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Page 70
[C] Compare Epictetus, i. 29, 28.
33. What is that which as to this material [our life] can be done or
said in the way most conformable to reason? For whatever this may be, it
is in thy power to do it or to say it, and do not make excuses that thou
art hindered. Thou wilt not cease to lament till thy mind is in such a
condition that what luxury is to those who enjoy pleasure, such shall be
to thee, in the matter which is subjected and presented to thee, the
doing of the things which are conformable to man's constitution; for a
man ought to consider as an enjoyment everything which it is in his
power to do according to his own nature. And it is in his power
everywhere. Now, it is not given to a cylinder to move everywhere by its
own motion, nor yet to water nor to fire, nor to anything else which is
governed by nature or an irrational soul, for the things which check
them and stand in the way are many. But intelligence and reason are able
to go through everything that opposes them, and in such manner as they
are formed by nature and as they choose. Place before thy eyes this
facility with which the reason will be carried through all things, as
fire upwards, as a stone downwards, as a cylinder down an inclined
surface, and seek for nothing further. For all other obstacles either
affect the body only, which is a dead thing; or, except through opinion
and the yielding of the reason itself, they do not crush nor do any harm
of any kind; for if they did, he who felt it would immediately become
bad. Now, in the case of all things which have a certain constitution,
whatever harm may happen to any of them, that which is so affected
becomes consequently worse; but in the like case, a man becomes both
better, if one may say so, and more worthy of praise by making a right
use of these accidents. And finally remember that nothing harms him who
is really a citizen, which does not harm the state; nor yet does
anything harm the state, which does not harm law [order]; and of these
things which are called misfortunes not one harms law. What then does
not harm law does not harm either state or citizen.
34. To him who is penetrated by true principles even the briefest
precept is sufficient, and any common precept, to remind him that he
should be free from grief and fear. For example:--
"Leaves, some the wind scatters on the ground--
So is the race of men."[A]
Leaves, also, are thy children; and leaves, too, are they who cry out as
if they were worthy of credit and bestow their praise, or on the
contrary curse, or secretly blame and sneer; and leaves, in like manner,
are those who shall receive and transmit a man's fame to after-times.
For all such things as these "are produced in the season of spring," as
the poet says; then the wind casts them down; then the forest produces
other leaves in their places. But a brief existence is common to all
things, and yet thou avoidest and pursuest all things as if they would
be eternal. A little time, and thou shalt close thy eyes; and him who
has attended thee to thy grave another soon will lament.
[A] Homer, II., vi. 146.
35. The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I
wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye. And
the healthy hearing and smelling ought to be ready to perceive all that
can be heard and smelled. And the healthy stomach ought to be with
respect to all food just as the mill with respect to all things which it
is formed to grind. And accordingly the healthy understanding ought to
be prepared for everything which happens; but that which says, Let my
dear children live, and let all men praise whatever I may do, is an eye
which seeks for green things, or teeth which seek for soft things.
36. There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he
is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.[A] Suppose
that he was a good and wise man, will there not be at least some one to
say to himself, Let us at last breathe freely, being relieved from this
schoolmaster? It is true that he was harsh to none of us, but I
perceived that he tacitly condemns us.--This is what is said of a good
man. But in our own case how many other things are there for which there
are many who wish to get rid of us? Thou wilt consider this, then, when
thou art dying, and thou wilt depart more contentedly by reflecting
thus: I am going away from such a life, in which even my associates in
behalf of whom I have striven so much, prayed, and cared, themselves
wish me to depart, hoping perchance to get some little advantage by it.
Why then should a man cling to a longer stay here? Do not, however, for
this reason go away less kindly disposed to them, but preserving thy own
character, and friendly and benevolent and mild, and on the other hand
not as if thou wast torn away; but as when a man dies a quiet death, the
poor soul is easily separated from the body, such also ought thy
departure from men to be, for nature united thee to them and associated
thee. But does she now dissolve the union? Well, I am separated as from
kinsmen, not however dragged resisting, but without compulsion; for
this, too, is one of the things according to nature.
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