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Page 73
13. Suppose any man shall despise me. Let him look to that himself. But
I will look to this, that I be not discovered doing or saying anything
deserving of contempt. Shall any man hate me? Let him look to it. But I
will be mild and benevolent towards every man, and ready to show even
him his mistake, not reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of my
endurance, but nobly and honestly, like the great Phocion, unless indeed
he only assumed it. For the interior [parts] ought to be such, and a
man ought to be seen by the gods neither dissatisfied with anything nor
complaining. For what evil is it to thee, if thou art now doing what is
agreeable to thy own nature, and art satisfied with that which at this
moment is suitable to the nature of the universe, since thou art a human
being placed at thy post in order that what is for the common advantage
may be done in some way?
14. Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to
raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.
15. How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal
with thee in a fair way!--What are thou doing, man? There is no occasion
to give this notice. It will soon show itself by acts. The voice ought
to be plainly written on the forehead. Such as a man's character is,+ he
immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith
reads everything in the eyes of lovers. The man who is honest and good
ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander
as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not. But
the affectation of simplicity is like a crooked stick.[A] Nothing is
more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship [false friendship]. Avoid
this most of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these
things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking.
[A] Instead of [Greek: skalm�] Saumaise reads [Greek: skamb�].
There is a Greek proverb, [Greek: skambon xylon oudepot
orthon]: "You cannot make a crooked stick straight."
The wolfish friendship is an allusion to the fable of the sheep
and the wolves.
16. As to living in the best way, this power is in the soul, if it be
indifferent to things which are indifferent. And it will be indifferent,
if it looks on each of these things separately and all together, and if
it remembers that not one of them produces in us an opinion about
itself, nor comes to us; but these things remain immovable, and it is we
ourselves who produce the judgments about them, and, as we may say,
write them in ourselves, it being in our power not to write them, and it
being in our power, if perchance these judgments have imperceptibly got
admission to our minds, to wipe them out; and if we remember also that
such attention will only be for a short time, and then life will be at
an end. Besides, what trouble is there at all in doing this? For if
these things are according to nature, rejoice in them and they will be
easy to thee: but if contrary to nature, seek what is conformable to thy
own nature, and strive towards this, even if it bring no reputation; for
every man is allowed to seek his own good.
17. Consider whence each thing is come, and of what it consists, + and
into what it changes, and what kind of a thing it will be when it has
changed, and that it will sustain no harm.
18. [If any have offended against thee, consider first]: What is my
relation to men, and that we are made for one another; and in another
respect I was made to be set over them, as a ram over the flock or a
bull over the herd. But examine the matter from first principles, from
this. If all things are not mere atoms, it is nature which orders all
things: if this is so, the inferior things exist for the sake of the
superior, and these for the sake of one another (ii. 1; ix. 39; v. 16;
iii. 4).
Second, consider what kind of men they are at table, in bed, and so
forth; and particularly, under what compulsions in respect of opinions
they are; and as to their acts, consider with what pride they do what
they do (viii. 14; ix. 34).
Third, that if men do rightly what they do, we ought not to be
displeased: but if they do not right, it is plain that they do so
involuntarily and in ignorance. For as every soul is unwillingly
deprived of the truth, so also is it unwillingly deprived of the power
of behaving to each man according to his deserts. Accordingly men are
pained when they are called unjust, ungrateful, and greedy, and in a
word wrong-doers to their neighbors (vii. 62, 63; ii. 1; vii. 26; viii.
29).
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