is the perfection of human nature, and wisdomonly the dictate of it. The greatness that arisesfrom it is solid and unmovable, the resolutions ofwisdom being free, absolute, and constant; whereasfolly is never long pleased with the same thing, butstill shifting of counsels and sick of itself. Therecan be no happiness without constancy and prudence.

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He that demurs and hesitates is not yet compos-ed: but wherever virtue interposes upon the main,there must be concord and consent in the parts: forall virtues are in agreement, as well as all vicesare at variance.

A wise man, in what condition soever he is, willbe still happy; for he subjects all things to him-self, because he submits himself to reason, andgoverns his actions by counsel, not by passion. Heis not moved with the utmost violences of fortune,nor with the extremities of fire and sword; whereas afool is afraid of his own shadow, and surprised atill accidents, as if they were all leveled at him.He does nothing unwillingly: for whatever he findsnecessary, he makes it his choice. He propounds tohimself the certain scope and end of human life; hefollows that which conduces to it, and avoids thatwhich hinders it. He is content with his lot,whatever it be, without wishing what he has not;though of the two, he had rather abound than want.

The great business of his life, like that ofnature, is performed without tumult or noise. Heneither fears danger, nor provokes it; but it is hiscaution, not any want of courage; for captivity,wounds and chains he only looks upon as false andlymphatical terrors. He does not pretend to gothrough with whatever he undertakes; but to do thatwell which he does. Arts are but the servants,wisdom commands; and where the matter fails, it isnone of the workman's fault. He is cautious indoubtful cases, in prosperity temperate, and resolutein adversity; still making the best of every condi-tion, and improving all occasions to make themserviceable to his fate.

Some accidents there are, which I confess mayaffect him, but not overthrow him; as bodily pains,loss of children and friends; the ruin and desolationof a man's country. One must be made of stone, oriron, not to be sensible of these calamities; andbesides, it were no virtue to bear them, if a bodydid not feel them.

There are three degrees of proficients in theschool of wisdom. The first are those that comewithin sight of it, but not up to it; they havelearned what they ought to do, but they have not put

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their knowledge in practice: they are past the hazardof a relapse, but they have still the grudges of adisease, though they are out of the danger of it. Bya disease, I do understand an obstinacy in evil, oran ill habit, that makes us over-eager upon thingswhich are either not much to be desired, or not atall. A second sort are those that have subjectedtheir appetites for a season, but are yet in fear offalling back. A third sort are those that are clearof many vices, but not of all. They are not covet-ous, but perhaps they are choleric; not lustful, butperchance ambitious; they are firm enough in somecases, but weak in others; there are many thatdespise death, and yet shrink at pain.

There are diversities in wise men, but noinequalities; one is more affable, another moreready, a third a better speaker: but the felicity ofthem all is equal. It is in this, as in heavenlybodies; there is a certain state in greatness.

In civil and domestic affairs, a wise man maystand in need of counsel, as of a physician, anadvocate, a solicitor; but in greater matters, theblessing of wise men rests in the joy they take inthe communication of their virtues.

If there were nothing else in it, a man would"")apply himself of wisdom, because it settles him in a/perpetual tranquillity of mind. /

Happiness Founded Upon Virtue

Virtue is that perfect good, which is thecomplement of a happy life; the only immortal thingthat belongs to mortality; it is the knowledge bothof others and itself; it is an invincible greatnessof mind, not to be elevated nor dejected with good orill fortune. It is sociable and gentle, free,steady, and fearless; content within itself; full ofinexhaustible delights; and it is valued for itself.

One may be a good physician, a good grammarian,without being a good man; so that all things fromwithout are only accessories: for the seat of it is apure and holy mind. It consists of a congruity ofactions which we can never expect so long as we aredistracted by our passions.

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Not but that a man may be allowed to changecolor and countenance, and suffer such impressions asare properly a kind of natural force upon the body,and not under the dominion of the mind: but all thiswhile I will have his judgment firm, and he shall actsteadily and boldly, without wavering betwixt themotions of his body and those of his mind.

It is not a thing indifferent, I know, whether aman lie at ease upon a bed, or in a torment upon awheel: and yet the former may be the worse of thetwo, if he suffers the latter with honor, and enjoysthe other with infamy.

It is not the matter, but the virtue, that makesthe action good or ill; and he that is led in triumphmay be yet greater than his conqueror. When we comeonce to value our flesh above our honesty, we arelost; and yet I would not press upon dangers, no, notso much as upon inconveniences, unless where the manand the brute come in competition: and in such case,rather than make a forfeiture of my credit, myreason, or my faith, I would run all extremities.

They are great blessings to have tender parents,dutiful children, and to live under a just andwell-ordered government. Now, would it not troubleeven a virtuous man to see his children butcheredbefore his eyes, his father made a slave, and hiscountry overrun by a barbarous enemy? There is agreat difference betwixt the simple loss of a bless-ing, and the succeeding of a great mischief into theplace of it over and above. The loss of health isfollowed with sickness, and the loss of sight withblindness: but this does not hold in the loss offriends and children, where there is rather somethingto the contrary to supply that loss; that is to say,virtue, which fills the mind, and takes away thedesire of what we have not. What matters it whetherthe water be stopped or not, so long as the fountainis safe?

Is a man ever the wiser for a multitude offriends, or the more foolish for the loss of them?So neither is he the happier nor the more miserable.

Short life, grief, and pain are accessions thathave no effect at all upon virtue.

If one could but see the mind of a good man, as

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it is illustrated with virtue; the beauty and themajesty of it, which is a dignity not so much as tobe thought of without love and veneration; would nota man bless himself at the sight of such an object,as at the encounter of some supernatural power? Apower so miraculous that it is a kind of charm uponthe souls of those that are truly affected with it.There is so wonderful a grace and authority in it,that even the worst of men approve it, and set up forthe reputation of being accounted virtuous them-selves. They covet the fruit indeed, and the profitof wickedness; but they hate and are ashamed of theimpestation of it. It is by an impression of Naturethat all men have a reverence for virtue; they knowit, and they have a respect for it, though they donot practice it: nay, for the countenance of theirvery wickedness they miscall it virtue. Theirinjuries they call benefits, and expect a man shouldthank them for doing him a mischief; they cover theirmost notorious inequities with a pretext of justice.

He that robs upon the highway, had rather findhis booty than force it. Ask any of them that liveupon rapine, fraud, oppression, if they had notrather enjoy a fortune honestly gotten, and theirconsciences will not suffer them to deny it. Men arevicious only for the profit of villainy; for at thesame time they commit it, they condemn it.

Nay, so powerful is virtue, and so gracious isProvidence, that every man has a light set up withinhim for a guide; which we do all of us see andacknowledge, though we do not pursue it. This is itthat makes the prisoner upon the torture happier thanthe executioner, and sickness better than health, ifwe bear it without yielding or repining: this is itthat overcomes ill fortune, and moderates good; forit marches betwixt the one and the other with anequal contempt of both. It turns like fire allthings into itself; our actions and our friendshipsare tinctured with it, and whatever it touchesbecomes amiable.

That which is frail and mortal rises and falls,grows, wastes, and varies from itself; but the stateof things divine is always the same; and so isvirtue, let the matter be what it will. It is neverthe worse for the difficulty of the action, nor thebetter for the easiness of it. It is the same in a

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rich man as in a poor; in a sickly man as in a sound;in a strong as in a weak. The virtue of the besiegedis as great as that of the besiegers.

There are some virtues, I confess, which a goodman cannot be without, and yet he had rather have nooccasion to employ them. If there were any differ-ence, I should prefer the virtues of patience beforethose of pleasure; for it is braver to break throughdifficulties than to temper our delights.

But though the subject of virtue may possibly beagainst nature, as to be burnt or wounded, yet thevirtue itself of an invincible patience is accordingto nature. We may seem, perhaps to promise more thanhuman nature is able to perform; but we speak withrespect to the mind, and not to the body.

If a man does not live up to his own rules, itis something yet to have virtuous meditations andgood purposes, even without acting. It is generous,the very adventure of being good, and the bareproposal of an eminent course of life, though beyondthe force of human frailty to accomplish. There issomething of honor yet in the miscarriage; nay, inthe naked contemplation of it. I would receive myown death with as little trouble as I would hear ofanother man's; I would bear the same mind whether Ibe rich or poor, whether I get or lose in the world.What I have, I will not either sordidly spare, orprodigally squander away, and I will reckon uponbenefits well-placed as the fairest part of mypossession: not valuing them by number or weight, butby profit and esteem of the receiver; accountingmyself never the poorer for that which I give to aworthy person.

What I do shall be done for conscience, notostentation. I will eat and drink, not to gratify mypalate, or only to fill and empty, but to satisfynature. I will be cheerful to my friends, mild andplacable to my enemies. I will prevent an honestrequest if I can foresee it, and I will grant itwithout asking.

I will look upon the whole world as my country,and upon the gods, both as the witnesses and thejudges of my words and deeds.

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I will live and die with this testimony: that Iloved good studies, and a good conscience; that Inever invaded another man's liberty; and that 1preserved my own. I will govern my life and mythoughts as if the whole world were to see the one,and to read the other; for what does it signify tomake any thing a secret to my neighbor, when to God,who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privaciesare open.

One part of virtue consists in discipline, theother in exercise; for we must first learn and thenpractice. The sooner we begin to apply ourselves toit, and the more haste we make, the longer shall weenjoy the comforts of a rectified mind; nay, we havethe fruition of it in the very act of forming it: butit is another sort of delight, I must confess, thatarises from the contemplation of a soul which isadvanced into the possession of wisdom and virtue.If it were so great a comfort to pass from thesubjection of our childhood into a state of liberty,how much greater will it be when we come to cast offthe boyish levity of our minds, and range ourselvesamong the philosophers? We are past our minority, itis true, but not our indiscretions; and which is yetworse, we have the authority of seniors, and theweaknesses of children (I might have said of infants,for every little thing frights the one, and everytrivial fancy the other). Whoever studies this pointwell will find that many things are the less to befeared the more terrible they appear.

To think anything good that is not honest wereto reproach Providence; for good men suffer manyinconveniences. But virtue, like the sun, goes onstill with her work, let the air be never so cloudy,and finishes her course, extinguishing likewise allother splendors and oppositions; insomuch thatcalamity is no more to a virtuous mind than a showerinto the sea.

That which is right is not to be valued byquantity, number, or time; a life of a day may be ashonest as a life of a hundred years: but yet virtuein one man may have a larger field to show itself inthan in another. One man, perhaps, may be in astation to administer unto cities and kingdoms; tocontrive good laws, create friendships, and dobeneficial offices to mankind. It is another man'sfortune to be straitened by poverty, or put out of

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the way by banishment: and yet the latter may be asvirtuous as the former, and may have as great a mind,as exact a prudence, as inviolable a justice, and aslarge a knowledge of things, both divine and human,without which a man cannot be happy.

For virtue is open to all; as well to servantsand exiles as to princes: it is profitable to theworld and to itself at all distances and in allconditions; and there is no difficulty that canexcuse a man from the exercise of it.

The Stoics hold all virtues to be equal; but yetthere is great variety in the matter they have towork upon, according as it is larger or narrower,illustrious or less noble, of more or less extent.As all good men are equal, that is to say, as theyare good, but yet one may be young, another old; onemay be rich, another poor; one eminent and powerful,another unknown and obscure. There are many thingswhich have little or no grace in themselves, and areyet glorious and remarkable by virtue. Nothing canbe good which gives neither greatness nor security tothe mind; but, on the contrary, infects it withinsolence, arrogance, and tumor. Nor does virtuedwell upon the tip of the tongue, but in the templeof a purified heart. He that depends upon any othergood becomes covetous of life and what belongs to it;which exposes a man to appetites that are vast,unlimited, and intolerable.

Virtue is free and indefatigible, and accompan-ied with concord and gracefulness; whereas pleasureis mean, servile, transitory, tiresome, and sickly,and scarce outlives the tasting of it. It is thegood of the belly, and not of the man, and only thefelicity of brutes. Who does not know that foolsenjoy their pleasures, and that there is greatvariety in the entertainments of wickedness? Nay,the mind itself has its variety of perverse pleasuresas well as the body: as insolence, self-conceit,pride, garrulity, laziness, and the abusive wit ofturning everything into ridicule; whereas virtueweighs all this, and corrects it. It is the know-ledge both of others and of itself; it is to belearned from itself; and the very will itself may betaught; which will cannot be right, unless the wholehabit of the mind be right from whence the willcomes. It is by the impulse of virtue that we lovevirtue, so that the very way to virtue lies by

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virtue, which takes in also, at a view, the laws ofhuman life.

Neither are we to value ourselves upon a day, oran hour, or any action, but upon the whole habit ofthe mind. Some men do one thing bravely, but notanother; they will shrink at infamy and bear upagainst poverty. . . .But the soul is never in theright place until it be delivered from the cares ofhuman affairs. We must labor and climb the hill ifwe will arrive at virtue, whose seat is upon the topof it.

He that masters avarice, and is truly good,stands firm against ambition; he looks upon his lasthour not as a punishment, but as the equity of acommon fate.

He that subdues his carnal lusts shall easilykeep himself untainted with any other; so that reasondoes not encounter this or that vice by itself, butbeats down all at a blow.

What does he care for ignominy that only valueshimself upon conscience, and not opinion? Socrateslooked a scandalous death in the face with the sameconstancy that he had before practiced toward thethirty tyrants; his virtue consecrated the verydungeon.

He that is wise will take delight even in an illopinion that is well gotten. It is ostentation, notvirtue, when a man will have his good deeds publish-ed; and it is not enough to be just where there ishonor to be gotten, but to continue so, in defianceof infamy and danger.

But virtue cannot lie hid, for the time willcome that shall raise it again even after it isburied and deliver it from the malignity of the agethat oppressed it. Immortal glory is the shadow ofit, and keeps it company whether we will or not; butsometimes the shadow goes before the substance, andother whiles it follows it. And the later it comes,the larger it is, when even envy itself shall havegiven way to it. It was a long time that Democrituswas taken for a madman, and before Socrates had anyesteem in the world. How long was it before Catocould be understood? Nay, he was affronted,condemned, and rejected; and people never knew the

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value of him until they had lost him.

Now as the body is to be kept in upon the down-hill and forced upward, there are some virtues thatrequire the rein and others the spur. In liberality,temperance, gentleness of nature, we are to checkourselves for fear of falling; but in patience,resolution, and perseverance, where we are to mountthe hill, we stand in need of encouragement. Uponthis division of the matter, I had rather steer thesmoother course than pass through the experiments ofsweat and blood: I know it is my duty to be contentin all conditions; but yet if it were my election, Iwould choose the fairest.

When a man comes once to stand in need offortune, his life is anxious, suspicious, timorous,dependent upon every moment, and in fear of allaccidents. How can that man resign himself to God,or bear his lot, whatever it be, without murmuring,and cheerfully submit to Providence, that shrinks atevery motion of pleasure or pain? It is virtue alonethat raises us above griefs, hopes, fears, andchances, and makes us not only patient, but willing,as knowing that whatever we suffer is according tothe decree of Heaven.

He that is overcome with pleasure (so contempt-ible and weak an enemy), what will become of him whenhe comes to grapple with dangers, necessities,torments, death, and the dissolution of natureitself?

Wealth, honor, and favor may come upon a man bychance; nay, they may even be cast upon him withoutso much as looking after them; and certainly it isworth the while to purchase that good which bringsall others along with it.

A good man is happy within himself, and indepen-dent of fortune, kind to his friend, temperate to hisenemy, religiously just, indefatigibly laborious; andhe discharges all duties with a constancy and congru-ity of actions.

Philosophy the Guide of Life

Socrates places all philosophy in morals, andwisdom in the distinguishing of good and evil.

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Philosophy is the art and law of life; it teaches uswhat to do in all cases and, like good marksmen, tohit the white at any distance. The force of it isincredible; for it gives us in the weakness of a manthe security of a spirit: in sickness it is as goodas a remedy to us; for whatever eases the mind isprofitable also to the body. The physician mayprescribe diet and exercise, and accommodate his ruleand medicine to the disease, but it is philosophythat must bring us to a contempt of death which isthe remedy of all diseases. In poverty it gives usriches, or such a state of mind as makes them super-fluous to us. It arms us against all difficulties:one man is pressed with death, another with poverty,some with envy, others are offended at Providence,and unsatisfied with the condition of mankind.

But philosophy prompts us to relieve the prison-er, the infirm, the necessitous, the condemned; toshow the ignorant their errors and rectify theiraffections. It makes us inspect and govern ourmanners. It rouses us where we are faint and drowsy,it binds up what is loose, and humbles in us thatwhich is contumacious. It delivers the mind from thebondage of the body, and raises it up to the contem-plation of its divine origin.

Honors, monuments, and all the works of vanityand ambition, are demolished and destroyed by time;but the reputation of wisdom is venerable to poster-ity; and those that were envied or neglected in theirlives are adored in their memories, and exempted fromthe very laws of created nature, which has set boundsto all other things. The very shadow of glorycarries a man of honor upon all dangers, to thecontempt of fire and sword; and it were a shame ifright reason should not inspire as generous resolu-tions into a man of virtue.

Neither is philosophy only profitable to thepublic, but one wise man helps another, even in theexercise of the virtues. The one has need of theother, both for conversation and counsel; for theykindle a mutual emulation in good offices. We arenot so perfect yet, but that many new things remainstill to be found out, which will give us the recipro-cal advantages of instructing one another; and themore vices are mingled the worse it is -- so is it onthe contrary with good men and their virtues.

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As men of letters are the most useful andexcellent of friends, so are they the best of sub-jects, as being better judges of the blessings theyenjoy under a well-ordered government, and of whatthey owe to the magistrate for their freedom andprotection. They are men of sobriety and learning,and free from boasting and violence. They reprovethe vice without reproaching the person; for theyhave learned to be wise without either pomp or envy.

That which we see in high mountains, we find inphilosophers; they seem taller near at hand than at adistance. They are raised above other men, but theirgreatness is substantial. Nor do they stand upontiptoe, that they may seem higher than they are, butcontent with their own stature, they reckon themselvestall enough when fortune cannot reach them.

It is the bounty of nature that we live, but ofphilosophy that we live well, which is in truth agreater benefit than life itself.

Not but that philosophy is also the gift ofHeaven, so far as to the faculty, but not to thescience; for that must be the business of industry.

No man is born wise; but wisdom and virtuerequire a tutor, though we can easily learn to bevicious without a master.

It is philosophy that gives us a veneration forGod, a charity for our neighbor, that teaches us ourduty to Heaven, and exhorts us to an agreement withone another. It unmasks things that are terrible tous, assuages our lusts, refutes our errors, restrainsour luxury, reproves our avarice, and works strangelyupon tender natures.

I could never hear Attalus upon the vices of theage and the errors of life, without a compassion formankind; and in his discourses upon poverty there wassomething me thought that was more human. "More thanwe use," says he, "is more than we need, and only aburden to the bearer." That saying of his put me outof countenance at the superfluities of my own fortune.And so in his invectives against vain pleasures, hedid at such a rate advance the felicities of a sobertable, a pure mind, and a chaste body, that a mancould not hear him without a love for continence and

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moderation. Upon these lectures of his, I deniedmyself, for a while after, certain delicacies that Ihad formerly used: but in a short time I fell to themagain, though so sparingly, that the proportion camelittle short of a total abstinence.

Philosophers are the tutors of mankind; if theyhave found out remedies for the mind, it must be ourpart to apply them. I cannot think of Cato, Lelius,Socrates, Plato, without veneration: their very namesare sacred to me.

Philosophy is the health of the mind. Let uslook to that health first, and in the second place tothat of the body, which may be had upon easier terms;for a strong arm, a robust constitution or the skillof procuring this, is not a philosopher's business.He does some things as a wise man and other things ashe is a man; and he may have strength of body as wellas of mind. But if he runs, or casts the sledge, itwere injurious to ascribe that to his wisdom which iscommon to the greatest of fools. He studies ratherto fill his mind than his coffers; and he knows thatgold and silver were mingled with dirt until avariceor ambition parted them. His life is ordinate,fearless, equal, secure; he stands firm in allextremities, and bears the lot of his humanity with adivine temper.

There is a great difference betwixt the splendorof philosophy and of fortune; the one shines with theoriginal light, the other with a borrowed one;besides that philosophy makes us happy and immortal:for learning shall outlive palaces and monuments.

The house of a wise man is safe, though narrow;there is neither noise nor furniture in it, no porterat the door, nor anything that is either vendible ormercenary, nor any business of fortune; for she hasnothing to do where she has nothing to look after.This is the way to Heaven which Nature has chalkedout, and it is both secure and pleasant; there needsno train of servants, no pomp or equipage, to makegood our passage; no money or letters of credit forexpenses upon the voyage; but the graces of an honestmind will serve us upon the way, and make us happy atour j ourney's end.

To tell you my opinion now of the liberalsciences: I have no great esteem for anything that

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terminates in profit or money; and yet I shall allowthem to be so far beneficial as they only prepare theunderstanding without detaining it. They are but therudiments of wisdom, and only then to be learned whenthe mind is capable of nothing better, and theknowledge of them is better worth the keeping thanthe acquiring. They do not so much as pretend to themaking of us virtuous, but only to give us an apti-tude or disposition to be so.

The grammarian's business lies in a syntax ofspeech; or if he proceed to history, or the measuringof verse, he is at the end of his line. But whatsignifies a congruity of periods, the computing ofsyllables, or the modifying of numbers, to the tamingof our passions or the repressing of our lusts? Thephilosopher proves the body of the sun to be large,but for the true dimensions of it we must ask themathematician: geometry and music, if they do notteach us to master our hopes and fears, all the restis to little purpose.

We take a great deal of pains to trace Ulyssesin his wanderings; but were it not time as well spentto look to ourselves that we may not wander at all?Are not we ourselves tossed with tempestuous passions,and assaulted by terrible monsters on the one hand,and tempted by sirens on the other?

Teach me my duty to my country, to my father, tomy wife, to mankind. What is it to me whetherPenelope was honest or not -- teach me to know how tobe so myself, and to live according to that knowledge.What am I the better for putting so many partstogether in music, and raising a harmony out of somany different tones? Teach me to tune my affections,and to hold constant to myself. Geometry teaches methe art of measuring acres; teach me to measure myappetites, and to know when I have had enough. Teachme to divide with my brother, and to rejoice in theprosperity of my neighbor. You teach me how I mayhold my own and keep my estate; but I would ratherlearn how I may lose it all, and yet be contented.

Were I not a madman to sit wrangling aboutwords, and putting of nice and impertinent questions,when the enemy has already made the breach, the townfired over my head, and the mine ready to play thatshall blow me up into the air? Were this a time for

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fooleries? Let me rather fortify myself againstdeath and inevitable necessities; let me understandthat the good of life does not consist in the lengthor space, but in the use of it.

When 1 go to sleep, who knows whether ever 1shall wake again; and when I wake, whether I shallever sleep again? When I go abroad, whether ever 1shall come home again; and when I return, whetherever go abroad again? It is not at sea only thatlife and death are within a few inches one of another;but they are as near everywhere else too, only we donot take so much notice of it. What have we to dowith frivolous and captious questions, and impertin-ent niceties? Let us rather study how to deliverourselves from sadness, fear, and the burden of allour secret lusts: let us pass over all our mostsolemn levities, and make haste to a good life, whichis a thing that presses us.

Shall a man that goes for a midwife stand gapingupon a post to see what play today? Or, when hishouse is on fire, stay the curling of a periwigbefore he calls for help? Our houses are on fire,our country invaded, our goods taken away, ourchildren in danger; and I might add to these thecalamities of earthquakes, shipwrecks, and whateverelse is most terrible. Is this a time for us now tobe playing fast and loose with idle questions, whichare in effect so many unprofitable riddles?

Our duty is the cure of the mind rather than thedelight of it; but we have only the words of wisdomwithout the works, and turn philosophy into a pleasurethat was given for a remedy.

We are sick and ulcerous, and must be lanced andscarified, and every man has as much business withinhimself as a physician in a common pestilence.

Misfortunes, in fine, cannot be avoided; butthey may be sweetened, if not overcome; and our livesmay be made happy by philosophy.

The Force of Precepts

There seems to be so near an affinity betwixtwisdom, philosophy, and good counsels, that it is

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rather matter of curiosity than of profit to dividethem; philosophy being only a limited wisdom; andgood counsels a communication of that wisdom, for thegood of others as well as of ourselves, and toposterity, as well as to the present.

The wisdom of the ancients, as to the governmentof life, was no more than certain precepts, what todo and what not: and men were much better in thatsimplicity, for as they came to be more learned, theygrew less careful of being good. That plain and openvirtue is now turned into a dark and intricatescience. We are taught to dispute rather than tolive. So long as wickedness was simple, simpleremedies also were sufficient against it; but now ithas taken root and spread, we must make use ofstronger.

If a man does what he ought to do, he will neverdo it constantly or equally without knowing why hedoes it; and if it be only chance or custom, he thatdoes well by chance, may do ill so too. And farther,a precept may direct us what we ought to do, and yetfall short in the manner of doing it: an expensiveentertainment may, in one case, be extravagance orgluttony, and yet a point of honor and discretion inanother.

Precepts are idle, if we be not first taughtwhat opinion we are to have of the matter in ques-tion: whether it be poverty, riches, disgrace,sickness, banishment, etc. Let us therefore examinethem one by one; not what they are called, but whatin truth they are.

It is to no purpose to set a high esteem uponprudence, fortitude, temperance, justice, if we donot first know what virtue is -- whether one or more,or if he that has one has all, or how they differ.

Percepts are of great weight; and a few usefulones at hand do more toward a happy life than wholevolumes or cautions, that we know not where to find.These salutary precepts should be our daily medita-tion, for they are the rules by which we ought tosquare our lives.

It is by precept that the understanding isnourished and augmented; the offices of prudence and

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justice are guided by them, and they lead us to theexecution of our duties.

It is a great virtue to love, to give, and tofollow good counsel; if it does not lead us tohonesty, it does at least prompt us to it. Asseveral parts make up one harmony, and the mostagreeable music arises from discords, so should awise man gather many acts, many precepts, and theexamples of many arts, to inform his own life.

Our forefathers have left us in charge to avoidthree things: hatred, envy, and contempt. Now, it ishard to avoid envy and not incur contempt; for intaking too much care not to usurp upon others, webecome many times liable to be trampled upon our-selves .

Good counsel is the most needful service that wecan do to mankind; and if we give it to many, it willbe sure to profit some: for of many trials, some orother will undoubtedly succeed.

It is an eminent mark of wisdom for a man to bealways like himself. You shall have some that keep athrifty table, and lavish out upon building; profuseupon themselves, and forbid to others; niggardly athome, and lavish abroad. This diversity is vicious,and the effect of a dissatisfied and uneasy mind;whereas every wise man lives by rule.

In all our undertakings, let us first examineour own strength; the enterprise next; and, thirdly,the persons with whom we have to do. The first pointis most important; for we are apt to overvalueourselves, and reckon that we can do more than indeedwe can.

We are all slaves to fortune: some only in looseand golden chains, others in strait ones, and coarser:nay, and they that bind us are slaves too themselves,some to honor, others to wealth; some to offices, andothers to contempt; some to their superiors, othersto themselves. Nay, life itself is a servitude: letus make the best of it then, and with our philosophymend our fortunes.

Let us covet nothing out of our reach, butcontent ourselves with things hopeful and at hand;and without envying the advantages of others: for

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greatness stands upon a craggy precipice, and it ismuch safer and quieter living upon a level. How manygreat men are forced to keep their station upon merenecessity; because they find that there is no comingdown from it but headlong? These men should do wellto fortify themselves against ill consequences bysuch virtues and meditation as may make them lessanxious for the future. The surest expedient in thiscase is to bound our desires, and to leave nothing tofortune which we may keep in our own power. Neitherwill this course wholly compose us, but it shows usat worst the end of our troubles.

It is but a main point to take care that we pro-pose nothing but what is hopeful and honest. For itwill be equally troublesome to us, either not tosucceed, or to be ashamed of the success. Whereforelet us be sure not to admit any ill design into ourhearts; that we may lift up pure hands to heaven, andask nothing which another shall be a loser by. Letus pray for a good mind, which is a wish to no man'sinj ury.

I will remember always that I am a man, and thenconsider that if I am happy, it will not last always;if unhappy, I may be other if I please. I will carrymy life in my hand, and deliver it up readily when itshall be called for.

I will have a care of being a slave to myself;for it is a perpetual, a shameful, and the heaviestof all servitudes: and this may be done by moderatedesires. I will say to myself, "What is it that Ilabor, sweat, and solicit for, when it is but verylittle that I want, and it will not be long that Ishall need anything?"

He that would make a trial of the firmness ofhis mind, let him set certain days apart for thepractice of his virtues. Let him mortify himselfwith fasting, coarse clothes, and hard lodging; andthen say to himself, "Is this the thing now that Iwas afraid of?" In a state of security, a man maythus prepare himself against hazards, and in plentyfortify himself against want.

He that would live happily, must neither trustto good fortune nor submit to bad. He must standupon his guard against all assaults; he must stick tohimself, without any dependence upon other people.

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Where the mind is tinctured with philosophy,there is no place for grief, anxiety, or superfluousvexations. It is prepossessed with virtue to theneglect of fortune, which brings us to a degree ofsecurity not to be disturbed.

It is easier to give counsel than to take it;and a common thing for one choleric man to condemnanother. We may be sometimes earnest in advising,but not violent or tedious. Few words, with gentle-ness and efficacy, are best. The misery is, that thewise do not need counsel, and fools will not take it.A good man, it is true, delights in it; and it is amark of folly and ill-nature to hate reproof.

To a friend I would be always frank and plain,and rather fail in the success than be wanting in thematter of faith and trust.

Do not tell me what a man should do in health orpoverty, but show me the way to be either sound orrich. Teach me to master my vices: for it is to nopurpose, so long as I am under their government, totell me what I must do when I am clear of it.

In case of any avarice a little eased, a luxurymoderated, a temerity restrained, a sluggish humorquickened; precepts will then help us forward, andtutor us how to behave ourselves.

He that pretends to a happy life must first laya foundation of virtue, as a bond upon him, to liveand die true to that cause. We do not find felicityin the veins of the earth where we dig for gold, norin the bottom of the sea where we fish for pearls,but in a pure and untainted mind which, if it werenot holy were not fit to entertain the Deity.

He that would be truly happy, must think his ownlot best, and so live with men as considering thatGod sees him, and so speak to God as if men heardhim.

No Felicity Like Peace of Conscience

A good conscience is the testimony of a goodlife, and the reward of it. This is it that forti-fies the mind against fortune, when a man has gottenthe mastery of his passions, placed his treasure and

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his security within himself, learned to be contentwith his condition, and that death is no evil initself, but only the end of man.

He that has dedicated his mind to virtue, and tothe good of human society, whereof he is a member,has consummated all that is either profitable ornecessary for him to know or to do toward the estab-lishment of his peace.

A great, a good, and a right mind is a kind ofdivinity lodged in flesh, and may be the blessing ofa slave as well as of a prince; it came from heavenand to heaven it must return; and it is a kind ofheavenly felicity which a pure and virtuous mindenjoys, in some degree, even upon earth: whereastemples of honor are but empty names, which, probab-ly, owe their beginning either to ambition or toviolence.

I am strangely transported with the thoughts ofeternity; nay, with the belief of it; for I haveprofound veneration for the opinions of great men,especially when they promise things so much to mysatisfaction: for they do promise them, though theydo not prove them. In the question of immortality ofthe soul, it goes very far with me, a general consentto the opinion of a future reward and punishment;which meditation raises me to the contempt of thislife, in hopes of a better.

But still, though we know that we have a soul,yet what the soul is, how, and from whence, we areutterly ignorant. This only we understand, that allthe good and ill we do is under the dominion of themind; that a clear conscience states us in an inviol-able peace; and that the greatest blessing in Natureis that which every honest man may bestow uponhimself.

The body is but the clog and prisoner of themind, tossed up and down, and persecuted with punish-ments, violences, and diseases; but the mind itselfis sacred and eternal, and exempt from the danger ofall actual impression.

There is no man but approves of virtue, thoughbut few pursue it. We see where it is, but we darenot venture to come at it: and the reason is, weovervalue that which we must quit to obtain it.

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A good conscience fears no witnesses, but aguilty conscience is anxious even in solitude. If wedo nothing but what is honest, let all the world knowit; but if otherwise, what does it signify to havenobody else know it, so long as I know it myself:Miserable is he that slights that witness!

Wickedness, it is true, may escape the law, butnot the conscience: for a private conviction is thefirst and the greatest punishment of offenders; sothat sin plagues itself; and the fear of vengeancepursues even those that escape the stroke of it. Itwere ill for good men that iniquity may so easilyevade the law, the judge, and the execution, ifNature had not set up torments and gibbets in theconsciences of transgressors.

Those are the only certain and profitabledelights, which arise from the consciousness of awell-acted life; no matter for noise abroad, so longas we are quiet within. But if our passions beseditious, that is enough to keep us waking withoutany other tumult.

He that would perfectly know himself, let himset aside his money, his fortune, his dignity, andexamine himself naked, without being put to learnfrom others the knowledge of himself.

It is dangerous for a man too suddenly, or tooeasily, to believe himself. Wherefore let us examine,watch, observe, and inspect our own hearts; for weourselves are our own greatest flatterers: we shouldevery night call ourselves to account: "What infirm-ity have I mastered today? what passion opposed?what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired?"Our vices will abate of themselves, if they bebrought every day to the shrift. Oh, the blessedsleep that follows such a diary! Oh, the tranquil-lity, liberty, and greatness of that mind that is aspy upon itself, and a private censor of its ownmanners!

It is my custom every night, so soon as thecandle is out, to run over all the words and actionsof the past day, and I let nothing escape me; for whyshould I fear the sight of my own errors, when I canadmonish and forgive myself? "I was a little too hotin such a dispute: my opinion might have been as well

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spared, for it gave offense, and did no good at all.The thing was true, but all the truths are not to bespoken at all times. 1 would I had held my tongue,for there is no contending either with fools or oursuperiors. I have done ill, but it shall be so nomore." If every man would but thus look into him-self, it would be the better for us all.

It is a great comfort that we are only condemnedto the same fate with the universe. The heavensthemselves are mortal as well as our bodies; Naturehas made us passive, and to suffer is our lot. Whilewe are in flesh, every man has his chain and hisclog, only it is looser and lighter to one man thanto another; and he is more at ease that takes it upand carries it, than he that drags it.

We are born to lose and to perish, to hope andto fear, to vex ourselves and others; and there is noantidote against a common calamity but virtue; forthe foundation of true joy is in the conscience.

A Good Man Can Never Be Miserable

There is not in the scale of nature a moreinseparable connection of cause and effect than inthe case of happiness and virtue: nor anything thatmore naturally produces the one, or more necessarilypresupposes the other. For what is it to be happy,but for a man to content himself with his lot, in aquiet and cheerful resignation to the appointments ofGod?

All the actions of our lives ought to begoverned with respect to good and evil; and it isonly reason that distinguishes; by which reason weare in such manner influenced, as if a ray of theDivinity were dipped in a mortal body, and that isthe perfection of mankind.

It is not health, nobility, riches, that canjustify a wicked man; nor is it the want of all thesethat can discredit a good one.

It is every man's duty to make himself profit-able to mankind: if he can, to many; if not, tofewer; if not so neither, to his neighbor; but,however, to himself.

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A good man may serve the public, his friend, andhimself, in any station: if he be not for the sword,let him take the gown; if the bar does not agree withhim, let him try the pulpit; if he is silencedabroad, let him give counsel at home, and dischargethe part of a faithful friend and a temperate compan-ion. When he is no longer a citizen, he is yet aman; but the whole world is his country, and humannature never wants matter to work upon. Nay, he thatspends his time well, even in a retirement, gives agreat example.

We may enlarge indeed, or contract, according tothe circumstances of time, place, or abilities; but,above all things, we must be sure to keep ourselvesin action; for he that is slothful is dead indeedeven while he lives.

VJas there ever any state so desperate as that ofAthens under the thirty tyrants, where it was capitalto be honest, and the senate house was turned into acollege of hangmen? Never was any government sowretched and so hopeless; and yet Socrates at thesame time preached temperance to the tyrants, andcourage to the rest, and afterward died an eminentexample of faith and resolution, and a sacrifice forthe common good.

Whensoever he that lent me myself, and what 1have, shall call for all back again, it is not a lossbut a restitution, and I must willingly deliver upwhat most undeservedly was bestowed upon me; and itwill become me to return my mind better than Ireceived it.

Demetrius, upon the taking of Megara, askedStilpo the philosopher what he had lost. "Nothing,"says he, "for 1 had all that 1 could call my ownabout me." And yet the enemy had then made himselfmaster of his patrimony, his children, and hiscountry; but these he looked upon only as adventi-tious goods, and under the command of Fortune.

A good man does his duty, let it be never sopainful, so hazardous, or never so great a loss tohim. And it is not all the money, the power, and thepleasure in the world, not any force of necessity,that can make him wicked. He considers what he is todo, not what he is to suffer, and will keep on his

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course, though there should be nothing but gibbetsand torments in the way.

It is a certain mark of a brave mind not to bemoved by any accidents. The upper region of the airadmits neither clouds nor tempest, the thunder stormsand meteors are formed below. And this is the dif-ference betwixt a mean and an exalted mind: theformer is rude and tumultuous, the latter is modest,venerable, composed, and always quiet in its station.

In brief, it is the conscience that pronouncesupon the man whether he be happy or miserable.

Let wickedness escape as it may at the bar, itnever fails of doing justice upon itself. For everyguilty person is his own hangman.

Providence the Cure of Misfortunes

It is not possible for us to comprehend what thePower is which has made all things. Some few sparksof that Divinity are discovered, but infinitely thegreater part of it lies hid. We are all of us,however, thus far agreed, first, in the acknowledge-ment and belief of that almighty Being; and, second-ly, that we are to ascribe to it all majesty andgoodness.

"If there be a Providence,: say some, "how comesit to pass that good men labor under affliction andadversity, and wicked men enjoy themselves in easeand plenty?" My answer is, that God deals by us as agood father does by his children. He tries us, hehardens us, and fits us for himself. He keeps astrict hand over those that he loves, and by the resthe does as we do by our slaves; he lets them go on inlicense and boldness. As the master gives his mosthopeful scholars the hardest lessons, so does Goddeal with the most generous spirits. And the crossencounters of fortune we are not to look upon as acruelty, but as a contest: the familiarity of dangersbrings us to the contempt of them, and that part isstrongest which is most exercised. The seaman's handis callous, the soldier's arm is strong, and the treethat is most exposed to the wind takes the best root.

There is no state of life so miserable but thereare in it remissions, diversions, nay, and delights

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too. Such is the benignity of Nature toward us, evenin the severest accidents of human life. There wereno living if adversity should hold on as it begins,and keep up the force of the first impression. Allthose terrible appearances that make us groan andtremble are but the tribute of life. We are neitherto wish, nor to ask, nor to hope to escape them; forit is a kind of dishonesty to pay a tribute unwill-ingly .

Am I troubled with the stone, or afflicted withcontinual losses? Nay, is my body in danger? Allthis is no more than what I prayed for when 1 prayedfor old age. All these things are as familiar in along life as dust and dirt in a long way. Life is awarfare. And what brave man would not rather chooseto be in a tent than in shambles?

It is only in adverse fortune, and in bad times,that we find great examples.

In suffering for virtue, it is not the tormentbut the cause that we are to consider; and the morepain, the more renown.

When any hardship befalls us, we must look uponit as an act of Providence, which many times suffersparticulars to be wounded for the conservation of thewhole.

How many casualties and difficulties are therethat we dread as insupportable mischiefs, which, uponfurther thoughts, we find to be mercies and benefits;as, banishment, poverty, loss of relations, sickness,disgrace. Some are cured by the lance, by fire,hunger, thirst, taking out of bones, lopping offlimbs, and the like. Nor do we only fear things thatare many times beneficial to us; but, on the otherside, we hanker after and pursue things that aredeadly and pernicious. We are poisoned in the verypleasures of our luxury, and betrayed to a thousanddiseases by the indulging of our palate.

No man knows his own strength or value but bybeing put to the proof. The pilot is tried in astorm, the soldier in a battle, the rich man knowsnot how to behave himself in poverty. He that haslived in popularity and applause knows not how hewould bear infamy and reproach, nor he that never had

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children how he would bear the loss of them. Calam-ity is the occasion of virtue, and a spur to a greatmind.

There is nothing falls amiss to a good man thatcan be charged against Providence; for wicked actions,lewd thoughts, ambitious projects, blind lusts, andinsatiable avarice, against all these he is armed bythe benefit of reason. And do we expect now that Godshould look to our luggage too? (I mean our bodies).

Many afflictions may befall a good man, but noevil, for contraries will never incorporate. All therivers in the world are never able to change thetaste or quality of the sea.

Providence and religion are above accidents, anddraw good out of everything. Affliction keeps a manin use, and makes him strong, patient, and hardy.

No man can be happy that does not stand firmagainst all contingencies, and say to himself in allextremities, "I should have been content if it mighthave been so or so, but since it is otherwise deter-mined, God will provide better."

The more we struggle with our necessities, wedraw that knot the harder, and the worse it is withus. And the more the bird flaps and flutters in thesnare, the surer she is caught. So that the best wayis to submit and lie still, under this double consid-eration, that the proceedings of God are unquestion-able, and his decrees are not to be resisted.

Of Levity of Mind

We have showed what happiness is, and wherein itconsists; that it is founded upon wisdom and virtue ,\for we must first know what we ought to do, and then!live according to that knowledge. We have also!discoursed the helps of philosophy and precept towarda happy life, the blessing of a good conscience, thata good man can never be miserable nor a wicked manhappy, nor any man unfortunate that cheerfullysubmits to Providence.

We shall now examine how it comes to pass that,when a certain way to happiness lies so fair before

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us, men will yet steer their course on the otherside, which as manifestly leads to ruin.

There are some that live without any design atall, and only pass in the world like straws upon ariver. They do not go, but they are carried. Othersonly deliberate upon the parts of life, and not uponthe whole, which is a great error; for there is nodisposing of the circumstances of it, unless we firstpropound the main scope. How shall any man take hisaim without a mark? Or what wind will serve him thatis not yet resolved upon his port?

We live as it were by chance, and by chance weare governed. Some there are that torment themselvesafresh with the memory of what is past: "Lord! Whatdid I endure? Never was any man in my condition.Everybody gave me over, my very heart was ready tobreak," etc. Others, again, afflict themselves withthe apprehension of evils to come: and very ridicu-lously both: for the one does not now concern us, andthe other not yet. Besides that, there may beremedies for mischiefs likely to happen, for theygive us warning by signs and symptoms of theirapproach.

A rash seaman never considers what wind blows,or what course he steers, but runs at a venture, asif he would brave the rocks and the eddies. Whereashe that is careful and considerate informs himselfbeforehand where the danger lies, and what weather itis likely to be. He consults his compass, and keepsaloof from those places that are infamous for wrecksand miscarriages. So does a wise man in the commonbusiness of life. He keeps out of the way from thosethat may do him hurt; but it is a point of prudencenot to let them take notice that he does it onpurpose; for that which a man shuns he tacitlycondemns.

There are many proprieties and diversities ofvice; but it is one never-failing effect of it tolive displeased. We do all of us labor under inordin-ate desires; we are either timorous and dare notventure, or venturing we do not succeed. Or else weput ourselves upon uncertain hopes, where we areperpetually anxious and in suspense. And when wehave taken great pains to no purpose, we come then torepent of our undertakings. We are afraid to go on,

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and we can neither master our appetites nor obeythem. We live and die restless and irresolute.

This is it that puts us upon rambling voyages.The town pleases us today, the country tomorrow; thesplendors of the court at one time, the horrors of awilderness at another. But all this while we carryour plague about us.

It must be the change of mind, not of theclimate, that wiLl remove the heaviness of the heart;our voices go along with us, and we carry in our-selves the causes of our disquiets. There is a greatweight lies upon us, and the bare shocking of itmakes it the more uneasy. Changing of countries, inthis case, is not travelling, but wandering.

We must keep on our course, if we would gain ourjourney's end. He that cannot live happily anywhere,will live happily nowhere.

What, is a man the better for travelling? As ifhis cares could not find him out wherever he goes?Is there any retiring from the fear of death, or oftorments, or from those difficulties which beset aman wherever he is?

It is only philosophy that makes the mindinvincible, and places us out of the reach of for-tune, so that all her arrows fall short of us. Thisit is that reclaims the rage of our lusts, andsweetens the anxiety of our fears. Frequent changingof places or councils shows an instability of mind;and we must fix the body before we can fix the soul.We can hardly stir abroad, or look about us, withoutencountering something or other that revives ourappetites.

As he that would cast off an unhappy love avoidswhatsoever may put him in mind of the person, so hethat would wholly deliver himself from his belovedlusts must shun all objects that may put them in hishead again, and remind him of them.

We travel, as children run up and down afterstrange sights, for novelty, not profit. We returnneither the better nor the sounder. Nay, and thevery agitation hurts us. We learn to call towns andplaces by their names, and to tell stories of moun-

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tains and rivers. But had not our time been betterspent in the study of wisdom and of virtue? In thelearning of what is already discovered, and in thequest of things not yet found out?

It is not the place, I hope, that makes eitheran orator or a physician. Will any man ask upon theroad, Pray, which is the way to prudence, to justice,to temperance, to fortitude?

A great traveller was complaining that he wasnever the better for his travels. "That is verytrue," said Socrates, "because you traveled withyourself." Now, had he not better have made himselfanother man than to transport himself to anotherplace?

We divide our lives betwixt a dislike of thepresent and a desire of the future. But he thatlives as he should orders himself so as neither tofear nor to wish for tomorrow: if it come, it iswelcome; but if not, there is nothing lost. For thatwhich is come is but the same over again with what ispast.

There are some things we would be thought todesire, which we are so far from desiring that wedread them. We do not deal candidly even with Godhimself. We should say to ourselves in these cases,"This I have drawn upon myself. I could never bequiet until I had gotten this woman, this place, thisestate, this honor, and now see what is come of it."

One sovereign remedy against all misfortunes isconstancy of mind. The changing of parties andcountenances looks as if a man were driven with thewind. Nothing can be above him that is above for-tune.

A Wise Man Proof Against Calamities

It is not violence, reproach, contempt, orwhatever else from without that can make a wise manquit his ground, but he is proof against calamities,both great and small. Only our error is, that whatwe cannot do ourselves, we think nobody else can; sothat we judge of the wise by the measures of theweak.

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Place me among princes or among beggars, the oneshall not make me proud, nor the other ashamed. Ican take as sound a sleep in a barn as in a palace,and a bundle of hay makes me as good a lodging as abed of down. Should every day succeed to my wish, itshould not transport me; nor would I think myselfmiserable if I should not have one quiet hour in mylife. I will not transport myself with pain orpleasure. But yet for all that, I could wish that Ihad an easier game to play, and that I would putrather to moderate my joys than my sorrows. If Iwere an imperial prince, I had rather take than betaken; and yet I would bear the same mind under thechariot of my conqueror that I had in my own.

It is no great matter to trample upon thosethings that are most coveted or feared by the commonpeople. There are those that will laugh upon thewheel, and cast themselves upon a certain death, onlyupon a transport of love, perhaps anger, avarice, orrevenge; but how much more than upon an instinct ofvirtue, which is invincible and steady! If a shortobstinacy of mind can do this, how much more shall acomposed and deliberate virtue, whose force is equaland perpetual.

To secure ourselves in this world, first, wemust aim at nothing that men count worth the wrangl-ing for. Secondly, we must not value the possessionof anything that even a common thief would thinkworth the stealing. A man's body is no booty. Letthe way be never so dangerous for robberies, the poorand the naked pass quietly.

Of Sincerity of Manners

A plain dealing sincerity of manners makes aman's life happy, even in despite of scorn andcontempt, which is every clear man's fate. But wehad better yet be contemned for simplicity than lieperpetually upon the torture of a counterfeit,provided that care be taken not to confound simplic-ity with negligence. And it is, moreover, an uneasylife, that of a disguise, for a man to seem to bewhat he is not, to keep a perpetual guard uponhimself, and to live in fear of a discovery.

Of all others, a studious life is the leasttiresome. It makes us easy to ourselves and to

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others, and gains us both friends and reputation.

Happiness Can Never Depend Upon Fortune

Never pronounce any man happy that depends uponfortune for his happiness; for nothing can be morepreposterous than to place the good of a reasonablecreature in unreasonable things.

It is a common mistake to account those thingsnecessary that are superfluous and to depend uponfortune for the felicity of life, which arises onlyfrom virtue. There is no trusting to her smiles.The sea swells and rages in a moment, and the shipsare swallowed at night, in the very place where theysported themselves in the morning. And fortune hasthe same power over princes that it has over empires,over nations that it has over cities, and the samepower over cities that it has over private men.

Where is that estate that may not be followedupon the heel with famine and beggary; that dignitywhich the next moment may not be laid in the dust;that kingdom that is secure from desolation and ruin?The period of all things is at hand, as well thatwhich casts out the fortunate as the other thatdelivers the unhappy. And that which may fall out atany time may fall out this very day.

What shall come to pass I know not, but what maycome to pass I know; so that I will despair ofnothing, but expect everything; and whatever Provi-dence remits is clear gain.

Every moment, if it spares me, deceives me. Andyet in some sort it does not deceive me, for though Iknow that anything may happen, yet I know likewisethat everything will not. I will hope the best, andprovide for the worst.

Methinks we should not find so much fault withfortune for her inconstancy, when we ourselves suffera change every moment that we live; only otherchanges make more noise, and this steals upon us likethe shadow upon a dial, every jot as certainly, butmore insensibly.

Nay, we are to dread our peace and felicity morethan violence, because we are here taken unprovided;

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unless in a state of peace we do the duty of men inwar, and say to ourselves, Whatever may be, will be.I am today safe and happy in the love of my country;I am tomorrow banished. Today in pleasure, peace,health; tomorrow broken upon a wheel, led in triumph,and in the agony of sickness. Let us thereforeprepare for a shipwreck in the port, and for atempest in a calm.

Wherefore let us set before our eyes the wholecondition of human nature, and consider as well whatmay happen as what commonly does. The way to makefuture calamities easy to us in the sufferance, is tomake them familiar to us in the contemplation. Howmany cities in Asia, Achaia, Assyria, Macedonia, havebeen swallowed up by earthquakes? Nay, whole coun-tries are lost, and large provinces laid under water.But time brings all things to an end; for all theworks of mortals are mortal? all possessions and.their possessors are uncertain and perishable; and/ what wonder is it to lose anything at any time when\ we must one day lose all?/

That which fortune gives us this hour she maytake away the next; and he that trusts to her favorsshall either find himself deceived, or, if he be not,he will at least be troubled because he may be so.There is no defense in walls, fortifications, andengines, against the power of fortune. We mustprovide ourselves within, and when we are safe there,we are invincible. We may be battered, but nottaken.

But the best of it is, if a man cannot mend hisfortune, he may yet mend his manners, and put himselfso far out of fortune's reach that whether she givesor takes it shall be all one to us; for we areneither the greater for one, nor the less for theother.

What Befalls One May Befall All

We call this a dark room, or that a light one;when it is in itself neither the one nor the other,but only as the day and the night render it. And soit is in riches, strength of body, beauty, honor,command; and likewise in sickness, pain, banishment,death, which are in themselves middle and indifferent

things, and only good or bad as they are influencedby virtue.

When Zeno was told that all his goods weredrowned, "Why then," says he, "fortune has a mind tomake me a philosopher." It is a great matter for aman to advance his mind above her threats or flat-teries; for he that has once gotten the better of heris safe forever.

When we see any man banished, beggared, tortur-ed, we are to account that though the mischief fellupon another, it was levelled at us. What wonder isit if, of so many thousands of dangers that areconstantly hovering over us, one comes to hit us atlast? That which befalls any man, may befall everyman.

The things that are often contemned by theinconsiderate, and always by the wise, are in them-selves neither good nor evil: as, pleasure and pains,prosperity and adversity, which can only operate uponour outward condition, without any proper and neces-sary effect upon the mind.

A Sensual Life is a Miserable Life

What if a body might have all the pleasures inthe world for the asking; who would so much unmanhimself as by accepting of them to desert his soul,and become a perpetual slave to his senses?

It is a shame for a man to place his felicity inthose entertainments and appetites that are strongerin brutes. Do not beasts eat with a better stomach?Have they not more satisfaction in their lusts? Andthey have not only a quicker relish of their plea-sures, but they enjoy them without either scandal orremorse. If sensuality were happiness, beasts were

"happier than men; but human felicity is lodged in the\soul, not in the flesh.

They that deliver themselves up to luxury arestill either tormented with too little, or oppressedwith too much; and equally miserable.

So long as our bodies were hardened with labor,or tired with exercise or hunting, our food was plain

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and simple; many dishes have made many diseases.

The most miserable mortals are they that deliverthemselves up to their palates, or to their lusts.The pleasure is short and turns presently nauseous,and in the end it is either shame or repentance.

It is a brutal entertainment, and unworthy of aman, to place his felicity in the service of hissenses.

Deliver me from the superstition of taking thosethings which are light and vain for felicities.

Of Avarice and Ambition

There is no avarice without some punishment,over and above that which it is to itself. Howmiserable is it in the desire 1 How miserable even inthe attaining of our ends! For money is a greatertorment in the possession than it is in the pursuit.The fear of losing it is a great trouble, the loss ofit a greater, and it is made a greater yet by opin-ion.

Neither does avarice make us only unhappy inourselves, but malevolent also to mankind. Thesoldier wishes for war, the husbandman would have hiscorn dear, the lawyer prays for dissension, thephysician for a sickly year.

One man lives by the loss of another. Some few,perhaps, have the fortune to be detected; but theyare all wicked alike.

Ambition puffs us up with vanity and wind: andwe are equally troubled either to see anybody beforeus, or nobody behind us; so that we lie under adouble envy, for whosoever envies another is alsoenvied himself.

I will never envy those that the people callgreat and happy. A sound mind is not to be shakenwith a popular and vain applause; nor is it in thepower of their pride to disturb the state of ourhappiness.

Nay, in the very moment of our despising ser-vants , we may be made so ourselves.

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The Blessings of Temperance and Moderation

There is not anything that is necessary to usbut we have it either cheap or gratis. And this isthe provision that our heavenly Father has made forus, whose bounty was never wanting to our needs.

He that lives according to reason shall never bepoor; and he that governs his life by opinion shallnever be rich. If nothing will serve a man but richclothes and furniture, statues and plate, a numeroustrain of servants, and the rarities of all nations,it is not fortune's fault, but his own, that he isnot satisfied. For his desires are insatiable, andthis is not a thirst but a disease.

It is the mind that makes us rich and happy, inwhat condition whatsoever we are; and money signifiesno more to it than it does to the gods.

Coarse bread and water to a temperate man is asgood as a feast, and the very herbs of the fieldyield a nourishment to man as well as to beasts. Itwas not by choice meats and perfumes that our fore-fathers recommended themselves, but in virtuousactions, and the sweat of honest, military, and ofmanly labors.

Nature does not give virtue, and it is a kind ofart to become good.

The end of eating and of drinking is satiety.Now what matters it though one eats and drinks moreand another less, so long as the one is not a-hungry,nor the other a-thirst? Epicurus, who limits plea-sure to nature, as the Stoics do to virtue, isundoubtedly in the right; and those that cite him toauthorize their voluptuousness do exceedingly mistakehim, and only seek a good authority for an evilcause. For their pleasures of sloth, gluttony, andlust have no afinity at all with his precepts ormeaning.

It is the practice of the multitude to bark ateminent men, as little dogs do at strangers, for theylook upon other men's virtues as the upbraiding oftheir own wickedness. We should do well to commendthose that are good; if not, let us pass them over.

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The Blessings of Friendship

Of all felicities, the most charming is that ofa firm and gentle friendship. It sweetens all ourcares, dispels our sorrows, and counsels us in allextremities. Nay, if there were no other comfort init than the bare exercise of so generous a virtue,even for that single reason a man would not bewithout it. Besides that, it is a sovereign antidoteagainst all calamities, even against the fear ofdeath itself.

That friendship where men's affections arecemented by an equal and by a common love of good-ness, it is not either hope or fear, or any privateinterest, that can ever dissolve it.

My conversation lies among my books, but yet inthe letters of a friend, methinks I have his company;and when I answer them I do not only write, butspeak. In effect a friend is an eye, a heart, atongue, a hand, at all distances.

He that is a friend to himself is also a friendto mankind. Even in my very studies, the greatestdelight I take in what I learn is the teaching of itto others. For there is no relish, methinks, in thepossession of anything without a partner. Nay, ifwisdom itself were offered me upon condition only ofkeeping it to myself, I should undoubtedly refuse it.

Consolations Against Death

This life is only a prelude to eternity, wherewe are to expect another original, and another stateof things. We have no prospect of heaven here but ata distance; let us therefore expect our last hourwith courage.

The last, I say, to our bodies, but not to ourminds. Our luggage we leave behind us, and return asnaked out of the world as we came into it. The daywhich we fear as our last is but the birthday of oureternity; and it is the only way to it. So that whatwe fear as a rock, proves to be but a port, in manycases to be desired, never to be refused. And hethat dies young has only made a quick voyage of it.

Nay, suppose that all the business of this world

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should be forgotten, or my memory traduced, what isall this to me? "I have done my duty."

Why do we not as well lament that we did notlive a thousand years ago, as that we shall not bealive a thousand years hence? It is but travellingthe great road, and to the place whither we must allgo at last. It is but submitting to the law ofNature, and to that lot which the whole world hassuffered that has gone before usj and so must theytoo that are to come after us. Nay, how many thou-sands , when our time comes, will expire in the samemoment with us!

Let us live in our bodies, therefore, as if wewere only to lodge in them this night, and leave themtomorrow.

It is the care of a wise and good man to look tohis manners and actions; and rather how well he livesthan how long. For to die sooner or later is not thebusiness, but to die well or ill; for death brings usto immortality.

It is necessary to provide against hunger,thirst, and cold; and somewhat for a covering toshelter us against other inconveniences; but not apin matter whether it be of turf or of marble. A manmay lie as warm and as dry under a thatched as undera gilded roof. Let the mind be great and glorious,and all other things are despicable in comparison.

The future is uncertain; and I had rather beg ofmyself not to desire anything, than of fortune tobestow it.

OF BENEFITS

A benefit is a good office, done with intentionand judgment; that is to say, with a due regard toall the circumstances of what, how, why, when, where,to whom, how much, and the like. Or, otherwise, itis a voluntary and benevolent action, that delightsthe giver in the comfort it brings to the receiver.The very meditation of it breeds good blood andgenerous thoughts, and instructs us in all the partsof honor, humanity, friendship, piety, gratitude,prudence and justice.

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In short, the art and skill of conferringbenefits is, of all human duties, the most absolutelynecessary to the well-being both of reasonable natureand of every individual; as the very cement of allcommunities, and the blessing of particular ones.

He that does good to another man does good alsoto himself; not only in the consequence, but in thevery act of doing it; for the conscience of well-doing is an ample reward.

Of Intentions and Effects

The good-will of the benefactor is the fountainof all benefits; Nay, it is the benefit itself, or atleast the stamp that makes it valuable and current.The obligation rests in the mind, not in the matter;and all those advantages which we see, handle, orhold in actual possession by the courtesy of anotherare but several modes or ways of explaining andputting the good-will in execution.

There needs no great subtlety to prove that bothbenefits and injuries receive their value from theintention, when even brutes themselves are able todecide this question. Tread upon a dog by chance, orput him to pain upon the dressing of a wound; the onehe passes by as an accident, and the other, in hisfashion, he acknowledges as a kindness. But offer tostrike at him, though you do him no hurt at all, heflies yet in the face of you, even for the mischiefthat you barely meant him.

My friend is taken by pirates; I redeem him; andafter that he falls into other pirates' hands. Hisobligation to me is the same still as if he hadpreserved his freedom. And so, if I save a man fromany misfortune, and he falls into another; if I givehim a sum of money which is afterward taken away bythieves; it comes to the same case. Fortune maydeprive us of the matter of a benefit, but thebenefit itself remains inviolable.

If the benefit resided in the matter, that whichis good for one man would be so for another. Whereasmany times the very same thing given to severalpersons works contrary effects, even to the differ-ence of life or death; and that which is one body's

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cure proves another body's poison. Besides that, thetiming of it alters the value; and a crust of bread,upon a pinch, is a greater present than an imperialcrown.

And the same reason holds good even in religionitself. It is not the incense, or the offering, thatis acceptable to God, but the purity and devotion ofthe worshipper. Neither is the bare will, withoutaction, sufficient, that is, where we have the meansof acting; for in that case it signifies as little towish well without well-doing, as to do good withoutwilling it. There must be effect as well as inten-tion, to make me owe a benefit.

In fine, the conscience alone is the judge, bothof benefits and injuries.

And so it is with the good we receive, eitherwithout, or beside, or contrary to intention. It isthe mind, and not the event, that distinguishes froman injury.

Of Judgment in the Bestowal of Benefits

We are to give by choice, and not by hazard. Myinclination bids me oblige one man; I am bound induty and justice to serve another. Here it is acharity, there it is pity; and elsewhere, perhaps,encouragement.

There are some that want, to whom I would notgive; because, if I did, they would still want. Toone man I would barely offer a benefit, but I wouldpress it upon another.

To say the truth, we do not employ money to moreprofit than that which we bestow; and it is not toour friends, our acquaintances or countrymen, nor tothis or that condition of men, that we are to restrainour bounties, but wheresoever there is a man, thereis a place and an occasion for a benefit. We give tosome that are good already; to others, in hope tomake them so; but we must do all with discretion.For we are as well answerable for what we give as forwhat we receive. Nay, the misplacing of a benefit isworse than the not receiving of it; for the one isanother man's fault, but the other is mine.

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The error of the giver does oft-times excuse theingratitude of the receiver; for a favor ill-placedis rather a profusion than a benefit.

I will choose a man of integrity, sincere, con-siderate, grateful, temperate, well-natured, neithercovetous nor sordid; and when I have obliged such aman, though not worth a groat in the world, I havegained my end.

If we give only to receive, we lose the fairestobjects for our charity: the absent, the sick, thecaptive, and the needy. When we oblige those thatcan never pay us again in kind, as a stranger uponhis last farewell, or a necessitous person upon hisdeath-bed, we make Providence our debtor, and rejoicein the conscience even of a fruitless benefit. Solong as we are affected with passions, and distractedwith hopes and fears, and with our pleasures, we areincompetent judges where to place our bounties. Butwhen death presents itself, and that we come to ourlast will and testament, we leave our fortunes to themost worthy. He that gives nothing but in hopes ofreceiving, must die intestate.

But what shall I do, you will say, to knowwhether a man will be grateful or not? I will followprobability, and hope the best. He that sows is notsure to reap, nor the seaman to reach his port, northe soldier to win the field. He that weds is notsure his wife shall be honest, or his childrendutiful. But shall we therefore neither sow, sail,bear arms, nor marry?

Nay, if I knew a man to be incurably thankless,I would yet be so kind as to put him in his way, orlet him light a candle at mine, or draw water at mywell; which may stand him perhaps in great stead, andyet not be reckoned as a benefit from me; for I do itcarelessly and not for his sake but my own, as anoffice of humanity, without any choice or kindness.

Of the Matter of Obligations

Alexander bestowed a city upon one of hisfavorites who, modestly excusing himself, "That itwas too much for him to receive." "Well, but," saysAlexander, "it is not too much for me to give." Ahaughty certainly and an imprudent speech; for that

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which was not fit for the one to take could not befit for the other to give.

It passes in the world for greatness of mind tobe perpetually giving and loading of people withbounties. But it is one thing to know how to give,and another thing not to know how to keep. Give me aheart that is easy and open, but I will have no holesin it. Let it be bountiful with judgment, but I willhave nothing run out of it I know not how. How muchgreater was he that refused the city than the otherthat offered it.

Those favors are, in some sort, scandalous thatmake a man ashamed of his patron.

It is a matter of great prudence for thebenefactor to suit the benefit to the condition ofthe receiver, who must be either his superior, hisinferior, or his equal; and that which would be thehighest obligation imaginable to the one, wouldperhaps be as great a mockery and affront to theother. A plate of broken meat to a rich man were anindignity, which to a poor man is a charity.

Whatsoever the present be, or to whomsoever weoffer it, this general rule must be observed; that wealways design the good and satisfaction of the receiv-er, and never grant anything to his detriment.

I will no more undo a man with his will, thanforbear saving him against it. It is a benefit insome cases to grant, and in others to deny; so thatwe are rather to consider the advantage than thedesire of the petitioner. For we may in a passionearnestly beg for (and take it ill to be denied to)that very thing which, upon second thoughts, we maycome to curse, as the occasion of a most perniciousbounty.

He that lends a man money to carry to a bawdy-house, or a weapon for his revenge, makes himself apartaker of his crime.

The Manner of Obliging

In the first place, whatsoever we give, let usdo it frankly. A kind benefactor makes a man happyas soon as he can, and as much as he can. There

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should be no delay in a benefit but the modesty ofthe receiver. If we cannot foresee the request, letus, however, immediately grant it, and by no meanssuffer the repeating of it. It is so grievous athing to say, I BEG. The very word puts a man out ofcountenance. And it is a double kindness to do thething, and save an honest man the confusion of ablush. It comes too late that comes for the asking;for nothing costs us so dear as that we purchase withour prayers. It is all we give, even for heavenitself; and even there too, where our petitions areat the fairest, we choose rather to present them insecret ejaculations than by word of mouth. That isthe lasting and the acceptable benefit that meets thereceiver half-way.

The rule is, we are to give as we would receive,cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; forthere is no grace in a benefit that sticks to thefingers.

It was well said of him that called a goodoffice, that was done harshly, and with an ill will,a stony piece of bread. It is necessary for him thatis hungry to receive it, but it almost chokes a manin the going down. There must be no pride, arroganceof looks, or tumor of words in the bestowing ofbenefits.

Whatsoever we bestow, let it be done with afrank and cheerful countenance. A man must not givewith his hand, and deny with his looks. He thatgives quickly, gives willingly.

Many benefits are great in show, but little ornothing in effect when they come hard, slow, or atunawares. That which is given with pride and ostenta-tion, is rather an ambition than a bounty.

He must be a wise, a friendly, and a well-bredman that perfectly acquits himself in the art andduty of obliging; for all his actions must be squaredaccording to the measures of civility, good-nature,and discretion.

Of Requital

Diogenes walked naked and unconcerned throughthe middle of Alexander's treasures and was, as well

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in other men's opinions as in his own, even aboveAlexander himself, who at that time had the wholeworld at his feet. For there was more that the onescorned to take than the other had it in his power togive; and it is a greater generosity for a beggar torefuse money than for a price to bestow it.

Nor is it to be said that "1 cannot requite sucha benefactor because I am poor, and have it not." Ican give good counsel, a conversation wherein he maytake both delight and profit, freedom of discoursewithout flattery, kind attention, where he deliber-ates, and faith inviolable where he trusts. I maybring him to a love and knowledge of truth, deliverhim from the errors of his credulity, and teach himto distinguish betwixt friends and parasites.

Of How the Receiver Should Act

There are certain rules in common betwixt thegiver and the receiver. We must do both cheerfully,that the giver may receive the fruit of his benefitin the very act of bestowing it. The more gloriouspart, in appearance, is that of the giver; but thereceiver has undoubtedly the harder game to play inmany regards.

There are some from whom I would not accept abenefit; that is to say, from those upon whom I wouldnot bestow one. For why should I not scorn toreceive a benefit where I am ashamed to own it?

It is a pain to an honest and a generous mind tolie under a duty of affection against inclination. Ido not speak here of wise men, that love to do whatthey ought to do, that have their passions at command,that prescribe laws for themselves and keep them whenthey have done; but of men in a state of imperfection,that may have a good will perhaps to be honest, andyet be overborne by the contumacy of their affections.

We must therefore have a care to whom we becomeobliged; and I would be much stricter yet in thechoice of a creditor for benefits than for money. Inthe one case, it is but paying what I had, and thedebt is discharged. In the other, I do not only owemore, but when I have paid that, I am still in

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arrear; and this law is the very foundation offriendship.

To match this scruple of receiving money, withanother of keeping it:

There was a certain Pythagorean that contractedwith a cobbler for a pair of shoes, and some three orfour days after, going to pay him his money, theshop was shut up. When he had knocked a great whileat the door, "Friend," says a fellow, "you may hammeryour heart out there, for the man that you look foris dead." Upon this the philosopher went away, withhis money clinking in his hand, and well enoughcontent to save it. At last, his conscience tookcheck at it? and, upon reflection, "Though the man bedead," says he, "to others, he is alive to thee. Payhim what thou owest him." And so he went backpresently and thrust it into his shop through thechink of the door.

Whatever we owe, it is our part to find where topay it, and do it without asking, too; for whetherthe creditor be good or bad, the debt is still thesame.

But whatever we do, let us be sure always tokeep a grateful mind. It is not enough to say, whatrequital shall a poor man offer to a prince, or aslave to his patron, when it is the glory of grati-tude that it depends only upon the good will.

For my own part, when I come to cast up myaccount, and know what I owe and to whom, though Imake my return sooner to some, and later to others,as occasion or fortune will give me leave, yet I willbe just to all. I will be grateful to God, to man,to those that have obliged me; nay, even to thosethat have obliged my friends. I am bound in honorand in conscience to be thankful for what I havereceived; and if it be not yet full, it is somepleasure still that I may hope for more. For therequital of a favor there must be virtue, occasion,means, and fortune.

Of Ingratitude

The principal causes of ingratitude are prideand self-conceit, avarice, envy, etc. It is a

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familiar exclamation, "It is true he did this or thatfor me, but it came so late, and it was so little, Ihad even as good have been without it. If he had notgiven it to me, he must have given it to somebodyelse; it was nothing out of his own pocket." Nay, weare so ungrateful that he that gives us all we have,if he leaves anything to himself, we reckon that hedoes us an injury.

Not to return one good office for another isinhuman; but to return evil for good is diabolical.There are too many even of this sort who, the morethey owe, the more they hate. There is nothing moredangerous than to oblige those people; for when theyare conscious of not paying the debt, they wish thecreditor out of the way.

But what is all this to those who are so made,as to dispute even the goodness of Heaven, whichgives us all, and expects nothing again, but contin-ues giving to the most unthankful and complaining.

Without the exercise and the commerce of mutualoffices we can be neither happy nor safe, for it isonly society that secures us. Take us one by one, aprey even to brutes as well as to one another.Nature has brought us into the world naked andunarmed. We have not the teeth or the paws of lionsor bears to make ourselves terrible. But by the twoblessings of reason and union we secure and defendourselves against violence and fortune. This it isthat makes man the master of all other creatures, whootherwise were scarce a match for the weakest ofthem. This it is that comforts us in sickness, inage, in misery, in pains, and in the worst of calami-ties. Take away this combination, and mankind isdissociated and falls to pieces.

Of Anger

Anger is not only a vice, but a vice point-blankagainst nature, for it divides instead of joining,and, in some measure, frustrates the end of Providencein human society. One man was born to help another.Anger makes us destroy one another. The one unites,the other separates. The one is beneficial to us,the other mischievous. The one succors even strang-ers, the other destroys even the most intimate

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friends. The one ventures all to save another, theother ruins himself to undo another. Nature isbountiful, but anger is pernicious; for it is notfear, but mutual love that binds up mankind.

The bravest man in the world may look pale whenhe puts on his armor, his knees knock and his heartworks before the battle is joined; but these are onlymotions: whereas anger is an excursion, and proposesrevenge or punishment, which cannot be without themind.

As fear flies, so anger assaults. And it is notpossible to resolve either upon violence or caution,without the concurrence of the will.

Suppressing Anger

It is an idle thing to pretend that we cannotgovern our anger: for some things that we do are muchharder than others that we ought to do. The wildestaffections may be tamed by discipline, and there ishardly anything which the mind wills to do but it maydo.

It is most certain that we might govern ouranger if we would, for the same thing that galls usat home gives us no offense at all abroad. And whatis the reason of it, but that we are patient in oneplace, and forward in another?

It was a strong provocation that was given toPhilip of Macedon, the father of Alexander. TheAthenians sent their ambassadors to him, and theywere received with this compliment: "Tell me,gentlemen," says Philip, "what is there that I can doto oblige the Athenians?" Demo char as, one of theambassadors, told him that they would take it for agreat obligation if he would be pleased to hanghimself. This insolence gave an indignation to thebystanders; but Philip bade them not to meddle withhim, but even to let that foul-mouthed fellow go ashe came. "And for you, the rest of the ambassadors,"says he, "pray tell the Athenians that it is worse tospeak such things than to hear and forgive them."

This wonderful patience under contumelies was agreat means of Philip's security.

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Anger a Short Madness

He was much in the right, whoever he was, thatfirst called anger a short madness; for they haveboth of them the same symptoms. And there is sowonderful a resemblance betwixt the transports ofcholer and those of frenzy, that it is a hard matterto know one from the other.

Neither is anger a bare resemblance only ofmadness, but many times an irrevocable transitioninto the thing itself. How many persons have weknown, read, and heard of that have lost their witsin a passion and never came to themselves again? Itis therefore to be avoided, not only for moderation'ssake, but also for health.

Now, if the outward appearance of anger be sofoul and hideous, how deformed must that miserablemind be that is harrassed with it. For it leaves noplace either for counsel or friendship, honesty orgood manners; no place either for the exercise ofreason, or for the offices of life. If I were todescribe it, I would draw a tiger bathed in blood,sharp set, and ready to take a leap at his prey. Or,dress it up as the poets represent the furies, withwhips, snakes, and flames.

Anger, alas, is but a wild impetuous blast, anempty tumor, the very infirmity of women and child-ren; a brawling, clamorous evil. And the more noisethe less courage, as we find it commonly that theboldest tongues have the faintest hearts.

The Effect of Anger

"It is a sad thing," we cry, "to put up withthese injuries, and we are not able to bear them."As if any man that can bear anger could not bear aninjury, which is much more supportable.

But "May not an honest man then be allowed to beangry at the murder of his father, or the ravishingof his sister or daughter before his face?" No, notat all. I will defend my parents, and I will repaythe injuries done them; but it is my piety, and notmy anger, that moves me to it. I will do my dutywithout fear or confusion, I will not rage, I will

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not weep, but discharge the office of a good manwithout forfeiting the dignity of a man. If myfather be assaulted, I will endeavor to rescue him.If he be killed, I will do right to his memory. Andin all this, not in any transport of passion, but inhonor and conscience.

Reason judges according to right. Anger willhave everything seem right, whatever it does, andwhen it has once pitched upon a mistake, it is neverto be convinced, but prefers a pertinacity, even inthe greatest evil, before the most necessary repen-tance.

If anger were sufferable in any case, it mightbe allowed against an incorrigible criminal under thehand of justice. But punishment is not a matter ofanger but of caution. The law is without passion andstrikes malefactors as we do serpents and venemouscreatures, for fear of greater mischief.

It is not for the dignity of a judge, when he%comes to pronounce the fatal sentence, to express anymotions of anger in his looks, words, or gestures;for he condemns the vice, not the man, and looks uponthe wickedness without anger, as he does upon theprosperity of wicked men without envy. But though hebe not angry, I would have him a little moved inpoint of humanity, but yet without any offense eitherto his place or wisdom.

Our passions vary, but reason is equal. And itwere a great folly, for that which is stable, faith-ful, and sound, to repair for succor to that which isuncertain, false, and distempered.

If the offender is incurable, take him out ofthe world, that if he will not be good he may ceaseto be evil; but this must be without anger too.

A good and wise man is not to be an enemy ofwicked men, but a reprover of them. And he is tolook upon all the drunkards, the lustful, the thank-less, covetous, and ambitious that he meets with, nototherwise than as a physician looks upon his patients.

Besides, if we will needs be quarrelsome, it mustbe either with our superior, our equal, or inferior.To contend with our superior is folly and madness;

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with our equals, it is doubtful and dangerous; andwith our inferiors, it is base.

Anger is so potent a passion that Socrates durstnot trust himself with it. "Sirrah," says he to hisman, "now would 1 beat you, if I were not angry withyou!"

How prone and eager are we in our hatred, andhow backward in our love! Were it not much betternow to be making of friendships, pacifying of enemies,doing of good offices both private and public, thanto be still meditating of mischief, and designing howto wound one man in his fame, another in his fortune,a third in his person? The one being so innocent,and safe, and the other so difficult, impious, andhazardous.

Let this be a rule to us, never to deny a pardonthat does not hurt either the giver or receiver.

And, to wind up all in one word, the greatlesson of mankind, as well in this as in all othercases, is to do as we would be done by.

EPISTLES

Of Writing and Speaking

No man takes satisfaction in a flux of wordswithout choice, where the noise is more than thevalue. Nay, let a man have words never so much atwill, he will no more speak fast than he will run,for fear his tongue should get before his wit.

The speech of a philosopher should be, like hislife, composed, without pressing or stumbling, whichis fitter for a mountebank than a man of sobriety andbusiness.

You say well that in speaking the very orderingof the voice (to say nothing of the actions, counten-ances, and other circumstances accompanying it) is aconsideration worthy of a wise man.

He that has a precipitate speech is commonlyviolent in his manners. And besides that, there isin it much of vanity and emptiness.

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Truth and morality should be delivered in wordsplain, and without affectation; for, like remedies,unless they stay with us, we are never the better forthem.

A wantonness and effeminacy of speech denotesluxury, and self-indulgence, for the wit follows themind: if the latter be sound, composed, temperate,and grave, the wit is dry and sober too; but if theone is corrupted, the other is likewise unsound.

A finical temper is read in the very gesturesand clothes. If a man be choleric and violent, it isalso discovered in his motions. An angry man speaksshort and quick. The speech of an effeminate man isloose and melting. A quaint and solicitous way ofspeaking is the sign of a weak mind; but a great manspeaks with ease and freedom, and with more assurance,though less care.

Speech is the index of the mind.

It does not become a man to be delicate. As itis in drink, the tongue never trips till the mind beoverborne, so it is with speech; so long as the mindis whole and sound, the speech is masculine andstrong, but if one fails, the other follows.

Some are raised and startled at words, as ahorse is at a drum, and indulge the very passion ofthe speaker. Others are moved with the beauty ofthings; and when they hear anything bravely urgedagainst death or fortune, they do secretly wish forsome occasion of experimenting that generosity inthemselves. But not one of a thousand of them thatcarries the resolution home with him that he hadconceived. It is an easy matter to excite an aud-itory to the love of goodness, having already thefoundation and seeds of virtue within themselves; sothat it is but awakening the consideration of it,where all men are agreed beforehand upon the main.Who is so sordid as not to be roused at such a speechas this: "The poor man wants many things, but thecovetous man wants all." Can any flesh forbear beingdelighted with this saying, though a satire againsthis own vice?

In the matter of composition, I would write as Ispeak, with ease and freedom, for it is more friendlyas well as more natural.

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If I put my thoughts in good sense, the matter ofornament I shall leave to the orators.

Of authors, be sure to make a choice of thebest; and to stick close to them. And though youtake up others by and by, reserve some select oneshowever for your study and retreat. In your reading,you will every day meet with some consolation andsupport against poverty, death, and other calamitiesincident to human life. Extract what you like, andthen single out some particular from the rest, forthat day's meditation.

And so it fares with our studies; so long asthey lie whole, they pass into the memory withoutaffecting the understanding; but upon meditation theybecome our own, and supply us with strength andvirtue.

There are some writings that stir up somegenerous resolutions, and do, as it were, inspire aman with a new soul. They display the blessings of ahappy life, and possess me at the same time withadmiration and hope. They give me a veneration forthe oracles of antiquity, and a claim to them as acommon heritage; for they are the treasure of man-kind, and it must be my duty to improve the stock,and transmit it to posterity.

I do not pretend all this while to be the masterof truth, but I am yet a most obstinate inquisitorafter it. I am no man's slave; but as I ascribe muchto great men, I challenge something to myself. Ourforefathers have left us not only their invention,but matter also for farther inquiry.

Is not this a fine time for us to be fiddlingand fooling about words? How many useful and neces-sary things are there, that we are first to learn,and, secondly, to imprint in our minds. For it isnot enough to remember and to understand, unless wedo what we know.

Sometimes, all of a sudden, in the middle of mymeditations, my ears are struck with the shout of athousand people together, from some spectacle orother; the noise does not all discompose my thought;it is no more to me than the dashing of waves, or thewind in a wood; but possibly sometimes it may divertthem. "Good Lord," think I, "if men would but

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exercise their brains as they do their bodies; andtake as much pains for virtue as they do for plea-sure!11. For difficulties strengthen the mind as wellas labor does the body.

Upon these thoughts I betake myself to myphilosophy; and then, methinks, I am not well unlessI put myself into some public employment; not for thehonor or the profit of it, but only to place myselfin a station where I may be serviceable to my countryand to my friends. But when I come, on the otherside, to consider the uneasiness, the abuses, and theloss of time, that attend public affairs, I get mehome again as fast as I can, and take up a resolutionof spending the remainder of my days within theprivacy of my own walls.

How great a madness is it to set our hearts upontrifles; especially to the neglect of the mostserious offices of our lives, and the most importantend of our being!

How miserable, as well as short, is their life,that compass with great labor what they possess withgreater; and hold with anxiety what they acquire withtrouble!

But we are governed in all things by opinion,and everything is to us as we believe it.

The Knowledge of Virtue

Be true to yourself, and examine yourselfwhether you be of the same mind to-day that you wereyesterday; for that is a sign of perfect wisdom.

It is for young men to gather knowledge, and forold men to use it: and assure yourself that no mangives a fairer account of his time than he that makesit his daily study to make himself better.

There is no age better adapted to virtue thanthat which comes by many experiments, and longsufferings, to the knowledge of it: for our lusts arethen weak, and our judgment strong; and wisdom is theeffect of time.

We are led to the understanding of virtue by thecongruity we find in such and such actions to nature

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and right reason; by the order, grace, and constancyof them, and by a certain majesty and greatness thatsurpass all other things. From hence proceeds ahappy life, to which nothing comes amiss; but, on thecontrary, everything succeeds to our very wish.

Shall I tell you now, in a word, the sum ofhuman duty? Patience, where we are to suffer; andprudence in things we do.

That only may properly be said to be the longlife that draws all ages into one; and that a shortone that forgets the past, neglects the present, andis solicitous for the time to come.

We are best with dangers; and therefore a wiseman should have his virtues in continual readiness toencounter them. Whether poverty, loss of friends,pains, sickness, or the like, he still maintains hispost; whereas a fool is surprised at everything, andafraid of his very succors; either he makes noresistance at all, or else he does it by halves. Hewill neither take advice from others, nor look tohimself: he reckons upon philosophy as a thing notworth his time; and if he can but get the reputationof a good man among the common people, he takes nofarther care, but accounts that he has done his duty.

There are not many men that know their own mindsbut in the very instant of willing anything. We arefor one thing to-day, another thing to-morrow; sothat we live and die without coming to any resol-ution; still seeking elsewhere that which we may giveourselves, that is to say, a good mind.

The time will come when we shall wonder thatmankind should be so long ignorant of things that layso open and so easy to be made known. Truth isoffered to all; but we must yet content ourselveswith what is already found; and leave some truths tobe retrieved by after ages. The exact truth ofthings is only known to God: but it is yet lawful forus to inquire, and to conj ecture, though not with toomuch confidence, not yet altogether without hope.

The short of the question betwixt you and me is

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this, "Whether a man had better part with himself, orsomething else that belongs to him?" And it iseasily resolved, in all competitions betwixt thegoods of sense and fortune, and those of honor andconscience. Those things which all men covet are butspecious outsides; and there is nothing in them ofsubstantial satisfaction. Nor is there anything sohard and terrible in the contrary.

A wise man either repels or elects, as he seesthe matter before him, without fearing the ill whichhe rejects, or admiring what he chooses. He is neversurprised; but in the midst of plenty he prepares forpoverty, as a prudent prince does for war in thedepth of peace. Our condition is good enough, if wemake the best of it; and our felicity is in our ownpower.

We say commonly, that every man has his weakside: but give me leave to tell you, that he thatmasters one vice may master all the rest. He thatsubdues avarice may conquer ambition.

Justice is a natural principle. I must livethus with my friend, thus with my fellow-citizen,thus with my companion: and why? because it is just;not for design or reward: for it is virtue itself,and nothing else, that pleases us. There is no lawextant for keeping the secrets of a friend, or fornot breaking faith with an enemy; and yet there isjust cause of complaint if a body betray a trust. Ifa wicked man call upon me for money that I owe him, Iwill make no scruple of pouring it into the lap of acommon prostitute, if she be appointed to receive it.For my business is to return the money, not to orderhim how he shall dispose of it. I must pay it upondemand to a good man when it is expedient, and to abad when he calls for it.

There is not so disproportionate a mixture inany creature as that is in man, of soul and body.There is intemperance joined with divinity, follywith severity, sloth with activity, and uncleannesswith purity: but a good sword is never the worse foran ill scabbard. We are moved more by imaginaryfears than truths; for truth has a certainty andfoundation; but in the other, we are exposed to thelicense and conjecture of a distracted mind; and ourenemies are not more imperious than our pleasures.

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We set our hearts upon transitory things, as if theythemselves were everlasting; or we, on the otherside, to possess them forever. Why do we not ratheradvance our thoughts to things that are eternal, andcontemplate the heavenly original of all beings? Whydo we not, by the divinity of reason, triumph overthe weakness of flesh and blood?

The sovereign good of man is a mind that sub-jects all things to itself, and is itself subject tonothing: his pleasures are modest, severe, andreserved: and rather the sauce or the diversion oflife than the entertainment of it. It may be somequestion whether such a man goes to heaven, or heavencomes to him: for a good man is influenced by Godhimself, and has a kind of divinity within him. Whatif one good man lives in pleasure and plenty, andanother in want and misery? It is no virtue tocontemn superfluities, but necessities: and they areboth of them equally good, though under severalcircumstances, and in different stations.

Who is there that, upon sober thoughts, wouldnot be an honest man, even for the reputation of it.Virtue you shall find in the temple, in the field, orupon walls, covered with dust and blood, in thedefence of the public. Pleasures you shall findsneaking in the stews, sweating-houses, powdered andpainted, etc. Not that pleasures are wholly to bedisclaimed, but to be used with moderation, and to bemade subservient to virtue. Good manners alwaysplease us; but wickedness is restless, and perpetual-ly changing; not for the better, but for variety. Weare torn to pieces betwixt hopes and fears; by whichmeans Providence (which is the greatest blessing ofHeaven) is turned into a mischief. Wild beasts, whenthey see their dangers, fly from them: and when theyhave escaped them they are quiet: but wretched man isequally tormented, both with things past and to come;for the memory brings back the anxiety of our pastfears, and our foresight anticipates the future;whereas the present makes no man miserable. If wefear all things that are possible, we live withoutany bounds to our miseries.

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70

E P I C T E T U S

71

72

BOOK ONE

What, then, is to be done? To make the best ofwhat is in our power, and take the rest as it natural-ly happens.

I must die: and must I die groaning too? - Befettered. Must it be lamenting too? - Exiled. Andwhat hinders me, then, but that 1 may go smiling, andcheerful, and serene? - "Betray a secret" - I willnot betray it; for this is in my own power. - "Then 1will fetter you." - What do you say, man? Fetter me?You will fetter my leg; but not Jupiter himself canget the better of my choice. "I will throw you intoprison: 1 will behead that paltry body of yours."Did I ever tell you, that I alone had a head notliable to be cut off?

This it is to have studied what ought to bestudied; to have rendered our desires and aversionsincapable of being restrained, or incurred. I mustdie: if instantly, I will die instantly; if in ashort time, I will dine first; and when the hourcomes, then I will die: How? As becomes one whorestores what is not his own.

It is you who know yourself, what value you setupon yourself, and at what rate you sell yourself:for different people sell themselves at differentprices.

Only consider at what price you sell your ownwill and choice, man: if for nothing else, that youmay not sell it for a trifle. Greatness indeed, andexcellence, perhaps belong to others, to such asSocrates.

Why, then, as we are born with a like nature, donot all, or the greater number, become such as he?

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Why, are all horses swift? Are all dogs saga-cious? What then, because nature hath not befriendedme, shall I neglect all care of myself? Heavenforbid! Epictetus is inferior to Socrates; but ifsuperior to this is enough for me. I shallnever be Mil6~| and yet I do not neglect my body; norCroesus, and yet I do not neglect my property: nor,in general, do we omit the care of any thing belong-ing to us, from a despair of arriving at the highestdegree of perfection.

If a person could be persuaded of this principleas he ought, that we are all originally descendedfrom God, and that he is the Father of gods and men,I conceive he never would think meanly or degener-ately concerning himself. Suppose Caesar were toadopt you, there would be no bearing your haughtlylooks: and will you not be elated on knowing your-self to be the son of Jupiter?

7What is the business of virtue? A prosperous

life.

8

Where is improvement, then? If any of you,withdrawing himself from externals, turns to his ownfaculty of choice, to exercise, and finish, andrender it conformable to nature; elevated, free,unrestrained, unhindered, faithful, decent: if hehath learnt too, that whoever desired, or is averseto, things out of his own power, can neither befaithful nor free, but must necessarily be changedand tossed up and down with them; must necessarilytoo be subject to others, to such as can procure orprevent what he desires or is averse to: if, risingin the morning, he observes and keeps to these rules;bathes and eats as a man of fidelity and honor; andthus, on every subject of action, exercises himselfin his principal duty; as a racer, in the business ofracing; as a public speaker, in the business ofexercising his voice: this is he who truly improves;this is he who hath not travelled in vain. But if heis wholly intent on reading books, and hath laboredthat point only, and travelled for that: I bid him gohome immediately, and not neglect his domesticaffairs; for what he travelled for is nothing. The

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only real thing is, studying how to rid his life oflamentation, and complaint, and "Alas!" and "I amundone," and misfortune, and disappointment; and tolearn what death, what exile, what prison, whatpoison is: that he may be able to say in a prison,like Socrates, "My dear Crito, if it thus pleases thegods, thus let it be"; and not -- "Wretched old man,have I kept my grey hairs for this!".

9

We offer sacrifices on the account of those whohave given us corn and the vine; and shall we notgive thanks to God, for those who have produced thatfruit in the human understanding, by which theyproceed to discover to us the true doctrine ofhappiness?

10

From every event that happens in the world it iseasy to celebrate providence, if a person hath butthese two circumstances in himself; a faculty ofconsidering what happens to each individual, and agrateful temper. Without the first he will notperceive the usefulness of things which happen, andwithout the other he will not be thankful for them.If God had made colors, and had not made the facultyof seeing them, what would have been their use?None.

11

Who is it that hath fitted the sword to thescabbard, and the scabbard to the sword? Is it noone? From the very construction of a complete work,we are used to declare positively, that it must bethe operation of some artificer, and not the effectof mere chance. Doth every such work, then demon-strate an artificer; and do not visible objects, andthe sense of seeing, and Light, demonstrate one?Doth not the difference of the sexes, and theirinclination to each other, and the use of theirseveral powers; do not these things, neither, demon-strate an artificer?

Most certainly they do.

12

God hath introduced man as a spectator ofhimself and his works; and not only as a spectator,

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but an interpreter of them. It is therefore shamefulthat man should begin and end where irrationalcreatures do. He is indeed rather to begin there,but to end where nature itself hath fixed our end;and that is in contemplation and understanding, andin a scheme of life conformable to nature.

Take care, then, not to die without beingspectators of these things. You take a journey toOlympia to behold the work of Phidias, and each ofyou think it a misfortune to die without a knowledgeof such things; and will you have no inclination tounderstand and be spectators of those works for whichthere is no need to take a journey; but which areready and at hand, even to those who bestow no pains?Will you never perceive, then, either what you are orfor what you were born; nor for what purpose you areadmitted spectators of this sight?

13

Well, and (in the present case) have not youreceived faculties by which you may support everyevent? Have not you received greatness of soul?Have not you received a manly spirit? Have not youreceived patience? What signifies to me any thingthat happens, while I have a greatness of soul? Whatshall disconcert or trouble or appear grievous to me?Shall I not make use of my faculties, to that purposefor which they were granted me, but lament and groanat what happens?

Oh, but my nose runs.

And what have you hands for, beast, but to wipeit?

But was there, then, any good reason that thereshould be such a dirty thing in the world?

And how much better is it that you should wipeyour nose, than complain?

14

What is the profession of reasoning? to lay downtrue positions; to reject false ones; and to suspendthe judgment in doubtful ones. Is it enough, then,to have learned merely this? -- Is it enough, then,for him who would not commit any mistake in the useof money, merely to have heard that we are to receive

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the good pieces, and reject the bad? - This is notenough. - What must be added besides? - That facultywhich tries and distinguishes what pieces are good,what bad. - Therefore, in reasoning too, what hathbeen already said is not enough; but it is necessarythat we should be able to prove and distinguishbetween the true and the false and the doubtful. - Itis necessary.

15

If you ask me, what is the good of man? I havenothing else to say to you but that it is a certainregulation of the choice with regard to the appear-ances of things.

16

Shall kindred to Caesar, or any other of thegreat at Rome, enable a man to live secure, abovecontempt, and void of all fear whatever; and shallnot the having God for our Maker, and Father, andGuardian free us from griefs and terrors?

17

This is the work, if any, that ought to employyour master and preceptor, if you had one; that youshould come to him, and say: "Epictetus, we can nolonger bear being tied down to this paltry body,feeding and resting and cleaning it, and hurriedabout with so many low cares on its account. Are notthese things indifferent, and nothing to us, anddeath no evil? Are not we relations of God, and didwe not come from him? Suffer us to go back thitherfrom whence we came; suffer us, at length, to bedelivered from these fetters, that chain and weigh usdown. Here thieves and robbers, and courts ofjudicature, and those who are called tyrants, seem tohave some power over us, on account of the body andits possessions. Suffer us to show them, that theyhave no power."

And in this case it would be my part to answer:"My friends, wait for God, till he shall give thesignal, and dismiss you from this service; thenreturn to him. For the present, be content to remainin this post where he has placed you. The time ofyour abode here is short, and easy to such as aredisposed like you. For what tyrant, what robber,what thief, or what courts of judicature are

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formidable to those who thus account the body and itspossessions as nothing? Stay. Depart not inconsid-erately."

18

True instruction is this: learning to will thatthings should happen as they do. And how do theyhappen? As the appointer of them hath appointed. Hehath appointed that there should be summer andwinter, plenty and dearth, virtue and vice, and allsuch contrarieties, for the harmony of the whole. Toeach of us he hath given a body and its parts, andour several properties and companions. Mindful ofthis appointment, we should enter upon a course ofeducation and instruction not to change the constitu-tion of things, which is neither put within our reachnor for our good; but that, being as they are, and astheir nature is with regard to us, we may have ourmind accommodated to what exists.

19

So that when you have shut your doors, anddarkened your room, remember never to say that youare alone, for you are not; but God is within, andyour genius is within, and what need have they oflight to see what you are doing?

20

When one consulted him, how he might persuadehis brother to forbear treating him ill: Philosophy,answered Epictetus, doth not promise to procureanything external to man, otherwise it would admitsomething beyond its proper subject-matter. For thesubject-matter of a carpenter is wood; of a statuary,brass: and so of the art of living, the subject matteris each person's own life.

21

No great thing is brought to perfection sudden-ly, when not so much as a bunch of grapes or a figis. If you tell me that you would at this minutehave a fig, I will answer you, that there must betime. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, thenripen. Is then the fruit of a fig-tree not broughtto perfection suddenly, and in one hour; and wouldyou possess the fruit of the human mind in so short atime, and without trouble? I tell you, expect nosuch thing.

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22

Ought we not, whether we are digging, or plough-ing, or eating, to sing the hymn to God? Great isGod, who has supplied us with these instruments totill the ground: great is God, who has given ushands, a power of swallowing, a stomach: who hasgiven us to grow insensibly, to breathe in sleep.Even these things we ought upon every occasion tocelebrate; but to make it the subject of the greatestand most divine hymn, that he has given us thefaculty of apprehending them, and using them in aproper way.

23

Who then is unconquerable? He whom nothing,independent of choice, disconcerts.

24

The philosophers talk paradoxes. And are therenot paradoxes in other arts? What is more paradoxi-cal than the pricking any one's eye to make him see?If a person was to tell this to one ignorant ofsurgery, would not he laugh at him? Where is thewonder, then, if, in philosophy too, many truthsappear paradoxes to the ignorant?

25

Socrates used to say that we ought not to live alife unexamined.

26

When you are going to any one of the great,remember, that there is Another, who sees from abovewhat passes; and whom you ought to please rather thanman.

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BOOK TWO

For it is not death or pain that is to befeared; but the fear of pain or death. Hence wecommend him who says:

"Death is no ill, but shamefully to die."

And thus, this paradox becomes neither imposs-ible nor a paradox, that we must be at once cautiousand courageous: courageous in what doth not dependupon choice, and cautious in what doth.

Consider, you are going to take your trial, whatyou wish to preserve, and in what to succeed. ThusSocrates, to one who put him in mind to preparehimself for his trial: "Do not you think," says he,"that I have been preparing myself for this verything my whole life?" By what kind of preparation?"I have preserved what was in my own power." What doyou mean? "I have done nothing unjust, either inpublic or in private life."

Diogenes rightly answered one who desiredletters of recommendation from him, "At first sighthe will know you to be a man: and whether you are agood or a bad man, if he hath any skill in distin-guishing, he will know likewise: and, if he hath not,he will never know it, though I should write athousand times."

How, then shall one preserve intrepidity andtranquility; and at the same time be careful, andneither rash nor indolent?

By imitating those who play at tables. The diceare indifferent; the pieces are indifferent. How doI know what will fall out? But it is my business tomanage carefully and dexterously whatever doth fallout. Thus in life, too, this is the chief business;

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distinguish and separate things, and say, "Externalsare not in my power, choice is. Where shall I seekgood and evil? Within; in what is my own." But inwhat belongs to others, call nothing good, or evil,or profit, or hurt, or anything of that sort.

God is beneficial. Good is also beneficial. Itshould seem, then, that where the essence of God is,there too is the essence of good. What, then, is theessence of God? Flesh? - By no means. An estate?Fame? - by no means. Intelligence? Knowledge?Right reason? - Certainly. Here then, without moreado, seek the essence of good.

You are a distinct portion of the essence ofGod, and contain a certain part of him in yourself.Why, then, are you so ignorant of your noble birth?Why do not you consider whence you came? Why do notyou remember, when you are eating, who you are whoeat, and whom you feed? When you are in the companyof women, when you are conversing, when you areexercising, when you are disputing, do not you knowthat it is a god you feed, a god you exercise? Youcarry a god about with you, wretch, and know nothingof it. Do you suppose I mean some god without you,of gold or silver? It is within yourself you carryhim, and profane him, without being sensible of it,by impure thoughts and unclean actions. If even theimage of God were present, you would not dare to actas you do; and when God himself is within you, andhears and sees all, are not you ashamed to think andact thus, insensible of your own nature and hatefulto God?

If God had committed some orphan to your charge,would you have been thus careless of him? He hathdelivered yourself to your care, and says, "I had noone fitter to be trusted than you: preserve thisperson for me, such as he is by nature; modest,faithful, sublime, unterrified, dispassionate,tranquil." And will you not preserve him?

9

Examine who you are. In the first place, a man:

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that is, one who hath nothing superior to the facultyof choice; but all things subject to this; and thisitself unenslaved, and unsubjected, to anything.Consider, then, from what you are distinguished byreason. You are distinguished from wild beasts: youare distinguished from cattle. Besides, you are acitizen of the world, and a part of it; not a subser-vient, but a principal part.

10

But must you lose money, in order to sufferdamage; and is there no other thing, the loss ofwhich endamages a man? If you were to part with yourskill in grammar, or in music, would you think theloss of these a damage? And, if you part withhonor, decency, and gentleness, do you think that nomatter? Yet the first are lost by some cause exter-nal, and independent on choice; but the last by ourown fault. There is no shame either in having, orlosing the one; but either not to have, or to lose,the other, is equally shameful and reproachful andunhappy.

11

What, then, shall not I hurt him who hath hurtme? Consider first what hurt is; and remember whatyou have heard from the Philosophers. For, if bothgood and evil consist in choice, see whether what yousay doth not amount to this: "Since he hath hurthimself by injuring me, shall not I hurt myself byinjuring him?"

12

The beginning of philosophy is this: The beingsensible of the disagreement of men with each other;an inquiry into the cause of this disagreement, and adisapprobation and distrust of what merely seems; acertain examination into what seems, whether it seemrightly; and an invention of some rule, like abalance for the determination of weights, like asquare for straight and crooked.

13

This is the part of philosophy: to examine andfix the rules; and to make use of them when they areknown is the business of a wise and good man.

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14

When children cry if their nurse happens to beabsent for a little while, give them a cake, and theyforget their grief. Shall we compare you to thesechildren, then?

No, indeed. For I do not desire to be pacifiedby a cake, but by right principles. And what arethey?

Such as a man ought to study all day long, so asnot to be attached to what doth not belong to him;neither to a friend, to a place, an academy, nor evento his own body, but to remember the law and to havethat constantly before his eyes. And what is thedivine law? To preserve inviolate what is properlyour own, not to claim what belongs to others; to usewhat is given us, and not desire what is not givenus; and, when anything is taken away, to restore itreadily, and to be thankful for the time you havebeen permitted the use of it, and not cry after it,like a child for its nurse and its mamma.

15

Expel grief, fear, desire, envy, malevolence,avarice, effeminacy, intemperance, from your mind.But these can be no otherwise expelled than bylooking up to God alone as your pattern; by attachingyourself to him alone, and being consecrated to hiscommands. If you wish for anything else, you will,with sighs and groans, follow what is stronger thanyou, always seeking prosperity without, and never"\ able to find it. For you seek it where it is not,\and neglect to seek it where it is.

16

What is the first business of one who studiesphilosophy? To part with self-conceit. For it isimpossible for any one to begin to learn what he hatha conceit that he already knows. Now it is ridicu-lous to suppose that a person will learn anything butwhat he desires to learn, or make an improvement inwhat he doth not learn.

17

Every habit and faculty is preserved and increas-ed by correspondent actions: as the habit of walking,by walking; of running, by running. If you would be

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a reader, read; if a writer, write. But if you donot read for a month together, but do somewhat else,you will see what will be the consequence. So aftersitting still for ten days, get up and attempt totake a long walk, and you will find how your legs areweakened. Upon the whole, then, whatever you wouldmake habitual, practice it; and, if you would notmake a thing habitual, do not practice it, buthabituate yourself to something else.

It is the same with regard to the operations ofthe soul. Whenever you are angry, be assured that itis not only a present evil, but that you have increas-ed a habit, and added fuel to a fire. When you areovercome by the company of women, do not esteem it asa single defeat; but that you have fed, that you haveincreased, your dissoluteness. For it is impossiblebut that habits and faculties must either be firstproduced, or strengthened and increased, by corres-pondent actions.

18

If you would not be of an angry temper, then, donot feed the habit. Give it nothing to help itsincrease. Be quiet at first, and reckon the days inwhich you have not been angry. I used to be angryevery day; now every other day; then every third andfourth day: and, if you miss it so long as thirtydays, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. Forhabit is first weakened, and then entirely destroyed."I was not vexed to-day; nor the next day, nor forthree or four months after; but took heed to myselfwhen some provoking things happened." Be assuredthat you are in a fine way. "To-day, when I saw ahandsome person, I did not say to myself, 0 that Icould possess her! And, How happy is her husband!(for he who says this, says too, How happy is hergallant!): nor do I go on to represent her as pre-sent, as undressed, as lying down beside me." Onthis I stroke my head, and say, Well done, Epictetus:thou hast solved a pretty sophism; a much prettierthan one very celebrated in the schools. But if eventhe lady should happen to be willing, and give meintimations of it, and send for me and press my hand,and place herself next to me, and I should thenforbear and get the victory, that would be a sophismbeyond all the subtleties of logic. This, and notdisputing artfully, is the proper subject for exul-tation.

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19

Concerning those who embrace philosophy only inword: Who, then, is a Stoic? As we call that aPhidian statue, which is formed according to the artof Phidias, so show me some one person, formedaccording to the principles which he professes. Showme one who is sick, and happy, in danger, and happy;dying, and happy; exiled, and happy; disgraced, andhappy. Show him me, for, by heaven, I long to see aStoic. But (you will say) you have not one perfectlyformed. Show me, then, one who is forming, one whois approaching towards this character. Do me thisfavor. Do not refuse an old man a sight which hehath never yet seen. Do you suppose that you are toshow the Jupiter or Minerva of Phidias, a work ofivory or gold? Let any of you show me a human soul,willing to have the same sentiments with those ofGod, not to accuse either God or man, not to bedisappointed of its desire, or incur its aversion,not to be angry, not to be envious, not to bejealous, in a word, willing from a man to become agod, and, in this poor mortal body, aiming to havefellowship with Jupiter. Show him to me. But youcannot.

20

True and evident propositions must, of neces-sity, be used even by those who contradict them.And, perhaps, one of the strongest proofs that thereis such a thing as evidence, is the necessity whichthose who contradict it are under to make use of it.If a person, for instance, should deny that anythingis universally true, he will be obliged to assert thecontrary, that nothing is universally true. What,wretch, not even this itself? For what is this butto say, that everything universal is false? Again,if any one should come and say, "Know that there isnothing to be known, but all things are uncertain";or another, "Believe me, and it will be the betterfor you, no man ought to be believe in anything"; ora third, "Learn from me, that nothing is to belearned; I tell you this, and will teach the proof ofit, if you please." Now what difference is therebetween such as these, and those who call themselvesAcademics? Who say to us, "Be convinced, that no oneever is convinced. Believe us, that nobody believesanybody."

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21

Thus also, when Epicurus would destroy thenatural relation of mankind to each other, he makesuse of the very thing he is destroying. For whatdoth he say? "Be not deceived, be not seduced andmistaken. There is no natural relation betweenreasonable beings. Believe me. Those who sayotherwise mislead and impose upon you." Why are youconcerned for us, then? Let us be deceived. Youwill fare never the worse if all the rest of us arepersuaded that there is a natural relation betweenmankind, and that it is by all means to be preserved.Nay, it will be much safer and better. Why do yougive yourself any trouble about us, sir? Why do youbreak your rest for us? Why do you light your lamp?Why do you rise early? Why do you compose so manyvolumes? Is it that none of us should be deceivedconcerning the gods; as if they took any care of men?Or that we may not suppose the essence of goodconsists in anything but pleasure? For, if thesethings be so, lie down and sleep, and lead the lifeof which you judge yourself worthy - that of a merereptile. Eat and drink, and satisfy your passion forwomen, and ease yourself, and snore. What is it toyou whether others think right or wrong about thesethings?

22

To whatever objects a person devotes his atten-tion, these objects he probably loves. Do men everdevote their attention, then, to evils? - By nomeans. Or even to what doth not concern them? - No,nor this. It remains, then, that good must be thesole object of their attention; and, if of theirattention, of their love too. Whoever, therefore,understands good is capable likewise of love; and hewho cannot distinguish good from evil, and thingsindifferent from both, how is it possible that he canlove? The prudent person alone, then, is capable ofloving.

23

If, therefore, to speak properly belongs to onewho is skillful, do not you see, that to hear withbenefit belongs likewise to one who is skillful? Hewho would hear philosophers needs some kind ofexercise in hearing.

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2kWhen one of the company said to him, "Convince

me that logic is necessary": Would you have medemonstrate it to you? says he. - "Yes." Then I mustuse a demonstrative form of argument. - "Granted."And how will you know then whether I argue sophis-tically? On this, the man being silent: You see,says he, that even by your own confession, logic isnecessary; since, without its assistance, you cannotlearn so much as whether it be necessary or not.

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BOOK THREE

1

Of ascetic exercise: We are not to carry ourexercises beyond nature, nor merely to attractadmiration; for thus we, who call ourselves philoso-phers, shall not differ from jugglers.

As bad performers cannot sing alone but in achorus, so some persons cannot walk alone. If youare anything, walk alone, talk by yourself, and donot skulk in the chorus. Think a little at last;look about you, sift yourself, that you my know whatyou are.

I am better than you, for my father hath beenconsul. I have been a tribune, says another, and notyou. If we were horses, would you say, My father wasswifter than yours? I have abundance of oats andhay, and fine trappings? What now, if while you weresaying this, I should answer, "Be it so. Let us runa race, then." Is there nothing in man analogous toa race in horses, by which it may be known which isbetter or worse? Is there not honor, fidelity,justice? Show yourself the better in these, that youmay be the better, as a man. But if you tell me youcan kick violently, I will tell you again that youvalue yourself on the property of an ass.

He who frequently converses with others, eitherin discourse or entertainments, or in any familiarway of living, must necessarily either become likehis companions, or bring them over to his own way.For, if a dead coal be applied to a live one, eitherthe first will quench the last, or the last kindlethe first. Since, then, the danger is so great,caution must be used in entering into these familiar-ities with the vulgar; remembering that it is impos-sible to touch a chimney-sweeper without beingpartaker of his soot.

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Do not you know that a wise and good man dothnothing for appearance, but for the sake of havingacted well?

Why, do you not know, then, that the origin ofall human evils and of mean-spiritedness and coward-ice is not death, but rather the fear of death?Fortify yourself, therefore, against this. Hitherlet all your discourses, readings, exercises, tend.And then you will know that thus alone are men madefree.

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BOOK FOUR

Consider in animals what is our idea of freedom.Some keep tame lions, and feed and even carry themabout with them; and who will say that any such lionis free? Nay, doth he not live the more slavishlythe more he lives at ease? And who, that had senseand reason, would wish to be one of those lions?Again, how much do birds, which are taken and kept ina cage, suffer by trying to fly away? Nay, some ofthem starve with hunger rather than undergo such alife; then, as many of them as are saved, it isscarcely and with difficulty and in a pining condi-tion, and the moment they find any hole, out theyhop. Such a desire have they of natural freedom, andto be at their own disposal and unrestrained.

Do you think freedom to be something great andnoble and valuable? - "How should 1 not?" Is itpossible, then, that he who acquires anything sogreat and valuable and noble should be of an abjectspirit? - "It is not." Whenever, then, you see anyone subject to another, and flattering him, contraryto his own opinion, confidently say that he too isnot free; and not only if he doth it for a supper,but even if it be for a government, nay, a consul-ship; but call those indeed little slaves who actthus for the sake of little things, and the others,as they deserve, great slaves.

What is it, then, that makes a man free andindependent? For neither riches, nor consulship, norcommand of provinces, or kingdoms, make him so; butsomething else must be found. What is it thatpreserves any one from being hindered and restrainedin writing? - "The science of writing." In music? -"The science of music." Therefore, in life, too, thescience of living. As you have heard it in general,then, consider it likewise in particulars. Is itpossible for him to be unrestrained who desires anyof those things that are in the power of others?"No." Can he avoid being hindered? - "No." There-fore neither can he be free.

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And what if my fellow-traveller himself shouldturn against me, and rob me? What shall I do? Iwill be the friend of Caesar. While I am his compan-ion, no one will injure me. Yet, before I can becomeillustrious enough for this, what must I bear andsuffer 1 How often, and by how many, must I berobbed! And then, if I do become the friend ofCaesar, he too is mortal; and, if by any accident heshould become my enemy, where can I best retreat? Toa desert? Well, and doth not a fever come there?What can be done, then? Is it not possible to find afellow-traveller, safe, faithful, brave, incapable ofbeing surprised? A person who reasons thus under-stands and considers that, if he joins himself toGod, he shall go safely through his journey. - "Howdo you mean, join himself?" That whatever is thewill of God may be his will too; whatever is not thewill of God may not be his. "How, then, can this bedone?" - Why, how otherwise than by considering theexertions of God's power, and his administration?What hath he given me, my own, and independent? Whathath he reserved to himself? He hath given mewhatever depends upon choice. The things in my powerhe hath made incapable of hindrance or restraint.

After you have received all, and even your veryself, from another, are you angry with the giver, andcomplain if he takes anything away from you? Who areyou, and for what purpose did you come? Was it nothe who brought you here? Was it not he who showedyou the light? Hath not he given you assistants?Hath not he given you senses? Hath not he given youreason? And as whom did he bring you here? Was itnot as a mortal? Was it not as one to live, with alittle portion of flesh, upon earth, and to see hisadministration; to behold the spectacle with him, andpartake of the festival for a short time? Afterhaving beheld the spectacle, and the solemnity, then,as long as it is permitted you, will you not departwhen he leads you out, adoring and thankful for whatyou have heard and seen?

Correct your principles. See that nothingcleave to you which is not your own; nothing grow toyou that may give you pain when it is torn away. And

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say, when you are daily exercising yourself as you dohere, not that you act the philosopher (admit this tobe an insolent title) , but that you are assertingyour freedom. For this is true freedom.

Are you free yourself, then? (it will be said).By heaven, I wish and pray for it. But I cannot yetface my masters. I still pay a regard to my body,and set a great value on keeping it whole, though atthe same time it is not whole. But I can show youone who was free, that you may no longer seek anexample. Diogenes was free. - "How so?" Notbecause he was of free parents, for he was not; butbecause he was so himself, because he had cast awayall the handles of slavery, nor was there any way ofgetting at him, nor anywhere to lay hold on him toenslave him. Everything sat loose upon him, every-thing only just hung on. If you took hold on hispossessions, he would rather let them go than followyou for them; if on his leg, he let go his leg; ifhis body, he let go his body; acquaintance, friends,country, just the same. For he knew whence he hadthem, and from who and upon what conditions hereceived them. But he would never have forsaken histrue parents the gods, and his real country, nor havesuffered any one to be more dutiful and obedient tothem than he; nor would any one have died morereadily for his country than he.

8

And that you may not think that I show you theexample of a man clear of encumbrances, without awife or children, or country or friends, or relationsto bend and draw him aside; take Socrates, andconsider him, who had a wife and children, but not ashis own; a country, friends, relations, but only aslong as it was proper, and in the manner that wasproper; and all these he submitted to the law and tothe obedience due to it. Hence, when it was properto fight he was the first to go out, and exposedhimself to danger without the least reserve. Butwhen he was sent by the thirty tyrants to apprehendLeo, because he esteemed it a base action he did notdeliberate about it, though he knew that, perhaps, hemight die for it. But what did that signify to him?For it was something else that he wanted to preserve,not his paltry flesh; but his fidelity, his honor,free from attack or subjection. And afterwards, when

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he was to make a defence for his life, doth he behavelike one who had children? Or a wife? No; but likea single man. And how doth he behave when he was todrink the poison? When he might have escaped, andCrito persuaded him to get out of prison for the sakeof his children, what doth he say? Doth he esteem ita fortunate opportunity? How should he? But heconsiders what is becoming, and neither sees norregards anything else. "For I am not desirous," sayshe, "to preserve this pitiful body, but that [part ofme] which is improved and preserved by justice, andimpaired and destroyed by injustice." Socrates isnot to be basely preserved. He who refused to votefor what the Athenians commanded, he who contemnedthe thirty tyrants, he who held such discourses onvirtue and moral beauty: such a man is not to bepreserved by a base action; but is preserved bydying, not by running away. For even a good actor ispreserved by leaving off when he ought, not by goingon to act beyond his time. "What, then, will becomeof your children?" - "If I had gone away to Thessalyyou would have taken care of them; and will there beno one to take care of them when I am departed toHades?" You see how he ridicules and plays withdeath. But, if it had been you or I, we shouldpresently have proved, by philosophical arguments,that those who act unjustly are to be repaid in theirown way; and should have added, "If I escape, I shallbe of use to many; if I die, to none." Nay, if ithad been necessary, we should have crept through amouse-hole to get away. But how should we have beenof use to any? For where must they have dwelt? Ifwe were useful alive, should we not be of still moreuse to mankind by dying when we ought, and as weought? And now the remembrance of the death ofSocrates is not less, but even more useful to theworld than that of the things which he did and saidwhen alive.

When you have lost anything external, have thisalways at hand, what you have got instead of it; and,if that be of more value, do not by any means say, "Iam a loser"; whether it be a horse for an ass, an oxfor a sheep, a good action for a piece of money, adue composedness of mind for a dull jest, or modestyfor indecent discourse. By continually rememberingthis, you will preserve your character such as itought to be.

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10

Now, the very nature of every one is to pursuegood, to avoid evil, to esteem him as an enemy andbetrayer who deprives us of the one, and involves usin the other, though he be a brother, or a son, orfather. For nothing is more nearly related to usthan good.

11

Never commend or censure any one for commonactions, nor ascribe them either to skillfulness orunskillfulness, and thus you will at once be freeboth from rashness and ill-nature. Such a one bathesin a mighty little time. Doth he therefore do itill? Not at all. But what? In a mighty littletime. - "Is everything well done, then?" - By nomeans. But what is done from good principles is welldone; what from bad ones, ill. But till you knowfrom what principles any one acts, neither commendnor censure the action.

12

At what employment, then, would you have deathfind you? For my part, I would have it some humane,beneficent, public-spirited, gallant action. But ifI cannot be found doing any such great things, yet,at least, I would be doing what I am incapable ofbeing restrained from, what is given me to do,correcting myself, improving that faculty which makesuse of the appearances of things, to procure tranquil-lity, and render to the several relations of lifetheir due; and, if I am so fortunate, advancing tothe third topic, a security of judging right. Ifdeath overtakes me in such a situation, it is enoughfor me if I can stretch out my hands to God and say,"The opportunities which thou hast given me ofcomprehending and following [the rules] of thyadministration I have not neglected. As far as in melay, I have not dishonored thee. See how I have usedmy perceptions, how my pre-conceptions. Have I atany time found fault with thee? Have I been dis-contented at thy dispensations, or wished themotherwise? Have I transgressed the relations oflife? I thank thee that thou hast brought me intobeing. I am satisfied with the time that I haveenjoyed the things which thou hast given me. Receivethem back again, and assign them to whatever place

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thou wilt; for they were all thine, and them gavestthem to me."

13

When you let go your attention for a littlewhile, do not fancy you may recover it whenever youplease; but remember this, that by means of the faultof today your affairs must necessarily be in a worsecondition for the future.

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FRAGMENTS OF EPICTETUS

It is better to offend seldom (owning it when wedo), and act often wisely, than to say we seldom err,and offend frequently.

Be not so much ashamed of what is void of glory,as studious to shun what is void of truth.

If you would be well spoken of, learn to speakwell of others. And, when you have learned to speakwell of them, endeavor likewise to do well to them;and thus you will reap the fruit of being well spokenof by them.

If you would live with tranquillity and content,endeavor to have all who live with you good. And youwill have them good by instructing the willing anddismissing the unwilling.

5

No one who is a lover of money, a lover ofpleasure, or a lover of glory, is likewise a lover ofmankind; but only he who is a lover of virtue.

When we are invited to an entertainment, we takewhat we find; and if any one should bid the master ofthe house set fish or tarts before him, he would bethought absurd. Yet, in the world, we ask the godsfor what they do not give us, and that though theyhave given us so many things.

They are pretty fellows indeed, said he, whovalue themselves on things not in our own power. Iam a better man than you, says one, for I have manyestates, and you are pining with hunger. I have beenconsul, says another; I am a governor, a third; and Ihave a fine head of hair, says a fourth. Yet one

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horse doth not say to another, "I am better than you,for I have a great deal of hay and a great deal ofoats; and I have a gold bridle and embroideredtrappings"; but, "I am swifter than you." And everycreature is better or worse, from its own good or badqualities. Is man, then, the only creature whichhath no natural good quality? And must we considerhair, and clothes, and ancestors [to judge of him]?

8

Examine yourself, whether you had rather be richor happy; and, if rich, be assured that this isneither a good, nor altogether in your own power;but, if happy, that this is both a good, and in yourown power, since the one is a temporary loan offortune and the other depends on choice.

As it is better to lie straitened for room upona little couch in health, than to toss upon a widebed in sickness, so it is better to contract yourselfwithin the compass of a small fortune and be happy,than to have a great one and be wretched.

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It is not poverty that causes sorrow, butcovetous desires; nor do riches deliver from fear,but reasoning. If, therefore, you acquire a habit ofreasoning, you will neither desire riches nor com-plain of poverty.

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It is better, by yielding to truth, to conqueropinion; than, by yielding to opinion, to be defeatedby truth.

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It is better, by living with one free person, tobe fearless and free, than to be a slave in companyof many.

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Whenever any one exceeds moderation, the mostdelightful things may become the most undelightful.

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14

If you would give a just sentence, mind neitherparties nor pleaders, but the cause itself.

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You will commit the fewest faults in judging, ifyou are faultless in your own life.

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When Pittacus had been unjustly treated by someperson, and had the power of chastising him, he lethim go; saying, "Forgiveness is better than punish-ment; for the one is the proof of a gentle, the otherof a savage nature."

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Consult nothing so much, upon every occasion, assafety. Now it is safer to be silent than to speak;and omit speaking whatever is not accompanied withsense and reason.

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As lighthouses in havens, by kindling a greatflame from a few fagots, afford a considerableassistance to ships wandering on the sea: so anillustrious person, in a state harassed by storms,while he is contented with little himself, confersgreat benefits on his fellow-citizens.

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As, if you were to breed lions, you would not besolicitous about the magnificence of their dens, butthe qualities of the animals themselves: so, if youundertake to preside over your fellow-citizens, benot so solicitous about the magnificence of thebuildings, as careful of the fortitude of those whoinhabit them.

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As neither a goose is alarmed by gaggling, nor asheep by bleating: so neither be you terrified by thevoice of a senseless multitude.

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As the sun doth not wait for prayers and incan-tations to be prevailed on to rise, but immediately

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shines forth, and is received with universal saluta-tion: so, neither do you wait for applauses andshouts and praises, in order to do good; but be avoluntary benefactor, and you will be beloved likethe sun.

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A ship ought not to be fixed by one anchor, norlife on a single hope.

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We ought not to stretch either our legs or ourhopes to a point they cannot reach.

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Thales, being asked what was the most univer-sally enjoyed of all things, answered, "Hope; forthey have it who have nothing else."

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Pyrrho used to say, "There is no differencebetween living and dying." A person asked him, Why,then, do not you die? "Because," answered Pyrrho,"there is no difference."

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If you always remember that God stands by, aninspector of whatever you do either in soul or body,you will never err, either in your prayers oractions, and you will have God abiding with you.

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Epictetus being asked how a person might grievehis enemy, answered, "By doing as well as possiblehimself."

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Let no wise man estrange himself from thegovernment of the state; for it is both impious towithdraw from being useful to those that need it, andcowardly to give way to the worthless. For it isfoolish to choose rather to be governed ill, than togovern well.

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29

[Remember] that such is, and was, and will be,the nature of the world; nor is it possible thatthings should be otherwise than they now are, andthat not only men and other animals upon earthpartake of this change and transformation, but thedivinities also. For, indeed, even the four elementsare transformed and changed up and down; and earthbecomes water, and water air, and this again istransformed into other things. And the same mannerof transformation happens from things above to thosebelow. Whoever endeavors to turn his mind towardsthese points, and persuade himself to receive withwillingness what cannot be avoided, he will pass hislife with moderation and harmony.

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THE ENCHIRIDION, OR MANUAL,

OF EPICTETUS

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Of things, some are in our power and others not.In our power are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion,and, in one word, whatever are our own actions. Notin our power are body, property, reputation, command,and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

Now, the things in our power are by nature free,unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our power,weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others.Remember, then, that if you suppose things by natureslavish to be free, and what belongs to others yourown, you will be hindered; you will lament; you willbe disturbed; you will find fault both with gods andmen. But if you suppose that only to be your ownwhich is your own, and what belongs to others such asit really is, no one will ever compel you; no onewill restrain you; you will do no one thing againstyour will; no one will hurt you; you will not have anenemy, for you will suffer no harm.

Aiming therefore at such great things, rememberthat you must not allow yourself to be carried, evenwith a slight tendency, towards the attainment of theothers: but that you must entirely quit some of themand for the present postpone the rest. But if youwould both have these and command and riches at once,perhaps you will not gain so much as the latter,because you aim at the former too: but you willabsolutely fail of the former, by which alonehappiness and freedom are procured.

Study therefore to be able to say to every harshappearance, "You are but an appearance, and notabsolutely the thing you appear to be." And thenexamine it by those rules which you have, and first,and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the thingswhich are in our own power, or those which are not;and, if it concerns anything not in our power, beprepared to say that it is nothing to you.

Remember that desire promises the attainment ofthat of which you are desirous; and aversion promisesthe avoiding of that to which you are averse; and he

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who fails of the object of his desire is disappoint-ed, and he who incurs the object of his aversionwretched. If, then, you confine your aversion tothose objects only which are contrary to the naturaluse of your faculties, which you have in your ownpower, you will never incur anything to which you areaverse. But if you are averse to sickness, or death,or poverty, you will be wretched. Remove aversion,then, from all things that are not in our power, andtransfer it to things contrary to the nature of whatis in our power. But, for the present, totallysuppress desire: for, if you desire any of the thingsnot in our own power, you must necessarily bedisappointed; and of those which are, and which itwould be laudable to desire, nothing is yet in yourpossession. Use only [the requisite acts] of pursuitand avoidance; and even these lightly, and withgentleness and reservation.

With regard to whatever objects either delightthe mind, or contribute to use, or are loved withfond affection, remember to tell yourself of whatnature they are, beginning from the most triflingthings. If you are fond of an earthen cup, that itis an earthen cup of which you are fond; for thus, ifit is broken, you will not be disturbed. If you kissyour child, or your wife, that you kiss a beingsubject to the accidents of humanity; and thus youwill not be disturbed if either of them dies.

When you are going about any action, remindyourself of what nature the action is. If you aregoing to bathe, represent to yourself the thingswhich usually happen in the bath: some personsdashing the water; some pushing and crowding; othersgiving abusive language; and others stealing. Andthus you will more safely go about this action if yousay to yourself, "I will now go bathe, and preservemy own mind in a state conformable to nature." Andin the same manner with regard to every other action.For this, if any impediment arises in bathing, youwill have it ready to say, "It was not only to bathethat I desired, but to preserve my mind in a stateconformable to nature; and I shall not preserve it soif I am out of humor at things that happen."

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Men are disturbed, not by things, but by theprinciples and notions which they form concerningthings. Death, for instance, is not terrible, elseit would have appeared so to Socrates. But theterror consists in our notion of death that it isterrible. When therefore we are hindered, ordisturbed, or grieved, let us never impute it toothers, but to ourselves; that is, to our ownprinciples. It is the action of an uninstructedperson to lay the fault of his own bad condition uponothers; of one entering upon instruction to lay thefault on himself; and of one perfectly instructed,neither on others nor on himself.

Be not elated on any excellence not your own.If a horse should be elated and say, "I amhandsome," it would be supportable. But when you areelated, and say, "I have a handsome horse," know thatyou are elated on what is, in fact, only the good ofthe horse. What, then is your own? The use of theappearances of things. So that when you behaveconformably to nature in the use of theseappearances, you will be elated with reason; for youwill be elated on some good of your own.

As in a voyage, when the ship is at anchor, ifyou go on shore to get water you may amuse yourselfwith picking up a shellfish, or an onion, in yourway, but your thoughts ought to be bent towards theship, and perpetually attentive lest the captainshould call, and then you must leave all thesethings, that you may not be thrown into the vessel,bound neck and heels like a sheep: thus likewise inlife, if, instead of an onion or a shellfish, such athing as a wife or a child be granted you, there isno objection; but if the captain calls, run to theship, leave all these things, regard none of them.But if you are old, never go far from the ship: lest,when you are called, you should be unable to come intime.

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Require not things to happen as you wish, butwish them to happen as they do happen, and you willgo on well.

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Sickness is an impediment to the body, but notto the faculty of choice, unless itself pleases.Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to thefaculty of choice: and say this to yourself withregard to everything that happens. For you will findit to be an impediment to something else, but not toyourself.

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Upon every accident, remember to turn towardsyourself and inquire what powers you have for makinga proper use of it. If you see a handsome person,you will find continence a power against this: ifpain be presented to you, you will find fortitude: ifill language, you will find patience. And thushabituated, the appearances of things will not hurryyou away along with them.

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Never say of anything, "I have lost it"; but, "Ihave restored it." Is your child dead? It isrestored. Is your wife dead? She is restored. Isyour estate taken away? Well, and is not thatlikewise restored? "But he who took it away is a badman." What is it to you by whose hands he, who gaveit, hath demanded it back again? While he gives youto possess it, take care of it; but as of somethingnot your own, as passengers do of an inn.

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If you would improve, lay aside such reasoningsas these: "If I neglect my affairs, I shall not havea maintenance; if I do not correct my servant, hewill be good for nothing." For it is better to diewith hunger, exempt from grief and fear, than to livein affluence with perturbation; and it is better yourservant should be bad, than you unhappy.

Begin therefore from little things. Is a littleoil spilt? A little wine stolen? Say to yourself,"This is the purchase paid for apathy, fortranquillity, and nothing is to be had for nothing."And when you call your servant, consider it ispossible he may not come to your call; or, if hedoth, that he may not do what you would have him do.But he is by no means of such importance that itshould be in his power to give you any disturbance.

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13

If you would improve, be content to be thoughtfoolish and stupid with regard to externals. Do notwish to be thought to know anything; and though youshould appear to be somebody to others, distrustyourself. For, be assured, it is not easy at once topreserve your faculty of choice in a stateconformable to nature, and [to secure] externals; butwhile you are careful about the one, you must ofnecessity neglect the other.

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If you wish your children, and your wife, andyour friends to live for ever, you are stupid; foryou wish things to be in your power which are not so,and what belongs to others to be your own. Solikewise, if you wish your servant to be withoutfault, you are a fool; for you wish vice not to bevice, but something else. But, if you wish to haveyour desires undis appointed, this is in your ownpower. Exercise, therefore, what is in your power.He is the master of every other person who is able toconfer or remove whatever that person wishes eitherto have or to avoid. Whoever, then, would be free,let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing whichdepends on others else he must necessarily be aslave.

15

Remember that you must behave [in life] as at anentertainment. Is anything brought round to you?Put out your hand and take your share withmoderation. Doth it pass by you? Do not stop it.Is it not yet come? Do not stretch forth your desiretowards it, but wait till it reaches you. Thus dowith regard to children, to a wife, to public posts,to riches, and you will be some time or other aworthy partner of the feasts of the gods. And if youdo not so much as take the things which are setbefore you, but are able even to despise them, thenyou will not only be a partner of the feasts of thegods, but of their empire also. For, by thus doing,Diogenes and Heraclitus, and others like them,deservedly became, and were called, divine.

16

When you see any one weeping for grief, eitherthat his son is gone abroad, or dead, or that he hath

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suffered in his affairs, take heed that the appear-ance may not hurry you away with it. But immediatelymake the distinction within your own mind, and haveit ready to say, "It is not the accident thatdistresses this person, for it doth not distressanother man; but the judgment which he formsconcerning it." As far as words go, however, do notdisdain to condescend to him, and even, if it shouldso happen, to groan with him. Take heed, however,not to groan inwardly too.

17

Remember that you are an actor in a drama, ofsuch a kind as the author pleases to make it. Ifshort, of a short one; if long, of a long one. If itbe his pleasure you should act a poor man, a cripple,a governor, or a private person, see that you act itnaturally. For this is your business, to act wellthe character assigned you; to choose it isanother's.

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When a raven happens to croak unluckily, let notthe appearance hurry you away with it, butimmediately make the distinction to yourself, andsay, "None of these things is portended to me; buteither to my paltry body, or property, or reputation,or children, or wife. But to me all portents arelucky, if I will. For whichever of these thingshappens, it is in my power to derive advantage fromit."

19

You may be unconquerable, if you enter into nocombat in which it is not in your own power toconquer. When, therefore, you see any one eminent inhonors, or power, or in high esteem on any otheraccount, take heed not to be hurried away with theappearance, and to pronounce him happy, for, if theessence of good consists in things in our own power,there will be no room for envy or emulation. But,for your part, do not wish to be a general, or asenator, or a consul, but to be free; and the onlyway to this is a contempt of things not in our ownpower.

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20

Remember, that not he who gives ill language ora blow affronts, but the principle which representsthese things as affronting. When, therefore, any oneprovokes you, be assured that it is your own opinionwhich provokes you. Try, therefore, in the firstplace, not to be hurried away with the appearance.For if you once gain time and respite, you will moreeasily command yourself.

21

Let death and exile, and all other things whichappear terrible be daily before your eyes, butchiefly death, and you will never entertain anyabject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.

22

If you have an earnest desire of attaining tophilosophy, prepare yourself from the very first tobe laughed at, to be sneered by the multitude, tohear them say, "He is returned to us a philosopherall at once," and "Whence this supercilious look?"Now, for your part, do not have a supercilious lookindeed; but keep steadily to those things whichappear best to you as one appointed by God to thisstation. For remember that, if you adhere to thesame point, those very persons who at first ridiculedwill afterwards admire you. But if you are conqueredby them, you will incur a double ridicule.

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If you ever happen to turn your attention toexternals, so as to wish to please any one, beassured that you have ruined your scheme or life. Becontented, then, in everything with being aphilosopher; and, if you wish to be thought solikewise by any one, appear so to yourself, and itwill suffice you.

24

Let not such considerations as these distressyou. "I shall live in dishonor, and be nobodyanywhere." For, if dishonor is an evil, you can nomore be involved in any evil by the means of another,than be engaged in anything base. Is it any businessof yours, then, to get power, or to be admitted to anentertainment? By no means. How, then, after all,

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is this a dishonor? And how is it true that you willbe nobody anywhere, when you ought to be somebody inthose things only which are in your own power, inwhich you may be of the greatest consequence? "Butmy friends will be unassisted." - What do you mean byunassisted? They will not have money from you, norwill you make them Roman citizens. Who told you,then, that these are among the things in our ownpower, and not the affair of others? And who cangive to another the things which he hath not himself?"Well, but get them, then, that we too may have ashare." If I can get them with the preservation ofmy own honor and fidelity and greatness of mind, showme the way and I will get them; but if you require meto lose my own proper good that you may gain what isno good, consider how unequitable and foolish youare. Besides, which would you rather have, a sum ofmoney, or a friend of fidelity and honor? Ratherassist me, then, to gain this character than requireme to do those things by which I may lose it. Well,but my country, say you, as far as depends on me,will be unassisted. Here again, what assistance isthis you mean? "It will not have porticoes nor bathsof your providing." And what signifies that? Why,neither doth a smith provide it with shoes, or ashoemaker with arms. It is enough if every one fullyperforms his own proper business. And were you tosupply it with another citizen of honor and fidelity,would not he be of use to it? Yes. Thereforeneither are you yourself useless to it. "What place,then, say you, shall I hold in the state?" Whateveryou can hold with the preservation of your fidelityand honor. But if, by desiring to be useful to that,you lose these, of what use can you be to yourcountry when you become faithless and void of shame?

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Is any one preferred before you at an enter-tainment, or in a compliment, or in being admitted toa consultation? If these things are good, you oughtto rejoice that he hath got them; and if they areevil, do not be grieved that you have not got them.And remember that you cannot, without using the samemeans [which others do] to acquire things not in ourown power, expect to be thought worthy of an equalshare of them. For how can he who doth not frequentthe door of any [great] man, doth not attend him,doth not praise him, have an equal share with him who

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doth. You are unjust, then, and unsatiable, if youare unwilling to pay the price for which these thingsare sold, and would have them for nothing. For howmuch are lettuces sold? A halfpenny, for instance.If another, then, paying a halfpenny, takes thelettuces, and you, not paying it, go without them, donot imagine that he hath gained any advantage overyou. For as he hath the lettuces, so you have thehalfpenny which you did not give. So, in the presentcase, you have not been invited to such a person'sentertainment, because you have not paid him theprice for which a supper is sold. It is sold forpraise; it is sold for attendance. Give him then thevalue, if it be for your advantage. But if youwould, at the same time, not pay the one and yetreceive the other, you are unsatiable, and a block-head. Have you nothing, then, instead of the supper?Yes, indeed, you have; the not praising him, whom youdo not like to praise; the not bearing with hisbehavior at coming in.

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The will of nature may be learned from thosethings in which we do not differ from each other.As, when our neighbor's boy hath broken a cup, or thelike, we are presently ready to say, "These arethings that will happen." Be assured, then, thatwhen your own cup likewise is broken, you ought to beaffected just as when another's cup was broken.Transfer this, in like manner, to greater things. Isthe child or wife of another dead? There is no onewho would not say, "This is a human accident." Butif any one's own child happens to die, it is present-ly, Alas! how wretched am I!" But it should beremembered how we are affected in hearing the samething concerning others.

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As a mark is not set up for the sake of missingthe aim, so neither doth the nature of evil exist inthe world.

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If a person had delivered up your body to anyone whom he met in his way, you would certainly beangry. And do you feel no shame in delivering upyour own mind to be disconcerted and confounded byany one who happens to give you ill language?

Ill

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In every affair consider what precedes andfollows, and then undertake it. Otherwise you willbegin with spirit; but not having thought of theconsequences, when some of them appear you willshamefully desist. "I would conquer at the Olympicgames." But consider what precedes and follows, andthen, if it be for your advantage, engage in theaffair. You must conform to rules, submit to a diet,refrain from dainties; exercise your body, whetheryou choose it or not, at a stated hour, in heat andcold; you must drink no cold water, nor sometimeseven wine. In a word, you must give yourself up toyour master, as to a physician. Then, in the combat,you may be thrown into a ditch, dislocate your arm,turn your ankle, swallow abundance of dust, bewhipped, and, after all, lose the victory. When youhave reckoned up all this, if your inclination stillholds, set about the combat. Otherwise, take notice,you will behave like children, who sometimes playwrestlers, sometimes gladiators, sometimes blow atrumpet, and sometimes act a tragedy, when theyhappen to have seen and admired these shows. Thusyou will be at one time a wrestler, at another agladiator, now a philosopher, then an orator; butwith your whole soul, nothing at all. Like an ape,you mimic all you see, and one thing after another issure to please you, but is out of favor as soon asit becomes familiar. For you have never entered uponanything considerately, nor after having viewed thewhole matter on all sides, or made any scrutiny intoit, but rashly, and with a cold inclination. Thussome, when they have seen a philosopher and heard aman speaking like Euphrates (though, indeed, who canspeak like him?), have a mind to be philosophers too.Consider first, man, what the matter is, and whatyour own nature is able to bear. If you would be awrestler, consider your shoulders, your back, yourthighs; for different persons are made for differentthings. Do you think that you can act as you do, andbe a philosopher? That you can eat and drink, and beangry and discontented as you are now? You mustwatch, you must labor, you must get the better ofcertain appetites, must quit your acquaintance, bedespised by your servant, be laughed at by those youmeet; come off worse than others in everything, inmagistracies, in honors, in courts of judicature.When you have considered all these things round,approach, if you please; if, by parting with them you

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have a mind to purchase apathy, freedom, and tran-quillity. If not, do not come hither; do not, likechildren, be one while a philosopher, then apublican, then an orator, and then one of Caesar'sofficers. These things are not consistent. You mustbe one man, either good or bad. You must cultivateeither your own ruling faculty or externals, andapply yourself either to things within or withoutyou; that is, be either a philosopher, or one of thevulgar.

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Duties are universally measured by relations.Is any one a father? In this are implied, as due,taking care of him, submitting to him in all things,patiently receiving his reproaches, his correction.But he is a bad father. Is your natural tie then toa good father? No; but to a father. Is a brotherunjust? Well, preserve your own situation towardshim. Consider not what he doth, but what you are todo to keep your own faculty of choice in a stateconformable to nature. For another will not hurt youunless you please. You will then be hurt when youthink you are hurt. In this manner, therefore, youwill find, from the idea of a neighbor, a citizen, ageneral, the corresponding duties if you accustomyourself to contemplate the several relations.

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Be assured that the essential property of pietytowards the gods is to form right opinions concerningthem, as existing and as governing the universe withgoodness and justice. And fix yourself in thisresolution, to obey them, and yield to them, andwillingly follow them in all events, as produced bythe most perfect understanding. For thus you willnever find fault with the gods nor accuse them asneglecting you. And it is not possible for this tobe effected any other way than by withdrawing your-self from things not in our own power, and placinggood or evil in those only which are. For if yousuppose any of the things not in our own power to beeither good or evil, when you are disappointed ofwhat you wish, or incur what you would avoid, youmust necessarily find fault with and blame theauthors. For every animal is naturally formed toflee and abhor things that appear hurtful, and thecauses of them; and to pursue and admire those which

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appear beneficial, and the causes of them. It isimpracticable, then, that one who supposes himself tobe hurt should rejoice in the person who, he thinks,hurts him, just as it is impossible to rejoice in thehurt itself. Hence, also, a father is reviled by ason, when he doth not impart to him the things whichhe takes to be good; and the supposing empire to be agood made Polynices and Eteocles mutually enemies.On this account the husbandman, the sailor, themerchant, on this account those who lose wives andchildren, revile the gods. For where interest is,there too is piety placed. So that, whoever iscareful to regulate his desires and aversions as heought, is, by the very same means, careful of pietylikewise. But it is also incumbent on every one tooffer libations and sacrifices the first fruits,conformably to the customs of his country, withpurity, and not in a slovenly manner, nor negligent-ly, nor sparingly, nor beyond his ability.

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When you have recourse to divination, rememberthat you know not what the event will be, and youcome to learn it of the diviner; but of what natureit is you know before you come, at least if you are aphilosopher. For if it is among the things not inour power, it can by no means be either good or evil.Do not, therefore, bring either desire or aversionwith you to the diviner (else you will approach himtrembling), but first acquire a distinct knowledgethat every event is indifferent and nothing to you,of whatever sort it may be, for it will be in yourpower to make a right use of it, and this no one canhinder; then come with confidence to the gods, asyour counsellors, and afterwards, when any counsel isgiven you, remember what counsellors you haveassumed, and whose advice you will neglect if youdisobey. Come to divination, as Socrates prescribed,in cases of which the whole consideration relates tothe event, and in which no opportunities are affordedby reason, or any other art, to discover the thingproposed to be learned. When, therefore, it is ourduty to share the danger of a friend or of ourcountry, we ought not to consult the oracle whetherwe shall share it with them or not. For, though thediviner should forewarn you that the victims areunfavorable, this means no more than that eitherdeath or mutilation or exile is portended. But wehave reason within us, and it directs, even with

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these hazards, to stand by our friend and our country.Attend, therefore, to the greater diviner, thePythian god, who cast out of the temple the personwho gave no assistance to his friend while anotherwas murdering him.

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Immediately prescribe some character and form[of behavior] to yourself, which you may preserveboth alone and in company.

Be for the most part silent, or speak merelywhat is necessary, and in few words. We may,however, enter, though sparingly, into discoursesometimes when occasion calls for it, but not on anyof the common subjects, of gladiators, or horseraces, or athletic champions, or feasts, the vulgartopics of conversation; but principally not of men,so as either to blame, or praise, or make compar-isons. If you are able, then, by your own conversa-tion bring over that of your company to propersubjects; but, if you happen to be taken amongstrangers, be silent.

Let not your laughter be much, nor on manyoccasions, nor profuse.

Avoid swearing, if possible, altogether; if not,as far as you are able.

Avoid public and vulgar entertainments; but, ifever an occasion calls you to them, keep your atten-tion upon the stretch, that you may not imperceptiblyslide into vulgar manners. For be assured that if aperson be ever so sound himself, yet, if his companionbe infected, he who converses with him will beinfected likewise.

Provide things relating to the body no furtherthan mere use; as meat, drink, clothing, house,family. But strike off and reject everything relat-ing to show and delicacy.

As far as possible, before marriage, preserveyourself pure from familiarities with women, and, ifyou indulge them, let it be lawfully. But do nottherefore be troublesome and full of reproofs tothose who use these liberties, nor frequently boastthat you yourself do not.

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If any one tells you that such a person speaksill of you, do not make excuses about what is said ofyou, but answer: "He doth not know my other faults,else he would not have mentioned only these."

It is not necessary for you to appear often atpublic spectacles; but if ever there is a properoccasion for you to be there, do not appear moresolicitous for any one than for yourself; that is,wish things to be only just as they are, and him onlyto conquer who is the conqueror, for thus you willmeet with no hindrance. But abstain entirely fromacclamations and derision and violent emotions. Andwhen you come away, do not discourse a great deal onwhat hath passed, and what doth not contribute toyour own amendment. For it would appear by suchdiscourse that you were immoderately struck with theshow.

Go not [of your own accord] to the rehearsals ofany [authors], nor appear [at them] readily. But, ifyou do appear, preserve your gravity and sedateness,and at the same time avoid being morose.

When you are going to confer with any one, andparticularly of those in a superior station, repre-sent to yourself how Socrates or Zeno would behave insuch a case, and you will not be at a loss to make aproper use of whatever may occur.

When you are going to any of the people inpower, represent to yourself that you will not findhim at home; that you will not be admitted; that thedoors will not be opened to you; that he will take nonotice of you. If, with all this, it be your duty togo, bear what happens, and never say [to yourself],"It was not worth so much." For this is vulgar, andlike a man disconcerted by externals.

In parties of conversation, avoid a frequent andexcessive mention of your own actions and dangers.For, however, agreeable it may be to yourself tomention the risks you have run, it is not equallyagreeable to others to hear your adventures. Avoid,likewise, an endeavor to excite laughter. For this isa slippery point, which may throw you into vulgarmanners, and, besides, may be apt to lessen you inthe esteem of your acquaintance. Approaches toindecent discourse are likewise dangerous. Whenever,

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therefore, anything of this sort happens, if therebe a proper opportunity, rebuke him who makesadvances that way; or, at least, by silence andblushing and a forbidding look, show yourself to bedispleased by such talk.

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If you are struck by the appearance of anypromised pleasure, guard yourself against beinghurried away by it; but let the affair wait yourleisure, and procure yourself some delay. Then bringto your mind both points of time; that in which youshall enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you willrepent and reproach yourself after you have enjoyedit; and set before you, in opposition to these, howyou will rejoice and applaud yourself if you abstain.And even though it should appear to you a seasonablegratification, take heed that its enticing, andagreeable and attractive force may not subdue you;but set in opposition to this how much better it isto be conscious of having gained so great a victory.

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When you do anything from a clear judgment thatit ought to be done, never shun the being seen to doit, even though the world should make a wrong supposi-tion about it; for, if you do not act right, shun theaction itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid ofthose who censure you wrongly?

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As the proposition, Either it is day or it isnight, is extremely proper for a disjunctive argu-ment, but quite improper in a conjunctive one, so, ata feast, to choose the largest share is very suitableto the bodily appetite, but utterly inconsistent withthe social spirit of an entertainment. When you eatwith another, then, remember not only the value ofthose things which are set before you to the body,but the value of that behavior which ought to beobserved towards the person who gives the entertain-ment.

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If you have assumed any character above yourstrength, you have both made an ill figure in thatand quitted one which you might have supported.

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As, in walking, you take care not to tread upon anail or turn your foot, so likewise take care not tohurt the ruling faculty of your mind. And, if wewere to guard against this in every action, we shouldundertake the action with the greater safety.

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The body is to every one the measure of thepossessions proper for it, as the foot is of theshoe. If, therefore, you stop at this, you will keepthe measure; but if you move beyond it, you mustnecessarily be carried forward, as down a precipice;as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond itsfitness to the foot, it comes first to be gilded,then purple, and then studded with jewels. For tothat which once exceeds a due measure, there is nobound.

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Women from fourteen years old are flattered withthe title of "mistresses" by the men. Therefore,perceiving that they are regarded only as qualified togive the men pleasure, they begin to adorn themselves,and in that to place all their hopes. It is worthwhile, therefore, to fix our attention on making themsensible that they are esteemed for nothing else butthe appearance of a decent and modest and discreetbehavior.

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It is a mark of want of genius to spend muchtime in things relating to the body, as to be long inour exercises, in eating and drinking, and in thedischarge of other animal functions. These should bedone incidentally and slightly, and our whole atten-tion be engaged in the care of the understanding.

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When any person doth ill by you, or speaks illof you, remember that he acts or speaks from asupposition of its being his duty. Now, it is notpossible that he should follow what appears right toyou, but what appears so to himself. Therefore, ifhe judges from a wrong appearance, he is the personhurt, since he too is the person deceived. For if

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any one should suppose a true proposition to befalse, the proposition is not hurt, but he who isdeceived about it. Setting out, then, from theseprinciples, you will meekly bear a person who revilesyou, for you will say upon every occasion, "It seemedso to him."

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Everything hath two handles, the one by which itmay be borne, the other by which it cannot. If yourbrother acts unjustly, do not lay hold on the actionby the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannotbe borne; but by the opposite, that he is yourbrother, that he was brought up with you; and thusyou will lay hold on it, as it is to be borne.

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These reasonings are unconnected: "I am richerthan you, therefore I am better"; "I am more eloquentthan you, therefore I am better." The connection israther this: "I am richer than you, therefore myproperty is greater than yours"; "I am more eloquentthan you, therefore my style is better than yours."But you, after all, are neither property nor style.

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Doth any one bathe in a mighty little time? Donot say he doth it ill, but in a mighty little time.Doth any one drink a great quantity of wine? Do notsay that he doth ill, but that he drinks a greatquantity. For, unless you perfectly understand theprinciple [from which any one acts], how should youknow if he acts ill? Thus you will not run thehazard of assenting to any appearances but such asyou fully comprehend.

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Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk agreat deal among the unlearned about theorems, butact conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment,do not talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as youought. For remember that in this manner Socratesalso universally avoided all ostentation. And whenpersons came to him and desired to be recommended byhim to philosophers, he took and recommended them, sowell did he bear being overlooked. So that if everany talk should happen among the unlearned concerning

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philosophic theorems, be you, for the most part,silent. For there is great danger in immediatelythrowing out what you have not digested. And, if anyone tells you that you know nothing, and you are notnettled at it, then you may be sure that you havebegun your business. For sheep do not throw up thegrass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten;but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardlyproduce wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do youlikewise not show theorems to the unlearned, but theactions produced by them after they have beendigested.

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When you have brought yourself to supply thenecessities of your body at a small price, do notpique yourself upon it; nor, if you drink water, besaying upon every occasion, "I drink water." Butfirst consider how much more sparing and patient ofhardship the poor are than we. But if at any timeyou would inure yourself by exercise to labor, andbearing hard trials, do it for your own sake, and notfor the world; do not grasp statues, but, when youare violently thirsty; take a little cold water inyour mouth, and spurt it out and tell nobody.

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The condition and characteristic of a vulgarperson, is, that he never expects either benefit orhurt from himself, but from externals. The conditionand characteristic of a philosopher is, that heexpects all hurt and benefit from himself. The marksof a proficient are, that he censures no one, praisesno one, blames no one, accuses no one, says nothingconcerning himself as being anybody, or knowinganything: when he is, in any instance, hindered orrestrained, he accuses himself; and, if he is praised,he secretly laughs at the person who praises him;and, if he is censured, he makes no defence. But hegoes about with the caution of infirm people [aftersickness or an accident], dreading to move anythingthat is set right, before it is perfectly fixed. Hesuppresses all desire to himself; he transfers hisaversion to those things only which thwart the properuse of our own faculty of choice; the exertion of hisactive powers towards anything is very gentle; if heappears stupid or ignorant, he doth not care, and, ina word, he watches himself as an enemy, and one inambush.

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When any one shows himself vain on being able tounderstand and interpret the works of Chrysippus, sayto yourself, "Unless Chrysippus had written obscurely,this person would have had no subject for his vanity.But what do I desire? To understand nature andfollow her. 1 ask, then, who interprets her, and,finding Chrysippus doth, I have recourse to him. Ido not understand his writings. I seek, therefore,one to interpret them." So far there is nothing tovalue myself upon. And when I find an interpreter,what remains is to make use of his instructions.This alone is the valuable thing. But, if I admirenothing but merely the interpretation, what do Ibecome more than a grammarian instead of a philoso-pher? Except, indeed, that instead of Homer Iinterpret Chrysippus. When any one, therefore,desires me to read Chrysippus to him, I rather blushwhen 1 cannot show my actions agreeable and constantto his discourse.

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Whatever rules you have deliberately proposed toyourself [for the conduct of life], abide by them asso many laws, and as if you would be guilty ofimpiety in transgressing any of them, and do notregard what any one says of you, for this, after all,is no concern of yours. How long, then, will youdefer to think yourself worthy of the noblest improve-ments , and in no instance to transgress the distinc-tions of reason? You have received the philosophictheorems, with which you ought to be conversant, andyou have been conversant with them. What othermaster, then, do you wait for, to throw upon thedelay of reforming yourself? You are no longer aboy, but a grown man. If, therefore, you will benegligent and slothful, and always add procrastina-tion to procrastination, purpose to purpose, and fixday after day in which you will attend to yourself,you will insensibly continue without proficiency, andliving and dying, persevere in being one of thevulgar. This instant, then, think yourself worthy ofliving as a man grown up, and a proficient. Letwhatever appears to be the best be to you an inviol-able law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure,or glory or disgrace, be set before you, rememberthat now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on,nor can it be put off; and that, by once being

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worsted and giving way, proficiency is lost, or [bythe contrary] preserved. Thus Socrates becameperfect, improving himself to everything, attendingto nothing but reason. And though you are not yet aSocrates, you ought, however, to live as one desirousof becoming a Socrates.

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The first and most necessary topic in philosophyis that of the use of [practical] theorems, as that,We ought not to lie; the second is that of demonstra-tions, as, Whence it is that we ought not to lie; andthird, that which gives strength and articulation tothe other two, as, Whence this is a demonstration.For what is demonstration? What is consequence?What contradiction? What truth? What falsehood?The third topic, then, is necessary on the account ofthe second, and the second on the account of thefirst. But the most necessary, and that whereon weought to rest, is the first. But we act just on thecontrary. For we spend all our time on the thirdtopic, and employ all our diligence about that, andentirely neglect the first. Therefore, at the sametime that we lie, we are mighty ready to show how itis demonstrated that lying is not right.

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Upon all occasions we ought to have these maximsready at hand:

"Conduct me, Jove, and thou, 0 Destiny,Wherever your decrees have fixed my station.I follow cheerfully; and, did I not,Wicked and wretched, I must follow still."

"Whoe'er yields properly to Fate, is deemedWise among men, and knows the laws of heaven."

And this third:

"0 Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thuslet it be. Anytus and Melitus may kill meindeed, but hurt me they cannot."

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M A R C U S A U R E L I U S

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BOOK ONE

From my grandfather Verus I learned good moralsand the government of my temper.

From the reputation and remembrance of my father,modesty and a manly character.

In my father I observed mildness of temper, andunchangeable resolution in the things which he haddetermined after due deliberation; and no vain-gloryin those things which men call honors; and a love oflabor and perseverance; and a readiness to listen tothose who had anything to propose for the common weal;and undeviating firmness in giving to every manaccording to his deserts; and a knowledge derived fromexperience of the occasions for vigorous action andfor remission. I observed that he had overcome allpassion for joys; and he considered himself no morethan any other citizen, and he released his friendsfrom all obligation to sup with him or to attend himof necessity when he went abroad, and those who hadfailed to accompany him, by reason of any urgentcircumstances always found him the same. I observed,too, his habit of careful inquiry in all matters ofdeliberation, and this persistency, and that he neverstopped his investigation through being satisfied withappearances which first presented themselves; and thathis disposition was to keep his friends, and not to besoon tired of them, nor yet to be extravagant in hisaffection; and to be satisfied on all occasions, andcheerful; and to foresee things a long way off, and toprovide for the smallest without display; and to checkimmediately popular applause and flattery; and to beever watchful over the things that were necessary forthe administration of the empire, and to be a goodmanager of the expenditure, and patiently to endurethe blame which he got for such conduct. He wasneither superstitious with respect to the gods, nordid he court men by gifts or by trying to please them,or by flattering the populace; but he showed sobriety

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in all things and firmness, and never any meanthoughts or action, nor love of novelty.

The things which conduce in any way to thecommodity of life, and of which fortune gives anabundant supply, he used without arrogance and withoutexcusing himself; so that when he had them, he enjoyedthem without affectation, and when he had them not hedid not want them. No one could ever say of him thathe was either a sophist or a home-bred flippant slaveor a pedant; but every one acknowledged him to be aman ripe, perfect, above flattery, able to manage hisown and other men's affairs. Besides this, he honoredthose who were true philosophers, and he did notreproach those who pretended to be philosophers, noryet was he easily led by them. He was also easy inconversation, and he made himself agreeable withoutany offensive affectation.

He took a reasonable care of his body's health,not as one who was greatly attached to life, nor outof regard to personal appearance, nor yet in a care-less way, but so that, through his own attention, hevery seldom stood in need of the physician's art or ofmedicine or external applications.

He was most ready to give way without envy tothose who possessed any particular faculty, such asthat of eloquence or knowledge of the law or ofmorals, or of anything else; and he gave them hishelp, that each might enjoy reputation according tohis deserts; and he always acted conformably to theinstitutions of his country, without showing anyaffectation of doing so.

There was in him nothing harsh, nor implacable,nor violent, nor, as one may say, anything carried tothe sweating point; but he examined all things sever-ally, as if he had abundance of time, and withoutconfusion, in an orderly way, vigorously and consis-tently. And that might be applied to him which isrecorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstainfrom, and to enjoy, those things which many are tooweak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess.But to be strong both to bear the one and to be soberin the other is the mark of a man who has a perfectand invincible soul.

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BOOK TWO

Betimes in the morning say to thyself, This day Ishall have to do with an idle curious man, with anunthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or anenvious man; an unsociable, uncharitable man. Allthese ill qualities have happened unto them, throughignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad.But I that understand the nature of that which isgood, that it only is to be desired, and of that whichis bad, that it only is truly odious and shameful; whoknows moreover, that this transgressor, whosoever bybe, is my kinsman, not by the same blood and seed, butby participation of the same reason, and of the samedivine particle. How can I either be hurt by any ofthose, since it is not in their power to make me incuranything that is truly reproachful? or angry, and illaffected towards him, who by nature is so near untome? for we are all born to be fellow-workers, as thefeet, the hands, and the eyelids; as the rows of theupper and under teeth; for such therefore to be inopposition, is against nature; and what is it to chafeat, and to be averse from, but to be in opposition?

Whatever this is that I am, it is a little fleshand breath, and the ruling part. Throw away thybooks; no longer distract thyself; it is not allowed;but as if thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; itis blood and bones and a network, a contexture ofnerves, veins and arteries. See the breath also, whatkind of a thing it is; air, and not always the same,but every moment sent out and again sucked in. Thethird then is the ruling part, consider thus: Thou artan old man; no longer let this be a slave, no longerbe pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocialmovements, no longer be either dissatisfied with thypresent lot, or shrink from the future.

Remember how long thou hast been putting offthese things, and how often thou hast received anopportunity from the gods, and yet dost not use it.Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thou

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art a part, and of what administrator of the universethy existence is an efflux; and that a limit of timeis fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use forclearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go andthou wilt go, and it will never return.

Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a manto do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simpledignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, andjustice, and to give thyself relief from all otherthoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thoudoest every act of thy life as if it were the last,laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversionfrom the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, andself-love and discontent with the portion which hasbeen given to thee. Thou seest how few the thingsare, which if a man lays hold of, he is able to live alife which flows in quiet, and is like the existenceof the gods; for the gods on their part will requirenothing from him who observes these things.

Do the things external which fall upon theedistract thee? Give thyself time to learn somethingnew and good, and cease to be whirled around. Butthen thou must also avoid being carried about theother way. For those too are triflers who havewearied themselves in life by their activity, and yethave no object to which to direct every movement, and,in a word, all their thoughts.

Through not observing what is in the mind ofanother a man has seldom been seen to be unhappy; butthose who do not observe the movements of their ownminds must of necessity be unhappy.

This thou must always bear in mind, what is thenature of the whole, and what is thy nature, and howthis is related to that, and what kind of a part of itis of what kind of a whole; and that there is no onewho hinders thee from always doing and saying thethings which are according to the nature of which thouart a part.

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8

Theophrastus, in his comparison of bad acts -such a comparison as one would make in accordance withthe common notions of mankind - says, like a truephilosopher, that the offenses which are committedthrough desire are more blameable than those which arecommitted through anger. For he who is excited byanger seems to turn away from reason with a certainpain and unconscious contraction; but he who offendsthrough desire, being overpowered by pleasure, seemsto be in a manner more intemperate and more womanishin his offenses. Rightly then, and in a way worthy ofphilosophy, he said that the offense which is commit-ted with pleasure is more blameable than that which iscommitted with pain; and on the whole the one is morelike a person who has been first wronged and throughpain is compelled to be angry, but the other is movedby his own impulse to do wrong, being carried towarddoing something by desire.

Since it is possible that thou mayest depart fromlife this very moment, regulate every act and thoughtaccordingly. But to go away from among men, if thereare gods, is not a thing to be afraid of, for the godswill not involve thee in evil; but if indeed they donot exist, or if they have no concern about humanaffairs, what is it to me to live in a universe devoidof gods or devoid of providence? But in truth they doexist, and they do care for human things, and theyhave put all the means in man's power to enable himnot to fall into real evils. And as to the rest, ifthere was anything evil, they would have provided forthis also, that it should be altogether in a man'spower not to fall into it. Now, that which does notmake a man worse, how can it make a man's life worse?

10

Though thou shouldest be going to live threethousand years, and as many times ten thousand years,still remember that no man loses any other life thanthis which he now lives, nor lives any other than thiswhich he now loses. These two things then thou mustbear in mind; the one, that all things from eternityare of like forms and come round in a circle, and thatit makes no difference whether a man shall see thesame things during a hundred years or two hundred, oran infinite time. And the second, that the longest

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liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same.For the present is the only thing of which a man canbe deprived, if this is the only thing which he has,and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.

11

Life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, andafter fame is oblivion.

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BOOK THREE

We ought to consider not only that our life isdaily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left,but another thing also must be taken into account,that if a man should live longer it is quite uncertainwhether the understanding will still continue suffi-cient for the comprehension of things, and retain thepower of contemplation which strives to acquire theknowledge of the divine and the human. We must makehaste then, not only because we are daily nearer todeath, but also because the conception of things andthe understanding of them cease first.

Do not waste the remainder of thy life inthoughts about others, when thou dost not refer thythoughts to some object of common utility. For thoulosest the opportunity of doing something else whenthou hast such thoughts as these.

Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to thecommon interest, nor without due consideration, norwith distraction; and be not either a man of manywords, or busy about too many things. Be cheerfulalso, and seek not external help nor the tranquillitywhich others give. A man must stand erect, not bekept erect by others.

If thou findest in human life anything betterthan justice, truth, temperance, fortitude, and, in aword, anything better than thy own mind's self-satisfaction in the things which it enables thee to doaccording to right reason, and in the condition thatis assigned to thee without thy own choice; if, I say,thou seest anything better than this, turn to it withall thy soul, and enjoy that which thou hast found tobe the best. But if nothing appears to be better thanthe diety which is planted in thee, which has subject-ed to itself all thy appetites, and, as Socrates said,has detached itself from the persuasions of sense, andhas submitted itself to the gods, and cares formankind; if thou findest everything else smaller and

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of less value than this, give place to nothing else,for if thou dost once diverge and incline to it, thouwilt no longer without distraction be able to give thepreference to that good thing which is thy properpossession and thy own.

Never value anything as profitable to thyselfwhich shall compel thee to break thy promise, to losethy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, tocurse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything whichneeds walls and curtains.

In the mind of one who is chastened and purifiedthou wilt find no corrupt matter, nor impurity, norany sore skinned over. Nor is his life incompletewhen fate overtakes him, as one may say of an actorwho leaves the stage before ending and finishing theplay. Besides, there is in him nothing servile, noraffected, nor too closely bound to other things, noryet detached from other things, nothing worthy ofblame, nothing which seeks a hiding-place.

Reverence the faculty which produces opinion. Onthis faculty it entirely depends whether there shallexist in thy ruling part any opinion inconsistent withnature and the constitution of the rational animal.And this faculty promises freedom from hasty judgment,and friendship toward men, and obedience to the gods.

8

Throwing away, then, all things, hold to theseonly which are few; and besides bear in mind thatevery man lives only this present time, which is anindivisible point, and that all the rest of his lifeis either past or it is uncertain. Short then is thetime which every man lives, and small the nook of theearth where he lives; and short too the longestposthumous fame, and even this only continued by asuccession of poor human beings, who will very soondie; and who know not even themselves, much less himwho died long ago.

9

Nothing is so productive of elevation of mind asto be able to examine methodically and truly every

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object which is presented to thee in life, and alwaysto look at things so as to see at the same time whatkind of universe this is, and what kind of use every-thing performs in it, and what value everything haswith reference to the whole, and what with referenceto man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of whichall other cities are like families; what each thingis, and of what it is composed, and how long it is thenature of this thing to endure which now makes animpression on me; and what virtue I have need of withrespect to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth,fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest.

10

If thou workest at that which is before thee,following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly,without allowing anything else to distract thee, butkeeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldest bebound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest tothis, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satis-fied with thy present activity according to nature,and with heroic truth in every word and sound whichthou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is noman who is able to prevent this.

11

As physicians have always their instruments andknives ready for cases which suddenly require theirskill, so do thou have principles ready for theunderstanding of things divine and human, and fordoing everything, even the smallest, with a recol-lection of the bond which unites the divine and humanto one another. For neither wilt thou do anythingwell which pertains to man without at the same timehaving a reference to things divine; nor the contrary.

12

They know not how many things are signified bythe words stealing, sowing, buying, keeping quiet,seeing what ought to be done; for this is not effectedby the eyes, but by another kind of vision.

13

Body, soul, intelligence; to the body belongsensations, to the soul appetites, to the intelligenceprinciples. To receive the impressions of forms bymeans of appearances belongs even to animals; to be

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pulled by the strings of desire belongs both to wildbeasts and to men who have made themselves into women,and to a Phalaris and a Nero; and to have the intel-ligence that guides to the things which appear suit-able belongs also to those who do not believe in thegods, and who betray their country, and do theirimpure deeds when they have shut the doors. If theneverything else is common to all that I have mention-ed, there remains that which is peculiar to the goodman, to be pleased and content with what happens, andwith the thread which is spun for him; and not todefile the divinity which is planted in his breast,nor disturb it by a crowd of images, but to preserveit tranquil, following it obediently as a god, neithersaying anything contrary to the truth, nor doinganything contrary to justice. And if all men refuseto believe that he lives a simple, modest, and con-tented life, he is neither angry with any of them, nordoes he deviate from the way which leads to the end oflife, to which a man ought to come pure, tranquil,ready to depart, and without any compulsion perfectlyreconciled to his lot.

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BOOK FOUR

It is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose toretire into thyself. For nowhere, either with morequiet or more freedom from trouble, does a man retirethan into his own soul, particularly when he haswithin him such thoughts that by looking into them heis ajprnediately in perfect tranquillity; and I affirmthaB tranquillity is nothing else than the goodordftring of the mind.

The whole earth is a point, and how small a nookin it is this thy dwelling, and how few are there init, and what kind of people are they who will praisethee. This then remains: Remember to retire into thislittle territory of thy own, and, above all, do notdistract or strain thyself, but be free, and look atthings as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as amortal.

All these things, which thou seest, changeimmediately and will no longer be; and constantly bearin mind how many of these changes thou hast alreadywitnessed. The universe is transformation: life isopinion.

Death is such as generation is, a mystery ofnature; a composition out of the same elements, and adecomposition into the same; and altogether not athing of which any man should be ashamed, for it isnot contrary to the nature of a reasonable animal, andnot contrary to the reason of our constitution.

Take away thy opinion, and then there is takenaway the complaint, "I have been harmed." Take awaythe complaint, "I have been harmed," and the harm istaken away.

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Everything which happens, happens justly, and ifthou observest carefully, thou wilt find it to be so.I do not say only with respect to the continuity ofthe series of things, but with respect to what isjust, and as if it were done by one who assigns toeach thing its value.

Do not have such an opinion of things as he haswho does thee wrong, or such as he wishes thee tohave, but look at them as they are in truth.

8

Hast thou reason? I have. Why then dost notthou use it? For if this does its own work, what elsedost thou wish?

Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to those towhom thou art now a beast and an ape, if thou wiltreturn to thy principles and the worship of reason.

10

Do not act as if thou wert going to live tenthousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thoulivest, while it is in thy power, be good.

11

How much trouble he avoids who does not look tosee what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but onlyto what he does himself, that it may be just and pure;or as Agathon says, look not round at the depravedmorals of others, but run straight along the linewithout deviating from it.

12

Everything which is in any way beautiful isbeautiful in itself, and terminates in itself, nothaving praise as part of itself. Neither worse thennor better is a thing made by being praised. 1 affirmthis also of the things which are called beautiful bythe vulgar; for example, material things and works ofart. That which is really beautiful has no need ofanything; not more than law, not more than truth, notmore than benevolence or modesty. Which of these

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things is beautiful because it is praised, or spoiledby being blamed? Is such a thing as an emerald madeworse than it was, if it is not praised? or gold,ivory, purple, a lyre, a little knife, a flower, ashrub?

13

If souls continue to exist, how does the aircontain them from eternity? But how does the earthcontain the bodies of those who have been buried fromtime so remote? For as here the mutation of thesebodies after a certain continuance, whatever it maybe, and their dissolution make room for other deadbodies; so the souls which are removed into the airafter subsisting for some time are transmuted anddiffused, and assume a fiery nature by being receivedinto the seminal intelligence of the universe, and inthis way make room for the fresh souls which come todwell there. And this is the answer which a man mightgive on the hypothesis of the soul's continuing toexist.

14

Do not be whirled about, but in every movementhave respect to justice, and on the occasion of everyimpression maintain the faculty of comprehension orunderstanding.

15

Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmon-ious to thee, 0 Universe. Nothing for me is too earlynor too late, which is the due time for thee. Every-thing is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, 0Nature; from thee are all things, in thee are allthings, to thee all things return. The poet says,Dear City of Cecrops; and wilt not thou say, Dear Cityof Zeus!

16

Occupy thyself with few things, says the philos-opher, if thou wouldst be tranquil. The greatest partof what we say and do being unnecessary, if a mantakes this away, he will have more leisure and lessuneasiness. Accordingly on every occasion a manshould ask himself, is this one of the unnecessarythings? Now a man should take away not only unneces-sary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for thussuperfluous acts will not follow after.

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17

Try how the life of the good man suits thee, thelife of him who is satisfied with his portion out ofthe whole, and satisfied with his own just acts andbenevolent disposition.

18

Do not disturb thyself. Make thyself all sim-plicity. Does anyone do wrong? It is to himself thathe does the wrong. Has anything happened to thee?Well, out of the universe from the beginning every-thing which happens has been apportioned and spun outto thee. In a word, thy life is short. Thou mustturn to profit the present by the aid of reason andjustice. Be sober in thy relaxation.

19

If he is a stranger to the universe who does notknow what is in it, no less is he a stranger who doesnot know what is doing on it. He is a runaway, whoflies from social reason; he is blind, who shuts theeyes of the understanding; he is poor, who has need ofanother, and has not from himself all things which areuseful for life. He is an abscess on the universe whowithdraws and separates himself from the reason of ourcommon nature through being displeased with the thingswhich happen, for the same nature produces this, andhas produced thee too; he is a piece rent asunder fromthe state, who tears his own soul from that of reason-able animals, which is one.

20

Love the art, poor as it may be, which thou hastlearned, and be content with it; and pass through therest of life like one who has intrusted to the godswith his whole soul all that he has, making thyselfneither the tyrant nor the slave of any man.

21

It is necessary to remember that the attentiongiven to everything has its proper value and propor-tion. For thus thou wilt not be dissatisfied, if thouappliest thyself to smaller matters no further than isfit.

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22

Every thir^, is only for a day, both that whichremembers and that which is remembered.

23

Observe constantly that all things take place bychange, and accustom thyself to consider that thenature of the Universe loves nothing so much as tochange the things which are to make new things likethem. For everything that exists is in a manner theseed of that which will be.

24

Examine men's ruling principles, even those ofthe wise, what kind of things they avoid, and whatkind they pursue.

25

It is no evil for things to undergo change, andno good for things to subsist in consequence ofchange.

26

Time is like a river made up of the events whichhappen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thinghas been seen, it is carried away, and another comesin its place, and this will be carried away too.

27

If any god told thee that thou shalt dieto-morrow, or certainly on the day after to-morrow,thou wouldst not care much whether it was on thethird day or on the morrow, unless thou wast in thehighest degree mean-spirited - for how small is thedifference - so think it no great thing to die afteras many years as thou canst name rather thanto-morrow.

28

Think continually how many physicians are deadafter often contracting their eyebrows over the sick;and how many astrologers after predicting with greatpretensions the deaths of others; and how many phil-osophers after endless discourses on death or immor-tality; how many heroes after killing thousands; andhow many tyrants who have used their power over men's

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lives with terrible insolence as if they wereimmortal; and how many cities are entirely dead, so tospeak, Helice and Pompeii and Herculaneum, and othersinnumerable. Add to the reckoning all whom thou hastknown, one after another. One man after buryinganother has been laid out dead, and another burieshim; and all this is in a short time. To conclude,always observe how ephemeral and worthless humanthings are, and what was yesterday a little mucus,to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then throughthis little space of time conformably to nature, andend thy journey in content, just as an olive falls offwhen it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, andthanking the tree on which it grew.

29

Be like the promontory against which the wavescontinually break, but it stands firm and tames thefury of the water around it. Unhappy am I, becausethis has happened to me? - Not so, but Happy am I,though this has happened to me, because I continuefree from pain, neither crushed by the present norfearing the future. For such a thing as might havehappened to everyman; but every man would not havecontinued free from pain on such an occasion. Why,then, is that rather a misfortune than this a goodfortune?

Will then this which has happened prevent theefrom being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent,secure against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood;will it prevent thee from having modesty, freedom, andeverything else, by the presence of which man's natureobtains all that is its own? Remember, too, on everyoccasion which leads thee to vexation to apply thisprinciple; not that this is a misfortune, but that tobear it nobly is good fortune.

30

Altogether the interval is small between birthand death; and consider with how much trouble, and incompany with what sort of people, and in what a feeblebody this interval is laboriously passed. Do not thenconsider life a thing of any value. For look to theimmensity of time behind thee, and to the time whichis before thee, another boundless space. In thisinfinity then what is the difference between him wholives three days and him who lives three generations.

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31

Always run to the short way; and the short way isthe natural: accordingly say and do everything inconformity with the soundest reason. For such apurpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, and allartifice and ostentatious display.

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BOOK FIVE

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, letthis thought be present - I am rising to the work of ahuman being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am goingto do the things for which I exist and for which I wasbrought into the world? Or have I been made for this,to lie in the bedclothes and keep myself warm? Butthis is more pleasant. Dost thou exist then to takethy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion?Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds,the ants, the spiders, the bees working together toput in order their several parts of the universe? Andart thou unwilling to do the work of a human being,and dost thou not make haste to do that which isaccording to thy nature?

Judge every word and deed which is according tonature to be fit for thee; and be not diverted by theblame which follows from thy people, nor by theirwords, but if a thing is good to be done or said, donot consider it unworthy of thee. For those personshave their peculiar leading principle and follow theirpeculiar movement; which things do not thou regard,but go straight on, following thy own nature and thecommon nature; and the way of both is one.

I am composed of the formal and the material; andneither of them will perish into non-existence, asneither of them came into existence out of non-existence. Every part of me then will be reduced bychange into some part of the universe, and that againwill change into another part of the universe, and soon forever. And by consequence of such a change I tooexist, and those who begot me, and so on forever inthe other direction.

Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also willbe the characters of thy mind; for the soul is dyed bythe thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series ofsuch thoughts as these; for instance, that where a man

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can live, there he can also live well. But he mustlive in a palace - well then, he can also live well ina palace. Now the good for the reasonable animal issociety; for that we are made for society has beenshown above. Is it not plain that the inferior existfor the sake of the superior? but the things whichhave life are superior to those which have not life,and of those which have life the superior are thosewhich have reason.

Nothing happens to any man which he is not formedby nature to bear.

That which does no harm to the State, does noharm to the citizen. In the case of every appearanceof harm apply this rule; if the State is not harmed bythis, neither am I harmed. But if the State isharmed, thou must not be angry with him who does harmto the State. Show him where his error is.

7

Often think of the rapidity with which thingspass by and disappear, both the things which are andthe things which are produced. For substance is likea river in a continual flow, and the activities ofthings are in constant change, and the causes work ininfinite varieties; and there is hardly anything whichstands still. And consider this which is near tothee, this boundless abyss of the past and of thefuture in which all things disappear. How then is henot a fool who is puffed up with such things orplagued about them and makes himself miserable? forthey vex him only for a time, and a short time.

Think of the universal substance, of which thouhast a very small portion; and of universal time, ofwhich a short and indivisible interval has beenassigned to thee; and of that which is fixed bydestiny, and how small a part of it thou art.

Live with the gods. And he does live with thegods who constantly shows to them that his own soul issatisfied with that which is assigned to him, and that

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it does all that the demon wishes, which Zeus hathgiven to every man for his guardian and guide, aportion of himself. And this is every man's under-standing and reason.

10

Art thou angry with him whose arm-pits stink?Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? Whatgood will this anger do thee? He has such a mouth, hehas such arm-pits; it is necessary that such anemanation must come from such things - but the man hasreason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takespains, to discover wherein he offends - I wish theewell of thy discovery. Well, then, and thou hastreason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rationalfaculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if helistens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need ofanger.

11

The intelligence of the universe is social.Accordingly it has made the inferior things for thesake of the superior, and it has fitted the superiorto one another. Thou seest how it has subordinated,co-ordinated and assigned to everything its properportion, and brought into concord with one another thethings which are best.

12

How hast thou behaved hitherto to the gods, thyparents, brethren, children, teachers, to those wholooked after thy infancy, to thy friends, kinsfolk, tothy slaves? Consider if thou hast hitherto behaved toall in such a way that this may be said of thee:

He never has wronged a man in deed or word.

And call to recollection both how many things thouhast passed through and how many things thou hast beenable to endure; and that the history of thy life isnow complete, and thy service is ended: and how manybeautiful things thou hast seen: and how many pleas-ures and pains thou hast despised; and how many thingscalled honorable thou hast spurned; and to how manyill-minded folks thou hast shown a kind disposition.

13

Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a skele-ton, and either a name or not even a name; but name is

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sound and echo. And the things which are much valuedin life are empty and rotten and trifling, and likelittle dogs biting one another, and little childrenquarrelling, laughing, and then straightway weeping.But fidelity and modesty and justice and truth arefled

Up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth

- Hesiod

What then is there which still detains thee here? ifthe objects of sense are easily changed and neverstand still, and the organs of perception are dull andeasily receive false impressions; and the poor soulitself is an exhalation from blood. But to have goodrepute amid such a world as this is an empty thing.Why then dost thou not wait in tranquillity for thyend, whether it is extinction or removal to anotherstate? And until that time comes, what is sufficient?Why, what else than to venerate the gods and blessthem, and to do good to men, and to practice toleranceand self-restraint; but as to everything which isbeyond the limits of the poor flesh and breath, toremember that this is neither thine nor in thy power.

14

Thou canst pass thy life in an equable flow ofhappiness, if thou canst go by the right way, andthink and act in the right way. These two things arecommon both to the soul of God and to the soul of man,and to the soul of every rational being, not to behindered by another; and to hold good to consist inthe disposition to justice and the practice of it, andin this to let thy desire find its termination.

15

I was once a fortunate man, but 1 lost it, I knownot how. But fortunate means that a man has assignedto himself a good fortune; and a good fortune is gooddisposition of the soul, good emotions, good actions.

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BOOK SIX

1

The substance of the universe is obedient andcompliant; and the reason which governs it has initself no cause for doing evil, for it has no malice,nor does it do evil to anything, nor is anythingharmed by it. But all things are made and perfectedaccording to this reason.

Let it make no difference to thee whether thouart cold or warm, if thou art doing thy duty; andwhether thou art drowsy or satisfied with sleep, andwhether ill-spoken of or praised; and whether dying ordoing something else. For it is one of the acts oflife, this act by which we die; it is sufficient thenin this act also to do well what we have in hand.

All existing things soon change, and they willeither be reduced to vapor, if indeed all substance isone, or they will be dispersed.

The reason which governs knows its own disposi-tion, and what it does, and on what material it works.

The best way of avenging thyself is not to becomelike the wrong doer.

The universe is either a confusion, and a mutualinvolution of things, and a dispersion; or it is unityand order and providence. If then it is the former,why do I desire to tarry in a fortuitous combinationof things and such a disorder? and why do 1 care aboutanything else than how I shall at last become earth?and why am I disturbed, for the dispersion of myelements will happen whatever I do. But if the othersupposition is true, I venerate, and I am firm, and Itrust in him who governs.

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If thou hadst a step-mother and a mother at thesame time, thou wouldst be dutiful to thy step-mother,but still thou wouldst constantly return to thymother. Let the court and philosophy now be to theestep-mother and mother; return to philosophy frequent-ly and repose in her, through whom what thou meetestwith in the court appears to thee tolerable, and thouappearest tolerable in the court.

8

When we have meat before us and such eatables, wereceive the impression, that this is the dead body ofa fish, and this is the dead body of a bird or a pig;and again, that this Falernian is only a little grapejuice, and this purple robe some sheep's wool dyedwith the blood of a shell-fish; such then are theseimpressions, and they reach the things themselves andpenetrate them, and so we see what kind of things theyare. Just in the same way ought we to act all throughlife, and where there are things which appear mostworthy of our approbation, we ought to lay them bareand look at their worthlessness and strip them of allthe words by which they are exalted. For outward showis a wonderful preventer of the reason, and when thouart most sure that thou art employed about thingsworth thy pains, it is then that it cheats thee most.

He who values a rational soul, a soul universaland fitted for political life, regards nothing elseexcept this; and above all things he keeps his soul ina condition and in an activity conformable to reasonand social life, and he co-operates to this end withthose who are of the same kind as himself.

10

Above, below, all around are the movements of theelements. But the motion of virtue is in none ofthese; it is something more divine, and advancing by away hardly observed it goes happily on its road.

11

How strangely men act. They will not praisethose who are living at the same time and living withthemselves; but to be themselves praised by posterity,by those whom they have never seen or never will see,

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this they set much value on. But this is very muchthe same as if thou shouldst be grieved because thosewho have lived before thee did not praise thee.

12

If a thing is difficult to be accomplished bythyself, do not think that it is impossible for man;but if anything is possible for man and conformable tohis nature, think that this can be attained by thyselftoo.

13

In the gymnastic exercises suppose that a man hastorn thee with his nails, and by dashing against thyhead has inflicted a wound. Well, we neither show anysigns of vexation, nor are we offended, nor do wesuspect him afterward as a treacherous fellow; and yetwe are on our guard against him, not however as anenemy, nor yet with suspicion, but we quietly get outof his way. Something like this let thy behavior bein all the other parts of life; let us overlook manythings in those who are like antagonists in thegymnasium. For it is in our power, as I said, to getout of the way, and to have no suspicion nor hatred.

14

If any man is able to convince me and show methat I do not think or act right, I will gladlychange; for I seek the truth by which no man was everinjured. But he is injured who abides in his errorand ignorance.

15

I do my duty: other things trouble me not; forthey are either things without reason, or things thathave rambled and know not the way.

16

Alexander the Macedonian and his groom, by deathwere brought to the same state; for either they werereceived among the same seminal principles of theuniverse, or they were alike dispersed among theatoms.

17

Consider how many things in the same indivisibletime take place in each of us, things which concern

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the body and things which concern the soul; andthou wilt not wonder if any more things, or rather _things which come into existence in that which is theone and all, which we call Cosmos, exist in it at thesame time.

18

If any man should propose to thee the question,how the name Antoninus is written, wouldst thou with astraining of the voice utter each letter? What thenif they grow angry, wilt thou be angry too? Wilt thounot go on with composure and number every letter?Just so then in this life also remember that everyduty is made up of certain parts. These it is thyduty to observe, and without being disturbed orshowing anger toward those who are angry with thee, togo on thy way and finish that which is set beforethee.

19

How cruel is it not to allow men to strive afterthe things which appear to them to be suitable totheir nature and profitable! And yet in a manner thoudost not allow them to do this, when thou art vexedbecause they do wrong. For they are certainly movedtoward things because they suppose them to be suitableto their nature and profitable to them. But it is notso. Teach them then, and show them without beingangry.

20

It is a shame for the soul to be first to giveway in this life, when thy body does not give way.

21

Take care that thou art not made into a Caesar,that thou art not dyed with this dye; for such thingshappen. Keep thyself then simple, good, pure,serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, aworshipper of gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous inall proper acts. Strive to continue to be such asphilosophy wished to make thee. Reverence the gods,and help men. Short is life. There is only one fruitof this terrene life, a pious disposition and socialacts. Do everything as a disciple of Antoninus.Remember his constancy in every act which was conform-able to reason, and his evenness in all things, andhis piety, and the serenity of his countenance, and

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his sweetness, and his disregard of empty fame, andhis efforts to understand things; and how he wouldnever let anything pass without having first mostcarefully examined it and clearly understood it; andhow he bore with those who blamed him unjustly withoutblaming them in return; how he did nothing in a hurry;and how he listened not to calumnies, and how exact anexaminer of manners and actions he was; and not givento reproach people, nor timid, nor suspicious, nor asophist; and with how little he was satisfied, such aslodging, bed, dress, food, servants; and how laboriousand patient; and how he was able on account of hissparing diet to hold out to the evening, not everrequiring to relieve himself by any evacuations exceptat the usual hour; and his firmness and uniformity inhis friendships; and how he tolerated freedom ofspeech in those who opposed his opinions; and thepleasure that he had when any man showed him anythingbetter; and how religious he was without superstition.Imitate all this that thou mayest have as good aconscience, when thy last hour comes, as he had.

22

He who has seen present things has seen all, botheverything which has taken place from all eternity andeverything which will be for time without end; for allthings are of one kin and of one form.

23

Adapt thyself to the things with which thy lothas been cast; and the men among whom thou hastreceived thy portion, love them, but do it sincerely.

24

Men co-operate after different fashions; and eventhose co-operate abundantly who find fault with whathappens and those who try to oppose it and to hinderit; for the universe has need even of such men asthese. It remains then for thee to understand amongwhat kind of workmen thou placest thyself; for he whorules all things will certainly make a right use ofthee, and he will receive thee among some part of theco-operators and of those whose labors conduce to oneend.

25

Whatever happens to every man, this is for theinterest of the universal; this might be sufficient.

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But further thou wilt observe this also as a generaltruth, if thou dost observe, that whatever is profit-able to any man is profitable also to other men. Butlet the word profitable be taken here in the commonsense as said of things of the middle kind [neithergood nor bad].

26

As it happens to thee in the amphitheater andsuch places, that the continual sight of the samethings and the uniformity make the spectacle weari-some, so it is in the whole of life; for all thingsabove, below, are the same and from the same. Howlong then?

27

One thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thylife in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposi-tion even to liars and unjust men.

28

When thou wishes to delight thyself, think of thevirtues of those who live with thee; for instance, theactivity of one, and the modesty of another, and theliberality of a third, and some other good quality ofa fourth. For nothing delights so much as the exam-ples of the virtues, when they are exhibited in themorals of those who live with us and present them-selves in abundance, as far as it is possible.Wherefore we must keep them before us.

29

Thou art not dissatisfied, 1 suppose, becausethou weighest only so many liters and not threehundred. Be not dissatisfied then that thou must liveonly so many years and not more; for as thou artsatisfied with the amount of substance which has beenassigned to thee, so be content with the time.

30

That which is not good for the bee-hive, cannotbe good for the bee.

31

To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and tothose bitten by mad dogs water causes fear; and tolittle children the ball is a fine thing. Why then

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am I angry? Dost thou think that a false opinion hasless power than the bile in the jaundiced or thepoision in him who is bitten by a mad dog?

32

No man will hinder thee from living according tothe reason of thy own nature; nothing will happen tothee contrary to the reason of the universal nature.

33

What kind of people are those whom men wish toplease, and for what objects, and by what kind ofacts? How soon will time cover all things, and howmany it has covered already.

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BOOK SEVEN

On the occasion of everything which happens keepthis in mind, that it is that which thou hast oftenseen. Everywhere up and down thou wilt find the samethings, with which the old histories are filled, thoseof the middle ages and those of our own day; withwhich cities and houses are filled now. There isnothing new; all things are both familiar and short-lived.

To recover thy life is in thy power. Look atthings again as thou didst use to look at them; for inthis consists the recovery of thy life.

Every man is worth just so much as the things areworth about which he busies himself.

Is my understanding sufficient for this or not?If it is sufficient I use it for the work as aninstrument given by the universal nature. But if itis not sufficient, then either I retire from the workand give way to him who is able to do it better,unless there be some reason why I ought not to do so;or I do it as well as I can, taking to help me the manwho with the aid of my ruling principle can do what isnow fit and useful for the general good. For whatso-ever either by myself or with another I can do, oughtto be directed to this only, to that which is usefuland well-suited to society.

5

Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thybusiness to do thy duty like a soldier in the assaulton a town. How then is it possible, if being lamethou canst not mount up on the battlements alone, butwith the help of another?

Let not the future things disturb thee, for thouwilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having

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with thee the same reason which now thou usest forpresent things.

All things are implicated with one another, andthe bond is holy; and there is hardly anything uncon-nected with any other thing. For things have beenco-ordinated, and they combine to form the sameuniverse [order]. For there is one universe made upof all things, and one god who pervades all things,and one substance, and one law, one common reason inall intelligent animals, and one truth; if indeedthere is also one perfection for all animals which areof the same stock and participate in the same reason.

8

Is any man afraid of change? Why, what can takeplace without change? What then is more pleasing ormore suitable to the universal nature? And canst thoutake a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? Andcanst thou be nourished, unless the food undergoes achange? And can anything else that is useful beaccomplished without a change? Dost thou not see thenthat for thyself also to change is just the same, andequally necessary for the universal nature?

Through the universal substance as through afurious torrent all bodies are carried, being by theirnature united with and co-operating with the whole, asthe parts of our body with one another. How many aChrysippus, how many a Socrates, how many an Epictetushas time already swallowed up? And let the samethought occur to thee with reference to every man andthing.

10

Near is thy forgetfulness of all things; and nearthe forgetfulness of thee by all.

11

A scowling look is altogether unnatural; when itis often assumed, the result is that all comelinessdies away, and at last is so completely extinguishedthat it cannot be again lighted up at all. Try toconclude from this very fact that it is contrary toreason. For if even the perception of doing wrong

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shall depart, what reason is there for living anylonger?

12

Nature which governs the whole will soon changeall things thou seest, and out of their substance willmake other things, and again other things from thesubstance of them, in order that the world may be evernew.

13

Think not so much of what thou hast not as ofwhat thou hast: but of the things which thou hastselect the best, and then reflect how eagerly theywould have been sought, if thou hadst them not. Atthe same time, however, take care that thou dost notthrough being so pleased with them accustom thyself toovervalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thoushouldst not have them.

14

Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty andwith indifference toward the things which lie betweenvirtue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God. The poetsays that Law rules all. And it is enough to rememberthat law rules all.

15

About death: whether it is a dispersion, or aresolution into atoms, or annihilation, it is eitherextinction or change.

16

About pain: the pain which is intolerable carriesus off; but that which lasts a long time is tolerable;and the mind maintains its own tranquillity by retir-ing into itself; and the ruling faculty is not madeworse.

17

About fame: look at the minds [of those who seekfame], observe what they are, and what kind of thingsthey avoid, and what kind of things they pursue. Andconsider that as the heaps of sand piled on oneanother hide the former sands, so in life the eventswhich go before are soon covered by those which comeafter.

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18

For thus it is, men of Athens, in truth; wherevera man has placed himself thinking it the best placefor him, or has been placed by a commander, there inmy opinion he ought to stay and to abide the hazard,taking nothing into the reckoning, either death oranything else, before the baseness of deserting hispost.

19

Look round at the courses of the stars, as ifthou wert going along with them; and constantlyconsider the changes of the elements into one another;for such thoughts purge away the filth of the terrenelife.

20

This is a fine saying of Plato: That he who isdiscoursing about men should look also at earthlythings as if he viewed them from some higher place;should look at them in their assemblies, armies,agricultural labors, marriages, treaties, births,deaths, noise of the courts of justice, desert places,various nations of barbarians, feasts, lamentations,markets, a mixture of all things and an orderlycombination of contraries.

21

To have contemplated human life for forty yearsis the same as to have contemplated it for ten thou-sand years. For what more wilt thou see?

22

The prime principle then in man's constitution isthe social. And the second is not to yield to thepersuasions of the body, for it is the peculiar officeof the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribeitself, and never to be overpowered either by themotion of the senses or of the appetites, for both areanimal.

23

Consider thyself to be dead, and to have com-pleted thy life up to the present time; and liveaccording to nature the remainder which is allowedthee.

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24

Why art thou not altogether intent upon the rightway of making use of the things which happen to thee?for then thou wilt use them well, and they will be amaterial for thee [to work on]. Only attend tothyself, and resolve to be a good man in every actwhich thou doest; and remember....

25

Look within. Within is the foundation of good,and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

26

The body ought to be compact, and to show noirregularity either in motion or attitude. For whatthe mind shows in the face by maintaining in it theexpression of intelligence and propriety, that oughtto be required also in the whole body. But all thesethings should be observed without affectation.

27

The art of life is more like the wrestler's artthan the dancer's, in respect of this, that it shouldstand ready and firm to meet onsets which are suddenand unexpected.

28

"No soul (saith he) is willingly bereft of thetruth," and by consequent, neither of justice, ortemperance, or kindness, or mildness; nor of anythingthat is of the same kind. It is most needful thatthou shouldst always remember this. For so shalt thoube far more gentle and moderate towards all men.

29

In the case of most pains let this remark ofEpicurus aid thee, that pain is neither intolerablenor everlasting, if thou bearest in mind that it hasits limits, and if thou addest nothing to it inimagination.

30

It is very possible to be a divine man and to berecognized as such by no one. Always bear this inmind; and another thing too, that very little indeedis necessary for living a happy life.

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31

It is in thy power to live free from all compul-sion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if allthe world cry out against thee as much as they choose,and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members ofthis kneaded matter which has grown around thee.

32

The perfection of moral character consists inthis, in passing every day as the last, and in beingneither violently excited, nor torpid, nor playing thehypocrite.

33

The gods who are immortal are not vexed becauseduring so long a time they must tolerate continuallymen such as they are and so many of them bad; andbesides this, they also take care of them in all ways.But thou, who art destined to end so soon, art thouwearied of enduring the bad, and this too when thouart one of them?

34

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to flyfrom his own badness, which is indeed possible, but tofly from other men's badness, which is impossible.

35

When thou hast done a good act and another hasreceived it, why dost thou still look for a thirdthing besides these, as fools do, either to have thereputation of having done a good act or to obtain areturn?

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BOOK EIGHT

Thou hast had experience of many wanderingswithout having found happiness anywhere, not insyllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in reputation, nor inenjoyment, nor anywhere. Where is it then? In doingwhat man's nature requires. How then shall a man dothis? If he has principles from which come hisaffects and his acts. What principles? Those whichrelate to good and bad: the belief that there isnothing good for man, which does not make him just,temperate, manly, free; and that there is nothing bad,which does not do the contrary.

On the occasion of every act ask thyself, How isthis with respect to me? Shall I repent of it? Alittle time and I am dead, and all is gone. What moredo I seek, if what I am now doing is the work of anintelligent living being, and a social being, and onewho is under the same law with God?

Having fixed thy eyes steadily on thy business,look at it, and at the same time remembering that itis thy duty to be a good man, and what man's naturedemands, do that without turning aside; and speak asit seems to thee most just, only let it be with a gooddisposition and with modesty and without hypocrisy.

Every nature is contented with itself when itgoes on its way well; and a rational nature goes onits way well, when in its thoughts it assents tonothing false or uncertain, and when it directs itsmovements to social acts only, and when it confinesits desires and aversions to the things which are inits power, and when it is satisfied with everythingthat is assigned to it by the common nature. For ofthis common nature every particular nature is a part,as the nature of the leaf is a part of the nature ofthe plant; except that in the plant the nature of theleaf is part of a nature which has not perception ofreason, and is subject to be impeded; but the nature

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of man is part of a nature which is not subject toimpediments, and is intelligent and just.

When thou risest from thy sleep with reluctance,remember that it is according to thy constitution andaccording to human nature to perform social acts, butsleeping is common also to irrational animals.

Whatever man thou meetest with, immediately sayto thyself: What opinions has this man about good andbad? For if with respect to pleasure and pain and thecauses of each, and with respect to fame and ignominy,death and life he has such and such opinions, it willseem nothing strange to me, if he does such and suchthings; and I shall bear in mind that he is compelledto do so.

Remember that to change thy opinion and to followhim who corrects thy error is as consistent withfreedom as it is to persist in thy error. For it isthy own, the activity which is exerted according tothy own movement and judgment, and indeed according tothy own understanding too.

8

Everything exists for some end, a horse, a vine.Why dost thou wonder? Even the sun will say, I am forsome purpose, and the rest of the gods will say thesame. For what purpose then art thou? To enjoypleasure? See if common sense allows this.

Speak both in the senate and to every man,whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affecta-tion; use plain discourse.

10

Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance;and be ready to let it go.

11

Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the wholeof thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once embrace all

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the various troubles which thou mayest expect tobefall thee: but on every occasion ask thyself, Whatis there in this which is intolerable and past bear-ing? for thou wilt be ashamed to confess it. In thenext place remember that neither the future nor thepast pains thee, but only the present. But this isreduced to a very little, if thou only circumscribestit, and chidest thy mind, if it is unable to hold outagainst even this.

12

Different things delight different people. Butit is my delight to keep the ruling faculty soundwithout turning away either from any man or from anyof the things which happen to me, but looking at andreceiving all with welcome eyes and using every thingaccording to its value.

13

See that thou secure this present-time to thy-self; for those who rather pursue posthumous fame donot consider that the men of after time will beexactly such as these whom they cannot bear now; andboth are mortal. And what is it in any way to thee ifthese men of after time utter this or that sound, orhave this or that opinion about thee?

14

If thou art pained by any external thing, it isnot this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judg-ment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe outthis judgment now. But if anything in thy own dispo-sition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correct-ing thy opinion? And even if thou art pained becausethou art not doing some particular thing which seemsto thee to be right, why dost thou not rather act thancomplain? But some insuperable obstacle is in theway? Do not be grieved then, for the cause of its notbeing done depends not on thee. But it is not worthwhile to live, if this cannot be done. Take thydeparture then from life contentedly, just as he dieswho is in full activity, and well pleased too with thethings which are obstacles.

15

Neither in thy actions be sluggish, nor in thyconversation without method, nor wandering in thythoughts, nor let there be in thy soul inward con-

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tention nor external effusion, nor in life be so busyas to have no leisure. Suppose that men kill thee,cut thee in pieces, curse thee. What then can thesethings do to prevent thy mind from remaining pure,wise, sober, just? For instance, if a man shouldstand by a limpid pure spring, and curse it, thespring never ceases sending up potable water; and ifhe should cast clay into it or filth, it will speedilydisperse them and wash them out, and will not be atall polluted. How then shalt thou possess a perpetualfountain and not a mere well? By forming thyselfhourly to freedom conjoined with contentment, simplic-ity and modesty.

16

Though we are made especially for the sake of oneanother, still the ruling power of each of us has itsown office, for otherwise my neighbor's wickednesswould be my harm, which God has not willed in orderthat my unhappiness may not depend on another.

17

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teachthem then or bear with them.

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BOOK NINE

He who acts unjustly acts impiously. For sinceuniversal nature has made rational animals for thesake of one another to help one another according totheir deserts, but in no way to injure one another, hewho transgresses her will, is clearly guilty ofimpiety toward the highest divinity. And he too wholies is guilty of impiety to the same divinity; forthe universal nature is the nature of things that are;and things that are have a relation to all things thatcome into existence. And further, this universalnature is named truth, and is the prime cause of allthings that are true.

Hast thou determined to abide with vice, and hasnot experience yet induced thee to fly from thispestilence? For the destruction of the understandingis a pestilence, much more, indeed, than any suchcorruption and change of this atmosphere which sur-rounds us. For this corruption is a pestilence ofanimals so far as they are animals; but the other is apestilence of men so far as they are men.

Do not despise death, but be well content withit, since this too is one of those things which naturewills.

This, then, is consistent with the character of areflecting man, to be neither careless nor impatientnor contemptuous with respect to death, but to waitfor it as one of the operations of nature.

He often acts unjustly who does not do a certainthing; not only he who does a certain thing.

Check desire: extinguish appetite: keep theruling faculty in its own power.

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If thou art able, correct by teaching those whodo wrong; but if thou canst not, remember that indul-gence is given to thee for this purpose.

8

To-day I have got out of all trouble, or rather Ihave cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, butwithin and in my opinions.

All things are the same, familiar in experience,and ephemeral in time, and worthless in the matter.Everything now is just as it was in the time of thosewhom we have buried.

10

As thou thyself art a component part of a socialsystem, so let every act of thine be a component partof social life.

11

When another blames thee or hates thee, or whenmen say about thee anything injurious, approach theirpoor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of menthey are. Thou wilt discover that there is no reasonto take any trouble that these men may have this orthat opinion about thee.

12

Nor yet expect Plato's Republic: but be contentif the smallest thing goes on well, and consider suchan event to be no small matter. For who can changemen's opinions?

13

One man prays thus: How shall I be able to liewith that woman? Do thou pray thus: How shall I notdesire to lie with her? Another prays thus: How shallI be released from this? Do thou pray: How shall Inot desire to be released? Another thus: How shall Inot lose my little son? Thou thus: How shall I not beafraid to lose him? In fine, turn thy prayers thisway, and see what comes.

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14

Epicurus says, In my sickness my conversation wasnot about my bodily sufferings, nor, says he, did Italk on such subjects to those who visited me; but Icontinued to discourse on the nature of things asbefore, keeping to this main point, how the mind,while participating in such movements as go on in thepoor flesh, shall be free from perturbation andmaintain its proper good. Nor did I, he says, givethe physicians an opportunity of putting on solemnlooks, as if they were doing something great, but mylife went on well and happily. Do, then, the samethat he did in sickness, if thou art sick, and in anyother circumstances: never desert philosophy in anyevents that may befall, nor hold trifling talk eitherwith an ignorant man or with one unacquainted withnature.

15

When thou art offended with any man's shamelessconduct, immediately ask thyself, Is it possible,then, that shameless men should not be in the world?It is not possible. Do not, then, require what isimpossible. For this man is one of those shamelessones who must of necessity be in the world. Let thesame considerations be present to thy mind in the caseof the knave, and the faithless man, and of every manwho does wrong in any way. For, at the same time thatthou dost remind thyself that it is impossible thatsuch men should not exist, thou wilt become morekindly disposed toward every one individually.

16

Most of all, when thou blamest a man as faithlessor ungrateful, turn to thyself. For the fault ismanifestly thy own, whether thou didst trust that aman who had such a disposition would keep his promise,or when conferring thy kindness thou didst not conferit absolutely, nor yet in such a way as to havereceived from thy very act all the profit. For whatmore dost thou want when thou hast done a man aservice? Art thou not content that thou hast donesomething conformable to thy nature, and dost thouseek to be paid for it?

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BOOK TEN

Remember, that thou art formed by nature to beareverything, with respect to which it depends on thyown opinion to make it endurable and tolerable, bythinking that it is either thy interest or thy duty todo this.

Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared forthee from all eternity.

Whether the universe is a concourse of atoms, ornature is a system, let this first be established,that I am a part of the whole which is governed bynature; next, I am in a manner intimately related tothe parts which are of the same kind with myself. Forremembering this, inasmuch as I am a part, I shall bediscontented with none of the things which are assign-ed to me out of the whole; for nothing is injurious tothe part, if it is for the advantage of the whole.

Magnanimity is the elevation of the intelligentpart above the pleasurable or painful sensations ofthe flesh, and above that poor thing called fame, anddeath, and all such things.

When thou art offended at any man's fault,forthwith turn to thyself and reflect in what likemanner thou dost err thyself; for example, in thinkingthat money is a good thing, or pleasure, or a bit ofreputation, and the like. For by attending to thisthou wilt quickly forget thy anger.

But thou, in what a brief space of time is thyexistence? And why art thou not content to passthrough this short time in an orderly way? Whatmatter and opportunity for thy activity art thouavoiding? For what else are all these things, except

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exercises for the reason, when it has viewed carefullyand by examination into their nature the things whichhappen in life? Persevere then until thou shalt havemade these things thy own, as the stomach which isstrengthened makes all things its own, as the blazingfire makes flame and brightness out of everything thatis thrown into it.

Let it not be in any man's power to say truly ofthee that thou art not simple, or that thou art notgood; but let him be a liar whoever shall thinkanything of this kind about thee; and this is alto-gether in thy power. For who is he that shall hinderthee from being good and simple?

8

What is that which as to this material [our life]can be done or said in the way most conformable toreason. For whatever this may be, it is in thy powerto do it or to say it, and do not make excuses thatthou art hindered. Thou wilt not cease to lament tillthy mind is in such a condition that, what luxury isto those who enjoy pleasure, such shall be to thee, inthe matter which is subjected and presented to thee,and doing of the things which are conformable to man'sconstitution; for a man ought to consider as anenjoyment everything which it is in his power to doaccording to his own nature.

Remember that nothing harms him who is really acitizen, which does not harm the state; nor yet doesanything harm the state which does not harm the law[order].

10

The healthy eye ought to see all visible thingsand not to say, I wish for green things; for this isthe condition of a diseased eye. And the healthyhearing and smelling ought to be ready to perceive allthat can be heard and smelled. And the healthystomach ought to be with respect to all food just asthe mill with respect to all things which it is formedto grind. And accordingly the healthy understandingought to be prepared for everything which happens; butthat which says, Let my dear children live, and letall men praise whatever I may do, is an eye which

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seeks for green things, or teeth which seek for softthings.

11

Accustom thyself as much as possible on theoccasion of anything being done by any person toinquire of thyself, For what object is this man doingthis? but begin with thyself, and examine thyselffirst.

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BOOK ELEVEN

These are the properties of the rational soul: itsees itself, analyzes itself, and makes itself such asit chooses; the fruit which it bears itself enjoys -for the fruits of plants and that in animals whichcorresponds to fruits others enjoy - it obtains itsown end, wherever the limit of life may be fixed. Notas in a dance and in a play and in such like things,where the whole action is incomplete, if anything cutsit short; but in every part and wherever it may bestopped, it makes what has been set before it full andcomplete, so that it can say, 1 have what is my own.And further it traverses the whole universe, and thesurrounding vacuum, and surveys its form, and itextends itself into the infinity of time, and embracesand comprehends the periodical renovation of allthings, and it comprehends that those who come afterus will see nothing new, nor have those before us seenanything more; but in a manner he who is forty yearsold, if he has any understanding at all, has seen byvirtue of the uniformity that prevails all thingswhich have been and all that will be. This, too, is aproperty of the rational soul; love of one's neighbor,and truth and modesty, and to value nothing more thanitself, which is also the property of Law. Thus,then, right reason differs not at all from the reasonof justice.

Have I done something for the general interest?Well then I have had my reward. Let this always bepresent to my mind, and never stop doing such good.

What is thy business? To be good. And how isthis accomplished well except by general principles,some about the nature of the universe, and othersabout the proper constitution of man?

Now as to a branch, another cuts it off, but aman by his own act separates himself from his neighborwhen he hates him and turns away from him, and he does

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not know that he has at the same time cut himself offfrom the whole social system.

As those who try to stand in thy way when thouart proceeding according to right reason, will not beable to turn thee aside from thy proper action, soneither let them drive thee from thy benevolentfeelings toward them, but be on thy guard equally inboth matters, not only in the matter of steady judg-ment and action, but also in the matter of gentlenesstoward those who try to hinder or otherwise troublethee.

Suppose any man shall despise me. Let him lookto that himself. But I will look at this, that I benot discovered doing or saying anything deserving ofcontempt. Shall any man hate me? Let him look to it.But I will be mild and benevolent toward every man,and ready to show even him his mistake, not reproach-fully, nor yet as making a display of my endurance,but nobly and honestly. A man ought to be seen by thegods neither dissatisfied with anything nor complain-ing. For what evil is it to thee, if thou art nowdoing what is agreeable to thy own nature, and artsatisfied with that which at this moment is suitableto the nature of the universe, since thou art a humanbeing placed at thy post in order that what is for thecommon advantage may be done in some way?

How unsound and insincere is he who says, I havedetermined to deal with thee in a fair way. What artthou doing, man? There is no occasion to give thisnotice. It will soon show itself by acts.

8

Seek what is conformable to thy own nature, andstrive toward this, even if it bring no reputation;for every man is allowed to seek his own good.

If any have offended against thee consider whatkind of men they are at table, in bed, and so forth,and particularly, under what compulsions in respect ofopinions they are; and as to their acts, consider with

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what pride they do what they do.

10

If men do rightly what they do, we ought not tobe displeased; but if they do not right, it is plainthat they do so involuntarily and in ignorance. Foras every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, soalso is it unwillingly deprived of the power ofbehaving to each man according to his deserts.Accordingly men are pained when they are calledunjust, ungrateful, and greedy, and in a word wrong-doers to their neighbors.

11

Consider that thou also doest many things wrong,and that thou art a man like others; and even if thoudost abstain from certain faults, still thou hast thedisposition to commit them, though either throughcowardice, or concern about reputation or some suchmean motive, thou dost abstain from such faults.

12

Consider that thou dost not even understandwhether men are doing wrong or not, for many thingsare done with a certain reference to circumstances.And, in short, a man must learn a great deal to enablehim to pass a correct judgment on another man's acts.

13

Consider when thou art much vexed or grieved,that man's life is only a moment, and, after a shorttime, we are all laid out dead.

14

Consider that it is not men's acts which disturbus, for those acts have their foundation in men'sruling principles, but it is our own opinions whichdisturb us. Take away those opinions then, andresolve to dismiss thy judgment about an act as if itwere something grievous, and thy anger is gone. How,then, shall I take away these opinions? By reflectingthat no wrongful act of another brings shame on me.

15

Consider how much more pain is brought on us bythe anger and vexation caused by such acts than by theacts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed.

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16

Consider that a good disposition is invincible,if it be genuine, and not an affected smile and actinga part. For what will the most violent man do tothee, if thou continuest to be of a kind dispositiontoward him, and if, as opportunity offers, thou gentlyadmonishest him and calmly correctest his errors atthe very time when he is trying to do thee harm,saying, Not so, my child: we are constituted by naturefor something else: I shall certainly not be injured,but thou art injuring thyself, my child. And show himwith gentle tact and by general principles that thisis so, and that even bees do not do as he does, norany animals which are formed by nature to be gregar-ious. And thou must do this neither with any doublemeaning nor in the way of reproach, but affectionatelyand without any rancour in thy soul; and not as ifthou wert lecturing him, nor yet that any bystandermay admire, but so always that nobody be privy to it,but himself alone.

17

Remember all the above rules, as if thou hadstreceived them as a gift from the Muses, and begin atlast to be a man while thou livest. But thou mustequally avoid flattering men and being vexed at them,for both are unsocial and lead to harm. And let thistruth be present to thee in the excitement of anger,that to be moved by passion is not manly, but thatmildness and gentleness, as they are more agreeable tohuman nature, so also are they more manly; and he whopossesses these qualities possesses strength, nervesand courage, and not the man who is subject to fits ofpassion and discontent. For in the same degree inwhich a man's mind is nearer to freedom from allpassion, in the same degree also is it nearer tostrength: and as the sense of pain is a characteristicof weakness, so also is anger. For he who yields topain and he who yields to anger, both are wounded andboth submit.

18

But if thou wilt, receive also one more presentfrom the leader of the Muses, Apollo, and it is this -that to expect bad men not to do wrong is madness, forhe who expects this desires an impossibility. But toallow men to behave so to others, and to expect them

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not to do thee any wrong, is irrational and tyran-nical.

19

There are four principal aberrations of thesuperior faculty against which thou shouldest beconstantly on thy guard, and when thou hast detectedthem, thou shouldst wipe them out and say on eachoccasion thus: this thought is not necessary: thistends to destroy social union: this which thou artgoing to say comes not from my real thoughts; for thoushouldst consider it among the most absurd of thingsfor man not to speak from his real thoughts. For thefourth, thou shalt sharply check and upbraid thyself,for that thou dost suffer that more divine part inthee, to become subject and obnoxious to that moreignoble part of thy body, and the gross lusts andconcupiscences thereof.

20

The movement towards injustice and intemperanceand to anger and grief and fear is nothing else thanthe act of one who deviates from nature. And alsowhen the ruling faculty is discontented with anythingthat happens, then too it deserts its post: for it isconstituted for piety and reverence toward the gods noless than for justice.

21

Socrates used to call the opinions of the many bythe name of Lamiae, bugbears to frighten children.

22

Neither in writing nor in reading wilt thou beable to lay down rules for others before thou shalthave first learned to obey rules thyself. Much moreis this so in life.

23

When a man kisses his child, said Epictetus, heshould whisper to himself, "To-morrow perchance thouwilt die". But those are words of bad omen. "No wordis a word of bad omen," said Epictetus, "which express-es any work of nature; or if it is so, it is also aword of bad omen to speak of the ears of corn beingreaped."

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24

No man can rob us of our free will.

25

Socrates used to say, What do you want; souls ofrational men or irrational? Souls of rational men.Of what rational men: sound or unsound? Sound. Whythen do you not seek for them? Because we have them.Why then do you fight and quarrel?

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BOOK TWELVE

All those things at which thou wishest to arriveby a circuitous road, thou canst have now, if thoudost not refuse them to thyself. And this means, ifthou wilt take no notice of all the past, and trustthe future to Providence, and direct the present onlyconformably to piety and justice. Conformably topiety, that thou mayest be content with the lot whichis assigned to thee, for nature designed it for theeand thee for it. Conformably to justice, that thoumayest always speak the truth freely and withoutdisguise, and do the things which are agreeable to lawand according to the worth of each. And let neitheranother man's wickedness hinder thee, nor opinion, norvoice, nor yet the sensations of the poor flesh whichhas grown about thee; for the passive part will lookto this. If then, whatever the time may be when thoushalt be near to thy departure, neglecting everythingelse thou shalt respect only thy ruling faculty andthe divinity within thee, and if thou shalt be afraidnot because thou must some time cease to live, but ifthou shalt fear never to have begun to live accordingto nature, then thou wilt be a man worthy of theuniverse which has produced thee, and thou wilt ceaseto be a stranger in thy native land, and to wonder atthings which happen daily as if they were somethingunexpected, and to be dependent on things that are notin thy power.

He who regards not the poor flesh which envelopshim, surely will not trouble himself by looking afterraiment and dwelling and fame and such like externalsand show.

The things are three of which thou art composed,a little body, a little breath [life], intelligence.Of these the first two are thine, so far as it is thyduty to take care of them; but the third alone isproperly thine. Therefore, if thou shalt separatefrom thyself, that is, from thy understanding, what-ever others do or say, and whatever thou hast done orsaid thyself, and whatever future things trouble thee

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because they may happen, and whatever in the bodywhich envelops thee, or in the breath [life], which isby nature associated with the body, is attached tothee independent of thy will, and whatever the externalcircumfluent vortex whirls round, so that the intel-lectual power exempt from the things of fate can livepure and free by itself, doing what is just andaccepting what happens and saying the truth: if thouwilt separate, I say, from this ruling faculty thethings which are attached to it by the impressions ofsense, and the things of time to come and of time thatis past, and wilt make thyself like Empedocles1

sphere:

All round, and in its joyous rest reposing;

and if thou shalt strive to live only what is reallythy life, that is, the present, then thou wilt be ableto pass that portion of life which remains for thee upto the time of thy death, free from perturbations,nobly, and in good favor and correspondency, with thatspirit which is within thee.

I have often wondered how it is that every manloves himself more than all the rest of men, but yetsets less value on his own opinion of himself than onthe opinion of others. If then a god or a wiseteacher should present himself to a man and bid him tothink of nothing and to design (nothing which he wouldnot express as soon as he conceived it), he could notendure it even for a single day. So much more respecthave we to what our neighbors shall think of us thanto what we shall think of ourselves.

Practice thyself even in the things which thoudespairest of accomplishing. For even the left hand,which is ineffectual for all other things for want ofpractice, holds the bridle more vigorously than theright hand; for it has been practiced in this.

6

With respect to that which happens conformably tonature, we ought to blame neither gods, for they donothing wrong either voluntarily or involuntarily, normen, for they do nothing wrong except involuntarily.Consequently we should blame nobody.

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7

How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who issurprised at anything which happens in life.

Does the light of the lamp shine without losingits splendor until it is extinguished; and shall thetruth which is in thee and justice and temperance beextinguished before thy death?

If it is not right, do not do it: if it is nottrue, do not say it.

10

Perceive at last that thou hast in thee somethingbetter and more divine than the things which, as itwere, pull thee by the strings. What is there now inmy mind? is it fear, or suspicion, or desire, oranything of the kind?

11

First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without apurpose. Second, make thy acts refer to nothing elsethan to a social end.

12

Consider that everything is opinion, and opinionis in thy power. Take away then, when thou choosest,thy opinion, and like a mariner, who has doubled thepromontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable,and a waveless bay.

13

In the things which thou doest do nothing eitherinconsiderately or otherwise than as justice herselfwould act; but with respect to what may happen to theefrom without, consider that it happens either bychance or according to providence, and thou mustneither blame chance nor accuse providence.

14

When thou art troubled about anything, thou hastforgotten this, that all things happen according tothe universal nature; and forgotten this, that a man'swrongful act is nothing to thee; and further thou hast

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forgotten this, that everything which happens, alwayshappened so and will happen so, and now* happens soeverywhere; forgotten this, too, how close is thekinship between a man and the whole human race, for itis a community, not of a little blood or seed, but ofintelligence. And thou hast forgotten this too, thatevery man's intelligence is a god, and is an efflux ofthe deity; and forgotten this, that nothing is a man'sown, but that his child and his body and his very soulcame from the deity; forgotten this, that everythingis opinion; and lastly thou hast forgotten that everyman lives the present time only, and loses only this.

15

In fine, think of the eager pursuit of anythingco-joined with pride; and how worthless everything isafter which men violently strain; and how much morephilosophical it is for a man in the opportunitiespresented to him to show himself just, temperate,obedient to the gods, and to do this with all simplic-ity: for the pride which is proud of its want of prideis the most intolerable of all.

16

How small a part of boundless and unfathomabletime is assigned to every man? For it is very soonswallowed up in the eternal. And how small a part ofthe whole substance? And how small a part of theuniversal soul? And on what a small clod of the wholeearth thou creepest? Reflecting on all this, considernothing to be great, except to act as thy nature leadsthee, and to endure that which the common naturebrings.

17

Man, thou hast been a citizen in this great statethe world: what difference does it make to theewhether for five years or three? For that which isconformable to the laws is just for all. Where isthe hardship then, if not a tyrant nor yet an unjustjudge sends thee away from the state, but nature whobrought thee into it? The same as if a praetor whohas employed an actor dismisses him from the stage."But I have not finished the five acts, but only threeof them." Thou sayest well, but in life the threeacts are the whole drama; for what shall be a completedrama is determined by him who was once the cause of

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its composition, and now of its dissolution: but thouart the cause of neither. Depart then satisfied, forhe also who releases thee is satisfied.

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FRANCES KANES HAZLITT is the author and editor of THECONCISE BIBLE, a condensation, published byHenry Regnery in 1962. A new edition (both hardcoverand paperback) was published by Liberty Press in 1976.A British edition (by Eyre & Spottiswoode) was alsopublished in 1976 and is marketed in a large number ofcountries.

HENRY HAZLITT, former columnist for the New York Timesand later for Newsweek, is the author of eighteenbooks. The best known is ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON,which originally appeared in 1946, has been publishedin ten translations, and in all editions has soldnearly a million copies. His WILL DOLLARS SAVE THEWORLD? (1947) was condensed by THE READER'S DIGEST andpublished not only in its American but in translationsin all its foreign editions. He is also the author ofWHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT INFLATION (1960 and 1965),THE FAILURE OF THE "NEW ECONOMICS": AN ANALYSIS OF THEKEYNESIAN FALLACIES (1959 and 1973), THE FOUNDATIONSOF MORALITY (1964 and 1972), THE CONQUEST OF POVERTY(1973), and THE INFLATION CRISIS, AND HOW TO RESOLVEIT (1978 and 1983).

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