,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca ,,minor ,,dialogues ,,together ,,with ,,the ,,dialogue ,,on ,,clemency ,,translated ,,by ,,aubrey ,,stewart1 ,m4,a4 ,,late ,,fellow ,,of ,,trinity ,,college1 ,,cambridge ,,london -- ,,george ,,bell ,,and ,,sons1 ,,york ,,street ,,covent ,,garden #ahhi ,,chiswick ,,press 3--,c4 ,,whittingham ,,and ,,co41 ,,tooks ,,court1 ,,chancery ,,lane ,,preface4 ,i can say little by way of preface to ,seneca's 8,minor ,dialogues0 which ,i have not already expressed in my preface to 8,de ,beneficiis10 except that the 8,minor ,dialogues0 seem to me to be composed in a gloomier key than either the 8,de ,beneficiis0 or 8,de ,clementia10 and probably were written at a time when the author had already begun to experience the ingratitude of his imperial pupil4 ,some of the ,dialogues are dated from ,corsica1 ,seneca's place of exile1 which he seems to have found peculiarly uncomfortable1 although he remarks that there are people who live there from choice4 ,nevertheless1 mournful as they are in tone1 these ,dialogues have a certain value1 because they teach us what was meant by ,stoic philosophy in the time of the ,twelve ,caesars4 ,i have only to add that the value of my work has been materially enhanced by the kindness of the ,rev4 ,professor ,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,mayor1 who has been good enough to read and correct almost all the proof sheets of this volume4 ,,aubrey ,,stewart4 ,london1 #ahhi4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,of ,providence #a ,on the ,firmness of the ,wise ,man #bb ,of ,anger4 ,i4 #dh ,,ii4 #gf ,,iii4 #aae ,of ,consolation4 ,to ,marcia #afb ,of a ,happy ,life #bjd ,of ,leisure #bdj ,of ,peace of ,mind #bej ,of the ,shortness of ,life #bhh ,of ,consolation4 ,to ,helvia #cbj ,to ,polybius #cec ,of ,clemency4 ,i4 #chj ,,ii4 #dae #a ,,the ,,first ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,lucilius4 8,,why1 ,,when ,a ,,providence ,,exists1 ,,any ,,misfortunes ,,befall ,,good ,,men20 ,,or1 8,,of ,,providence0 ,i4 ,you have asked me1 ,lucilius1 why1 if the world be ruled by providence1 so many evils befall good men8 ,the answer to this would be more conveniently given in the course of this work1 after we have proved that providence governs the universe1 and that ,god is amongst us3 but1 since you wish me to deal with one point apart from the whole1 and to answer one replication before the main action has been decided1 ,i will do what is not difficult1 and plead the cause of the gods4 ,at the present time it is superfluous to point out that it is not without some guardian that so great a work maintains its position1 that the assemblage and movements of the stars do not depend upon accidental impulses1 or that objects whose motion is regulated by chance often fall into confusion and soon stumble1 whereas this swift and safe movement goes on1 governed by eternal law1 bearing with it so many things both on sea and land1 so many most brilliant lights shining in order in the skies2 that this regularity does not belong to matter moving at random1 and that particles brought together by chance could not #b arrange themselves with such art as to make the heaviest weight1 that of the earth1 remain unmoved1 and behold the flight of the heavens as they hasten round it1 to make the seas pour into the valleys and so temper the climate of the land1 without any sensible increase from the rivers which flow into them1 or to cause huge growths to proceed from minute seeds4 ,even those phenomena which appear to be confused and irregular1 ,i mean showers of rain and clouds1 the rush of lightning from the heavens1 fire that pours from the riven peaks of mountains1 quakings of the trembling earth1 and everything else which is produced on earth by the unquiet element in the universe1 do not come to pass without reason1 though they do so suddenly3 but they also have their causes1 as also have those things which excite our wonder by the strangeness of their position1 such as warm springs amidst the waves of the sea1 and new islands that spring up in the wide ocean4 ,moreover1 any one who has watched how the shore is laid bare by the retreat of the sea into itself1 and how within a short time it is again covered1 will believe that it is in obedience to some hidden law of change that the waves are at one time contracted and driven inwards1 at another burst forth and regain their bed with a strong current1 since all the while they wax in regular proportion1 and come up at their appointed day and hour greater or less1 according as the moon1 at whose pleasure the ocean flows1 draws them4 ,let these matters be set aside for discussion at their own proper season1 but ,i1 since you do not doubt the existence of providence but complain of it1 will on that account more readily reconcile you to gods who are most excellent to excellent men3 for indeed the nature of things does not ever permit good to be injured by good4 ,between good men and the gods there is a friendship which is brought about by virtue-- friendship do ,i say8 nay1 rather relationship and likeness1 since the good man differs from a god in time alone1 #c being his pupil and rival and true offspring1 whom his glorious parent trains more severely than other men1 insisting sternly on virtuous conduct1 just as strict fathers do4 ,when therefore you see men who are good and acceptable to the gods toiling1 sweating1 painfully struggling upwards1 while bad men run riot and are steeped in pleasures1 reflect that modesty pleases us in our sons1 and forwardness in our house-born slave-boys2 that the former are held in check by a somewhat stern rule1 whereas the boldness of the latter is encouraged4 ,be thou sure that ,god acts in like manner3 ,he does not pet the good man3 ,he tries him1 hardens him1 and fits him for ,himself4 ,,ii4 ,why do many things turn out badly for good men8 ,why1 no evil can befall a good man3 contraries cannot combine4 ,just as so many rivers1 so many showers of rain from the clouds1 such a number of medicinal springs1 do not alter the taste of the sea1 indeed1 do not so much as soften it1 so the pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of a brave man2 for the mind of a brave man maintains its balance and throws its own complexion over all that takes place1 because it is more powerful than any external circumstances4 ,i do not say that he does not feel them1 but he conquers them1 and on occasion calmly and tranquilly rises superior to their attacks1 holding all misfortunes to be trials of his own firmness4 ,yet who is there who1 provided he be a man and have honourable ambition1 does not long for due employment1 and is not eager to do his duty in spite of danger8 ,is there any hard-working man to whom idleness is not a punishment8 ,we see athletes1 who study only their bodily strength1 engage in contests with the strongest of men1 and insist that those who train them for the arena should put out their whole strength when practising with them3 they endure blows and maltreatment1 and1 if they cannot find any single person who is their match1 they engage with several at once3 their #d strength and courage droop without an antagonist3 they can only prove how great and how mighty it is by proving how much they can endure4 ,you should know that good men ought to act in like manner1 so as not to fear troubles and difficulties1 nor to lament their hard fate1 to take in good part whatever befalls them1 and force it to become a blessing to them4 ,it does not matter what you bear1 but how you bear it4 ,do you not see how differently fathers and mothers indulge their children8 how the former urge them to begin their tasks betimes1 will not suffer them to be idle even on holidays1 and exercise them till they perspire1 and sometimes till they shed tears--while their mothers want to cuddle them in their laps1 and keep them out of the sun1 and never wish them to be vexed1 or to cry1 or to work4 ,god bears a fatherly mind towards good men1 and loves them in a manly spirit4 8,let them10 says ,he1 8be exercised by labours1 sufferings1 and losses1 that so they may gather true strength40 ,those who are surfeited with ease break down not only with labour1 but with mere motion and by their own weight4 ,unbroken prosperity cannot bear a single blow2 but he who has waged an unceasing strife with his misfortunes has gained a thicker skin by his sufferings1 yields to no disaster1 and even though he fall yet fights on his knee4 ,do you wonder that ,god1 who so loves the good1 who would have them attain the highest goodness and pre-eminence1 should appoint fortune to be their adversary8 ,i should not be surprised if the gods sometimes experience a wish to behold great men struggling with some misfortune4 ,we sometimes are delighted when a youth of steady courage receives on his spear the wild beast that attacks him2 or when he meets the charge of a lion without flinching2 and the more eminent the man is who acts thus1#a the more #e attractive is the sight3 yet these are not matters which can attract the attention of the gods1 but are mere pastime and diversions of human frivolity4 ,behold a sight worthy to be viewed by a god interested in his own work1 behold a pair#b worthy of a god1 a brave man matched with evil fortune1 especially if he himself has given the challenge4 ,i say1 ,i do not know what nobler spectacle ,jupiter could find on earth1 should he turn his eyes thither1 than that of ,cato1 after his party had more than once been defeated1 still standing upright amid the ruins of the commonwealth4 ,quoth he1 8,what though all be fallen into one man's power1 though the land be guarded by his legions1 the sea by his fleets1 though ,caesar's soldiers beset the city gate8 ,cato has a way out of it3 with one hand he will open a wide path to freedom2 his sword1 which he has borne unstained by disgrace and innocent of crime even in a civil war1 will still perform good and noble deeds2 it will give to ,cato that freedom which it could not give to his country4 ,begin1 my soul1 the work which thou so long hast contemplated1 snatch thyself away from the world of man4 ,already ,petreius and ,juba have met and fallen1 each slain by the other's hand--a brave and noble compact with fate1 yet not one befitting my greatness3 it is as disgraceful for ,cato to beg his death of any one as it would be for him to beg his life40 ,it is clear to me that the gods must have looked on with great joy1 while that man1 his own most ruthless avenger1 took thought for the safety of others and arranged the escape of those who departed1 while even on his last night he pursued his studies1 while he drove the sword into his sacred breast1 while he tore forth his vitals and laid his hand upon that most holy life which was unworthy to be defiled by steel4 ,this1 ,i am inclined to think1 was the reason that #f his wound was not well-aimed and mortal3 the gods were not satisfied with seeing ,cato die once3 his courage was kept in action and recalled to the stage1 that it might display itself in a more difficult part3 for it needs a greater mind to return a second time to death4 ,how could they fail to view their pupil with interest when leaving his life by such a noble and memorable departure8 ,men are raised to the level of the gods by a death which is admired even by those who fear them4 ,,iii4 ,however1 as my argument proceeds1 ,i shall prove that what appear to be evils are not so2 for the present ,i say this1 that what you call hard measure1 misfortunes1 and things against which we ought to pray1 are really to the advantage1 firstly1 of those to whom they happen1 and secondly1 of all mankind1 for whom the gods care more than for individuals2 and next1 that these evils befall them with their own good will1 and that men deserve to endure misfortunes1 if they are unwilling to receive them4 ,to this ,i shall add1 that misfortunes proceed thus by destiny1 and that they befall good men by the same law which makes them good4 ,after this1 ,i shall prevail upon you never to pity any good man2 for though he may be called unhappy1 he cannot be so4 ,of all these propositions that which ,i have stated first appears the most difficult to prove4 ,i mean1 that the things which we dread and shudder at are to the advantage of those to whom they happen4 8,is it10 say you1 8to their advantage to be driven into exile1 to be brought to want1 to carry out to burial their children and wife1 to be publicly disgraced1 to lose their health80 ,yes6 if you are surprised at these being to any man's advantage1 you will also be surprised at any man being benefited by the knife and cautery1 or by hunger and thirst as well4 ,yet if you consider that some men1 in order to be cured1 have their bones scraped1 and pieces of them extracted1 that their veins are pulled out #g and that some have limbs cut off1 which could not remain in their place without ruin to the whole body1 you will allow me to prove to you this also1 that some misfortunes are for the good of those to whom they happen1 just as much1 by ,hercules1 as some things which are praised and sought after are harmful to those who enjoy them like indigestions and drunkenness and other matters which kill us through pleasure4 ,among many grand sayings of our ,demetrius is this1 which ,i have but just heard1 and which still rings and thrills in my ears3 8,no one10 said he1 8seems to me more unhappy than the man whom no misfortune has ever befallen40 ,he never has had an opportunity of testing himself2 though everything has happened to him according to his wish1 nay1 even before he has formed a wish1 yet the gods have judged him unfavourably2 he has never been deemed worthy to conquer ill fortune1 which avoids the greatest cowards1 as though it said1 8,why should ,i take that man for my antagonist8 ,he will straightway lay down his arms3 ,i shall not need all my strength against him3 he will be put to flight by a mere menace3 he dares not even face me2 let me look around for some other with whom ,i may fight hand to hand3 ,i blush to join battle with one who is prepared to be beaten40 ,a gladiator deems it a disgrace to be matched with an inferior1 and knows that to win without danger is to win without glory4 ,just so ,fortune2 she seeks out the bravest to match herself with1 passes over some with disdain1 and makes for the most unyielding and upright of men1 to exert her strength against them4 ,she tried ,mucius fire1 ,fabricius by poverty1 ,rutilius by exile1 ,regulus by torture1 ,socrates by poison1 ,cato by death3 it is ill fortune alone that discovers these glorious examples4 ,was ,mucius unhappy1 because he grasped the enemy's fire with his right hand1 and of his own accord paid the penalty of his mistake8 because he overcame the ,king with his hand when it was burned1 though he could #h not when it held a sword8 ,would he have been happier1 if he had warmed his hand in his mistress's bosom8 ,was ,fabricius unhappy1 because when the state could spare him1 he dug his own land8 because he waged war against riches as keenly as against ,pyrrhus8 because he supped beside his hearth off the very roots and herbs which he himself1 though an old man1 and one who had enjoyed a triumph1 had grubbed up while clearing his field of weeds8 ,what then8 would he have been happier if he had gorged himself with fishes from distant shores1 and birds caught in foreign lands8 if he had roused the torpor of his queasy stomach with shellfish from the upper and the lower sea8 if he had piled a great heap of fruits round game of the first head1 which many huntsmen had been killed in capturing8 ,was ,rutilius unhappy1 because those who condemned him will have to plead their cause for all ages8 because he endured the loss of his country more composedly than that of his banishment8 because he was the only man who refused anything to ,sulla the dictator1 and when recalled from exile all but went further away and banished himself still more4 8,let those10 said he1 8whom thy fortunate reign catches at ,rome1 see to the ,forum drenched with blood1#c and the heads of ,senators above the ,pool of ,servilius--the place where the victims of ,sulla's proscriptions were stripped--the bands of assassins roaming at large through the city1 and many thousands of ,roman citizens slaughtered in one place1 after1 nay1 by means of a promise of quarter4 ,let those who are unable to go into exile behold these things40 ,well6 is ,lucius ,sulla happy1 because when he comes down into the ,forum room is made for him with sword-strokes1 because he allows the heads of consulars to be shown to him1 and counts out the price of blood through the quaestor and the state exchequer8 #i ,and this1 this was the man who passed the ,lex ,cornelia6 ,let us now come to ,regulus3 what injury did fortune do him when she made him an example of good faith1 an example of endurance8 ,they pierce his skin with nails3 wherever he leans his weary body1 it rests on a wound2 his eyes are fixed for ever open2 the greater his sufferings1 the greater is his glory4 ,would you know how far he is from regretting that he valued his honour at such a price8 heal his wounds and send him again into the senate-house2 he will give the same advice4 ,so1 then1 you think ,maecenas a happier man1 who when troubled by love1 and weeping at the daily repulses of his ill-natured wife1 sought for sleep by listening to distant strains of music8 ,though he drug himself with wine1 divert himself with the sound of falling waters1 and distract his troubled thoughts with a thousand pleasures1 yet ,maecenas will no more sleep on his down cushions than ,regulus on the rack4 ,yet it consoles the latter that he suffers for the sake of honour1 and he looks away from his torments to their cause3 whilst the other1 jaded with pleasures and sick with over-enjoyment1 is more hurt by the cause of his sufferings than by the sufferings themselves4 ,vice has not so utterly taken possession of the human race that1 if men were allowed to choose their destiny1 there can be any doubt but that more would choose to be ,reguluses than to be ,maecenases3 or if there were any one who dared to say that he would prefer to be born ,maecenas than ,regulus that man1 whether he says so or not1 would rather have been ,terentia 7than ,cicero74 ,do you consider ,socrates to have been badly used1 because he took that draught which the state assigned to him as though it were a charm to make him immortal1 and argued about death until death itself8 ,was he ill treated1 because his blood froze and the current of his veins gradually stopped as the chill of death crept over them8 ,how much more is this man to be envied than he who is #aj served on precious stones1 whose drink a creature trained to every vice1 a eunuch or much the same1 cools with snow in a golden cup8 ,such men as these bring up again all that they drink1 in misery and disgust at the taste of their own bile1 while ,socrates cheerfully and willingly drains his poison4 ,as for ,cato1 enough has been said1 and all men must agree that the highest happiness was reached by one who was chosen by ,nature herself as worthy to contend with all her terrors3 8,the enmity10 says she1 8of the powerful is grievous1 therefore let him be opposed at once by ,pompeius1 ,caesar1 and ,crassus3 it is grievous1 when a candidate for public offices1 to be defeated by one's inferiors2 therefore let him be defeated by ,vatinius3 it is grievous to take part in civil wars1 therefore let him fight in every part of the world for the good cause with equal obstinacy and ill-luck3 it is grievous to lay hands upon one's self1 therefore let him do so4 ,what shall ,i gain by this8 ,that all men may know that these things1 which ,i have deemed ,cato worthy to undergo1 are not real evils40 ,,iv4 ,prosperity comes to the mob1 and to low-minded men as well as to great ones2 but it is the privilege of great men alone to send under the yoke#d the disasters and terrors of mortal life3 whereas to be always prosperous1 and to pass through life without a twinge of mental distress1 is to remain ignorant of one half of nature4 ,you are a great man2 but how am ,i to know it1 if fortune gives you no opportunity of showing your virtue8 ,you have entered the arena of the ,olympic games1 but no one #aa else has done so3 you have the crown1 but not the victory3 ,i do not congratulate you as ,i would a brave man1 but as one who has obtained a consulship or praetorship4 ,you have gained dignity4 ,i may say the same of a good man1 if troublesome circumstances have never given him a single opportunity of displaying the strength of his mind4 ,i think you unhappy because you never have been unhappy3 you have passed through your life without meeting an antagonist3 no one will know your powers1 not even you yourself4 ,for a man cannot know himself without a trial3 no one ever learnt what he could do without putting himself to the test2 for which reason many have of their own free will exposed themselves to misfortunes which no longer came in their way1 and have sought for an opportunity of making their virtue1 which otherwise would have been lost in darkness1 shine before the world4 ,great men1 ,i say1 often rejoice at crosses of fortune just as brave soldiers do at wars4 ,i remember to have heard ,triumphus1 who was a gladiator#e in the reign of ,tiberius ,caesar1 complaining about the scarcity of prizes2 8,what a glorious time10 said he1 8is past40 ,valour is greedy of danger1 and thinks only of whither it strives to go1 not of what it will suffer1 since even what it will suffer is part of its glory4 ,soldiers pride themselves on their wounds1 they joyously display their blood flowing over their breastplate4#f ,though those who return unwounded from battle may have done as bravely1 yet he who returns wounded is more admired4 ,god1 ,i say1 favours those whom ,he wishes to enjoy the greatest honours1 whenever ,he affords them the means of performing some exploit with spirit and courage1 something which is not easily to be accomplished3 you can judge of a pilot in a storm1 of a soldier in a battle4 ,how can ,i know with #ab how great a spirit you could endure poverty1 if you overflow with riches8 ,how can ,i tell with how great firmness you could bear up against disgrace1 dishonour1 and public hatred1 if you grow old to the sound of applause1 if popular favour cannot be alienated from you1 and seems to flow to you by the natural bent of men's minds8 ,how can ,i know how calmly you would endure to be childless1 if you see all your children around you8 ,i have heard what you said when you were consoling others3 then ,i should have seen whether you could have consoled yourself1 whether you could have forbidden yourself to grieve4 ,do not1 ,i beg you1 dread those things which the immortal gods apply to our minds like spurs3 misfortune is virtue's opportunity4 ,those men may justly be called unhappy who are stupified with excess of enjoyment1 whom sluggish contentment keeps as it were becalmed in a quiet sea3 whatever befalls them will come strange to them4 ,misfortunes press hardest on those who are unacquainted with them3 the yoke feels heavy to the tender neck4 ,the recruit turns pale at the thought of a wound3 the veteran1 who knows that he has often won the victory after losing blood1 looks boldly at his own flowing gore4 ,in like manner ,god hardens1 reviews1 and exercises those whom ,he tests and loves3 those whom ,he seems to indulge and spare1 ,he is keeping out of condition to meet their coming misfortunes3 for you are mistaken if you suppose that any one is exempt from misfortune3 he who has long prospered will have his share some day2 those who seem to have been spared them have only had them put off4 ,why does ,god afflict the best of men with ill-health1 or sorrow1 or other troubles8 ,because in the army the most hazardous services are assigned to the bravest soldiers3 a general sends his choicest troops to attack the enemy in a midnight ambuscade1 to reconnoitre his line of march1 or to drive the hostile garrisons from their strong places4 ,no one of these #ac men says as he begins his march1 8,the general has dealt hardly with me10 but 8,he has judged well of me40 ,let those who are bidden to suffer what makes the weak and cowardly weep1 say likewise1 8,god has thought us worthy subjects on whom to try how much suffering human nature can endure40 ,avoid luxury1 avoid effeminate enjoyment1 by which men's minds are softened1 and in which1 unless something occurs to remind them of the common lot of humanity1 they lie unconscious1 as though plunged in continual drunkenness4 ,he whom glazed windows have always guarded from the wind1 whose feet are warmed by constantly renewed fomentations1 whose dining-room is heated by hot air beneath the floor and spread through the walls1 cannot meet the gentlest breeze without danger4 ,while all excesses are hurtful1 excess of comfort is the most hurtful of all2 it affects the brain2 it leads men's minds into vain imaginings2 it spreads a thick cloud over the boundaries of truth and falsehood4 ,is it not better1 with virtue by one's side1 to endure continual misfortune1 than to burst with an endless surfeit of good things8 ,it is the overloaded stomach that is rent asunder3 death treats starvation more gently4 ,the gods deal with good men according to the same rule as schoolmasters with their pupils1 who exact most labour from those of whom they have the surest hopes4 ,do you imagine that the ,lacedaemonians1 who test the mettle of their children by public flogging1 do not love them8 ,their own fathers call upon them to endure the strokes of the rod bravely1 and when they are torn and half dead1 ask them to offer their wounded skin to receive fresh wounds4 ,why then should we wonder if ,god tries noble spirits severely8 ,there can be no easy proof of virtue4 ,fortune lashes and mangles us3 well1 let us endure it3 it is not cruelty1 it is a struggle1 in which the oftener we engage the braver we shall become4 ,the strongest part of the #ad body is that which is exercised by the most frequent use3 we must entrust ourselves to fortune to be hardened by her against herself3 by degrees she will make us a match for herself4 ,familiarity with danger leads us to despise it4 ,thus the bodies of sailors are hardened by endurance of the sea1 and the hands of farmers by work2 the arms of soldiers are powerful to hurl darts1 the legs of runners are active3 that part of each man which he exercises is the strongest3 so by endurance the mind becomes able to despise the power of misfortunes4 ,you may see what endurance might effect in us if you observe what labour does among tribes that are naked and rendered stronger by want4 ,look at all the nations that dwell beyond the ,roman ,empire3 ,i mean the ,germans and all the nomad tribes that war against us along the ,danube4 ,they suffer from eternal winter1 and a dismal climate1 the barren soil grudges them sustenance1 they keep off the rain with leaves or thatch1 they bound across frozen marshes1 and hunt wild beasts for food4 ,do you think them unhappy8 ,there is no unhappiness in what use has made part of one's nature3 by degrees men find pleasure in doing what they were first driven to do by necessity4 ,they have no homes and no resting-places save those which weariness appoints them for the day2 their food1 though coarse1 yet must be sought with their own hands2 the harshness of the climate is terrible1 and their bodies are unclothed4 ,this1 which you think a hardship1 is the mode of life of all these races3 how then can you wonder at good men being shaken1 in order that they may be strengthened8 ,no tree which the wind does not often blow against is firm and strong2 for it is stiffened by the very act of being shaken1 and plants its roots more securely3 those which grow in a sheltered valley are brittle3 and so it is to the advantage of good men1 and causes them to be undismayed1 that they should live much #ae amidst alarms1 and learn to bear with patience what is not evil save to him who endures it ill4 ,v4 ,add to this that it is to the advantage of every one that the best men should1 so to speak1 be on active service and perform labours3 ,god has the same purpose as the wise man1 that is1 to prove that the things which the herd covets and dreads are neither good nor bad in themselves4 ,if1 however1 ,he only bestows them upon good men1 it will be evident that they are good things1 and bad1 if ,he only inflicts them upon bad men4 ,blindness would be execrable if no one lost his eyes except those who deserve to have them pulled out2 therefore let ,appius and ,metellus be doomed to darkness4 ,riches are not a good thing3 therefore let ,elius the pander possess them1 that men who have consecrated money in the temple1 may see the same in the brothel3 for by no means can ,god discredit objects of desire so effectually as by bestowing them upon the worst of men1 and removing them from the best4 8,but10 you say1 8it is unjust that a good man should be enfeebled1 or transfixed1 or chained1 while bad men swagger at large with a whole skin40 ,what6 is it not unjust that brave men should bear arms1 pass the night in camps1 and stand on guard along the rampart with their wounds still bandaged1 while within the city eunuchs and professional profligates live at their ease8 what8 is it not unjust that maidens of the highest birth should be roused at night to perform ,divine service1 while fallen women enjoy the soundest sleep8 ,labour calls for the best man3 the senate often passes the whole day in debate1 while at the same time every scoundrel either amuses his leisure in the ,campus ,martius1 or lurks in a tavern1 or passes his time in some pleasant society4 ,the same thing happens in this great commonwealth 7of the world73 good men labour1 spend and are spent1 and that too of their own free will2 they are not dragged along by fortune1 but follow #af her and take equal steps with her2 if they knew how1 they would outstrip her4 ,i remember1 also1 to have heard this spirited saying of that stoutest-hearted of men1 ,demetrius4 8,ye immortal ,gods10 said he1 8the only complaint which ,i have to make of you is that you did not make your will known to me earlier2 for then ,i would sooner have gone into that state of life to which ,i now have been called4 ,do you wish to take my children8 it was for you that ,i brought them up4 ,do you wish to take some part of my body8 take it3 it is no great thing that ,i am offering you1 ,i shall soon have done with the whole of it4 ,do you wish for my life8 why should ,i hesitate to return to you what you gave me8 whatever you ask you shall receive with my good will3 nay1 ,i would rather give it than be forced to hand it over to you3 what need had you to take away what you did8 you might have received it from me3 yet even as it is you cannot take anything from me1 because you cannot rob a man unless he resists40 ,i am constrained to nothing1 ,i suffer nothing against my will1 nor am ,i ,god's slave1 but his willing follower1 and so much the more because ,i know that everything is ordained and proceeds according to a law that endures for ever4 ,the fates guide us1 and the length of every man's days is decided at the first hour of his birth3 every cause depends upon some earlier cause3 one long chain of destiny decides all things1 public or private4 ,wherefore1 everything must be patiently endured1 because events do not fall in our way1 as we imagine1 but come by a regular law4 ,it has long ago been settled at what you should rejoice and at what you should weep1 and although the lives of individual men appear to differ from one another in a great variety of particulars1 yet the sum total comes to one and the same thing3 we soon perish1 and the gifts which we receive soon perish4 ,why1 then1 should we be angry8 why should we lament8 we are prepared for our fate3 let nature deal #ag as she will with her own bodies2 let us be cheerful whatever befalls1 and stoutly reflect that it is not anything of our own that perishes4 ,what is the duty of a good man8 to submit himself to fate3 it is a great consolation to be swept away together with the entire universe3 whatever law is laid upon us that thus we must live and thus we must die1 is laid upon the gods also3 one unchangeable stream bears along men and gods alike3 the creator and ruler of the universe himself1 though he has given laws to the fates1 yet is guided by them3 he always obeys1 he only once commanded4 8,but why was ,god so unjust in ,his distribution of fate1 as to assign poverty1 wounds1 and untimely deaths to good men80 ,the workman cannot alter his materials3 this is their nature4 ,some qualities cannot be separated from some others3 they cling together2 are indivisible4 ,dull minds1 tending to sleep or to a waking state exactly like sleep1 are composed of sluggish elements3 it requires stronger stuff to form a man meriting careful description4 ,his course will not be straightforward2 he must go upwards and downwards1 be tossed about1 and guide his vessel through troubled waters3 he must make his way in spite of fortune3 he will meet with much that is hard which he must soften1 much that is rough that he must make smooth4 ,fire tries gold1 misfortune tries brave men4 ,see how high virtue has to climb3 you may be sure that it has no safe path to tread4 8,steep is the path at first3 the steeds1 though strong1 ,fresh from their rest1 can hardly crawl along2 ,the middle part lies through the topmost sky1 ,whence oft1 as ,i the earth and sea descry1 ,i shudder1 terrors through my bosom thrill4 ,the ending of the path is sheer down hill1 ,and needs the careful guidance of the rein1 ,for ever when ,i sink beneath the main1 #ah ,old ,tethys trembles in her depths below ,lest headlong down upon her ,i should go40#g ,when the spirited youth heard this1 he said1 8,i have no fault to find with the road3 ,i will mount it1 it is worth while to go through these places1 even though one fall40 ,his father did not cease from trying to scare his brave spirit with terrors3-- 8,then1 too1 that thou may'st hold thy course aright1 ,and neither turn aside to left nor right4 ,straight through the ,bull's fell horns thy path must go4 ,through the fierce ,lion1 and the ,archer's bow40 ,after this ,phaethon says3-- 8,harness the chariot which you yield to me1 ,i am encouraged by these things with which you think to scare me3 ,i long to stand where the ,sun himself trembles to stand40 ,it is the part of grovellers and cowards to follow the safe track2 courage loves a lofty path4 ,,vi4 8,yet1 why does ,god permit evil to happen to good men80 ,he does not permit it3 he takes away from them all evils1 such as crimes and scandalous wickedness1 daring thoughts1 grasping schemes1 blind lusts1 and avarice coveting its neighbour's goods4 ,he protects and saves them4 ,does any one besides this demand that ,god should look after the baggage of good men also8 ,why1 they themselves leave the care of this to ,god3 they scorn external accessories4 ,democritus forswore riches1 holding them to be a burden to a virtuous mind3 what wonder then1 if ,god permits that to happen to a good man1 which a good man sometimes chooses should happen to himself8 ,good men1 you say1 lose their children3 why should they not1 since sometimes they even put them to death8 ,they are banished3 why should they not be1 since sometimes they #ai leave their country of their own free will1 never to return8 ,they are slain3 why not1 since sometimes they choose to lay violent hands on themselves8 ,why do they suffer certain miseries8 it is that they may teach others how to do so4 ,they are born as patterns4 ,conceive1 therefore1 that ,god says3--8,you1 who have chosen righteousness1 what complaint can you make of me8 ,i have encompassed other men with unreal good things1 and have deceived their inane minds as it were by a long and misleading dream3 ,i have bedecked them with gold1 silver1 and ivory1 but within them there is no good thing4 ,those men whom you regard as fortunate1 if you could see1 not their outward show1 but their hidden life1 are really unhappy1 mean1 and base1 ornamented on the outside like the walls of their houses3 that good fortune of theirs is not sound and genuine3 it is only a veneer1 and that a thin one4 ,as long1 therefore1 as they can stand upright and display themselves as they choose1 they shine and impose upon one2 when something occurs to shake and unmask them1 we see how deep and real a rottenness was hidden by that factitious magnificence4 ,to you ,i have given sure and lasting good things1 which become greater and better the more one turns them over and views them on every side3 ,i have granted to you to scorn danger1 to disdain passion4 ,you do not shine outwardly1 all your good qualities are turned inwards2 even so does the world neglect what lies without it1 and rejoices in the contemplation of itself4 ,i have placed every good thing within your own breasts3 it is your good fortune not to need any good fortune4 #8,yet many things befall you which are sad1 dreadful1 hard to be borne4' ,well1 as ,i have not been able to remove these from your path1 ,i have given your minds strength to combat all3 bear them bravely4 ,in this you can surpass ,god himself2 ,he is beyond suffering evil3 you are above it4 ,despise poverty2 no man lives as poor as he was born3 #bj despise pain2 either it will cease or you will cease3 despise death2 it either ends you or takes you elsewhere3 despise fortune2 ,i have given her no weapon that can reach the mind4 ,above all1 ,i have taken care that no one should hold you captive against your will3 the way of escape lies open before you3 if you do not choose to fight1 you may fly4 ,for this reason1 of all those matters which ,i have deemed essential for you1 ,i have made nothing easier for you than to die4 ,i have set man's life as it were on a mountain side3 it soon slips down4#h ,do but watch1 and you will see how short and how ready a path leads to freedom4 ,i have not imposed such long delays upon those who quit the world as upon those who enter it3 were it not so1 fortune would hold a wide dominion over you1 if a man died as slowly as he is born4 ,let all time1 let every place teach you1 how simple it is to renounce nature1 and to fling back her gifts to her3 before the altar itself and during the solemn rites of sacrifice1 while life is being prayed for1 learn how to die4 ,fat oxen fall dead with a tiny wound2 a blow from a man's hand fells animals of great strength3 the sutures of the neck are severed by a thin blade1 and when the joint which connects the head and neck is cut1 all that great mass falls4 ,the breath of life is not deep seated1 #ba nor only to be let forth by steel--the vitals need not be searched throughout by plunging a sword among them to the hilt3 death lies near the surface1 ,i have not appointed any particular spot for these blows--the body may be pierced wherever you please4 ,that very act which is called dying1 by which the breath of life leaves the body1 is too short for you to be able to estimate its quickness3 whether a knot crushes the windpipe1 or water stops your breathing3 whether you fall headlong from a height and perish upon the hard ground below1 or a mouthful of fire checks the drawing of your breath--whatever it is1 it acts swiftly4 ,do you not blush to spend so long a time in dreading what takes so short a time to do80 #a honestior opposed to the gladiator--the loftier the station of the combatant4 ,the ,gracchus of ,juvenal1 ,sat4 ii4 and viii41 illustrates1 the passage4 #b par1 a technical term in the language of sport 7worthy of such a spectator74 #c viderint--,let them see to it3 it is no matter of mine4 #d ,that is1 to triumph over4 8,two spears were set upright 444 and a third was fastened across them at the top2 and through this gateway the vanquished army marched out1 as a token that they had been conquered in war1 and owed their lives to the enemy's mercy4 ,it was no peculiar insult devised for this occasion1 but a common usage1 so far as appears1 in similar cases2 like the modern ceremony of piling arms when a garrison or army surrender themselves as prisoners of war40-- ,arnold's ,history of ,rome1 ch4 xxxi4 #e ,he was a 8mirmillo10 a kind of gladiator who was armed with a ,gaulish helmet4 #f e lorica4 #g ,the lines occur in ,ovid's ,metamorphoses1 ii4 #fc4 ,phoebus is telling ,phaethon how to drive the chariot of the ,sun4 #h ,compare ,walter ,scott3 8,all4 4 4 4 must have felt that but for the dictates of religion1 or the natural recoil of the mind from the idea of dissolution1 there have been times when they would have been willing to throw away life as a child does a broken toy4 ,i am sure ,i know one who has often felt so4 ,o ,god6 what are we8--,lords of nature8--,why1 a tile drops from a house-top1 which an elephant would not feel more than a sheet of pasteboard1 and there lies his lordship4 ,or something of inconceivably minute origin1 the pressure of a bone1 or the inflammation of a particle of the brain takes place1 and the emblem of the ,deity destroys himself or some one else4 ,we hold our health and our reason on terms slighter than any one would desire1 were it in their choice1 to hold an ,irish cabin40--,lockhart's ,life of ,sir ,walter ,scott1 vol4 vii41 p4 #aa4 #bb ,,the ,,second ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,serenus4 8,,that ,,the ,,wise ,,man ,,can ,,neither ,,receive ,,injury ,,nor ,,insult10 ,,or1 ,,an ,,essay ,,on ,,the ,,firmness ,,of ,,the ,,wise ,,man4 ,i4 ,i might truly say1 ,serenus1 that there is as wide a difference between the ,stoics and the other sects of philosophers as there is between men and women1 since each class contributes an equal share to human society1 but the one is born to command1 the other to obey4 ,the other philosophers deal with us gently and coaxingly1 just as our accustomed family physicians usually do with our bodies1 treating them not by the best and shortest method1 but by that which we allow them to employ2 whereas the ,stoics adopt a manly course1 and do not care about its appearing attractive to those who are entering upon it1 but that it should as quickly as possible take us out of the world1 and lead us to that lofty eminence which is so far beyond the scope of any missile weapon that it is above the reach of ,fortune herself4 8,but the way by which we are asked to climb is steep and uneven40 ,what then8 ,can heights be reached by a level path8 ,yet they are not so sheer and precipitous as some think4 ,it is only the first part that #bc has rocks and cliffs and no apparent outlet1 just as many hills seen from a long way off appear abruptly steep and joined together1 because the distance deceives our sight1 and then1 as we draw nearer1 those very hills which our mistaken eyes had made into one gradually unfold themselves1 those parts which seemed precipitous from afar assume a gently sloping outline4 ,when just now mention was made of ,marcus ,cato1 you whose mind revolts at injustice were indignant at ,cato's own age having so little understood him1 at its having allotted a place below ,vatinius to one who towered above both ,caesar and ,pompeius2 it seemed shameful to you1 that when he spoke against some law in the ,forum his toga was torn from him1 and that he was hustled through the hands of a mutinous mob from the ,rostra as far as the arch of ,fabius1 enduring all the bad language1 spitting1 and other insults of the frantic rabble4 ,,ii4 ,i then answered1 that you had good cause to be anxious on behalf of the commonwealth1 which ,publius ,clodius on the one side1 ,vatinius and all the greatest scoundrels on the other1 were putting up for sale1 and1 carried away by their blind covetousness1 did not understand that when they sold it they themselves were sold with it2 ,i bade you have no fears on behalf of ,cato himself1 because the wise man can neither receive injury nor insult1 and it is more certain that the immortal gods have given ,cato as a pattern of a wise man to us1 than that they gave ,ulysses or ,hercules to the earlier ages2 for these our ,stoics have declared were wise men1 unconquered by labours1 despisers of pleasure1 and superior to all terrors4 ,cato did not slay wild beasts1 whose pursuit belongs to huntsmen and countrymen1 nor did he exterminate fabulous creatures with fire and sword1 or live in times when it was possible to believe that the heavens could be supported on the shoulders of one man4 ,in an age which had thrown #bd off its belief in antiquated superstitions1 and had carried material knowledge to its highest point1 he had to struggle against that many-headed monster1 ambition1 against that boundless lust for power which the whole world divided among three men could not satisfy4 ,he alone withstood the vices of a worn-out ,state1 sinking into ruin through its own bulk2 he upheld the falling commonwealth as far as it could be upheld by one man's hand1 until at last his support was withdrawn1 and he shared the crash which he had so long averted1 and perished together with that from which it was impious to separate him--for ,cato did not outlive freedom1 nor did freedom outlive ,cato4 ,think you that the people could do any wrong to such a man when they tore away his praetorship or his toga8 when they bespattered his sacred head with the rinsings of their mouths8 ,the wise man is safe1 and no injury or insult can touch him4 ,,iii4 ,i think ,i see your excited and boiling temper4 ,you are preparing to exclaim3 8,these are the things which take away all weight from your maxims2 you promise great matters1 such as ,i should not even wish for1 let alone believe to be possible1 and then1 after all your brave words1 though you say that the wise man is not poor1 you admit that he often is in want of servants1 shelter1 and food4 ,you say that the wise man is not mad1 yet you admit that he sometimes loses his reason1 talks nonsense1 and is driven to the wildest actions by the stress of his disorder4 ,when you say that the wise man cannot be a slave1 you do not deny that he will be sold1 carry out orders1 and perform menial services at the bidding of his master2 so1 for all your proud looks1 you come down to the level of every one else1 and merely call things by different names4 ,consequently1 ,i suspect that something of this kind lurks behind this maxim1 which at first sight appears so beautiful and noble1 #8that the wise man can neither receive #be injury nor insult4' ,it makes a great deal of difference whether you declare that the wise man is beyond feeling resentment1 or beyond receiving injury2 for if you say that he will bear it calmly1 he has no special privilege in that1 for he has developed a very common quality1 and one which is learned by long endurance of wrong itself1 namely1 patience4 ,if you declare that he can never receive an injury1 that is1 that no one will attempt to do him one1 then ,i will throw up all my occupations in life and become a ,stoic40 ,it has not been my object to decorate the wise man with mere imaginary verbal honours1 but to raise him to a position where no injury will be permitted to reach him4 8,what8 will there be no one to tease him1 to try to wrong him80 ,there is nothing on earth so sacred as not to be liable to sacrilege2 yet holy things exist on high none the less because there are men who strike at a greatness which is far above themselves1 though with no hope of reaching it4 ,the invulnerable is not that which is never struck1 but that which is never wounded4 ,in this class ,i will show you the wise man4 ,can we doubt that the strength which is never overcome in fight is more to be relied on than that which is never challenged1 seeing that untested power is untrustworthy1 whereas that solidity which hurls back all attacks is deservedly regarded as the most trustworthy of all8 ,in like manner you may know that the wise man1 if no injury hurts him1 is of a higher type than if none is offered to him1 and ,i should call him a brave man whom war does not subdue and the violence of the enemy does not alarm1 not him who enjoys luxurious ease amid a slothful people4 ,i say1 then1 that such a wise man is invulnerable against all injury2 it matters not1 therefore1 how many darts be hurled at him1 since he can be pierced by none of them4 ,just as the hardness of some stones is impervious to steel1 and adamant can neither be cut1 #bf broken1 or ground1 but blunts all instruments used upon it2 just as some things cannot be destroyed by fire1 but when encircled by flame still retain their hardness and shape2 just as some tall projecting cliffs break the waves of the sea1 and though lashed by them through many centuries1 yet show no traces of their rage2 even so the mind of the wise man is firm1 and gathers so much strength1 that it is as safe from injury as any of those things which ,i have mentioned4 ,,iv4 8,what then8 ,will there be no one who will try to do an injury to the wise man80 ,yes1 some one will try1 but the injury will not reach him2 for he is separated from the contact of his inferiors by so wide a distance that no evil impulse can retain its power of harm until it reaches him4 ,even when powerful men1 raised to positions of high authority1 and strong in the obedience of their dependents1 strive to injure him1 all their darts fall as far short of his wisdom as those which are shot upwards by bowstrings or catapults1 which1 although they rise so high as to pass out of sight1 yet fall back again without reaching the heavens4 ,why1 do you suppose that when that stupid king#a clouded the daylight with the multitude of his darts1 that any arrow of them all went into the sun8 or that when he flung his chains into the deep1 that he was able to reach ,neptune8 ,just as sacred things escape from the hands of men1 and no injury is done to the godhead by those who destroy temples and melt down images1 so whoever attempts to treat the wise man with impertinence1 insolence1 or scorn1 does so in vain4 8,it would be better10 say you1 8if no one wished to do so40 ,you are expressing a wish that the whole human race were inoffensive1 which may hardly be2 moreover1 those who would gain by such wrongs not being done are those who would do them1 not he who could not suffer from them even if they were done2 nay1 ,i #bg know not whether wisdom is not best displayed by calmness in the midst of annoyances1 just as the greatest proof of a general's strength in arms and men consists in his quietness and confidence in the midst of an enemy's country4 ,v4 ,if you think fit1 my ,serenus1 let us distinguish between injury and insult4 ,the former is naturally the more grievous1 the latter less important1 and grievous only to the thin-skinned1 since it angers men but does not wound them4 ,yet such is the weakness of men's minds1 that many think that there is nothing more bitter than insult2 thus you will find slaves who prefer to be flogged to being slapped1 and who think stripes and death more endurable than insulting words4 ,to such a pitch of absurdity have we come that we suffer not only from pain1 but from the idea of pain1 like children1 who are terror-stricken by darkness1 misshapen masks1 and distorted faces1 and whose tears flow at hearing names unpleasing to their ears1 at the movement of our fingers1 and other things which they ignorantly shrink from with a sort of mistaken spasm4 ,the object which injury proposes to itself is to do evil to some one4 ,now wisdom leaves no room for evil2 to it1 the only evil is baseness1 which cannot enter into the place already occupied by virtue and honour4 ,if1 therefore1 there can be no injury without evil1 and no evil without baseness1 and baseness cannot find any place with a man who is already filled with honour1 it follows that no injury can reach the wise man3 for if injury be the endurance of some evil1 and the wise man can endure no evil1 it follows that no injury takes effect upon the wise man4 ,all injury implies a making less of that which it affects1 and no one can sustain an injury without some loss either of his dignity1 or of some part of his body1 or of some of the things external to ourselves2 but the wise man can lose nothing4 ,he has invested everything in himself1 has entrusted nothing to fortune1 has his property in safety1 #bh and is content with virtue1 which does not need casual accessories1 and therefore can neither be increased or diminished2 for virtue1 as having attained to the highest position1 has no room for addition to herself1 and fortune can take nothing away save what she gave4 ,now fortune does not give virtue2 therefore she does not take it away4 ,virtue is free1 inviolable1 not to be moved1 not to be shaken1 and so hardened against misfortunes that she cannot be bent1 let alone overcome by them4 ,she looks unfalteringly on while tortures are being prepared for her2 she makes no change of countenance1 whether misery or pleasure be offered to her4 ,the wise man therefore can lose nothing of whose loss he will be sensible1 for he is the property of virtue alone1 from whom he never can be taken away4 ,he enjoys all other things at the good pleasure of fortune2 but who is grieved at the loss of what is not his own8 ,if injury can hurt none of those things which are the peculiar property of the wise man1 because while his virtue is safe they are safe1 then it is impossible that an injury should be done to a wise man4 ,demetrius1 who was surnamed ,poliorcetes1 took ,megara1 and the philosopher ,stilbo1 when asked by him whether he had lost anything1 answered1 8,no1 ,i carry all my property about me40 ,yet his inheritance had been given up to pillage1 his daughters had been outraged by the enemy1 his country had fallen under a foreign dominion1 and it was the king1 enthroned on high1 surrounded by the spears of his victorious troops1 who put this question to him2 yet he struck the victory out of the king's hands1 and proved that1 though the city was taken1 he himself was not only unconquered but unharmed1 for he bore with him those true goods which no one can lay hands upon4 ,what was being plundered and carried away hither and thither he did not consider to be his own1 but to be merely things which come and go at the caprice of fortune2 therefore he had not loved them as his own1 for #bi the possession of all things which come from without is slippery and insecure4 ,,vi4 ,consider now1 whether any thief1 or false accuser1 or headstrong neighbour1 or rich man enjoying the power conferred by a childless old age1 could do any injury to this man1 from whom neither war nor an enemy whose profession was the noble art of battering city walls could take away anything4 ,amid the flash of swords on all sides1 and the riot of the plundering soldiery1 amid the flames and blood and ruin of the fallen city1 amid the crash of temples falling upon their gods1 one man was at peace4 ,you need not therefore account that a reckless boast1 for which ,i will give you a surety1 if my words goes for nothing4 ,indeed1 you would hardly believe so much constancy or such greatness of mind to belong to any man2 but here a man comes forward to prove that you have no reason for doubting that one who is but of human birth can raise himself above human necessities1 can tranquilly behold pains1 losses1 diseases1 wounds1 and great natural convulsions roaring around him1 can bear adversity with calm and prosperity with moderation1 neither yielding to the former nor trusting to the latter1 that he can remain the same amid all varieties of fortune1 and think nothing to be his own save himself1 and himself too only as regards his better part4 8,behold10 says he1 8,i am here to prove to you that although1 under the direction of that destroyer of so many cities1 walls may be shaken by the stroke of the ram1 lofty towers may be suddenly brought low by galleries and hidden mines1 and mounds arise so high as to rival the highest citadel1 yet that no siege engines can be discovered which can shake a well-established mind4 ,i have just crept from amid the ruins of my house1 and with conflagrations blazing all around ,i have escaped from the flames through blood4 ,what fate has befallen my daughters1 whether a worse one than that of their country1 ,i #cj know not4 ,alone and elderly1 and seeing everything around me in the hands of the enemy1 still ,i declare that my property is whole and untouched4 ,i have1 ,i hold whatever of mine ,i have ever had4 ,there is no reason for you to suppose me conquered and yourself my conqueror4 ,it is your fortune which has overcome mine4 ,as for those fleeting possessions which change their owners1 ,i know not where they are2 what belongs to myself is with me1 and ever will be4 ,i see rich men who have lost their estates2 lustful men who have lost their loves1 the courtesans whom they cherished at the cost of much shame2 ambitious men who have lost the senate1 the law courts1 the places set apart for the public display of men's vices2 usurers who have lost their account-books1 in which avarice vainly enjoyed an unreal wealth2 but ,i possess everything whole and uninjured4 ,leave me1 and go and ask those who are weeping and lamenting over the loss of their money1 who are offering their bare breasts to drawn swords in its defence1 or who are fleeing from the enemy with weighty pockets40 ,see then1 ,serenus1 that the perfect man1 full of human and divine virtues1 can lose nothing2 his goods are surrounded by strong and impassable walls4 ,you cannot compare with them the walls of ,babylon1 which ,alexander entered1 nor the fortifications of ,carthage and ,numantia1 won by one and the same hand1#b nor the ,capitol and citadel of ,rome1 which are branded with the marks of the victors' insults2 the ramparts which protect the wise man are safe from fire and hostile invasion2 they afford no passage2 they are lofty1 impregnable1 divine4 ,,vii4 ,you have no cause for saying1 as you are wont to do1 that this wise man of ours#c is nowhere to be found2 we do not invent him as an unreal glory of the human race1 or conceive a mighty shadow of an untruth1 but we have displayed and will display him just as we sketch him1 though #ca he may perhaps be uncommon1 and only one appears at long intervals2 for what is great and transcends the common ordinary type is not often produced2 but this very ,marcus ,cato himself1 the mention of whom started this discussion1 was a man who ,i fancy even surpassed our model4 ,moreover1 that which hurts must be stronger than that which is hurt4 ,now wickedness is not stronger than virtue2 therefore the wise man cannot be hurt4 ,only the bad attempt to injure the good4 ,good men are at peace among themselves2 bad ones are equally mischievous to the good and to one another4 ,if a man cannot be hurt by one weaker than himself1 and a bad man be weaker than a good one1 and the good have no injury to dread1 except from one unlike themselves2 then1 no injury takes effect upon the wise man2 for by this time ,i need not remind you that no one save the wise man is good4 8,if10 says our adversary1 8,socrates was unjustly condemned1 he received an injury40 ,at this point it is needful for us to bear in mind that it is possible for some one to do an injury to me1 and yet for me not to receive it1 as if any one were to steal something from my country-house and leave it in my town-house1 that man would commit a theft1 yet ,i should lose nothing4 ,a man may become mischievous1 and yet do no actual mischief3 if a man lies with his own wife as if she were a stranger1 he will commit adultery1 but his wife will not2 if a man gives me poison and the poison lose its strength when mixed with food1 that man1 by administering the poison1 has made himself a criminal1 even though he has done no hurt4 ,a man is no less a brigand because his sword becomes entangled in his victim's clothes and misses its mark4 ,all crimes1 as far as concerns their criminality1 are completed before the actual deed is accomplished4 ,some crimes are of such a nature and bound by such conditions that the first part can take place without the second4 #cb though the second cannot take place without the first4 ,i will endeavour to explain these words3 ,i can move my feet and yet not run2 but ,i cannot run without moving my feet4 ,i can be in the water without swimming2 but if ,i swim1 ,i cannot help being in the water4 ,the matter of which we are treating is of this character3 if ,i have received an injury1 it is necessary that some one must have done it to me2 but if an injury has been done me1 it is not necessary that ,i should have received one2 for many circumstances may intervene to avert the injury1 as1 for example1 some chance may strike the hand that is aiming at us1 and the dart1 after it has been thrown1 may swerve aside4 ,so injuries of all kinds may by certain circumstances be thrown back and intercepted in mid-course1 so that they may be done and yet not received4 ,,viii4 ,moreover1 justice can suffer nothing unjust1 because contraries cannot co-exist2 but an injury can only be done unjustly1 therefore an injury cannot be done to the wise man4 ,nor need you wonder at no one being able to do him an injury2 for no one can do him any good service either4 ,the wise man lacks nothing which he can accept by way of a present1 and the bad man can bestow nothing that is worthy of the wise man's acceptance2 for he must possess it before he can bestow it1 and he possesses nothing which the wise man would rejoice to have handed over to him4 ,consequently1 no one can do either harm or good to the wise man1 because divine things neither want help nor are capable of being hurt2 and the wise man is near1 indeed very near to the gods1 being like a god in every respect save that he is mortal4 ,as he presses forward and makes his way towards the life that is sublime1 well-ordered1 without fear1 proceeding in a regular and harmonious course1 tranquil1 beneficent1 made for the good of mankind1 useful both to itself and to others1 he will neither long nor weep for anything that is grovelling4 ,he who1 trusting to #cc reason1 passes through human affairs with godlike mind1 has no quarter from which he can receive injury4 ,do you suppose that ,i mean merely from no man8 ,he cannot receive an injury even from fortune1 which1 whenever she contends with virtue1 always retires beaten4 ,if we accept with an undisturbed and tranquil mind that greatest terror of all1 beyond which the angry laws and the most cruel masters have nothing to threaten us with1 in which fortune's dominion is contained--if we know that death is not an evil1 and therefore is not an injury either1 we shall much more easily endure the other things1 such as losses1 pains1 disgraces1 changes of abode1 bereavements1 and partings1 which do not overwhelm the wise man even if they all befall him at once1 much less does he grieve at them when they assail him separately4 ,and if he bears the injuries of fortune calmly1 how much more will he bear those of powerful men1 whom he knows to be the hands of fortune4 ,,ix4 ,he therefore endures everything in the same spirit with which he endures the cold of winter and the severities of climate1 fevers1 diseases1 and other chance accidents1 nor does he entertain so high an opinion of any man as to suppose that he acts of set purpose1 which belongs to the wise man alone4 ,all other men have no plans1 but only plots and deceits and irregular impulses of mind1 which he reckons the same as pure accident2 now1 what depends upon pure accident cannot rage around us designedly4 ,he reflects1 also1 that the largest sources of injury are to be found in those things by means of which danger is sought for against us1 as1 for example1 by a suborned accuser1 or a false charge1 or by the stirring up against us of the anger of great men1 and the other forms of the brigandage of civilized life4 ,another common type of injury is when a man loses some profit or prize for which he has long been angling2 when an inheritance which he #cd has spent great pains to render his own is left to some one else1 or the favour of some noble house1 through which he makes great gain1 is taken from him4 ,the wise man escapes all this1 since he knows not what it is to live for hope or for fear4 ,add to this1 that no one receives an injury unmoved1 but is disturbed by the feeling of it4 ,now1 the man free from mistakes has no disturbance2 he is master of himself1 enjoying a deep and tranquil repose of mind2 for if an injury reaches him it moves and rouses him4 ,but the wise man is without anger1 which is caused by the appearance of injury1 and he could not be free from anger unless he were also free from injury1 which he knows cannot be done to him2 hence it is that he is so upright and cheerful1 hence he is elate with constant joy4 ,so far1 however1 is he from shrinking from the encounter either of circumstances or of men1 that he makes use of injury itself to make trial of himself and test his own virtue4 ,let us1 ,i beseech you1 show favour to this thesis and listen with impartial ears and minds while the wise man is being made exempt from injury2 for nothing is thereby taken away from your insolence1 your greediest lusts1 your blind rashness and pride2 it is without prejudice to your vices that this freedom is sought for the wise man2 we do not strive to prevent your doing an injury1 but to enable him to sink all injuries beneath himself and protect himself from them by his own greatness of mind4 ,so in the sacred games many have won the victory by patiently enduring the blows of their adversaries and so wearying them out4 ,think that the wise man belongs to this class1 that of men who1 by long and faithful practice1 have acquired strength to endure and tire out all the violence of their enemies4 ,x4 ,since we have now discussed the first part of our subject1 let us pass on to the second1 in which we will prove by arguments1 some of which are our own1 but #ce which for the most part are ,stoic commonplaces1 that the wise man cannot be insulted4 ,there is a lesser form of injury1 which we must complain of rather than avenge1 which the laws also have considered not to deserve any special punishment4 ,this passion is produced by a meanness of mind which shrinks at any act or deed which treats it with disrespect4 8,he did not admit me to his house to-day1 although he admitted others2 he either turned haughtily away or openly laughed when ,i spoke20 or1 8he placed me at dinner1 not on the middle couch 7the place of honour71 but on the lowest one20 and other matters of the same sort1 which ,i can call nothing but the whinings of a queasy spirit4 ,these matters chiefly affect the luxuriously-nurtured and prosperous2 for those who are pressed by worse evils have no time to notice such things as these4 ,through excessive idleness1 dispositions naturally weak and womanish and prone to indulge in fancies through want of real injuries are disturbed at these things1 the greater part of which arise from misunderstanding4 ,he therefore who is affected by insult shows that he possesses neither sense nor trustfulness2 for he considers it certain that he is scorned1 and this vexation affects him with a certain sense of degradation1 as he effaces himself and takes a lower room2 whereas the wise man is scorned by no one1 for he knows his own greatness1 gives himself to understand that he allows no one to have such power over him1 and as for all of what ,i should not so much call distress as uneasiness of mind1 he does not overcome it1 but never so much as feels it4 ,some other things strike the wise man1 though they may not shake his principles1 such as bodily pain and weakness1 the loss of friends and children1 and the ruin of his country in war-time4 ,i do not say that the wise man does not feel these1 for we do not ascribe to him the hardness of stone or iron2 there is no virtue but is conscious of its own endurance4 ,what then does he8 ,he receives some #cf blows1 but when he has received them he rises superior to them1 heals them1 and brings them to an end2 these more trivial things he does not even feel1 nor does he make use of his accustomed fortitude in the endurance of evil against them1 but either takes no notice of them or considers them to deserve to be laughed at4 ,,xi4 ,besides this1 as most insults proceed from those who are haughty and arrogant and bear their prosperity ill1 he has something wherewith to repel this haughty passion1 namely1 that noblest of all the virtues1 magnanimity1 which passes over everything of that kind as like unreal apparitions in dreams and visions of the night1 which have nothing in them substantial or true4 ,at the same time he reflects that all men are too low to venture to look down upon what is so far above them4 ,the ,latin word contumelia is derived from the word contempt1 because no one does that injury to another unless he regards him with contempt2 and no one can treat his elders and betters with contempt1 even though he does what contemptuous persons are wont to do2 for children strike their parents' faces1 infants rumple and tear their mother's hair1 and spit upon her and expose what should be covered before her1 and do not shrink from using dirty language2 yet we do not call any of these things contemptuous4 ,and why8 ,because he who does it is not able to show contempt4 ,for the same reason the scurrilous raillery of our slaves against their masters amuses us1 as their boldness only gains licence to exercise itself at the expense of the guests if they begin with the master2 and the more contemptible and the more an object of derision each one of them is1 the greater licence he gives his tongue4 ,some buy forward slave-boys for this purpose1 cultivate their scurrility and send them to school that they may vent premeditated libels1 which we do not call insults1 but smart sayings2 yet what madness1 at one time to be amused and at another to be affronted by the same thing1 #cg and to call a phrase an outrage when spoken by a friend1 and an amusing piece of raillery when used by a slave-boy6 ,,xii4 ,in the same spirit in which we deal with boys1 the wise man deals with all those whose childhood still endures after their youth is past and their hair is grey4 ,what do men profit by age when their mind has all the faults of childhood and their defects are intensified by time8 when they differ from children only in the size and appearance of their bodies1 and are just as unsteady and capricious1 eager for pleasure without discrimination1 timorous and quiet through fear rather than through natural disposition8 ,one cannot say that such men differ from children because the latter are greedy for knuckle-bones and nuts and coppers1 while the former are greedy for gold and silver and cities2 because the latter play amongst themselves at being magistrates1 and imitate the purple-edged robe of state1 the lictors' axes1 and the judgment-seat1 while the former play with the same things in earnest in the ,campus ,martius and the courts of justice2 because the latter pile up the sand on the seashore into the likeness of houses1 and the former1 with an air of being engaged in important business1 employ themselves in piling up stones and walls and roofs until they have turned what was intended for the protection of the body into a danger to it8 ,children and those more advanced in age both make the same mistake1 but the latter deal with different and more important things2 the wise man1 therefore1 is quite justified in treating the affronts which he receives from such men as jokes3 and sometimes he corrects them1 as he would children1 by pain and punishment1 not because he has received an injury1 but because they have done one and in order that they may do so no more4 ,thus we break in animals with stripes1 yet we are not angry with them when they refuse to carry their rider1 but curb them in order that pain may overcome #ch their obstinacy4 ,now1 therefore1 you know the answer to the question which was put to us1 8,why1 if the wise man receives neither injury nor insult1 he punishes those who do these things80 ,he does not revenge himself1 but corrects them4 ,,xiii4 ,what1 then1 is there to prevent your believing this strength of mind to belong to the wise man1 when you can see the same thing existing in others1 though not from the same cause8--for what physician is angry with a crazy patient8 who takes to heart the curses of a fever-stricken one who is denied cold water8 ,the wise man retains in his dealings with all men this same habit of mind which the physician adopts in dealing with his patients1 whose parts of shame he does not scorn to handle should they need treatment1 nor yet to look at their solid and liquid evacuations1 nor to endure their reproaches when frenzied by disease4 ,the wise man knows that all those who strut about in purple-edged togas1#d healthy and embrowned1 are brain-sick people1 whom he regards as sick and full of follies4 ,he is not1 therefore1 angry1 should they in their sickness presume to bear themselves somewhat impertinently towards their physician1 and in the same spirit as that in which he sets no value upon their titles of honour1 he will set but little value upon their acts of disrespect to himself4 ,he will not rise in his own esteem if a beggar pays his court to him1 and he will not think it an affront if one of the dregs of the people does not return his greeting4 ,so also he will not admire himself even if many rich men admire him2 for he knows that they differ in no respect from beggars--nay1 are even more wretched than they2 for #ci beggars want but a little1 whereas rich men want a great deal4 ,again1 he will not be moved if the ,king of the ,medes1 or ,attalus1 ,king of ,asia1 passes by him in silence with a scornful air when he offers his greeting2 for he knows that such a man's position has nothing to render it more enviable than that of the man whose duty it is in some great household to keep the sick and mad servants in order4 ,shall ,i be put out if one of those who do business at the temple of ,castor1 buying and selling worthless slaves1 does not return my salute1 a man whose shops are crowded with throngs of the worst of bondmen8 ,i trow not2 for what good can there be in a man who owns none but bad men8 ,as the wise man is indifferent to the courtesy or incivility of such a man1 so is he to that of a king4 8,you own10 says he1 8the ,parthians and ,bactrians1 but they are men whom you keep in order by fear1 they are people whose possession forbids you to unstring the bow1 they are fierce enemies1 on sale1 and eagerly looking out for a new master40 ,he will not1 then1 be moved by an insult from any man for though all men differ one from another1 yet the wise man regards them all as alike on account of their equal folly2 for should he once lower himself to the point of being affected by either injury or insult1 he could never feel safe afterwards1 and safety is the especial advantage of the wise man1 and he will not be guilty of showing respect to the man who has done him an injury by admitting that he has received one1 because it necessarily follows that he who is disquieted at any one's scorn would value that person's admiration4 ,,xiv4 ,such madness possesses some men that they imagine it possible for an affront to be put upon them by a woman4 ,what matters it who she may be1 how many slaves bear her litter1 how heavily her ears are laden1 how soft her seat8 she is always the same thoughtless creature1 and unless she possesses acquired knowledge and #dj much learning1 she is fierce and passionate in her desires4 ,some are annoyed at being jostled by a heater of curling-tongs1 and call the reluctance of a great man's porter to open the door1 the pride of his nomenclator1#e or the disdainfulness of his chamberlain1 insults4 ,o6 what laughter is to be got out of such things1 with what amusement the mind may be filled when it contrasts the frantic follies of others with its own peace6 8,how then8 will the wise man not approach doors which are kept by a surly porter80 ,nay1 if any need calls him thither1 he will make trial of him1 however fierce he may be1 will tame him as one tames a dog by offering it food1 and will not be enraged at having to expend entrance-money1 reflecting that on certain bridges also one has to pay toll2 in like fashion he will pay his fee to whoever farms this revenue of letting in visitors1 for he knows that men are wont to buy whatever is offered for sale4#f ,a man shows a poor spirit if he is pleased with himself for having answered the porter cavalierly1 broken his staff1 forced his way into his master's presence1 and demanded a whipping for him4 ,he who strives with a man makes himself that man's rival1 and must be on equal terms with him before he can overcome him4 ,but what will the wise man do when he receives a cuff8 ,he will do as ,cato did when he was struck in the face2 he did not flare up and revenge the outrage1 he did not even pardon it1 but ignored it1 showing more magnanimity in not acknowledging it than if he had forgiven it4 ,we will not dwell long upon this point2 for who is there who knows not that none of those things which are thought to be good or evil are looked upon by the wise man and by mankind in general in the same manner8 ,he does not regard what all men think low or wretched2 he does not follow the people's track1 but as the #da stars move in a path opposite to that of the earth1 so he proceeds contrary to the prejudices of all4 ,,xv4 ,cease then to say1 8,will not the wise man1 then1 receive an injury if he be beaten1 if his eye be knocked out8 will he not receive an insult if he be hooted through the ,forum by the foul voices of ruffians8 if at a court banquet he be bidden to leave the table and eat with slaves appointed to degrading duties8 if he be forced to endure anything else that can be thought of that would gall a high spirit80 ,however many or however severe these crosses may be1 they will all be of the same kind2 and if small ones do not affect him1 neither will greater ones2 if a few do not affect him1 neither will more4 ,it is from your own weakness that you form your idea of his colossal mind1 and when you have thought how much you yourselves could endure to suffer1 you place the limit of the wise man's endurance a little way beyond that4 ,but his virtue has placed him in another region of the universe which has nothing in common with you4 ,seek out sufferings and all things hard to be borne1 repulsive to be heard or seen2 he will not be overwhelmed by their combination1 and will bear all just as he bears each one of them4 ,he who says that the wise man can bear this and cannot bear that1 and restrains his magnanimity within certain limits1 does wrong2 for ,fortune overcomes us unless she is entirely overcome4 ,think not that this is mere ,stoic austerity4 ,epicurus1 whom you adopt as the patron of your laziness1 and who1 you imagine1 always taught what was soft and slothful and conducive to pleasure1 said1 8,fortune seldom stands in a wise man's way40 ,how near he came to a manly sentiment6 ,do thou dare to speak more boldly1 and clear her out of the way altogether6 ,this is the house of the wise man--narrow1 unadorned1 without bustle and splendour1 the threshold guarded by no porters who marshal the crowd of visitors with a haughtiness proportionate to their bribes--but ,for #db tune cannot cross this open and unguarded threshold4 ,she knows that there is no room for her where there is nothing of hers4 ,,xvi4 ,now if even ,epicurus1 who made more concessions to the body than any one1 takes a spirited tone with regard to injuries1 what can appear beyond belief or beyond the scope of human nature amongst us ,stoics8 ,he says that injuries may be endured by the wise man1 we say that they do not exist for him4 ,nor is there any reason why you should declare this to be repugnant to nature4 ,we do not deny that it is an unpleasant thing to be beaten or struck1 or to lose one of our limbs1 but we say that none of these things are injuries4 ,we do not take away from them the feeling of pain1 but the name of 8injury10 which cannot be received while our virtue is unimpaired4 ,we shall see which of the two is nearest the truth2 each of them agree in despising injury4 ,you ask what difference there is between them8 ,all that there is between two very brave gladiators1 one of whom conceals his wound and holds his ground1 while the other turns round to the shouting populace1 gives them to understand that his wound is nothing1 and does not permit them to interfere on his behalf4 ,you need not think that it is any great thing about which we differ2 the whole gist of the matter1 that which alone concerns you1 is what both schools of philosophy urge you to do1 namely1 to despise injuries and insults1 which ,i may call the shadows and outlines of injuries1 to despise which does not need a wise man1 but merely a sensible one1 who can say to himself1 8,do these things befall me deservedly or undeservedly8 ,if deservedly1 it is not an insult1 but a judicial sentence2 if undeservedly1 then he who does injustice ought to blush1 not ,i4 ,and what is this which is called an insult8 ,some one has made a joke about the baldness of my head1 the weakness of my eyes1 the thinness of my legs1 the shortness of my stature2 what insult is there in #dc telling me that which every one sees8 ,we laugh when tte--tte at the same thing at which we are indignant when it is said before a crowd1 and we do not allow others the privilege of saying what we ourselves are wont to say about ourselves2 we are amused at decorous jests1 but are angry if they are carried too far40 ,,xvii4 ,chrysippus says that a man was enraged because some one called him a sea-sheep2 we have seen ,fidus ,cornelius1 the son-in-law of ,ovidius ,naso1 weeping in the ,senate-house because ,corbulo called him a plucked ostrich2 his command of his countenance did not fail him at other abusive charges1 which damaged his character and way of life2 at this ridiculous saying he burst into tears4 ,so deplorable is the weakness of men's minds when reason no longer guides them4 ,what of our taking offence if any one imitates our talk1 our walk1 or apes any defect of our person or our pronunciation8 as if they would become more notorious by another's imitation than by our doing them ourselves4 ,some are unwilling to hear about their age and grey hairs1 and all the rest of what men pray to arrive at4 ,the reproach of poverty agonizes some men1 and whoever conceals it makes it a reproach to himself2 and therefore if you of your own accord are the first to acknowledge it1 you cut the ground from under the feet of those who would sneer and politely insult you2 no one is laughed at who begins by laughing at himself4 ,tradition tells us that ,vatinius1 a man born both to be laughed at and hated1 was a witty and clever jester4 ,he made many jokes about his feet and his short neck1 and thus escaped the sarcasms of ,cicero above all1 and of his other enemies1 of whom he had more than he had diseases4 ,if he1 who through constant abuse had forgotten how to blush1 could do this by sheer brazenness1 why should not he who has made some progress in the education of a gentleman and the study of philosophy8 ,besides1 it is a sort of revenge to spoil a man's #dd enjoyment of the insult he has offered to us2 such men say1 8,dear me1 ,i suppose he did not understand it40 ,thus the success of an insult lies in the sensitiveness and rage of the victim2 hereafter the insulter will sometimes meet his match2 some one will be found to revenge you also4 ,,xviii4 ,gaius ,caesar1 among the other vices with which he overflowed1 was possessed by a strange insolent passion for marking every one with some note of ridicule1 he himself being the most tempting subject for derision2 so ugly was the paleness which proved him mad1 so savage the glare of the eyes which lurked under his old woman's brow1 so hideous his misshapen head1 bald and dotted about with a few cherished hairs2 besides the neck set thick with bristles1 his thin legs1 his monstrous feet4 ,it would be endless were ,i to mention all the insults which he heaped upon his parents and ancestors1 and people of every class of life4 ,i will mention those which brought him to ruin4 ,an especial friend of his was ,asiaticus ,valerius1 a proud-spirited man and one hardly likely to put up with another's insults quietly4 ,at a drinking bout1 that is1 a public assembly1 ,gaius1 at the top of his voice1 reproached this man with the way his wife behaved in bed4 ,good gods6 that a man should hear that the emperor knew this1 and that he1 the emperor1 should describe his adultery and his disappointment to the lady's husband1 ,i do not say to a man of consular rank and his own friend4 ,chaerea1 on the other hand1 the military tribune1 had a voice not befitting his prowess1 feeble in sound1 and somewhat suspicious unless you knew his achievements4 ,when he asked for the watchword ,gaius at one time gave him 8,venus10 and at another 8,priapus10 and by various means reproached the man-at-arms with effeminate vice2 while he himself was dressed in transparent clothes1 wearing sandals and jewellery4 ,thus he forced him to use his sword1 that he might not have to ask for the watchword oftener2 it was ,chaerea who #de first of all the conspirators raised his hand1 who cut through the middle of ,caligula's neck with one blow4 ,after that1 many swords1 belonging to men who had public or private injuries to avenge1 were thrust into his body1 but he first showed himself a man who seemed least like one4 ,the same ,gaius construed everything as an insult 7since those who are most eager to offer affronts are least able to endure them74 ,he was angry with ,herennius ,macer for having greeted him as ,gaius--nor did the chief centurion of triarii get off scot-free for having saluted him as ,caligula2 having been born in the camp and brought up as the child of the legions1 he had been wont to be called by this name1 nor was there any by which he was better known to the troops1 but by this time he held 8,caligula0 to be a reproach and a dishonour4 ,let wounded spirits1 then1 console themselves with this reflexion1 that1 even though our easy temper may have neglected to revenge itself1 nevertheless that there will be some one who will punish the impertinent1 proud1 and insulting man1 for these are vices which he never confines to one victim or one single offensive act4 ,let us look at the examples of those men whose endurance we admire1 as1 for instance1 that of ,socrates1 who took in good part the published and acted jibes of the comedians upon himself1 and laughed no less than he did when he was drenched with dirty water by his wife ,xanthippe4 ,antisthenes was reproached with his mother being a barbarian and a ,thracian2 he answered that the mother of the gods1 too1 came from ,mount ,ida4 ,,xix4 ,we ought not to engage in quarrels and wrangling2 we ought to betake ourselves far away and to disregard everything of this kind which thoughtless people do 7indeed thoughtless people alone do it71 and to set equal value upon the honours and the reproaches of the mob2 we ought not to be hurt by the one or to be pleased by the other4 ,otherwise we shall neglect many essential points1 shall desert our #df duty both to the state and in private life through excessive fear of insults or weariness of them1 and sometimes we shall even miss what would do us good1 while tortured by this womanish pain at hearing something not to our mind4 ,sometimes1 too1 when enraged with powerful men we shall expose this failing by our reckless freedom of speech2 yet it is not freedom to suffer nothing--we are mistaken--freedom consists in raising one's mind superior to injuries and becoming a person whose pleasures come from himself alone1 in separating oneself from external circumstances that one may not have to lead a disturbed life in fear of the laughter and tongues of all men2 for if any man can offer an insult1 who is there who cannot8 ,the wise man and the would-be wise man will apply different remedies to this2 for it is only those whose philosophical education is incomplete1 and who still guide themselves by public opinion1 who would suppose that they ought to spend their lives in the midst of insults and injuries2 yet all things happen in a more endurable fashion to men who are prepared for them4 ,the nobler a man is by birth1 by reputation1 or by inheritance1 the more bravely he should bear himself1 remembering that the tallest men stand in the front rank in battle4 ,as for insults1 offensive language1 marks of disgrace1 and such-like disfigurements1 he ought to bear them as he would bear the shouts of the enemy1 and darts or stones flung from a distance1 which rattle upon his helmet without causing a wound2 while he should look upon injuries as wounds1 some received on his armour and others on his body1 which1 he endures without falling or even leaving his place in the ranks4 ,even though you be hard pressed and violently attacked by the enemy1 still it is base to give way2 hold the post assigned to you by nature4 ,you ask1 what this post is8 it is that of being a man4 ,the wise man has another help1 of the opposite kind to this2 you are hard at work1 while he has already won the victory4 ,do not #dg quarrel with your own good advantage1 and1 until you shall have made your way to the truth1 keep alive this hope in your minds1 be willing to receive the news of a better life1 and encourage it by your admiration and your prayers2 it is to the interest of the commonwealth of mankind that there should be some one who is unconquered1 some one against whom fortune has no power4 #a ,xerxes4 #b ,scipio4 #c ,the ,stoics4 #d ,seneca here speaks of men wearing the toga as officials1 contrasted with the mass of ,roman citizens1 among whom the wearing of the toga was already falling into disuse in the time of ,augustus4 ,see ,macrob41 8,sat410 vi4 #e extr41 and ,suetonius1 8,life of ,octavius10 #dj1 where the author mentions that ,augustus used sarcastically to apply the verse1 ,virg41 #8,aen41' i4 #bhb1 to the ,romans of his day4 #e ,see note1 8,de ,beneficiis10 vi4 #cc4 #f ,gertz reads #8decet emere venalia1' #8there is no harm in buying what is for sale4' #dh ,,the ,,third ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,novatus4 ,,of ,,anger4 ,book ,i4 ,you have demanded of me1 ,novatus1 that ,i should write how anger may be soothed1 and it appears to me that you are right in feeling especial fear of this passion1 which is above all others hideous and wild3 for the others have some alloy of peace and quiet1 but this consists wholly in action and the impulse of grief1 raging with an utterly inhuman lust for arms1 blood and tortures1 careless of itself provided it hurts another1 rushing upon the very point of the sword1 and greedy for revenge even when it drags the avenger to ruin with itself4 ,some of the wisest of men have in consequence of this called anger a short madness3 for it is equally devoid of self control1 regardless of decorum1 forgetful of kinship1 obstinately engrossed in whatever it begins to do1 deaf to reason and advice1 excited by trifling causes1 awkward at perceiving what is true and just1 and very like a falling rock which breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing which it crushes4 ,that you may know that they whom anger possesses are not sane1 look at their appearance2 for as there are distinct symptoms which mark madmen1 such as a bold and menacing air1 a gloomy #di brow1 a stern face1 a hurried walk1 restless hands1 changed colour1 quick and strongly-drawn breathing2 the signs of angry men1 too1 are the same3 their eyes blaze and sparkle1 their whole face is a deep red with the blood which boils up from the bottom of their heart1 their lips quiver1 their teeth are set1 their hair bristles and stands on end1 their breath is laboured and hissing2 their joints crack as they twist them about1 they groan1 bellow1 and burst into scarcely intelligible talk1 they often clap their hands together and stamp on the ground with their feet1 and their whole body is highly-strung and plays those tricks which mark a distraught mind1 so as to furnish an ugly and shocking picture of self-perversion and excitement4 ,you cannot tell whether this vice is more execrable or more disgusting4 ,other vices can be concealed and cherished in secret2 anger shows itself openly and appears in the countenance1 and the greater it is1 the more plainly it boils forth4 ,do you not see how in all animals certain signs appear before they proceed to mischief1 and how their entire bodies put off their usual quiet appearance and stir up their ferocity8 ,boars foam at the mouth and sharpen their teeth by rubbing them against trees1 bulls toss their horns in the air and scatter the sand with blows of their feet1 lions growl1 the necks of enraged snakes swell1 mad dogs have a sullen look--there is no animal so hateful and venomous by nature that it does not1 when seized by anger1 show additional fierceness4 ,i know well that the other passions1 can hardly be concealed1 and that lust1 fear1 and boldness give signs of their presence and may be discovered beforehand1 for there is no one of the stronger passions that does not affect the countenance3 what then is the difference between them and anger8 ,why1 that the other passions are visible1 but that this is conspicuous4 ,,ii4 ,next1 if you choose to view its results and the mischief that it does1 no plague has cost the human race #ej more dear3 you will see slaughterings and poisonings1 accusations and counter-accusations1 sacking of cities1 ruin of whole peoples1 the persons of princes sold into slavery by auction1 torches applied to roofs1 and fires not merely confined within city-walls but making whole tracts of country glow with hostile flame4 ,see the foundations of the most celebrated cities hardly now to be discerned2 they were ruined by anger4 ,see deserts extending for many miles without an inhabitant3 they have been desolated by anger4 ,see all the chiefs whom tradition mentions as instances of ill fate2 anger stabbed one of them in his bed1 struck down another1 though he was protected by the sacred rights of hospitality1 tore another to pieces in the very home of the laws and in sight of the crowded forum1 bade one shed his own blood by the parricide hand of his son1 another to have his royal throat cut by the hand of a slave1 another to stretch out his limbs on the cross3 and hitherto ,i am speaking merely of individual cases4 ,what1 if you were to pass from the consideration of those single men against whom anger has broken out to view whole assemblies cut down by the sword1 the people butchered by the soldiery let loose upon it1 and whole nations condemned to death in one common ruin 4 4 4 4#a as though by #ea men who either freed themselves from our charge or despised our authority8 ,why1 wherefore is the people angry with gladiators1 and so unjust as to think itself wronged if they do not die cheerfully8 ,it thinks itself scorned1 and by looks1 gestures1 and excitement turns itself from a mere spectator into an adversary4 ,everything of this sort is not anger1 but the semblance of anger1 like that of boys who want to beat the ground when they have fallen upon it1 and who often do not even know why they are angry1 but are merely angry without any reason or having received any injury1 yet not without some semblance of injury received1 or without some wish to exact a penalty for it4 ,thus they are deceived by the likeness of blows1 and are appeased by the pretended tears of those who deprecate their wrath1 and thus an unreal grief is healed by an unreal revenge4 ,,iii4 8,we often are angry10 says our adversary1 8not with men who have hurt us1 but with men who are going to hurt us3 so you may be sure that anger is not born of injury40 ,it is true that we are angry with those who are going to hurt us1 but they do already hurt us in intention1 and one who is going to do an injury is already doing it4 8,the weakest of men10 argues he1 8are often angry with the most powerful3 so you may be sure that anger is not a desire to punish their antagonist--for men do not desire to punish him when they cannot hope to do so40 ,in the first place1 ,i spoke of a desire to inflict punishment1 not a power to do so3 now men desire even what they cannot obtain4 ,in the next place1 no one is so low in station as not to be able to hope to inflict punishment even upon the greatest of men3 we all are powerful for mischief4 #eb ,aristotle's definition differs little from mine3 for he declares anger to be a desire to repay suffering4 ,it would be a long task to examine the differences between his definition and mine3 it may be urged against both of them that wild beasts become angry without being excited by injury1 and without any idea of punishing others or requiting them with pain3 for1 even though they do these things1 these are not what they aim at doing4 ,we must admit1 however1 that neither wild beasts nor any other creature except man is subject to anger3 for1 whilst anger is the foe of reason1 it nevertheless does not arise in any place where reason cannot dwell4 ,wild beasts have impulses1 fury1 cruelty1 combativeness3 they have not anger any more than they have luxury3 yet they indulge in some pleasures with less self-control than human beings4 ,do not believe the poet who says3 8,the boar his wrath forgets1 the stag forgets the hounds4 ,the bear forgets how 'midst the herd he leaped with frantic bounds40#b ,when he speaks of beasts being angry he means that they are excited1 roused up3 for indeed they know no more how to be angry than they know how to pardon4 ,dumb creatures have not human feelings1 but have certain impulses which resemble them3 for if it were not so1 if they could feel love and hate1 they would likewise be capable of friendship and enmity1 of disagreement and agreement4 ,some traces of these qualities exist even in them1 though properly all of them1 whether good or bad1 belong to the human breast alone4 ,to no creature besides man has been given wisdom1 foresight1 industry1 and reflexion4 ,to animals not only human virtues but even human vices are forbidden3 their whole constitution1 mental and bodily1 is unlike that of human beings3 in them the royal#c and #ec leading principle is drawn from another source1 as1 for instance1 they possess a voice1 yet not a clear one1 but indistinct and incapable of forming words3 a tongue1 but one which is fettered and not sufficiently nimble for complex movements3 so1 too1 they possess intellect1 the greatest attribute of all1 but in a rough and inexact condition4 ,it is1 consequently1 able to grasp those visions and semblances which rouse it to action1 but only in a cloudy and indistinct fashion4 ,it follows from this that their impulses and outbreaks are violent1 and that they do not feel fear1 anxieties1 grief1 or anger1 but some semblances of these feelings3 wherefore they quickly drop them and adopt the converse of them3 they graze after showing the most vehement rage and terror1 and after frantic bellowing and plunging they straightway sink into quiet sleep4 ,,iv4 ,what anger is has been sufficiently explained4 ,the difference between it and irascibility is evident3 it is the same as that between a drunken man and a drunkard2 between a frightened man and a coward4 ,it is possible for an angry man not to be irascible2 an irascible man may sometimes not be angry4 ,i shall omit the other varieties of anger1 which the ,greeks distinguish by various names1 because we have no distinctive words for them in our language1 although we call men bitter1 and harsh1 and also peevish1 frantic1 clamorous1 surly1 and fierce3 all of which are different forms of irascibility4 ,among these you may class sulkiness1 a refined form of irascibility2 for there are some sorts of anger which go no further than noise1 while some are as lasting as they are common3 some are fierce in deed1 but inclined to be sparing of words3 some expend themselves in bitter words and curses3 some do not go beyond complaining and turning one's back3 some are great1 deep-seated1 and brood within a man3 there are a thousand other forms of a multiform evil4 ,v4 ,we have now finished our enquiry as to what anger #ed is1 whether it exists in any other creature besides man1 what the difference is between it and irascibility1 and how many forms it possesses4 ,let us now enquire whether anger be in accordance with nature1 and whether it be useful and worth entertaining in some measure4 ,whether it be according to nature will become evident if we consider man's nature1 than which what is more gentle while it is in its proper condition8 ,yet what is more cruel than anger8 ,what is more affectionate to others than man8 ,yet what is more savage against them than anger8 ,mankind is born for mutual assistance1 anger for mutual ruin3 the former loves society1 the latter estrangement4 ,the one loves to do good1 the other to do harm2 the one to help even strangers1 the other to attack even its dearest friends4 ,the one is ready even to sacrifice itself for the good of others1 the other to plunge into peril provided it drags others with it4 ,who1 then1 can be more ignorant of nature than he who classes this cruel and hurtful vice as belonging to her best and most polished work8 ,anger1 as we have said1 is eager to punish2 and that such a desire should exist in man's peaceful breast is least of all according to his nature2 for human life is founded on benefits and harmony1 and is bound together into an alliance for the common help of all1 not by terror1 but by love towards one another4 ,,vi4 8,what1 then8 ,is not correction sometimes necessary80 ,of course it is2 but with discretion1 not with anger2 for it does not injure1 but heals under the guise of injury4 ,we char crooked spearshafts to straighten them1 and force them by driving in wedges1 not in order to break them1 but to take the bends out of them2 and1 in like manner1 by applying pain to the body or mind we correct dispositions which have been rendered crooked by vice4 ,so the physician at first1 when dealing with slight disorders1 tries not to make much change in his patient's daily habits1 to regulate #ee his food1 drink1 and exercise1 and to improve his health merely by altering the order in which he takes them4 ,the next step is to see whether an alteration in their amount will be of service4 ,if neither alteration of the order or of the amount is of use1 he cuts off some and reduces others4 ,if even this does not answer1 he forbids food1 and disburdens the body by fasting4 ,if milder remedies have proved useless he opens a vein2 if the extremities are injuring the body and infecting it with disease he lays his hands upon the limbs2 yet none of his treatment is considered harsh if its result is to give health4 ,similarly1 it is the duty of the chief administrator of the laws1 or the ruler of a state1 to correct ill-disposed men1 as long as he is able1 with words1 and even with gentle ones1 that he may persuade them to do what they ought1 inspire them with a love of honour and justice1 and cause them to hate vice and set store upon virtue4 ,he must then pass on to severer language1 still confining himself to advising and reprimanding2 last of all he must betake himself to punishments1 yet still making them slight and temporary4 ,he ought to assign extreme punishments only to extreme crimes1 that no one may die unless it be even to the criminal's own advantage that he should die4 ,he will differ from the physician in one point alone2 for whereas physicians render it easy to die for those to whom they cannot grant the boon of life1 he will drive the condemned out of life with ignominy and disgrace1 not because he takes pleasure in any man's being punished1 for the wise man is far from such inhuman ferocity1 but that they may be a warning to all men1 and that1 since they would not be useful when alive1 the state may at any rate profit by their death4 ,man's nature is not1 therefore1 desirous of inflicting punishment2 neither1 therefore1 is anger in accordance with man's nature1 because that is desirous of inflicting punishment4 ,i will also adduce ,plato's argument--for what harm is there in using #ef other men's arguments1 so far as they are on our side8 8,a good man10 says he1 8does not do any hurt3 it is only punishment which hurts4 ,punishment1 therefore1 does not accord with a good man3 wherefore anger does not do so either1 because punishment and anger accord one with another4 ,if a good man takes no pleasure in punishment1 he will also take no pleasure in that state of mind to which punishment gives pleasure3 consequently anger is not natural to man40 ,,vii4 ,may it not be that1 although anger be not natural1 it may be right to adopt it1 because it often proves useful8 ,it rouses the spirit and excites it2 and courage does nothing grand in war without it1 unless its flame be supplied from this source2 this is the goad which stirs up bold men and sends them to encounter perils4 ,some therefore consider it to be best to control anger1 not to banish it utterly1 but to cut off its extravagances1 and force it to keep within useful bounds1 so as to retain that part of it without which action will become languid and all strength and activity of mind will die away4 ,in the first place1 it is easier to banish dangerous passions than to rule them2 it is easier not to admit them than to keep them in order when admitted2 for when they have established themselves in possession of the mind they are more powerful than the lawful ruler1 and will in no wise permit themselves to be weakened or abridged4 ,in the next place1 ,reason herself1 who holds the reins1 is only strong while she remains apart from the passions2 if she mixes and befouls herself with them she becomes no longer able to restrain those whom she might once have cleared out of her path2 for the mind1 when once excited and shaken up1 goes whither the passions drive it4 ,there are certain things whose beginnings lie in our own power1 but which1 when developed1 drag us along by their own force and leave us no retreat4 ,those who have flung themselves over a precipice #eg have no control over their movements1 nor can they stop or slacken their pace when once started1 for their own headlong and irremediable rashness has left no room for either reflexion or remorse1 and they cannot help going to lengths which they might have avoided4 ,so1 also1 the mind1 when it has abandoned itself to anger1 love1 or any other passion1 is unable to check itself3 its own weight and the downward tendency of vices must needs carry the man off and hurl him into the lowest depth4 ,,viii4 ,the best plan is to reject straightway the first incentives to anger1 to resist its very beginnings1 and to take care not to be betrayed into it3 for if once it begins to carry us away1 it is hard to get back again into a healthy condition1 because reason goes for nothing when once passion has been admitted to the mind1 and has by our own free will been given a certain authority1 it will for the future do as much as it chooses1 not only as much as you will allow it4 ,the enemy1 ,i repeat1 must be met and driven back at the outermost frontier-line3 for when he has once entered the city and passed its gates1 he will not allow his prisoners to set bounds to his victory4 ,the mind does not stand apart and view its passions from without1 so as not to permit them to advance further than they ought1 but it is itself changed into a passion1 and is therefore unable to check what once was useful and wholesome strength1 now that it has become degenerate and misapplied3 for passion and reason1 as ,i said before1 have not distinct and separate provinces1 but consist of the changes of the mind itself for better or for worse4 ,how then can reason recover itself when it is conquered and held down by vices1 when it has given way to anger8 or how can it extricate itself from a confused mixture1 the greater part of which consists of the lower qualities8 8,but10 argues our adversary1 8some men when in anger control themselves40 ,do they so far control themselves that they do nothing which anger dictates1 or some #eh what8 ,if they do nothing thereof1 it becomes evident that anger is not essential to the conduct of affairs1 although your sect advocated it as possessing greater strength than reason 4 4 4 4 ,finally1 ,i ask1 is anger stronger or weaker than reason8 ,if stronger1 how can reason impose any check upon it1 since it is only the less powerful that obey3 if weaker1 then reason is competent to effect its ends without anger1 and does not need the help of a less powerful quality4 8,but some angry men remain consistent and control themselves40 ,when do they do so8 ,it is when their anger is disappearing and leaving them of its own accord1 not when it was red-hot1 for then it was more powerful than they4 ,what then8 do not men1 even in the height of their anger1 sometimes let their enemies go whole and unhurt1 and refrain from injuring them8 8,they do3 but when do they do so8 ,it is when one passion overpowers another1 and either fear or greed gets the upper hand for a while4 ,on such occasions1 it is not thanks to reason that anger is stilled1 but owing to an untrustworthy and fleeting truce between the passions4 ,,ix4 ,in the next place1 anger has nothing useful in itself1 and does not rouse up the mind to warlike deeds3 for a virtue1 being self-sufficient1 never needs the assistance of a vice3 whenever it needs an impetuous effort1 it does not become angry1 but rises to the occasion1 and excites or soothes itself as far as it deems requisite1 just as the machines which hurl darts may be twisted to a greater or lesser degree of tension at the manager's pleasure4 8,anger10 says ,aristotle1 8is necessary1 nor can any fight be won without it1 unless it fills the mind1 and kindles up the spirit4 ,it must1 however1 be made use of1 not as a general1 but as a soldier10 ,now this is untrue2 for if it listens to reason and follows whither reason leads1 it is no longer anger1 whose characteristic is obstinacy3 if1 again1 it is disobedient and will not be quiet when ordered1 but is carried away by its own #ei wilful and headstrong spirit1 it is then as useless an aid to the mind as a soldier who disregards the sounding of the retreat would be to a general4 ,if1 therefore1 anger allows limits to be imposed upon it1 it must be called by some other name1 and ceases to be anger1 which ,i understand to be unbridled and unmanageable3 and if it does not allow limits to be imposed upon it1 it is harmful and not to be counted among aids3 wherefore either anger is not anger1 or it is useless3 for if any man demands the infliction of punishment1 not because he is eager for the punishment itself1 but because it is right to inflict it1 he ought not to be counted as an angry man3 that will be the useful soldier1 who knows how to obey orders3 the passions cannot obey any more than they can command4 ,x4 ,for this cause reason will never call to its aid blind and fierce impulses1 over whom she herself possesses no authority1 and which she never can restrain save by setting against them similar and equally powerful passions1 as for example1 fear against anger1 anger against sloth1 greed against timidity4 ,may virtue never come to such a pass1 that reason should fly for aid to vices6 ,the mind can find no safe repose there1 it must needs be shaken and tempest-tossed if it be safe only because of its own defects1 if it cannot be brave without anger1 diligent without greed1 quiet without fear3 such is the despotism under which a man must live if he becomes the slave of a passion4 ,are you not ashamed to put virtues under the patronage of vices8 ,then1 too1 reason ceases to have any power if she can do nothing without passion1 and begins to be equal and like unto passion2 for what difference is there between them if passion without reason be as rash as reason without passion is helpless8 ,they are both on the same level1 if one cannot exist without the other4 ,yet who could endure that passion should be made equal to reason8 8,then10 says our adversary1 8passion is useful1 provided it be moderate40 #fj ,nay1 only if it be useful by nature3 but if it be disobedient to authority and reason1 al that we gain by its moderation is that the less there is of it1 the less harm it does3 wherefore a moderate passion is nothing but a moderate evil4 ,,xi4 8,but10 argues he1 8against our enemies anger is necessary40 ,in no case is it less necessary2 since our attacks ought not to be disorderly1 but regulated and under control4 ,what1 indeed1 is it except anger1 so ruinous to itself1 that overthrows barbarians1 who have so much more bodily strength than we1 and are so much better able to endure fatigue8 ,gladiators1 too1 protect themselves by skill1 but expose themselves to wounds when they are angry4 ,moreover1 of what use is anger1 when the same end can be arrived at by reason8 ,do you suppose that a hunter is angry with the beasts he kills8 ,yet he meets them when they attack him1 and follows them when they flee from him1 all of which is managed by reason without anger4 ,when so many thousands of ,cimbri and ,teutones poured over the ,alps1 what was it that caused them to perish so completely1 that no messenger1 only common rumour1 carried the news of that great defeat to their homes1 except that with them anger stood in the place of courage8 and anger1 although sometimes it overthrows and breaks to pieces whatever it meets1 yet is more often its own destruction4 ,who can be braver than the ,germans8 who charge more boldly8 who have more love of arms1 among which they are born and bred1 for which alone they care1 to the neglect of everything else8 ,who can be more hardened to undergo every hardship1 since a large part of them have no store of clothing for the body1 no shelter from the continual rigour of the climate3 yet ,spaniards and ,gauls1 and even the unwarlike races of ,asia and ,syria cut them down before the main legion comes within sight1 nothing but their own irascibility exposing them to death4 ,give but intelligence to those #fa minds1 and discipline to those bodies of theirs1 which now are ignorant of vicious refinements1 luxury1 and wealth1--to say nothing more1 we should certainly be obliged to go back to the ancient ,roman habits of life4 ,by what did ,fabius restore the shattered forces of the state1 except by knowing how to delay and spin out time1 which angry men know not how to do8 ,the empire1 which then was at its last gasp1 would have perished if ,fabius had been as daring as anger urged him to be3 but he took thought about the condition of affairs1 and after counting his force1 no part of which could be lost without everything being lost with it1 he laid aside thoughts of grief and revenge1 turning his sole attention to what was profitable and to making the most of his opportunities1 and conquered his anger before he conquered ,hannibal4 ,what did ,scipio do8 ,did he not leave behind ,hannibal and the ,carthaginian army1 and all with whom he had a right to be angry1 and carry over the war into ,africa with such deliberation that he made his enemies think him luxurious and lazy8 ,what did the second ,scipio do8 ,did he not remain a long1 long time before ,numantia1 and bear with calmness the reproach to himself and to his country that ,numantia took longer to conquer than ,carthage8 ,by blockading and investing his enemies1 he brought them to such straits that they perished by their own swords4 ,anger1 therefore1 is not useful even in wars or battles3 for it is prone to rashness1 and while trying to bring others into danger1 does not guard itself against danger4 ,the most trustworthy virtue is that which long and carefully considers itself1 controls itself1 and slowly and deliberately brings itself to the front4 ,,xii4 8,what1 then10 asks our adversary1 8is a good man not to be angry if he sees his father murdered or his mother outraged80 ,no1 he will not be angry1 but will avenge them1 or protect them4 ,why do you fear that #fb filial piety will not prove a sufficient spur to him even without anger8 ,you may as well say--8,what then8 ,when a good man sees his father or his son being cut down1 ,i suppose he will not weep or faint10 as we see women do whenever any trifling rumour of danger reaches them4 ,the good man will do his duty without disturbance or fear1 and he will perform the duty of a good man1 so as to do nothing unworthy of a man4 ,my father will be murdered3 then ,i will defend him3 he has been slain1 then ,i will avenge him1 not because ,i am grieved1 but because it is my duty4 8,good men are made angry by injuries done to their friends40 ,when you say this1 ,theophrastus1 you seek to throw discredit upon more manly maxims2 you leave the judge and appeal to the mob3 because every one is angry when such things befall his own friends1 you suppose that men will decide that it is their duty to do what they do3 for as a rule every man considers a passion which he recognises to be a righteous one4 ,but he does the same thing if the hot water is not ready for his drink1 if a glass be broken1 or his shoe splashed with mud4 ,it is not filial piety1 but weakness of mind that produces this anger1 as children weep when they lose their parents1 just as they do when they lose their toys4 ,to feel anger on behalf of one's friends does not show a loving1 but a weak mind3 it is admirable and worthy conduct to stand forth as the defender of one's parents1 children1 friends1 and countrymen1 at the call of duty itself1 acting of one's own free will1 forming a deliberate judgment1 and looking forward to the future1 not in an impulsive1 frenzied fashion4 ,no passion is more eager for revenge than anger1 and for that very reason it is unapt to obtain it3 being over hasty and frantic1 like almost all desires1 it hinders itself in the attainment of its own object1 and therefore has never been useful either in peace or war3 for it makes peace like war1 and when in arms forgets that ,mars belongs #fc to neither side1 and falls into the power of the enemy1 because it is not in its own4 ,in the next place1 vices ought not to be received into common use because on some occasions they have effected somewhat3 for so also fevers are good for certain kinds of ill-health1 but nevertheless it is better to be altogether free from them3 it is a hateful mode of cure to owe one's health to disease4 ,similarly1 although anger1 like poison1 or falling headlong1 or being shipwrecked1 may have unexpectedly done good1 yet it ought not on that account to be classed as wholesome1 for poisons have often proved good for the health4 ,,xiii4 ,moreover1 qualities which we ought to possess become better and more desirable the more extensive they are3 if justice is a good thing1 no one will say that it would be better if any part were subtracted from it2 if bravery is a good thing1 no one would wish it to be in any way curtailed3 consequently the greater anger is1 the better it is1 for who ever objected to a good thing being increased8 ,but it is not expedient that anger should be increased3 therefore it is not expedient that it should exist at all1 for that which grows bad by increase cannot be a good thing4 8,anger is useful10 says our adversary1 8because it makes men more ready to fight40 ,according to that mode of reasoning1 then1 drunkenness also is a good thing1 for it makes men insolent and daring1 and many use their weapons better when the worse for liquor3 nay1 according to that reasoning1 also1 you may call frenzy and madness essential to strength1 because madness often makes men stronger4 ,why1 does not fear often by the rule of contraries make men bolder1 and does not the terror of death rouse up even arrant cowards to join battle8 ,yet anger1 drunkenness1 fear1 and the like1 are base and temporary incitements to action1 and can furnish no arms to virtue1 which has no need of vices1 although they may at times be of some little assistance to sluggish and cowardly minds4 #fd ,no man becomes braver through anger1 except one who without anger would not have been brave at all3 anger does not therefore come to assist courage1 but to take its place4 ,what are we to say to the argument that1 if anger were a good thing it would attach itself to all the best men8 ,yet the most irascible of creatures are infants1 old men1 and sick people4 ,every weakling is naturally prone to complaint4 ,,xiv4 ,it is impossible1 says ,theophrastus1 for a good man not to be angry with bad men4 ,by this reasoning1 the better a man is1 the more irascible he will be3 yet will he not rather be more tranquil1 more free from passions1 and hating no one3 indeed1 what reason has he for hating sinners1 since it is error that leads them into such crimes8 now it does not become a sensible man to hate the erring1 since if so he will hate himself3 let him think how many things he does contrary to good morals1 how much of what he has done stands in need of pardon1 and he will soon become angry with himself also1 for no righteous judge pronounces a different judgment in his own case and in that of others4 ,no one1 ,i affirm1 will be found who can acquit himself4 ,every one when he calls himself innocent looks rather to external witnesses than to his own conscience4 ,how much more philanthropic it is to deal with the erring in a gentle and fatherly spirit1 and to call them into the right course instead of hunting them down8 ,when a man is wandering about our fields because he has lost his way1 it is better to place him on the right path than to drive him away4 ,,xv4 ,the sinner ought1 therefore1 to be corrected both by warning and by force1 both by gentle and harsh means1 and may be made a better man both towards himself and others by chastisement1 but not by anger3 for who is angry with the patient whose wounds he is tending8 8,but they cannot be corrected1 and there is nothing in them that is #fe gentle or that admits of good hope40 ,then let them be removed from mortal society1 if they are likely to deprave every one with whom they come in contact1 and let them cease to be bad men in the only way in which they can3 yet let this be done without hatred3 for what reason have ,i for hating the man to whom ,i am doing the greatest good1 since ,i am rescuing him from himself8 ,does a man hate his own limbs when he cuts them off8 ,that is not an act of anger1 but a lamentable method of healing4 ,we knock mad dogs on the head1 we slaughter fierce and savage bulls1 and we doom scabby sheep to the knife1 lest they should infect our flocks3 we destroy monstrous births1 and we also drown our children if they are born weakly or unnaturally formed2 to separate what is useless from what is sound is an act1 not of anger1 but of reason4 ,nothing becomes one who inflicts punishment less than anger1 because the punishment has all the more power to work reformation if the sentence be pronounced with deliberate judgment4 ,this is why ,socrates said to the slave1 8,i would strike you1 were ,i not angry40 ,he put off the correction of the slave to a calmer season2 at the moment1 he corrected himself4 ,who can boast that he has his passions1 under control1 when ,socrates did not dare to trust himself to his anger8 ,,xvi4 ,we do not1 therefore1 need an angry chastiser to punish the erring and wicked3 for since anger is a crime of the mind1 it is not right that sins should be punished by sin4 8,what6 am ,i not to be angry with a robber1 or a poisoner80 ,no3 for ,i am not angry with myself when ,i bleed myself4 ,i apply all kinds of punishment as remedies4 ,you are as yet only in the first stage of error1 and do not go wrong seriously1 although you do so often3 then ,i will try to amend you by a reprimand given first in private and then in public4#d ,you1 again1 have gone #ff too far to be restored to virtue by words alone2 you must be kept in order by disgrace4 ,for the next1 some stronger measure is required1 something that he can feel must be branded upon him2 you1 sir1 shall be sent into exile and to a desert place4 ,the next man's thorough villany needs harsher remedies3 chains and public imprisonment must be applied to him4 ,you1 lastly1 have an incurably vicious mind1 and add crime to crime3 you have come to such a pass1 that you are not influenced by the arguments which are never wanting to recommend evil1 but sin itself is to you a sufficient reason for sinning3 you have so steeped your whole heart in wickedness1 that wickedness cannot be taken from you without bringing your heart with it4 ,wretched man6 you have long sought to die2 we will do you good service1 we will take away that madness from which you suffer1 and to you who have so long lived a misery to yourself and to others1 we will give the only good thing which remains1 that is1 death4 ,why should ,i be angry with a man just when ,i am doing him good3 sometimes the truest form of compassion is to put a man to death4 ,if ,i were a skilled and learned physician1 and were to enter a hospital1 or a rich#e man's house1 ,i should not have prescribed the same treatment for all the patients who were suffering from various diseases4 ,i see different kinds of vice in the vast number of different minds1 and am called in to heal the whole body of citizens3 let us seek for the remedies proper for each disease4 ,this man may be cured by his own sense of honour1 that one by travel1 that one by pain1 that one by want1 that one by the sword4 ,if1 therefore1 it becomes my duty as a magistrate to put on black#f robes1 and summon an assembly by the sound of a #fg trumpet1#g ,i shall walk to the seat of judgment not in a rage or in a hostile spirit1 but with the countenance of a judge2 ,i shall pronounce the formal sentence in a grave and gentle rather than a furious voice1 and shall bid them proceed #fh sternly1 yet not angrily4 ,even when ,i command a criminal to be beheaded1 when ,i sew a parricide up in a sack1 when ,i send a man to be punished by military law1 when ,i fling a traitor or public enemy down the ,tarpeian ,rock1 ,i shall be free from anger1 and shall look and feel just as though ,i were crushing snakes and other venomous creatures4 8,anger is necessary to enable us to punish40 ,what8 do you think that the law is angry with men whom it does not know1 whom it has never seen1 who it hopes will never exist8 ,we ought1 therefore1 to adopt the law's frame of mind1 which does not become angry1 but merely defines offences3 for1 if it is right for a good man to be angry at wicked crimes1 it will also be right for him to be moved with envy at the prosperity of wicked men3 what1 indeed1 is more scandalous than that in some cases the very men1 for whose deserts no fortune could be found bad enough1 should flourish and actually be the spoiled children of success8 ,yet he will see their affluence without envy1 just as he sees their crimes without anger3 a good judge condemns wrongful acts1 but does not hate them4 8,what then8 when the wise man is dealing with something of this kind1 will his mind not be affected by it and become excited beyond its usual wont80 ,i admit that it will3 he will experience a slight and trifling emotion2 for1 as ,zeno says1 8,even in the mind of the wise man1 a scar remains after the wound is quite healed40 ,he will1 therefore1 feel certain hints and semblances of passions2 but he will be free from the passions themselves4 ,,xvii4 ,aristotle says that 8certain passions1 if one makes a proper use of them1 act as arms03 which would be true if1 like weapons of war1 they could be taken up or laid aside at the pleasure of their wielder4 ,these arms1 which ,aristotle assigns to virtue1 fight of their own accord1 do not wait to be seized by the hand1 and possess a man instead of being possessed by him4 ,we have no need of #fi external weapons1 nature has equipped us sufficiently by giving us reason4 ,she has bestowed this weapon upon us1 which is strong1 imperishable1 and obedient to our will1 not uncertain or capable of being turned against its master4 ,reason suffices by itself not merely to take thought for the future1 but to manage our affairs3#h what1 then1 can be more foolish than for reason to beg anger for protection1 that is1 for what is certain to beg of what is uncertain8 what is trustworthy of what is faithless8 what is whole of what is sick8 ,what1 indeed8 since reason is far more powerful by itself even in performing those operations in which the help of anger seems especially needful3 for when reason has decided that a particular thing should be done1 she perseveres in doing it2 not being able to find anything better than herself to exchange with4 ,she1 therefore1 abides by her purpose when it has once been formed2 whereas anger is often overcome by pity3 for it possesses no firm strength1 but merely swells like an empty bladder1 and makes a violent beginning1 just like the winds which rise from the earth and are caused by rivers and marshes1 which blow furiously without any continuance3 anger begins with a mighty rush1 and then falls away1 becoming fatigued too soon3 that which but lately thought of nothing but cruelty and novel forms of torture1 is become quite softened and gentle when the time comes for punishment to be inflicted4 ,passion soon cools1 whereas reason is always consistent3 yet even in cases where anger has continued to burn1 it often happens that although there may be many who deserve to die1 yet after the death of two or three it ceases to slay4 ,its first onset is fierce1 just as the teeth of snakes when first roused from their lair are venomous1 but become harmless after repeated bites have exhausted their poison4 ,consequently those who are #gj equally guilty are not equally punished1 and often he who has done less is punished more1 because he fell in the way of anger when it was fresher4 ,it is altogether irregular2 at one time it runs into undue excess1 at another it falls short of its duty3 for it indulges its own feelings and gives sentence according to its caprices1 will not listen to evidence1 allows the defence no opportunity of being heard1 clings to what it has wrongly assumed1 and will not suffer its opinion to be wrested from it1 even when it is a mistaken one4 ,,xviii4 ,reason gives each side time to plead2 moreover1 she herself demands adjournment1 that she may have sufficient scope for the discovery of the truth2 whereas anger is in a hurry3 reason wishes to give a just decision2 anger wishes its decision to be thought just3 reason looks no further than the matter in hand2 anger is excited by empty matters hovering on the outskirts of the case3 it is irritated by anything approaching to a confident demeanour1 a loud voice1 an unrestrained speech1 dainty apparel1 high-flown pleading1 or popularity with the public4 ,it often condemns a man because it dislikes his patron2 it loves and maintains error even when truth is staring it in the face4 ,it hates to be proved wrong1 and thinks it more honourable to persevere in a mistaken line of conduct than to retract it4 ,i remember ,gnaeus ,piso1 a man who was free from many vices1 yet of a perverse disposition1 and one who mistook harshness for consistency4 ,in his anger he ordered a soldier to be led off to execution because he had returned from furlough without his comrade1 as though he must have murdered him if he could not show him4 ,when the man asked for time for search1 he would not grant it3 the condemned man was brought outside the rampart1 and was just offering his neck to the axe1 when suddenly there appeared his comrade who was thought to be slain4 ,hereupon the centurion in charge of the execution bade the guardsman sheathe his sword1 and led the condemned #ga man back to ,piso1 to restore to him the innocence which ,fortune had restored to the soldier4 ,they were led into his presence by their fellow soldiers amid the great joy of the whole camp1 embracing one another and accompanied by a vast crowd4 ,piso mounted the tribunal in a fury and ordered them both to be executed1 both him who had not murdered and him who had not been slain4 ,what could be more unworthy than this8 ,because one was proved to be innocent1 two perished4 ,piso even added a third3 for he actually ordered the centurion1 who had brought back the condemned man1 to be put to death4 ,three men were set up to die in the same place because one was innocent4 ,o1 how clever is anger at inventing reasons for its frenzy6 8,you10 it says1 8,i order to be executed1 because you have been condemned to death3 you1 because you have been the cause of your comrade's condemnation1 and you1 because when ordered to put him to death you disobeyed your general40 ,he discovered the means of charging them with three crimes1 because he could find no crime in them4 ,,xix4 ,irascibility1 ,i say1 has this fault--it is loth to be ruled3 it is angry with the truth itself1 if it comes to light against its will3 it assails those whom it has marked for its victims with shouting and riotous noise and gesticulation of the entire body1 together with reproaches and curses4 ,not thus does reason act3 but if it must be so1 she silently and quietly wipes out whole households1 destroys entire families of the enemies of the state1 together with their wives and children1 throws down their very dwellings1 levels them with the ground1 and roots out the names of those who are the foes of liberty4 ,this she does without grinding her teeth or shaking her head1 or doing anything unbecoming to a judge1 whose countenance ought to be especially calm and composed at the time when he is pronouncing an important sentence4 8,what need is there10 asks ,hieronymus1 8for you to bite your own lips when you want to strike some one80 ,what #gb would he have said1 had he seen a proconsul leap down from the tribunal1 snatch the fasces from the lictor1 and tear his own clothes because those of others were not torn as fast as he wished4 ,why need you upset the table1 throw down the drinking cups1 knock yourself against the columns1 tear your hair1 smite your thigh and your breast8 ,how vehement do you suppose anger to be1 if it thus turns back upon itself1 because it cannot find vent on another as fast as it wishes8 ,such men1 therefore1 are held back by the bystanders and are begged to become reconciled with themselves4 ,but he who while free from anger assigns to each man the penalty which he deserves1 does none of these things4 ,he often lets a man go after detecting his crime1 if his penitence for what he has done gives good hope for the future1 if he perceives that the man's wickedness is not deeply rooted in his mind1 but is only1 as the saying is1 skin-deep4 ,he will grant impunity in cases where it will hurt neither the receiver nor the giver4 ,in some cases he will punish great crimes more leniently than lesser ones1 if the former were the result of momentary impulse1 not of cruelty1 while the latter were instinct with secret1 underhand1 long-practised craftiness4 ,the same fault1 committed by two separate men1 will not be visited by him with the same penalty1 if the one was guilty of it through carelessness1 the other with a premeditated intention of doing mischief4 ,in all dealing with crime he will remember that the one form of punishment is meant to make bad men better1 and the other to put them out of the way4 ,in either case he will look to the future1 not to the past3 for1 as ,plato says1 8no wise man punishes any one because he has sinned1 but that he may sin no more3 for what is past cannot be recalled1 but what is to come may be checked40 ,those1 too1 whom he wishes to make examples of the ill success of wickedness1 he executes publicly1 not merely in order that they themselves may die1 but that by dying they #gc may deter others from doing likewise4 ,you see how free from any mental disturbance a man ought to be who has to weigh and consider all this1 when he deals with a matter which ought to be handled with the utmost care1 ,i mean1 the power of life and death4 ,the sword of justice is ill-placed in the hands of an angry man4 ,,xx4 ,neither ought it to be believed that anger contributes anything to magnanimity3 what it gives is not magnanimity but vain glory4 ,the increase which disease produces in bodies swollen with morbid humours is not healthy growth1 but bloated corpulence4 ,all those whose madness raises them above human considerations1 believe themselves to be inspired with high and sublime ideas2 but there is no solid ground beneath1 and what is built without foundation is liable to collapse in ruin4 ,anger has no ground to stand upon1 and does not rise from a firm and enduring foundation1 but is a windy1 empty quality1 as far removed from true magnanimity as fool-hardiness from courage1 boastfulness from confidence1 gloom from austerity1 cruelty from strictness4 ,there is1 ,i say1 a great difference between a lofty and a proud mind3 anger brings about nothing grand or beautiful4 ,on the other hand1 to be constantly irritated seems to me to be the part of a languid and unhappy mind1 conscious of its own feebleness1 like folk with diseased bodies covered with sores1 who cry out at the lightest touch4 ,anger1 therefore1 is a vice which for the most part affects women and children4 8,yet it affects men also40 ,because many men1 too1 have womanish or childish intellects4 8,but what are we to say8 do not some words fall from angry men which appear to flow from a great mind80 ,yes1 to those who know not what true greatness is3 as1 for example1 that foul and hateful saying1 8,let them hate me1 provided they fear me10 which you may be sure was written in ,sulla's time4 ,i know not which was the worse of the two things he wished #gd for1 that he might be hated or that he might be feared4 ,it occurs to his mind that some day people will curse him1 plot against him1 crush him3 what prayer does he add to this8 ,may all the gods curse him--for discovering a cure for hate so worthy of it4 8,let them hate40 ,how8 8,provided they obey me80 ,no6 8,provided they approve of me80 ,no6 ,how then8 8,provided they fear me60 ,i would not even be loved upon such terms4 ,do you imagine that this was a very spirited saying8 ,you are wrong3 this is not greatness1 but monstrosity4 ,you should not believe the words of angry men1 whose speech is very loud and menacing1 while their mind within them is as timid as possible3 nor need you suppose that the most eloquent of men1 ,titus ,livius1 was right in describing somebody as being 8of a great rather than a good disposition40 ,the things cannot be separated3 he must either be good or else he cannot be great1 because ,i take greatness of mind to mean that it is unshaken1 sound throughout1 firm and uniform to its very foundation2 such as cannot exist in evil dispositions4 ,such dispositions may be terrible1 frantic1 and destructive1 but cannot possess greatness2 because greatness rests upon goodness1 and owes its strength to it4 8,yet by speech1 action1 and all outward show they will make one think them great40 ,true1 they will say something which you may think shows a great spirit1 like ,gaius ,caesar1 who when angry with heaven because it interfered with his ballet-dancers1 whom he imitated more carefully than he attended to them when they acted1 and because it frightened his revels by its thunders1 surely ill-directed1#i challenged ,jove to fight1 and that to the death1 shouting the ,homeric verse3-- 8,carry me off1 or ,i will carry thee60 #ge ,how great was his madness6 ,he must have believed either that he could not be hurt even by ,jupiter himself1 or that he could hurt even ,jupiter itself4 ,i imagine that this saying of his had no small weight in nerving the minds of the conspirators for their task3 for it seemed to be the height of endurance to bear one who could not bear ,jupiter4 ,,xxi4 ,there is therefore nothing great or noble in anger1 even when it seems to be powerful and to contemn both gods and men alike4 ,any one who thinks that anger produces greatness of mind1 would think that luxury produces it3 such a man wishes to rest on ivory1 to be clothed with purple1 and roofed with gold2 to remove lands1 embank seas1 hasten the course of rivers1 suspend woods in the air4 ,he would think that avarice shows greatness of mind3 for the avaricious man broods over heaps of gold and silver1 treats whole provinces as merely fields on his estate1 and has larger tracts of country under the charge of single bailiffs than those which consuls once drew lots to administer4 ,he would think that lust shows greatness of mind3 for the lustful man swims across straits1 castrates troops of boys1 and puts himself within reach of the swords of injured husbands with complete scorn of death4 ,ambition1 too1 he would think shows greatness of mind3 for the ambitious man is not content with office once a year1 but1 if possible1 would fill the calendar of dignities with his name alone1 and cover the whole world with his titles4 ,it matters nothing to what heights or lengths these passions may proceed3 they are narrow1 pitiable1 grovelling4 ,virtue alone is lofty and sublime1 nor is anything great which is not at the same time tranquil4 #a ,here a leaf or more has been lost1 including the fragment cited in ,lactantius1 ,de ira dei1 #ag 8,ira est eupiditas10 c4 ,the entire passage is3--8,but the ,stoics did not perceive that there is a difference between right and wrong2 that there is just and unjust anger3 and as they could find no remedy for it1 they wished to extirpate it4 ,the ,peripatetics1 on the other hand1 declared that it ought not to be destroyed1 but restrained4 ,these ,i have sufficiently answered in the sixth book of my #8,institutiones4' ,it is clear that the philosophers did not comprehend the reason of anger1 from the definitions of it which ,seneca has enumerated in the books #8,on ,anger' which he has written4 #8,anger1' he says1 #8is the desire of avenging an injury4' ,others1 as ,posidonius says1 call it #8a desire to punish one by whom you think that you have been unjustly injured1' ,some have defined it thus1 #8,anger is an impulse of the mind to injure him who either has injured you or has sought to injure you4' ,aristotle's definition differs but little from our own4 ,he says1 #8that anger is a desire to repay suffering1'0 etc4 #b ,ovid1 8,met40 vii4 #ede-f4 #c of the ,stoics4 #d ,the gospel rule4 ,matt1 xviii4 #ae4 #e ,divitis 7where there might be an army of slaves74 #f 8,lorsque le ,prteur devoit prononcer la sentence d'un coupable1 il se depouilloit de la robe pretexte1 et se revtoit alors d'une simple tunique1 ou d'une autre robe1 presque use1 et d'un blanc sale 7sordida7 ou d'un gris trs fonc tirant sur le noir 7toga pulla71 telle qu'en portoient ,rome le peuple et les pauvres 7pullaque paupertas74 ,dans les jours solemnelles et marqus par un deuil public1 les ,senateurs quittoient le laticlave1 et les ,magistrats la pretexte4 ,la pourpre1 la hache1 les faisceaux1 aucun de ces signes extrieurs de leur dignit ne les distinguoient alors des autres citoyens3 sine insignibus ,magistratus4 ,mais ce n'toit pas seulement pendant le temps ou la ville toit plonge dans le deuil et dans ,i'affliction1 que les magistrats s'habilloient comme le peuple 7sordidam vestem induebant72 ils en usoient de mme lorsqu'ils devoient condamner mort un citoyen4 ,c'est dans ces tristes circonstances qu'ils quittoient la prtexte et prenoient la robe de deuil perversam vestem4 7,no doubt 8inside out40--,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,m47 0,on pourroit supposer avec assez de vraisemblance que par cette expression1 ,sneque a voulu faire allusion ce changement 4 4 4 4 4 ,peut-tre les ,magistrats qui devoient juger mort un citoyen1 portoient ils aussi leur robe renverse1 ou la jettoient ils de travers ou confusment sur leurs paules1 pour mieux peindre par ce desordre le trouble de leur esprit4 ,si cette conjecture est vraie1 comme je serais assez port croire1 l'expression perversa vestis dont ,sneque s'est servi ici1 indiqueroit plus d'un simple changement d'habit10 c1 7,la ,grange's translation of ,seneca1 edited by ,j1 ,a4 ,naigeon4 ,paris1 #aggh47 #g 8,ceci fait allusion une coutume que ,caius ,gracchus prtend avoir t pratique de tout tems ,rome1 #8,lorsqu'un citoyen10 dit il1 8avoit un procs criminel qui alloit la mort1 s'il refusoit d'obir aux sommations qui lui toient faites2 le jour qu'on devoit le juger1 en envoyoit des le matin la porte de sa maison un ,officier ,i'appeller au son de la trompette1 et jamais avant que cette crmonie et t observe1 les ,juges ne donneroient leur voix contre lui3 tant ces hommes sages1' ajoute ce hardi ,tribun1 #8avoient de retenue et de precaution dans leurs jugements1 quand il s'agissoit de la vie d'un citoyen4'0 8,c'toit de mme au son de la trompette que l'on convoquoit le peuple1 lorsqu'on devoit faire mourir un citoyen1 afin qu'il ft tmoin de ce triste spectacle1 et que la supplice du coupable pt lui servir d'exemple4 ,tacite dit qu'un ,astrologue1 nomm ,p4 ,marcius1 ft excut1 selon l'ancien usage1 hors de la porte ,esquiline1 en presence du peuple ,romain que les ,consuls firent convoquer au son de la trompette40 7,tac4 ,ann4 ,,ii4 #cb47 ,l4 ,grom4 #h ,i4e4 not only for counsel but for action4 #i ,prorsus parum certis 7i4e41 the thunderbolts missed their aim in not striking him dead74 #gf ,,the ,,fourth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,novatus4 ,,of ,,anger4 ,book ,,ii4 ,my first book1 ,novatus1 had a more abundant subject3 for carriages roll easily down hill3#a now we must proceed to drier matters4 ,the question before us is whether anger arises from deliberate choice or from impulse1 that is1 whether it acts of its own accord or like the greater part of those passions which spring up within us without our knowledge4 ,it is necessary for our debate to stoop to the consideration of these matters1 in order that it may afterwards be able to rise to loftier themes2 for likewise in our bodies the parts which are first set in order are the bones1 sinews1 and joints1 which are by no means fair to see1 albeit they are the foundation of our frame and essential to its life3 next to them come the parts of which all beauty of face and appearance consists2 and after these1 colour1 which above all else charms the eye1 is applied last of all1 when the rest of the body is complete4 ,there is no doubt that anger is roused by the appearance of an injury #gg being done3 but the question before us is1 whether anger straightway follows the appearance1 and springs up without assistance from the mind1 or whether it is roused with the sympathy of the mind4 ,our 7the ,stoics'7 opinion is1 that anger can venture upon nothing by itself1 without the approval of mind3 for to conceive the idea of a wrong having been done1 to long to avenge it1 and to join the two propositions1 that we ought not to have been injured and that it is our duty to avenge our injuries1 cannot belong to a mere impulse which is excited without our consent4 ,that impulse is a simple act2 this is a complex one1 and composed of several parts4 ,the man understands something to have happened3 he becomes indignant thereat3 he condemns the deed2 and he avenges it4 ,all these things cannot be done without his mind agreeing to those matters which touched him4 ,,ii4 ,whither1 say you1 does this inquiry tend8 ,that we may know what anger is3 for if it springs up against our will1 it never will yield to reason3 because all the motions which take place without our volition are beyond our control and unavoidable1 such as shivering when cold water is poured over us1 or shrinking when we are touched in certain places4 ,men's hair rises up at bad news1 their faces blush at indecent words1 and they are seized with dizziness when looking down a precipice2 and as it is not in our power to prevent any of these things1 no reasoning can prevent their taking place4 ,but anger can be put to flight by wise maxims2 for it is a voluntary defect of the mind1 and not one of those things which are evolved by the conditions of human life1 and which1 therefore1 may happen even to the wisest of us4 ,among these and in the first place must be ranked that thrill of the mind which seizes us at the thought of wrongdoing4 ,we feel this even when witnessing the mimic scenes of the stage1 or when reading about things that happened long ago4 ,we often #gh feel angry with ,clodius for banishing ,cicero1 and with ,antonius for murdering him4 ,who is not indignant with the wars of ,marius1 the proscriptions of ,sulla8 who is not enraged against ,theodotus and ,achillas and the boy king who dared to commit a more than boyish crime8#b ,sometimes songs excite us1 and quickened rhythm and the martial noise of trumpets2 so1 too1 shocking pictures and the dreadful sight of tortures1 however well deserved1 affect our minds4 ,hence it is that we smile when others are smiling1 that a crowd of mourners makes us sad1 and that we take a glowing interest in another's battles2 all of which feelings are not anger1 any more than that which clouds our brow at the sight of a stage shipwreck is sadness1 or what we feel1 when we read how ,hannibal after ,cannae beset the walls of ,rome1 can be called fear4 ,all these are emotions of minds which are loth to be moved1 and are not passions1 but rudiments which may grow into passions4 ,so1 too1 a soldier starts at the sound of a trumpet1 although he may be dressed as a civilian and in the midst of a profound peace1 and camp horses prick up their ears at the clash of arms4 ,it is said that ,alexander1 when ,xenophantus was singing1 laid his hand upon his weapons4 ,,iii4 ,none of these things which casually influence the mind deserve to be called passions3 the mind1 if ,i may so express it1 rather suffers passions to act upon itself than forms them4 ,a passion1 therefore1 consists not in being affected by the sights which are presented to us1 but in giving way to our feelings and following up these chance promptings3 for whoever imagines that paleness1 bursting into tears1 lustful feelings1 deep sighs1 sudden flashes of the eyes1 and so forth1 are signs of passion and betray the #gi state of the mind1 is mistaken1 and does not understand that these are merely impulses of the body4 ,consequently1 the bravest of men often turns pale while he is putting on his armour2 when the signal for battle is given1 the knees of the boldest soldier shake for a moment2 the heart even of a great general leaps into his mouth just before the lines clash together1 and the hands and feet even of the most eloquent orator grow stiff and cold while he is preparing to begin his speech4 ,anger must not merely move1 but break out of bounds1 being an impulse3 now1 no impulse can take place without the consent of the mind3 for it cannot be that we should deal with revenge and punishment without the mind being cognisant of them4 ,a man may think himself injured1 may wish to avenge his wrongs1 and then may be persuaded by some reason or other to give up his intention and calm down3 ,i do not call that anger1 it is an emotion of the mind which is under the control of reason4 ,anger is that which goes beyond reason and carries her away with it3 wherefore the first confusion of a man's mind when struck by what seems an injury is no more anger than the apparent injury itself3 it is the subsequent mad rush1 which not only receives the impression of the apparent injury1 but acts upon it as true1 that is anger1 being an exciting of the mind to revenge1 which proceeds from choice and deliberate resolve4 ,there never has been any doubt that fear produces flight1 and anger a rush forward2 consider1 therefore1 whether you suppose that anything can be either sought or avoided without the participation of the mind4 ,,iv4 ,furthermore1 that you may know in what manner passions begin and swell and gain spirit1 learn that the first emotion is involuntary1 and is1 as it were1 a preparation for a passion1 and a threatening of one4 ,the next is combined with a wish1 though not an obstinate one1 as1 for example1 8,it is my duty to avenge myself1 because ,i have been injured10 #hj or 8,it is right that this man should be punished1 because he has committed a crime40 ,the third emotion is already beyond our control1 because it overrides reason1 and wishes to avenge itself1 not if it be its duty1 but whether or no4 ,we are not able by means of reason to escape from that first impression on the mind1 any more than we can escape from those things which we have mentioned as occurring to the body3 we cannot prevent other people's yawns temping us to yawn3#c we cannot help winking when fingers are suddenly darted at our eyes4 ,reason is unable to overcome these habits1 which perhaps might be weakened by practice and constant watchfulness3 they differ from an emotion which is brought into existence and brought to an end by a deliberate mental act4 ,v4 ,we must also enquire whether those whose cruelty knows no bounds1 and who delight in shedding human blood1 are angry when they kill people from whom they have received no injury1 and who they themselves do not think have done them any injury2 such as were ,apollodorus or ,phalaris4 ,this is not anger1 it is ferocity3 for it does not do hurt because it has received injury3 but is even willing to receive injury1 provided it may do hurt4 ,it does not long to inflict stripes and mangle bodies to avenge its wrongs1 but for its own pleasure4 ,what then are we to say8 ,this evil takes its rise from anger2 for anger1 after it has by long use and indulgence made a man forget mercy1 and driven all feelings of human fellowship from his mind1 passes finally into cruelty4 ,such men therefore laugh1 rejoice1 enjoy themselves greatly1 and are as unlike as possible in countenance to angry men1 since cruelty is their relaxation4 ,it is said that when ,hannibal saw a trench full of human blood1 he exclaimed1 8,o1 what #ha a beauteous sight60 ,how much more beautiful would he have thought it1 if it had filled a river or a lake8 ,why should we wonder that you should be charmed with this sight above all others1 you who were born in bloodshed and brought up amid slaughter from a child8 ,fortune will follow you and favour your cruelty for twenty years1 and will display to you everywhere the sight that you love4 ,you will behold it both at ,trasumene and at ,cannae1 and lastly at your own city of ,carthage4 ,volesus1 who not long ago1 under the ,emperor ,augustus1 was proconsul of ,asia ,minor1 after he had one day beheaded three hundred persons1 strutted out among the corpses with a haughty air1 as though he had performed some grand and notable exploit1 and exclaimed in ,greek1 8,what a kingly action60 ,what would this man have done1 had he been really a king8 ,this was not anger1 but a greater and an incurable disease4 ,,vi4 8,virtue10 argues our adversary1 8ought to be angry with what is base1 just as she approves of what is honourable40 ,what should we think if he said that virtue ought to be both mean and great2 yet this is what he means1 when he wants her to be raised and lowered1 because joy at a good action is grand and glorious1 while anger at another's sin is base and befits a narrow mind3 and virtue will never be guilty of imitating vice while she is repressing it2 she considers anger to deserve punishment for itself1 since it often is even more criminal than the faults which which it is angry4 ,to rejoice and be glad is the proper and natural function of virtue3 it is as much beneath her dignity to be angry1 as to mourn3 now1 sorrow is the companion of anger1 and all anger ends in sorrow1 either from remorse or from failure4 ,secondly1 if it be the part of the wise man to be angry with sins1 he will be more angry the greater they are1 and will often be angry3 from which it follows that the wise man will not only be angry but irascible4 #hb ,yet if we do not believe that great and frequent anger can find any place in the wise man's mind1 why should we not set him altogether free from this passion8 for there can be no limit1 if he ought to be angry in proportion to what every man does3 because he will either be unjust if he is equally angry at unequal crimes1 or he will be the most irascible of men1 if he blazes into wrath as often as crimes deserve his anger4 ,,vii4 ,what1 too1 can be more unworthy of the wise man1 than that his passions should depend upon the wickedness of others8 ,if so1 the great ,socrates will no longer be able to return home with the same expression of countenance with which he set out4 ,moreover1 if it be the duty of the wise man to be angry at base deeds1 and to be excited and saddened at crimes1 then is there nothing more unhappy than the wise man1 for all his life will be spent in anger and grief4 ,what moment will there be at which he will not see something deserving of blame8 whenever he leaves his house1 he will be obliged to walk among men who are criminals1 misers1 spendthrifts1 profligates1 and who are happy in being so3 he can turn his eyes in no direction without their finding something to shock them4 ,he will faint1 if he demands anger from himself as often as reason calls for it4 ,all these thousands who are hurrying to the law courts at break of day1 how base are their causes1 and how much baser their advocates8 ,one impugns his father's will1 when he would have done better to deserve it2 another appears as the accuser of his mother2 a third comes to inform against a man for committing the very crime of which he himself is yet more notoriously guilty4 ,the judge1 too1 is chosen to condemn men for doing what he himself has done1 and the audience takes the wrong side1 led astray by the fine voice of the pleader4 ,,viii4 ,why need ,i dwell upon individual cases8 ,be assured1 when you see the ,forum crowded with a multitude1 #hc the ,saepta#d swarming with people1 or the great ,circus1 in which the greater part of the people find room to show themselves at once1 that among them there are as many vices as there are men4 ,among those whom you see in the garb of peace there is no peace3 for a small profit any one of them will attempt the ruin of another3 no one can gain anything save by another's loss4 ,they hate the fortunate and despise the unfortunate3 they grudgingly endure the great1 and oppress the small3 they are fired by divers lusts3 they would wreck everything for the sake of a little pleasure or plunder3 they live as though they were in a school of gladiators1 fighting with the same people with whom they live3 it is like a society of wild beasts1 save that beasts are tame with one another1 and refrain from biting their own species1 whereas men tear one another1 and gorge themselves upon one another4 ,they differ from dumb animals in this alone1 that the latter are tame with those who feed them1 whereas the rage of the former preys on those very persons by whom they were brought up4 ,,ix4 ,the wise man will never cease to be angry1 if he once begins1 so full is every place of vices and crimes4 ,more evil is done than can be healed by punishment3 men seem engaged in a vast race of wickedness4 ,every day there is greater eagerness to sin1 less modesty4 ,throwing aside all reverence for what is better and more just1 lust rushes whithersoever it thinks fit1 and crimes are no longer committed by stealth1 they take place before our eyes1 and wickedness has become so general and gained such a footing in everyone's breast that innocence is no longer rare1 but no longer exists4 ,do men break the law singly1 or a few at a time8 ,nay1 they rise in all quarters at once1 as though obeying some universal signal1 to wipe out the boundaries of right and wrong4 #hd 8,host is not safe from guest1 ,father-in-law from son2 but seldom love ,exists 'twixt brothers2 wives long to destroy ,their husbands1 husbands long to slay their wives1 ,stepmothers deadly aconite prepare ,and child-heirs wonder when their sires will die40 ,and how small a part of men's crimes are these6 ,the poet#e has not described one people divided into two hostile camps1 parents and children enrolled on opposite sides1 ,rome set on fire by the hand of a ,roman1 troops of fierce horsemen scouring the country to track out the hiding-places of the proscribed1 wells defiled with poison1 plagues created by human hands1 trenches dug by children round their beleaguered parents1 crowded prisons1 conflagrations that consume whole cities1 gloomy tyrannies1 secret plots to establish despotisms and ruin peoples1 and men glorying in those deeds which1 as long as it was possible to repress them1 were counted as crimes--,i mean rape1 debauchery1 and lust 4 4 4 4 4 ,add to these1 public acts of national bad faith1 broken treaties1 everything that cannot defend itself carried off as plunder by the stronger1 knaveries1 thefts1 frauds1 and disownings of debt such as three of our present law-courts would not suffice to deal with4 ,if you want the wise man to be as angry as the atrocity of men's crimes requires1 he must not merely be angry1 but must go mad with rage4 ,x4 ,you will rather think that we should not be angry with people's faults2 for what shall we say of one who is angry with those who stumble in the dark1 or with deaf people who cannot hear his orders1 or with children1 because they forget their duty and interest themselves in the games and silly jokes of their companions8 ,what shall we say if you choose to be angry #he with weaklings for being sick1 for growing old1 or becoming fatigued8 ,among the other misfortunes of humanity is this1 that men's intellects are confused1 and they not only cannot help going wrong1 but love to go wrong4 ,to avoid being angry with individuals1 you must pardon the whole mass1 you must grant forgiveness to the entire human race4 ,if you are angry with young and old men because they do wrong1 you will be angry with infants also1 for they soon will do wrong4 ,does any one become angry with children1 who are too young to comprehend distinctions8 ,yet1 to be a human being is a greater and a better excuse than to be a child4 ,thus are we born1 as creatures liable to as many disorders of the mind as of the body2 not dull and slow-witted1 but making a bad use of our keenness of wit1 and leading one another into vice by our example4 ,he who follows others who have started before him on the wrong road is surely excusable for having wandered on#f the highway4 ,a general's severity may be shown in the case of individual deserters2 but where a whole army deserts1 it must needs be pardoned4 ,what is it that puts a stop to the wise man's anger8 ,it is the number of sinners4 ,he perceives how unjust and how dangerous it is to be angry with vices which all men share4 ,heraclitcus1 whenever he came out of doors and beheld around him such a number of men who were living wretchedly1 nay1 rather perishing wretchedly1 used to weep3 he pitied all those who met him joyous and happy4 ,he was of a gentle but too weak disposition3 and he himself was one of those for whom he ought to have wept4 ,democritus1 on the other hand1 is said never to have appeared in public without laughing2 so little did men's serious occupations appear serious to him4 ,what room is there for anger8 ,everything ought either to move us to tears or to laughter4 ,the wise man will not be angry with #hf sinners4 ,why not8 ,because he knows that no one is born wise1 but becomes so3 he knows that very few wise men are produced in any age1 because he thoroughly understands the circumstances of human life4 ,now1 no sane man is angry with nature3 for what should we say if a man chose to be surprised that fruit did not hang on the thickets of a forest1 or to wonder at bushes and thorns not being covered with some useful berry8 ,no one is angry when nature excuses a defect4 ,the wise man1 therefore1 being tranquil1 and dealing candidly with mistakes1 not an enemy to but an improver of sinners1 will go abroad every day in the following frame of mind3--0,many men will meet me who are drunkards1 lustful1 ungrateful1 greedy1 and excited by the frenzy of ambition40 ,he will view all these as benignly as a physician does his patients4 ,when a man's ship leaks freely through its opened seams1 does he become angry with the sailors or the ship itself8 ,no2 instead of that1 he tries to remedy it3 he shuts out some water1 bales out some other1 closes all the holes that he can see1 and by ceaseless labour counteracts those which are out of sight and which let water into the hold2 nor does he relax his efforts because as much water as he pumps out runs in again4 ,we need a long-breathed struggle against permanent and prolific evils2 not1 indeed1 to quell them1 but merely to prevent their overpowering us4 ,,xi4 8,anger10 says our opponent1 8is useful1 because it avoids contempt1 and because it frightens bad men40 ,now1 in the first place1 if anger is strong in proportion to its threats1 it is hateful for the same reason that it is terrible3 and it is more dangerous to be hated than to be despised4 ,if1 again1 it is without strength1 it is much more exposed to contempt1 and cannot avoid ridicule2 for what is more flat than anger when it breaks out into meaningless ravings8 ,moreover1 because some things are somewhat terrible1 they are not on that account desirable3 nor does wisdom wish it #hg to be said of the wise man1 as it is of a wild beast1 that the fear which he inspires is as a weapon to him4 ,why1 do we not fear fever1 gout1 consuming ulcers8 and is there1 for that reason1 any good in them8 nay2 on the other hand1 they are all despised and thought to be foul and base1 and are for this very reason feared4 ,so1 too1 anger is in itself hideous and by no means to be feared2 yet it is feared by many1 just as a hideous mask is feared by children4 ,how can we answer the fact that terror always works back to him who inspired it1 and that no one is feared who is himself at peace8 ,at this point it is well that you should remember that verse of ,laberius1 which1 when pronounced in the theatre during the height of the civil war1 caught the fancy of the whole people as though it expressed the national feeling3-- 8,he must fear many1 whom so many fear40 ,thus has nature ordained1 that whatever becomes great by causing fear to others is not free from fear itself4 ,how disturbed lions are at the faintest noises6 ,how excited those fiercest of beasts become at strange shadows1 voices1 or smells6 ,whatever is a terror to others1 fears for itself4 ,there can be no reason1 therefore1 for any wise man to wish to be feared1 and no one need think that anger is anything great because it strikes terror1 since even the most despicable things are feared1 as1 for example1 noxious vermin whose bite is venomous3 and since a string set with feathers stops the largest herds of wild beasts and guides them into traps1 it is no wonder that from its effect it should be named a 8,scarer40#g ,foolish creatures are frightened by foolish things3 the movement of chariots and the sight of their wheels turning round drives lions back into their cage3 elephants are frightened at the cries of pigs3 and so also we fear anger just as children fear the dark1 or wild #hh beasts fear red feathers3 it has in itself nothing solid or valiant1 but it affects feeble minds4 ,,xii4 8,wickedness10 says our adversary1 8must be removed from the system of nature1 if you wish to remove anger3 neither of which things can be done40 ,in the first place1 it is possible for a man not to be cold1 although according to the system of nature it may be winter-time1 nor yet to suffer from heat1 although it be summer according to the almanac4 ,he may be protected against the inclement time of the year by dwelling in a favoured spot1 or he may have so trained his body to endurance that it feels neither heat nor cold4 ,next1 reverse this saying3--,you must remove anger from your mind before you can take virtue into the same1 because vices and virtues cannot combine1 and none can at the same time be both an angry man and a good man1 any more than he can be both sick and well4 8,it is not possible10 says he1 8to remove anger altogether from the mind1 nor does human nature admit of it40 ,yet there is nothing so hard and difficult that the mind of man cannot overcome it1 and with which unremitting study will not render him familiar1 nor are there any passions so fierce and independent that they cannot be tamed by discipline4 ,the mind can carry out whatever orders it gives itself3 some have succeeded in never smiling3 some have forbidden themselves wine1 sexual intercourse1 or even drink of all kinds4 ,some1 who are satisfied with short hours of rest1 have learned to watch for long periods without weariness4 ,men have learned to run upon the thinnest ropes even when slanting1 to carry huge burdens1 scarcely within the compass of human strength1 or to dive to enormous depths and suffer themselves to remain under the sea without any chance of drawing breath4 ,there are a thousand other instances in which application has conquered all obstacles1 and proved that nothing which the mind has set itself to endure is difficult4 ,the men whom ,i #hi have just mentioned gain either no reward or one that is unworthy of their unwearied application2 for what great thing does a man gain by applying his intellect to walking upon a tight rope8 or to placing great burdens upon his shoulders8 or to keeping sleep from his eyes8 or to reaching the bottom of the sea8 and yet their patient labour brings all these things to pass for a trifling reward4 ,shall not we then call in the aid of patience1 we whom such a prize awaits1 the unbroken calm of a happy life8 ,how great a blessing is it to escape from anger1 that chief of all evils1 and therewith from frenzy1 ferocity1 cruelty1 and madness1 its attendants8 ,,xiii4 ,there is no reason why we should seek to defend such a passion as this or excuse its excesses by declaring it to be either useful or unavoidable4 ,what vice1 indeed1 is without its defenders8 yet this is no reason why you should declare anger to be ineradicable4 ,the evils from which we suffer are curable1 and since we were born with a natural bias towards good1 nature herself will help us if we try to amend our lives4 ,nor is the path to virtue steep and rough1 as some think it to be3 it may be reached on level ground4 ,this is no untrue tale which ,i come to tell you3 the road to happiness is easy2 do you only enter upon it with good luck and the good help of the gods themselves4 ,it is much harder to do what you are doing4 ,what is more restful than a mind at peace1 and what more toilsome than anger8 ,what is more at leisure than clemency1 what fuller of business than cruelty8 ,modesty keeps holiday while vice is overwhelmed with work4 ,in fine1 the culture of any of the virtues is easy1 while vices require a great expense4 ,anger ought to be removed from our minds3 even those who say that it ought to be kept low admit this to some extent3 let it be got rid of altogether2 there is nothing to be gained by it4 ,without it we can more easily and more justly put an end #ij to crime1 punish bad men1 and amend their lives4 ,the wise man will do his duty in all things without the help of any evil passion1 and will use no auxiliaries which require watching narrowly lest they get beyond his control4 ,,xiv4 ,anger1 then1 must never become a habit with us1 but we may sometimes affect to be angry when we wish to rouse up the dull minds of those whom we address1 just as we rouse up horses who are slow at starting with goads and firebrands4 ,we must sometimes apply fear to persons upon whom reason makes no impression3 yet to be angry is of no more use than to grieve or to be afraid4 8,what8 do not circumstances arise which provoke us to anger80 ,yes3 but at those times above all others we ought to choke down our wrath4 ,nor is it difficult to conquer our spirit1 seeing that athletes1 who devote their whole attention to the basest parts of themselves1 nevertheless are able to endure blows and pain1 in order to exhaust the strength of the striker1 and do not strike when anger bids them1 but when opportunity invites them4 ,it is said that ,pyrrhus1 the most celebrated trainer for gymnastic contests1 used habitually to impress upon his pupils not to lose their tempers3 for anger spoils their science1 and thinks only how it can hurt3 so that often reason counsels patience while anger counsels revenge1 and we1 who might have survived our first misfortunes1 are exposed to worse ones4 ,some have been driven into exile by their impatience of a single contemptuous word1 have been plunged into the deepest miseries because they would not endure the most trifling wrong in silence1 and have brought upon themselves the yoke of slavery because they were too proud to give up the least part of their entire liberty4 ,,xv4 8,that you may be sure10 says our opponent1 8that anger has in it something noble1 pray look at the free nations1 such as the ,germans and ,scythians1 who are especially prone to anger40 ,the reason of this is that stout #ia and daring intellects are liable to anger before they are tamed by discipline2 for some passions engraft themselves upon the better class of dispositions only1 just as good land1 even when waste1 grows strong brushwood1 and the trees are tall which stand upon a fertile soil4 ,in like manner1 dispositions which are naturally bold produce irritability1 and1 being hot and fiery1 have no mean or trivial qualities1 but their energy is misdirected1 as happens with all those who without training come to the front by their natural advantages alone1 whose minds1 unless they be brought under control1 degenerate from a courageous temper into habits of rashness and reckless daring4 8,what8 are not milder spirits linked with gentler vices1 such as tenderness of heart1 love1 and bashfulness80 ,yes1 and therefore ,i can often point out to you a good disposition by its own faults3 yet their being the proofs of a superior nature does not prevent their being vices4 ,moreover1 all those nations which are free because they are wild1 like lions or wolves1 cannot command any more than they can obey3 for the strength of their intellect is not civilized1 but fierce and unmanageable3 now1 no one is able to rule unless he is also able to be ruled4 ,consequently1 the empire of the world has almost always remained in the hands of those nations who enjoy a milder climate4 ,those who dwell near the frozen north have uncivilized tempers-- 8,just on the model of their native skies10 as the poet has it4 ,,xvi4 ,those animals1 urges our opponent1 are held to be the most generous who have large capacity for anger4 ,he is mistaken when he holds up creatures who act from impulse instead of reason as patterns for men to follow1 because in man reason takes the place of impulse4 ,yet even with animals1 all do not alike profit by the same thing4 ,anger is of use to lions1 timidity to stags1 boldness #ib to hawks1 flight to doves4 ,what if ,i declare that it is not even true that the best animals are the most prone to anger8 ,i may suppose that wild beasts1 who gain their food by rapine1 are better the angrier they are2 but ,i should praise oxen and horses who obey the rein for their patience4 ,what reason1 however1 have you for referring mankind to such wretched models1 when you have the universe and ,god1 whom he alone of animals imitates because he alone comprehends ,him8 8,the most irritable men10 says he1 8are thought to be the most straightforward of all40 ,yes1 because they are compared with swindlers and sharpers1 and appear to be simple because they are outspoken4 ,i should not call such men simple1 but heedless4 ,we give this title of 8simple0 to all fools1 gluttons1 spendthrifts1 and men whose vices lie on the surface4 ,,xvii4 8,an orator10 says our opponent1 8sometimes speaks better1 when he is angry40 ,not so1 but when he pretends to be angry3 for so also actors bring down the house by their playing1 not when they are really angry1 but when they act the angry man well3 and in like manner1 in addressing a jury or a popular assembly1 or in any other position in which the minds of others have to be influenced at our pleasure1 we must ourselves pretend to feel anger1 fear1 or pity before we can make others feel them1 and often the pretence of passion will do what the passion itself could not have done4 8,the mind which does not feel anger10 says he1 8is feeble40 ,true1 if it has nothing stronger than anger to support it4 ,a man ought to be neither robber nor victim1 neither tender-hearted nor cruel4 ,the former belongs to an over-weak mind1 the latter to an over-hard one4 ,let the wise man be moderate1 and when things have to be done somewhat briskly1 let him call force1 not anger1 to his aid4 ,,xviii4 ,now that we have discussed the questions propounded concerning anger1 let us pass on to the consideration #ic of its remedies4 ,these1 ,i imagine1 are two-fold3 the one class preventing our becoming angry1 the other preventing our doing wrong when we are angry4 ,as with the body we adopt a certain regimen to keep ourselves in health1 and use different rules to bring back health when lost1 so likewise we must repel anger in one fashion and quench it in another4 ,that we may avoid it1 certain general rules of conduct which apply to all men's lives must be impressed upon us4 ,we may divide these into such as are of use during the education of the young and in after-life4 ,education ought to be carried on with the greatest and most salutary assiduity3 for it is easy to mould minds while they are still tender1 but it is difficult to uproot vices which have grown up with ourselves4 ,,xix4 ,a hot mind is naturally the most prone to anger3 for as there are four elements1#h consisting of fire1 air1 earth1 and water1 so there are powers corresponding and equivalent to each of these1 namely1 hot1 cold1 dry1 and moist4 ,now the mixture of the elements is the cause of the diversities of lands and of animals1 of bodies and of character1 and our dispositions incline to one or the other of these according as the strength of each element prevails in us4 ,hence it is that we call some regions wet or dry1 warm or cold4 ,the same distinctions apply likewise to animals and mankind2 it makes a great difference how much moisture or heat a man contains2 his character will partake of whichever element has the largest share in him4 ,a warm temper of mind will make men prone to anger2 for fire is full of movement and vigour2 a mixture of #id coldness makes men cowards1 for cold is sluggish and contracted4 ,because of this1 some of our ,stoics think that anger is excited in our breasts by the boiling of the blood round the heart3 indeed1 that place is assigned to anger for no other reason than because the breast is the warmest part of the whole body4 ,those who have more moisture in them become angry by slow degrees1 because they have no heat ready at hand1 but it has to be obtained by movement2 wherefore the anger of women and children is sharp rather than strong1 and arises on lighter provocation4 ,at dry times of life anger is violent and powerful1 yet without increase1 and adding little to itself1 because as heat dies away cold takes its place4 ,old men are testy and full of complaints1 as also are sick people and convalescents1 and all whose store of heat has been consumed by weariness or loss of blood4 ,those who are wasted by thirst or hunger are in the same condition1 as also are those whose frame is naturally bloodless and faints from want of generous diet4 ,wine kindles anger1 because it increases heat2 according to each man's disposition1 some fly into a passion when they are heavily drunk1 some when they are slightly drunk3 nor is there any other reason than this why yellow-haired1 ruddy-complexioned people should be excessively passionate1 seeing that they are naturally of the colour which others put on during anger2 for their blood is hot and easily set in motion4 ,,xx4 ,but just as nature makes some men prone to anger1 so there are many other causes which have the same power as nature4 ,some are brought into this condition by disease or bodily injury1 others by hard work1 long watching1 nights of anxiety1 ardent longings1 and love3 and everything else which is hurtful to the body or the spirit inclines the distempered mind to find fault4 ,all these1 however1 are but the beginning and causes of anger4 ,habit of mind has very great power1 and1 if it be harsh1 increases the #ie disorder4 ,as for nature1 it is difficult to alter it1 nor may we change the mixture of the elements which was formed once for all at our birth3 yet knowledge will be so far of service1 that we should keep wine out of the reach of hot-tempered men1 which ,plato thinks ought also to be forbidden to boys1 so that fire be not made fiercer4 ,neither should such men be over-fed3 for if so1 their bodies will swell1 and their minds will swell with them4 ,such men ought to take exercise1 stopping short1 however1 of fatigue1 in order that their natural heat may be abated1 but not exhausted1 and their excess of fiery spirit may be worked off4 ,games also will be useful3 for moderate pleasure relieves the mind and brings it to a proper balance4 ,with those temperaments which incline to moisture1 or dryness and stiffness1 there is no danger of anger1 but there is fear of greater vices1 such as cowardice1 moroseness1 despair1 and suspiciousness3 such dispositions therefore ought to be softened1 comforted1 and restored to cheerfulness3 and since we must make use of different remedies for anger and for sullenness1 and these two vices require not only unlike1 but absolutely opposite modes of treatment1 let us always attack that one of them which is gaining the mastery4 ,,xxi4 ,it is1 ,i assure you1 of the greatest service to boys that they should be soundly brought up1 yet to regulate their education is difficult1 because it is our duty to be careful neither to cherish a habit of anger in them1 nor to blunt the edge of their spirit4 ,this needs careful watching1 for both qualities1 both those which are to be encouraged1 and those which are to be checked1 are fed by the same things2 and even a careful watcher may be deceived by their likeness4 ,a boy's spirit is increased by freedom and depressed by slavery3 it rises when praised1 and is led to conceive great expectations of itself3 yet this same treatment produces arrogance and quickness of temper3 we must #if therefore guide him between these two extremes1 using the curb at one time and the spur at another4 ,he must undergo no servile or degrading treatment2 he never must beg abjectly for anything1 nor must he gain anything by begging2 let him rather receive it for his own sake1 for his past good behaviour1 or for his promises of future good conduct4 ,in contests with his comrades we ought not to allow him to become sulky or fly into a passion3 let us see that he be on friendly terms with those whom he contends with1 so that in the struggle itself he may learn to wish not to hurt his antagonist but to conquer him3 whenever he has gained the day or done something praiseworthy1 we should allow him to enjoy his victory1 but not to rush into transports of delight3 for joy leads to exultation1 and exultation leads to swaggering and excessive self-esteem1 ,we ought to allow him some relaxation1 yet not yield him up to laziness and sloth1 and we ought to keep him far beyond the reach of luxury1 for nothing makes children more prone to anger than a soft and fond bringing-up1 so that the more only children are indulged1 and the more liberty is given to orphans1 the more they are corrupted4 ,he to whom nothing is ever denied1 will not be able to endure a rebuff1 whose anxious mother always wipes away his tears1 whose paedagogus#i is made to pay for his shortcomings4 ,do you not observe how a man's anger becomes more violent as he rises in station8 ,this shows itself especially in those who are rich and noble1 or in great place1 when the favouring gale has roused all the most empty and trivial passions of their minds4 ,prosperity fosters anger1 when a man's proud ears are surrounded by a mob of flatterers1 saying1 8,that man answer you6 you do not act according to your dignity1 you lower yourself40 ,and so forth1 with all the language which can hardly be resisted even by healthy and originally well-principled #ig minds4 ,flattery1 then1 must be kept well out of the way of children4 ,let a child hear the truth1 and sometimes fear it3 let him always reverence it4 ,let him rise in the presence of his elders4 ,let him obtain nothing by flying into a passion3 let him be given when he is quiet what was refused him when he cried for it3 let him behold1 but not make use of his father's wealth3 let him be reproved for what he does wrong4 ,it will be advantageous to furnish boys with even-tempered teachers and paedagogi3 what is soft and unformed clings to what is near1 and takes its shape3 the habits of young men reproduce those of their nurses and paedagogi4 ,once1 a boy who was brought up in ,plato's house went home to his parents1 and1 on seeing his father shouting with passion1 said1 8,i never saw any one at ,plato's house act like that40 ,i doubt not that he learned to imitate his father sooner than he learned to imitate ,plato4 ,above all1 let his food be scanty1 his dress not costly1 and of the same fashion as that of his comrades3 if you begin by putting him on a level with many others1 he will not be angry when some one is compared with him4 ,,xxii4 ,these precepts1 however1 apply to our children3 in ourselves the accident of birth and our education no longer admits of either mistakes or advice2 we must deal with what follows4 ,now we ought to fight against the first causes of evil3 the cause of anger is the belief that we are injured2 this belief1 therefore1 should not be lightly entertained4 ,we ought not to fly into a rage even when the injury appears to be open and distinct3 for some false things bear the semblance of truth4 ,we should always allow some time to elapse1 for time discloses the truth4 ,let not our ears be easily lent to calumnious talk3 let us know and be on our guard against this fault of human nature1 that we are willing to believe what we are unwilling to listen to1 and that we become angry before we have formed our opinion4 ,what shall ,i say8 we are influenced #ih not merely by calumnies but by suspicions1 and at the very look and smile of others we may fly into a rage with innocent persons because we put the worst construction upon it4 ,we ought1 therefore1 to plead the cause of the absent against ourselves1 and to keep our anger in abeyance3 for a punishment which has been postponed may yet be inflicted1 but when once inflicted cannot be recalled4 ,,xxiii4 ,every one knows the story of the tyrannicide who1 being caught before he had accomplished his task1 and being tortured by ,hippias to make him betray his accomplices1 named the friends of the tyrant who stood around1 and every one to whom he knew the tyrant's safety was especially dear4 ,as the tyrant ordered each man to be slain as he was named1 at last the man1 being asked if any one else remained1 said1 8,you remain alone1 for ,i have left no one else alive to whom you are dear40 ,anger had made the tyrant lend his assistance to the tyrant-slayer1 and cut down his guards with his own sword4 ,how far more spirited was ,alexander1 who after reading his mother's letter warning him to beware of poison from his physician ,philip1 nevertheless drank undismayed the medicine which ,philip gave him6 ,he felt more confidence in his friend3 he deserved that his friend should be innocent1 and deserved that his conduct should make him innocent4 ,i praise ,alexander's doing this all the more because he was above all men prone to anger2 but the rarer moderation is among kings1 the more it deserves to be praised4 ,the great ,gaius ,caesar1 who proved such a merciful conqueror in the civil war1 did the same thing2 he burned a packet of letters addressed to ,gnaeus ,pompeius by persons who had been thought to be either neutrals or on the other side4 ,though he was never violent in his anger1 yet he preferred to put it out of his power to be angry3 he thought that the kindest way to pardon each of them was not to know what his offence had been4 #ii ,,xxiv4 ,readiness to believe what we hear causes very great mischief2 we ought often not even to listen1 because in some cases it is better to be deceived than to suspect deceit4 ,we ought to free our minds of suspicion and mistrust1 those most untrustworthy causes of anger4 8,this man's greeting was far from civil2 that one would not receive my kiss2 one cut short a story ,i had begun to tell2 another did not ask me to dinner2 another seemed to view me with aversion40 ,suspicion will never lack grounds3 what we want is straightforwardness1 and a kindly interpretation of things4 ,let us believe nothing unless it forces itself upon our sight and is unmistakable1 and let us reprove ourselves for being too ready to believe1 as often as our suspicions prove to be groundless3 for this discipline will render us habitually slow to believe what we hear4 ,,xxv4 ,another consequence of this will be1 that we shall not be exasperated by the slightest and most contemptible trifles4 ,it is mere madness to be put out of temper because a slave is not quick1 because the water we are going to drink is lukewarm1 or because our couch is disarranged or our table carelessly laid4 ,a man must be in a miserably bad state of health if he shrinks from a gentle breath of wind2 his eyes must be diseased if they are distressed by the sight of white clothing2 he must be broken down with debauchery if he feels pain at seeing another man work4 ,it is said that there was one ,mindyrides1 a citizen of ,sybaris1 who one day seeing a man digging and vigorously brandishing a mattock1 complained that the sight made him weary1 and forbade the man to work where he could see him4 ,the same man complained that he had suffered from the rose-leaves upon which he lay being folded double4 ,when pleasures have corrupted both the body and the mind1 nothing seems endurable1 not indeed because it is hard1 but because he who has to bear it #ajj is soft3 for why should we be driven to frenzy by any one's coughing and sneezing1 or by a fly not being driven away with sufficient care1 or by a dog's hanging about us1 or a key dropping from a careless servant's hand8 ,will one whose ears are agonised by the noise of a bench being dragged along the floor be able to endure with unruffled mind the rude language of party strife1 and the abuse which speakers in the forum or the senate house heap upon their opponents8 ,will he who is angry with his slave for icing his drink badly1 be able to endure hunger1 or the thirst of a long march in summer8 ,nothing1 therefore1 nourishes anger more than excessive and dissatisfied luxury3 the mind ought to be hardened by rough treatment1 so as not to feel any blow that is not severe4 ,,xxvi4 ,we are angry1 either with those who can1 or with those who cannot do us an injury4 ,to the latter class belong some inanimate things1 such as a book1 which we often throw away when it is written in letters too small for us to read1 or tear up when it is full of mistakes1 or clothes which we destroy because we do not like them4 ,how foolish to be angry with such things as these1 which neither deserve nor feel our anger6 8,but of course it is their makers who really affront us40 ,i answer that1 in the first place1 we often become angry before making this distinction clear in our minds1 and secondly1 perhaps even the makers might put forward some reasonable excuses3 one of them1 it may be1 could not make them any better than he did1 and it is not through any disrespect to you that he was unskilled in his trade3 another may have done his work so without any intention of insulting you3 and1 finally1 what can be more crazy than to discharge upon things the ill-feeling which one has accumulated against persons8 ,yet as it is the act of a madman to be angry with inanimate objects1 so also is it to be angry with dumb animals1 which can do us no wrong because they are not able to form a #aja purpose2 and we cannot call anything a wrong unless it be done intentionally4 ,they are1 therefore1 able to hurt us1 just as a sword or a stone may do so1 but they are not able to do us a wrong4 ,yet some men think themselves insulted when the same horses which are docile with one rider are restive with another1 as though it were through their deliberate choice1 and not through habit and cleverness of handling that some horses are more easily managed by some men than by others4 ,and as it is foolish to be angry with them1 so it is to be angry with children1 and with men who have little more sense than children3 for all these sins1 before a just judge1 ignorance would be as effective an excuse as innocence4 ,,xxvii4 ,there are some things which are unable to hurt us1 and whose power is exclusively beneficial and salutary1 as1 for example1 the immortal gods1 who neither wish nor are able to do harm3 for their temperament is naturally gentle and tranquil1 and no more likely to wrong others than to wrong themselves4 ,foolish people who know not the truth hold them answerable for storms at sea1 excessive rain1 and long winters1 whereas all the while these phenomena by which we suffer or profit take place without any reference whatever to us3 it is not for our sake that the universe causes summer and winter to succeed one another2 these have a law of their own1 according to which their divine functions are performed4 ,we think too much of ourselves1 when we imagine that we are worthy to have such prodigious revolutions effected for our sake3 so1 then1 none of these things take place in order to do us an injury1 nay1 on the contrary1 they all tend to our benefit4 ,i have said that there are some things which cannot hurt us1 and some which would not4 ,to the latter class belong good men in authority1 good parents1 teachers1 and judges whose punishments ought to be submitted to by us in the same spirit in which we #ajb undergo the surgeon's knife1 abstinence from food1 and such like things which hurt us for our benefit4 ,suppose that we are being punished2 let us think not only of what we suffer1 but of what we have done3 let us sit in judgement on our past life4 ,provided we are willing to tell ourselves the truth1 we shall certainly decide that our crimes deserve a harder measure than they have received4 ,,xxviii4 ,if we desire to be impartial judges of all that takes place1 we must first convince ourselves of this1 that no one of us is faultless3 for it is from this that most of our indignation proceeds4 8,i have not sinned1 ,i have done no wrong40 ,say1 rather1 you do not admit that you have done any wrong4 ,we are infuriated at being reproved1 either by reprimand or actual chastisement1 although we are sinning at that very time1 by adding insolence and obstinacy to our wrong-doings4 ,who is there that can declare himself to have broken no laws8 ,even if there be such a man1 what a stinted innocence it is1 merely to be innocent by the letter of the law4 ,how much further do the rules of duty extend than those of the law6 how many things which are not to be found in the statute book1 are demanded by filial feeling1 kindness1 generosity1 equity1 and honour8 ,yet we are not able to warrant ourselves even to come under that first narrowest definition of innocence3 we have done what was wrong1 thought what was wrong1 wished for what was wrong1 and encouraged what was wrong3 in some cases we have only remained innocent because we did not succeed4 ,when we think of this1 let us deal more justly with sinners1 and believe that those who scold us are right3 in any case let us not be angry with ourselves 7for with whom shall we not be angry1 if we are angry even with our own selves871 and least of all with the gods3 for whatever we suffer befalls us not by any ordinance of theirs but of the common law of all flesh4 8,but diseases and pains attack us40 ,well1 people who live in a crazy #ajc dwelling must have some way of escape from it4 ,some one will be said to have spoken ill of you3 think whether you did not first speak ill of him3 think of how many persons you have yourself spoken ill4 ,let us not1 ,i say1 suppose that others are doing us a wrong1 but are repaying one which we have done them1 that some are acting with good intentions1 some under compulsion1 some in ignorance1 and let us believe that even he who does so intentionally and knowingly did not wrong us merely for the sake of wronging us1 but was led into doing so by the attraction of saying something witty1 or did whatever he did1 not out of any spite against us1 but because he himself could not succeed unless he pushed us back4 ,we are often offended by flattery even while it is being lavished upon us3 yet whoever recalls to his mind how often he himself has been the victim of undeserved suspicion1 how often fortune has given his true service an appearance of wrong-doing1 how many persons he has begun by hating and ended by loving1 will be able to keep himself from becoming angry straightway1 especially if he silently says to himself when each offence is committed3 8,i have done this very thing myself40 ,where1 however1 will you find so impartial a judge8 ,the same man who lusts after everyone's wife1 and thinks that a woman's belonging to someone else is a sufficient reason for adoring her1 will not allow any one else to look at his own wife4 ,no man expects such exact fidelity as a traitor3 the perjurer himself takes vengeance of him who breaks his word3 the pettifogging lawyer is most indignant at an action being brought against him3 the man who is reckless of his own chastity cannot endure any attempt upon that of his slaves4 ,we have other men's vices before our eyes1 and our own behind our backs3 hence it is that a father1 who is worse than his son1 blames the latter for giving extravagant feasts1#aj and disapproves of #ajd the least sign of luxury in another1 although he was wont to set no bounds to it in his own case2 hence it is that despots are angry with homicides1 and thefts are punished by those who despoil temples4 ,a great part of mankind is not angry with sins1 but with sinners4 ,regard to our own selves#aa will make us more moderate1 if we inquire of ourselves3--have we ever committed any crime of this sort8 have we ever fallen into this kind of error8 is it for our interest that we should condemn this conduct8 ,,xxix4 ,the greatest remedy for anger is delay3 beg anger to grant you this at the first1 not in order that it may pardon the offence1 but that it may form a right judgment about it3 if it delays1 it will come to an end4 ,do not attempt to quell it all at once1 for its first impulses are fierce2 by plucking away its parts we shall remove the whole4 ,we are made angry by some things which we learn at second-hand1 and by some which we ourselves hear or see4 ,now1 we ought to be slow to believe what is told us4 ,many tell lies in order to deceive us1 and many because they are themselves deceived4 ,some seek to win our favour by false accusations1 and invent wrongs in order that they may appear angry at our having suffered them4 ,one man lies out of spite1 that he may set trusting friends at variance2 some because they are suspicious1#ab and wish to see sport1 and watch from a safe distance those whom they have set by the ears4 ,if you were about to give sentence in court about ever so small a sum of money1 you would take nothing as proved without a witness1 and a witness would count for nothing except on his oath4 ,you would allow both sides to be heard3 you would allow them time3 you would not despatch the matter at one sitting1 because the oftener it is handled the more distinctly the truth appears4 ,and do you condemn your friend off-hand8 #aje ,are you angry with him before you hear his story1 before you have cross-examined him1 before he can know either who is his accuser or with what he is charged4 ,why then1 just now1 in the case which you just tried1 did you hear what was said on both sides8 ,this very man who has informed against your friend1 will say no more if he be obliged to prove what he says4 8,you need not10 says he1 8bring me forward as a witness2 if ,i am brought forward ,i shall deny what ,i have said2 unless you excuse me from appearing ,i shall never tell you anything40 ,at the same time he spurs you on and withdraws himself from the strife and battle4 ,the man who will tell you nothing save in secret hardly tells you anything at all4 ,what can be more unjust than to believe in secret1 and to be angry openly8 ,,xxx4 ,some offences we ourselves witness3 in these cases let us examine the disposition and purpose of the offender4 ,perhaps he is a child2 let us pardon his youth1 he knows not whether he is doing wrong3 or he is a father2 he has either rendered such great services1 as to have won the right even to wrong us--or perhaps this very act which offends us is his chief merit3 or a woman2 well1 she made a mistake4 ,the man did it because he was ordered to do it4 ,who but an unjust person can be angry with what is done under compulsion8 ,you had hurt him3 well1 there is no wrong in suffering the pain which you have been the first to inflict4 ,suppose that your opponent is a judge2 then you ought to take his opinion rather than your own3 or that he is a king2 then1 if he punishes the guilty1 yield to him because he is just1 and if he punishes the innocent1 yield to him because he is powerful4 ,suppose that it is a dumb animal or as stupid as a dumb animal3 then1 if you are angry with it1 you will make yourself like it4 ,suppose that it is a disease or a misfortune2 it will take less effect upon you if you bear it quietly3 or that it is a god2 then you waste your time by being angry with him as much #ajf as if you prayed him to be angry with some one else4 ,is it a good man who has wronged you8 do not believe it3 is it a bad one8 do not be surprised at this2 he will pay to some one else the penalty which he owes to you--indeed1 by his sin he has already punished himself4 ,,xxxi4 ,there are1 as ,i have stated1 two cases which produce anger3 first1 when we appear to have received an injury1 about which enough has been said1 and1 secondly1 when we appear to have been treated unjustly3 this must now be discussed4 ,men think some things unjust because they ought not to suffer them1 and some because they did not expect to suffer them3 we think what is unexpected is beneath our deserts4 ,consequently1 we are especially excited at what befalls us contrary to our hope and expectation3 and this is why we are irritated at the smallest trifles in our own domestic affairs1 and why we call our friends' carelessness deliberate injury4 ,how is it1 then1 asks our opponent1 that we are angered by the injuries inflicted by our enemies8 ,it is because we did not expect those particular injuries1 or1 at any rate1 not on so extensive a scale4 ,this is caused by our excessive self-love3 we think that we ought to remain uninjured even by our enemies3 every man bears within his breast the mind of a despot1 and is willing to commit excesses1 but unwilling to submit to them4 ,thus it is either ignorance or arrogance that makes us angry3 ignorance of common facts2 for what is there to wonder at in bad men committing evil deeds8 what novelty is there in your enemy hurting you1 your friend quarrelling with you1 your son going wrong1 or your servant doing amiss8 ,fabius was wont to say that the most shameful excuse a general could make was 8,i did not think40 ,i think it the most shameful excuse that a man can make4 ,think of everything1 expect everything3 even with men of good character something queer will crop up2 human nature produces minds that are treacherous1 ungrateful1 greedy1 and impious3 when you are considering what any #ajg man's morals may be1 think what those of mankind are4 ,when you are especially enjoying yourself1 be especially on your guard3 when everything seems to you to be peaceful1 be sure that mischief is not absent1 but only asleep4 ,always believe that something will occur to offend you4 ,a pilot never spreads all his canvas abroad so confidently as not to keep his tackle for shortening sail ready for use4 ,think1 above all1 how base and hateful is the power of doing mischief1 and how unnatural in man1 by whose kindness even fierce animals are rendered tame4 ,see how bulls yield their necks to the yoke1 how elephants#ac allow boys and women to dance on their backs unhurt1 how snakes glide harmlessly over our bosoms and among our drinking-cups1 how within their dens bears and lions submit to be handled with complacent mouths1 and wild beasts fawn upon their master3 let us blush to have exchanged habits with wild beasts4 ,it is a crime to injure one's country3 so it is1 therefore1 to injure any of our countrymen1 for he is a part of our country2 if the whole be sacred1 the parts must be sacred too4 ,therefore it is also a crime to injure any man3 for he is your fellow-citizen in a larger state4 ,what1 if the hands were to wish to hurt the feet8 or the eyes to hurt the hands8 ,as all the limbs act in unison1 because it is the interest of the whole body to keep each one of them safe1 so men should spare one another1 because they are born for society4 ,the bond of society1 however1 cannot exist unless it guards and loves all its members4 ,we should not even destroy vipers and water-snakes and other creatures whose teeth and claws are dangerous1 if we were able to tame them as we do other animals1 or to prevent their being a peril to us3 neither ought we1 therefore1 to hurt a man because he has done wrong1 but lest he should do wrong1 and our punishment should always look to the future1 and never to the past1 because it is inflicted in a spirit of precaution1 not of anger3 for if everyone #ajh who has a crooked and vicious disposition were to be punished1 no one would escape punishment4 ,,xxxii4 8,but anger possesses a certain pleasure of its own1 and it is sweet to pay back the pain you have suffered40 ,not at all2 it is not honourable to requite injuries by injuries1 in the same way as it is to repay benefits by benefits4 ,in the latter case it is a shame to be conquered2 in the former it is a shame to conquer4 ,revenge and retaliation are words which men use and even think to be righteous1 yet they do not greatly differ from wrong-doing1 except in the order in which they are done3 he who renders pain for pain has more excuse for his sin2 that is all4 ,some one who did not know ,marcus ,cato struck him in the public bath in his ignorance1 for who would knowingly have done him an injury8 ,afterwards when he was apologizing1 ,cato replied1 8,i do not remember being struck40 ,he thought it better to ignore the insult than to revenge it4 ,you ask1 8,did no harm befall that man for his insolence80 ,no1 but rather much good2 he made the acquaintance of ,cato4 ,it is the part of a great mind to despise wrongs done to it2 the most contemptuous form of revenge is not to deem one's adversary worth taking vengeance upon4 ,many have taken small injuries much more seriously to heart than they need1 by revenging them3 that man is great and noble who like a large wild animal hears unmoved the tiny curs that bark at him4 ,,xxxiii4 8,we are treated10 says our opponent1 8with more respect if we revenge our injuries40 ,if we make use of revenge merely as a remedy1 let us use it without anger1 and not regard revenge as pleasant1 but as useful3 yet often it is better to pretend not to have received an injury than to avenge it4 ,the wrongs of the powerful must not only be borne1 but borne with a cheerful countenance3 they will repeat the wrong if they think they have inflicted it4 ,this is the worst trait of minds rendered arrogant by #aji prosperity1 they hate those whom they have injured4 ,every one knows the saying of the old courtier1 who1 when some one asked him how he had achieved the rare distinction of living at court till he reached old age1 replied1 8,by receiving wrongs and returning thanks for them40 ,it is often so far from expedient to avenge our wrongs1 that it will not do even to admit them4 ,gaius ,caesar1 offended at the smart clothes and well-dressed hair of the son of ,pastor1 a distinguished ,roman knight1 sent him to prison4 ,when the father begged that his son might suffer no harm1 ,caius1 as if reminded by this to put him to death1 ordered him to be executed1 yet1 in order to mitigate his brutality to the father1 invited him that very day to dinner4 ,pastor came with a countenance which betrayed no illwill4 ,caesar pledged him in a glass of wine1 and set a man to watch him4 ,the wretched creature went through his part1 feeling as though he were drinking his son's blood3 the emperor sent him some perfume and a garland1 and gave orders to watch whether he used them3 he did so4 ,on the very day on which he had buried1 nay1 on which he had not even buried his son1 he sat down as one of a hundred guests1 and1 old and gouty as he was1 drank to an extent which would have been hardly decent on a child's birthday2 he shed no tear the while2 he did not permit his grief to betray itself by the slightest sign2 he dined just as though his entreaties had gained his son's life4 ,you ask me why he did so8 he had another son4 ,what did ,priam do in the ,iliad8 ,did he not conceal his wrath and embrace the knees of ,achilles8 did he not raise to his lips that death-dealing hand1 stained with the blood of his son1 and sup with his slayer8 ,true6 but there were no perfumes and garlands1 and his fierce enemy encouraged him with many soothing words to eat1 not to drain huge goblets with a guard standing over him to see that he did it4 ,had he only feared for himself1 the father would have treated the #aaj tyrant with scorn3 but love for his son quenched his anger3 he deserved the emperor's permission to leave the banquet and gather up the bones of his son3 but1 meanwhile1 that kindly and polite youth the emperor would not even permit him to do this1 but tormented the old man with frequent invitations to drink1 advising him thereby to lighten his sorrows4 ,he1 on the other hand1 appeared to be in good spirits1 and to have forgotten what had been done that day3 he would have lost his second son had he proved an unacceptable guest to the murderer of his eldest4 ,,xxxiv4 ,we must1 therefore1 refrain from anger1 whether he who provokes us be on a level with ourselves1 or above us1 or below us4 ,a contest with one's equal is of uncertain issue1 with one's superior is folly1 and with one's inferior is contemptible4 ,it is the part of a mean and wretched man to turn and bite one's biter3 even mice and ants show their teeth if you put your hand to them1 and all feeble creatures think that they are hurt if they are touched4 ,it will make us milder tempered to call to mind any services which he with whom we are angry may have done us1 and to let his deserts balance his offence4 ,let us also reflect1 how much credit the tale of our forgiveness will confer upon us1 how many men may be made into valuable friends by forgiveness4 ,one of the lessons which ,sulla's cruelty teaches us is not to be angry with the children of our enemies1 whether they be public or private2 for he drove the sons of the proscribed into exile4 ,nothing is more unjust than that any one should inherit the quarrels of his father4 ,whenever we are loth to pardon any one1 let us think whether it would be to our advantage that all men should be inexorable4 ,he who refuses to pardon1 how often has he begged it for himself8 how often has he grovelled at the feet of those whom he spurns from his own8 ,how can we gain more glory than by turning anger #aaa into friendship8 what more faithful allies has the ,roman people than those who have been its most unyielding enemies8 where would the empire be to-day1 had not a wise foresight united the conquered and the conquerors8 ,if any one is angry with you1 meet his anger by returning benefits for it3 a quarrel which is only taken up on one side falls to the ground3 it takes two men to fight4 ,but#ad suppose that there is an angry struggle on both sides1 even then1 he is the better man who first gives way2 the winner is the real loser4 ,he struck you2 well then1 do you fall back3 if you strike him in turn you will give him both an opportunity and an excuse for striking you again3 you will not be able to withdraw yourself from the struggle when you please4 ,,xxxv4 ,does any one wish to strike his enemy so hard1 as to leave his own hand in the wound1 and not to be able to recover his balance after the blow8 yet such a weapon is anger3 it is scarcely possible to draw it back4 ,we are careful to choose for ourselves light weapons1 handy and manageable swords3 shall we not avoid these clumsy1 unwieldy1#ae and never-to-be-recalled impulses of the mind8 ,the only swiftness of which men approve is that which1 when bidden1 checks itself and proceeds no further1 and which can be guided1 and reduced from a run to a walk3 we know that the sinews are diseased when they move against our will4 ,a man must be either aged or weakly who runs when he wants to walk3 let us think that those are the most powerful and the soundest operations of our minds1 which act under our own control1 not at their own caprice4 ,nothing1 however1 will be of so much service as to consider1 first1 the hideousness1 and1 secondly1 the danger of anger4 ,no passion bears a more troubled aspect3 it befouls the fairest face1 makes fierce the expression which before was peaceful4 ,from the angry 8all grace has fled20 #aab though their clothing may be fashionable1 they will trail it on the ground and take no heed of their appearance2 though their hair be smoothed down in a comely manner by nature or art1 yet it will bristle up in sympathy with their mind4 ,the veins become swollen1 the breast will be shaken by quick breathing1 the man's neck will be swelled as he roars forth his frantic talk3 then1 too1 his limbs will tremble1 his hands will be restless1 his whole body will sway hither and thither4 ,what1 think you1 must be the state of his mind within him1 when its appearance without is so shocking8 how far more dreadful a countenance he bears within his own breast1 how far keener pride1 how much more violent rage1 which will burst him unless it finds some vent8 ,let us paint anger looking like those who are dripping with the blood of foemen or savage beasts1 or those who are just about to slaughter them--like those monsters of the nether world fabled by the poet to be girt with serpents and breathing flame1 when they sally forth from hell1 most frightful to behold1 in order that they may kindle wars1 stir up strife between nations1 and overthrow peace2 let us paint her eyes glowing with fire1 her voice hissing1 roaring1 grating1 and making worse sounds if worse there be1 while she brandishes weapons in both hands1 for she cares not to protect herself1 gloomy1 stained with blood1 covered with scars and livid with her own blows1 reeling like a maniac1 wrapped in a thick cloud1 dashing hither and thither1 spreading desolation and panic1 loathed by every one and by herself above all1 willing1 if otherwise she cannot hurt her foe1 to overthrow alike earth1 sea1 and heaven1 harmful and hateful at the same time4 ,or1 if we are to see her1 let her be such as our poets have described her-- 8,there with her blood-stained scourge ,bellona fights4 ,and ,discord in her riven robe delights10#af #aac or1 if possible1 let some even more dreadful aspect be invented for this dreadful passion4 ,,xxxvi4 ,some angry people1 as ,sextius remarks1 have been benefited by looking at the glass3 they have been struck by so great an alteration in their own appearance3 they have been1 as it were1 brought into their own presence and have not recognized themselves3 yet how small a part of the real hideousness of anger did that reflected image in the mirror reproduce8 ,could the mind be displayed or made to appear through any substance1 we should be confounded when we beheld how black and stained1 how agitated1 distorted1 and swollen it looked3 even at present it is very ugly when seen through all the screens of blood1 bones1 and so forth3 what would it be1 were it displayed uncovered8 ,you say1 that you do not believe that any one was ever scared out of anger by a mirror3 and why not8 ,because when he came to the mirror to change his mind1 he had changed it already3 to angry men no face looks fairer than one that is fierce and savage and such as they wish to look like4 ,we ought rather to consider1 how many men anger itself has injured4 ,some in their excessive heat have burst their veins2 some by straining their voices beyond their strength have vomited blood1 or have injured their sight by too violently injecting humours into their eyes1 and have fallen sick when the fit passed off4 ,no way leads more swiftly to madness3 many have1 consequently1 remained always in the frenzy of anger1 and1 having once lost their reason1 have never recovered it4 ,ajax was driven mad by anger1 and driven to suicide by madness4 ,men1 frantic with rage1 call upon heaven to slay their children1 to reduce themselves to poverty1 and to ruin their houses1 and yet declare that they are not either angry or insane4 ,enemies to their best friends1 dangerous to their nearest and dearest1 regardless of the laws save where they injure1 swayed by the smallest trifles1 unwilling to lend their ears #aad to the advice or the services of their friends1 they do everything by main force1 and are ready either to fight with their swords or to throw themselves upon them1 for the greatest of all evils1 and one which surpasses all vices1 has gained possession of them4 ,other passions gain a footing in the mind by slow degrees3 anger's conquest is sudden and complete1 and1 moreover1 it makes all other passions subservient to itself4 ,it conquers the warmest love3 men have thrust swords through the bodies of those whom they loved1 and have slain those in whose arms they have lain4 ,avarice1 that sternest and most rigid of passions1 is trampled underfoot by anger1 which forces it to squander its carefully collected wealth and set fire to its house and all its property in one heap4 ,why1 has not even the ambitious man been known to fling away the most highly valued ensigns of rank1 and to refuse high office when it was offered to him8 ,there is no passion over which anger does not bear absolute rule4 #a 8,vehiculorum ridicule ,koch10 says ,gertz1 justly1 8vitiorum makes excellent sense40--,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,m4 #b ,the murder of ,pompeius1 ,b4,c4 #dh4 ,achillas and ,theodotus acted under the nominal orders of ,ptolemy ,,xii41 ,cleopatra's brother1 then about seventeen years of age4 #c ,see 8,de ,clem40 ii4 #f1 #d1 ,i emended many years ago into 4 41 3 8when one has yawned1 the other yawns40--,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,m4 #d ,the voting-place in the ,campus ,martius4 #e ,ovid1 ,metamorphoses1 i41 #add1 sqq4 ,the same lines are quoted in the essay on ,benefits1 v4 #ae4 #f ,i4e41 he can plead that he kept the beaten track4 #g ,de ,clem4 i4 #ab1 #e4 #h ,compare ,shakespeare1 8,julius ,caesar10 ,act v4 ,sc4 #e3-- 8,his life was gentle1 and the elements ,so mixed in him1 that nature might stand up ,and say to all the world1 this was a man60 ,see ,mr4 ,aldis ,wright's note upon the passage4 #i ,paedagogus was a slave who accompanied a boy to school1 c41 to keep him out of mischief2 he did not teach him anything4 #aj ,tempestiva1 beginning before the usual hour4 #aa ,fear of self-condemnation4 #ab ,lipsius conjectures supprocax1 mischievous4 #ac ,i have adopted the transposition of ,haase and ,koch4 #ad ,i adopt ,vahlen's reading4 ,see his ,preface1 p4 viii41 ed1 ,jenae1 #ahgi4 #ae ,i read onerosos with ,vahlen1 ,see his ,preface1 p1 viii41 ed1 ,jenae1 #ahgi4 #af ,the lines are from ,virgil1 ,aen4 viii4 #gjb1 but are inaccurately quoted4 #aae ,,the ,,fifth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,novatus4 ,,of ,,anger4 ,book ,,iii4 ,i4 ,we will now1 my ,novatus1 attempt to do that which you so especially long to do1 that is1 to drive out anger from our minds1 or at all events to curb it and restrain its impulses4 ,this may sometimes be done openly and without concealment1 when we are only suffering from a slight attack of this mischief1 and at other times it must be done secretly1 when our anger is excessively hot1 and when every obstacle thrown in its way increases it and makes it blaze higher4 ,it is important to know how great and how fresh its strength may be1 and whether it can be driven forcibly back and suppressed1 or whether we must give way to it until its first storm blow over1 lest it sweep away with it our remedies themselves4 ,we must deal with each case according to each man's character3 some yield to entreaties1 others are rendered arrogant and masterful by submission3 we may frighten some men out of their anger1 while some may be turned from their purpose by reproaches1 some by acknowledging oneself to be in the wrong1 some by shame1 and some by delay1 a tardy remedy for a hasty disorder1 which we ought only to use when all others have failed3 #aaf for other passions admit of having their case put off1 and may be healed at a later time2 but the eager and self-destructive violence of anger does not grow up by slow degrees1 but reaches its full height as soon as it begins4 ,nor does it1 like other vices1 merely disturb men's minds1 but it takes them away1 and torments them till they are incapable of restraining themselves and eager for the common ruin of all men1 nor does it rage merely against its object1 but against every obstacle which it encounters on its way4 ,the other vices move our minds2 anger hurls them headlong4 ,if we are not able to withstand our passions1 yet at any rate our passions ought to stand firm3 but anger grows more and more powerful1 like lightning flashes or hurricanes1 or any other things which cannot stop themselves because they do not proceed along1 but fall from above4 ,other vices affect our judgment1 anger affects our sanity3 others come in mild attacks and grow unnoticed1 but men's minds plunge abruptly into anger4 ,there is no passion that is more frantic1 more destructive to its own self2 it is arrogant if successful1 and frantic if it fails4 ,even when defeated it does not grow weary1 but if chance places its foe beyond its reach1 it turns its teeth against itself4 ,its intensity is in no way regulated by its origin3 for it rises to the greatest heights from the most trivial beginnings4 ,,ii4 ,it passes over no time of life2 no race of men is exempt from it3 some nations have been saved from the knowledge of luxury by the blessing of poverty2 some through their active and wandering habits have escaped from sloth2 those whose manners are unpolished and whose life is rustic know not chicanery and fraud and all the evils to which the courts of law give birth3 but there is no race which is not excited by anger1 which is equally powerful with ,greeks and barbarians1 and is just as ruinous among law-abiding folk as among those whose only law is that of the #aag stronger4 ,finally1 the other passions seize upon individuals2 anger is the only one which sometimes possesses a whole state4 ,no entire people ever fell madly in love with a woman1 nor did any nation ever set its affections altogether upon gain and profit4 ,ambition attacks single individuals2 ungovernable rage is the only passion that affects nations4 ,people often fly into a passion by troops2 men and women1 old men and boys1 princes and populace all act alike1 and the whole multitude1 after being excited by a very few words1 outdoes even its exciter3 men betake themselves straightway to fire and sword1 and proclaim a war against their neighbours or wage one against their countrymen4 ,whole houses are burned with the entire families which they contain1 and he who but lately was honoured for his popular eloquence now finds that his speech moves people to rage4 ,legions aim their darts at their commander2 the whole populace quarrels with the nobles2 the senate1 without waiting for troops to be levied or appointing a general1 hastily chooses leaders1 for its anger chases well-born men through the houses of ,rome1 and puts them to death with its own hand4 ,ambassadors are outraged1 the law of nations violated1 and an unnatural madness seizes the state4 ,without allowing time for the general excitement to subside1 fleets are straightway launched and laden with a hastily enrolled soldiery4 ,without organization1 without taking any auspices1 the populace rushes into the field guided only by its own anger1 snatches up whatever comes first to hand by way of arms1 and then atones by a great defeat for the reckless audacity of its anger4 ,this is usually the fate of savage nations when they plunge into war3 as soon as their easily excited minds are roused by the appearance of wrong having been done them1 they straightway hasten forth1 and1 guided only by their wounded feelings1 fall like an avalanche upon our legions1 without either discipline1 fear1 or precaution1 and wilfully seeking for danger4 ,they #aah delight in being struck1 in pressing forward to meet the blow1 writhing their bodies along the weapon1 and perishing by a wound which they themselves make4 ,,iii4 8,no doubt10 you say1 8anger is very powerful and ruinous3 point out1 therefore1 how it may be cured40 ,yet1 as ,i stated in my former books1 ,aristotle stands forth in defence of anger1 and forbids it to be uprooted1 saying that it is the spur of virtue1 and that when it is taken away1 our minds become weaponless1 and slow to attempt great exploits4 ,it is therefore essential to prove its unseemliness and ferocity1 and to place distinctly before our eyes how monstrous a thing it is that one man should rage against another1 with what frantic violence he rushes to destroy alike himself and his foe1 and overthrows those very things whose fall he himself must share4 ,what1 then8 can any one call this man sane1 who1 as though caught up by a hurricane1 does not go but is driven1 and is the slave of a senseless disorder8 ,he does not commit to another the duty of revenging him1 but himself exacts it1 raging alike in thought and deed1 butchering those who are dearest to him1 and for whose loss he himself will ere long weep4 ,will any one give this passion as an assistant and companion to virtue1 although it disturbs calm reason1 without which virtue can do nothing8 ,the strength which a sick man owes to a paroxysm of disease is neither lasting nor wholesome1 and is strong only to its own destruction4 ,you need not1 therefore1 imagine that ,i am wasting time over a useless task in defaming anger1 as though men had not made up their minds about it1 when there is some one1 and he1 too1 an illustrious philosopher1 who assigns it services to perform1 and speaks of it as useful and supplying energy for battles1 for the management of business1 and indeed for everything which requires to be conducted with spirit4 ,lest it should delude any one into thinking that on certain occasions and in certain positions it may be useful1 we must show its #aai unbridled and frenzied madness1 we must restore to it its attributes1 the rack1 the cord1 the dungeon1 and the cross1 the fires lighted round men's buried bodies1 the hook#a that drags both living men and corpses1 the different kinds of fetters1 and of punishments1 the mutilations of limbs1 the branding of the forehead1 the dens of savage beasts4 ,anger should be represented as standing among these her instruments1 growling in an ominous and terrible fashion1 herself more shocking than any of the means by which she gives vent to her fury4 ,,iv4 ,there may be some doubt about the others1 but at any rate no passion has a worse look4 ,we have described the angry man's appearance in our former books1 how sharp and keen he looks1 at one time pale as his blood is driven inwards and backwards1 at another with all the heat and fire of his body directed to his face1 making it reddish-coloured as if stained with blood1 his eyes now restless and starting out of his head1 now set motionless in one fixed gaze4 ,add to this his teeth1 which gnash against one another1 as though he wished to eat somebody1 with exactly the sound of a wild boar sharpening his tusks3 add also the cracking of his joints1 the involuntary wringing of his hands1 the frequent slaps he deals himself on the chest1 his hurried breathing and deep-drawn sighs1 his reeling body1 his abrupt broken speech1 and his trembling lips1 which sometimes he draws tight as he hisses some curse through them4 ,by ,hercules1 no wild beast1 neither when tortured by hunger1 or with a weapon struck through its vitals1 not even when it gathers its last breath to bite its slayer1 looks so shocking as a man raging with anger4 ,listen1 if you have leisure1 to his words #abj and threats3 how dreadful is the language of his agonized mind6 ,would not every man wish to lay aside anger when he sees that it begins by injuring himself8 ,when men employ anger as the most powerful of agents1 consider it to be a proof of power1 and reckon a speedy revenge among the greatest blessings of great prosperity1 would you not wish me to warn them that he who is the slave of his own anger is not powerful1 nor even free8 ,would you not wish me to warn all the more industrious and circumspect of men1 that while other evil passions assail the base1 anger gradually obtains dominion over the minds even of learned and in other respects sensible men8 ,so true is that1 that some declare anger to be a proof of straight-forwardness1 and it is commonly believed that the best-natured people are prone to it4 ,v4 ,you ask me1 whither does all this tend8 ,to prove1 ,i answer1 that no one should imagine himself to be safe from anger1 seeing that it rouses up even those who are naturally gentle and quiet to commit savage and violent acts4 ,as strength of body and assiduous care of the health avail nothing against a pestilence1 which attacks the strong and weak alike1 so also steady and good-humoured people are just as liable to attacks of anger as those of unsettled character1 and in the case of the former it is both more to be ashamed of and more to be feared1 because it makes a greater alteration in their habits4 ,now as the first thing is not to be angry1 the second to lay aside our anger1 and the third to be able to heal the anger of others as well as our own1 ,i will set forth first how we may avoid falling into anger2 next1 how we may set ourselves free from it1 and1 lastly1 how we may restrain an angry man1 appease his wrath1 and bring him back to his right mind4 ,we shall succeed in avoiding anger1 if from time to time we lay before our minds all the vices connected with anger1 and estimate it at its real value3 it must be prosecuted #aba before us and convicted3 its evils must be thoroughly investigated and exposed4 ,that we may see what it is1 let it be compared with the worst vices4 ,avarice scrapes together and amasses riches for some better man to use3 anger spends money2 few can indulge in it for nothing4 ,how many slaves an angry master drives to run away or to commit suicide6 how much more he loses by his anger than the value of what he originally became angry about6 ,anger brings grief to a father1 divorce to a husband1 hatred to a magistrate1 failure to a candidate for office4 ,it is worse than luxury1 because luxury enjoys its own pleasure1 while anger enjoys another's pain4 ,it is worse than either spitefulness or envy2 for they wish that some one may become unhappy1 while anger wishes to make him so3 they are pleased when evil befalls one by accident1 but anger cannot wait upon ,fortune2 it desires to injure its victim personally1 and is not satisfied merely with his being injured4 ,nothing is more dangerous than jealousy3 it is produced by anger4 ,nothing is more ruinous than war3 it is the outcome of powerful men's anger2 and even the anger of humble private persons1 though without arms or armies1 is nevertheless war4 ,moreover1 even if we pass over its immediate consequences1 such as heavy losses1 treacherous plots1 and the constant anxiety produced by strife1 anger pays a penalty at the same moment that it exacts one3 it forswears human feelings4 ,the latter urge us to love1 anger urges us to hatred3 the latter bid us do men good1 anger bids us do them harm4 ,add to this that1 although its rage arises from an excessive self-respect and appears to show high spirit1 it really is contemptible and mean3 for a man must be inferior to one by whom he thinks himself despised1 whereas the truly great mind1 which takes a true estimate of its own value1 does not revenge an insult because it does not feel it4 ,as weapons rebound from a hard surface1 and solid substances hurt #abb those who strike them1 so also no insult can make a really great mind sensible of its presence1 being weaker than that against which it is aimed4 ,how far more glorious is it to throw back all wrongs and insults from oneself1 like one wearing armour of proof against all weapons1 for revenge is an admission that we have been hurt4 ,that cannot be a great mind which is disturbed by injury4 ,he who has hurt you must be either stronger or weaker than yourself4 ,if he be weaker1 spare him3 if he be stronger1 spare yourself4 ,,vi4 ,there is no greater proof of magnanimity than that nothing which befalls you should be able to move you to anger4 ,the higher region of the universe1 being more excellently ordered and near to the stars1 is never gathered into clouds1 driven about by storms1 or whirled round by cyclones3 it is free from all disturbance3 the lightnings flash in the region below it4 ,in like manner a lofty mind1 always placid and dwelling in a serene atmosphere1 restraining within itself all the impulses from which anger springs1 is modest1 commands respect1 and remains calm and collected3 none of which qualities will you find in an angry man3 for who1 when under the influence of grief and rage1 does not first get rid of bashfulness8 who1 when excited and confused and about to attack some one1 does not fling away any habits of shamefacedness he may have possessed8 what angry man attends to the number or routine of his duties8 who uses moderate language8 who keeps any part of his body quiet8 who can guide himself when in full career8 ,we shall find much profit in that sound maxim of ,democritus which defines peace of mind to consist in not labouring much1 or too much for our strength1 either in public or private matters4 ,a man's day1 if he is engaged in many various occupations1 never passes so happily that no man or no thing should give rise to some offence which makes the mind ripe for anger4 ,just as when one hurries through the crowded parts of the city #abc one cannot help jostling many people1 and one cannot help slipping at one place1 being hindered at another1 and splashed at another1 so when one's life is spent in disconnected pursuits and wanderings1 one must meet with many troubles and many accusations4 ,one man deceives our hopes1 another delays their fulfilment1 another destroys them3 our projects do not proceed according to our intention4 ,no one is so favoured by ,fortune as to find her always on his side if he tempts her often3 and from this it follows that he who sees several enterprises turn out contrary to his wishes becomes dissatisfied with both men and things1 and on the slightest provocation flies into a rage with people1 with undertakings1 with places1 with fortune1 or with himself4 ,in order1 therefore1 that the mind may be at peace1 it ought not to be hurried hither and thither1 nor1 as ,i said before1 wearied by labour at great matters1 or matters whose attainment is beyond its strength4 ,it is easy to fit one's shoulder to a light burden1 and to shift it from one side to the other without dropping it3 but we have difficulty in bearing the burdens which others' hands lay upon us1 and when overweighted by them we fling them off upon our neighbours4 ,even when we do stand upright under our load1 we nevertheless reel beneath a weight which is beyond our strength4 ,,vii4 ,be assured that the same rule applies both to public and private life3 simple and manageable undertakings proceed according to the pleasure of the person in charge of them1 but enormous ones1 beyond his capacity to manage1 are not easily undertaken4 ,when he has got them to administer1 they hinder him1 and press hard upon him1 and just as he thinks that success is within his grasp1 they collapse1 and carry him with them3 thus it comes about that a man's wishes are often disappointed if he does not apply himself to easy tasks1 yet wishes that the tasks which he undertakes may be easy4 ,whenever you would attempt anything1 first #abd form an estimate both of your own powers1 of the extent of the matter which you are undertaking1 and of the means by which you are to accomplish it3 for if you have to abandon your work when it is half done1 the disappointment will sour your temper4 ,in such cases1 it makes a difference whether one is of an ardent or of a cold and unenterprising temperament3 for failure will rouse a generous spirit to anger1 and will move a sluggish and dull one to sorrow4 ,let our undertakings1 therefore1 be neither petty nor yet presumptuous and reckless3 let our hopes not range far from home3 let us attempt nothing which if we succeed will make us astonished at our success4 ,,viii4 ,since we know not how to endure an injury1 let us take care not to receive one3 we should live with the quietest and easiest-tempered persons1 not with anxious or with sullen ones3 for our own habits are copied from those with whom we associate1 and just as some bodily diseases are communicated by touch1 so also the mind transfers its vices to its neighbours4 ,a drunkard leads even those who reproach him to grow fond of wine3 profligate society will1 if permitted1 impair the morals even of robust-minded men3 avarice infects those nearest it with its poison4 ,virtues do the same thing in the opposite direction1 and improve all those with whom they are brought in contact3 it is as good for one of unsettled principles to associate with better men than himself as for an invalid to live in a warm country with a healthy climate4 ,you will understand how much may be effected this way1 if you observe how even wild beasts grow tame by dwelling among us1 and how no animal1 however ferocious1 continues to be wild1 if it has long been accustomed to human companionship3 all its savageness becomes softened1 and amid peaceful scenes is gradually forgotten4 ,we must add to this1 that the man who lives with quiet people is not only improved by their example1 but also by the fact that he finds no reason for anger and does not practise his #abe vice3 it will1 therefore1 be his duty to avoid all those who he knows will excite his anger4 ,you ask1 who these are3 many will bring about the same thing by various means2 a proud man will offend you by his disdain1 a talkative man by his abuse1 an impudent man by his insults1 a spiteful man by his malice1 a quarrelsome man by his wrangling1 a braggart and liar by his vain-gloriousness3 you will not endure to be feared by a suspicious man1 conquered by an obstinate one1 or scorned by an ultra-refined one3 ,choose straightforward1 good-natured1 steady people1 who will not provoke your wrath1 and will bear with it4 ,those whose dispositions are yielding1 polite and suave1 will be of even greater service1 provided they do not flatter1 for excessive obsequiousness irritates bad-tempered men4 ,one of my own friends was a good man indeed1 but too prone to anger1 and it was as dangerous to flatter him as to curse him4 ,caelius the orator1 it is well known1 was the worst-tempered man possible4 ,it is said that once he was dining in his own chamber with an especially long-suffering client1 but had great difficulty when thrown thus into a man's society to avoid quarrelling with him4 ,the other thought it best to agree to whatever he said1 and to play second fiddle1 but ,caelius could not bear his obsequious agreement1 and exclaimed1 8,do contradict me in something1 that there may be two of us60 ,yet even he1 who was angry at not being angry1 soon recovered his temper1 because he had no one to fight with4 ,if1 then1 we are conscious of an irascible disposition1 let us especially choose for our friends those who will look and speak as we do3 they will pamper us and lead us into a bad habit of listening to nothing that does not please us1 but it will be good to give our anger respite and repose4 ,even those who are naturally crabbed and wild will yield to caresses3 no creature continues either angry or frightened if you pat him4 ,whenever a controversy seems likely to be longer or more keenly disputed than usual1 let us check its first beginnings1 before it gathers strength4 #abf ,a dispute nourishes itself as it proceeds1 and takes hold of those who plunge too deeply into it3 it is easier to stand aloof than to extricate oneself from a struggle4 ,,ix4 ,irascible men ought not to meddle with the more serious class of occupations1 or1 at any rate1 ought to stop short of weariness in the pursuit of them2 their mind ought not to be engaged upon hard subjects1 but handed over to pleasing arts3 let it be softened by reading poetry1 and interested by legendary history3 let it be treated with luxury and refinement4 ,pythagoras used to calm his troubled spirit by playing upon the lyre3 and who does not know that trumpets and clarions are irritants1 just as some airs are lullabies and soothe the mind8 ,green is good for wearied eyes1 and some colours are grateful to weak sight1 while the brightness of others is painful to it4 ,in the same way cheerful pursuits soothe unhealthy minds4 ,we must avoid law courts1 pleadings1 verdicts1 and everything else that aggravates our fault1 and we ought no less to avoid bodily weariness2 for it exhausts all that is quiet and gentle in us1 and rouses bitterness4 ,for this reason those who cannot trust their digestion1 when they are about to transact business of importance always allay their bile with food1 for it is peculiarly irritated by fatigue1 either because it draws the vital heat into the middle of the body1 and injures the blood and stops its circulation by the clogging of the veins1 or else because the worn-out and weakened body reacts upon the mind3 this is certainly the reason why those who are broken by ill-health or age are more irascible than other men4 ,hunger also and thirst should be avoided for the same reason2 they exasperate and irritate men's minds3 it is an old saying that 8a weary man is quarrelsome 83 and so also is a hungry or a thirsty man1 or one who is suffering from any cause whatever3 for just as sores pain one at the slightest touch1 and afterwards even at the fear of being touched1 so an unsound mind takes offence at the slightest things1 so that even a #abg greeting1 a letter1 a speech1 or a question1 provokes some men to anger4 ,x4 ,that which is diseased can never bear to be handled without complaining3 it is best1 therefore1 to apply remedies to oneself as soon as we feel that anything is wrong1 to allow oneself as little licence as possible in speech1 and to restrain one's impetuosity3 now it is easy to detect the first growth of our passions3 the symptoms precede the disorder4 ,just as the signs of storms and rain come before the storms themselves1 so there are certain forerunners of anger1 love1 and all the storms which torment our minds4 ,those who suffer from epilepsy know that the fit is coming on if their extremities become cold1 their sight fails1 their sinews tremble1 their memory deserts them1 and their head swims3 they accordingly check the growing disorder by applying the usual remedies3 they try to prevent the loss of their senses by smelling or tasting some drug2 they battle against cold and stiffness of limbs by hot fomentations2 or1 if all remedies fail1 they retire apart1 and faint where no one sees them fall4 ,it is useful for a man to understand his disease1 and to break its strength before it becomes developed4 ,let us see what it is that especially irritates us4 ,some men take offence at insulting words1 others at deeds3 one wishes his pedigree1 another his person1 to be treated with respect4 ,this man wishes to be considered especially fashionable1 that man to be thought especially learned3 one cannot bear pride1 another cannot bear obstinacy4 ,one thinks it beneath him to be angry with his slaves1 another is cruel at home1 but gentle abroad4 ,one imagines that he is proposed for office because he is unpopular1 another thinks himself insulted because he is not proposed4 ,people do not all take offence in the same way2 you ought then to know what your own weak point is1 that you may guard it with especial care4 ,,xi4 ,it is better not to see or to hear everything3 many causes of offence may pass by us1 most of which are disregarded #abh by the man who ignores them4 ,would you not be irascible8 then be not inquisitive4 ,he who seeks to know what is said about him1 who digs up spiteful tales even if they were told in secret1 is himself the destroyer of his own peace of mind4 ,some stories may be so construed as to appear to be insults3 wherefore it is best to put some aside1 to laugh at others1 and to pardon others4 ,there are many ways in which anger may be checked2 most things may be turned into jest4 ,it is said that ,socrates when he was given a box on the ear1 merely said that it was a pity a man could not tell when he ought to wear his helmet out walking4 ,it does not so much matter how an injury is done1 as how it is borne2 and ,i do not see how moderation can be hard to practise1 when ,i know that even despots1 though success and impunity combine to swell their pride1 have sometimes restrained their natural ferocity4 ,at any rate1 tradition informs us that once1 when a guest in his cups bitterly reproached ,pisistratus1 the despot of ,athens1 for his cruelty1 many of those present offered to lay hands on the traitor1 and one said one thing and one another to kindle his wrath1 he bore it coolly1 and replied to those who were egging him on1 that he was no more angry with the man than he should be with one who ran against him blindfold4 ,,xii4 ,a large part of mankind manufacture their own grievances either by entertaining unfounded suspicions or by exaggerating trifles4 ,anger often comes to us1 but we often go to it4 ,it ought never to be sent for3 even when it falls in our way it ought to be flung aside4 ,no one says to himself1 8,i myself have done or might have done this very thing which ,i am angry with another for doing40 ,no one considers the intention of the doer1 but merely the thing done3 yet we ought to think about him1 and whether he did it intentionally or accidentally1 under compulsion or under a mistake1 whether he did it out of hatred for us1 or to gain something for himself1 whether he did it to please himself #abi or to serve a friend4 ,in some cases the age1 in others the worldly fortunes of the culprit may render it humane or advantageous to bear with him and put up with what he has done4 ,let us put ourselves in the place of him with whom we are angry3 at present an overweening conceit of our own importance makes us prone to anger1 and we are quite willing to do to others what we cannot endure should be done to ourselves4 ,no one will postpone his anger3 yet delay is the best remedy for it1 because it allows its first glow to subside1 and gives time for the cloud which darkens the mind either to disperse or at any rate to become less dense4 ,of these wrongs which drive you frantic1 some will grow lighter after an interval1 not of a day1 but even of an hour3 some will vanish altogether4 ,even if you gain nothing by your adjournment1 still what you do after it will appear to be the result of mature deliberation1 not of anger4 ,if you want to find out the truth about anything1 commit the task to time3 nothing can be accurately discerned at a time of disturbance4 ,plato1 when angry with his slave1 could not prevail upon himself to wait1 but straightway ordered him to take off his shirt and present his shoulders to the blows which he meant to give him with his own hand3 then1 when he perceived that he was angry1 he stopped the hand which he had raised in the air1 and stood like one in act to strike4 ,being asked by a friend who happened to come in1 what he was doing1 he answered3 8,i am making an angry man expiate his crime40 ,he retained the posture of one about to give way to passion1 as if struck with astonishment at its being so degrading to a philosopher1 forgetting the slave1 because he had found another still more deserving of punishment4 ,he therefore denied himself the exercise of authority over his own household1 and once1 being rather angry at some fault1 said1 8,speusippus1 will you please to correct that slave with stripes2 for ,i am in a rage40 ,he would not strike him1 for the very reason for which another man would have struck him4 8,i am in a rage10 said #acj he2 8,i should beat him more than ,i ought3 ,i should take more pleasure than ,i ought in doing so3 let not that slave fall into the power of one who is not in his own power40 ,can any one wish to grant the power of revenge to an angry man1 when ,plato himself gave up his own right to exercise it8 ,while you are angry1 you ought not to be allowed to do anything4 8,why80 do you ask8 ,because when you are angry there is nothing that you do not wish to be allowed to do4 ,,xiii4 ,fight hard with yourself and if you cannot conquer anger1 do not let it conquer you3 you have begun to get the better of it if it does not show itself1 if it is not given vent4 ,let us conceal its symptoms1 and as far as possible keep it secret and hidden4 ,it will give us great trouble to do this1 for it is eager to burst forth1 to kindle our eyes and to transform our face2 but if we allow it to show itself in our outward appearance1 it is our master4 ,let it rather be locked in the innermost recesses of our breast1 and be borne by us1 not bear us3 nay1 let us replace all its symptoms by their opposites2 let us make our countenance more composed than usual1 our voice milder1 our step slower4 ,our inward thoughts gradually become influenced by our outward demeanour4 ,with ,socrates it was a sign of anger when he lowered his voice1 and became sparing of speech2 it was evident at such times that he was exercising restraint over himself4 ,his friends1 consequently1 used to detect him acting thus1 and convict him of being angry2 nor was he displeased at being charged with concealment of anger2 indeed1 how could he help being glad that many men should perceive his anger1 yet that none should feel it8 they would however1 have felt it had not he granted to his friends the same right of criticizing his own conduct which he himself assumed over theirs4 ,how much more needful is it for us to do this8 let us beg all our best friends to give us their opinion with the greatest freedom at the very time when we can bear it least1 and never to be compliant with us #aca when we are angry4 ,while we are in our right senses1 while we are under our own control1 let us call for help against so powerful an evil1 and one which we regard with such unjust favour4 ,those who cannot carry their wine discreetly1 and fear to be betrayed into some rash and insolent act1 give their slaves orders to take them away from the banquet when they are drunk2 those who know by experience how unreasonable they are when sick give orders that no one is to obey them when they are in ill health4 ,it is best to prepare obstacles beforehand for vices which are known1 and above all things so to tranquilize our mind that it may bear the most sudden and violent shocks either without feeling anger1 or1 if anger be provoked by the extent of some unexpected wrong1 that it may bury it deep1 and not betray its wound4 ,that it is possible to do this will be seen1 if ,i quote a few of an abundance of examples1 from which we may learn both how much evil there is in anger1 when it exercises entire dominion over men in supreme power1 and how completely it can control itself when overawed by fear4 ,,xiv4 ,king ,cambyses#b was excessively addicted to wine4 ,praexaspes was the only one of his closest friends who advised him to drink more sparingly1 pointing out how shameful a thing drunkenness was in a king1 upon whom all eyes and ears were fixed4 ,cambyses answered1 8,that you may know that ,i never lose command of myself1 ,i will presently prove to you that both my eyes and my hands are fit for service after ,i have been drinking40 ,hereupon he drank more freely than usual1 using larger cups1 and when heavy and besotted with wine ordered his reprover's son to go beyond the threshold and stand there with his left hand raised above his head2 then he bent his bow and pierced the youth's heart1 at which he had said that he aimed4 ,he #acb then had his breast cut open1 showed the arrow sticking exactly into the heart1 and1 looking at the boy's father1 asked whether his hand was not steady enough4 ,he replied1 that ,apollo himself could not have taken better aim4 ,god confound such a man1 a slave in mind1 if not in station6 ,he actually praised an act which he ought not to have endured to witness4 ,he thought that the breast of his son being torn assunder1 and his heart quivering with its wound1 gave him an opportunity of making a complimentary speech4 ,he ought to have raised a dispute with him about his success1 and have called for another shot1 that the king might be pleased to prove upon the person of the father that his hand was even steadier than when he shot the son4 ,what a savage king6 what a worthy mark for all his follower's arrows6 ,yet though we curse him for making his banquet end in cruelty and death1 still it was worse to praise that arrow-shot than to shoot it4 ,we shall see hereafter how a father ought to bear himself when standing over the corpse of his son1 whose murder he had both caused and witnessed3 the matter which we are now discussing1 has been proved1 ,i mean1 that anger can be suppressed4 ,he did not curse the king1 he did not so much as let fall a single inauspicious word1 though he felt his own heart as deeply wounded as that of his son4 ,he may be said to have done well in choking down his words2 for though he might have spoken as an angry man1 yet he could not have expressed what he felt as a father4 ,he may1 ,i repeat1 be thought to have behaved with greater wisdom on that occasion than when he tried to regulate the drink of one who was better employed in drinking wine than in drinking blood1 and who granted men peace while his hands were busy with the winecup4 ,he1 therefore1 added one more to the number of those who have shown to their bitter cost how little kings care for their friends' good advice4 #acc ,,xv4 ,i have no doubt that ,harpagus must have given some such advice to the king of the ,persians and of himself1 in anger at which the king placed ,harpagus's own children before him on the dinner-table for him to eat1 and asked him from time to time1 whether he liked the seasoning4 ,then1 when he saw that he was satiated with his own misery1 he ordered their heads to be brought to him1 and asked him how he liked his entertainment4 ,the wretched man did not lose his readiness of speech2 his face did not change4 8,every kind of dinner10 said he1 8is pleasant at the king's table40 ,what did he gain by this obsequiousness8 ,he avoided being invited a second time to dinner1 to eat what was left of them4 ,i do not forbid a father to blame the act of his king1 or to seek for some revenge worthy of so bloodthirsty a monster1 but in the meanwhile ,i gather from the tale this fact1 that even the anger which arises from unheard of outrages can be concealed1 and forced into using language which is the very reverse of its meaning4 ,this way of curbing anger is necessary1 at least for those who have chosen this sort of life and who are admitted to dine at a king's table2 this is how they must eat and drink1 this is how they must answer1 and how they must laugh at their own deaths4 ,whether life is worth having at such a price1 we shall see hereafter2 that is another question4 ,let us not console so sorry a crew1 or encourage them to submit to the orders of their butchers2 let us point out that however slavish a man's condition may be1 there is always a path to liberty open to him1 unless his mind be diseased4 ,it is a man's own fault if he suffers1 when by putting an end to himself he can put an end to his misery4 ,to him whose king aimed arrows at the breasts of his friends1 and to him whose master gorged fathers with the hearts of their children1 ,i would say 8,madman1 why do you groan8 for what are you waiting8 for some enemy to avenge you by the destruction of your #acd entire nation1 or for some powerful king to arrive from a distant land8 ,wherever you turn your eyes you may see an end to your woes4 ,do you see that precipice8 down that lies the road to liberty2 do you see that sea8 that river8 that well8 ,liberty sits at the bottom of them4 ,do you see that tree8 stunted1 blighted1 dried up though it be1 yet liberty hangs from its branches4 ,do you see your own throat1 your own neck1 your own heart8 they are so many ways of escape from slavery4 ,are these modes which ,i point out too laborious1 and needing much strength and courage8 do you ask what path leads to liberty8 ,i answer1 any vein#c in your body4 ,,xvi4 ,as long1 however1 as we find nothing in our life so unbearable as to drive us to suicide1 let us1 in whatever position we may be1 set anger far from us3 it is destructive to those who are its slaves4 ,all its rage turns to its own misery1 and authority becomes all the more irksome the more obstinately it is resisted4 ,it is like a wild animal whose struggles only pull the noose by which it is caught tighter2 or like birds who1 while flurriedly trying to shake themselves free1 smear birdlime on to all their feathers4 ,no yoke is so grievous as not to hurt him who struggles against it more than him who yields to it3 the only way to alleviate great evils is to endure them and to submit to do what they compel4 ,this control of our passions1 and especially of this mad and unbridled passion of anger1 is useful to subjects1 but still more useful to kings4 ,all is lost when a man's position enables him to carry out whatever anger prompts him to do2 nor can power long endure if it be exercised to the injury of many1 for it becomes endangered as soon as common fear draws together those who bewail themselves separately4 ,many kings1 therefore1 have fallen victims1 some to single individuals1 others to entire peoples1 #ace who have been forced by general indignation to make one man the minister of their wrath4 ,yet many kings have indulged their anger as though it were a privilege of royalty1 like ,darius1 who1 after the dethronement of the ,magian1 was the first ruler of the ,persians and of the greater part of the ,east3 for when he declared war#d against the ,scythians who bordered on the empire of the ,east1 ,oeobazus1 an aged noble1 begged that one of his three sons might be left at home to comfort his father1 and that the king might be satisfied with the services of two of them4 ,darius promised him more than he asked for1 saying that he would allow all three to remain at home1 and flung their dead bodies before their father's eyes4 ,he would have been harsh1 had he taken them all to the war with him4 ,how much more good-natured was ,xerxes1#e who1 when ,pythias1 the father of five sons1 begged for one to be excused from service1 permitted him to choose which he wished for4 ,he then tore the son whom the father had chosen into two halves1 placed one on each side of the road1 and1 as it were1 purified his army by means of this propitiatory victim4 ,he therefore had the end which he deserved1 being defeated1 and his army scattered far and wide in utter rout1 while he in the midst of it walked among the corpses of his soldiers1 seeing on all sides the signs of his own overthrow4 ,,xvii4 ,so ferocious in their anger were those kings who had no learning1 no tincture of polite literature3 now ,i will show you ,king ,alexander 7the ,great71 fresh from the lap of ,aristotle1 who with his own hand while at table stabbed ,clitus1 his dearest friend1 who had been brought up with him1 because he did not flatter him enough1 and was too slow in transforming himself from a free man and a ,macedonian into a ,persian slave4 ,indeed he shut up #acf ,lysimachus1#f who was no less his friend than ,clitus1 in a cage with a lion2 yet did this make ,lysimachus1 who escaped by some happy chance from the lion's teeth1 any gentler when he became a king8 ,why1 he mutilated his own friend1 ,telesphorus the ,rhodian1 cutting off his nose and ears1 and kept him for a long while in a den1 like some new and strange animal1 after the hideousness of his hacked and disfigured face had made him no longer appear to be human1 assisted by starvation and the squalid filth of a body left to wallow in its own dung6 ,besides this1 his hands and knees1 which the narrowness of his abode forced him to use instead of his feet1 became hard and callous1 while his sides were covered with sores by rubbing against the walls1 so that his appearance was no less shocking than frightful1 and his punishment turned him into so monstrous a creature that he was not even pitied4 ,yet1 however unlike a man he was who suffered this1 even more unlike was he who inflicted it4 ,,xviii4 ,would to heaven that such savagery had contented itself with foreign examples1 and that barbarity in anger and punishment had not been imported with other outlandish vices into our ,roman manners6 ,marcus ,marius1 to whom the people erected a statue in every street1 to whom they made offerings of incense and wine1 had1 by the command of ,lucius ,sulla1 his legs broken1 his eyes pulled out1 his hands cut off1 and his whole body gradually torn to pieces limb by limb1 as if ,sulla killed him as many times as he wounded him4 ,who was it who carried out ,sulla's orders8 who but ,catiline1 already practising his hands in every sort of wickedness8 ,he tore him to pieces before the tomb of ,quintus ,catulus1 an unwelcome burden to the ashes of that gentlest of men1 above which one who was no doubt a criminal1 yet nevertheless #acg the idol of the people1 and who was not undeserving of love1 although men loved him beyond all reason1 was forced to shed his blood drop by drop4 ,though ,marius deserved such tortures1 yet it was worthy of ,sulla to order them1 and of ,catiline to execute them2 but it was unworthy of the ,state to be stabbed by the swords of her enemy and her avenger alike4 ,why do ,i pry into ancient history8 quite lately ,gaius ,caesar flogged and tortured ,sextus ,papinius1 whose father was a consular1 ,betilienus ,bassus1 his own quaestor1 and several others1 both senators and knights1 on the same day1 not to carry out any judicial inquiry1 but merely to amuse himself4 ,indeed1 so impatient was he of any delay in receiving the pleasure which his monstrous cruelty never delayed in asking1 that when walking with some ladies and senators in his mother's gardens1 along the walk between the colonnade and the river1 he struck off some of their heads by lamplight4 ,what did he fear8 what public or private danger could one night threaten him with8 how very small a favour it would have been to wait until morning1 and not to kill the ,roman people's senators in his slippers8 ,,xix4 ,it is to the purpose that we should know how haughtily his cruelty was exercised1 although some one might suppose that we are wandering from the subject and embarking on a digression2 but this digression is itself connected with unusual outbursts of anger4 ,he beat senators with rods2 he did it so often that he made men able to say1 8,it is the custom40 ,he tortured them with all the most dismal engines in the world1 with the cord1 the boots1 the rack1 the fire1 and the sight of his own face4 ,even to this we may answer1 8,to tear three senators to pieces with stripes and fire like criminal slaves was no such great crime for one who had thoughts of butchering the entire ,senate1 who was wont to wish that the ,roman people had but one neck1 that he might concentrate #ach into one day and one blow all the wickedness which he divided among so many places and times4 ,was there ever anything so unheard-of as an execution in the night-time8 ,highway robbery seeks for the shelter of darkness1 but the more public an execution is1 the more power it has as an example and lesson4 ,here ,i shall be met by3 8,this1 which you are so surprised at1 was the daily habit of that monster2 this was what he lived for1 watched for1 sat up at night for40 ,certainly one could find no one else who would have ordered all those whom he condemned to death to have their mouths closed by a sponge being fastened in them1 that they might not have the power even of uttering a sound4 ,what dying man was ever forbidden to groan8 ,he feared that the last agony might find too free a voice1 that he might hear what would displease him4 ,he knew1 moreover1 that there were countless crimes1 with which none but a dying man would dare to reproach him4 ,when sponges were not forthcoming1 he ordered the wretched men's clothes to be torn up1 and the rags stuffed into their mouths4 ,what savagery was this8 ,let a man draw his last breath3 give room for his soul to escape through3 let it not be forced to leave the body through a wound4 ,it becomes tedious to add to this that in the same night he sent centurions to the houses of the executed men and made an end of their fathers also1 that is to say1 being a compassionate-minded man1 he set them free from sorrow3 for it is not my intention to describe the ferocity of ,gaius1 but the ferocity of anger1 which does not merely vent its rage upon individuals1 but rends in pieces whole nations1 and even lashes cities1 rivers1 and things which have no sense of pain4 ,,xx4 ,thus1 the king of the ,persians cut off the noses of a whole nation in ,syria1 wherefore the place is called ,rhinocolura4 ,do you think that he was merciful1 because he did not cut their heads off altogether8 no1 he was delighted at #aci having invented a new kind of punishment4 ,something of the same kind would have befallen the ,aethiopians1#g who on account of their prodigiously long lives are called ,macrobiotae2 for1 because they did not receive slavery with hands uplifted to heaven in thankfulness1 and sent an embassy which used independent1 or what kings call insulting language1 ,cambyses became wild with rage1 and1 without any store of provisions1 or any knowledge of the roads1 started with all his fighting men through an arid and trackless waste1 where during the first day's march the necessaries of life failed1 and the country itself furnished nothing1 being barren and uncultivated1 and untrodden by the foot of man4 ,at first the tenderest parts of leaves and shoots of trees relieved their hunger1 then hides softened by fire1 and anything else that their extremity drove them to use as food4 ,when as they proceeded neither roots nor herbs were to be found in the sand1 and they found a wilderness destitute even of animal life1 they chose each tenth man by lot and made of him a meal which was more cruel than hunger4 ,rage still drove the king madly forwards1 until after he had lost one part of his army and eaten another he began to fear that he also might be called upon to draw the lot for his life2 then at last he gave the order for retreat4 ,yet all the while his well-bred hawks were not sacrificed1 and the means of feasting were carried for him on camels1 while his soldiers were drawing lots for who should miserably perish1 and who should yet more miserably live4 ,,xxi4 ,this man was angry with an unknown and inoffensive nation1 which nevertheless was able to feel his wrath2 but ,cyrus#h was angry with a river4 ,when hurrying to besiege ,babylon1 since in making war it is above all things important to seize one's opportunity1 he tried to ford the wide-spread river ,gyndes1 which it is hardly safe to #adj attempt even when the river has been dried up by the summer heat and is at its lowest4 ,here one of the white horses which drew the royal chariot was washed away1 and his loss moved the king to such violent rage1 that he swore to reduce the river which had carried off his royal retinue to so low an ebb that even women should walk across it and trample upon it4 ,he thereupon devoted all the resources of his army to this object1 and remained working until by cutting one hundred and eighty channels across the bed of the river he divided it into three hundred and sixty brooks1 and left the bed dry1 the waters flowing through other channels4 ,thus he lost time1 which is very important in great operations1 and lost1 also1 the soldiers' courage1 which was broken by useless labour1 and the opportunity of falling upon his enemy unprepared1 while he was waging against the river the war which he had declared against his foes4 ,this frenzy1 for what else can you call it1 has befallen ,romans also1 for ,g4 ,caesar destroyed a most beautiful villa at ,herculaneum because his mother was once imprisoned in it1 and has thus made the place notorious by its misfortune2 for while it stood1 we used to sail past it without noticing it1 but now people inquire why it is in ruins4 ,,xxii4 ,these should be regarded as examples to be avoided1 and what ,i am about to relate1 on the contrary1 to be followed1 being examples of gentle and lenient conduct in men who both had reasons for anger and power to avenge themselves4 ,what could have been easier than for ,antigonus to order those two common soldiers to be executed who leaned against their king's tent while doing what all men especially love to do1 and run the greatest danger by doing1 ,i mean while they spoke evil of their king4 ,antigonus heard all they said1 as was likely1 since there was only a piece of cloth between the speakers and the listener1 who gently raised it1 and said 8,go a little #ada further off1 for fear the king should hear you40 ,he also on one night1 hearing some of his soldiers invoking everything that was evil upon their king for having brought them along that road and into that impassable mud1 went to those who were in the greatest difficulties1 and having extricated them without their knowing who was their helper1 said1 8,now curse ,antigonus1 by whose fault you have fallen into this trouble1 but bless the man who has brought you out of this slough40 ,this same ,antigonus bore the abuse of his enemies as good-naturedly as that of his countrymen2 thus when he was besieging some ,greeks in a little fort1 and they1 despising their enemy through their confidence in the strength of their position1 cut many jokes upon the ugliness of ,antigonus1 at one time mocking him for his shortness of stature1 at another for his broken nose1 he answered1 8,i rejoice1 and expect some good fortune because ,i have a ,silenus in my camp40 ,after he had conquered these witty folk by hunger1 his treatment of them was to form regiments of those who were fit for service1 and sell the rest by public auction2 nor would he1 said he1 have done this had it not been better that men who had such evil tongues should be under the control of a master4 ,,xxiii4 ,this man's grandson#i was ,alexander1 who used to hurl his lance at his guests1 who1 of the two friends which ,i have mentioned above1 exposed one to the rage of a wild beast1 and the other to his own2 yet of these two men1 he who was exposed to the lion survived4 ,he did not derive this vice from his grandfather1 nor even from his father2 for it was an especial virtue of ,philip's to endure insults patiently1 and was a great safeguard of his kingdom4 ,demochares1 who was surnamed ,parrhesiastes on account of his unbridled and impudent tongue1 came on an embassy to him with other ambassadors from ,athens4 ,after graciously #adb listening to what they had to say1 ,philip said to them1 8,tell me1 what can ,i do that will please the ,athenians8 8,demochares took him up1 and answered1 8,hang yourself40 ,all the bystanders expressed their indignation at so brutal an answer1 but ,philip bade them be silent1 and let this ,thersites depart safe and sound4 8,but do you10 said he1 8you other ambassadors1 tell the ,athenians that those who say such things are much more arrogant than those who hear them without revenging themselves40 ,the late ,emperor ,augustus also did and said many memorable things1 which prove that he was not under the dominion of anger4 ,timagenes1 the historical writer1 made some remarks upon him1 his wife1 and his whole family3 nor did his jests fall to the ground1 for nothing spreads more widely or is more in people's mouths than reckless wit4 ,caesar often warned him to be less audacious in his talk1 and as he continued to offend1 forbade him his house4 ,timagenes after this passed the later years of his life as the guest of ,asinius ,pollio1 and was the favourite of the whole city3 the closing of ,caesar's door did not close any other door against him4 ,he read aloud the history which he wrote after this1 but burned the books which contained the doings of ,augustus ,caesar4 ,he was at enmity with ,caesar1 but yet no one feared to be his friend1 no one shrank from him as though he were blasted by lightning3 although he fell from so high a place1 yet some one was found to catch him in his lap4 ,caesar1 ,i say1 bore this with patience1 and was not even irritated by the historian's having laid violent hands upon his own glories and acts3 he never complained of the man who afforded his enemy shelter1 but merely said to ,asinius ,pollio 8,you are keeping a wild beast30 then1 when the other would have excused his conduct1 he stopped him1 and said 8,enjoy1 my ,pollio1 enjoy his friendship40 ,when ,pollio said1 8,if you order me1 ,caesar1 ,i will straightway forbid him my house10 he #adc answered1 8,do you think that ,i am likely to do this1 after having made you friends again80 for formerly ,pollio had been angry with ,timagenes1 and ceased to be angry with him for no other reason than that ,caesar began to be so4 ,,xxiv4 ,let every one1 then1 say to himself1 whenever he is provoked1 8,am ,i more powerful than ,philip8 yet he allowed a man to curse him with impunity4 ,have ,i more authority in my own house than the ,emperor ,augustus possessed throughout the world8 yet he was satisfied with leaving the society of his maligner4 ,why should ,i make my slave atone by stripes and manacles for having answered me too loudly or having put on a stubborn look1 or muttered something which ,i did not catch8 ,who am ,i1 that it should be a crime to shock my ears8 ,many men have forgiven their enemies3 shall ,i not forgive men for being lazy1 careless1 and gossipping80 ,we ought to plead age as an excuse for children1 sex for women1 freedom for a stranger1 familiarity for a house-servant4 ,is this his first offence8 think how long he has been acceptable4 ,has he often done wrong1 and in many other cases8 then let us continue to bear what we have borne so long4 ,is he a friend8 then he did not intend to do it4 ,is he an enemy8 then in doing it he did his duty4 ,if he be a sensible man1 let us believe his excuses2 if a fool1 let us grant him pardon2 whatever he may be1 let us say to ourselves on his behalf1 that even the wisest of men are often in fault1 that no one is so alert that his carefulness never betrays itself1 that no one is of so ripe a judgment that his serious mind cannot be goaded by circumstances into some hotheaded action1 that1 in fine1 no one1 however much he may fear to give offence1 can help doing so even while he tries to avoid it4 ,,xxv4 ,as it is a consolation to a humble man in trouble that the greatest are subject to reverses of fortune1 and a man weeps more calmly over his dead son in the corner of #add his hovel if he sees a piteous#aj funeral proceed out of the palace as well2 so one bears injury or insult more calmly if one remembers that no power is so great as to be above the reach of harm4 ,indeed1 if even the wisest do wrong1 who cannot plead a good excuse for his faults8 ,let us look back upon our own youth1 and think how often we then were too slothful in our duty1 too impudent in our speech1 too intemperate in our cups4 ,is anyone angry8 then let us give him enough time to reflect upon what he has done1 and he will correct his own self4 ,but suppose he ought to pay the penalty of his deeds3 well1 that is no reason why we should act as he does4 ,it canot be doubted that he who regards his tormentor with contempt raises himself above the common herd and looks down upon them from a loftier position3 it is the property of true magnanimity not to feel the blows which it may receive4 ,so does a huge wild beast turn slowly and gaze at yelping curs3 so does the wave dash in vain against a great cliff4 ,the man who is not angry remains unshaken by injury3 he who is angry has been moved by it4 ,he1 however1 whom ,i have described as being placed too high for any mischief to reach him1 holds as it were the highest good in his arms3 he can reply1 not only to any man1 but to fortune herself3 8,do what you will1 you are too feeble to disturb my serenity3 this is forbidden by reason1 to whom ,i have entrusted the guidance of my life3 to become angry would do me more harm than your violence can do me4 #8,more harm8' say you4 ,yes1 certainly3 ,i know how much injury you have done me1 but ,i cannot tell to what excesses anger might not carry me40 ,,xxvi4 ,you say1 8,i cannot endure it3 injuries are hard to bear40 ,you lie2 for how can any one not be able to bear injury1 if he can bear to be angry8 ,besides1 what you #ade intend to do is to endure both injury and anger4 ,why do you bear with the delirium of a sick man1 or the ravings of a madman1 or the impudent blows of a child8 ,because1 of course1 they evidently do not know what they are doing3 if a man be not responsible for his actions1 what does it matter by what malady he became so3 the plea of ignorance holds equally good in every case4 8,what then80 say you1 8shall he not be punished80 ,he will be1 even supposing that you do not wish it3 for the greatest punishment for having done harm is the sense of having done it1 and no one is more severely punished than he who is given over to the punishment of remorse4 ,in the next place1 we ought to consider the whole state of mankind1 in order to pass a just judgment on all the occurrences of life3 for it is unjust to blame individuals for a vice which is common to all4 ,the colour of an ,aethiop is not remarkable amongst his own people1 nor is any man in ,germany ashamed of red hair rolled into a knot4 ,you cannot call anything peculiar or disgraceful in a particular man if it is the general characteristic of his nation4 ,now1 the cases which ,i have quoted are defended only by the usage of one out-of-the-way quarter of the world3 see now1 how far more deserving of pardon those crimes are which are spread abroad among all mankind4 ,we all are hasty and careless1 we all are untrustworthy1 dissatisfied1 and ambitious3 nay1 why do ,i try to hide our common wickedness by a too partial description8 we all are bad4 ,every one of us therefore will find in his own breast the vice which he blames in another4 ,why do you remark how pale this man1 or how lean that man is8 there is a general pestilence4 ,let us therefore be more gentle one to another3 we are bad men1 living among bad men3 there is only one thing which can afford us peace1 and that is to agree to forgive one another4 8,this man has already injured me10 say you1 8and ,i have not yet injured him40 ,no1 but you have probably injured some one else1 and you will injure #adf him some day4 ,do not form your judgment by one hour1 or one day3 consider the whole tendency of your mind3 even though you have done no evil1 yet you are capable of doing it4 ,,xxvii4 ,how far better is it to heal an injury than to avenge it8 ,revenge takes up much time1 and throws itself in the way of many injuries while it is smarting under one4 ,we all retain our anger longer than we feel our hurt3 how far better it were to take the opposite course and not meet one mischief by another4 ,would any one think himself to be in his perfect mind if he were to return kicks to a mule or bites to a dog80 ,these creatures10 you say1 8know not that they are doing wrong40 ,then1 in the first place1 what an unjust judge you must be if a man has less chance of gaining your forgiveness than a beast6 ,secondly1 if animals are protected from your anger by their want of reason1 you ought to treat all foolish men in the like manner3 for if a man has that mental darkness which excuses all the wrong-doings of dumb animals1 what difference does it make if in other respects he be unlike a dumb animal8 ,he has sinned4 ,well1 is this the first time1 or will this be the last time8 ,why1 you should not believe him even if he said1 8,never will ,i do so again40 ,he will sin1 and another will sin against him1 and all his life he will wallow in wickedness4 ,savagery must be met by kindness3 we ought to use1 to a man in anger1 the argument which is so effective with one in grief1 that is1 8,shall you leave off this at some time1 or never8 ,if you will do so at some time1 how better is it that you should abandon anger than that anger should abandon you8 ,or1 will this excitement never leave you8 ,do you see to what an unquiet life you condemn yourself8 for what will be the life of one who is always swelling with rage80 ,add to this1 that after you have worked yourself up into a rage1 and have from time to time renewed the causes of your #adg excitement1 yet your anger will depart from you of its own accord1 and time will sap its strength3 how much better then is it that it should be overcome by you than by itself8 ,,xxviii4 ,if you are angry1 you will quarrel first with this man1 and then with that3 first with slaves1 then with freedmen3 first with parents1 then with children3 first with acquaintances1 then with strangers3 for there are grounds for anger in every case1 unless your mind steps in and intercedes with you3 your frenzy will drag you from one place to another1 and from thence to elsewhere1 your madness will constantly meet with newly-occurring irritants1 and will never depart from you4 ,tell me1 miserable man1 what time you will have for loving8 ,o1 what good time you are wasting on an evil thing6 ,how much better it would be to win friends1 and disarm enemies3 to serve the state1 or to busy oneself with one's private affairs1 rather than to cast about for what harm you can do to somebody1 what wound you can inflict either upon his social position1 his fortune1 or his person1 although you cannot succeed in doing so without a struggle and risk to yourself1 even if your antagonist be inferior to you4 ,even supposing that he were handed over to you in chains1 and that you were at liberty to torture him as much as you please1 yet even then excessive violence in striking a blow often causes us to dislocate a joint1 or entangles a sinew in the teeth which it has broken4 ,anger makes many men cripples1 or invalids1 even when it meets with an unresisting victim3 and besides this1 no creature is so weak that it can be destroyed without any danger to its destroyer3 sometimes grief1 sometimes chance1 puts the weakest on a level with the strongest4 ,what shall we say of the fact that the greater part of the things which enrage us are insults1 not injuries8 ,it makes a great difference whether a man thwarts my wishes or merely fails to carry them out1 whether he robs me or does not give me anything3 yet we count it all the same whether a #adh man takes anything from us or refuses to give anything to us1 whether he extinguishes our hope or defers it1 whether his object be to hinder us or to help himself1 whether he acts out of love for some one or out of hatred for us4 ,some men are bound to oppose us not only on the ground of justice1 but of honour3 one is defending his father1 another his brother1 another his country1 another his friend3 yet we do not forgive men for doing what we should blame them for not doing2 nay1 though one can hardly believe it1 we often think well of an act1 and ill of the man who did it4 ,but1 by ,hercules1 a great and just man looks with respect at the bravest of his enemies1 and the most obstinate defender of his freedom and his country1 and wishes that he had such a man for his own countryman and soldier4 ,,xxix4 ,it is shameful to hate him whom you praise3 but how much more shameful is it to hate a man for something for which he deserves to be pitied8 ,if a prisoner of war1 who has suddenly been reduced to the condition of a slave1 still retains some remnants of liberty1 and does not run nimbly to perform foul and toilsome tasks1 if1 having grown slothful by long rest1 he cannot run fast enough to keep pace with his master's horse or carriage1 if sleep overpowers him when weary with many days and nights of watching1 if he refuses to undertake farm work1 or does not do it heartily when brought away from the idleness of city service and put to hard labour1 we ought to make a distinction between whether a man cannot or will not do it3 we should pardon many slaves1 if we began to judge them before we began to be angry with them3 as it is1 however1 we obey our first impulse1 and then1 although we may prove to have been excited about mere trifles1 yet we continue to be angry1 lest we should seem to have begun to be angry without cause2 and1 most unjust of all1 the injustice of our anger makes us persist in it all the more2 for we #adi nurse it and inflame it1 as though to be violently angry proved our anger to be just4 ,,xxx4 ,how much better is it to observe how trifling1 how inoffensive are the first beginnings of anger8 ,you will see that men are subject to the same influences as dumb animals3 we are put out by trumpery1 futile matters4 ,bulls are excited by red colour1 the asp raises its head at a shadow1 bears or lions are irritated at the shaking of a rag1 and all creatures who are naturally fierce and wild are alarmed at trifles4 ,the same thing befalls men both of restless and of sluggish disposition2 they are seized by suspicions1 sometimes to such an extent that they call slight benefits injuries3 and these form the most common and certainly the most bitter subject for anger3 for we become angry with our dearest friends for having bestowed less upon us than we expected1 and less than others have received from them3 yet there is a remedy at hand for both these grievances4 ,has he favoured our rival more than ourselves8 then let us enjoy what we have without making any comparisons4 ,a man will never be well off to whom it is a torture to see any one better off than himself4 ,have ,i less than ,i hoped for8 well1 perhaps ,i hoped for more than ,i ought4 ,this it is against which we ought to be especially on our guard3 from hence arises the most destructive anger1 sparing nothing1 not even the holiest4 ,the ,emperor ,julius was not stabbed by so many enemies as by friends whose insatiable hopes he had not satisfied4 ,he was willing enough to do so1 for no one ever made a more generous use of victory1 of whose fruits he kept nothing for himself save the power of distributing them2 but how could he glut such unconscionable appetites1 when each man coveted as much as any one man could possess8 ,this was why he saw his fellow-soldiers standing round his chair with drawn swords1 ,tillius ,cimber1 though he had a short time before been the keenest defender of his party1 #aej and others who only became ,pompeians after ,pompeius was dead4 ,this it is which has turned the arms of kings against them1 and made their trustiest followers meditate the death of him for whom and before whom#aa they once would have been glad to die4 ,,xxxi4 ,no man is satisfied with his own lot if he fixes his attention on that of another3 and this leads to our being angry even with the gods1 because somebody precedes us1 though we forget of how many we take precedence1 and that when a man envies few people1 he must be followed in the background by a huge crowd of people who envy him4 ,yet so churlish is human nature1 that1 however much men may have received1 they think themselves wronged if they are able to receive still more4 8,he gave me the praetorship4 ,yes1 but ,i had hoped for the consulship4 ,he bestowed the twelve axes upon me3 true1 but he did not make me a regular#ab consul4 ,he allowed me to give my name to the year1 but he did not help me to the priesthood4 ,i have been elected a member of the college3 but why only of one8 ,he has bestowed upon me every honour that the state affords3 yes1 but he has added nothing to my private fortune4 ,what he gave me he was obliged to give to somebody3 he brought out nothing from his own pocket40 ,rather than speak thus1 thank him for what you have received3 wait for the rest1 and be thankful that you are not yet too full to contain more3 there is a pleasure in having something left to hope for4 ,are you preferred to every one8 then rejoice at holding the first place in the thoughts of your friend4 ,or are many others preferred before you8 then think how many more are below you than there are #aea above you4 ,do you ask1 what is your greatest fault8 ,it is1 that you keep your accounts wrongly3 you set a high value upon what you give1 and a low one upon what you receive4 ,,xxxii4 ,let different qualities in different people keep us from quarrelling with them3 let us fear to be angry with some1 feel ashamed of being angry with others1 and disdain to be angry with others4 ,we do a fine thing1 indeed1 when we send a wretched slave to the workhouse6 ,why are we in such a hurry to flog him at once1 to break his legs straightway8 we shall not lose our boasted power if we defer its exercise4 ,let us wait for the time when we ourselves can give orders3 at present we speak under constraint from anger4 ,when it has passed away we shall see what amount of damage has been done2 for this is what we are especially liable to make mistakes about3 we use the sword1 and capital punishment1 and we appoint chains1 imprisonment1 and starvation to punish a crime which deserves only flogging with a light scourge4 8,in what way10 say you1 8do you bid us look at those things by which we think ourselves injured1 that we may see how paltry1 pitiful1 and childish they are80 ,of all things ,i would charge you to take to yourself a magnanimous spirit1 and behold how low and sordid all these matters are about which we squabble and run to and fro till we are out of breath2 to any one who entertains any lofty and magnificent ideas1 they are not worthy of a thought4 ,,xxxiii4 ,the greatest hullabaloo is about money3 this it is which wearies out the law-courts1 sows strife between father and son1 concocts poisons1 and gives swords to murderers just as to soldiers3 it is stained with our blood3 on account of it husbands and wives wrangle all night long1 crowds press round the bench of magistrates1 kings rage and plunder1 and overthrow communities which it has taken the labour of centuries to build1 that they may seek for gold and #aeb silver in the ashes of their cities4 ,do you like to look at your money-bags lying in the corner8 it is for these that men shout till their eyes start from their heads1 that the law-courts ring with the din of trials1 and that jurymen brought from great distances sit to decide which man's covetousness is the more equitable4 ,what shall we say if it be not even for a bag of money1 but for a handful of coppers or a shilling scored up by a slave that some old man1 soon to die without an heir1 bursts with rage8 what if it be an invalid money-lender whose feet are distorted by the gout1 and who can no longer use his hands to count with1 who calls for his interest of one thousandth a month1#ac and by his sureties demands his pence even during the paroxysms of his disease8 ,if you were to bring to me all the money from all our mines1 which we are at this moment sinking1 if you were to bring to-night all that is concealed in hoards1 where avarice returns money to the earth from whence it came1 and pity that it ever was dug out--all that mass ,i should not think worthy to cause a wrinkle on the brow of a good man4 ,what ridicule those things deserve which bring tears into our eyes6 ,,xxxiv4 ,come now1 let us enumerate the other causes of anger3 they are food1 drink1 and the showy apparatus connected with them1 words1 insults1 disrespectful movements of the body1 suspicions1 obstinate cattle1 lazy slaves1 and spiteful construction put upon other men's words1 so that even the gift of language to mankind becomes reckoned among the wrongs of nature4 ,believe me1 the things which cause us such great heat are trifles1 the sort of things that children fight and squabble over3 there is nothing serious1 nothing important in all that we do with such gloomy faces4 ,it is1 ,i repeat1 the setting a great value on trifles that is the cause of your anger and madness4 ,this #aec man wanted to rob me of my inheritance1 that one has brought a charge against me before persons#ad whom ,i had long courted with great expectations1 that one has coveted my mistress4 ,a wish for the same things1 which ought to have been a bond of friendship1 becomes a source of quarrels and hatred4 ,a narrow path causes quarrels among those who pass up and down it2 a wide and broadly spread road may be used by whole tribes without jostling4 ,those objects of desire of yours cause strife and disputes among those who covet the same things1 because they are petty1 and cannot be given to one man without being taken away from another4 ,,xxxv4 ,you are indignant at being answered back by your slave1 your freedman1 your wife1 or your client3 and then you complain of the state having lost the freedom which you have destroyed in your own house3 then again if he is silent when you question him1 you call it sullen obstinacy4 ,let him both speak and be silent1 and laugh too4 8,in the presence of his master80 you ask4 ,nay1 say rather 8in the presence of the house-father40 ,why do you shout8 why do you storm8 why do you in the middle of dinner call for a whip1 because the slaves are talking1 because a crowd as large as a public meeting is not as silent as the wilderness8 ,you have ears1 not merely that you may listen to musical sounds1 softly and sweetly drawn out and harmonized3 you ought to hear laughter and weeping1 coaxing and quarrelling1 joy and sorrow1 the human voice and the roaring and barking of animals4 ,miserable one6 why do you shudder at the noise of a slave1 at the rattling of brass or the banging of a door8 you cannot help hearing the thunder1 however refined you may be4 ,you may apply these remarks about your ears with equal truth to your eyes1 which are just as dainty1 if they have been badly schooled3 they are shocked at stains and #aed dirt1 at silver plate which is not sufficiently bright1 or at a pool whose water is not clear down to the bottom4 ,those same eyes which can only endure to see the most variegated marble1 and that which has just been scoured bright1 which will look at no table whose wood is not marked with a network of veining1 and which at home are loth to tread upon anything that is not more precious than gold1 will1 when out of doors1 gaze most calmly upon rough and miry paths1 will see unmoved that the greater number of persons that meet them are shabbily dressed1 and that the walls of the houses are rotten1 full of cracks1 and uneven4 ,what1 then1 can be the reason that they are not distressed out of doors by sights which would shock them in their own home1 unless it be that their temper is placid and long-suffering in one case1 sulky and fault-finding in the other8 ,,xxxvi4 ,all our senses should be educated into strength3 they are naturally able to endure much1 provided that the spirit forbears to spoil them4 ,the spirit ought to be brought up for examination daily4 ,it was the custom of ,sextius when the day was over1 and he had betaken himself to rest1 to inquire of his spirit3 8,what bad habit of yours have you cured to-day8 what vice have you checked8 in what respect are you better80 ,anger will cease1 and become more gentle1 if it knows that every day it will have to appear before the judgment seat4 ,what can be more admirable than this fashion of discussing the whole of the day's events8 how sweet is the sleep which follows this self-examination8 how calm1 how sound1 and careless is it when our spirit has either received praise or reprimand1 and when our secret inquisitor and censor has made his report about our morals8 ,i make use of this privilege1 and daily plead my cause before myself3 when the lamp is taken out of my sight1 and my wife1 who knows my habit1 has ceased to talk1 ,i pass the whole day in review before myself1 and repeat all that ,i have said and done3 ,i conceal nothing #aee from myself1 and omit nothing3 for why should ,i be afraid of any of my shortcomings1 when it is in my power to say1 8,i pardon you this time3 see that you never do that any more8 ,in that dispute you spoke too contentiously3 do not for the future argue with ignorant people3 those who have never been taught are unwilling to learn4 ,you reprimanded that man with more freedom than you ought1 and consequently you have offended him instead of amending his ways3 in dealing with other cases of the kind1 you should look carefully1 not only to the truth of what you say1 but also whether the person to whom you speak can bear to be told the truth40 ,a good man delights in receiving advice3 all the worst men are the most impatient of guidance4 ,,xxxvii4 ,at the dinner-table some jokes and sayings intended to give you pain have been directed against you3 avoid feasting with low people4 ,those who are not modest even when sober become much more recklessly impudent after drinking4 ,you have seen your friend in a rage with the porter of some lawyer or rich man1 because he has sent him back when about to enter1 and you yourself on behalf of your friend have been in a rage with the meanest of slaves4 ,would you then be angry with a chained housedog8 ,why1 even he1 after a long bout of barking1 becomes gentle if you offer him food4 ,so draw back and smile2 for the moment your porter fancies himself to be somebody1 because he guards a door which is beset by a crowd of litigants2 for the moment he who sits within is prosperous and happy1 and thinks that a street-door through which it is hard to gain entrance is the mark of a rich and powerful man2 he knows not that the hardest door of all to open is that of the prison4 ,be prepared to submit to much4 ,is any one surprised at being cold in winter8 at being sick at sea8 or at being jostled in the street8 ,the mind is strong enough to bear those evils for which it is prepared4 ,when #aef you are not given a sufficiently distinguished place at table you have begun to be angry with your fellow-guests1 with your host1 and with him who is preferred above you4 ,idiot6 ,what difference can it make what part of the couch you rest upon8 ,can a cushion give you honour or take it away8 ,you have looked askance at somebody because he has spoken slightingly of your talents2 will you apply this rule to yourself8 ,if so1 ,ennius1 whose poetry you do not care for1 would have hated you4 ,hortensius1 if you had found fault with his speeches1 would have quarrelled with you1 and ,cicero1 if you had laughed at his poetry1 would have been your enemy4 ,a candidate for office1 will you resent men's votes8 ,,xxxviii4 ,some one has offered you an insult8 ,not a greater one1 probably1 than was offered to the ,stoic philosopher ,diogenes1 in whose face an insolent young man spat just when he was lecturing upon anger4 ,he bore it mildly and wisely4 8,i am not angry10 said he1 8but ,i am not sure that ,i ought not to be angry40 ,yet how much better did our ,cato behave8 ,when he was pleading1 one ,lentulus1 whom our fathers remember as a demagogue and passionate man1 spat all the phlegm he could muster upon his forehead4 ,cato wiped his face1 and said1 8,lentulus1 ,i shall declare to all the world that men are mistaken when they say that you are wanting in cheek40 ,,xxxix4 ,we have now succeeded1 my ,novatus1 in properly regulating our own minds3 they either do not feel anger or are above it3 let us next see how we may soothe the wrath of others1 for we do not only wish to be whole1 but to heal4 ,you should not attempt to allay the first burst of anger by words3 it is deaf and frantic3 we must give it scope2 our remedies will only be effective when it slackens4 ,we do not meddle with men's eyes when they are swollen1 because we should only irritate their hard stiffness by #aeg touching them1 nor do we try to cure other diseases when at their height3 the best treatment in the first stage of illness is rest4 8,of how very little value10 say you1 8is your remedy1 if it appeases anger which is subsiding of its own accord80 ,in the first place1 ,i answer1 it makes it end quicker3 in the next1 it prevents a relapse4 ,it can render harmless even the violent impulse which it dares not soothe3 it will put out of the way all weapons which might be used for revenge3 it will pretend to be angry1 in order that its advice may have more weight as coming from an assistant and comrade in grief4 ,it will invent delays1 and postpone immediate punishment while a greater one is being sought for3 it will use every artifice to give the man a respite from his frenzy4 ,if his anger be unusually strong1 it will inspire him with some irresistible feeling of shame or of fear3 if weak1 it will make use of conversation on amusing or novel subjects1 and by playing upon his curiosity lead him to forget his passion4 ,we are told that a physician1 who was forced to cure the king's daughter1 and could not without using the knife1 conveyed a lancet to her swollen breast concealed under the sponge with which he was fomenting it4 ,the same girl1 who would have shrunk from the remedy if he had applied it openly1 bore the pain because she did not expect it4 ,some diseases can only be cured by deceit4 ,,xl4 ,to one class of men you will say1 8,beware1 lest your anger give pleasure to your foes30 to the other1 8,beware lest your greatness of mind and the reputation it bears among most people for strength become impaired4 ,i myself1 by ,hercules1 am scandalized at your treatment and am grieved beyond measure1 but we must wait for a proper opportunity4 ,he shall pay for what he has done2 be well assured of that3 when you are able you shall return it to him with interest40 ,to reprove a man when he is angry is to add to his anger by being angry oneself4 ,you #aeh should approach him in different ways and in a compliant fashion1 unless perchance you be so great a personage that you can quash his anger1 as the ,emperor ,augustus did when he was dining with ,vedius ,pollio4#ae ,one of the slaves had broken a crystal goblet of his3 ,vedius ordered him to be led away to die1 and that too in no common fashion3 he ordered him to be thrown to feed the muraenae1 some of which fish1 of great size1 he kept in a tank4 ,who would not think that he did this out of luxury8 but it was out of cruelty4 ,the boy slipped through the hands of those who tried to seize him1 and flung himself at ,caesar's feet in order to beg for nothing more than that he might die in some different way1 and not be eaten4 ,caesar was shocked at this novel form of cruelty1 and ordered him to be let go1 and1 in his place1 all the crystal ware which he saw before him to be broken1 and the tank to be filled up4 ,this was the proper way for ,caesar to reprove his friend3 he made a good use of his power4 ,what are you1 that when at dinner you order men to be put to death1 and mangled by an unheard-of form of torture8 ,are a man's bowels to be torn asunder because your cup is broken8 ,you must think a great deal of yourself1 if even when the emperor is present you order men to be executed4 ,,xli4 ,if any one's power is so great that he can treat anger with the tone of a superior let him crush it out of existence1 but only if it be of the kind of which ,i have just spoken1 fierce1 inhuman1 bloodthirsty1 and incurable save by fear of something more powerful than itself 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 let us give the mind that peace which is given by constant meditation upon wholesome maxims1 by good actions1 and by a mind directed to the pursuit of honour alone4 ,let us set our own conscience fully at rest1 but make no efforts to gain credit for ourselves3 so long as we #aei deserve well1 let us be satisfied1 even if we should be ill spoken of4 8,but the common herd admires spirited actions1 and bold men are held in honour1 while quiet ones are thought to be indolent40 ,true1 at first sight they may appear to be so3 but as soon as the even tenor of their life proves that this quietude arises not from dullness but from peace of mind1 then that same populace respects and reverences them4 ,there is1 then1 nothing useful in that hideous and destructive passion of anger1 but on the contrary1 every kind of evil1 fire and sword4 ,anger tramples self-restraint underfoot1 steeps its hands in slaughter1 scatters abroad the limbs of its children3 it leaves no place unsoiled by crime1 it has no thoughts of glory1 no fears of disgrace1 and when once anger has hardened into hatred1 no amendment is possible4 ,,xlii4 ,let us be free from this evil1 let us clear our minds of it1 and extirpate root and branch a passion which grows again wherever the smallest particle of it finds a resting-place4 ,let us not moderate anger1 but get rid of it altogether3 what can moderation have to do with an evil habit8 ,we shall succeed in doing this1 if only we exert ourselves4 ,nothing will be of greater service than to bear in mind that we are mortal3 let each man say to himself and to his neighbour1 8,why should we1 as though we were born to live for ever1 waste our tiny span of life in declaring anger against any one8 why should days1 which we might spend in honourable enjoyment1 be misapplied in grieving and torturing others8 ,life is a matter which does not admit of waste1 and we have no spare time to throw away4 ,why do we rush into the fray8 why do we go out of our way to seek disputes8 why do we1 forgetful of the weakness of our nature1 undertake mighty feuds1 and1 frail though we be1 summon up all our strength to cut down other men8 ,ere long1 fever or some other bodily ailment will make us unable to carry on this warfare of #afj hatred which we so implacably wage3 death will soon part the most vigorous pair of combatants4 ,why do we make disturbances and spend our lives in rioting8 fate hangs over our heads1 scores up to our account the days as they pass1 and is ever drawing nearer and nearer4 ,the time which you have marked for the death of another perhaps includes your own40 ,,xliii4 ,instead of acting thus1 why do you not rather draw together what there is of your short life1 and keep it peaceful for others and for yourself8 why do you not rather make yourself beloved by every one while you live1 and regretted by every one when you die8 ,why do you wish to tame that man's pride1 because he takes too lofty a tone with you8 why do you try with all your might to crush that other who snaps and snarls at you1 a low and contemptible wretch1 but spiteful and offensive to his betters8 ,master1 why are you angry with your slave8 ,slave1 why are you angry with your master8 ,client1 why are you angry with your patron8 ,patron1 why are you angry with your client8 ,wait but a little while4 ,see1 here comes death1 who will make you all equals4 ,we often see at a morning performance in the arena a battle between a bull and a bear1 fastened together1 in which the victor1 after he has torn the other to pieces1 is himself slain4 ,we do just the same thing3 we worry some one who is connected with us1 although the end of both victor and vanquished is at hand1 and that soon4 ,let us rather pass the little remnant of our lives in peace and quiet3 may no one loathe us when we lie dead4 ,a quarrel is often brought to an end by a cry of 8,fire60 in the neighbourhood1 and the appearance of a wild beast parts the highwayman from the traveller3 men have no leisure to battle with minor evils when menaced by some overpowering terror4 ,what have we to do with fighting and ambuscades8 do you want anything more than death to befall #afa him with whom you are angry8 well1 even though you sit quiet1 he will be sure to die4 ,you waste your pains3 you want to do what is certain to be done4 ,you say1 8,i do not wish necessarily to kill him1 but to punish him by exile1 or public disgrace1 or loss of property40 ,i can more easily pardon one who wishes to give his enemy a wound than one who wishes to give him a blister3 for the latter is not only bad1 but petty-minded4 ,whether you are thinking of extreme or slighter punishments1 how very short is the time during which either your victim is tortured or you enjoy an evil pleasure in another's pain8 ,this breath that we hold so dear will soon leave us3 in the meantime1 while we draw it1 while we live among human beings1 let us practise humanity3 let us not be a terror or a danger to any one4 ,let us keep our tempers in spite of losses1 wrongs1 abuse or sarcasm1 and let us endure with magnanimity our shortlived troubles3 while we are considering what is due to ourselves1 as the saying is1 and worrying ourselves1 death will be upon us4 #a ,the hook alluded to was fastened to the neck of condemned criminals1 and by it they were dragged to the ,tiber4 ,also the bodies of dead gladiators were thus dragged out of the arena4 ,the hook by which the dead bull is drawn away at a modern ,spanish bull-fight is probably a survival of this custom4 #b ,hdt4 iii1 #cd1 #ce1 #c ,seneca's own death1 by opening his veins1 gives a melancholy interest to this passage4 #d ,hdt4 iv4 #hd4 #e ,hdt4 vii4 #ch1 #ci4 #f ,plut4 ,dem4 #bg4 #g ,hdt4 iii4 #ag1 sqq4 #h ,hdt4 i4 #ahi1 #aij4 #i ,a mistake3 ,antigonus 7,monophthalmus7 was one of ,alexander's generals4 #aj ,acerbum 2 the funeral of one who has been cut off in the flower of his youth4 #aa ,in point of time4 #ab ,consul ordinarius1 a regular consul1 one who administered in office from the first of ,january1 in opposition to consul suffectus1 one chosen in the course of the year in the place of one who had died4 ,the consul ordinarius gave his name to the year4 #ac ,it seems inconceivable that so small an interest1 #a #a_/e per cent1 per an41 can be meant4 #ad ,captatis1 ,madvig4 ,adv4 ,,ii4 #cid4 #ae ,see 8,on ,clemency10 i4 #ah1 #b4 #afb ,,the ,,sixth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,marcia4 ,,of ,,consolation4 ,i4 ,did ,i not know1 ,marcia1 that you have as little of a woman's weakness of mind as of her other vices1 and that your life was regarded as a pattern of antique virtue1 ,i should not have dared to combat your grief1 which is one that many men fondly nurse and embrace1 nor should ,i have conceived the hope of persuading you to hold fortune blameless1 having to plead for her at such an unfavorable time1 before so partial a judge1 and against such an odious charge4 ,i derive confidence1 however1 from the proved strength of your mind1 and your virtue1 which has been proved by a severe test4 ,all men know how well you behaved towards your father1 whom you loved as dearly as your children in all respects1 save that you did not wish him to survive you3 indeed1 for all that ,i know you may have wished that also3 for great affection ventures to break some of the golden rules of life4 ,you did all that lay in your power to avert the death of your father1 ,aulus ,cremutius ,cordus2#a but when it became clear that1 surrounded as he was by the myrmidons of ,sejanus1 there was no other way of escape from slavery1 you did not #afc indeed approve of his resolution1 but gave up all attempts to oppose it2 you shed tears openly1 and choked down your sobs1 yet did not screen them behind a smiling face2 and you did all this in the present century1 when not to be unnatural towards one's parents is considered the height of filial affection4 ,when the changes of our times gave you an opportunity1 you restored to the use of man that genius of your father for which he had suffered1 and made him in real truth immortal by publishing as an eternal memorial of him those books which that bravest of men had written with his own blood4 ,you have done a great service to ,roman literature3 a large part of ,cordus's books had been burned2 a great service to posterity1 who will receive a true account of events1 which cost its author so dear2 and a great service to himself1 whose memory flourishes and ever will flourish1 as long as men set any value upon the facts of ,roman history1 as long as any one lives who wishes to review the deeds of our fathers1 to know what a true ,roman was like--one who still remained unconquered when all other necks were broken in to receive the yoke of ,sejanus1 one who was free in every thought1 feeling1 and act4 ,by ,hercules1 the state would have sustained a great loss if you had not brought him forth from the oblivion to which his two splendid qualities1 eloquence and independence1 had consigned him3 he is now read1 is popular1 is received into men's hands and bosoms1 and fears no old age3 but as for those who butchered him1 before long men will cease to speak even of their crimes1 the only things by which they are remembered4 ,this greatness of mind in you has forbidden me to take into consideration your sex or your face1 still clouded by the sorrow by which so many years ago it was suddenly overcast4 ,see2 ,i shall do nothing underhand1 nor try to steal away your sorrows3 ,i have reminded you of old hurts1 and to prove that your present wound may be healed1 ,i have #afd shown you the scar of one which was equally severe4 ,let others use soft measures and caresses2 ,i have determined to do battle with your grief1 and ,i will dry those weary and exhausted eyes1 which already1 to tell you the truth1 are weeping more from habit than from sorrow4 ,i will effect this cure1 if possible1 with your goodwill3 if you disapprove of my efforts1 or dislike them1 then you must continue to hug and fondle the grief which you have adopted as the survivor of your son4 ,what1 ,i pray you1 is to be the end of it8 ,all means have been tried in vain3 the consolations of your friends1 who are weary of offering them1 and the influence of great men who are related to you3 literature1 a taste which your father enjoyed and which you have inherited from him1 now finds your ears closed1 and affords you but a futile consolation1 which scarcely engages your thoughts for a moment4 ,even time itself1 nature's greatest remedy1 which quiets the most bitter grief1 loses its power with you alone4 ,three years have already passed1 and still your grief has lost none of its first poignancy1 but renews and strengthens itself day by day1 and has now dwelt so long with you that it has acquired a domicile in your mind1 and actually thinks that it would be base to leave it4 ,all vices sink into our whole being1 if we do not crush them before they gain a footing2 and in like manner these sad1 pitiable1 and discordant feelings end by feeding upon their own bitterness1 until the unhappy mind takes a sort of morbid delight in grief4 ,i should have liked1 therefore1 to have attempted to effect this cure in the earliest stages of the disorder1 before its force was fully developed2 it might have been checked by milder remedies1 but now that it has been confirmed by time it cannot be beaten without a hard struggle4 ,in like manner1 wounds heal easily when the blood is fresh upon them3 they can then be cleared out and brought to the surface1 and admit of being probed by the finger3 when disease #afe has turned them into malignant ulcers1 their cure is more difficult4 ,i cannot now influence so strong a grief by polite and mild measures3 it must be broken down by force4 ,,ii4 ,i am aware that all who wish to give any one advice begin with precepts1 and end with examples3 but it is sometimes useful to alter this fashion1 for we must deal differently with different people4 ,some are guided by reason1 others must be confronted with authority and the names of celebrated persons1 whose brilliancy dazzles their mind and destroys their power of free judgment4 ,i will place before your eyes two of the greatest examples belonging to your sex and your century3 one1 that of a woman who allowed herself to be entirely carried away by grief2 the other1 one who1 though afflicted by a like misfortune1 and an even greater loss1 yet did not allow her sorrows to reign over her for a very long time1 but quickly restored her mind to its accustomed frame4 ,octavia and ,livia1 the former ,augustus's sister1 the latter his wife1 both lost their sons when they were young men1 and when they were certain of succeeding to the throne4 ,octavia lost ,marcellus1 whom both his father-in-law and his uncle had begun to depend upon1 and to place upon his shoulders the weight of the empire--a young man of keen intelligence and firm character1 frugal and moderate in his desires to an extent which deserved especial admiration in one so young and so wealthy1 strong to endure labour1 averse to indulgence1 and able to bear whatever burden his uncle might choose to lay1 or ,i may say to pile upon his shoulders4 ,augustus had well chosen him as a foundation1 for he would not have given way under any weight1 however excessive4 ,his mother never ceased to weep and sob during her whole life1 never endured to listen to wholesome advice1 never even allowed her thoughts to be diverted from her sorrow4 ,she remained during her whole life just as she was during the funeral1 with all the #aff strength of her mind intently fixed upon one subject4 ,i do not say that she lacked the courage to shake off her grief1 but she refused to be comforted1 thought that it would be a second bereavement to lose her tears1 and would not have any portrait of her darling son1 nor allow any allusion to be made to him4 ,she hated all mothers1 and raged against ,livia with especial fury1 because it seemed as though the brilliant prospect once in store for her own child was now transferred to ,livia's son4 ,passing all her days in darkened rooms and alone1 not conversing even with her brother1 she refused to accept the poems which were composed in memory of ,marcellus1 and all the other honours paid him by literature1 and closed her ears against all consolation4 ,she lived buried and hidden from view1 neglecting her accustomed duties1 and actually angry with the excessive splendour of her brother's prosperity1 in which she shared4 ,though surrounded by her children and grandchildren1 she would not lay aside her mourning garb1 though by retaining it she seemed to put a slight upon all her relations1 in thinking herself bereaved in spite of their being alive4 ,,iii4 ,livia lost her son ,drusus1 who would have been a great emperor1 and was already a great general3 he had marched far into ,germany1 and had planted the ,roman standards in places where the very existence of the ,romans was hardly known4 ,he died on the march1 his very foes treating him with respect1 observing a reciprocal truce1 and not having the heart to wish for what would do them most service4 ,in addition to his dying thus in his country's service1 great sorrow for him was expressed by the citizens1 the provinces1 and the whole of ,italy1 through which his corpse was attended by the people of the free towns and colonies1 who poured out to perform the last sad offices to him1 till it reached ,rome in a procession which resembled a triumph4 ,his mother was not permitted to #afg receive his last kiss and gather the last fond words from his dying lips3 she followed the relics of her ,drusus on their long journey1 though every one of the funeral pyres with which all ,italy was glowing seemed to renew her grief1 as though she had lost him so many times4 ,when1 however1 she at last laid him in the tomb1 she left her sorrow there with him1 and grieved no more than was becoming to a ,caesar or due to a son4 ,she did not cease to make frequent mention of the name of her ,drusus1 to set up his portrait in all places1 both public and private1 and to speak of him and listen while others spoke of him with the greatest pleasure3 she lived with his memory2 which none can embrace and consort with who has made it painful to himself4#b ,choose1 therefore1 which of these two examples you think the more commendable3 if you prefer to follow the former1 you will remove yourself from the number of the living2 you will shun the sight both of other people's children and of your own1 and even of him whose loss you deplore2 you will be looked upon by mothers as an omen of evil2 you will refuse to take part in honourable1 permissible pleasures1 thinking them unbecoming for one so afflicted2 you will be loth to linger above ground1 and will be especially angry with your age1 because it will not straightway bring your life abruptly to an end4 ,i here put the best construction on what is really most contemptible and foreign to your character4 ,i mean that you will show yourself unwilling to live1 and unable to die4 ,if1 on the other hand1 showing a milder and better regulated spirit1 you try to follow the example of the latter most exalted lady1 you will not be in misery1 nor will you wear your life out with suffering4 ,plague on it6 what madness this is1 to punish one's self because one is unfortunate1 and not to lessen1 but to increase one's ills6 ,you ought to display1 in this #afh matter also1 that decent behaviour and modesty which has characterised all your life3 for there is such a thing as self-restraint in grief also4 ,you will show more respect for the youth himself1 who well deserves that it should make you glad to speak and think of him1 if you make him able to meet his mother with a cheerful countenance1 even as he was wont to do when alive4 ,,iv4 ,i will not invite you to practise the sterner kind of maxims1 nor bid you bear the lot of humanity with more than human philosophy2 neither will ,i attempt to dry a mother's eyes on the very day of her son's burial4 ,i will appear with you before an arbitrator3 the matter upon which we shall join issue is1 whether grief ought to be deep or unceasing4 ,i doubt not that you will prefer the example of ,julia ,augusta1 who was your intimate friend3 she invites you to follow her method3 she1 in her first paroxysm1 when grief is especially keen and hard to bear1 betook herself for consolation to ,areus1 her husband's teacher in philosophy1 and declared that this did her much good2 more good than the thought of the ,roman people1 whom she was unwilling to sadden by her mourning2 more than ,augustus1 who1 staggering under the loss of one of his two chief supporters1 ought not to be yet more bowed down by the sorrow of his relatives2 more even than her son ,tiberius1 whose affection during that untimely burial of one for whom whole nations wept made her feel that she had only lost one member of her family4 ,this was1 ,i imagine1 his introduction to and grounding in philosophy of a woman peculiarly tenacious of her own opinion3--8,even to the present day1 ,julia1 as far as ,i can tell--and ,i was your husband's constant companion1 and knew not only what all men were allowed to know1 but all the most secret thoughts of your hearts-- you have been careful that no one should find anything to blame in your conduct2 not only in matters of importance1 #afi but even in trifles you have taken pains to do nothing which you could wish common fame1 that most frank judge of the acts of princes1 to overlook4 ,nothing1 ,i think1 is more admirable than that those who are in high places should pardon many shortcomings in others1 and have to ask it for none of their own4 ,so also in this matter of mourning you ought to act up to your maxim of doing nothing which you could wish undone1 or done otherwise4 ,v4 8,in the next place1 ,i pray and beseech you not to be self-willed and beyond the management of your friends4 ,you must be aware that none of them know how to behave1 whether to mention ,drusus in your presence or not1 as they neither wish to wrong a noble youth by forgetting him1 nor to hurt you by speaking of him4 ,when we leave you and assemble together by ourselves1 we talk freely about his sayings and doings1 treating them with the respect which they deserve3 in your presence deep silence is observed about him1 and thus you lose that greatest of pleasures1 the hearing the praises of your son1 which ,i doubt not you would be willing to hand down to all future ages1 had you the means of so doing1 even at the cost of your own life4 ,wherefore endure to listen to1 nay1 encourage conversation of which he is the subject1 and let your ears be open to the name and memory of your son4 ,you ought not to consider this painful1 like those who in such a case think that part of their misfortune consists in listening to consolation4 ,as it is1 you have altogether run into the other extreme1 and1 forgetting the better aspects of your lot1 look only upon its worse side3 you pay no attention to the pleasure you have had in your son's society and your joyful meetings with him1 the sweet caresses of his babyhood1 the progress of his education3 you fix all your attention upon that last scene of all3 and to this1 as though it were not shocking enough1 you add every horror you can4 ,do not1 ,i implore you1 take a perverse pride in appearing #agj the most unhappy of women3 and reflect also that there is no great credit in behaving bravely in times of prosperity1 when life glides easily with a favouring current3 neither does a calm sea and fair wind display the art of the pilot3 some foul weather is wanted to prove his courage4 ,like him1 then1 do not give way1 but rather plant yourself firmly1 and endure whatever burden may fall upon you from above1 scared though you may have been at the first roar of the tempest4 ,there is nothing that fastens such a reproach#c on ,fortune as resignation40 ,after this he points out to her the son who is yet alive3 he points out grandchildren from the lost one4 ,,vi4 ,it is your trouble1 ,marcia1 which has been dealt with here3 it is beside your couch of mourning that ,areus has been sitting3 change the characters1 and it is you whom he has been consoling4 ,but1 on the other hand1 ,marcia1 suppose that you have sustained a greater loss than ever mother did before you3 see1 ,i am not soothing you or making light of your misfortune3 if fate can be overcome by tears1 let us bring tears to bear upon it3 let every day be passed in mourning1 every night be spent in sorrow instead of sleep3 let your breast be torn by your own hands1 your very face attacked by them1 and every kind of cruelty be practised by your grief1 if it will profit you4 ,but if the dead cannot be brought back to life1 however much we may beat our breasts1 if destiny remains fixed and immoveable for ever1 not to be changed by any sorrow1 however great1 and death does not loose his hold of anything that he once has taken away1 then let our futile grief be brought to an end4 ,let us1 then1 steer our own course1 and no longer allow ourselves to be driven to leeward by the force of our misfortune4 ,he is a sorry pilot who lets the waves wring his rudder from his grasp1 who leaves the sails to fly loose1 and abandons the ship to the storm3 but he who #aga boldly grasps the helm and clings to it until the sea closes over him1 deserves praise even though he be shipwrecked4 ,,vii4 8,but10 say you1 8sorrow for the loss of one's own children is natural40 ,who denies it8 provided it be reasonable8 for we cannot help feeling a pang1 and the stoutest-hearted of us are cast down not only at the death of those dearest to us1 but even when they leave us on a journey4 ,nevertheless1 the mourning which public opinion enjoins is more than nature insists upon4 ,observe how intense and yet how brief are the sorrows of dumb animals3 we hear a cow lowing for one or two days1 nor do mares pursue their wild and senseless gallops for longer3 wild beasts after they have tracked their lost cubs throughout the forest1 and often visited their plundered dens1 quench their rage within a short space of time4 ,birds circle round their empty nests with loud and piteous cries1 yet almost immediately resume their ordinary flight in silence2 nor does any creature spend long periods in sorrowing for the loss of its offspring1 except man1 who encourages his own grief1 the measure of which depends not upon his sufferings1 but upon his will4 ,you may know that to be utterly broken down by grief is not natural1 by observing that the same bereavement inflicts a deeper wound upon women than upon men1 upon savages than upon civilised and cultivated persons1 upon the unlearned than upon the learned3 yet those passions which derive their force from nature are equally powerful in all men3 therefore it is clear that a passion of varying strength cannot be a natural one4 ,fire will burn all people equally1 male and female1 of every rank and every age3 steel will exhibit its cutting power on all bodies alike3 and why8 ,because these things derive their strength from nature1 which makes no distinction of persons4 ,poverty1 grief1 and ambition1#d are #agb felt differently by different people1 according as they are influenced by habit3 a rooted prejudice about the terrors of these things1 though they are not really to be feared1 makes a man weak and unable to endure them4 ,,viii4 ,moreover1 that which depends upon nature is not weakened by delay1 but grief is gradually effaced by time4 ,however obstinate it may be1 though it be daily renewed and be exasperated by all attempts to soothe it1 yet even this becomes weakened by time1 which is the most efficient means of taming its fierceness4 ,you1 ,marcia1 have still a mighty sorrow abiding with you1 nevertheless it already appears to have become blunted3 it is obstinate and enduring1 but not so acute as it was at first3 and this also will be taken from you piecemeal by succeeding years4 ,whenever you are engaged in other pursuits your mind will be relieved from its burden3 at present you keep watch over yourself to prevent this4 ,yet there is a great difference between allowing and forcing yourself to grieve4 ,how much more in accordance with your cultivated taste it would be to put an end to your mourning instead of looking for the end to come1 and not to wait for the day when your sorrow shall cease against your will3 dismiss it of your own accord4 ,,ix4 8,why then10 you ask1 8do we show such persistence in mourning for our friends1 if it be not nature that bids us do so80 ,it is because we never expect that any evil will befall ourselves before it comes1 we will not be taught by seeing the misfortunes of others that they are the common inheritance of all men1 but imagine that the path which we have begun to tread is free from them and less beset by dangers than that of other people4 ,how many funerals pass our houses8 yet we do not think of death4 ,how many untimely deaths8 we think only of our son's coming of age1 of his service in the army1 or of his succession to his father's estate4 ,how many rich men suddenly #agc sink into poverty before our very eyes1 without its ever occurring to our minds that our own wealth is exposed to exactly the same risks8 ,when1 therefore1 misfortune befalls us1 we cannot help collapsing all the more completely1 because we are struck as it were unawares3 a blow which has long been foreseen falls much less heavily upon us4 ,do you wish to know how completely exposed you are to every stroke of fate1 and that the same shafts which have transfixed others are whirling around yourself8 then imagine that you are mounting without sufficient armour to assault some city wall or some strong and lofty position manned by a great host1 expect a wound1 and suppose that all those stones1 arrows1 and darts which fill the upper air are aimed at your body3 whenever any one falls at your side or behind your back1 exclaim1 8,fortune1 you will not outwit me1 or catch me confident and heedless3 ,i know what you are preparing to do3 you have struck down another1 but you aimed at me40 ,who ever looks upon his own affairs as though he were at the point of death8 which of us ever dares to think about banishment1 want1 or mourning8 who1 if advised to meditate upon these subjects1 would not reject the idea like an evil omen1 and bid it depart from him and alight on the heads of his enemies1 or even on that of his untimely adviser8 8,i never thought it would happen60 ,how can you think that anything will not happen1 when you know that it may happen to many men1 and has happened to many8 ,that is a noble verse1 and worthy of a nobler source than the stage3-- 8,what one hath suffered may befall us all40 ,that man has lost his children3 you may lose yours4 ,that man has been convicted3 your innocence is in peril4 ,we are deceived and weakened by this delusion1 when we suffer what we never foresaw that we possibly could suffer3 but by looking forward to the coming of our sorrows we take the sting out of them when they come4 #agd ,x4 ,my ,marcia1 all these adventitious circumstances which glitter around us1 such as children1 office in the state1 wealth1 large halls1 vestibules crowded with clients seeking vainly for admittance1 a noble name1 a well-born or beautiful wife1 and every other thing which depends entirely upon uncertain and changeful fortune1 are but furniture which is not our own1 but entrusted to us on loan3 none of these things are given to us outright3 the stage of our lives is adorned with properties gathered from various sources1 and soon to be returned to their several owners3 some of them will be taken away on the first day1 some on the second1 and but few will remain till the end4 ,we have1 therefore1 no grounds for regarding ourselves with complacency1 as though the things which surround us were our own3 they are only borrowed3 we have the use and enjoyment of them for a time regulated by the lender1 who controls his own gift3 it is our duty always to be able to lay our hands upon what has been lent us with no fixed date for its return1 and to restore it when called upon without a murmur3 the most detestable kind of debtor is he who rails at his creditor4 ,hence all our relatives1 both those who by the order of their birth we hope will outlive ourselves1 and those who themselves most properly wish to die before us1 ought to be loved by us as persons whom we cannot be sure of having with us for ever1 nor even for long4 ,we ought frequently to remind ourselves that we must love the things of this life as we would what is shortly to leave us1 or indeed in the very act of leaving us4 ,whatever gift ,fortune bestows upon a man1 let him think while he enjoys it1 that it will prove as fickle as the goddess from whom it came4 ,snatch what pleasure you can from your children1 allow your children in their turn to take pleasure in your society1 and drain every pleasure to the dregs without any delay4 ,we cannot reckon on to-night1 nay1 ,i have allowed too long a delay1 #age we cannot reckon on this hour3 we must make haste3 the enemy presses on behind us3 soon that society of yours will be broken up1 that pleasant company will be taken by assault and dispersed4 ,pillage is the universal law3 unhappy creatures1 know you not that life is but a flight8 ,if you grieve for the death of your son1 the fault lies with the time when he was born1 for at his birth he was told that death was his doom3 it is the law under which he was born1 the fate which has pursued him ever since he left his mother's womb4 ,we have come under the dominion of ,fortune1 and a harsh and unconquerable dominion it is3 at her caprice we must suffer all things whether we deserve them or not4 ,she maltreats our bodies with anger1 insult1 and cruelty3 some she burns1 the fire being sometimes applied as a punishment and sometimes as a remedy3 some she imprisons1 allowing it to be done at one time by our enemies1 at another by our countrymen3 she tosses others naked on the changeful seas1 and after their struggle with the waves will not even cast them out upon the sand or the shore1 but will entomb them in the belly of some huge sea-monster3 she wears away others to a skeleton by divers kinds of disease1 and keeps them long in suspense between life and death3 she is as capricious in her rewards and punishments as a fickle1 whimsical1 and careless mistress is with those of her slaves4 ,,xi4 ,why need we weep over parts of our life8 the whole of it calls for tears3 new miseries assail us before we have freed ourselves from the old ones4 ,you1 therefore1 who allow them to trouble you to an unreasonable extent ought especially to restrain yourselves1 and to muster all the powers of the human breast to combat your fears and your pains4 ,moreover1 what forgetfulness of your own position and that of mankind is this8 ,you were born a mortal1 and you have given birth to mortals3 yourself a weak and fragile body1 liable to all diseases1 can you have hoped to #agf produce anything strong and lasting from such unstable materials8 ,your son has died3 in other words he has reached that goal towards which those whom you regard as more fortunate than your offspring are still hastening3 this is the point towards which move at different rates all the crowds which are squabbling in the law courts1 sitting in the theatres1 praying in the temples4 ,those whom you love and those whom you despise will both be made equal in the same ashes4 ,this is the meaning of that command1 ,,know ,,thyself1 which is written on the shrine of the ,pythian oracle4 ,what is man8 a potter's vessel1 to be broken by the slightest shake or toss3 it requires no great storm to rend you asunder3 you fall to pieces wherever you strike4 ,what is man8 a weakly and frail body1 naked1 without any natural protection1 dependent on the help of others1 exposed to all the scorn of ,fortune2 even when his muscles are well trained he is the prey and the food of the first wild beast he meets1 formed of weak and unstable substances1 fair in outward feature1 but unable to endure cold1 heat1 or labour1 and yet falling to ruin if kept in sloth and idleness1 fearing his very victuals1 for he is starved if he has them not1 and bursts if he has too much4 ,he cannot be kept safe without anxious care1 his breath only stays in the body on sufferance1 and has no real hold upon it2 he starts at every sudden danger1 every loud and unexpected noise that reaches his ears4 ,ever a cause of anxiety to ourselves1 diseased and useless as we are1 can we be surprised at the death of a creature which can be killed by a single hiccup8 ,is it a great undertaking to put an end to us8 why1 smells1 tastes1 fatigue and want of sleep1 food and drink1 and the very necessaries of life1 are mortal4 ,whithersoever he moves he straightway becomes conscious of his weakness1 not being able to bear all climates1 falling sick after drinking strange water1 breathing an air to which he is not accustomed1 or #agg from other causes and reasons of the most trifling kind1 frail1 sickly1 entering upon his life with weeping3 yet nevertheless what a disturbance this despicable creature makes6 what ideas it conceives1 forgetting its lowly condition6 ,it exercises its mind upon matters which are immortal and eternal1 and arranges the affairs of its grandchildren and great-grandchildren1 while death surprises it in the midst of its far-reaching schemes1 and what we call old age is but the round of a very few years4 ,,xii4 ,supposing that your sorrow has any method at all1 is it your own sufferings or those of him who is gone that it has in view8 ,why do you grieve over your lost son8 is it because you have received no pleasure from him1 or because you would have received more had he lived longer8 ,if you answer that you have received no pleasure from him you make your loss more endurable3 for men miss less when lost what has given them no enjoyment or gladness4 ,if1 again1 you admit that you have received much pleasure1 it is your duty not to complain of that part which you have lost1 but to return thanks for that which you have enjoyed4 ,his rearing alone ought to have brought you a sufficient return for your labours1 for it can hardly be that those who take the greatest pains to rear puppies1 birds1 and such like paltry objects of amusement derive a certain pleasure from the sight and touch and fawning caresses of these dumb creatures1 and yet that those who rear children should not find their reward in doing so4 ,thus1 even though his industry may have gained nothing for you1 his carefulness may have saved nothing for you1 his foresight may have given you no advice1 yet you found sufficient reward in having owned him and loved him4 8,but10 say you1 8it might have lasted longer40 ,true1 but you have been better dealt with than if you had never had a son1 for1 supposing you were given your choice1 which is the better lot1 to be happy for a short time or not at all8 #agh ,it is better to enjoy pleasures which soon leave us than to enjoy none at all4 ,which1 again1 would you choose8 to have had one who was a disgrace to you1 and who merely filled the position and owned the name of your son1 or one of such noble character as your son's was8 a youth who soon grew discreet and dutiful1 soon became a husband and a father1 soon became eager for public honours1 and soon obtained the priesthood1 winning his way to all these admirable things with equally admirable speed4 ,it falls to scarcely any one's lot to enjoy great prosperity1 and also to enjoy it for a long time3 only a dull kind of happiness can last for long and accompany us to the end of our lives4 ,the immortal gods1 who did not intend to give you a son for long1 gave you one who was straightway what another would have required long training to become4 ,you cannot even say that you have been specially marked by the gods for misfortune because you have had no pleasure in your son4 ,look at any company of people1 whether they be known to you or not3 everywhere you will see some who have endured greater misfortunes than your own4 ,great generals and princes have undergone like bereavements3 mythology tells us that the gods themselves are not exempt from them1 its aim1 ,i suppose1 being to lighten our sorrow at death by the thought that even deities are subject to it4 ,look around1 ,i repeat1 at every one3 you cannot mention any house so miserable as not to find comfort in the fact of another being yet more miserable4 ,i do not1 by ,hercules1 think so ill of your principles as to suppose that you would bear your sorrow more lightly were ,i to show you an enormous company of mourners3 that is a spiteful sort of consolation which we derive from the number of our fellow-sufferers3 nevertheless ,i will quote some instances1 not indeed in order to teach you that this often befalls men1 for it is absurd to multiply examples of man's mortality1 but to let you know that there have #agi been many who have lightened their misfortunes by patient endurance of them4 ,i will begin with the luckiest man of all4 ,lucius ,sulla lost his son1 yet this did not impair either the spitefulness or the brilliant valour which he displayed at the expense of his enemies and his countrymen alike1 nor did it make him appear to have assumed his well-known title untruly that he did so after his son's death1 fearing neither the hatred of men1 by whose sufferings that excessive prosperity of his was purchased1 nor the ill-will of the gods1 to whom it was a reproach that ,sulla should be so truly ,the ,fortunate4 ,what1 however1 ,sulla's real character was may pass among questions still undecided3 even his enemies will admit that he took up arms with honour1 and laid them aside with honour3 his example proves the point at issue1 that an evil which befalls even the most prosperous cannot be one of the first magnitude4 ,,xiii4 ,that ,greece cannot boast unduly of that father who1 being in the act of offering sacrifice when he heard the news of his son's death1 merely ordered the flute-player to be silent1 and removed the garland from his head1 but accomplished all the rest of the ceremony in due form1 is due to a ,roman1 ,pulvillus the high priest4 ,when he was in the act of holding the doorpost#e and dedicating the ,capitol the news of his son's death was brought to him4 ,he pretended not to hear it1 and pronounced the form of words proper for the high priest on such an occasion1 without his prayer being interrupted by a single groan1 begging that ,jupiter would show himself gracious1 at the very instant that he heard his son's name mentioned as dead4 ,do you imagine that this man's mourning knew no end1 if the first day and the first shook could not drive him1 though a father1 away #ahj from the public altar of the state1 or cause him to mar the ceremony of dedication by words of ill omen8 ,worthy1 indeed1 of the most exalted priesthood was he who ceased not to revere the gods even when they were angry4 ,yet he1 after he had gone home1 filled his eyes with tears1 said a few words of lamentation1 and performed the rites with which it was then customary to honour the dead1 resumed the expression of countenance which he had worn in the ,capitol4 ,paulus1#f about the time of his magnificent triumph1 in which he drove ,perses in chains before his car1 gave two of his sons to be adopted into other families1 and buried those whom he had kept for himself4 ,what1 think you1 must those whom he kept have been1 when ,scipio was one of those whom he gave away8 ,it was not without emotion that the ,roman people looked upon ,paulus's empty chariot3#g nevertheless he made a speech to them1 and returned thanks to the gods for having granted his prayer3 for he had prayed that1 if any offering to ,nemesis were due in consequence of the stupendous victory which he had won1 it might be paid at his own expense rather than at that of his country4 ,do you see how magnanimously he bore his loss8 he even congratulated himself on being left childless1 though who had more to suffer by such a change8 he lost at once his comforters and his helpers4 ,yet ,perses did not have the pleasure of seeing ,paulus look sorrowful4 ,,xiv4 ,why should ,i lead you on through the endless #aha series of great men and pick out the unhappy ones1 as though it were not more difficult to find happy ones8 for how few households have remained possessed of all their members until the end8 what one is there that has not suffered some loss8 ,take any one year you please and name the consuls for it3 if you like1 that of#h ,lucius ,bibulus and ,gaius ,caesar2 you will see that1 though these colleagues were each other's bitterest enemies1 yet their fortunes agreed4 ,lucius ,bibulus1 a man more remarkable for goodness than for strength of character1 had both his sons murdered at the same time1 and even insulted by the ,egyptian soldiery1 so that the agent of his bereavement was as much a subject for tears as the bereavement itself4 ,nevertheless ,bibulus1 who during the whole of his year of office had remained hidden in his house1 to cast reproach upon his colleague ,caesar on the day following that upon which he heard of both his sons' deaths1 came forth and went through the routine business of his magistracy4 ,who could devote less than one day to mourning for two sons8 ,thus soon did he end his mourning for his children1 although he had mourned a whole year for his consulship4 ,gaius ,caesar1 after having traversed ,britain1 and not allowed even the ocean to set bounds to his successes1 heard of the death of his daughter1 which hurried on the crisis of affairs4 ,already ,gnaeus ,pompeius stood before his eyes1 a man who would ill endure that any one besides himself should become a great power in the state1 and one who was likely to place a check upon his advancement1 which he had regarded as onerous even when each gained by the other's rise3 yet within three days' time he resumed his duties as general1 and conquered his grief as quickly as he was wont to conquer everything else4 ,,xv4 ,why need ,i remind you of the deaths of the other #ahb ,caesars1 whom fortune appears to me sometimes to have outraged in order that even by their deaths they might be useful to mankind1 by proving that not even they1 although they were styled 8sons of gods10 and 8fathers of gods to come10 could exercise the same power over their own fortunes which they did over those of others8 ,the ,emperor ,augustus lost his children and his grandchildren1 and after all the family of ,caesar had perished was obliged to prop his empty house by adopting a son3 yet he bore his losses as bravely as though he were already personally concerned in the honour of the gods1 and as though it were especially to his interest that no one should complain of the injustice of ,heaven4 ,tiberius ,caesar lost both the son whom he begot and the son whom he adopted1 yet he himself pronounced a panegyric upon his son from the ,rostra1 and stood in full view of the corpse1 which merely had a curtain on one side to prevent the eyes of the high priest resting upon the dead body1 and did not change his countenance1 though all the ,romans wept3 he gave ,sejanus1 who stood by his side1 a proof of how patiently he could endure the loss of his relatives4 ,see you not what numbers of most eminent men there have been1 none of whom have been spared by this blight which prostrates us all3 men1 too1 adorned with every grace of character1 and every distinction that public or private life can confer4 ,it appears as though this plague moved in a regular orbit1 and spread ruin and desolation among us all without distinction of persons1 all being alike its prey4 ,bid any number of individuals tell you the story of their lives3 you will find that all have paid some penalty for being born4 ,,xvi4 ,i know what you will say1 8,you quote men as examples3 you forget that it is a woman that you are trying to console40 ,yet who would say that nature has dealt grudgingly with the minds of women1 and stunted their virtues8 ,believe me1 they have the same intellectual power as men1 #ahc and the same capacity for honourable and generous action4 ,if trained to do so1 they are just as able to endure sorrow or labour4 ,ye good gods1 do ,i say this in that very city in which ,lucretia and ,brutus removed the yoke of kings from the necks of the ,romans8 ,we owe liberty to ,brutus1 but we owe ,brutus to ,lucretia--in which ,cloelia1 for the sublime courage with which she scorned both the enemy and the river1 has been almost reckoned as a man4 ,the statue of ,cloelia1 mounted on horseback1 in that busiest of thoroughfares1 the ,sacred ,way1 continually reproaches the youth of the present day1 who never mount anything but a cushioned seat in a carriage1 with journeying in such a fashion through that very city in which we have enrolled even women among our knights4 ,if you wish me to point out to you examples of women who have bravely endured the loss of their children1 ,i shall not go far afield to search for them3 in one family ,i can quote two ,cornelias1 one the daughter of ,scipio1 and the mother of the ,gracchi1 who made acknowledgment of the birth of her twelve children by burying them all3 nor was it so hard to do this in the case of the others1 whose birth and death were alike unknown to the public1 but she beheld the murdered and unburied corpses of both ,tiberius ,gracchus and ,gaius ,gracchus1 whom even those who will not call them good must admit were great men4 ,yet to those who tried to console her and called her unfortunate1 she answered1 8,i shall never cease to call myself happy1 because ,i am the mother of the ,gracchi40 ,cornelia1 the wife of ,livius ,drusus1 lost by the hands of an unknown assassin a young son of great distinction1 who was treading in the footsteps of the ,gracchi1 and was murdered in his own house just when he had so many bills half way through the process of becoming law3 nevertheless she bore the untimely and unavenged death of her son with as lofty a spirit as he had shown in carrying his laws4 ,will you not1 ,marcia1 forgive fortune because she has not refrained #ahd from striking you with the darts with which she launched at the ,scipios1 and the mothers and daughters of the ,scipios1 and with which she has attacked the ,caesars themselves8 ,life is full of misfortunes2 our path is beset with them3 no one can make a long peace1 nay1 scarcely an armistice with fortune4 ,you1 ,marcia1 have borne four children3 now they say that no dart which is hurled into a close column of soldiers can fail to hit one1--ought you then to wonder at not having been able to lead along such a company without exciting the ill-will of ,fortune1 or suffering loss at her hands8 8,but10 say you1 8,fortune has treated me unfairly1 for she not only has bereaved me of my son1 but chose my best beloved to deprive me of40 ,yet you never can say that you have been wronged1 if you divide the stakes equally with an antagonist who is stronger than yourself3 ,fortune has left you two daughters1 and their children3 she has not even taken away altogether him who you now mourn for1 forgetful of his elder brother3 you have two daughters by him1 who if you support them ill will prove great burdens1 but if well1 great comforts to you4 ,you ought to prevail upon yourself1 when you see them1 to let them remind you of your son1 and not of your grief4 ,when a husbandman's trees have either been torn up1 roots and all1 by the wind1 or broken off short by the force of a hurricane1 he takes care of what is left of their stock1 straightway plants seeds or cuttings in the place of those which he has lost1 and in a moment--for time is as swift in repairing losses as in causing them--more flourishing trees are growing than were there before4 ,take1 then1 in the place of your ,metilius these his two daughters1 and by their twofold consolation lighten your single sorrow4 ,true1 human nature is so constituted as to love nothing so much as what it has lost1 and our yearning after those who have been taken from us makes us judge unfairly of those who are left to us3 nevertheless1 if you choose to reckon up how merciful #ahe ,fortune has been to you even in her anger1 you will feel that you have more than enough to console you4 ,look at all your grandchildren1 and your two daughters3 and say also1 ,marcia3--8,i should indeed be cast down1 if everyone's fortune followed his deserts1 and if no evil ever befel good men3 but as it is ,i perceive that no distinction is made1 and that the bad and the good are both harassed alike40 ,,xvii4 8,still1 it is a sad thing to lose a young man whom you have brought up1 just as he was becoming a defence and a pride both to his mother and to his country40 ,no one denies that it is sad3 but it is the common lot of mortals4 ,you were born to lose others1 to be lost1 to hope1 to fear1 to destroy your own peace and that of others1 to fear and yet to long for death1 and1 worst of all1 never to know what your real position is4 ,if you were about to journey to ,syracuse1 and some one were to say3--8,learn beforehand all the discomforts1 and all the pleasures of your coming voyage1 and then set sail4 ,the sights which you will enjoy will be as follows3 first1 you will see the island itself1 now separated from ,italy by a narrow strait1 but which1 we know1 once formed part of the mainland4 ,the sea suddenly broke through1 and #8,sever'd ,sicilia from the western shore4'#i ,next1 as you will be able to sail close to ,charybdis1 of which the poets have sung1 you will see that greediest of whirlpools1 quite smooth if no south wind be blowing1 but whenever there is a gale from that quarter1 sucking down ships into a huge and deep abyss4 ,you will see the fountain of ,arethusa1 so famed in song1 with its waters bright and pellucid to the very bottom1 and pouring forth an icy stream which it either finds on the spot or else plunges it under ground1 conveys it thither as a separate river beneath so many seas1 free from any mixture of less pure water1 and #ahf there brings it again to the surface4 ,you will see a harbour which is more sheltered than all the others in the world1 whether they be natural or improved by human art for the protection of shipping2 so safe1 that even the most violent storms are powerless to disturb it4 ,you will see the place where the power of ,athens was broken1 where that natural prison1 hewn deep among precipices of rock1 received so many thousands of captives3 you will see the great city itself1 occupying a wider site than many capitals1 an extremely warm resort in winter1 where not a single day passes without sunshine3 but when you have observed all this1 you must remember that the advantages of its winter climate are counterbalanced by a hot and pestilential summer3 that here will be the tyrant ,dionysius1 the destroyer of freedom1 of justice1 and of law1 who is greedy of power even after conversing with ,plato1 and of life even after he has been exiled2 that he will burn some1 flog others1 and behead others for slight offences2 that he will exercise his lust upon both sexes 4 4 4 4 4 ,you have now heard all that can attract you thither1 all that can deter you from going3 now1 then1 either set sail or remain at home60 ,if1 after this declaration1 anybody were to say that he wished to go to ,syracuse1 he could blame no one but himself for what befel him there1 because he would not stumble upon it unknowingly1 but would have gone thither fully aware of what was before him4 ,to everyone ,nature says3 8,i do not deceive any person4 ,if you choose to have children1 they may be handsome1 or they may be deformed2 perhaps they will be born dumb4 ,one of them may perhaps prove the saviour of his country1 or perhaps its betrayer4 ,you need not despair of their being raised to such honour that for their sake no one will dare to speak evil of you3 yet remember that they may reach such a pitch of infamy as themselves to become curses to you4 ,there is nothing to prevent their performing the #ahg last offices for you1 and your panegyric being spoken by your children3 but hold yourself prepared nevertheless to place a son as boy1 man1 or greybeard1 upon the funeral pyre3 for years have nothing to do with the matter1 since every sort of funeral in which a parent buries his child must alike be untimely4#aj ,if you still choose to rear children1 after ,i have explained these conditions to you1 you render yourself incapable of blaming the gods1 for they never guaranteed anything to you40 ,,xviii4 ,you may make this simile apply to your whole entrance into life4 ,i have explained to you what attractions and what drawbacks there would be if you were thinking of going to ,syracuse3 now suppose that ,i were to come and give you advice when you were going to be born4 8,you are about10 ,i should say1 8to enter a city of which both gods and men are citizens1 a city which contains the whole universe1 which is bound by irrevocable and eternal laws1 and wherein the heavenly bodies run their unwearied courses3 you will see therein innumerable twinkling stars1 and the sun1 whose single light pervades every place1 who by his daily course marks the times of day and night1 and by his yearly course makes a more equal division between summer and winter4 ,you will see his place taken by night by the moon1 who borrows at her meetings with her brother a gentle and softer light1 and who at one time is invisible1 at another hangs full-faced above the earth1 ever waxing and waning1 each phase unlike the last4 ,you will see five stars1 moving in the opposite direction to the others1 stemming the whirl of the skies towards the ,west3 on the slightest motions of these depend the fortunes of nations1 and according as the aspect of the planets is auspicious or malignant1 the greatest empires rise and fall3 you will see with wonder the gathering clouds1 the falling showers1 the #ahh zigzag lightning1 the crashing together of the heavens4 ,when1 sated with the wonders above1 you turn your eyes towards the earth1 they will be met by objects of a different yet equally admirable aspect3 on one side a boundless expanse of open plains1 on another the towering peaks of lofty and snow-clad mountains3 the downward course of rivers1 some streams running eastward1 some westward from the same source3 the woods which wave even on the mountain tops1 the vast forests with all the creatures that dwell therein1 and the confused harmony of the birds3 the variously-placed cities1 the nations which natural obstacles keep secluded from the world1 some of whom withdraw themselves to lofty mountains1 while others dwell in fear and trembling on the sloping banks of rivers3 the crops which are assisted by cultivation1 and the trees which bear fruit even without it3 the rivers that flow gently through the meadows1 the lovely bays and shores that curve inwards to form harbours3 the countless islands scattered over the main1 which break and spangle the seas4 ,what of the brilliancy of stones and gems1 the gold that rolls amid the sands of rushing streams1 the heaven-born fires that burst forth from the midst of the earth and even front the midst of the sea2 the ocean itself1 that binds land to land1 dividing the nations by its threefold indentations1 and boiling up with mighty rage8 ,swimming upon its waves1 making them disturbed and swelling without wind1 you will see animals exceeding the size of any that belong to the land1 some clumsy and requiring others to guide their movements1 some swift and moving faster than the utmost efforts of rowers1 some of them that drink in the waters and blow them out again to the great perils of those who sail near them3 you will see here ships seeking for unknown lands3 you will see that man's audacity leaves nothing unattempted1 and you will yourself be both a witness and a sharer in great #ahi attempts4 ,you will both learn and teach the arts by which men's lives are supplied with necessaries1 are adorned1 and are ruled3 but in this same place there will be a thousand pestilences fatal to both body and mind1 there will be wars and highway robberies1 poisonings and shipwrecks1 extremes of climate and excesses of body1 untimely griefs for our dearest ones1 and death for ourselves1 of which we cannot tell whether it will be easy or by torture at the hands of the executioner4 ,now consider and weigh carefully in your own mind which you would choose4 ,if you wish to enjoy these blessings you must pass through these pains4 ,do you answer that you choose to live8 #8,of course4' ,nay1 ,i thought you would not enter upon that of which the least diminution causes pain4 ,live1 then1 as has been agreed on4 ,you say1 8,no one has asked my opinion40 ,our parents' opinion was taken about us1 when1 knowing what the conditions of life are1 they brought us into it4 ,,xix4 ,but1 to come to topics of consolation1 in the first place consider if you please to what our remedies must be applied1 and next1 in what way4 ,it is regret for the absence of his loved one which causes a mourner to grieve3 yet it is clear that this in itself is bearable enough2 for we do not weep at their being absent or intending to be absent during their lifetime1 although when they leave our sight we have no more pleasure in them4 ,what tortures us1 therefore1 is an idea4 ,now every evil is just as great as we consider it to be3 we have1 therefore1 the remedy in our own hands4 ,let us suppose that they are on a journey1 and let us deceive ourselves3 we have sent them away1 or1 rather1 we have sent them on in advance to a place whither we shall soon follow them4#aa ,besides this1 mourners are wont to suffer from the thought1 8,i shall #aij have no one to protect me1 no one to avenge me when ,i am scorned40 ,to use a very disreputable but very true mode of consolation1 ,i may say that in our country the loss of children bestows more influence than it takes away1 and loneliness1 which used to bring the aged to ruin1 now makes them so powerful that some old men have pretended to pick quarrels with their sons1 have disowned their own children1 and have made themselves childless by their own act4 ,i know what you will say3 8,my own losses do not grieve me30 and indeed a man does not deserve to be consoled if he is sorry for his son's death as he would be for that of a slave1 who is capable of seeing anything in his son beyond his son's self4 ,what then1 ,marcia1 is it that grieves you8 is it that your son has died1 or that he did not live long8 ,if it be his having died1 then you ought always to have grieved1 for you always knew that he would die4 ,reflect that the dead suffer no evils1 that all those stories which make us dread the nether world are mere fables1 that he who dies need fear no darkness1 no prison1 no blazing streams of fire1 no river of ,lethe1 no judgment seat before which he must appear1 and that ,death is such utter freedom that1 he need fear no more despots4 ,all that is a phantasy of the poets1 who have terrified us without a cause4 ,death is a release from and an end of all pains3 beyond it our sufferings cannot extend3 it restores us to the peaceful rest in which we lay before we were born4 ,if any one pities the dead1 he ought also to pity those who have not been born4 ,death is neither a good nor a bad thing1 for that alone which is something can be a good or a bad thing3 but that which is nothing1 and reduces all things to nothing1 does not hand us over to either fortune1 because good and bad require some material to work upon4 ,fortune cannot take hold of that which ,nature has let go1 nor can a man be unhappy if he is nothing4 ,your son has passed beyond the border of the #aia country where men are forced to labour2 he has reached deep and everlasting peace4 ,he feels no fear of want1 no anxiety about his riches1 no stings of lust that tears the heart in guise of pleasure3 he knows no envy of another's prosperity1 he is not crushed by the weight of his own2 even his chaste ears are not wounded by any ribaldry3 he is menaced by no disaster1 either to his country or to himself4 ,he does not hang1 full of anxiety1 upon the issue of events1 to reap even greater uncertainty as his reward3 he has at last taken up a position from which nothing can dislodge him1 where nothing can make him afraid4 ,,xx4 ,o how little do men understand their own misery1 that they do not praise and look forward to death as the best discovery of ,nature1 whether because it hedges in happiness1 or because it drives away misery3 because it puts an end to the sated weariness of old age1 cuts down youth in its bloom while still full of hope of better things1 or calls home childhood before the harsher stages of life are reached3 it is the end of all men1 a relief to many1 a desire to some1 and it treats none so well as those to whom it comes before they call for it4 ,death frees the slave though his master wills it not1 it lightens the captive's chains3 it leads out of prison those whom headstrong power has forbidden to quit it3 it points out to exiles1 whose minds and eyes are ever turned towards their own country1 that it makes no difference under what people's soil one lies4 ,when ,fortune has unjustly divided the common stock1 and has given over one man to another1 though they were born with equal rights4 ,death makes them all equal4 ,after ,death no one acts any more at another's bidding3 in death no man suffers any more from the sense of his low position4 ,it is open to all3 it was what your father1 ,marcia1 longed for3 it is this1 ,i say1 that renders it no misery to be born1 which enables me to face the threatenings of misfortune without quailing1 and to keep #aib my mind unharmed and able to command itself4 ,i have a last appeal4 ,i see before me crosses not all alike1 but differently made by different peoples3 some hang a man head downwards1 some force a stick upwards through his groin1 some stretch out his arms on a forked gibbet4 ,i see cords1 scourges1 and instruments of torture for each limb and each joint3 but ,i see ,death also4 ,there are bloodthirsty enemies1 there are overbearing fellow-countrymen1 but where they are there ,i see ,death also4 ,slavery is not grievous if a man can gain his freedom by one step as soon as he becomes tired of thraldom4 ,life1 it is thanks to ,death that ,i hold thee so dear4 ,think how great a blessing is a timely death1 how many have been injured by living longer than they ought4 ,if sickness had carried off that glory and support of the empire1 ,gnaeus ,pompeius1 at ,naples1 he would have died the undoubted head of the ,roman people1 but as it was1 a short extension of time cast him down from his pinnacle of fame3 he beheld his legions slaughtered before his eyes3 and what a sad relic of that battle1 in which the ,senate formed the first line1 was the survival of the general4 ,he saw his ,egyptian butcher1 and offered his body1 hallowed by so many victories1 to a guardsman's sword1 although even had he been unhurt1 he would have regretted his safety3 for what could have been more infamous than that a ,pompeius should owe his life to the clemency of a king8 ,if ,marcus ,cicero had fallen at the time when he avoided those daggers which ,catiline aimed equally at him and at his country1 he might have died as the saviour of the commonwealth which he had set free3 if his death had even followed upon that of his daughter1 he might have died happy4 ,he would not then have seen swords drawn for the slaughter of ,roman citizens1 the goods of the murdered divided among the murderers that men might pay from their own purse the price of their #aic own blood1 the public auction of the consul's spoil in the civil war1 the public letting out of murder to be done1 brigandage1 war1 pillage1 hosts of ,catilines4 ,would it not have been a good thing for ,marcus ,cato if the sea had swallowed him up when he was returning from ,cyprus after sequestrating the king's hereditary possessions1 even if that very money which he was bringing to pay the soldiers in the civil war had been lost with him8 ,he certainly would have been able to boast that no one would dare to do wrong in the presence of ,cato3 as it was1 the extension of his life for a very few more years forced one who was born for personal and political freedom to flee from ,caesar and to become ,pompeius's follower4 ,premature death therefore did him no evil3 indeed1 it put an end to the power of any evil to hurt him4 ,,xxi4 8,yet10 say you1 8he perished too soon and untimely40 ,in the first place1 suppose that he had lived to extreme old age3 let him continue alive to the extreme limits of human existence3 how much is it after all8 ,born for a very brief space of time1 we regard this life as an inn which we are soon to quit that it may be made ready for the coming guest4 ,do ,i speak of our lives1 which we know roll away incredibly fast8 ,reckon up the centuries of cities3 you will find that even those which boast of their antiquity have not existed for long4 ,all human works are brief and fleeting2 they take up no part whatever of infinite time4 ,tried by the standard of the universe1 we regard this earth of ours1 with all its cities1 nations1 rivers1 and sea-board as a mere point3 our life occupies less than a point when compared with all time1 the measure of which exceeds that of the world1 for indeed the world is contained many times in it4 ,of what importance1 then1 can it be to lengthen that which1 however much you add to it1 will never be much more than nothing8 ,we can only make our lives long by one expedient1 that is1 by being #aid satisfied with their length3 you may tell me of long-lived men1 whose length of days has been celebrated by tradition1 you may assign a hundred and ten years apiece to them3 yet when you allow your mind to conceive the idea of eternity1 there will be no difference between the shortest and the longest life1 if you compare the time during which any one has been alive with that during which he has not been alive4 ,in the next place1 when he died his life was complete3 he had lived as long as he needed to live3 there was nothing left for him to accomplish4 ,all men do not grow old at the same age1 nor indeed do all animals3 some are wearied out by life at fourteen years of age1 and what is only the first stage of life with man is their extreme limit of longevity4 ,to each man a varying length of days has been assigned3 no one dies before his time1 because he was not destined to live any longer than he did4 ,everyone's end is fixed1 and will always remain where it has been placed3 neither industry nor favour will move it on any further4 ,believe1 then1 that you lost him by advice3 he took all that was his own1 8,and reached the goal allotted to his life10 so you need not burden yourself with the thought1 8,he might have lived longer40 ,his life has not been cut short1 nor does chance ever cut short our years3 every man receives as much as was promised to him3 the ,fates go their own way1 and neither add anything nor take away anything from what they have once promised4 ,prayers and endeavours are all in vain3 each man will have as much life as his first day placed to his credit3 from the time when he first saw the light he has entered on the path that leads to death1 and is drawing nearer to his doom3 those same years which were added to his youth were subtracted from his life4 ,we all fall into this mistake of supposing that it is only old men1 already in the decline of life1 who are drawing #aie near to death1 whereas our first infancy1 our youth1 indeed every time of life leads thither4 ,the ,fates ply their own work3 they take from us the consciousness of our death1 and1 the better to conceal its approaches1 death lurks under the very names we give to life3 infancy changes into boyhood1 maturity swallows up the boy1 old age the man2 these stages themselves1 if you reckon them properly1 are so many losses4 ,,xxii4 ,do you complain1 ,marcia1 that your son did not live as long as he might have done8 ,how do you know that it was to his advantage to live longer8 whether his interest was not served by this death8 ,whom can you find at the present time whose fortunes are grounded on such sure foundations that they have nothing to fear in the future8 ,all human affairs are evanescent and perishable1 nor is any part of our life so frail and liable to accident as that which we especially enjoy4 ,we ought1 therefore1 to pray for death when our fortune is at its best1 because so great is the uncertainty and turmoil in which we live1 that we can be sure of nothing but what is past4 ,think of your son's handsome person1 which you had guarded in perfect purity among all the temptations of a voluptuous capital4 ,who could have undertaken to keep that clear of all diseases1 so that it might preserve its beauty of form unimpaired even to old age8 ,think of the many taints of the mind3 for fine dispositions do not always continue to their life's end to make good the promise of their youth1 but have often broken down3 either extravagance1 all the more shameful for being indulged in late in life1 takes possession of men and makes their well-begun lives end in disgrace1 or they devote their entire thoughts to the eating-house and the belly1 and they become interested in nothing save what they shall eat and what they shall drink4 ,add to this conflagrations1 falling houses1 shipwrecks1 the agonizing operations of surgeons1 who cut #aif pieces of bone out of men's living bodies1 plunge their whole hands into their entrails1 and inflict more than one kind of pain to effect the cure of shameful diseases4 ,after these comes exile2 your son was not more innocent than ,rutilius3 imprisonment2 he was not wiser than ,socrates3 the piercing of one's breast by a self-inflicted wound2 he was not of holier life than ,cato4 ,when you look at these examples1 you will perceive that nature deals very kindly with those whom she puts speedily in a place of safety because there awaited them the payment of some such price as this for their lives4 ,nothing is so deceptive1 nothing is so treacherous as human life2 by ,hercules1 were it not given to men before they could form an opinion1 no one would take it4 ,not to be born1 therefore1 is the happiest lot of all1 and the nearest thing to this1 ,i imagine1 is that we should soon finish our strife here and be restored again to our former rest4 ,recall to your mind that time1 so painful to you1 during which ,sejanus handed over your father as a present to his client ,satrius ,secundus3 he was angry with him about something or other which he had said with too great freedom1 because he was not able to keep silence and see ,sejanus climbing up to take his seat upon our necks1 which would have been bad enough had he been placed there by his master4 ,he was decreed the honour of a statue1 to be set up in the theatre of ,pompeius1 which had been burned down and was being restored by ,caesar4 ,cordus exclaimed that 8,now the theatre was really destroyed40 ,what then8 should he not burst with spite at a ,sejanus being set up over the ashes of ,gnaeus ,pompeius1 at a faithless soldier being commemorated within the memorial of a consummate commander8 ,the inscription was put up3#ab and those keen-scented #aig hounds whom ,sejanus used to feed on human blood1 to make them tame towards himself and fierce to all the world beside1 began to bay around their victim and even to make premature snaps at him4 ,what was he to do8 ,if he chose to live1 he must gain the consent of ,sejanus2 if to die1 he must gain that of his daughter2 and neither of them could have been persuaded to grant it3 he therefore determined to deceive his daughter1 and having taken a bath in order to weaken himself still further1 he retired to his bed-chamber on the pretence of taking a meal there4 ,after dismissing his slaves he threw some of the food out of the window1 that he might appear to have eaten it3 then he took no supper1 making the excuse that he had already had enough food in his chamber4 ,this he continued to do on the second and the third day3 the fourth betrayed his condition by his bodily weakness2 so1 embracing you1 8,my dearest daughter10 said he1 8from whom ,i have never throughout your whole life concealed aught but this1 ,i have begun my journey towards death1 and have already travelled half-way thither4 ,you cannot and you ought not to call me back40 ,so saying he ordered all light to be excluded from the room and shut himself up in the darkness4 ,when his determination became known there was a general feeling of pleasure at the prey being snatched out of the jaws of those ravening wolves4 ,his prosecutors1 at the instance of ,sejanus1 went to the judgment-seat of the consuls1 complained that ,cordus was dying1 and begged the consuls to interpose to prevent his doing what they themselves had driven him to do2 so true was it that ,cordus appeared to them to be escaping3 an important matter was at stake1 namely1 whether the accused should lose the right to die4 ,while this point was being debated1 and the prosecutors were going to attend the court a second time1 he had set himself free from them4 ,do you see1 ,marcia1 how suddenly evil days come upon a man8 #aih and do you weep because one of your family could not avoid dying8 one of your family was within a very little of not being allowed to die4 ,,xxiii4 ,besides the fact that everything that is future is uncertain1 and the only certainty is that it is more likely to turn out ill than well1 our spirits find the path to the ,gods above easiest when it is soon allowed to leave the society of mankind1 because it has then contracted fewest impurities to weigh it down3 if set free before they become hardened worldlings1 before earthly things have sunk too deep into them1 they fly all the more lightly back to the place from whence they came1 and all the more easily wash away the stains and defilements which they may have contracted4 ,great minds never love to linger long in the body3 they are eager to burst its bonds and escape from it1 they chafe at the narrowness of their prison1 having been wont to wander through space1 and from aloft in the upper air to look down with contempt upon human affairs4 ,hence it is that ,plato declares that the wise man's mind is entirely given up to death1 longs for it1 contemplates it1 and through his eagerness for it is always striving after things which lie beyond this life4 ,why1 ,marcia1 when you saw him while yet young displaying the wisdom of age1 with a mind that could rise superior to all sensual enjoyments1 faultless and without a blemish1 able to win riches without greediness1 public office without ambition1 pleasure without extravagance1 did you suppose it would long be your lot to keep him safe by your side8 ,whatever has arrived at perfection1 is ripe for dissolution4 ,consummate virtue flees away and betakes itself out of our sight1 and those things which come to maturity in the first stage of their being do not wait for the last4 ,the brighter a fire glows1 the sooner it goes out3 it lasts longer when it is made up with bad and slowly burning fuel1 and shows a dull light through a cloud of smoke3 its being poorly fed #aii makes it linger all the longer4 ,so also the more brilliant men's minds1 the shorter lived they are3 for when there is no room for further growth1 the end is near4 ,fabianus tells us1 what our parents themselves have seen1 that there was at ,rome a boy of gigantic stature1 exceeding that of a man3 but he soon died1 and every sensible person always said that he would soon die1 for he could not live to reach the age which he had assumed before it was due4 ,so it is3 too complete maturity is a proof that destruction is near1 and the end approaches when growth is over4 ,,xxiv4 ,begin to reckon his age1 not by years1 but by virtues3 he lived long enough4 ,he was left as a ward in the care of guardians up to his fourteenth year1 and never passed out of that of his mother3 when he had a household of his own he was loth to leave yours1 and continued to dwell under his mother's roof1 though few sons can endure to live under their father's4 ,though a youth whose height1 beauty1 and vigour of body destined him for the army1 yet he refused to serve1 that he might not be separated from you4 ,consider1 ,marcia1 how seldom mothers who live in separate houses see their children3 consider how they lose and pass in anxiety all those years during which they have sons in the army1 and you will see that this time1 none of which you lost1 was of considerable extent3 he never went out of your sight3 it was under your eyes that he applied himself to the cultivation of an admirable intellect and one which would have rivalled that of his grandfather1 had it not been hindered by shyness1 which has concealed many men's accomplishments3 though a youth of unusual beauty1 and living among such throngs of women who made it their business to seduce men1 he gratified the wishes of none of them1 and when the effrontery of some led them so far as actually to tempt him1 he blushed as deeply at having found favour in their eyes as though he had been guilty4 ,by this holiness of life he caused himself1 while yet quite a #bjj boy1 to be thought worthy of the priesthood1 which no doubt he owed to his mother's influence2 but even his mother's influence would have had no weight if the candidate for whom it was exerted had been unfit for the post4 ,dwell upon these virtues1 and nurse your son as it were in your lap3 now he is more at leisure to respond to your caresses1 he has nothing to call him away from you1 he will never be an anxiety or a sorrow to you4 ,you have grieved at the only grief so good a son could cause you3 all else is beyond the power of fortune to harm1 and is full of pleasure1 if only you know how to make use of your son1 if you do but know what his most precious quality was4 ,it is merely the outward semblance of your son that has perished1 his likeness1 and that not a very good one2 he himself is immortal1 and is now in a far better state1 set free from the burden of all that was not his own1 and left simply by himself3 all this apparatus which you see about us of bones and sinews1 this covering of skin1 this face1 these our servants the hands1 and all the rest of our environment1 are but chains and darkness to the soul3 they overwhelm it1 choke it1 corrupt it1 fill it with false ideas1 and keep it at a distance from its own true sphere3 it has to struggle continually against this burden of the flesh1 lest it be dragged down and sunk by it4 ,it ever strives to rise up again to the place from whence it was sent down on earth3 there eternal rest awaits it1 there it will behold what is pure and clear1 in place of what is foul and turbid4 ,,xxv4 ,you need not1 therefore1 hasten to the burial-place of your son3 that which lies there is but the worst part of him and that which gave him most trouble1 only bones and ashes1 which are no more parts of him than clothes or other coverings of his body4 ,he is complete1 and without leaving any part of himself behind on earth has taken wing and gone away altogether3 he has tarried a brief space above us while his soul was being cleansed #bja and purified from the vices and rust which all mortal lives must contract1 and from thence he will rise to the high heavens and join the souls of the blessed3 a saintly company will welcome him thither1--,scipios and ,catos2 and among the rest of those who have held life cheap and set themselves free1 thanks to death1 albeit all there are alike akin1 your father1 ,marcia1 will embrace his grandson as he rejoices in the unwonted light1 will teach him the motion of the stars which are so near to them1 and introduce him with joy into all the secrets of nature1 not by guesswork but by real knowledge4 ,even as a stranger is grateful to one who shows him the way about an unknown city1 so is a searcher after the causes of what he sees in the heavens to one of his own family who can explain them to him4 ,he will delight in gazing deep down upon the earth1 for it is a delight to look from aloft at what one has left below4 ,bear yourself1 therefore1 ,marcia1 as though you were placed before the eyes of your father and your son1 yet not such as you knew them1 but far loftier beings1 placed in a higher sphere4 ,blush1 then1 to do any mean or common action1 or to weep for those your relatives who have been changed for the better4 ,free to roam through the open1 boundless realms of the everliving universe1 they are not hindered in their course by intervening seas1 lofty mountains1 impassable valleys1 or the treacherous fiats of the ,syrtes3 they find a level path everywhere1 are swift and ready of motion1 and are permeated in their turn by the stars and dwell together with them4 ,,xxvi4 ,imagine then1 ,marcia1 that your father1 whose influence over you was as great as yours over your son1 no longer in that frame of mind in which he deplored the civil wars1 or in which he for ever proscribed those who would have proscribed him1 but in a mood as much more joyful as his abode now is higher than of old1 is saying1 as #bjb he looks down from the height of heaven1 8,my daughter1 why does this sorrow possess you for so long8 why do you live in such ignorance of the truth1 as to think that your son has been unfairly dealt with because he has returned to his ancestors in his prime1 without decay of body or mind1 leaving his family flourishing8 ,do you not know with what storms ,fortune unsettles everything8 how she proves kind and compliant to none save to those who have the fewest possible dealings with her8 ,need ,i remind you of kings who would have been the happiest of mortals had death sooner withdrawn them from the ruin which was approaching them8 or of ,roman generals1 whose greatness1 had but a few years been taken from their lives1 would have wanted nothing to render it complete8 or of men of the highest distinction and noblest birth who have calmly offered their necks to the stroke of a soldier's sword8 ,look at your father and your grandfather3 the former fell into the hands of a foreign murderer3 ,i allowed no man to take any liberties with me1 and by abstinence from food showed that my spirit was as great as my writings had represented it4 ,why1 then1 should that member of our household who died most happily of all be mourned in it the longest8 ,we have all assembled together1 and1 not being plunged in utter darkness1 we see that with you on earth there is nothing to be wished for1 nothing grand or magnificent1 but all is mean1 sad1 anxious1 and hardly receives a fractional part of the clear light in which we dwell4 ,i need not say that here are no frantic charges of rival armies1 no fleets shattering one another1 no parricides1 actual or meditated1 no courts where men babble over lawsuits for days together1 here is nothing underhand1 all hearts and minds are open and unveiled1 our life is public and known to all1 and that we command a view of all time and of things to come4 ,i used to take pleasure in compiling the history of what took place in one century among #bjc a few people in the most out-of-the-way corner of the world3 here ,i enjoy the spectacle of all the centuries1 the whole chain of events from age to age as long as years have been4 ,i may view kingdoms when they rise and when they fall1 and behold the ruin of cities and the new channels made by the sea4 ,if it will be any consolation to you in your bereavement to know that it is the common lot of all1 be assured that nothing will continue to stand in the place in which it now stands1 but that time will lay everything low and bear it away with itself3 it will sport1 not only with men--for how small a part are they of the dominion of ,fortune8 --but with districts1 provinces1 quarters of the world3 it will efface entire mountains1 and in other places will pile new rocks on high3 it will dry up seas1 change the course of rivers1 destroy the intercourse of nation with nation1 and break up the communion and fellowship of the human race3 in other regions it will swallow up cities by opening vast chasms in the earth1 will shake them with earthquakes1 will breathe forth pestilence from the nether world1 cover all habitable ground with inundations and destroy every creature in the flooded world1 or burn up all mortals by a huge conflagration4 ,when the time shall arrive for the world to be brought to an end1 that it may begin its life anew1 all the forces of nature will perish in conflict with one another1 the stars will be dashed together1 and all the lights which now gleam in regular order in various parts of the sky will then blaze in one fire with all their fuel burning at once4 ,then we also1 the souls of the blest and the heirs of eternal life1 whenever ,god thinks fit to reconstruct the universe1 when all things are settling down again1 we also1 being a small accessory to the universal wreck1#ac shall be changed into our old elements4 ,happy is your son1 ,marcia1 in that he already knows this40 #a ,see ,merivale's 8,history of the ,romans under the ,empire10 ch4 xlv4 #b ,if it is a pain to dwell upon the thought of lost friends1 of course you do not continually refresh the memory of them by speaking of them4 #c ,see my note on invidiam facere alicui in ,juv4 #ae4--;,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,mayor4 #d ,koch declares that this cannot be the true reading1 and suggests deminutio1 #8degradation4' #e ,this seems to have been part of the ceremony of dedication4 ,pulvillus was dedicating the ,temple of ,jupiter in the ,capitol4 ,see ,livy1 ii4 #h2 ,cic4 ,pro ,domo1 paragraph cxxi4 #f ,lucius ,aemilius ,paullus conquered ,perses1 the last ,king of ,macedonia1 ,b4,c4 #afh4 #g 8,for he had four sons1 two1 as has been already related1 adopted into other families1 ,scipio and ,fabius2 and two others1 who were still children1 by his second wife1 who lived in his own house4 ,of these1 one died five days before ,aemilius's triumph1 at the age of fourteen1 and the other1 twelve years old1 died three days after it3 so that there was no ,roman that did not grieve for him10 c4--,plutarch1 8,life of ,aemilius10 ch4 xxxv4 #h ,a4 ,u4 ,c4 #fie1 ,b4,c #ei4 #i ,virg4 ,ae4 ,,iii4 #dah4 #aj ,see ,mayor's note on ,juv4 i41 and above1 c4 #af1 #d4 #aa ,lipsius points out that this idea is borrowed from the comic poet ,antiphanes4 ,see ,meineke's 8,comic ,fragments10 p4 #c4 #ab ,this ,i believe to be the meaning of the text1 but ,koch reasonably conjectures that the true reading is 8editur subscriptio10 8an indictment was made out against him40 ,see 8,on ,benefits10 iii4 #bf4 #ac ,ruinae2 ,koch's urinae is a misprint4 #bjd ,,the ,,seventh ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,gallio4 ,,of ,a ,,happy ,,life4 ,i4 ,all men1 brother ,gallio1 wish to live happily1 but are dull at perceiving exactly what it is that makes life happy3 and so far is it from being easy to attain to happiness that the more eagerly a man struggles to reach it the further he departs from it1 if he takes the wrong road2 for1 since this leads in the opposite direction1 his very swiftness carries him all the further away4 ,we must therefore first define clearly what it is at which we aim3 next we must consider by what path we may most speedily reach it1 for on our journey itself1 provided it be made in the right direction1 we shall learn how much progress we have made each day1 and how much nearer we are to the goal towards which our natural desires urge us4 ,but as long as we wander at random1 not following any guide except the shouts and discordant clamours of those who invite us to proceed in different directions1 our short life will be wasted in useless roamings1 even if we labour both day and night to get a good understanding4 ,let us not therefore decide whither we must tend1 and by what path1 without the advice of some experienced person who has explored the region which we are about to enter1 because this #bje journey is not subject to the same conditions as others2 for in them some distinctly understood track and inquiries made of the natives make it impossible for us to go wrong1 but here the most beaten and frequented tracks are those which lead us most astray4 ,nothing1 therefore1 is more important than that we should not1 like sheep1 follow the flock that has gone before us1 and thus proceed not whither we ought1 but whither the rest are going4 ,now nothing gets us into greater troubles than our subservience to common rumour1 and our habit of thinking that those things are best which are most generally received as such1 of taking many counterfeits for truly good things1 and of living not by reason but by imitation of others4 ,this is the cause of those great heaps into which men rush till they are piled one upon another4 ,in a great crush of people1 when the crowd presses upon itself1 no one can fall without drawing some one else down upon him1 and those who go before cause the destruction of those who follow them4 ,you may observe the same thing in human life3 no one can merely go wrong by himself1 but he must become both the cause and adviser of another's wrongdoing4 ,it is harmful to follow the march of those who go before us1 and since every one had rather believe another than form his own opinion1 we never pass a deliberate judgment upon life1 but some traditional error always entangles us and brings us to ruin1 and we perish because we follow other men's examples3 we should be cured of this if we were to disengage ourselves from the herd2 but as it is1 the mob is ready to fight against reason in defence of its own mistake4 ,consequently the same thing happens as at elections1 where1 when the fickle breeze of popular favour has veered round1 those who have been chosen consuls and praetors are viewed with admiration by the very men who made them so4 ,that we should all approve and disapprove of the same things is the end of every #bjf decision which is given according to the voice of the majority4 ,,ii4 ,when we are considering a happy life1 you cannot answer me as though after a division of the ,house1 8,this view has most supporters20 because for that very reason it is the worse of the two3 matters do not stand so well with mankind that the majority should prefer the better course3 the more people do a thing the worse it is likely to be4 ,let us therefore inquire1 not what is most commonly done1 but what is best for us to do1 and what will establish us in the possession of undying happiness1 not what is approved of by the vulgar1 the worst possible exponents of truth4 ,by 8the vulgar0 ,i mean both those who wear woollen cloaks and those who wear crowns2#a for ,i do not regard the colour of the clothes with which they are covered3 ,i do not trust my eyes to tell me what a man is3 ,i have a better and more trustworthy light by which ,i can distinguish what is true from what is false3 let the mind find out what is good for the mind4 ,if a man ever allows his mind some breathing space and has leisure for communing with himself1 what truths he will confess to himself1 after having been put to the torture by his own self6 ,he will say1 8,whatever ,i have hitherto done ,i wish were undone3 when ,i think over what ,i have said1 ,i envy dumb people3 whatever ,i have longed for seems to have been what my enemies would pray might befall me3 good heaven1 how far more endurable what ,i have feared seems to be than what ,i have lusted after4 ,i have been at enmity with many men1 and have changed my dislike of them into friendship1 if friendship can exist between bad men3 yet ,i have not yet become reconciled to myself4 ,i have striven with all my strength to raise myself above the #bjg common herd1 and to make myself remarkable for some talent3 what have ,i effected save to make myself a mark for the arrows of my enemies1 and show those who hate me where to wound me8 ,do you see those who praise your eloquence1 who covet your wealth1 who court your favour1 or who vaunt your power8 ,all these either are1 or1 which comes to the same thing1 may be your enemies3 the number of those who envy you is as great as that of those who admire you2 why do ,i not rather seek for some good thing which ,i can use and feel1 not one which ,i can show8 these good things which men gaze at in wonder1 which they crowd to see1 which one points out to another with speechless admiration1 are outwardly brilliant1 but within are miseries to those who possess them40 ,,iii4 ,let us seek for some blessing1 which does not merely look fine1 but is sound and good throughout alike1 and most beautiful in the parts which are least seen3 let us unearth this4 ,it is not far distant from us2 it can be discovered3 all that is necessary is to know whither to stretch out your hand3 but1 as it is1 we behave as though we were in the dark1 and reach out beyond what is nearest to us1 striking as we do so against the very things that we want4 ,however1 that ,i may not draw you into digressions1 ,i will pass over the opinions of other philosophers1 because it would take a long time to state and confute them all3 take ours4 ,when1 however1 ,i say 8ours10 ,i do not bind myself to any one of the chiefs of the ,stoic school1 for ,i too have a right to form my own opinion4 ,i shall1 therefore1 follow the authority of some of them1 but shall ask some others to discriminate their meaning3#b perhaps1 when after having #bjh reported all their opinions1 ,i am asked for my own1 ,i shall impugn none of my predecessors' decisions1 and shall say1 8,i will also add somewhat to them40 ,meanwhile ,i follow nature1 which is a point upon which every one of the ,stoic philosophers are agreed3 true wisdom consists in not departing from nature and in moulding our conduct according to her laws and model4 ,a happy life1 therefore1 is one which is in accordance with its own nature1 and cannot be brought about unless in the first place the mind be sound and remain so without interruption1 and next1 be bold and vigorous1 enduring all things with most admirable courage1 suited to the times in which it lives1 careful of the body and its appurtenances1 yet not troublesomely careful4 ,it must also set due value upon all the things which adorn our lives1 without over-estimating any one of them1 and must be able to enjoy the bounty of ,fortune without becoming her slave4 ,you understand without my mentioning it that an unbroken calm and freedom ensue1 when we have driven away all those things which either excite us or alarm us3 for in the place of sensual pleasures and those slight perishable matters which are connected with the basest crimes1 we thus gain an immense1 unchangeable1 equable joy1 together with peace1 calmness and greatness of mind1 and kindliness3 for all savageness is a sign of weakness4 ,,iv4 ,our highest good may also be defined otherwise1 that is to say1 the same idea may be expressed in different language4 ,just as the same army may at one time be extended more widely1 at another contracted into a smaller compass1 and may either be curved towards the wings by a depression in the line of the centre1 or drawn up in a straight line1 while1 in whatever figure it be arrayed1 its #bji strength and loyalty remain unchanged2 so also our definition of the highest good may in some cases be expressed diffusely and at great length1 while in others it is put into a short and concise form4 ,thus1 it will come to the same thing1 if ,i say 8,the highest good is a mind which despises the accidents of fortune1 and takes pleasure in virtue03 or1 8,it is an unconquerable strength of mind1 knowing the world well1 gentle in its dealings1 showing great courtesy and consideration for those with whom it is brought into contact40 ,or we may choose to define it by calling that man happy who knows good and bad only in the form of good or bad minds3 who worships honour1 and is satisfied with his own virtue1 who is neither puffed up by good fortune nor cast down by evil fortune1 who knows no other good than that which he is able to bestow upon himself1 whose real pleasure lies in despising pleasures4 ,if you choose to pursue this digression further1 you can put this same idea into many other forms1 without impairing or weakening its meaning3 for what prevents our saying that a happy life consists in a mind which is free1 upright1 undaunted1 and steadfast1 beyond the influence of fear or desire1 which thinks nothing good except honour1 and nothing bad except shame1 and regards everything else as a mass of mean details which can neither add anything to nor take anything away from the happiness of life1 but which come and go without either increasing or diminishing the highest good8 ,a man of these principles1 whether he will or no1 must be accompanied by a continual cheerfulness1 a high happiness1 which comes indeed from on high because he delights in what he has1 and desires no greater pleasures than those which his home affords4 ,is he not right in allowing these to turn the scale against petty1 ridiculous1 and shortlived movements of his wretched body8 on the day on which he becomes proof against pleasure he also becomes proof against pain4 ,see1 on the other hand1 how #baj evil and guilty a slavery the man is forced to serve who is dominated in turn by pleasures and pains1 those most untrustworthy and passionate of masters4 ,we must1 therefore1 escape from them into freedom4 ,this nothing will bestow upon us save contempt of ,fortune3 but if we attain to this1 then there will dawn upon us those invaluable blessings1 the repose of a mind that is at rest in a safe haven1 its lofty imaginings1 its great and steady delight at casting out errors and learning to know the truth1 its courtesy1 and its cheerfulness1 in all of which we shall take delight1 not regarding them as good things1 but as proceeding from the proper good of man4 ,v4 ,since ,i have begun to make my definitions without a too strict adherence to the letter1 a man may be called 8happy0 who1 thanks to reason1 has ceased either to hope or to fear3 but rocks also feel neither fear nor sadness1 nor do cattle1 yet no one would call those things happy which cannot comprehend what happiness is4 ,with them you may class men whose dull nature and want of self-knowledge reduces them to the level of cattle1 mere animals3 there is no difference between the one and the other1 because the latter have no reason1 while the former have only a corrupted form of it1 crooked and cunning to their own hurt4 ,for no one can be styled happy who is beyond the influence of truth3 and consequently a happy life is unchangeable1 and is founded upon a true and trustworthy discernment2 for the mind is uncontaminated and freed from all evils only when it is able to escape not merely from wounds but also from scratches1 when it will always be able to maintain the position which it has taken up1 and defend it even against the angry assaults of ,fortune3 for with regard to sensual pleasures1 though they were to surround one on every side1 and use every means of assault1 trying to win over the mind by caresses and making trial of every conceivable stratagem to attract either our entire selves or #baa our separate parts1 yet what mortal that retains any traces of human origin would wish to be tickled day and night1 and1 neglecting his mind1 to devote himself to bodily enjoyments8 ,,vi4 8,but10 says our adversary1 8the mind also will have pleasures of its own40 ,let it have them1 then1 and let it sit in judgment over luxury and pleasures2 let it indulge itself to the full in all those matters which give sensual delights3 then let it look back upon what it enjoyed before1 and with all those faded sensualities fresh in its memory let it rejoice and look eagerly forward to those other pleasures which it experienced long ago1 and intends to experience again1 and while the body lies in helpless repletion in the present1 let it send its thoughts onward towards the future1 and take stock of its hopes3 all this will make it appear1 in my opinion1 yet more wretched1 because it is insanity to choose evil instead of good3 now no insane person can be happy1 and no one can be sane if he regards what is injurious as the highest good and strives to obtain it4 ,the happy man1 therefore1 is he who can make a right judgment in all things3 he is happy who in his present circumstances1 whatever they may be1 is satisfied and on friendly terms with the conditions of his life4 ,that man is happy1 whose reason recommends to him the whole posture of his affairs4 ,,vii4 ,even those very people who declare the highest good to be in the belly1 see what a dishonourable position they have assigned to it3 and therefore they say that pleasure cannot be parted from virtue1 and that no one can either live honourably without living cheerfully1 nor yet live cheerfully without living honourably4 ,i do not see how these very different matters can have any connexion with one another4 ,what is there1 ,i pray you1 to prevent virtue existing apart from pleasure8 of course the reason is that all good things derive their origin from virtue1 and therefore even those things which you cherish and seek for #bab come originally from its roots4 ,yet1 if they were entirely inseparable1 we should not see some things to be pleasant1 but not honourable1 and others most honourable indeed1 but hard and only to be attained by suffering4 ,add to this1 that pleasure visits the basest lives1 but virtue cannot co-exist with an evil life2 yet some unhappy people are not without pleasure1 nay1 it is owing to pleasure itself that they are unhappy2 and this could not take place if pleasure had any connexion with virtue1 whereas virtue is often without pleasure1 and never stands in need of it4 ,why do you put together two things which are unlike and even incompatible one with another8 virtue is a lofty quality1 sublime1 royal1 unconquerable1 untiring3 pleasure is low1 slavish1 weakly1 perishable2 its haunts and homes are the brothel and the tavern4 ,you will meet virtue in the temple1 the market-place1 the senate house1 manning the walls1 covered with dust1 sunburnt1 horny-handed3 you will find pleasure skulking out of sight1 seeking for shady nooks at the public baths1 hot chambers1 and places which dread the visits of the aedile1 soft1 effeminate1 reeking of wine and perfumes1 pale or perhaps painted and made up with cosmetics4 ,the highest good is immortal3 it knows no ending1 and does not admit of either satiety or regret3 for a right-thinking mind never alters or becomes hateful to itself1 nor do the best things ever undergo any change3 but pleasure dies at the very moment when it charms us most3 it has no great scope1 and therefore it soon cloys and wearies us1 and fades away as soon as its first impulse is over3 indeed1 we cannot depend upon anything whose nature is to change4 ,consequently it is not even possible that there should be any solid substance in that which comes and goes so swiftly1 and which perishes by the very exercise of its own functions1 for it arrives at a point at which it ceases to be1 and even while it is beginning always keeps its end in view4 #bac ,,viii4 ,what answer are we to make to the reflexion that pleasure belongs to good and bad men alike1 and that bad men take as much delight in their shame as good men in noble things8 ,this was why the ancients bade us lead the highest1 not the most pleasant life1 in order that pleasure might not be the guide but the companion of a right-thinking and honourable mind2 for it is ,nature whom we ought to make our guide3 let our reason watch her1 and be advised by her4 ,to live happily1 then1 is the same thing as to live according to ,nature3 what this may be1 ,i will explain4 ,if we guard the endowments of the body and the advantages of nature with care and fearlessness1 as things soon to depart and given to us only for a day2 if we do not fall under their dominion1 nor allow ourselves to become the slaves of what is no part of our own being2 if we assign to all bodily pleasures and external delights the same position which is held by auxiliaries and light-armed troops in a camp2 if we make them our servants1 not our masters--then and then only are they of value to our minds4 ,a man should be unbiassed and not to be conquered by external things3 he ought to admire himself alone1 to feel confidence in his own spirit1 and so to order his life as to be ready alike for good or for bad fortune4 ,let not his confidence be without knowledge1 nor his knowledge without steadfastness3 let him always abide by what he has once determined1 and let there be no erasure in his doctrines4 ,it will be understood1 even though ,i append it not1 that such a man will be tranquil and composed in his demeanour1 high-minded and courteous in his actions4 ,let reason be encouraged by the senses to seek for the truth1 and draw its first principles from thence3 indeed it has no other base of operations or place from which to start in pursuit of truth3 it must fall back upon itself4 ,even the all-embracing universe and ,god who is its guide extends himself forth into outward things1 and yet altogether returns from all sides back to #bad himself4 ,let our mind do the same thing3 when1 following its bodily senses it has by means of them sent itself forth into the things of the outward world1 let it remain still their master and its own4 ,by this means we shall obtain a strength and an ability which are united and allied together1 and shall derive from it that reason which never halts between two opinions1 nor is dull in forming its perceptions1 beliefs1 or convictions4 ,such a mind1 when it has ranged itself in order1 made its various parts agree together1 and1 if ,i may so express myself1 harmonized them1 has attained to the highest good3 for it has nothing evil or hazardous remaining1 nothing to shake it or make it stumble3 it will do everything under the guidance of its own will1 and nothing unexpected will befal it1 but whatever may be done by it will turn out well1 and that1 too1 readily and easily1 without the doer having recourse to any underhand devices3 for slow and hesitating action are the signs of discord and want of settled purpose4 ,you may1 then1 boldly declare that the highest good is singleness of mind3 for where agreement and unity are1 there must the virtues be3 it is the vices that are at war one with another4 ,,ix4 8,but10 says our adversary1 8you yourself only practise virtue because you hope to obtain some pleasure from it40 ,in the first place1 even though virtue may afford us pleasure1 still we do not seek after her on that account3 for she does not bestow this1 but bestows this to boot1 nor is this the end for which she labours1 but her labour wins this also1 although it be directed to another end4 ,as in a tilled-field1 when ploughed for corn1 some flowers are found amongst it1 and yet1 though these posies may charm the eye1 all this labour was not spent in order to produce them--the man who sowed the field had another object in view1 he gained this over and above it--so pleasure is not the reward or the cause of virtue1 but comes in addition to it2 nor do we choose virtue because she gives us pleasure1 but #bae she gives us pleasure also if we choose her4 ,the highest good lies in the act of choosing her1 and in the attitude of the noblest minds1 which when once it has fulfilled its function and established itself within its own limits has attained to the highest good1 and needs nothing more3 for there is nothing outside of the whole1 any more than there is anything beyond the end4 ,you are mistaken1 therefore1 when you ask me what it is on account of which ,i seek after virtue3 for you are seeking for something above the highest4 ,do you ask what ,i seek from virtue8 ,i answer4 ,herself3 for she has nothing better2 she is her own reward4 ,does this not appear great enough1 when ,i tell you that the highest good is an unyielding strength of mind1 wisdom1 magnanimity1 sound judgment1 freedom1 harmony1 beauty8 ,do you still ask me for something greater1 of which these may be regarded as the attributes8 ,why do you talk of pleasures to me8 ,i am seeking to find what is good for man1 not for his belly2 why1 cattle and whales have larger ones than he4 ,x4 8,you purposely misunderstand what ,i say10 says he1 8for ,i too say that no one can live pleasantly unless he lives honorably also1 and this cannot be the case with dumb animals who measure the extent of their happiness by that of their food4 ,i loudly and publicly proclaim that what ,i call a pleasant life cannot exist without the addition of virtue40 ,yet who does not know that the greatest fools drink the deepest of those pleasures of yours8 or that vice is full of enjoyments1 and that the mind itself suggests to itself many perverted1 vicious forms of pleasure8--in the first place arrogance1 excessive self-esteem1 swaggering precedence over other men1 a shortsighted1 nay1 a blind devotion to his own interests1 dissolute luxury1 excessive delight springing from the most trifling and childish causes1 and also talkativeness1 pride that takes a pleasure in insulting others1 sloth1 and the decay of a dull mind which goes to sleep over itself4 ,all these are dissipated by virtue1 which plucks a #baf man by the ear1 and measures the value of pleasures before she permits them to be used2 nor does she set much store by those which she allows to pass current1 for she merely allows their use1 and her cheerfulness is not due to her use of them1 but to her moderation in using them4 8,yet when moderation lessens pleasure1 it impairs the highest good40 ,you devote yourself to pleasures1 ,i check them2 you indulge in pleasure1 ,i use it2 you think that it is the highest good1 ,i do not even think it to be good3 for the sake of pleasure ,i do nothing1 you do everything4 ,,xi4 ,when ,i say that ,i do nothing for the sake of pleasure1 ,i allude to that wise man1 whom alone you admit to be capable of pleasure3 now ,i do not call a man wise who is overcome by anything1 let alone by pleasure3 yet1 if engrossed by pleasure1 how will he resist toil1 danger1 want1 and all the ills which surround and threaten the life of man8 ,how will he bear the sight of death or of pain8 ,how will he endure the tumult of the world1 and make head against so many most active foes1 if he be conquered by so effeminate an antagonist8 ,he will do whatever pleasure advises him3 well1 do you not see how many things it will advise him to do8 8,it will not10 says our adversary1 8be able to give him any bad advice1 because it is combined with virtue80 ,again1 do you not see what a poor kind of highest good that must be which requires a guardian to ensure its being good at all8 and how is virtue to rule pleasure if she follows it1 seeing that to follow is the duty of a subordinate1 to rule that of a commander8 do you put that which commands in the background8 ,according to your school1 virtue has the dignified office of preliminary taster of pleasures4 ,we shall1 however1 see whether virtue still remains virtue among those who treat her with such contempt1 for if she leaves her proper station she can no longer keep her proper name3 in the meanwhile1 to keep to the point1 ,i will show you many men beset by pleasures1 #bag men upon whom ,fortune has showered all her gifts1 whom you must needs admit to be bad men4 ,look at ,nomentanus and ,apicius1 who digest all the good things1 as they call them1 of the sea and land1 and review upon their tables the whole animal kingdom4 ,look at them as they lie on beds of roses gloating over their banquet1 delighting their ears with music1 their eyes with exhibitions1 their palates with flavours3 their whole bodies are titillated with soft and soothing applications1 and lest even their nostrils should be idle1 the very place in which1 they solemnize#c the rites of luxury is scented with various perfumes4 ,you will say that these men live in the midst of pleasures4 ,yet they are ill at ease1 because they take pleasure in what is not good4 ,,xii4 8,they are ill at ease10 replies he1 8because many things arise which distract their thoughts1 and their minds are disquieted by conflicting opinions40 ,i admit that this is true3 still these very men1 foolish1 inconsistent1 and certain to feel remorse as they are1 do nevertheless receive great pleasure1 and we must allow that in so doing they are as far from feeling any trouble as they are from forming a right judgment1 and that1 as is the case with many people1 they are possessed by a merry madness1 and laugh while they rave4 ,the pleasures of wise men1 on the other hand1 are mild1 decorous1 verging on dulness1 kept under restraint and scarcely noticeable1 and are neither invited to come nor received with honour when they come of their own accord1 nor are they welcomed with any delight by those whom they visit1 who mix them up with their lives and fill up empty spaces with them1 like an amusing farce in the intervals of serious business4 ,let them no longer1 then1 join incongruous matters together1 or connect pleasure with #bah virtue1 a mistake whereby they court the worst of men4 ,the reckless profligate1 always in liquor and belching out the fumes of wine1 believes that he lives with virtue1 because he knows that he lives with pleasure1 for he hears it said that pleasure cannot exist apart from virtue2 consequently he dubs his vices with the title of wisdom and parades all that he ought to conceal4 ,so1 men are not encouraged by ,epicurus to run riot1 but the vicious hide their excesses in the lap of philosophy1 and flock to the schools in which they hear the praises of pleasure4 ,they do not consider how sober and temperate--for so1 by ,hercules1 ,i believe it to be--that 8pleasure0 of ,epicurus is1 but they rush at his mere name1 seeking to obtain some protection and cloak for their vices4 ,they lose1 therefore1 the one virtue which their evil life possessed1 that of being ashamed of doing wrong3 for they praise what they used to blush at1 and boast of their vices4 ,thus modesty can never reassert itself1 when shameful idleness is dignified with an honourable name4 ,the reason why that praise which your school lavishes upon pleasure is so hurtful1 is because the honourable part of its teaching passes unnoticed1 but the degrading part is seen by all4 ,,xiii4 ,i myself believe1 though my ,stoic comrades would be unwilling to hear me say so1 that the teaching of ,epicurus was upright and holy1 and even1 if you examine it narrowly1 stern3 for this much talked of pleasure is reduced to a very narrow compass1 and he bids pleasure submit to the same law which we bid virtue do--,i mean1 to obey nature4 ,luxury1 however1 is not satisfied with what is enough for nature4 ,what is the consequence8 ,whoever thinks that happiness consists in lazy sloth1 and alternations of gluttony and profligacy1 requires a good patron for a bad action1 and when he has become an ,epicurean1 having been led to do so by the attractive name of that school1 he follows1 not the pleasure which he there hears #bai spoken of1 but that which he brought thither with him1 and1 haying learned to think that his vices coincide with the maxims of that philosophy1 he indulges in them no longer timidly and in dark corners1 but boldly in the face of day4 ,i will not1 therefore1 like most of our school1 say that the sect of ,epicurus is the teacher of crime1 but what ,i say is3 it is ill spoken of1 it has a bad reputation1 and yet it does not deserve it4 8,who can know this without having been admitted to its inner mysteries80 ,its very outside gives opportunity for scandal1 and encourages men's baser desires3 it is like a brave man dressed in a woman's gown3 your chastity is assured1 your manhood is safe1 your body is submitted to nothing disgraceful1 but your hand holds a drum 7like a priest of ,cybele74 ,choose1 then1 some honourable superscription for your school1 some writing which shall in itself arouse the mind3 that which at present stands over your door has been invented by the vices4 ,he who ranges himself on the side of virtue gives thereby a proof of a noble disposition3 he who follows pleasure appears to be weakly1 worn out1 degrading his manhood1 likely to fall into infamous vices unless someone discriminates his pleasures for him1 so that he may know which remain within the bounds of natural desire1 which are frantic and boundless1 and become all the more insatiable the more they are satisfied4 ,but come6 let virtue lead the way3 then every step will be safe4 ,too much pleasure is hurtful3 but with virtue we need fear no excess of any kind1 because moderation is contained in virtue herself4 ,that which is injured by its own extent cannot be a good thing3 besides1 what better guide can there be than reason for beings endowed with a reasoning nature8 so if this combination pleases you1 if you are willing to proceed to a happy life thus accompanied1 let virtue lead the way1 let pleasure follow and hang about the body like a shadow3 it is the part of a mind incapable of great things to hand #bbj over virtue1 the highest of all qualities1 as a handmaid to pleasure4 ,,xiv4 ,let virtue lead the way and bear the standard3 we shall have pleasure for all that1 but we shall be her masters and controllers2 she may win some concessions from us1 but will not force us to do anything4 ,on the contrary1 those who have permitted pleasure to lead the van1 have neither one nor the other3 for they lose virtue altogether1 and yet they do not possess pleasure1 but are possessed by it1 and are either tortured by its absence or choked by its excess1 being wretched if deserted by it1 and yet more wretched if overwhelmed by it1 like those who are caught in the shoals of the ,syrtes and at one time are left on dry ground and at another tossed on the flowing waves4 ,this arises from an exaggerated want of self-control1 and a hidden love of evil3 for it is dangerous for one who seeks after evil instead of good to attain his object4 ,as we hunt wild beasts with toil and peril1 and even when they are caught find them an anxious possession1 for they often tear their keepers to pieces1 even so are great pleasures3 they turn out to be great evils and take their owners prisoner4 ,the more numerous and the greater they are1 the more inferior and the slave of more masters does that man become whom the vulgar call a happy man4 ,i may even press this analogy further3 as the man who tracks wild animals to their lairs1 and who sets great store on-- 8,seeking with snares the wandering brutes to noose10 and 8,making their hounds the spacious glade surround10 that he may follow their tracks1 neglects far more desirable things1 and leaves many duties unfulfilled1 so he who pursues pleasure postpones everything to it1 disregards that first essential1 liberty1 and sacrifices it to his belly2 nor does he buy pleasure for himself1 but sells himself to pleasure4 #bba ,,xv4 8,but what10 asks our adversary1 8is there to hinder virtue and pleasure being combined together1 and a highest good being thus formed1 so that honour and pleasure may be the same thing80 ,because nothing except what is honourable can form a part of honour1 and the highest good would lose its purity if it were to see within itself anything unlike its own better part4 ,even the joy which arises from virtue1 although it be a good thing1 yet is not a part of absolute good1 any more than cheerfulness or peace of mind1 which are indeed good things1 but which merely follow the highest good1 and do not contribute to its perfection1 although they are generated by the noblest causes4 ,whoever on the other hand forms an alliance1 and that1 too1 a one-sided one1 between virtue and pleasure1 clogs whatever strength the one may possess by the weakness of the other1 and sends liberty under the yoke1 for liberty can only remain unconquered as long as she knows nothing more valuable than herself3 for he begins to need the help of ,fortune1 which is the most utter slavery3 his life becomes anxious1 full of suspicion1 timorous1 fearful of accidents1 waiting in agony for critical moments of time4 ,you do not afford virtue a solid immoveable base if you bid it stand on what is unsteady3 and what can be so unsteady as dependence on mere chance1 and the vicissitudes of the body and of those things which act on the body8 ,how can such a man obey ,god and receive everything which comes to pass in a cheerful spirit1 never complaining of fate1 and putting a good construction upon everything that befalls him1 if he be agitated by the petty pin-pricks of pleasures and pains8 ,a man cannot be a good protector of his country1 a good avenger of her wrongs1 or a good defender of his friends1 if he be inclined to pleasures4 ,let the highest good1 then1 rise to that height from whence no force can dislodge it1 whither neither pain can ascend1 nor hope1 nor fear1 nor anything else that can #bbb impair the authority of the 8highest good40 ,thither virtue alone can make her way3 by her aid that hill must be climbed3 she will bravely stand her ground and endure whatever may befal her not only resignedly1 but even willingly3 she will know that all hard times come in obedience to natural laws1 and like a good soldier she will bear wounds1 count scars1 and when transfixed and dying will yet adore the general for whom she falls3 she will bear in mind the old maxim 8,follow ,god40 ,on the other hand1 he who grumbles and complains and bemoans himself is nevertheless forcibly obliged to obey orders1 and is dragged away1 however much against his will1 to carry them out3 yet what madness is it to be dragged rather than to follow8 as great1 by ,hercules1 as it is folly and ignorance of one's true position to grieve because one has not got something or because something has caused us rough treatment1 or to be surprised or indignant at those ills which befall good men as well as bad ones1 ,i mean diseases1 deaths1 illnesses1 and the other cross accidents of human life4 ,let us bear with magnanimity whatever the system of the universe makes it needful for us to bear3 we are all bound by this oath3 8,to bear the ills of mortal life1 and to submit with a good grace to what we cannot avoid40 ,we have been born into a monarchy3 our liberty is to obey ,god4 ,,xvi4 ,true happiness1 therefore1 consists in virtue3 and what will this virtue bid you do8 ,not to think anything bad or good which is connected neither with virtue nor with wickedness3 and in the next place1 both to endure unmoved the assaults of evil1 and1 as far as is right1 to form a god out of what is good4 ,what reward does she promise you for this campaign8 an enormous one1 and one that raises you to the level of the gods3 you shall be subject to no restraint and to no want2 you shall be free1 safe1 unhurt2 you shall fail in nothing that you attempt2 you shall be debarred from nothing2 everything shall turn out according #bbc to your wish2 no misfortune shall befal you2 nothing shall happen to you except what you expect and hope for4 8,what6 does virtue alone suffice to make you happy80 why1 of course1 consummate and god-like virtue such as this not only suffices1 but more than suffices3 for when a man is placed beyond the reach of any desire1 what can he possibly lack8 if all that he needs is concentred in himself1 how can he require anything from without8 ,he1 however1 who is only on the road to virtue1 although he may have made great progress along it1 nevertheless needs some favour from fortune while he is still struggling among mere human interests1 while he is untying that knot1 and all the bonds which bind him to mortality4 ,what1 then1 is the difference between them8 it is that some are tied more or less tightly by these bonds1 and some have even tied themselves with them as well2 whereas he who has made progress towards the upper regions and raised himself upwards drags a looser chain1 and though not yet free1 is yet as good as free4 ,,xvii4 ,if1 therefore1 any one of those dogs who yelp at philosophy were to say1 as they are wont to do1 8,why1 then1 do you talk so much more bravely than you live8 why do you check your words in the presence of your superiors1 and consider money to be a necessary implement8 why are you disturbed when you sustain losses1 and weep on hearing of the death of your wife or your friend8 why do you pay regard to common rumour1 and feel annoyed by calumnious gossip8 why is your estate more elaborately kept than its natural use requires8 why do you not dine according to your own maxims8 why is your furniture smarter than it need be8 why do you drink wine that is older than yourself8 why are your grounds laid out8 why do you plant trees which afford nothing except shade8 why does your wife wear in her ears the price of a rich man's house8 why are your children at school dressed in costly #bbd clothes8 why is it a science to wait upon you at table8 why is your silver plate not set down anyhow or at random1 but skilfully disposed in regular order1 with a superintendent to preside over the carving of the viands80 ,add to this1 if you like1 the questions 8,why do you own property beyond the seas8 why do you own more than you know of8 it is a shame to you not to know your slaves by sight3 for you must be very neglectful of them if you only own a few1 or very extravagant if you have too many for your memory to retain40 ,i will add some reproaches afterwards1 and will bring more accusations against myself than you think of3 for the present ,i will make you the following answer4 8,i am not a wise man1 and ,i will not be one in order to feed your spite3 so do not require me to be on a level with the best of men1 but merely to be better than the worst3 ,i am satisfied1 if every day ,i take away something from my vices and correct my faults4 ,i have not arrived at perfect soundness of mind1 indeed1 ,i never shall arrive at it3 ,i compound palliatives rather than remedies for my gout1 and am satisfied if it comes at rarer intervals and does not shoot so painfully4 ,compared with your feet1 which are lame1 ,i am a racer40 ,i make this speech1 not on my own behalf1 for ,i am steeped in vices of every kind1 but on behalf of one who has made some progress in virtue4 ,,xviii4 8,you talk one way10 objects our adversary1 8and live another40 ,you most spiteful of creatures1 you who always show the bitterest hatred to the best of men1 this reproach was flung at ,plato1 at ,epicurus1 at ,zeno3 for all these declared how they ought to live1 not how they did live4 ,i speak of virtue1 not of myself1 and when ,i blame vices1 ,i blame my own first of all3 when ,i have the power1 ,i shall live as ,i ought to do3 spite1 however deeply steeped in venom1 shall not keep me back from what is best3 that poison itself with which you bespatter others1 with which you choke yourselves1 shall not hinder me from continuing #bbe to praise that life which ,i do not1 indeed1 lead1 but which ,i know ,i ought to lead1 from loving virtue and from following after her1 albeit a long way behind her and with halting gait4 ,am ,i to expect that evil speaking will respect anything1 seeing that it respected neither ,rutilius nor ,cato8 ,will any one care about being thought too rich by men for whom ,diogenes the ,cynic was not poor enough8 ,that most energetic philosopher fought against all the desires of the body1 and was poorer even than the other ,cynics1 in that besides haying given up possessing anything he had also given up asking for anything3 yet they reproached him for not being sufficiently in want3 as though forsooth it were poverty1 not virtue1 of which he professed knowledge4 ,,xix4 ,they say that ,diodorus1 the ,epicurean philosopher1 who within these last few days put an end to his life with his own hand1 did not act according to the precepts of ,epicurus1 in cutting his throat3 some choose to regard this act as the result of madness1 others of recklessness2 he1 meanwhile1 happy and filled with the consciousness of his own goodness1 has borne testimony to himself by his manner of departing from life1 has commended the repose of a life spent at anchor in a safe harbour1 and has said what you do not like to hear1 because you too ought to do it3 8,i've lived1 ,i've run the race which ,fortune set me40 ,you argue about the life and death of another1 and yelp at the name of men whom some peculiarly noble quality has rendered great1 just as tiny curs do at the approach of strangers3 for it is to your interest that no one should appear to be good1 as if virtue in another were a reproach to all your crimes4 ,you enviously compare the glories of others with your own dirty actions1 and do not understand how greatly to your disadvantage it is to venture to do so3 for if they who follow after virtue be greedy1 lustful1 #bbf and fond of power1 what must you be1 who hate the very name of virtue8 ,you say that no one acts up to his professions1 or lives according to the standard which he sets up in his discourses3 what wonder1 seeing that the words which they speak are brave1 gigantic1 and able to weather all the storms which wreck mankind1 whereas they themselves are struggling to tear themselves away from crosses into which each one of you is driving his own nail4 ,yet men who are crucified hang from one single pole1 but these who punish themselves are divided between as many crosses as they have lusts1 but yet are given to evil speaking1 and are so magnificent in their contempt of the vices of others that ,i should suppose that they had none of their own1 were it not that some criminals when on the gibbet spit upon the spectators4 ,,xx4 8,philosophers do not carry into effect all that they teach40 ,no2 but they effect much good by their teaching1 by the noble thoughts which they conceive in their minds3 would1 indeed1 that they could act up to their talk3 what could be happier than they would be8 but in the meanwhile you have no right to despise good sayings and hearts full of good thoughts4 ,men deserve praise for engaging in profitable studies1 even though they stop short of producing any results4 ,why need we wonder if those who begin to climb a steep path do not succeed in ascending it very high8 yet1 if you be a man1 look with respect on those who attempt great things1 even though they fall4 ,it is the act of a generous spirit to proportion its efforts not to its own strength but to that of human nature1 to entertain lofty aims1 and to conceive plans which are too vast to be carried into execution even by those who are endowed with gigantic intellects1 who appoint for themselves the following rules3 ,i will look upon death or upon a comedy with the same expression of countenance3 ,i will submit to labours1 however great they may be1 supporting #bbg the strength of my body by that of my mind3 ,i will despise riches when ,i have them as much as when ,i have them not2 if they be elsewhere ,i will not be more gloomy1 if they sparkle around me ,i will not be more lively than ,i should otherwise be3 whether ,fortune comes or goes ,i will take no notice of her3 ,i will view all lands as though they belong to me1 and my own as though they belonged to all mankind3 ,i will so live as to remember that ,i was born for others1 and will thank ,nature on this account3 for in what fashion could she have done better for me8 she has given me alone to all1 and all to me alone4 ,whatever ,i may possess1 ,i will neither hoard it greedily nor squander it recklessly4 ,i will think that ,i have no possessions so real as those which ,i have given away to deserving people3 ,i will not reckon benefits by their magnitude or number1 or by anything except the value set upon them by the receiver3 ,i never will consider a gift to be a large one if it be bestowed upon a worthy object4 ,i will do nothing because of public opinion1 but everything because of conscience3 whenever ,i do anything alone by myself ,i will believe that the eyes of the ,roman people are upon me while ,i do it4 ,in eating and drinking my object shall be to quench the desires of ,nature1 not to fill and empty my belly4 ,i will be agreeable with my friends1 gentle and mild to my foes3 ,i will grant pardon before ,i am asked for it1 and will meet the wishes of honourable men half way3 ,i will bear in mind that the world is my native city1 that its governors are the gods1 and that they stand above and around me1 criticizing whatever ,i do or say4 ,whenever either ,nature demands my breath again1 or reason bids me dismiss it1 ,i will quit this life1 calling all to witness that ,i have loved a good conscience1 and good pursuits2 that no one's freedom1 my own least of all1 has been impaired through me40 ,he who sets up these as the rules of his life will soar aloft and strive to make his way to the gods3 of a truth1 even though he fails1 yet he #bbh 8,fails in a high emprise40#d ,but you1 who hate both virtue and those who practise it1 do nothing at which we need be surprised1 for sickly lights cannot bear the sun1 nocturnal creatures avoid the brightness of day1 and at its first dawning become bewildered and all betake themselves to their dens together3 creatures that fear the light hide themselves in crevices4 ,so croak away1 and exercise your miserable tongues in reproaching good men3 open wide your jaws1 bite hard3 you will break many teeth before you make any impression4 ,,xxi4 8,but how is it that this man studies philosophy and nevertheless lives the life of a rich man8 ,why does he say that wealth ought to be despised and yet possess it8 that life should be despised1 and yet live8 that health should be despised1 and yet guard it with the utmost care1 and wish it to be as good as possible8 ,does he consider banishment to be an empty name1 and say1 8,what evil is there in changing one country for another80 and yet1 if permitted1 does he not grow old in his native land8 does he declare that there is no difference between a longer and a shorter time1 and yet1 if he be not prevented1 lengthen out his life and flourish in a green old age80 ,his answer is1 that these things ought to be despised1 not that he should not possess them1 but that he should not possess them with fear and trembling3 he does not drive them away from him1 but when they leave him he follows after them unconcernedly4 ,where1 indeed1 can fortune invest riches more securely than in a place from whence they can always be recovered without any squabble with their trustee8 ,marcus ,cato1 when he was praising ,curius and ,coruncanius and that century in which the possession of a few small silver coins were an offence which was punished by the ,censor1 himself owned four million sesterces2 a less fortune no #bbi doubt1 than that of ,crassus1 but larger than of ,cato the ,censor4 ,if the amounts be compared1 he had outstripped his great-grandfather further than he himself was outdone by ,crassus1 and if still greater riches had fallen to his lot1 he would not have spurned them3 for the wise man does not think himself unworthy of any chance presents3 he does not love riches1 but he prefers to have them2 he does not receive them into his spirit1 but only into his house3 nor does he cast away from him what he already possesses1 but keeps them1 and is willing that his virtue should receive a larger subject-matter for its exercise4 ,,xxii4 ,who can doubt1 however1 that the wise man1 if he is rich1 has a wider field for the development of his powers than if he is poor1 seeing that in the latter case the only virtue which he can display is that of neither being perverted nor crushed by his poverty1 whereas if he has riches1 he will have a wide field for the exhibition of temperance1 generosity1 laboriousness1 methodical arrangement1 and grandeur4 ,the wise man will not despise himself1 however short of stature he may be1 but nevertheless he will wish to be tall3 even though he be feeble and one-eyed he may be in good health1 yet he would prefer to have bodily strength1 and that too1 while he knows all the while that he has something which is even more powerful3 he will endure illness1 and will hope for good health3 for some things1 though they may be trifles compared with the sum total1 and though they may be taken away without destroying the chief good1 yet add somewhat to that constant cheerfulness which arises from virtue4 ,riches encourage and brighten up such a man just as a sailor is delighted at a favourable wind that bears him on his way1 or as people feel pleasure at a fine day or at a sunny spot in the cold weather4 ,what wise man1 ,i mean of our school1 whose only good is virtue1 can deny that even these matters which we call neither good nor bad have in themselves a #bcj certain value1 and that some of them are preferable to others8 to some of them we show a certain amount of respect1 and to some a great deal4 ,do not1 then1 make any mistake3 riches belong to the class of desirable things4 8,why then10 say you1 8do you laugh at me1 since you place them in the same position that ,i do80 ,do you wish to know how different the position is in which we place them8 ,if my riches leave me1 they will carry away with them nothing except themselves3 you will be bewildered and will seem to be left without yourself if they should pass away from you3 with me riches occupy a certain place1 but with you they occupy the highest place of all4 ,in fine1 my riches belong to me1 you belong to your riches4 ,,xxiii4 ,cease1 then1 forbidding philosophers to possess money3 no one has condemned wisdom to poverty4 ,the philosopher may own ample wealth1 but will not own wealth that which has been torn from another1 or which is stained with another's blood3 his must be obtained without wronging any man1 and without its being won by base means2 it must be alike honourably come by and honourably spent1 and must be such as spite alone could shake its head at4 ,raise it to whatever figure you please1 it will still be an honourable possession1 if1 while it includes much which every man would like to call his own1 there be nothing which any one can say is his own4 ,such a man will not forfeit his right to the favour of ,fortune1 and will neither boast of his inheritance nor blush for it if it was honourably acquired3 yet he will have something to boast of1 if he throw his house open1 let all his countrymen come among his property1 and say1 8,if any one recognizes here anything belonging to him1 let him take it40 ,what a great man1 how excellently rich will he be1 if after this speech he possesses as much as he had before6 ,i say1 then1 that if he can safely and confidently submit his accounts to the scrutiny of the people1 and no one can find #bca in them any item upon which he can lay hands1 such a man may boldly and unconcealedly enjoy his riches4 ,the wise man will not allow a single ill-won penny to cross his threshold3 yet he will not refuse or close his door against great riches1 if they are the gift of fortune and the product of virtue3 what reason has he for grudging them good quarters3 let them come and be his guests3 he will neither brag of them nor hide them away3 the one is the part of a silly1 the other of a cowardly and paltry spirit1 which1 as it were1 muffles up a good thing in its lap4 ,neither will he1 as ,i said before1 turn them out of his house3 for what will he say8 will he say1 8,you are useless10 or 8,i do not know how to use riches80 ,as he is capable of performing a journey upon his own feet1 but yet would prefer to mount a carriage1 just so he will be capable of being poor1 yet will wish to be rich2 he will own wealth1 but will view it as an uncertain possession which will some day fly away from him4 ,he will not allow it to be a burden either to himself or to any one else3 he will give it--why do you prick up your ears8 why do you open your pockets8--he will give it either to good men or to those whom it may make into good men4 ,he will give it after having taken the utmost pains to choose those who are fittest to receive it1 as becomes one who bears in mind that he ought to give an account of what he spends as well as of what he receives4 ,he will give for good and commendable reasons1 for a gift ill bestowed counts as a shameful loss3 he will have an easily opened pocket1 but not one with a hole in it1 so that much may be taken out of it1 yet nothing may fall out of it4 ,,xxiv4 ,he who believes giving to be an easy matter1 is mistaken3 it offers very great difficulties1 if we bestow our bounty rationally1 and do not scatter it impulsively and at random4 ,i do this man a service1 ,i requite a good turn done me by that one3 ,i help this other1 because ,i pity him3 this man1 again1 ,i teach to be no fit object for poverty to #bcb hold down or degrade4 ,i shall not give some men anything1 although they are in want1 because1 even if ,i do give to them they will still be in want3 ,i shall proffer my bounty to some1 and shall forcibly thrust it upon others3 ,i cannot be neglecting my own interests while ,i am doing this3 at no time do ,i make more people in my debt than when ,i am giving things away4 8,what80 say you1 8do you give that you may receive again80 ,at any rate ,i do not give that ,i may throw my bounty away3 what ,i give should be so placed that although ,i cannot ask for its return1 yet it may be given back to me4 ,a benefit should be invested in the same manner as a treasure buried deep in the earth1 which you would not dig up unless actually obliged4 ,why1 what opportunities of conferring benefits the mere house of a rich man affords8 for who considers generous behaviour due only to those who wear the toga8 ,nature bids me do good to mankind--what difference does it make whether they be slaves or freemen1 free-born or emancipated1 whether their freedom be legally acquired or betowed by arrangement among friends8 ,wherever there is a human being1 there is an opportunity for a benefit3 consequently1 money may be distributed even within one's own threshold1 and a field may be found there for the practice of freehandedness1 which is not so called because it is our duty towards free men1 but because it takes its rise in a free-born mind4 ,in the case of the wise man1 this never falls upon base and unworthy recipients1 and never becomes so exhausted as not1 whenever it finds a worthy object1 to flow as if its store was undiminished4 ,you have1 therefore1 no grounds for misunderstanding the honourable1 brave1 and spirited language which you hear from those who are studying wisdom3 and first of all observe this1 that a student of wisdom is not the same thing as a man who has made himself perfect in wisdom4 ,the former will say to you1 8,in my talk ,i express the most admirable sentiments1 #bcc yet ,i am still weltering amid countless ills4 ,you must not force me to act up to my rules3 at the present time ,i am forming myself1 moulding my character1 and striving to rise myself to the height of a great example4 ,if ,i should ever succeed in carrying out all that ,i have set myself to accomplish1 you may then demand that my words and deeds should correspond10 ,but he who has reached the summit of human perfection will deal otherwise with you1 and will say1 8,in the first place1 you have no business to allow yourself to sit in judgment upon your betters30 ,i have already obtained one proof of my righteousness in having become an object of dislike to bad men3 however1 to make you a rational answer1 which ,i grudge to no man1 listen to what ,i declare1 and at what price ,i value all things4 ,riches1 ,i say1 are not a good thing2 for if they were1 they would make men good3 now since that which is found even among bad men cannot be termed good1 ,i do not allow them to be called so3 nevertheless ,i admit that they are desirable and useful and contribute great comforts to our lives4 ,,xxv4 ,learn1 then1 since we both agree that they are desirable1 what my reason is amongst counting them among good things1 and in what respects ,i should behave differently to you if ,i possessed them4 ,place me as master in the house of a very rich man3 place me where gold and silver plate is used for the commonest purposes2 ,i shall not think more of myself because of things which even though they are in my house are yet no part of me4 ,take me away to the wooden bridge#e and put me down there among the beggars3 ,i shall not despise myself because ,i am sitting among those who hold out their hands for alms3 for what can the lack of a piece of bread matter to one #bcd who does not lack the power of dying8 ,well1 then8 ,i prefer the magnificent house to the beggar's bridge4 ,place me among magnificent furniture and all the appliances of luxury3 ,i shall not think myself any happier because my cloak is soft1 because my guests rest upon purple4 ,change the scene3 ,i shall be no more miserable if my weary head rests upon a bundle of hay1 if ,i lie upon a cushion from the circus1 with all the stuffing on the point of coming out through its patches of threadbare cloth4 ,well1 then8 ,i prefer1 as far as my feelings go1 to show myself in public dressed in woollen and in robes of office1 rather than with naked or half-covered shoulders3 ,i should like every day's business to turn out just as ,i wish it to do1 and new congratulations to be constantly following upon the former ones3 yet ,i will not pride myself upon this3 change all this good fortune for its opposite1 let my spirit be distracted by losses1 grief1 various kinds of attacks3 let no hour pass without some dispute3 ,i shall not on this account1 though beset by the greatest miseries1 call myself the most miserable of beings1 nor shall ,i curse any particular day1 for ,i have taken care to have no unlucky days4 ,what1 then1 is the upshot of all this8 it is that ,i prefer to have to regulate joys than to stifle sorrows4 ,the great ,socrates would say the same thing to you4 8,make me10 he would say1 8the conqueror of all nations3 let the voluptuous car of ,bacchus bear me in triumph to ,thebes from the rising of the sun3 let the kings of the ,persians receive laws from me3 yet ,i shall feel myself to be a man at the very moment when all around salute me as a ,god4 ,straightway connect this lofty height with a headlong fall into misfortune3 let me be placed upon a foreign chariot that ,i may grace the triumph of a proud and savage conqueror3 ,i will follow another's car with no more humility than ,i showed when ,i stood in my own4 ,what then8 ,in spite of all this1 ,i had rather be a conqueror than a captive4 ,i despise the whole #bce dominion of ,fortune1 but still1 if ,i were given my choice1 ,i would choose its better parts4 ,i shall make whatever befals me become a good thing1 but ,i prefer that what befals me should be comfortable and pleasant and unlikely to cause me annoyance3 for you need not suppose that any virtue exists without labour1 but some virtues need spurs1 while others need the curb4 ,as we have to check our body on a downward path1 and to urge it to climb a steep one2 so also the path of some virtues leads down hill1 that of others uphill4 ,can we doubt that patience1 courage1 constancy1 and all the other virtues which have to meet strong opposition1 and to trample ,fortune under their feet1 are climbing1 struggling1 winning their way up a steep ascent8 ,why6 is it not equally evident that generosity1 moderation1 and gentleness glide easily downhill8 ,with the latter we must hold in our spirit1 lest it run away with us3 with the former we must urge and spur it on4 ,we ought1 therefore1 to apply these energetic1 combative virtues to poverty1 and to riches those other more thrifty ones which trip lightly along1 and merely support their own weight4 ,this being the distinction between them1 ,i would rather have to deal with those which ,i could practise in comparative quiet1 than those of which one can only make trial through blood and sweat4 8,wherefore10 says the sage1 8,i do not talk one way and live another3 but you do not rightly understand what ,i say3 the sound of my words alone reaches your ears1 you do not try to find out their meaning40 ,,xxvi4 8,what difference1 then1 is there between me1 who am a fool1 and you1 who are a wise man80 8,all the difference in the world3 for riches are slaves in the house of a wise man1 but masters in that of a fool4 ,you accustom yourself to them and cling to them as if somebody had promised that they should be yours for ever1 but a wise man never thinks so much about poverty as when he is surrounded by riches4 ,no general ever trusts so implicitly in #bcf the maintenance of peace as not to make himself ready for a war1 which1 though it may not actually be waged1 has nevertheless been declared2 you are rendered over-proud by a fine house1 as though it could never be burned or fall down1 and your heads are turned by riches as though they were beyond the reach of all dangers and were so great that ,fortune has not sufficient strength to swallow them up4 ,you sit idly playing with your wealth and do not foresee the perils in store for it1 as savages generally do when besieged1 for1 not understanding the use of siege artillery1 they look on idly at the labours of the besiegers and do not understand the object of the machines which they are putting together at a distance3 and this is exactly what happens to you3 you go to sleep over your property1 and never reflect how many misfortunes loom menacingly around you on all sides1 and soon will plunder you of costly spoils1 but if one takes away riches from the wise man1 one leaves him still in possession of all that is his3 for he lives happy in the present1 and without fear for the future4 ,the great ,socrates1 or any one else who had the same superiority to and power to withstand the things of this life1 would say1 #8,i have no more fixed principle than that of not altering the course of my life to suit your prejudices3 you may pour your accustomed talk upon me from all sides3 ,i shall not think that you are abusing me1 but that you are merely wailing like poor little babies4'0 ,this is what the man will say who possesses wisdom1 whose mind1 being free from vices1 bids him reproach others1 not because he hates them1 but in order to improve them3 and to this he will add1 8,your opinion of me affects me with pain1 not for my own sake but for yours1 because to hate perfection and to assail virtue is in itself a resignation of all hope of doing well4 ,you do me no harm2 neither do men harm the gods when they overthrow their altars3 but it is clear that your intention is an evil one and that you will wish to do harm even #bcg where you are not able4 ,i bear with your prating in the same spirit in which ,jupiter1 best and greatest1 bears with the idle tales of the poets1 one of whom represents him with wings1 another with horns1 another as an adulterer staying out all night1 another is dealing harshly with the gods1 another as unjust to men1 another as the seducer of noble youths whom he carries off by force1 and those1 too1 his own relatives1 another as a parricide and the conqueror of another's kingdom1 and that his father's4 ,the only result of such tales is that men feel less shame at committing sin if they believe the gods to be guilty of such actions4 ,but although this conduct of yours does not hurt me1 yet1 for your own sakes1 ,i advise you1 respect virtue3 believe those who having long followed her cry aloud that what they follow is a thing of might1 and daily appears mightier4 ,reverence her as you would the gods1 and reverence her followers as you would the priests of the gods3 and whenever any mention of sacred writings is made1 favete linguis1 favour us with silence3 this word is not derived1 as most people imagine1 from favour1 but commands silence1 that divine service may be performed without being interrupted by any words of evil omen4 ,it is much more necessary that you should be ordered to do this1 in order that whenever utterance is made by that oracle1 you may listen to it with attention and in silence4 ,whenever any one beats a sistrum1#f pretending to do so by divine command1 any proficient in grazing his own skin covers his arms and shoulders with blood from light cuts1 any one crawls on his knees howling along the street1 or any old man clad in linen comes forth in daylight with a lamp and laurel branch and cries out that one of the gods is angry1 you crowd round him and listen to his words1 and each increases the #bch other's wonderment by declaring him to be divinely inspired4 ,,xxvii4 ,behold6 from that prison of his1 which by entering he cleansed from shame and rendered more honourable than any senate house1 ,socrates addresses you1 saying3 8,what is this madness of yours8 what is this disposition1 at war alike with gods and men1 which leads you to calumniate virtue and to outrage holiness with malicious accusations8 ,praise good men1 if you are able3 if not1 pass them by in silence3 if indeed you take pleasure in this offensive abusiveness1 fall foul of one another3 for when you rave against ,heaven1 ,i do not say that you commit sacrilege1 but you waste your time4 ,i once afforded ,aristophanes with the subject of a jest3 since then all the crew of comic poets have made me a mark for their envenomed wit3 my virtue has been made to shine more brightly by the very blows which have been aimed at it1 for it is to its advantage to be brought before the public and exposed to temptation1 nor do any people understand its greatness more than those who by their assaults have made trial of its strength4 ,the hardness of flint is known to none so well as to those who strike it4 ,i offer myself to all attacks1 like some lonely rock in a shallow sea1 which the waves never cease to beat upon from whatever quarter they may come1 but which they cannot thereby move from its place nor yet wear away1 for however many years they may unceasingly dash against it4 ,bound upon me1 rush upon me1 ,i will overcome you by enduring your onset3 whatever strikes against that which is firm and unconquerable merely injures itself by its own violence4 ,wherefore1 seek some soft and yielding object to pierce with your darts4 ,but have you leisure to peer into other men's evil deeds and to sit in judgment upon anybody8 to ask how it is that this philosopher has so roomy a house1 or that one so good a dinner8 ,do you look at other people's pimples while you #bci yourselves are covered with countless ulcers8 ,this is as though one who was eaten up by the mange were to point with scorn at the moles and warts on the bodies of the handsomest men4 ,reproach ,plato with having sought for money1 reproach ,aristotle with having obtained it1 ,democritus with having disregarded it1 ,epicurus with having spent it3 cast ,phaedrus and ,alcibiades in my own teeth1 you who reach the height of enjoyment whenever you get an opportunity of imitating our vices6 ,why do you not rather cast your eyes around yourselves at the ills which tear you to pieces on every side1 some attacking you from without1 some burning in your own bosoms8 ,however little you know your own place1 mankind has not yet come to such a pass that you can have leisure to wag your tongues to the reproach of your betters4 ,,xxviii4 ,this you do not understand1 and you bear a countenance which does not befit your condition1 like many men who sit in the circus or the theatre without having learned that their home is already in mourning3 but ,i1 looking forward from a lofty standpoint1 can see what storms are either threatening you1 and will burst in torrents upon you somewhat later1 or are close upon you and on the point of sweeping away all that you possess4 ,why1 though you are hardly aware of it1 is there not a whirling hurricane at this moment spinning round and confusing your minds1 making them seek and avoid the very same things1 now raising them aloft and now dashing them below8 4 4 4 4 4 40 #a ,lipsius's conjecture1 8those who are dressed in white as well as those who are dressed in coloured clothes1' alluding to the white robes of candidates for office1 seems reasonable4 #b ,the ,latin words are literally 8to divide0 their vote1 that is1 8to separate things of different kinds comprised in a single vote so that they might be voted for separately40--,andrews4 ,sneque fait allusion ici une coutume pratique dans les assembles du ,snat2 et il nous ,i'explique lui-mme ailleurs d'un manire trs claire3 8,si quelqu'un dans le ,snat10 dit il1 8ouvre un avis1 dont une partie me convienne1 je le somme de la detacher du reste1 et j'y adhre40--,ep4 #ba1 ,la ,grange4 #c ,parentatur seems to mean where an offering is made to luxury-- where they sacrifice to luxury4 ,perfumes were used at funerals4 ,lipsius suggests that these feasts were like funerals because the guests were carried away from them dead drunk4 #d ,the quotation is from the epitaph on ,phaeton4--,see ,ovid1 ,met4 ,,ii1 #cbg4 #e ,the 8,pons ,sublicius10 or 8pile bridge10 was built over the ,tiber by ,ancus ,martius1 one of the early kings of ,rome1 and was always kept in repair out of a superstitious feeling4 #f ,sistrum4 ,a metallic rattle used by the ,egyptians in celebrating the rites of ,isis1 c4--,andrews4 #bdj ,,the ,,eighth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,serenus4 ,,of ,,leisure4 ,i4 4 4 4 4 why do they with great unanimity recommend vices to us8 even though we attempt nothing else that would do us good1 yet retirement in itself will be beneficial to us3 we shall be better men when taken singly--and if so1 what an advantage it will be to retire into the society of the best of men1 and to choose some example by which we may guide our lives6 ,this cannot be done without leisure3 with leisure we can carry out that which we have once for all decided to be best1 when there is no one to interfere with us and with the help of the mob pervert our as yet feeble judgment3 with leisure only can life1 which we distract by aiming at the most incompatible objects1 flow on in a single gentle stream4 ,indeed1 the worst of our various ills is that we change our very vices1 and so we have not even the advantage of dealing with a well-known form of evil3 we take pleasure first in one and then in another1 and are1 besides1 troubled by the fact that our opinions are not only wrong1 but lightly formed2 we toss as it were on waves1 and clutch at one thing after another3 we let go what we just now sought for1 and #bda strive to recover what we have let go4 ,we oscillate between desire and remorse1 for we depend entirely upon the opinions of others1 and it is that which many people praise and seek after1 not that which deserves to be praised and sought after1 which we consider to be best4 ,nor do we take any heed of whether our road be good or bad in itself1 but we value it by the number of footprints upon it1 among which there are none of any who have returned4 ,you will say to me1 8,seneca1 what are you doing8 do you desert your party8 ,i am sure that our ,stoic philosophers say we must be in motion up to the very end of our life1 we will never cease to labour for the general good2 to help individual people1 and when stricken in years to afford assistance even to our enemies4 ,we are the sect that gives no discharge for any number of years' service1 and in the words of the most eloquent of poets3-- #8,we wear the helmet when our locks are grey4'#a ,we are they who are so far from indulging in any leisure until we die1 that if circumstances permit it1 we do not allow ourselves to be at leisure even when we are dying4 ,why do you preach the maxims of ,epicurus in the very headquarters of ,zeno8 nay1 if you are ashamed of your party1 why do you not go openly altogether over to the enemy rather than betray your own side80 ,i will answer this question straightway3 ,what more can you wish than that ,i should imitate my leaders8 ,what then follows8 ,i shall go whither they lead me1 not whither they send me4 ,,ii4 ,now ,i will prove to you that ,i am not deserting the #bdb tenets of the ,stoics3 for they themselves have not deserted them3 and yet ,i should be able to plead a very good excuse even if ,i did follow1 not their precepts1 but their examples4 ,i shall divide what ,i am about to say into two parts3 first1 that a man may from the very beginning of his life give himself up entirely to the contemplation of truth2 secondly1 that a man when he has already completed his term of service1 has the best of rights1 that of his shattered health1 to do this1 and that he may then apply his mind to other studies after the manner of the ,vestal virgins1 who allot different duties to different years1 first learn how to perform the sacred rites1 and when they have learned them teach others4 ,,iii4 ,i will show that this is approved of by the ,stoics also1 not that ,i have laid any commandment upon myself to do nothing contrary to the teaching of ,zeno and ,chrysippus1 but because the matter itself allows me to follow the precepts of those men2 for if one always follows the precepts of one man1 one ceases to be a debater and becomes a partizan4 ,would that all things were already known1 that truth were unveiled and recognized1 and that none of our doctrines required modification6 but as it is we have to seek for truth in the company of the very men who teach it4 ,the two sects of ,epicureans and ,stoics differ widely in most respects1 and on this point among the rest1 nevertheless1 each of them consigns us to leisure1 although by a different road4 ,epicurus says1 8,the wise man will not take part in politics1 except upon some special occasion20 ,zeno says1 8,the wise man will take part in politics1 unless prevented by some special circumstance40 ,the one makes it his aim in life to seek for leisure1 the other seeks it only when he has reasons for so doing3 but this word 8reasons0 has a wide signification4 ,if the state is so rotten as to be past helping1 if evil has entire dominion over it1 the wise man will not labour in vain or waste his strength in unprofitable #bdc efforts4 ,should he be deficient in influence or bodily strength1 if the state refuse to submit to his guidance1 if his health stand in the way1 then he will not attempt a journey for which he is unfit1 just as he would not put to sea in a worn-out ship1 or enlist in the army if he were an invalid4 ,consequently1 one who has not yet suffered either in health or fortune has the right1 before encountering any storms1 to establish himself in safety1 and thenceforth to devote himself to honourable industry and inviolate leisure1 and the service of those virtues which can be practised even by those who pass the quietest of lives4 ,the duty of a man is to be useful to his fellow-men2 if possible1 to be useful to many of them2 failing this1 to be useful to a few2 failing this1 to be useful to his neighbours1 and1 failing them1 to himself3 for when he helps others1 he advances the general interests of mankind4 ,just as he who makes himself a worse man does harm not only to himself but to all those to whom he might have done good if he had made himself a better one1 so he who deserves well of himself does good to others by the very fact that he is preparing what will be of service to them4 ,,iv4 ,let us grasp the fact that there are two republics1 one vast and truly 8public10 which contains alike gods and men1 in which we do not take account of this or that nook of land1 but make the boundaries of our state reach as far as the rays of the sun3 and another to which we have been assigned by the accident of birth4 ,this may be that of the ,athenians or ,carthaginians1 or of any other city which does not belong to all men but to some especial ones4 ,some men serve both of these states1 the greater and the lesser1 at the same time2 some serve only the lesser1 some only the greater4 ,we can serve the greater commonwealth even when we are at leisure2 indeed ,i am not sure that we cannot serve it better when we are at leisure to inquire into what virtue is1 and whether it be one or many3 #bdd whether it be nature or art that makes men good3 whether that which contains the earth and sea and all that in them is be one1 or whether ,god has placed therein many bodies of the same species3 whether that out of which all things are made be continuous and solid1 or containing interstices and alternate empty and full spaces3 whether ,god idly looks on at ,his handiwork1 or directs its course3 whether ,he is without and around the world1 or whether ,he pervades its entire surface3 whether the world be immortal1 or doomed to decay and belonging to the class of things which are born only for a time8 ,what service does he who meditates upon these questions render to ,god8 ,he prevents these ,his great works having no one to witness them4 ,v4 ,we have a habit of saying that the highest good is to live according to nature3 now nature has produced us for both purposes1 for contemplation and for action4 ,let us now prove what we said before3 nay1 who will not think this proved if he bethinks himself how great a passion he has for discovering the unknown8 how vehemently his curiosity is roused by every kind of romantic tale4 ,some men make long voyages and undergo the toils of journeying to distant lands for no reward except that of discovering something hidden and remote4 ,this is what draws people to public shows1 and causes them to pry into everything that is closed1 to puzzle out everything that is secret1 to clear up points of antiquity1 and to listen to tales of the customs of savage nations4 ,nature has bestowed upon us an inquiring disposition1 and being well aware of her own skill and beauty1 has produced us to be spectators of her vast works1 because she would lose all the fruits of her labour if she were to exhibit such vast and noble works of such complex construction1 so bright and beautiful in so many ways1 to solitude alone4 ,that you may be sure that she wishes to be gazed upon1 not merely looked at1 see what a place she has assigned to us3 she has placed us in #bde the middle of herself and given us a prospect all around4 ,she has not only set man erect upon his feet1 but also with a view to making it easy for him to watch the heavens1 she has raised his head on high and connected it with a pliant neck1 in order that he might follow the course of the stars from their rising to their setting1 and move his face round with the whole heaven4 ,moreover1 by carrying six constellations across the sky by day1 and six by night1 she displays every part of herself in such a manner that by what she brings before man's eyes she renders him eager to see the rest also4 ,for we have not beheld all things1 nor yet the true extent of them1 but our eyesight does but open to itself the right path for research1 and lay the foundation1 from which our speculations may pass from what is obvious to what is less known1 and find out something more ancient than the world itself1 from whence those stars came forth3 inquire what was the condition of the universe before each of its elements were separated from the general mass3 on what principle its confused and blended parts were divided3 who assigned their places to things1 whether it was by their own nature that what was heavy sunk downwards1 and what was light flew upwards1 or whether besides the stress and weight of bodies some higher power gave laws to each of them3 whether that greatest proof that the spirit of man is divine be true1 the theory1 namely1 that some parts and as it were sparks of the stars have fallen down upon earth and stuck there in a foreign substance4 ,our thought bursts through the battlements of heaven1 and is not satisfied with knowing only what is shown to us3 8,i investigate10 it says1 8that which lies without the world1 whether it be a bottomless abyss1 or whether it also is confined within boundaries of its own3 what the appearance of the things outside may be1 whether they be shapeless and vague1 extending equally in every direction1 or whether they also are arranged #bdf in a certain kind of order3 whether they are connected with this world of ours1 or are widely separated from it and welter about in empty space3 whether they consist of distinct atoms1 of which everything that is and that is to be1 is made1 or whether their substance is uninterrupted and all of it capable of change3 whether the elements are naturally opposed to one another1 or whether they are not at variance1 but work towards the same end by different means40 ,since man was born for such speculations as these1 consider how short a time he has been given for them1 even supposing that he makes good his claims to the whole of it1 allows no part of it to be wrested from him through good nature1 or to slip away from him through carelessness2 though he watches over all his hours with most miserly care1 though he live to the extreme confines of human existence1 and though misfortune take nothing away from what ,nature bestowed upon him1 even then man is too mortal for the comprehension of immortality4 ,i live according to ,nature1 therefore1 if ,i give myself entirely up to her1 and if ,i admire and reverence her4 ,nature1 however1 intended me to do both1 to practise both contemplation and action3 and ,i do both1 because even contemplation is not devoid of action4 ,,vi4 8,but10 say you1 8it makes a difference whether you adopt the contemplative life for the sake of your own pleasure1 demanding nothing from it save unbroken contemplation without any result3 for such a life is a sweet one and has attractions of its own40 ,to this ,i answer you3 ,it makes just as much difference in what spirit you lead the life of a public man1 whether you are never at rest1 and never set apart any time during which you may turn your eyes away from the things of earth to those of ,heaven4 ,it is by no means desirable that one should merely strive to accumulate property without any love of virtue1 or do nothing but hard work without any cultivation of the #bdg intellect1 for these things ought to be combined and blended together2 and1 similarly1 virtue placed in leisure without action is but an incomplete and feeble good thing1 because she never displays what she has learned4 ,who can deny that she ought to test her progress in actual work1 and not merely think what ought to be done1 but also sometimes use her hands as well as her head1 and bring her conceptions into actual being8 ,but if the wise man be quite willing to act thus1 if it be the things to be done1 not the man to do them that are wanting1 will you not then allow him to live to himself8 ,what is the wise man's purpose in devoting himself to leisure8 ,he knows that in leisure as well as in action he will accomplish something by which he will be of service to posterity4 ,our school at any rate declares that ,zeno and ,chrysippus have done greater things than they would have done had they been in command of armies1 or filled high offices1 or passed laws3 which latter indeed they did pass1 though not for one single state1 but for the whole human race4 ,how then can it be unbecoming to a good man to enjoy a leisure such as this1 by whose means he gives laws to ages to come1 and addresses himself not to a few persons but to all men of all nations1 both now and hereafter8 ,to sum up the matter1 ,i ask you whether ,cleanthes1 ,chrysippus1 and ,zeno lived in accordance with their doctrine8 ,i am sure that you will answer that they lived in the manner in which they taught that men ought to live3 yet no one of them governed a state4 8,they had not10 you reply1 8the amount of property or social position which as a rule enables people to take part in public affairs40 ,yet for all that they did not live an idle life3 they found the means of making their retirement more useful to mankind than the perspirings and runnings to and fro of other men3 wherefore these persons are thought to have done great things1 in spite of their having done nothing of a public character4 #bdh ,,vii4 ,morever1 there are three kinds of life1 and it is a stock question which of the three is the best3 the first is devoted to pleasure1 the second to contemplation1 the third to action4 ,first1 let us lay aside all disputatiousness and bitterness of feeling1 which1 as we have stated1 causes those whose paths in life are different to hate one another beyond all hope of reconciliation1 and let us see whether all these three do not come to the same thing1 although under different names3 for neither he who decides for pleasure is without contemplation1 nor is he who gives himself up to contemplation without pleasure3 nor yet is he1 whose life is devoted to action1 without contemplation4 8,it makes10 you say1 8all the difference in the world1 whether a thing is one's main object in life1 or whether it be merely an appendage to some other object40 ,i admit that the difference is considerable1 nevertheless the one does not exist apart from the other3 the one man cannot live in contemplation without action1 nor can the other act without contemplation3 and even the third1 of whom we all agree in having a bad opinion1 does not approve of passive pleasure1 but of that which he establishes for himself by means of reason3 even this pleasure-seeking sect itself1 therefore1 practises action also4 ,of course it does1 since ,epicurus himself says that at times he would abandon pleasure and actually seek for pain1 if he became likely to be surfeited with pleasure1 or if he thought that by enduring a slight pain he might avoid a greater one4 ,with what purpose do ,i state this8 ,to prove that all men are fond of contemplation4 ,some make it the object of their lives3 to us it is an anchorage1 but not a harbour4 ,,viii4 ,add to this that1 according to the doctrine of ,chrysippus1 a man may live at leisure3 ,i do not say that he ought to endure leisure1 but that he ought to choose it4 ,our ,stoics say that the wise man would not take part in the government of any state4 ,what difference does it #bdi make by what path the wise man arrives at leisure1 whether it be because the state is wanting to him1 or he is wanting to the state8 ,if the state is to be wanting to all wise men 7and it always will be found wanting by refined thinkers71 ,i ask you1 to what state should the wise man betake himself2 to that of the ,athenians1 in which ,socrates is condemned to death1 and from which ,aristotle goes into exile lest he should be condemned to death8 where virtues are borne down by jealousy8 ,you will tell me that no wise man would join such a state4 ,shall then the wise man go to the commonwealth of the ,carthaginians1 where faction never ceases to rage1 and liberty is the foe of all the best men1 where justice and goodness are held of no account1 where enemies are treated with inhuman cruelty and natives are treated like enemies3 he will flee from this state also4 ,if ,i were to discuss each one separately1 ,i should not be able to find one which the wise man could endure1 or which could endure the wise man4 ,now if such a state as we have dreamed of cannot be found on earth1 it follows that leisure is necessary for every one1 because the one thing which might be preferred to leisure is nowhere to be found4 ,if any one says that to sail is the best of things1 and then says that we ought not to sail in a sea in which shipwrecks were common occurrences1 and where sudden storms often arise which drive the pilot back from his course1 ,i should imagine that this man1 while speaking in praise of sailing1 was really forbidding me to unmoor my ship 4 4 4 4 #a ,virg4 8,aen40 ix4 #fab4 ,compare ,sir ,walter ,scott1 8,lay of the ,last ,minstrel10 canto iv43-- 8,and still1 in age1 he spurned at rest1 ,and still his brows the helmet pressed4 ,albeit the blanched locks below ,were white as ,dinlay's spotless snow10 c4 #bej ,,the ,,ninth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,serenus4 ,,of ,,peace ,,of ,,mind4 ,i4 ,serenus4 ,when ,i examine myself1 ,seneca1 some vices appear on the surface1 and so that ,i can lay my hands upon them1 while others are less distinct and harder to reach1 and some are not always present1 but recur at intervals3 and these ,i should call the most troublesome1 being like a roving enemy that assails one when he sees his opportunity1 and who will neither let one stand on one's guard as in war1 nor yet take one's rest without fear as in peace4 ,the position in which ,i find myself more especially 7for why should ,i not tell you the truth as ,i would to a physician71 is that of neither being thoroughly set free from the vices which ,i fear and hate1 nor yet quite in bondage to them3 my state of mind1 though not the worst possible1 is a particularly discontented and sulky one3 ,i am neither ill nor well1 ,it is of no use for you to tell me that all virtues are weakly at the outset1 and that they acquire strength and solidity by time1 for ,i am well aware that even those which do but help our outward show1 such as grandeur1 a reputation for eloquence1 and everything that appeals to others1 gain power by time4 ,both those which #bea afford us real strength and those which do but trick us out in a more attractive form1 require long years before they gradually are adapted to us by time4 ,but ,i fear that custom1 which confirms most things1 implants this vice more and more deeply in me4 ,long acquaintance with both good and bad people leads one to esteem them all alike4 ,what this state of weakness really is1 when the mind halts between two opinions without any strong inclination towards either good or evil1 ,i shall be better able to show you piecemeal than all at once4 ,i will tell you what befalls me1 you must find out the name of the disease4 ,i have to confess the greatest possible love of thrift3 ,i do not care for a bed with gorgeous hangings1 nor for clothes brought out of a chest1 or pressed under weights and made glossy by frequent manglings1 but for common and cheap ones1 that require no care either to keep them or to put them on4 ,for food ,i do not want what needs whole troops of servants to prepare it and admire it1 nor what is ordered many days before and served up by many hands1 but something handy and easily come at1 with nothing far-fetched or costly about it1 to be had in every part of the world1 burdensome neither to one's fortune nor one's body1 not likely to go out of the body by the same path by which it came in4 ,i like#a a rough and unpolished homebred servant1 ,i like my servant born in my house3 ,i like my country-bred father's heavy silver plate stamped with no maker's name3 ,i do not want a table that is beauteous with dappled spots1 or known to all the town by the number of fashionable people to whom it has successively belonged1 but one which stands merely for use1 and which causes no guest's eye to dwell upon it with pleasure or to kindle at it with envy4 ,while ,i am well satisfied with this1 ,i am reminded of the clothes of a certain schoolboy1 dressed with no ordinary care and splendour1 of slaves bedecked with gold and a whole regiment #beb of glittering attendants4 ,i think of houses too1 where one treads on precious stones1 and where valuables lie about in every corner1 where the very roof is brilliantly painted1 and a whole nation attends and accompanies an inheritance on the road to ruin4 ,what shall ,i say of waters1 transparent to the very bottom1 which flow round the guests1 and banquets worthy of the theatre in which they take place8 ,coming as ,i do from a long course of dull thrift1 ,i find myself surrounded by the most brilliant luxury1 which echoes around me on every side3 my sight becomes a little dazzled by it3 ,i can lift up my heart against it more easily than my eyes4 ,when ,i return from seeing it ,i am a sadder1 though not a worse man1 ,i cannot walk amid my own paltry possessions with so lofty a step as before1 and silently there steals over me a feeling of vexation1 and a doubt whether that way of life may not be better than mine4 ,none of these things alter my principles1 yet all of them disturb me4 ,at one time ,i would obey the maxims of our school and plunge into public life1 ,i would obtain office and become consul1 not because the purple robe and lictor's axes attract me1 but in order that ,i may be able to be of use to my friends1 my relatives1 to all my countrymen1 and indeed to all mankind4 ,ready and determined1 ,i follow the advice of ,zeno1 ,cleanthes1 and ,chrysippus1 all of whom bid one take part in public affairs1 though none of them ever did so himself3 and then1 as soon as something disturbs my mind1 which is not used to receiving shocks1 as soon as something occurs which is either disgraceful1 such as often occurs in all men's lives1 or which does not proceed quite easily1 or when subjects of very little importance require me to devote a great deal of time to them1 ,i go back to my life of leisure1 and1 just as even tired cattle go faster when they are going home1 ,i wish to retire and pass my life within the walls of my house4 8,no one10 ,i say1 8that will give me no compensation worth such a loss shall ever #bec rob me of a day4 ,let my mind be contained within itself and improve itself3 let it take no part with other men's affairs1 and do nothing which depends on the approval of others3 let me enjoy a tranquillity undisturbed by either public or private troubles40 ,but whenever my spirit is roused by reading some brave words1 or some noble example spurs me into action1 ,i want to rush into the law courts1 to place my voice at one man's disposal1 my services at another's1 and to try to help him even though ,i may not succeed1 or to quell the pride of some lawyer who is puffed up by ill-deserved success3 but ,i think1 by ,hercules1 that in philosophical speculation it is better to view things as they are1 and to speak of them on their own account1 and as for words1 to trust to things for them1 and to let one's speech simply follow whither they lead4 8,why do you want to construct a fabric that will endure for ages8 ,do you not wish to do this in order that posterity may talk of you3 yet you were born to die1 and a silent death is the least wretched4 ,write something therefore in a simple style1 merely to pass the time1 for your own use1 and not for publication4 ,less labour is needed when one does not look beyond the present40 ,then again1 when the mind is elevated by the greatness of its thoughts1 it becomes ostentatious in its use of words1 the loftier its aspirations1 the more loftily it desires to express them1 and its speech rises to the dignity of its subject4 ,at such times ,i forget my mild and moderate determination and soar higher than is my wont1 using a language that is not my own4 ,not to multiply examples1 ,i am in all things attended by this weakness of a well-meaning mind1 to whose level ,i fear that ,i shall be gradually brought down1 or1 what is even more worrying1 that ,i may always hang as though about to fall1 and that there may be more the matter with me than ,i myself perceive3 for we take a friendly view of our own private affairs1 and partiality always obscures our judgment4 #bed ,i fancy that many men would have arrived at wisdom had they not believed themselves to have arrived there already1 had they not purposely deceived themselves as to some parts of their character1 and passed by others with their eyes shut3 for you have no grounds for supposing that other people's flattery is more ruinous to us than our own4 ,who dares to tell himself the truth8 ,who is there1 by however large a troop of caressing courtiers he may be surrounded1 who in spite of them is not his own greatest flatterer8 ,i beg you1 therefore1 if you have any remedy by which you could stop this vacillation of mine1 to deem me worthy to owe my peace of mind to you4 ,i am well aware that these oscillations of mind are not perilous and that they threaten me with no serious disorder3 to express what ,i complain of by an exact simile1 ,i am not suffering from a storm1 but from sea-sickness4 ,take from me1 then1 this evil1 whatever it may be1 and help one who is in distress within sight of land4 ,,ii4 ,seneca4 ,i have long been silently asking myself1 my friend ,serenus1 to what ,i should liken such a condition of mind1 and ,i find that nothing more closely resembles it than the conduct of those who1 after having recovered from a long and serious illness1 occasionally experience slight touches and twinges1 and1 although they have passed through the final stages of the disease1 yet have suspicions that it has not left them1 and though in perfect health yet hold out their pulse to be felt by the physician1 and whenever they feel warm suspect that the fever is returning4 ,such men1 ,serenus1 are not unhealthy1 but they are not accustomed to being healthy2 just as even a quiet sea or lake nevertheless displays a certain amount of ripple when its waters are subsiding after a storm4 ,what you need1 therefore1 is1 not any of those harsher remedies to which allusion has been made1 not that you should in some cases check yourself1 in others be angry with yourself1 in #bee others sternly reproach yourself1 but that you should adopt that which comes last in the list1 have confidence in yourself1 and believe that you are proceeding on the right path1 without being led aside by the numerous divergent tracks of wanderers which cross it in every direction1 some of them circling about the right path itself4 ,what you desire1 to be undisturbed1 is a great thing1 nay1 the greatest thing of all1 and one which raises a man almost to the level of a god4 ,the ,greeks call this calm steadiness of mind euthymia1 and ,democritus's treatise upon it is excellently written3 ,i call it peace of mind3 for there is no necessity for translating so exactly as to copy the words of the ,greek idiom3 the essential point is to mark the matter under discussion by a name which ought to have the same meaning as its ,greek name1 though perhaps not the same form4 ,what we are seeking1 then1 is how the mind may always pursue a steady1 unruffled course1 may be pleased with itself1 and look with pleasure upon its surroundings1 and experience no interruption of this joy1 but abide in a peaceful condition without being ever either elated or depressed3 this will be 8peace of mind40 ,let us now consider in a general way how it may be attained3 then you may apply as much as you choose of the universal remedy to your own case4 ,meanwhile we must drag to light the entire disease1 and then each one will recognize his own part of it3 at the same time you will understand how much less you suffer by your self-depreciation than those who are bound by some showy declaration which they have made1 and are oppressed by some grand title of honour1 so that shame rather than their own free will forces them to keep up the pretence4 ,the same thing applies both to those who suffer from fickleness and continual changes of purpose1 who always are fondest of what they have given up1 and those who merely yawn and dawdle3 add to these those who1 like bad sleepers1 turn from side to #bef side1 and settle themselves first in one manner and then in another1 until at last they find rest through sheer weariness3 in forming the habits of their lives they often end by adopting some to which they are not kept by any dislike of change1 but in the practice of which old age1 which is slow to alter1 has caught them living3 add also those who are by no means fickle1 yet who must thank their dulness1 not their consistency for being so1 and who go on living not in the way they wish1 but in the way they have begun to live4 ,there are other special forms of this disease without number1 but it has but one effect1 that of making people dissatisfied with themselves4 ,this arises from a distemperature of mind and from desires which one is afraid to express or unable to fulfil1 when men either dare not attempt as much as they wish to do1 or fail in their efforts and depend entirely upon hope3 such people are always fickle and changeable1 which is a necessary consequence of living in a state of suspense3 they take any way to arrive at their ends1 and teach and force themselves to use both dishonourable and difficult means to do so1 so that when their toil has been in vain they are made wretched by the disgrace of failure1 and do not regret having longed for what was wrong1 but having longed for it in vain4 ,they then begin to feel sorry for what they have done1 and afraid to begin again1 and their mind falls by degrees into a state of endless vacillation1 because they can neither command nor obey their passions1 of hesitation1 because their life cannot properly develope itself1 and of decay1 as the mind becomes stupefied by disappointments4 ,all these symptoms become aggravated when their dislike of a laborious misery has driven them to idleness and to secret studies1 which are unendurable to a mind eager to take part in public affairs1 desirous of action and naturally restless1 because1 of course1 it finds too few resources within itself3 when therefore it loses the amusement which business itself affords to busy #beg men1 it cannot endure home1 loneliness1 or the walls of a room1 and regards itself with dislike when left to itself4 ,hence arises that weariness and dissatisfaction with oneself1 that tossing to and fro of a mind which can nowhere find rest1 that unhappy and unwilling endurance of enforced leisure4 ,in all cases where one feels ashamed to confess the real cause of one's suffering1 and where modesty leads one to drive one's sufferings inward1 the desires pent up in a little space without any vent choke one another4 ,hence comes melancholy and drooping of spirit1 and a thousand waverings of the unsteadfast mind1 which is held in suspense by unfulfilled hopes1 and saddened by disappointed ones3 hence comes the state of mind of those who loathe their idleness1 complain that they have nothing to do1 and view the progress of others with the bitterest jealousy3 for an unhappy sloth favours the growth of envy1 and men who cannot succeed themselves wish every one else to be ruined4 ,this dislike of other men's progress and despair of one's own produces a mind angered against fortune1 addicted to complaining of the age in which it lives1 to retiring into corners and brooding over its misery1 until it becomes sick and weary of itself3 for the human mind is naturally nimble and apt at movement3 it delights in every opportunity of excitement and forgetfulness of itself1 and the worse a man's disposition the more he delights in this1 because he likes to wear himself out with busy action1 just as some sores long for the hands that injure them and delight in being touched1 and the foul itch enjoys anything that scratches it4 ,similarly ,i assure you that these minds1 over which desires have spread like evil ulcers1 take pleasure in toils and troubles1 for there are some things which please our body while at the same time they give it a certain amount of pain1 such as turning oneself over and changing one's side before it is wearied1 or cooling oneself in one position after another4 ,it is like ,homer's ,achilles1 #beh lying first upon its face1 then upon its back1 placing itself in various attitudes1 and1 as sick people are wont1 enduring none of them for long1 and using changes as though they were remedies4 ,hence men undertake aimless wanderings1 travel along distant shores1 and at one time at sea1 at another by land1 try to soothe that fickleness of disposition which always is dissatisfied with the present4 8,now let us make for ,campania3 now ,i am sick of rich cultivation3 let us see wild regions1 let us thread the passes of ,bruttii and ,lucania3 yet amid this wilderness one wants something of beauty to relieve our pampered eyes after so long dwelling on savage wastes3 let us seek ,tarentum with its famous harbour1 its mild winter climate1 and its district1 rich enough to support even the great hordes of ancient times4 ,let us now return to town3 our ears have too long missed its shouts and noise3 it would be pleasant also to enjoy the sight of human bloodshed40 ,thus one journey succeeds another1 and one sight is changed for another4 ,as ,lucretius says3-- 8,thus every mortal from himself doth flee20 but what does he gain by so doing if he does not escape from himself8 he follows himself and weighs himself down by his own most burdensome companionship4 ,we must understand1 therefore1 that what we suffer from is not the fault of the places but of ourselves3 we are weak when there is anything to be endured1 and cannot support either labour or pleasure1 either one's own business or any one else's for long4 ,this has driven some men to death1 because by frequently altering their purpose they were always brought back to the same point1 and had left themselves no room for anything new4 ,they had become sick of life and of the world itself1 and as all indulgences palled upon them they began to ask themselves the question1 8,how long are we to go on doing the same thing80 #bei ,,iii4 ,you ask me what ,i think we had better make use of to help us to support this ennui4 8,the best thing10 as ,athenodorus says1 8is to occupy oneself with business with the management of affairs of state and the duties of a citizen3 for as some pass the day in exercising themselves in the sun and in taking care of their bodily health1 and athletes find it most useful to spend the greater part of their time in feeding up the muscles and strength to whose cultivation they have devoted their lives2 so too for you who are training your mind to take part in the struggles of political life1 it is far more honourable to be thus at work than to be idle4 ,he whose object is to be of service to his countrymen and to all mortals1 exercises himself and does good at the same time when he is engrossed in business and is working to the best of his ability both in the interests of the public and of private men4 ,but10 continues he1 8because innocence is hardly safe among such furious ambitions and so many men who turn one aside from the right path1 and it is always sure to meet with more hindrance than help1 we ought to withdraw ourselves from the forum and from public life1 and a great mind even in a private station can find room wherein to expand freely4 ,confinement in dens restrains the springs of lions and wild creatures1 but this does not apply to human beings1 who often effect the most important works in retirement4 ,let a man1 however1 withdraw himself only in such a fashion that wherever he spends his leisure his wish may still be to benefit individual men and mankind alike1 both with his intellect1 his voice1 and his advice4 ,the man that does good service to the state is not only he who brings forward candidates for public office1 defends accused persons1 and gives his vote on questions of peace and war1 but he who encourages young men in well-doing1 who supplies the present dearth of good teachers by instilling into their minds the principles of virtue1 who seizes and holds back those who #bfj are rushing wildly in pursuit of riches and luxury1 and1 if he does nothing else1 at least checks their course--such a man does service to the public though in a private station4 ,which does the most good1 he who decides between foreigners and citizens 7as praetor peregrinus71 or1 as praetor urbanus1 pronounces sentence to the suitors in his court at his assistant's dictation1 or he who shows them what is meant by justice1 filial feeling1 endurance1 courage1 contempt of death and knowledge of the gods1 and how much a man is helped by a good conscience8 ,if then you transfer to philosophy the time which you take away from the public service1 you will not be a deserter or have refused to perform your proper task4 ,a soldier is not merely one who stands in the ranks and defends the right or the left wing of the army1 but he also who guards the gates--a service which1 though less dangerous1 is no sinecure--who keeps watch1 and takes charge of the arsenal3 though all these are bloodless duties1 yet they count as military service4 ,as soon as you have devoted yourself to philosophy1 you will have overcome all disgust at life3 you will not wish for darkness because you are weary of the light1 nor will you be a trouble to yourself and useless to others3 you will acquire many friends1 and all the best men will be attracted towards you3 for virtue1 in however obscure a position1 cannot be hidden1 but gives signs of its presence3 any one who is worthy will trace it out by its footsteps3 but if we give up all society1 turn our backs upon the whole human race1 and live communing with ourselves alone1 this solitude without any interesting occupation will lead to a want of something to do3 we shall begin to build up and to pull down1 to dam out the sea1 to cause waters to flow through natural obstacles1 and generally to make a bad disposal of the time which ,nature has given us to spend3 some of us use it grudgingly1 others wastefully2 some of us spend it so that we can show a profit and loss account1 #bfa others so that they have no assets remaining3 than which nothing can be more shameful4 ,often a man who is very old in years has nothing beyond his age by which he can prove that he has lived a long time40 ,,iv4 ,to me1 my dearest ,serenus1 ,athenodorus seems to have yielded too completely to the times1 to have fled too soon3 ,i will not deny that sometimes one must retire1 but one ought to retire slowly1 at a foot's pace1 without losing one's ensigns or one's honour as a soldier3 those who make terms with arms in their hands are more respected by their enemies and more safe in their hands4 ,this is what ,i think ought to be done by virtue and by one who practises virtue3 if ,fortune get the upper hand and deprive him of the power of action1 let him not straightway turn his back to the enemy1 throw away his arms1 and run away seeking for a hiding-place1 as if there were any place whither ,fortune could not pursue him1 but let him be more sparing in his acceptance of public office1 and after due deliberation discover some means by which he can be of use to the state4 ,he is not able to serve in the army3 then let him become a candidate for civic honours3 must he live in a private station8 then let him be an advocate3 is he condemned to keep silence8 then let him help his countrymen with silent counsel4 ,is it dangerous for him even to enter the forum8 then let him prove himself a good comrade1 a faithful friend1 a sober guest in people's houses1 at public shows1 and at wine-parties4 ,suppose that he has lost the status of a citizen2 then let him exercise that of a man3 our reason for magnanimously refusing to confine ourselves within the walls of one city1 for having gone forth to enjoy intercourse with all lands and for professing ourselves to be citizens of the world is that we may thus obtain a wider theatre on which to display our virtue4 ,is the bench of judges closed to you1 are you forbidden to address the people from the hustings1 or to be a candidate at elections8 #bfb then turn your eyes away from ,rome1 and see what a wide extent of territory1 what a number of nations present themselves before you4 ,thus1 it is never possible for so many outlets to be closed against your ambition that more will not remain open to it3 but see whether the whole prohibition does not arise from your own fault4 ,you do not choose to direct the affairs of the state except as consul or prytanis#b or meddix#c or sufes3#d what should we say if you refused to serve in the army save as general or military tribune8 ,even though others may form the first line1 and your lot may have placed you among the veterans of the third1 do your duty there with your voice1 encouragement1 example1 and spirit3 even though a man's hands be cut off1 he may find means to help his side in a battle1 if he stands his ground and cheers on his comrades4 ,do something of that sort yourself3 if ,fortune removes you from the front rank1 stand your ground nevertheless and cheer on your comrades1 and if somebody stops your mouth1 stand nevertheless and help your side in silence4 ,the services of a good citizen are never thrown away3 he does good by being heard and seen1 by his expression1 his gestures1 his silent determination1 and his very walk4 ,as some remedies benefit us by their smell as well as by their their taste and touch1 so virtue even when concealed and at a distance sheds usefulness around4 ,whether she moves at her ease and enjoys her just rights1 or can only appear abroad on sufferance and is forced to shorten sail to the tempest1 whether it be unemployed1 silent1 and pent up in a narrow lodging1 or openly displayed1 in whatever guise she may appear1 she always does good4 ,what8 do you think that the example of one who can rest nobly has no value8 ,it is by far the best plan1 therefore1 to mingle #bfc leisure with business1 whenever chance impediments or the state of public affairs forbid one's leading an active life3 for one is never so cut off from all pursuits as to find no room left for honourable action4 ,v4 ,could you anywhere find a more miserable city than that of ,athens when it was being torn to pieces by the thirty tyrants8 they slew thirteen hundred citizens1 all the best men1 and did not leave off because they had done so1 but their cruelty became stimulated by exercise4 ,in the city which possessed that most reverend tribunal1 the ,court of the ,areopagus1 which possessed a ,senate1 and a popular assembly which was like a ,senate1 there met daily a wretched crew of butchers1 and the unhappy ,senate ,house was crowded with tyrants4 ,a state1 in which there were so many tyrants that they would have been enough to form a bodyguard for one1 might surely have rested from the struggle2 it seemed impossible for men's minds even to conceive hopes of recovering their liberty1 nor could they see any room for a remedy for such a mass of evil3 for whence could the unhappy state obtain all the ,harmodiuses it would need to slay so many tyrants8 ,yet ,socrates was in the midst of the city1 and consoled its mourning ,fathers1 encouraged those who despaired of the republic1 by his reproaches brought rich men1 who feared that their wealth would be their ruin1 to a tardy repentance of their avarice1 and moved about as a great example to those who wished to imitate him1 because he walked a free man in the midst of thirty masters4 ,however1 ,athens herself put him to death in prison1 and ,freedom herself could not endure the freedom of one who had treated a whole band of tyrants with scorn3 you may know1 therefore1 that even in an oppressed state a wise man can find an opportunity for bringing himself to the front1 and that in a prosperous and flourishing one wanton insolence1 jealousy1 and a thousand other cowardly vices bear sway4 ,we ought1 #bfd therefore1 to expand or contract ourselves according as the state presents itself to us1 or as ,fortune offers us opportunities3 but in any case we ought to move and not to become frozen still by fear3 nay1 he is the best man who1 though peril menaces him on every side and arms and chains beset his path1 nevertheless neither impairs nor conceals his virtue3 for to keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself4 ,i think that ,curius ,dentatus spoke truly when he said that he would rather be dead than alive3 the worst evil of all is to leave the ranks of the living before one dies3 yet it is your duty1 if you happen to live in an age when it is not easy to serve the state1 to devote more time to leisure and to literature4 ,thus1 just as though you were making a perilous voyage1 you may from time to time put into harbour1 and set yourself free from public business without waiting for it to do so4 ,,vi4 ,we ought1 however1 first to examine our own selves1 next the business which we propose to transact1 next those for whose sake or in whose company we transact it4 ,it is above all things necessary to form a true estimate of oneself1 because as a rule we think that we can do more than we are able3 one man is led too far through confidence in his eloquence1 another demands more from his estate than it can produce1 another burdens a weakly body with some toilsome duty4 ,some men are too shamefaced for the conduct of public affairs1 which require an unblushing front3 some men's obstinate pride renders them unfit for courts3 some cannot control their anger1 and break into unguarded language on the slightest provocation3 some cannot rein in their wit or resist making risky jokes3 for all these men leisure is better than employment3 a bold1 haughty and impatient nature ought to avoid anything that may lead it to use a freedom of speech which will bring it to ruin4 ,next we must form an estimate of the matter which we mean to deal with1 and compare our strength #bfe with the deed we are about to attempt3 for the bearer ought always to be more powerful than his load3 indeed1 loads which are too heavy for their bearer must of necessity crush him3 some affairs also are not so important in themselves as they are prolific and lead to much more business1 which employments1 as they involve us in new and various forms of work1 ought to be refused4 ,neither should you engage in anything from which you are not free to retreat3 apply yourself to something which you can finish1 or at any rate can hope to finish3 you had better not meddle with those operations which grow in importance1 while they are being transacted1 and which will not stop where you intended them to stop4 ,,vii4 ,in all cases one should be careful in one's choice of men1 and see whether they be worthy of our bestowing a part of our life upon them1 or whether we shall waste our own time and theirs also3 for some even consider us to be in their debt because of our services to them4 ,athenodorus said that 8he would not so much as dine with a man who would not be grateful to him for doing so03 meaning1 ,i imagine1 that much less would he go to dinner with those who recompense the services of their friends by their table1 and regard courses of dishes as donatives1 as if they overate themselves to do honour to others4 ,take away from these men their witnesses and spectators3 they will take no pleasure in solitary gluttony4 ,you must decide whether your disposition is better suited for vigorous action or for tranquil speculation and contemplation1 and you must adopt whichever the bent of your genius inclines you for4 ,isocrates laid hands upon ,ephorus and led him away from the forum1 thinking that he would be more usefully employed in compiling chronicles2 for no good is done by forcing one's mind to engage in uncongenial work3 it is vain to struggle against ,nature4 ,yet nothing delights the mind so much as faithful and pleasant friendship3 what a #bff blessing it is when there is one whose breast is ready to receive all your secrets with safety1 whose knowledge of your actions you fear less than your own conscience1 whose conversation removes your anxieties1 whose advice assists your plans1 whose cheerfulness dispels your gloom1 whose very sight delights you6 ,we should choose for our friends men who are1 as far as possible1 free from strong desires3 for vices are contagious1 and pass from a man to his neighbour1 and injure those who touch them4 ,as1 therefore1 in times of pestilence we have to be careful not to sit near people who are infected and in whom the disease is raging1 because by so doing1 we shall run into danger and catch the plague from their very breath2 so1 too1 in choosing our friends' dispositions1 we must take care to select those who are as far as may be unspotted by the world2 for the way to breed disease is to mix what is sound with what is rotten4 ,yet ,i do not advise you to follow after or draw to yourself no one except a wise man3 for where will you find him whom for so many centuries we have sought in vain8 in the place of the best possible man take him who is least bad4 ,you would hardly find any time that would have enabled you to make a happier choice than if you could have sought for a good man from among the ,platos and ,xenophons and the rest of the produce of the brood of ,socrates1 or if you had been permitted to choose one from the age of ,cato3 an age which bore many men worthy to be born in ,cato's time 7just as it also bore many men worse than were ever known before1 planners of the blackest crimes3 for it needed both classes in order to make ,cato understood3 it wanted both good men1 that he might win their approbation1 and bad men1 against whom he could prove his strength73 but at the present day1 when there is such a dearth of good men1 you must be less squeamish in your choice4 ,above all1 however1 avoid dismal men who grumble at whatever happens1 and find something to complain #bfg of in everything4 ,though he may continue loyal and friendly towards you1 still one's peace of mind is destroyed by a comrade whose mind is soured and who meets every incident with a groan4 ,,viii4 ,let us now pass on to the consideration of property1 that most fertile source of human sorrows3 for if you compare all the other ills from which we suffer--deaths1 sicknesses1 fears1 regrets1 endurance of pains and labours-- with those miseries which our money inflicts upon us1 the latter will far outweigh all the others4 ,reflect1 then1 how much less a grief it is never to have had any money than to have lost it3 we shall thus understand that the less poverty has to lose1 the less torment it has with which to afflict us3 for you are mistaken if you suppose that the rich bear their losses with greater spirit than the poor3 a wound causes the same amount of pain to the greatest and the smallest body4 ,it was a neat saying of ,bion's1 8that it hurts bald men as much as hairy men to have their hairs pulled out03 you may be assured that the same thing is true of rich and poor people1 that their suffering is equal3 for their money clings to both classes1 and cannot be torn away without their feeling it3 yet it is more endurable1 as ,i have said1 and easier not to gain property than to lose it1 and therefore you will find that those upon whom ,fortune has never smiled are more cheerful than those whom she has deserted4 ,diogenes1 a man of infinite spirit1 perceived this1 and made it impossible that anything should be taken from him4 ,call this security from loss poverty1 want1 necessity1 or any contemptuous name you please3 ,i shall consider such a man to be happy1 unless you find me another who can lose nothing4 ,if ,i am not mistaken1 it is a royal attribute among so many misers1 sharpers1 and robbers1 to be the one man who cannot be injured4 ,if any one doubts the happiness of ,diogenes1 he would doubt whether the position of the immortal gods was one of sufficient happiness4 #bfh because they have no farms or gardens1 no valuable estates let to strange tenants1 and no large loans in the money market4 ,are you not ashamed of yourself1 you who gaze upon riches with astonished admiration8 ,look upon the universe3 you will see the gods quite bare of property1 and possessing nothing though they give everything4 ,do you think that this man who has stripped himself of all fortuitous accessories is a pauper1 or one like to the immortal gods8 ,do you call ,demetrius1 ,pompeius's freedman1 a happier man1 he who was not ashamed to be richer than ,pompeius1 who was daily furnished with a list of the number of his slaves1 as a general is with that of his army1 though he had long deserved that all his riches should consist of a pair of underlings1 and a roomier cell than the other slaves8 ,but ,diogenes's only slave ran away from him1 and when he was pointed out to ,diogenes1 he did not think him worth fetching back4 8,it is a shame10 he said1 8that ,manes should be able to live without ,diogenes1 and that ,diogenes should not be able to live without ,manes40 ,he seems to me to have said1 8,fortune1 mind your own business3 ,diogenes has nothing left that belongs to you4 ,did my slave run away8 nay1 he went away from me as a free man40 ,a household of slaves requires food and clothing3 the bellies of so many hungry creatures have to be filled3 we must buy raiment for them1 we must watch their most thievish hands1 and we must make use of the services of people who weep and execrate us4 ,how far happier is he who is indebted to no man for anything except for what he can deprive himself of with the greatest ease6 ,since we1 however1 have not such strength of mind as this1 we ought at any rate to diminish the extent of our property1 in order to be less exposed to the assaults of fortune3 those men whose bodies can be within the shelter of their armour1 are more fitted for war than those whose huge size everywhere extends beyond #bfi it1 and exposes them to wounds3 the best amount of property to have is that which is enough to keep us from poverty1 and which yet is not far removed from it4 ,,ix4 ,we shall be pleased with this measure of wealth if we have previously taken pleasure in thrift1 without which no riches are sufficient1 and with which none are insufficient1 especially as the remedy is always at hand1 and poverty itself by calling in the aid of thrift can convert itself into riches4 ,let us accustom ourselves to set aside mere outward show1 and to measure things by their uses1 not by their ornamental trappings3 let our hunger be tamed by food1 our thirst quenched by drinking1 our lust confined within needful bounds2 let us learn to use our limbs1 and to arrange our dress and way of life according to what was approved of by our ancestors1 not in imitation of new-fangled models3 let us learn to increase our continence1 to repress luxury1 to set bounds to our pride1 to assuage our anger1 to look upon poverty without prejudice1 to practise thrift1 albeit many are ashamed to do so1 to apply cheap remedies to the wants of nature1 to keep all undisciplined hopes and aspirations as it were under lock and key1 and to make it our business to get our riches from ourselves and not from ,fortune4 ,we never can so thoroughly defeat the vast diversity and malignity of misfortune with which we are threatened as not to feel the weight of many gusts if we offer a large spread of canvas to the wind3 we must draw our affairs into a small compass1 to make the darts of ,fortune of no avail4 ,for this reason1 sometimes slight mishaps have turned into remedies1 and more serious disorders have been healed by slighter ones4 ,when the mind pays no attention to good advice1 and cannot be brought to its senses by milder measures1 why should we not think that its interests are being served by poverty1 disgrace1 or financial ruin being applied to it8 one evil is balanced by another4 ,let us then teach ourselves to be able to #bgj dine without all ,rome to look on1 to be the slaves of fewer slaves1 to get clothes which fulfil their original purpose1 and to live in a smaller house4 ,the inner curve is the one to take1 not only in running races and in the contests of the circus1 but also in the race of life2 even literary pursuits1 the most becoming thing for a gentleman to spend money upon1 are only justifiable as long as they are kept within bounds4 ,what is the use of possessing numberless books and libraries1 whose titles their owner can hardly read through in a lifetime8 ,a student is overwhelmed by such a mass1 not instructed1 and it is much better to devote yourself to a few writers than to skim through many4 ,forty thousand books were burned at ,alexandria3 some would have praised this library as a most noble memorial of royal wealth1 like ,titus ,livius1 who says that it was 8a splendid result of the taste and attentive care of the kings40#e ,it had nothing to do with taste or care1 but was a piece of learned luxury1 nay1 not even learned1 since they amassed it1 not for the sake of learning1 but to make a show1 like many men who know less about letters than a slave is expected to know1 and who uses his books not to help him in his studies but to ornament his dining-room4 ,let a man1 then1 obtain as many books as he wants1 but none for show4 8,it is more respectable10 say you1 8to spend one's money on such books than on vases of ,corinthian brass and paintings40 ,not so3 everything that is carried to excess is wrong4 ,what excuses can you find for a man who is eager to buy bookcases of ivory and citrus wood1 to collect the works of unknown or discredited authors1 and who sits yawning #bga amid so many thousands of books1 whose backs and titles please him more than any other part of them8 ,thus in the houses of the laziest of men you will see the works of all the orators and historians stacked upon book-shelves reaching right up to the ceiling4 ,at the present day a library has become as necessary an appendage to a house as a hot and cold bath4 ,i would excuse them straightway if they really were carried away by an excessive zeal for literature2 but as it is1 these costly works of sacred genius1 with all the illustrations that adorn them1 are merely bought for display and to serve as wall-furniture4 ,x4 ,suppose1 however1 that your life has become full of trouble1 and that without knowing what you were doing you have fallen into some snare which either public or private ,fortune has set for you1 and that you can neither untie it nor break it3 then remember that fettered men suffer much at first from the burdens and clogs upon their legs3 afterwards1 when they have made up their minds not to fret themselves about them1 but to endure them1 necessity teaches them to bear them bravely1 and habit to bear them easily4 ,in every station of life you will find amusements1 relaxations1 and enjoyments2 that is1 provided you be willing to make light of evils rather than to hate them4 ,knowing to what sorrows we were born1 there is nothing for which ,nature more deserves our thanks than for having invented habit as an alleviation of misfortune1 which soon accustoms us to the severest evils4 ,no one could hold out against misfortune if it permanently exercised the same force as at its first onset4 ,we are all chained to ,fortune3 some men's chain is loose and made of gold1 that of others is tight and of meaner metal3 but what difference does this make8 we are all included in the same captivity1 and even those who have bound us are bound themselves1 unless you think that a chain on the left side is lighter to bear3 one man may be bound by public #bgb office1 another by wealth3 some have to bear the weight of illustrious1 some of humble birth3 some are subject to the commands of others1 some only to their own3 some are kept in one place by being banished thither1 others by being elected to the priesthood4 ,all life is slavery3 let each man therefore reconcile himself to his lot1 complain of it as little as possible1 and lay hold of whatever good lies within his reach4 ,no condition can be so wretched that an impartial mind can find no compensations in it4 ,small sites1 if ingeniously divided1 may be made use of for many different purposes1 and arrangement will render ever so narrow a room habitable4 ,call good sense to your aid against difficulties3 it is possible to soften what is harsh1 to widen what is too narrow1 and to make heavy burdens press less severely upon one who bears them skilfully4 ,moreover1 we ought not to allow our desires to wander far afield1 but we must make them confine themselves to our immediate neighbourhood1 since they will not endure to be altogether locked up4 ,we must leave alone things which either cannot come to pass or can only be effected with difficulty1 and follow after such things as are near at hand and within reach of our hopes1 always remembering that all things are equally unimportant1 and that though they have a different outward appearance1 they are all alike empty within4 ,neither let us envy those who are in high places3 the heights which look lofty to us are steep and rugged4 ,again1 those whom unkind fate has placed in critical situations will be safer if they show as little pride in their proud position as may be1 and do all they are able to bring down their fortunes to the level of other men's4 ,there are many who must needs cling to their high pinnacle of power1 because they cannot descend from it save by falling headlong3 yet they assure us that their greatest burden is being obliged to be burdensome to others1 and that they are nailed to their lofty post rather than raised to it3 let #bgc them then1 by dispensing justice1 clemency1 and kindness with an open and liberal hand1 provide themselves with assistance to break their fall1 and looking forward to this maintain their position more hopefully4 ,yet nothing sets us free from these alternations of hope and fear so well as always fixing some limit to our successes1 and not allowing ,fortune to choose when to stop our career1 but to halt of our own accord long before we apparently need do so4 ,by acting thus certain desires will rouse up our spirits1 and yet being confined within bounds1 will not lead us to embark on vast and vague enterprises4 ,,xi4 ,these remarks of mine apply only to imperfect1 commonplace1 and unsound natures1 not to the wise man1 who needs not to walk with timid and cautious gait3 for he has such confidence in himself that he does not hesitate to go directly in the teeth of ,fortune1 and never will give way to her4 ,nor indeed has he any reason for fearing her1 for he counts not only chattels1 property1 and high office1 but even his body1 his eyes1 his hands1 and everything whose use makes life dearer to us1 nay1 even his very self1 to be things whose possession is uncertain2 he lives as though he had borrowed them1 and is ready to return them cheerfully whenever they are claimed4 ,yet he does not hold himself cheap1 because he knows that he is not his own1 but performs all his duties as carefully and prudently as a pious and scrupulous man would take care of property left in his charge as trustee4 ,when he is bidden to give them up1 he will not complain of ,fortune1 but will say1 8,i thank you for what ,i have had possession of3 ,i have managed your property so as largely to increase it1 but since you order me1 ,i give it back to you and return it willingly and thankfully4 ,if you still wish me to own anything of yours1 ,i will keep it for you3 if you have other views1 ,i restore into your hands and make restitution of all my wrought and coined silver1 my house and my #bgd household4 ,should ,nature recall what she previously entrusted us with1 let us say to her also3 #8,take back my spirit1 which is better than when you gave it me3 ,i do not shuffle or hang back4 ,of my own free will ,i am ready to return what you gave me before ,i could think3 take me away1'0 ,what hardship can there be in returning to the place from whence one came8 a man cannot live well if he knows not how to die well4 ,we must1 therefore1 take away from this commodity its original value1 and count the breath of life as a cheap matter4 8,we dislike gladiators10 says ,cicero1 8if they are eager to save their lives by any means whatever3 but we look favourably upon them if they are openly reckless of them10 ,you may be sure that the same thing occurs with us3 we often die because we are afraid of death4 ,fortune1 which regards our lives as a show in the arena for her own enjoyment1 says1 8,why should ,i spare you1 base and cowardly creature that you are8 you will be pierced and hacked with all the more wounds because you know not how to offer your throat to the knife3 whereas you1 who receive the stroke without drawing away your neck or putting up your hands to stop it1 shall both live longer and die more quickly10 ,he who fears death will never act as becomes a living man3 but he who knows that this fate was laid upon him as soon as he was conceived will live according to it1 and by this strength of mind will gain this further advantage1 that nothing can befal him unexpectedly3 for by looking forward to everything which can happen as though it would happen to him1 he takes the sting out of all evils1 which can make no difference to those who expect it and are prepared to meet it3 evil only comes hard upon those who have lived without giving it a thought and whose attention has been exclusively directed to happiness4 ,disease1 captivity1 disaster1 conflagration1 are none of them unexpected3 ,i always knew with what disorderly company #bge ,nature had associated me4 ,the dead have often been wailed for in my neighbourhood3 the torch and taper have often been borne past my door before the bier of one who has died before his time3 the crash of falling buildings has often resounded by my side3 night has snatched away many of those with whom ,i have become intimate in the forum1 the ,senate-house1 and in society1 and has sundered the hands which were joined in friendship3 ought ,i to be surprised if the dangers which have always been circling around me at last assail me8 ,how large a part of mankind never think of storms when about to set sail8 ,i shall never be ashamed to quote a good saying because it comes from a bad author4 ,publilius1 who was a more powerful writer than any of our other playwrights1 whether comic or tragic1 whenever he chose to rise above farcical absurdities and speeches addressed to the gallery1 among many other verses too noble even for tragedy1 let alone for comedy1 has this one3-- 8,what one hath suffered may befall us all40 ,if a man takes this into his inmost heart and looks upon all the misfortunes of other men1 of which there is always a great plenty1 in this spirit1 remembering that there is nothing to prevent their coming upon him also1 he will arm himself against them long before they attack him4 ,it is too late to school the mind to endurance of peril after peril has come4 8,i did not think this would happen10 and 8,would you ever have believed that this would have happened80 say you4 ,but why should it not8 ,where are the riches after which want1 hunger1 and beggary do not follow8 what office is there whose purple robe1 augur's staff1 and patrician reins have not as their accompaniment rags and banishment1 the brand of infamy1 a thousand disgraces1 and utter reprobation8 what kingdom is there for which ruin1 trampling under foot1 a tyrant and a #bgf butcher are not ready at hand8 nor are these matters divided by long periods of time1 but there is but the space of an hour between sitting on the throne ourselves and clasping the knees of some one else as suppliants4 ,know then that every station of life is transitory1 and that what has ever happened to anybody may happen to you also4 ,you are wealthy3 are you wealthier than ,pompeius8#f ,yet when ,gaius1#g his old relative and new host1 opened ,caesar's house to him in order that he might close his own1 he lacked both bread and water3 though he owned so many rivers which both rose and discharged themselves within his dominions1 yet he had to beg for drops of water3 he perished of hunger and thirst in the palace of his relative1 while his heir was contracting for a public funeral for one who was in want of food4 ,you have filled public offices3 were they either as important1 as unlooked for1 or as all-embracing as those of ,sejanus8 ,yet on the day on which the ,senate disgraced him1 the people tore him to pieces3 the executioner#h could find no part left large enough to drag to the ,tiber1 of one upon whom gods and men had showered all that could be given to man4 ,you are a king3 ,i will not bid you go to ,croesus for an example1 he who while yet alive saw his funeral pile both lighted and extinguished1 being made to outlive not only his kingdom but even his own death1 nor to ,jugurtha1 whom the people of ,rome beheld as a captive within the year in which they had feared him4 ,we have seen ,ptolemaeus ,king of ,africa1 and ,mithridates ,king of ,armenia1 under the charge of ,gaius's#i guards3 the former was sent into exile1 the latter chose it in order to make his #bgg exile more honourable4 ,among such continual topsy-turvy changes1 unless you expect that whatever can happen will happen to you1 you give adversity power against you1 a power which can be destroyed by any one who looks at it beforehand4 ,,xii4 ,the next point to these will be to take care that we do not labour for what is vain1 or labour in vain3 that is to say1 neither to desire what we are not able to obtain1 nor yet1 having obtained our desire too late1 and after much toil to discover the folly of our wishes3 in other words1 that our labour may not be without result1 and that the result may not be unworthy of our labour3 for as a rule sadness arises from one of these two things1 either from want of success or from being ashamed of having succeeded4 ,we must limit the running to and fro which most men practise1 rambling about houses1 theatres1 and market-places4 ,they mind other men's business1 and always seem as though they themselves had something to do4 ,if you ask one of them as he comes out of his own door1 8,whither are you going80 he will answer1 8,by ,hercules1 ,i do not know3 but ,i shall see some people and do something40 ,they wander purposelessly seeking for something to do1 and do1 not what they have made up their minds to do1 but what has casually fallen in their way4 ,they move uselessly and without any plan1 just like ants crawling over bushes1 which creep up to the top and then down to the bottom again without gaining anything4 ,many men spend their lives in exactly the same fashion1 which one may call a state of restless indolence4 ,you would pity some of them when you see them running as if their house was on fire3 they actually jostle all whom they meet1 and hurry along themselves and others with them1 though all the while they are going to salute some one who will not return their greeting1 or to attend the funeral of some one whom they did not know3 they are going to hear the verdict on one #bgh who often goes to law1 or to see the wedding of one who often gets married3 they will follow a man's litter1 and in some places will even carry it3 afterwards returning home weary with idleness1 they swear that they themselves do not know why they went out1 or where they have been1 and on the following day they will wander through the same round again4 ,let all your work1 therefore1 have some purpose1 and keep some object in view3 these restless people are not made restless by labour1 but are driven out of their minds by mistaken ideas3 for even they do not put themselves in motion without any hope3 they are excited by the outward appearance of something1 and their crazy mind cannot see its futility4 ,in the same way every one of those who walk out to swell the crowd in the streets1 is led round the city by worthless and empty reasons2 the dawn drives him forth1 although he has nothing to do1 and after he has pushed his way into many men's doors1 and saluted their nomenclators one after the other1 and been turned away from many others1 he finds that the most difficult person of all to find at home is himself4 ,from this evil habit comes that worst of all vices1 talebearing and prying into public and private secrets1 and the knowledge of many things which it is neither safe to tell nor safe to listen to4 ,,xiii4 ,it was1 ,i imagine1 following out this principle that ,democritis taught that 8he who would live at peace must not do much business either public or private10 referring of course to unnecessary business3 for if there be any necessity for it we ought to transact not only much but endless business1 both public and private2 in cases1 however1 where no solemn duty invites us to act1 we had better keep ourselves quiet3 for he who does many things often puts himself in ,fortune's power1 and it is safest not to tempt her often1 but always to remember her existence1 and never to promise oneself anything on her security4 ,i will set sail unless anything happens to prevent me1 ,i shall #bgi be praetor1 if nothing hinders me1 my financial operations will succeed1 unless anything goes wrong with them4 ,this is why we say that nothing befals the wise man which he did not expect--we do not make him exempt from the chances of human life1 but from its mistakes1 nor does everything happen to him as he wished it would1 but as he thought it would3 now his first thought was that his purpose might meet with some resistance1 and the pain of disappointed wishes must affect a man's mind less severely if he has not been at all events confident of success4 ,,xiv4 ,moreover1 we ought to cultivate an easy temper1 and not become over fond of the lot which fate has assigned to us1 but transfer ourselves to whatever other condition chance may lead us to1 and fear no alteration1 either in our purposes or our position in life1 provided that we do not become subject to caprice1 which of all vices is the most hostile to repose3 for obstinacy1 from which ,fortune often wrings some concession1 must needs be anxious and unhappy1 but caprice1 which can never restrain itself1 must be more so4 ,both of these qualities1 both that of altering nothing1 and that of being dissatisfied with everything1 are energies to repose4 ,the mind ought in all cases to be called away from the contemplation of external things to that of itself3 let it confide in itself1 rejoice in itself1 admire its own works2 avoid as far as may be those of others1 and devote itself to itself2 let it not feel losses1 and put a good construction even upon misfortunes4 ,zeno1 the chief of our school1 when he heard the news of a shipwreck1 in which all his property had been lost1 remarked1 8,fortune bids me follow philosophy in lighter marching order40 ,a tyrant threatened ,theodorus with death1 and even with want of burial4 8,you are able to please yourself10 he answered1 8my half pint of blood is in your power3 for1 as for burial1 what a fool you must be if you suppose that ,i care whether ,i rot above ground or under it40 ,julius #bhj ,kanus1 a man of peculiar greatness1 whom even the fact of his having been born in this century does not prevent our admiring1 had a long dispute with ,gaius1 and when as he was going away that ,phalaris of a man said to him1 8,that you may not delude yourself with any foolish hopes1 ,i have ordered you to be executed10 he answered1 8,i thank you1 most excellent prince40 ,i am not sure what he meant3 for many ways of explaining his conduct occur to me4 ,did he wish to be reproachful1 and to show him how great his cruelty must be if death became a kindness8 or did he upbraid him with his accustomed insanity8 for even those whose children were put to death1 and whose goods were confiscated1 used to thank him3 or was it that he willingly received death1 regarding it as freedom8 ,whatever he meant1 it was a magnanimous answer4 ,some one may say1 8,after this ,gaius might have let him live40 ,kanus had no fear of this3 the good faith with which ,gaius carried out such orders as these was well known4 ,will you believe that he passed the ten intervening days before his execution without the slightest despondency8 it is marvellous how that man spoke and acted1 and how peaceful he was4 ,he was playing at draughts when the centurion in charge of a number of those who where going to be executed bade him join them3 on the summons he counted his men and said to his companion1 8,mind you do not tell a lie after my death1 and say that you won20 then1 turning to the centurion1 he said 8,you will bear me witness that ,i am one man ahead of him40 ,do you think that ,kanus played upon that draught-board8 nay1 he played with it4 ,his friends were sad at being about to lose so great a man3 8,why10 asked he1 8are you sorrowful8 you are enquiring whether our souls are immortal1 but ,i shall presently know40 ,nor did he up to the very end cease his search after truth1 and raised arguments upon the subject of his own death4 ,his own teacher of philosophy accompanied him1 and they #bha were not far from the hill on which the daily sacrifice to ,caesar our god was offered1 when he said1 8,what are you thinking of now1 ,kanus8 or what are your ideas80 8,i have decided10 answered ,kanus1 8at that most swiftly-passing moment of all to watch whether the spirit will be conscious of the act of leaving the body40 ,he promised1 too1 that if he made any discoveries1 he would come round to his friends and tell them what the condition of the souls of the departed might be4 ,here was peace in the very midst of the storm3 here was a soul worthy of eternal life1 which used its own fate as a proof of truth1 which when at the last step of life experimented upon his fleeting breath1 and did not merely continue to learn until he died1 but learned something even from death itself4 ,no man has carried the life of a philosopher further4 ,i will not hastily leave the subject of a great man1 and one who deserves to be spoken of with respect3 ,i will hand thee down to all posterity1 thou most noble heart1 chief among the many victims of ,gaius4 ,,xv4 ,yet we gain nothing by getting rid of all personal causes of sadness1 for sometimes we are possessed by hatred of the human race4 ,when you reflect how rare simplicity is1 how unknown innocence1 how seldom faith is kept1 unless it be to our advantage1 when you remember such numbers of successful crimes1 so many equally hateful losses and gains of lust1 and ambition so impatient even of its own natural limits that it is willing to purchase distinction by baseness1 the mind seems as it were cast into darkness1 and shadows rise before it as though the virtues were all overthrown and we were no longer allowed to hope to possess them or benefited by their possession4 ,we ought therefore to bring ourselves into such a state of mind that all the vices of the vulgar may not appear hateful to us1 but merely ridiculous1 and we should imitate ,democritus rather than ,heraclitus4 ,the latter of these1 whenever be #bhb appeared in public1 used to weep1 the former to laugh3 the one thought all human doings to be follies1 the other thought them to be miseries4 ,we must take a higher view of all things1 and bear with them more easily3 it better becomes a man to scoff at life than to lament over it4 ,add to this that he who laughs at the human race deserves better of it than he who mourns for it1 for the former leaves it some good hopes of improvement1 while the latter stupidly weeps over what he has given up all hopes of mending4 ,he who after surveying the universe cannot control his laughter shows1 too1 a greater mind than he who cannot restrain his tears1 because his mind is only affected in the slightest possible degree1 and he does not think that any part of all this apparatus is either important1 or serious1 or unhappy4 ,as for the several causes which render us happy or sorrowful1 let every one describe them for himself1 and learn the truth of ,bion's saying1 8,that all the doings of men were very like what he began with1 and that there is nothing in their lives which is more holy or decent than their conception40 ,yet it is better to accept public morals and human vices calmly without bursting into either laughter or tears2 for to be hurt by the sufferings of others is to be for ever miserable1 while to enjoy the sufferings of others is an inhuman pleasure1 just as it is a useless piece of humanity to weep and pull a long face because some one is burying his son4 ,in one's own misfortunes1 also1 one ought so to conduct oneself as to bestow upon them just as much sorrow as reason1 not as much as custom requires3 for many shed tears in order to show them1 and whenever no one is looking at them their eyes are dry1 but they think it disgraceful not to weep when every one does so4 ,so deeply has this evil of being guided by the opinion of others taken root in us1 that even grief1 the simplest of all emotions1 begins to be counterfeited4 #bhc ,,xvi4 ,there comes now a part of our subject which is wont with good cause to make one sad and anxious3 ,i mean when good men come to bad ends2 when ,socrates is forced to die in prison1 ,rutilius to live in exile1 ,pompeius and ,cicero to offer their necks to the swords of their own followers1 when the great ,cato1 that living image of virtue1 falls upon his sword and rips up both himself and the republic1 one cannot help being grieved that ,fortune should bestow her gifts so unjustly3 what1 too1 can a good man hope to obtain when he sees the best of men meeting with the worst fates4 ,well1 but see how each of them endured his fate1 and if they endured it bravely1 long in your heart for courage as great as theirs2 if they died in a womanish and cowardly manner1 nothing was lost3 either they deserved that you should admire their courage1 or else they did not deserve that you should wish to imitate their cowardice3 for what can be more shameful than that the greatest men should die so bravely as to make people cowards4 ,let us praise one who deserves such constant praises1 and say1 8,the braver you are the happier you are6 ,you have escaped from all accidents1 jealousies1 diseases3 you have escaped from prison3 the gods have not thought you worthy of ill-fortune1 but have thought that fortune no longer deserved to have any power over you03 but when any one shrinks back in the hour of death and looks longingly at life1 we must lay hands upon him4 ,i will never weep for a man who dies cheerfully1 nor for one who dies weeping3 the former wipes away my tears1 the latter by his tears makes himself unworthy that any should be shed for him4 ,shall ,i weep for ,hercules because he was burned alive1 or for ,regulus because he was pierced by so many nails1 or for ,cato because he tore open his wounds a second time8 ,all these men discovered how at the cost of a small portion of time they might obtain immortality1 and by their deaths gained eternal life4 #bhd ,,xvii4 ,it also proves a fertile source of troubles if you take pains to conceal your feelings and never show yourself to any one undisguised1 but1 as many men do1 live an artificial life1 in order to impose upon others3 for the constant watching of himself becomes a torment to a man1 and he dreads being caught doing something at variance with his usual habits1 and1 indeed1 we never can be at our ease if we imagine that every one who looks at us is weighing our real value3 for many things occur which strip people of their disguise1 however reluctantly they may part with it1 and even if all this trouble about oneself is successful1 still life is neither happy nor safe when one always has to wear a mask4 ,but what pleasure there is in that honest straight-forwardness which is its own ornament1 and which conceals no part of its character8 ,yet even this life1 which hides nothing from any one runs some risk of being despised2 for there are people who disdain whatever they come close to3 but there is no danger of virtue's becoming contemptible when she is brought near our eyes1 and it is better to be scorned for one's simplicity than to bear the burden of unceasing hypocrisy4 ,still1 we must observe moderation in this matter1 for there is a great difference between living simply and living slovenly4 ,moreover1 we ought to retire a great deal into ourselves3 for association with persons unlike ourselves upsets all that we had arranged1 rouses the passions which were at rest1 and rubs into a sore any weak or imperfectly healed place in our minds4 ,nevertheless we ought to mix up these two things1 and to pass our lives alternately in solitude and among throngs of people2 for the former will make us long for the society of mankind1 the latter for that of ourselves1 and the one will counteract the other3 solitude will cure us when we are sick of crowds1 and crowds will cure us when we are sick of solitude4 ,neither ought we always to keep the mind strained to the #bhe same pitch1 but it ought sometimes to be relaxed by amusement4 ,socrates did not blush to play with little boys1 ,cato used to refresh his mind with wine after he had wearied it with application to affairs of state1 and ,scipio would move his triumphal and soldierly limbs to the sound of music1 not with a feeble and halting gait1 as is the fashion now-a-days1 when we sway in our very walk with more than womanly weakness1 but dancing as men were wont in the days of old on sportive and festal occasions1 with manly bounds1 thinking it no harm to be seen so doing even by their enemies4 ,men's minds ought to have relaxation3 they rise up better and more vigorous after rest4 ,we must not force crops from rich fields1 for an unbroken course of heavy crops will soon exhaust their fertility1 and so also the liveliness of our minds will be destroyed by unceasing labour1 but they will recover their strength after a short period of rest and relief3 for continuous toil produces a sort of numbness and sluggishness4 ,men would not be so eager for this1 if play and amusement did not possess natural attractions for them1 although constant indulgence in them takes away all gravity and all strength from the mind3 for sleep1 also1 is necessary for our refreshment1 yet if you prolong it for days and nights together it will become death4 ,there is a great difference between slackening your hold of a thing and letting it go4 ,the founders of our laws appointed festivals1 in order that men might be publicly encouraged to be cheerful1 and they thought it necessary to vary our labours with amusements1 and1 as ,i said before1 some great men have been wont to give themselves a certain number of holidays in every month1 and some divided every day into play-time and work-time4 ,thus1 ,i remember that great orator ,asinius ,pollio would not attend to any business after the tenth hour3 he would not even read letters after that time for fear some new #bhf trouble should arise1 but in those two hours#aj used to get rid of the weariness which he had contracted during the whole day4 ,some rest in the middle of the day1 and reserve some light occupation for the afternoon4 ,our ancestors1 too1 forbade any new motion to be made in the ,senate after the tenth hour4 ,soldiers divide their watches1 and those who have just returned from active service are allowed to sleep the whole night undisturbed4 ,we must humour our minds and grant them rest from time to time1 which acts upon them like food1 and restores their strength4 ,it does good also to take walks out of doors1 that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze3 sometimes we gain strength by driving in a carriage1 by travel1 by change of air1 or by social meals and a more generous allowance of wine3 at times we ought to drink even to intoxication1 not so as to drown1 but merely to dip ourselves in wine3 for wine washes away troubles and dislodges them from the depths of the mind1 and acts as a remedy to sorrow as it does to some diseases4 ,the inventor of wine is called ,liber1 not from the licence which he gives to our tongues1 but because he liberates the mind from the bondage of cares1 and emancipates it1 animates it1 and renders it more daring in all that it attempts4 ,yet moderation is wholesome both in freedom and in wine4 ,it is believed that ,solon and ,arcesilaus used to drink deep4 ,cato is reproached with drunkenness3 but whoever casts this in his teeth will find it easier to turn his reproach into a commendation than to prove that ,cato did anything wrong3 however1 we ought not to do it often1 for fear the mind should contract evil habits1 though it ought sometimes to be forced into frolic and frankness1 and to cast off dull sobriety for a while4 ,if we believe the ,greek poet1 8it is sometimes pleasant to be mad02 again1 ,plato always #bhg knocked in vain at the door of poetry when he was sober2 or1 if we trust ,aristotle1 no great genius has ever been without a touch of insanity4 ,the mind cannot use lofty language1 above that of the common herd1 unless it be excited4 ,when it has spurned aside the commonplace environments of custom1 and rises sublime1 instinct with sacred fire1 then alone can it chant a song too grand for mortal lips3 as long as it continues to dwell within itself it cannot rise to any pitch of splendour3 it must break away from the beaten track1 and lash itself to frenzy1 till it gnaws the curb and rushes away bearing up its rider to heights whither it would fear to climb when alone4 ,i have now1 my beloved ,serenus1 given you an account of what things can preserve peace of mind1 what things can restore it to us1 what can arrest the vices which secretly undermine it3 yet be assured1 that none of these is strong enough to enable us to retain so fleeting a blessing1 unless we watch over our vacillating mind with intense and unremitting care4 #a ,cf4 ,juv4 ii4 #aej4 #b ,the chief magistrate of the ,greeks4 #c ,the chief magistrate of the ,oscans4 #d ,the chief magistrate of the ,carthaginians4 #e 8,livy himself styled the ,alexandrian library elegantiae regum curaeque egregium opus3 a liberal encomium1 for which he is pertly criticised by the narrow stoicism of ,seneca 7,tranq41 ch4 ix471 whose wisdom1 on this occasion1 deviates into nonsense40--,gibbon1 8,decline and ,fall10 ch4 li1 note4 #f ,haase reads ,ptolemaeus4 #g ,caligula4 #h ,it was the duty of the executioner to fasten a hook to the neck of condemned criminals1 by which they were dragged to the ,tiber4 #i ,caligula4 #aj ,the ,romans reckoned twelve hours from sunrise to sunset4 ,these 8two hours0 were therefore the two last of the day4 #bhh ,,the ,,tenth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,paulinus4#a ,,of ,,the ,,shortness ,,of ,,life4 ,i4 ,the greater part of mankind1 my ,paulinus1 complains of the unkindness of ,nature1 because we are born only for a short space of time1 and that this allotted period of life runs away so swiftly1 nay so hurriedly1 that with but few exceptions men's life comes to an end just as they are preparing to enjoy it3 nor is it only the common herd and the ignorant vulgar who mourn over this universal misfortune1 as they consider it to be3 this reflection has wrung complaints even from great men4 ,hence comes that well-known saying of physicians1 that art is long but life is short3 hence arose that quarrel1 so unbefitting a sage1 which ,aristotle picked with ,nature1 because she had indulged animals with such length of days that some of them lived for ten or fifteen centuries1 while man1 although born for many and such great exploits1 had the term of his existence cut so much shorter4 ,we do not have a very short time assigned to us1 but we lose a great deal of it3 life is long enough to carry out the most important projects3 we #bhi have an ample portion1 if we do but arrange the whole of it aright3 but when it all runs to waste through luxury and carelessness1 when it is not devoted to any good purpose1 then at the last we are forced to feel that it is all over1 although we never noticed how it glided away4 ,thus it is3 we do not receive a short life1 but we make it a short one1 and we are not poor in days1 but wasteful of them4 ,when great and kinglike riches fall into the hands of a bad master1 they are dispersed straightway1 but even a moderate fortune1 when bestowed upon a wise guardian1 increases by use3 and in like manner our life has great opportunities for one who knows how to dispose of it to the best advantage4 ,,ii4 ,why do we complain of ,nature8 she has dealt kindly with us4 ,life is long enough1 if you know how to use it4 ,one man is possessed by an avarice which nothing can satisfy1 another by a laborious diligence in doing what is totally useless3 another is sodden by wine3 another is benumbed by sloth3 one man is exhausted by an ambition which makes him court the good will of others#b3 another1 through his eagerness as a merchant1 is led to visit every land and every sea by the hope of gain3 some are plagued by the love of soldiering1 and are always either endangering other men's lives or in trembling for their own3 some wear away their lives in that voluntary slavery1 the unrequited service of great men3 many are occupied either in laying claim to other men's fortune or in complaining of their own3 a great number have no settled purpose1 and are tossed from one new scheme to another by a rambling1 inconsistent1 dissatisfied1 fickle habit of mind3 some care for no object sufficiently to try to attain it1 but lie lazily yawning until their fate comes upon them3 so that ,i cannot #bij doubt the truth of that verse which the greatest of poets has dressed in the guise of an oracular response-- 8,we live a small part only of our lives40 ,but all duration is time1 not life3 vices press upon us and surround us on every side1 and do not permit us to regain our feet1 or to raise our eyes and gaze upon truth1 but when we are down keep us prostrate and chained to low desires4 ,men who are in this condition are never allowed to come to themselves3 if ever by chance they obtain any rest1 they roll to and fro like the deep sea1 which heaves and tosses after a gale1 and they never have any respite from their lusts4 ,do you suppose that ,i speak of those whose ills are notorious8 ,nay1 look at those whose prosperity all men run to see3 they are choked by their own good things4 ,to how many men do riches prove a heavy burden8 how many men's eloquence and continual desire to display their own cleverness has cost them their lives8#c how many are sallow with constant sensual indulgence8 how many have no freedom left them by the tribe of clients that surges around them8 ,look through all these1 from the lowest to the highest3--this man calls his friends to support him1 this one is present in court1 this one is the defendant1 this one pleads for him1 this one is on the jury3 but no one lays claim to his own self1 every one wastes his time over some one else4 ,investigate those men1 whose names are in every one's mouth3 you will find that they bear just the same marks3 ,a is devoted to ,b1 and ,b to ,c3 no one belongs to himself4 ,moreover some men are full of most irrational anger3 they complain of the insolence of their chiefs1 because they have not granted them an audience when they wished for it2 as if a man had any right to complain of being so haughtily shut out by another1 when he never has #bia leisure to give his own conscience a hearing4 ,this chief of yours1 whoever he is1 though he may look at you in an offensive manner1 still will some day look at you1 open his ears to your words1 and give you a seat by his side3 but you never design to look upon yourself1 to listen to your own grievances4 ,you ought not1 then1 to claim these services from another1 especially since while you yourself were doing so1 you did not wish for an interview with another man1 but were not able to obtain one with yourself4#d ,,iii4 ,were all the brightest intellects of all time to employ themselves on this one subject1 they never could sufficiently express their wonder at this blindness of men's minds3 men will not allow any one to establish himself upon their estates1 and upon the most trifling dispute about the measuring of boundaries1 they betake themselves to stones and cudgels3 yet they allow others to encroach upon #bib their lives1 nay1 they themselves actually lead others in to take possession of them4 ,you cannot find any one who wants to distribute his money2 yet among how many people does every one distribute his life8 men covetously guard their property from waste1 but when it comes to waste of time1 they are most prodigal of that of which it would become them to be sparing4 ,let us take one of the elders1 and say to him1 8,we perceive that you have arrived at the extreme limits of human life3 you are in your hundredth year1 or even older4 ,come now1 reckon up your whole life in black and white3 tell us how much of your time has been spent upon your creditors1 how much on your mistress1 how much on your king1 how much on your clients1 how much in quarrelling with your wife1 how much in keeping your slaves in order1 how much in running up and down the city on business4 ,add to this the diseases which we bring upon us with our own hands1 and the time which has laid idle without any use having been made of it2 you will see that you have not lived as many years as you count4 ,look back in your memory and see how often you have been consistent in your projects1 how many days passed as you intended them to do when you were at your own disposal1 how often you did not change colour and your spirit did not quail1 how much work you have done in so long a time1 how many people have without your knowledge stolen parts of your life from you1 how much you have lost1 how large a part has been taken up by useless grief1 foolish gladness1 greedy desire1 or polite conversation2 how little of yourself is left to you3 you will then perceive that you will die prematurely40 ,what1 then1 is the reason of this8 ,it is that people live as though they would live for ever3 you never remember your human frailty2 you never notice how much of your time has already gone by3 you spend it as though you had an abundant and overflowing store of it1 though all the while that day which you devote #bic to some man or to some thing is perhaps your last4 ,you fear everything1 like mortals as you are1 and yet you desire everything as if you were immortals4 ,you will hear many men say1 8,after my fiftieth year ,i will give myself up to leisure3 my sixtieth shall be my last year of public office03 and what guarantee have you that your life will last any longer8 who will let all this go on just as you have arranged it8 are you not ashamed to reserve only the leavings of your life for yourself1 and appoint for the enjoyment of your own right mind only that time which you cannot devote to any business8 ,how late it is to begin life just when we have to be leaving it6 ,what a foolish forgetfulness of our mortality1 to put off wholesome counsels until our fiftieth or sixtieth year1 and to choose that our lives shall begin at a point which few of us ever reach4 ,,iv4 ,you will find that the most powerful and highly-placed men let fall phrases in which they long for leisure1 praise it1 and prefer it to all the blessings which they enjoy4 ,sometimes they would fain descend from their lofty pedestal1 if it could be safely done3 for ,fortune collapses by its own weight1 without any shock or interference from without4 ,the late ,emperor ,augustus1 upon whom the gods bestowed more blessings than on any one else1 never ceased to pray for rest and exemption from the troubles of empire3 he used to enliven his labours with this sweet1 though unreal consolation1 that he would some day live for himself alone4 ,in a letter which he addressed to the ,senate1 after promising that his rest shall not be devoid of dignity nor discreditable to his former glories1 ,i find the following words3--0,these things1 however1 it is more honourable to do than to promise3 but my eagerness for that time1 so earnestly longed for1 has led me to derive a certain pleasure from speaking about it1 though the reality is still far distant40#e ,he thought leisure so important1 that though #bid he could not actually enjoy it1 yet he did so by anticipation and by thinking about it4 ,he1 who saw everything depending upon himself alone1 who swayed the fortunes of men and of nations1 thought that his happiest day would be that on which he laid aside his greatness4 ,he knew by experience how much labour was involved in that glory that shone through all lands1 and how much secret anxiety was concealed within it3 he had been forced to assert his rights by war1 first with his countrymen1 next with his colleagues1 and lastly with his own relations1 and had shed blood both by sea and by land3 after marching his troops under arms through ,macedonia1 ,sicily1 ,egypt1 ,syria1 ,asia ,minor1 and almost all the countries of the world1 when they were weary with slaughtering ,romans he had directed them against a foreign foe4 ,while he was pacifying the ,alpine regions1 and subduing the enemies whom he found in the midst of the ,roman empire1 while he was extending its boundaries beyond the ,rhine1 the ,euphrates1 and the ,danube1 at ,rome itself the swords of ,murena1 ,caepio1 ,lepidus1 ,egnatius1 and others were being sharpened to slay him4 ,scarcely had he escaped from their plot1 when his already failing age was terrified by his daughter and all the noble youths who were pledged to her cause by adultery with her by way of oath of fidelity4 ,then there was ,paulus and ,antonius's mistress1 a second time to be #bie feared by ,rome3 and when he had cut out these ulcers from his very limbs1 others grew in their place3 the empire1 like a body overloaded with blood1 was always breaking out somewhere4 ,for this reason he longed for leisure3 all his labours were based upon hopes and thoughts of leisure3 this was the wish of him who could accomplish the wishes of all other men4 ,v4 ,while tossed hither and thither by ,catiline and ,clodius1 ,pompeius and ,crassus1 by some open enemies and some doubtful friends1 while he struggled with the struggling republic and kept it from going to ruin1 when at last he was banished1 being neither able to keep silence in prosperity nor to endure adversity with patience1 how often must ,marcus ,cicero have cursed that consulship of his which he never ceased to praise1 and which nevertheless deserved it8 ,what piteous expressions he uses in a letter to ,atticus when ,pompeius the father had been defeated1 and his son was recruiting his shattered forces in ,spain8 8,do you ask10 writes he1 8what ,i am doing here8 ,i am living in my ,tusculan villa almost as a prisoner40 ,he adds more afterwards1 wherein he laments his former life1 complains of the present1 and despairs of the future4 ,cicero called himself 8half a prisoner10 but1 by ,hercules1 the wise man never would have come under so lowly a title3 he never would be half a prisoner1 but would always enjoy complete and entire liberty1 being free1 in his own power1 and greater than all others3 for what can be greater than the man who is greater than ,fortune8 ,,vi4 ,when ,livius ,drusus1 a vigorous and energetic man1 brought forward bills for new laws and radical measures of the ,gracchus pattern1 being the centre of a vast mob of all the peoples of ,italy1 and seeing no way to solve the question1 since he was not allowed to deal with it as he wished1 and yet was not free to throw it up after having once taken part in it1 complained bitterly of his life1 which had been #bif one of unrest from the very cradle1 and said1 we are told1 that 8he was the only person who had never had any holidays even when he was a boy40 ,indeed1 while he was still under age and wearing the praetexta1 he had the courage to plead the cause of accused persons in court1 and to make use of his influence so powerfully that it is well known that in some causes his exertions gained a verdict4 ,where would such precocious ambition stop8 ,you may be sure that one who showed such boldness as a child would end by becoming a great pest both in public and in private life3 it was too late for him to complain that he had had no holidays1 when from his boyhood he had been a firebrand and a nuisance in the courts4 ,it is a stock question whether he committed suicide3 for he fell by a sudden wound in the groin1 and some doubted whether his death was caused by his own hand1 though none disputed its having happened most seasonably4 ,it would be superfluous to mention more who1 while others thought them the happiest of men1 have themselves borne true witness to their own feelings1 and have loathed all that they have done for all the years of their lives3 yet by these complaints they have effected no alteration either in others or in themselves3 for after these words have escaped them their feelings revert to their accustomed frame4 ,by ,hercules1 that life of you great men1 even though it should last for more than a thousand years1 is still a very short one3 those vices of yours would swallow up any extent of time3 no wonder if this our ordinary span1 which1 though ,nature hurries on1 can be enlarged by common sense1 soon slips away from you3 for you do not lay hold of it or hold it back1 and try to delay the swiftest of all things1 but you let it pass as though it were a useless thing and you could supply its place4 ,,vii4 ,among these ,i reckon in the first place those who devote their time to nothing but drinking and debauchery3 #big for no men are busied more shamefully3 the others1 although the glory which they pursue is but a counterfeit1 still deserve some credit for their pursuit of it--though you may tell me of misers1 of passionate men1 of men who hate and who even wage war without a cause--yet all such men sin like men3 but the sin of those who are given up to gluttony and lust is a disgraceful one4 ,examine all the hours of their lives3 consider how much time they spend in calculation1 how much in plotting1 how much in fear1 how much in giving and deceiving flattery1 how much in entering into recognizances for themselves or for others1 how much in banquets1 which indeed become a serious business1 you will see that they are not allowed any breathing time either by their pleasures or their pains4 ,finally1 all are agreed that nothing1 neither eloquence nor literature1 can be done properly by one who is occupied with something else2 for nothing can take deep root in a mind which is directed to some other subject1 and which rejects whatever you try to stuff into it4 ,no man knows less about living than a business man3 there is nothing about which it is more difficult to gain knowledge4 ,other arts have many folk everywhere who profess to teach them3 some of them can be so thoroughly learned by mere boys1 that they are able to teach them to others3 but one's whole life must be spent in learning how to live1 and1 which may perhaps surprise you more1 one's whole life must be spent in learning how to die4 ,many excellent men have freed themselves from all hindrances1 have given up riches1 business1 and pleasure1 and have made it their duty to the very end of their lives to learn how to live3 and yet the larger portion of them leave this life confessing that they do not yet know how to live1 and still less know how to live as wise men4 ,believe me1 it requires a great man and one who is superior to human frailties not to allow any of his time to be filched from him3 #bih and therefore it follows that his life is a very long one1 because he devotes every possible part of it to himself3 no portion lies idle or uncultivated1 or in another man's power2 for he finds nothing worthy of being exchanged for his time1 which he husbands most grudgingly4 ,he1 therefore1 had time enough3 whereas those who gave up a great part of their lives to the people of necessity had not enough4 ,yet you need not suppose that the latter were not sometimes conscious of their loss3 indeed1 you will hear most of those who are troubled with great prosperity every now and then cry out amid their hosts of clients1 their pleadings in court1 and their other honourable troubles1 8,i am not allowed to live my own life40 ,why is he not allowed8 because all those who call upon you to defend them1 take you away from yourself4 ,how many of your days have been spent by that defendant8 by that candidate for office8 by that old woman who is weary with burying her heirs8 by that man who pretends to be ill1 in order to excite the greed of those who hope to inherit his property8 by that powerful friend of yours1 who uses you to swell his train1 not to be his friend8 ,balance your account1 and run over all the days of your life2 you will see that only a very few days1 and only those which were useless for any other purpose1 have been left to you4 ,he who has obtained the fasces#f for which he longed1 is eager to get rid of them1 and is constantly saying1 8,when will this year be over80 another exhibits public games1 and once would have given a great deal for the chance of doing so1 but now 8when10 says he1 8shall ,i escape from this80 another is an advocate who is fought for in all the courts1 and who draws immense audiences1 who crowd all the forum to a far greater distance than they can hear him2 8,when10 says he1 8will vacation-time come80 ,every man hurries through his life1 and #bii suffers from a yearning for the future1 and a weariness of the present3 but he who disposes of all his time for his own purposes1 who arranges all his days as though he were arranging the plan of his life1 neither wishes for nor fears the morrow3 for what new pleasure can any hour now bestow upon him8 he knows it all1 and has indulged in it all even to satiety4 ,fortune may deal with the rest as she will1 his life is already safe from her3 such a man may gain something1 but cannot lose anything3 and1 indeed1 he can only gain anything in the same way as one who is already glutted and filled can get some extra food which he takes although he does not want it4 ,you have no grounds1 therefore1 for supposing that any one has lived long1 because he has wrinkles or grey hairs3 such a man has not lived long1 but has only been long alive4 ,why6 would you think that a man had voyaged much if a fierce gale had caught him as soon as he left his port1 and he had been driven round and round the same place continually by a succession of winds blowing from opposite quarters8 such a man has not travelled much1 he has only been much tossed about4 ,,viii4 ,i am filled with wonder when ,i see some men asking others for their time1 and those who are asked for it most willing to give it3 both parties consider the object for which the time is given1 but neither of them thinks of the time itself1 as though in asking for this one asked for nothing1 and in giving it one gave nothing3 we play with what is the most precious of all things3 yet it escapes men's notice1 because it is an incorporeal thing1 and because it does not come before our eyes2 and therefore it is held very cheap1 nay1 hardly any value whatever is put upon it4 ,men set the greatest store upon presents or pensions1 and hire out their work1 their services1 or their care in order to gain them3 no one values time3 they give it much more freely1 as though it cost nothing4 ,yet you will see these #cjj same people clasping the knees of their physician as suppliants when they are sick and in present peril of death1 and if threatened with a capital charge willing to give all that they possess in order that they may live3 so inconsistent are they4 ,indeed1 if the number of every man's future years could be laid before him1 as we can lay that of his past years1 how anxious those who found that they had but few years remaining would be to make the most of them8 ,yet it is easy to arrange the distribution of a quantity1 however small1 if we know how much there is3 what you ought to husband most carefully is that which may run short you know not when4 ,yet you have no reason to suppose that they do not know how dear a thing time is3 they are wont to say to those whom they especially love that they are ready to give them a part of their own years4 ,they do give them1 and know not that they are giving them2 but they give them in such a manner that they themselves lose them without the others gaining them4 ,they do not1 however1 know whence they obtain their supply1 and therefore they are able to endure the waste of what is not seen3 yet no one will give you back your years1 no one will restore them to you again3 your life will run its course when once it has begun1 and will neither begin again or efface what it has done4 ,it will make no disturbance1 it will give you no warning of how fast it flies3 it will move silently on3 it will not prolong itself at the command of a king1 or at the wish of a nation3 as it started on its first day1 so it will run3 it will never turn aside1 never delay4 ,what follows1 then8 ,why6 you are busy1 but life is hurrying on3 death will be here some time or other1 and you must attend to him1 whether you will or no4 ,,ix4 ,can anything be mentioned which is more insane than the ideas of leisure of those people who boast of their worldly wisdom8 ,they live laboriously1 in order that #cja they may live better2 they fit themselves out for life at the expense of life itself1 and cast their thoughts a long way forwards3 yet postponement is the greatest waste of life3 it wrings day after day from us1 and takes away the present by promising something hereafter3 there is no such obstacle to true living as waiting1 which loses to-day while it is depending on the morrow4 ,you dispose of that which is in the hand of ,fortune1 and you let go that which is in your own4 ,whither are you looking1 whither are you stretching forward8 everything future is uncertain3 live now straightway4 ,see how the greatest of bards cries to you and sings in wholesome verse as though inspired with celestial fire3-- 8,the best of wretched mortals' days is that ,which is the first to fly40 ,why do you hesitate1 says he1 why do you stand back8 unless you seize it it will have fled3 and even if you do seize it1 it will still fly4 ,our swiftness in making use of our time ought therefore to vie with the swiftness of time itself1 and we ought to drink of it as we should of a fast-running torrent which will not be always running4 ,the poet1 too1 admirably satirizes our boundless thoughts1 when he says1 not 8the first age10 but 8the first day40 ,why are you careless and slow while time is flying so fast1 and why do you spread out before yourself a vision of long months and years1 as many as your greediness requires8 he talks with you about one day1 and that a fast-fleeting one4 ,there can1 then1 be no doubt that the best days are those which fly first for wretched1 that is1 for busy mortals1 whose minds are still in their childhood when old age comes upon them1 and they reach it unprepared and without arms to combat it4 ,they have never looked forward3 they have all of a sudden stumbled upon old age3 they never noticed that it was stealing upon them day by day4 ,as conversation1 or reading1 or deep thought deceives travellers1 and they find #cjb themselves at their journey's end before they knew that it was drawing near1 so in this fast and never-ceasing journey of life1 which we make at the same pace whether we are asleep or awake1 busy people never notice that they are moving till they are at the end of it4 ,x4 ,if ,i chose to divide this proposition into separate steps1 supported by evidence1 many things occur to me by which ,i could prove that the lives of busy men are the shortest of all4 ,fabianus1 who was none of your lecture-room philosophers1 but one of the true antique pattern1 used to say1 8,we ought to fight against the passions by main force1 not by skirmishing1 and upset their line of battle by a home charge1 not by inflicting trifling wounds3 ,i do not approve of dallying with sophisms2 they must be crushed1 not merely scratched40 ,yet1 in order that sinners may be confronted with their errors1 they must be taught1 and not merely mourned for4 ,life is divided into three parts3 that which has been1 that which is1 and that which is to come3 of these three stages1 that which we are passing through is brief1 that which we are about to pass is uncertain1 and that which we have passed is certain3 this it is over which ,fortune has lost her rights1 and which can fall into no other man's power3 and this is what busy men lose3 for they have no leisure to look back upon the past1 and even if they had1 they take no pleasure in remembering what they regret3 they are1 therefore1 unwilling to turn their minds to the contemplation of ill-spent time1 and they shrink from reviewing a course of action whose faults become glaringly apparent when handled a second time1 although they were snatched at when we were under the spell of immediate gratification4 ,no one1 unless all his acts have been submitted to the infallible censorship of his own conscience1 willingly turns his thoughts back upon the past4 ,he who has ambitiously desired1 haughtily scorned1 passionately vanquished1 treacherously deceived1 greedily snatched1 or prodigally #cjc wasted much1 must needs fear his own memory2 yet this is a holy and consecrated part of our time1 beyond the reach of all human accidents1 removed from the dominion of ,fortune1 and which cannot be disquieted by want1 fear1 or attacks of sickness3 this can neither be troubled nor taken away from one3 we possess it for ever undisturbed4 ,our present consists only of single days1 and those1 too1 taken one hour at a time3 but all the days of past times appear before us when bidden1 and allow themselves to be examined and lingered over1 albeit busy men cannot find time for so doing4 ,it is the privilege of a tranquil and peaceful mind to review all the parts of its life3 but the minds of busy men are like animals under the yoke1 and cannot bend aside or look back4 ,consequently1 their life passes away into vacancy1 and as you do no good however much you may pour into a vessel which cannot keep or hold what you put there1 so also it matters not how much time you give men if it can find no place to settle in1 but leaks away through the chinks and holes of their minds4 ,present time is very short1 so much so that to some it seems to be no time at all2 for it is always in motion1 and runs swiftly away3 it ceases to exist before it comes1 and can no more brook delay than can the universe or the host of heaven1 whose unresting movement never lets them pause on their way4 ,busy men1 therefore1 possess present time1 alone1 that being so short that they cannot grasp it1 and when they are occupied with many things they lose even this4 ,,xi4 ,in a word1 do you want to know for how short a time they live8 see how they desire to live long3 broken-down old men beg in their prayers for the addition of a few more years3 they pretend to be younger than they are3 they delude themselves with their own lies1 and are as willing to cheat themselves as if they could cheat ,fate at the same time3 when at last some weakness reminds them that they #cjd are mortal1 they die as it were in terror3 they may rather be said to be dragged out of this life than to depart from it4 ,they loudly exclaim that they have been fools and have not lived their lives1 and declare that if they only survive this sickness they will spend the rest of their lives at leisure3 at such times they reflect how uselessly they have laboured to provide themselves with what they have never enjoyed1 and how all their toil has gone for nothing3 but those whose life is spent without any engrossing business may well find it ample3 no part of it is made over to others1 or scattered here and there2 no part is entrusted to ,fortune1 is lost by neglect1 is spent in ostentatious giving1 or is useless3 all of it is1 so to speak1 invested at good interest4 ,a very small amount of it1 therefore1 is abundantly sufficient1 and so1 when his last day arrives1 the wise man will not hang back1 but will walk with a steady step to meet death4 ,,xii4 ,perhaps you will ask me whom ,i mean by 8busy men08 you need not think that ,i allude only to those who are hunted out of the courts of justice with dogs at the close of the proceedings1 those whom you see either honourably jostled by a crowd of their own clients or contemptuously hustled in visits of ceremony by strangers1 who call them away from home to hang about their patron's doors1 or who make use of the praetor's sales by auction to acquire infamous gains which some day will prove their own ruin4 ,some men's leisure is busy3 in their country house or on their couch1 in complete solitude1 even though they have retired from all men's society1 they still continue to worry themselves3 we ought not to say that such men's life is one of leisure1 but their very business is sloth4 ,would you call a man idle who expends anxious finicking care in the arrangement of his ,corinthian bronzes1 valuable only through the mania of a few connoisseurs8 and who passes the greater part of his days among plates of rusty metal8 who sits in the palaestra 7shame1 that our very vices #cje should be foreign7 watching boys wrestling8 who distributes his gangs of fettered slaves into pairs according to their age and colour8 who keeps athletes of the latest fashion8 ,why1 do you call those men idle1 who pass many hours at the barber's while the growth of the past night is being plucked out by the roots1 holding councils over each several hair1 while the scattered locks are arranged in order and those which fall back are forced forward on to the forehead8 ,how angry they become if the shaver is a little careless1 as though he were shearing a man6 what a white heat they work themselves into if some of their mane is cut away1 if some part of it is ill-arranged1 if all their ringlets do not lie in regular order6 who of them would not rather that the state were overthrown than that his hair should be ruffled8 who does not care more for the appearance of his head than for his health8 who would not prefer ornament to honour8 ,do you call these men idle1 who make a business of the comb and looking-glass8 what of those who devote their lives to composing1 hearing1 and learning songs1 who twist their voices1 intended by ,nature to sound best and simplest when used straightforwardly1 through all the turns of futile melodies3 whose fingers are always beating time to some music on which they are inwardly meditating2 who1 when invited to serious and even sad business may be heard humming an air to themselves8--such people are not at leisure1 but are busy about trifles4 ,as for their banquets1 by ,hercules1 ,i cannot reckon them among their unoccupied times when ,i see with what anxious care they set out their plate1 how laboriously they arrange the girdles of their waiters' tunics1 how breathlessly they watch to see how the cook dishes up the wild boar1 with what speed1 when the signal is given1 the slave-boys run to perform their duties1 how skilfully birds are carved into pieces of the right size1 how painstakingly wretched youths wipe up the spittings of drunken men4 ,by these means men seek credit for taste #cjf and grandeur1 and their vices follow them so far into their privacy that they can neither eat nor drink without a view to effect4 ,nor should ,i count those men idle who have themselves carried hither and thither in sedans and litters1 and who look forward to their regular hour for taking this exercise as though they were not allowed to omit it3 men who are reminded by some one else when to bathe1 when to swim1 when to dine3 they actually reach such a pitch of languid effeminacy as not to be able to find out for themselves whether they are hungry4 ,i have heard one of these luxurious folk--if indeed1 we ought to give the name of luxury to unlearning the life and habits of a man--when he was carried in men's arms out of the bath and placed in his chair1 say inquiringly1 8,am ,i seated80 ,do you suppose that such a man as this1 who did not know when he was seated1 could know whether he was alive1 whether he could see1 whether he was at leisure8 ,i can hardly say whether ,i pity him more if he really did not know or if he pretended not to know this4 ,such people do really become unconscious of much1 but they behave as though they were unconscious of much more3 they delight in some failings because they consider them to be proofs of happiness3 it seems the part of an utterly low and contemptible man to know what he is doing4 ,after this1 do you suppose that playwrights draw largely upon their imaginations in their burlesques upon luxury3 by ,hercules1 they omit more than they invent2 in this age1 inventive in this alone1 such a number of incredible vices have been produced1 that already you are able to reproach the playwrights with omitting to notice them4 ,to think that there should be any one who had so far lost his senses through luxury as to take some one else's opinion as to whether he was sitting or not8 ,this man certainly is not at leisure3 you must bestow a different title on him3 he is sick1 or rather dead3 he only is at leisure who feels that he is at leisure3 but this creature is #cjg only half alive1 if he wants some one to tell him what position his body is in4 ,how can such a man be able to dispose of any time8 ,,xiii4 ,it would take long to describe the various individuals who have wasted their lives over playing at draughts1 playing at ball1 or toasting their bodies in the sun3 men are not at leisure if their pleasures partake of the character of business1 for no one will doubt that those persons are laborious triflers who devote themselves to the study of futile literary questions1 of whom there is already a great number in ,rome also4 ,it used to be a peculiarly ,greek disease of the mind to investigate how many rowers ,ulysses had1 whether the ,iliad or the ,odyssey was written first1 and furthermore1 whether they were written by the same author1 with other matters of the same stamp1 which neither please your inner consciousness if you keep them to yourself1 nor make you seem more learned1 but only more troublesome1 if you publish them abroad4 ,see1 already this vain longing to learn what is useless has taken hold of the ,romans3 the other day ,i heard somebody telling who was the first ,roman general who did this or that3 ,duillius was the first who won a sea-fight1 ,curius ,dentatus was the first who drove elephants in his triumph3 moreover1 these stories1 though they add nothing to real glory1 do nevertheless deal with the great deeds of our countrymen3 such knowledge is not profitable1 yet it claims our attention as a fascinating kind of folly4 ,i will even pardon those who want to know who first persuaded the ,romans to go on board ship4 ,it was ,claudius1 who for this reason was surnamed ,caudex1 because any piece of carpentry formed of many planks was called caudex by the ancient ,romans1 for which reason public records are called ,codices1 and by old custom the ships which ply on the ,tiber with provisions are called codicariae4 ,let us also allow that it is to the point to tell how ,valerius ,corvinus was the first #cjh to conquer ,messana1 and first of the family of the ,valerii transferred the name of the captured city to his own1 and was called ,messana1 and how the people gradually corrupted the pronunciation and called him ,messalla3 or would you let any one find interest in ,lucius ,sulla having been the first to let lions loose in the circus1 they having been previously exhibited in chains1 and hurlers of darts having been sent by ,king ,bocchus to kill them8 ,this may be permitted to their curiosity3 but can it serve any useful purpose to know that ,pompeius was the first to exhibit eighteen elephants in the circus1 who were matched in a mimic battle with some convicts8 ,the leading man in the state1 and one who1 according to tradition1 was noted among the ancient leaders of the state for his transcendent goodness of heart1 thought it a notable kind of show to kill men in a manner hitherto unheard of4 ,do they fight to the death8 that is not cruel enough3 are they torn to pieces8 that is not cruel enough3 let them be crushed flat by animals of enormous bulk4 ,it would be much better that such a thing should be forgotten1 for fear that hereafter some potentate might hear of it and envy its refined barbarity4 ,o1 how doth excessive prosperity blind our intellects6 at the moment at which he was casting so many troops of wretches to be trampled on by outlandish beasts1 when he was proclaiming war between such different creatures1 when he was shedding so much blood before the eyes of the ,roman people1 whose blood he himself was soon to shed even more freely1 he thought himself the master of the whole world2 yet he afterwards1 deceived by the treachery of the ,alexandrians1 had to offer himself to the dagger of the vilest of slaves1 and then at last discovered what an empty boast was his surname of 8,the ,great40 ,but to return to the point from which ,i have digressed1 ,i will prove that even on this very subject some people expend useless pains4 ,the same author tells us that #cji ,metellus1 when he triumphed after having conquered the ,carthaginians in ,sicily1 was the only ,roman who ever had a hundred and twenty captured elephants led before his car3 and that ,sulla was the last ,roman who extended the pomoerium1#g which it was not the custom of the ancients to extend on account of the conquest of provincial1 but only of ,italian territory4 ,is it more useful to know this1 than to know that the ,mount ,aventine1 according to him1 is outside of the pomoerium1 for one of two reasons1 either because it was thither that the plebeians seceded1 or because when ,remus took his auspices on that place the birds which he saw were not propitious3 and other stories without number of the like sort1 which are either actual falsehoods or much the same as falsehoods8 for even if you allow that these authors speak in all good faith1 if they pledge themselves for the truth of what they write1 still1 whose mistakes will be made fewer by such stories8 whose passions will be restrained8 whom will they make more brave1 more just1 or more gentlemanly8 ,my friend ,fabianus used to say that he was not sure that it was not better not to apply oneself to any studies at all than to become interested in these4 ,,xiv4 ,the only persons who are really at leisure are those who devote themselves to philosophy3 and they alone really live3 for they do not merely enjoy their own lifetime1 but they annex every century to their own3 all the years which have passed before them belong to them4 ,unless we are the most ungrateful creatures in the world1 we shall regard these noblest of men1 the founders of divine schools of thought1 as having been born for us1 and having prepared life for us3 we are led by the labour of others to behold most beautiful things which have been brought out of darkness into light2 we are not shut out from any period1 we can make our way into every subject1 #caj and1 if only we can summon up sufficient strength of mind to overstep the narrow limit of human weakness1 we have a vast extent of time wherein to disport ourselves3 we may argue with ,socrates1 doubt with ,carneades1 repose with ,epicurus1 overcome human nature with the ,stoics1 out-herod it with the ,cynics4 ,since ,nature allows us to commune with every age1 why do we not abstract ourselves from our own petty fleeting span of time1 and give ourselves up with our whole mind to what is vast1 what is eternal1 what we share with better men than ourselves8 ,those who gad about in a round of calls1 who worry themselves and others1 after they have indulged their madness to the full1 and crossed every patron's threshold daily1 leaving no open door unentered1 after they have hawked about their interested greetings in houses of the most various character1--after all1 how few people are they able to see out of so vast a city1 divided among so many different ruling passions3 how many will be moved by sloth1 self-indulgence1 or rudeness to deny them admittance3 how many1 after they have long plagued them1 will run past them with feigned hurry8 how many will avoid coming out through their entrance-hall with its crowds of clients1 and will escape by some concealed backdoor8 as though it were not ruder to deceive their visitor than to deny him admittance6--how many1 half asleep and stupid with yesterday's debauch1 can hardly be brought to return the greeting of the wretched man who has broken his own rest in order to wait on that of another1 even after his name has been whispered to them for the thousandth time1 save by a most offensive yawn of his half-opened lips4 ,we may truly say that those men are pursuing the true path of duty1 who wish every day to consort on the most familiar terms with ,zeno1 ,pythagoras1 ,democritus1 and the rest of those high priests of virtue1 with ,aristotle and with ,theophrastus4 ,none of these men will be 8engaged10 #caa none of these will fail to send you away after visiting him in a happier frame of mind and on better terms with yourself1 none of them will let you leave him empty-handed3 yet their society may be enjoyed by all men1 and by night as well as by day4 ,,xv4 ,none of these men will force you to die1 but all of them will teach you how to die3 none of these will waste your time1 but will add his own to it4 ,the talk of these men is not dangerous1 their friendship will not lead you to the scaffold1 their society will not ruin you in expenses3 you may take from them whatsoever you will2 they will not prevent your taking the deepest draughts of their wisdom that you please4 ,what blessedness1 what a fair old age awaits the man who takes these for his patrons6 he will have friends with whom he may discuss all matters1 great and small1 whose advice he may ask daily about himself1 from whom he will hear truth without insult1 praise without flattery1 and according to whose likeness he may model his own character4 ,we are wont to say that we are not able to choose who our parents should be1 but that they were assigned to us by chance2 yet we may be born just as we please3 there are several families of the noblest intellects3 choose which you would like to belong to3 by your adoption you will not receive their name only1 but also their property1 which is not intended to be guarded in a mean and miserly spirit3 the more persons you divide it among the larger it becomes4 ,these will open to you the path which leads to eternity1 and will raise you to a height from whence none shall cast you down4 ,by this means alone can you prolong your mortal life1 nay1 even turn it into an immortal one4 ,high office1 monuments1 all that ambition records in decrees or piles up in stone1 soon passes away3 lapse of time casts down and ruins everything2 but those things on which ,philosophy has set its seal are beyond the reach of injury3 no age will discard them or #cab lessen their force1 each succeeding century will add somewhat to the respect in which they are held3 for we look upon what is near us with jealous eyes1 but we admire what is further off with less prejudice4 ,the wise man's life1 therefore1 includes much3 he is not hedged in by the same limits which confine others3 he alone is exempt from the laws by which mankind is governed3 all ages serve him like a god4 ,if any time be past1 he recals it by his memory2 if it be present1 he uses it2 if it be future1 he anticipates it3 his life is a long one because he concentrates all times into it4 ,,xvi4 ,those men lead the shortest and unhappiest lives who forget the past1 neglect the present1 and dread the future3 when they reach the end of it the poor wretches learn too late that they were busied all the while that they were doing nothing4 ,you need not think1 because sometimes they call for death1 that their lives are long3 their folly torments them with vague passions which lead them into the very things of which they are afraid3 they often1 therefore1 wish for death because they live in fear4 ,neither is it1 as you might think1 a proof of the length of their lives that they often find the days long1 that they often complain how slowly the hours pass until the appointed time arrives for dinner3 for whenever they are left without their usual business1 they fret helplessly in their idleness1 and know not how to arrange or to spin it out4 ,they betake themselves1 therefore1 to some business1 and all the intervening time is irksome to them2 they would wish1 by ,hercules1 to skip over it1 just as they wish to skip over the intervening days before a gladiatorial contest or some other time appointed for a public spectacle or private indulgence3 all postponement of what they wish for is grievous to them4 ,yet the very time which they enjoy is brief and soon past1 and is made much briefer by their own fault3 for they run from one pleasure to another1 and are not able to devote #cac themselves consistently to one passion3 their days are not long1 but odious to them3 on the other hand1 how short they find the nights which they spend with courtezans or over wine8 ,hence arises that folly of the poets who encourage the errors of mankind by their myths1 and declare that ,jupiter to gratify his voluptuous desires doubled the length of the night4 ,is it not adding fuel to our vices to name the gods as their authors1 and to offer our distempers free scope by giving them deity for an example8 ,how can the nights for which men pay so dear fail to appear of the shortest8 they lose the day in looking forward to the night1 and lose the night through fear of the dawn4 ,,xvii4 ,such men's very pleasures are restless and disturbed by various alarms1 and at the most joyous moment of all there rises the anxious thought3 8,how long will this last80 ,this frame of mind has led kings to weep over their power1 and they have not been so much delighted at the grandeur of their position1 as they have been terrified by the end to which it must some day come4 ,that most arrogant ,persian king1#h when his army stretched over vast plains and could not be counted but only measured1 burst into tears at the thought that in less than a hundred years none of all those warriors would be alive3 yet their death was brought upon them by the very man who wept over it1 who was about to destroy some of them by sea1 some on land1 some in battle1 and some in flight1 and who would in a very short space of time put an end to those about whose hundredth year he showed such solicitude4 ,why need we wonder at their very joys being mixed with fear8 they do not rest upon any solid grounds1 but are disturbed by the same emptiness from which they spring4 ,what must we suppose to be the misery of such times as even they acknowledge to be wretched1 when even the joys by which they elevate themselves and raise themselves above their fellows are of #cad a mixed character4 ,all the greatest blessings are enjoyed with fear1 and no thing is so untrustworthy as extreme prosperity3 we require fresh strokes of good fortune to enable us to keep that which we are enjoying1 and even those of our prayers which are answered require fresh prayers4 ,everything for which we are dependent on chance is uncertain3 the higher it rises1 the more opportunities it has of falling4 ,moreover1 no one takes any pleasure in what is about to fall into ruin3 very wretched1 therefore1 as well as very short must be the lives of those who work very hard to gain what they must work even harder to keep3 they obtain what they wish with infinite labour1 and they hold what they have obtained with fear and trembling4 ,meanwhile they take no account of time1 of which they will never have a fresh and larger supply3 they substitute new occupations for old ones1 one hope leads to another1 one ambition to another3 they do not seek for an end to their wretchedness1 but they change its subject4 ,do our own preferments trouble us8 nay1 those of other men occupy more of our time4 ,have we ceased from our labours in canvassing8 then we begin others in voting4 ,have we got rid of the trouble of accusation8 then we begin that of judging4 ,has a man ceased to be a judge8 then he becomes an examiner4 ,has he grown old in the salaried management of other people's property8 then he becomes occupied with his own4 ,marius is discharged from military service2 he becomes consul many times3 ,quintius is eager to reach the end of his dictatorship2 he will be called a second time from the plough3 ,scipio marched against the ,carthaginians before he was of years sufficient for so great an undertaking2 after he has conquered ,hannibal1 conquered ,antiochus1 been the glory of his own consulship and the surety for that of his brother1 he might1 had he wished it1 have been set on the same pedestal with ,jupiter2 but civil factions will vex the saviour of the state1 and he who when #cae a young man disdained to receive divine honours1 will take pride as an old man in obstinately remaining in exile4 ,we shall never lack causes of anxiety1 either pleasurable or painful3 our life will be pushed along from one business to another3 leisure will always be wished for1 and never enjoyed4 ,,xviii4 ,whefore1 my dearest ,paulinus1 tear yourself away from the common herd1 and since you have seen more rough weather than one would think from your age1 betake yourself at length to a more peaceful haven3 reflect what waves you have sailed through1 what storms you have endured in private life1 and brought upon yourself in public4 ,your courage has been sufficiently displayed by many toilsome and wearisome proofs2 try how it will deal with leisure3 the greater1 certainly the better part of your life1 has been given to your country2 take now some part of your time for yourself as well4 ,i do not urge you to practise a dull or lazy sloth1 or to drown all your fiery spirit in the pleasures which are dear to the herd3 that is not rest3 you can find greater works than all those which you have hitherto so manfully carried out1 upon which you may employ yourself in retirement and security4 ,you manage the revenues of the entire world1 as unselfishly as though they belonged to another1 as laboriously as if they were your own1 as scrupulously as though they belonged to the public3 you win love in an office in which it is hard to avoid incurring hatred2 yet1 believe me1 it is better to understand your own mind than to understand the corn-market4 ,take away that keen intellect of yours1 so well capable of grappling with the greatest subjects1 from a post which may be dignified1 but which is hardly fitted to render life happy1 and reflect that you did not study from childhood all the branches of a liberal education merely in order that many thousand tons of corn might safely be entrusted to your charge3 you have #caf given us promise of something greater and nobler than this4 ,there will never be any want of strict economists or of laborious workers3 slow-going beasts of burden are better suited for carrying loads than well-bred horses1 whose generous swiftness no one would encumber with a heavy pack4 ,think1 moreover1 how full of risk is the great task which you have undertaken3 you have to deal with the human stomach3 a hungry people will not endure reason1 will not be appeased by justice1 and will not hearken to any prayers4 ,only just a few days ago1 when ,g4 ,caesar perished1 grieving for nothing so much 7if those in the other world can feel grief7 as that the ,roman people did not die with him1 there was said to be only enough corn for seven or eight days' consumption3 while he was making bridges with ships#i and playing with the resources of the empire1 want of provisions1 the worst evil that can befall even a besieged city1 was at hand3 his imitation of a crazy outlandish and misproud king very nearly ended in ruin1 famine1 and the general revolution which follows famine4 ,what must then have been the feelings of those who had the charge of supplying the city with corn1 who were in danger of stoning1 of fire and sword1 of ,gaius himself8 ,with consummate art they concealed the vast internal evil by which the state was menaced1 and were quite right in so doing2 for some diseases must be cured without the patient's knowledge3 many have died through discovering what was the matter with them4 ,,xix4 ,betake yourself to these quieter1 safer1 larger fields of action3 do you think that there can be any comparison between seeing that corn is deposited in the public #cag granary without being stolen by the fraud or spoilt by the carelessness of the importer1 that it does not suffer from damp or overheating1 and that it measures and weighs as much as it ought1 and beginning the study of sacred and divine knowledge1 which will teach you of what elements the gods are formed1 what are their pleasures1 their position1 their form8 to what changes your soul has to look forward8 where ,nature will place us when we are dismissed from our bodies8 what that principle is which holds all the heaviest particles of our universe in the middle1 suspends the lighter ones above1 puts fire highest of all1 and causes the stars to rise in their courses1 with many other matters1 full of marvels8 ,will you not#aj cease to grovel on earth and turn your mind's eye on these themes8 nay1 while your blood still flows swiftly1 before your knees grow feeble1 you ought to take the better path4 ,in this course of life there await you many good things1 such as love and practice of the virtues1 forgetfulness of passions1 knowledge of how to live and die1 deep repose4 ,the position of all busy men is unhappy1 but most unhappy of all is that of those who do not even labour at their own affairs1 but have to regulate their rest by another man's sleep1 their walk by another man's pace1 and whose very love and hate1 the freest things in the world1 are at another's bidding4 ,if such men wish to know how short their lives are1 let them think how small a fraction of them is their own4 ,,xx4 ,when1 therefore1 you see a man often wear the purple robes of office1 and hear his name often repeated in the forum1 do not envy him3 he gains these things by losing so much of his life4 ,men throw away all their years in order to have one year named after them as consul3 some lose their lives during the early part of the struggle1 and never reach the height to which they aspired3 #cah some after having submitted to a thousand indignities in order to reach the crowning dignity1 have the miserable reflexion that the only result of their labours will be the inscription on their tombstone4 ,some1 while telling off extreme old age1 like youth1 for new aspirations1 have found it fail from sheer weakness amid great and presumptuous enterprises4 ,it is a shameful ending1 when a man's breath deserts him in a court of justice1 while1 although well stricken in years1 he is still striving to gain the sympathies of an ignorant audience for some obscure litigant3 it is base to perish in the midst of one's business1 wearied with living sooner than with working2 shameful1 too1 to die in the act of receiving payments1 amid the laughter of one's long-expectant heir4 ,i cannot pass over an an instance which occurs to me3 ,turannius was an old man of the most painstaking exactitude1 who after entering upon his ninetieth year1 when he had by ,g4 ,caesar's own act been relieved of his duties as collector of the revenue1 ordered himself to be laid out on his bed and mourned for as though he were dead4 ,the whole house mourned for the leisure of its old master1 and did not lay aside its mourning until his work was restored to him4 ,can men find such pleasure in dying in harness8 ,yet many are of the same mind3 they retain their wish for labour longer than their capacity for it1 and fight against their bodily weakness2 they think old age an evil for no other reason than because it lays them on the shelf4 ,the law does not enrol a soldier after his fiftieth year1 or require a senator's attendance after his sixtieth3 but men have more difficulty in obtaining their own consent than that of the law to a life of leisure4 ,meanwhile1 while they are plundering and being plundered1 while one is disturbing another's repose1 and all are being made wretched alike1 life remains without profit1 without pleasure1 without any intellectual progress3 no one keeps death well before his eyes1 no one refrains from far-reaching #cai hopes4 ,some even arrange things which lie beyond their own lives1 such as huge sepulchral buildings1 the dedication of public works1 and exhibitions to be given at their funeral-pyre1 and ostentatious processions3 but1 by ,hercules1 the funerals of such men ought to be conducted by the light of torches and wax tapers1#aa as though they had lived but a few days4 #a 8,on croit que ce ,paulin toit frre de ,pauline1 pouse de ,snque40 --,la ,grange4 #b 8,l'un se consume en projets d'ambition1 dont le succs depend du suffrage de l'autrui40--,la ,grange4 #c 8,combien d'orateurs qui s'puisent de sang et de forces pour faire montrer de leur gnie60--,la ,grange4 #d 8,pour vous1 jamais vous ne daigntes vous regarder seulement1 ou vous entendre4 ,ne faites pas non plus valoir votre condescendance a couter les autres4 ,lorsque vous vous y prtez1 ce n'est pas que vous aimiez a vous communiquer aux autres2 c'est que vous craignez de vous trouver avec vous-mme40--,la ,grange4 8,it is a folly therefore beyond ,sence1 ,when great men will not give us ,audience ,to count them proud2 how dare we call it pride ,when we the same have to ourselves deny'd4 ,yet they how great1 how proud so e're1 have bin ,sometimes so courteous as to call thee in4 ,and hear thee speak2 but thou could'st nere afford ,thyself the leisure of a look or word4 ,thou should'st not then herein another blame1 ,because when thou thyself do'st do the same4 ,thou would'st not be with others1 but we see ,plainly thou can'st not with thine own self be40 8,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 the ,philosopher1 his book of the ,shortness of ,life1 translated into an ,english ,poem4 ,imprinted at ,london1 by ,william ,goldbird1 for the ,author1 mdclxiii40 #e 8,dans une lettre qu'il envoya au ,snat apres avoir promis que son repos n'aura rin indigne de la gloire de ses premires annes1 il ajoute3 ,mais l'execution y mettra un prix1 que ne peuvent y mettre les promesses4 ,j'obeis cependant a la vive passion que j'ai1 de me voir a ce temps si dsir2 et puisque l'heureuse situation d'affaires m'en tient encore loign1 j'ai voulu du moins me satisfaire en partie1 par la douceur que je trouve vous en parler40--,la ,grange4 8,such words ,i find4 ,but these things rather ought ,be done1 then said2 yet so far hath the thought ,of that wish'd time prevail'd1 that though the glad ,fruition of the thing be not yet had4 ,yet ,i10 c4 #f ,fasces1 the rods carried by the lictors as symbols of office4 ,see ,smith's 8,diet1 of ,antiquities10 s4v4 #g ,see ,smith's 8,dict4 of ,antiquities40 #h ,xerxes4 #i 8,snque parle ici du pont que ,caligula fit construire sur le golphe de ,baies1 l'an de ,rome #gia1 #dj de ,j4 ,c4 4 4 4 4 rassembla et fit entrer dans la construction de son pont tous les vaisseaux qui se trouverent dans les ports d',italie et des contres voisines4 ,il n'excepta pas mme ceux qui etoient destins a y apporter des grains trangers10 c4--,la,grange4 #aj ,for vis tu see ,juv4 v41 vis tu consuetis1 c4 ,mayor's note4 #aa ,as those of children were4 #cbj ,,the ,,eleventh ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,his ,,mother1 ,,helvia4 ,,of ,,consolation4 ,i4 ,my best of mothers1 ,i have often felt eager to console you1 and have as often checked that impulse4 ,many things urged me to make the attempt3 in the first place1 ,i thought that if1 though ,i might not be able to restrain your tears1 yet that if ,i could even wipe them away1 ,i should set myself free from all my own sorrows3 then ,i was quite sure that ,i should rouse you from your grief with more authority if ,i had first shaken it off myself4 ,i feared1 too1 lest ,fortune1 though overcome by me1 might nevertheless overcome some one of my family4 ,then ,i endeavoured to crawl and bind up your wounds in the best way ,i could1 holding my hand over my own wound2 but then again other considerations occurred to me which held me back3 ,i knew that ,i must not oppose your grief during its first transports1 lest my very attempts at consolation might irritate it1 and add fuel to it3 for in diseases1 also1 there is nothing more hurtful than medicine applied too soon4 ,i waited1 therefore1 until it exhausted itself by its own violence1 and being weakened by time1 so that it was able to bear remedies1 would allow itself to be handled and #cba touched4 ,beside this1 while turning over all the works which the greatest geniuses have composed1 for the purpose of soothing and pacifying grief1 ,i could not find any instance of one who had offered consolation to his relatives1 while he himself was being sorrowed over by them4 ,thus1 the subject being a new one1 ,i hesitated and feared that instead of consoling1 ,i might embitter your grief4 ,then there was the thought that a man who had only just raised his head after burying his child1 and who wished to console his friends1 would require to use new phrases not taken from our common every-day words of comfort3 but every sorrow of more than usual magnitude must needs prevent one's choosing one's words1 seeing that it often prevents one's using one's very voice4 ,however this may be1 ,i will make the attempt1 not trusting in my own genius1 but because my consolation will be most powerful since it is ,i who offer it4 ,you never would deny me anything1 and ,i hope1 though all grief is obstinate1 that you will surely not refuse me this request1 that you will allow me to set bounds to your sorrow4 ,,ii4 ,see how far ,i have presumed upon your indulgence3 ,i have no doubts about my having more power over you than your grief1 than which nothing has more power over the unhappy4 ,in order1 therefore1 to avoid encountering it straightway1 ,i will at first take its part and offer it every encouragement3 ,i will rip up and bring to light again wounds already scarred4 ,some one may say1 8,what sort of consolation is this1 for a man to rake up buried evils1 and to bring all its sorrows before a mind which scarcely can bear the sight of one80 but let him reflect that diseases which are so malignant that they do but gather strength from ordinary remedies1 may often be cured by the opposite treatment3 ,i will1 therefore1 display before your grief all its woes and miseries3 this will be to effect a cure1 not by soothing measures1 but by cautery and #cbb the knife4 ,what shall ,i gain by this8 ,i shall make the mind that could overcome so many sorrows1 ashamed to bewail one wound more in a body so full of scars4 ,let those whose feeble minds have been enervated by a long period of happiness1 weep and lament for many days1 and faint away on receiving the slightest blow3 but those whose years have all been passed amid catastrophes should bear the severest losses with brave and unyielding patience4 ,continual misfortune has this one advantage1 that it ends by rendering callous those whom it is always scourging4 ,ill fortune has given you no respite1 and has not left even your birthday free from the bitterest grief3 you lost your mother as soon as you were born1 nay1 while you were being born1 and you came into life1 as it were1 an outcast3 you grew up under a step-mother1 whom you made into a mother by all the obedience and respect which even a real daughter could have bestowed upon her3 and even a good step-mother costs every one dear4 ,you lost your most affectionate uncle1 a brave and excellent man1 just when you were awaiting his return3 and1 lest ,fortune should weaken its blows by dividing them1 within a month you lost your beloved husband1 by whom you had become the mother of three children4 ,this sorrowful news was brought you while you were already in mourning1 while all your children were absent1 so that all your misfortunes seemed to have been purposely brought upon you at a time when your grief could nowhere find any repose4 ,i pass over all the dangers and alarms which you have endured without any respite3 it was but the other day that you received the bones of three of your grandchildren in the bosom from which you had sent them forth3 less than twenty days after you had buried my child1 who perished in your arms and amid your kisses1 you heard that ,i had been exiled3 you wanted only this drop in your cup1 to have to weep for those who still lived4 #cbc ,,iii4 ,the last wound is1 ,i admit1 the severest that you have ever yet sustained3 it has not merely torn the skin1 but has pierced you to the very heart3 yet as recruits cry aloud when only slightly wounded1 and shudder more at the hands of the surgeon than at the sword1 while veterans even when transfixed allow their hurts to be dressed without a groan1 and as patiently as if they were in some one else's body1 so now you ought to offer yourself courageously to be healed4 ,lay aside lamentations and wailings1 and all the usual noisy manifestations of female sorrow3 you have gained nothing by so many misfortunes1 if you have not learned how to suffer4 ,now1 do ,i seem not to have spared you8 nay1 ,i have not passed over any of your sorrows1 but have placed them all together in a mass before you4 ,,iv4 ,i have done this by way of a heroic remedy3 for ,i have determined to conquer this grief of yours1 not merely to limit it2 and ,i shall conquer it1 ,i believe1 if in the first place ,i can prove that ,i am not suffering enough to entitle me to be called unhappy1 let alone to justify me in rendering my family unhappy3 and1 secondly1 if ,i can deal with your case and prove that even your misfortune1 which comes upon you entirely through me1 is not a severe one4 ,the point to which ,i shall first address myself is that of which your motherly love longs to hear1 ,i mean1 that ,i am not suffering3 if ,i can1 ,i will make it clear to you that the events by which you think that ,i am overwhelmed1 are not unendurable3 if you cannot believe this1 ,i at any rate shall be all the more pleased with myself for being happy under circumstances which could make most men miserable4 ,you need not believe what others say about me3 that you may not be puzzled by any uncertainty as to what to think1 ,i distinctly tell you that ,i am not miserable3 ,i will add1 for your greater comfort1 that it is not possible for me to be made miserable4 ,v4 ,we are born to a comfortable position enough1 if we #cbd do not afterwards lose it3 the aim of ,nature has been to enable us to live well without needing a vast apparatus to enable us to do so3 every man is able by himself to make himself happy4 ,external circumstances have very little importance either for good or for evil3 the wise man is neither elated by prosperity nor depressed by adversity2 for he has always endeavoured to depend chiefly upon himself and to derive all his joys from himself4 ,do ,i1 then1 call myself a wise man8 far from it3 for were ,i able to profess myself wise1 ,i should not only say that ,i was not unhappy1 but should avow myself to be the most fortunate of men1 and to be raised almost to the level of a god3 as it is1 ,i have applied myself to the society of wise men1 which suffices to lighten all sorrows1 and1 not being as yet able to rely upon my own strength1 ,i have betaken myself for refuge to the camp of others1 of those1 namely1 who can easily defend both themselves and their friends4 ,they have ordered me always to stand as it were on guard1 and to mark the attacks and charges of ,fortune long before she delivers them2 she is only terrible to those whom she catches unawares2 he who is always looking out for her assault1 easily sustains it3 for so also an invasion of the enemy overthrows those by whom it is unexpected1 but those who have prepared themselves for the coming war before it broke out1 stand in their ranks fully equipped and repel with ease the first1 which is always the most furious onset4 ,i never have trusted in ,fortune1 even when she seemed most peaceful4 ,i have accepted all the gifts of wealth1 high office1 and influence1 which she has so bountifully bestowed upon me1 in such a manner that she can take them back again without disturbing me3 ,i have kept a great distance between them and myself3 and therefore she has taken them1 not painfully torn them away from me4 ,no man loses anything by the frowns of ,fortune unless he has been deceived by her smiles3 those who have #cbe enjoyed her bounty as though it were their own heritage for ever1 and who have chosen to take precedence of others because of it1 lie in abject sorrow when her unreal and fleeting delights forsake their empty childish minds1 that know nothing about solid pleasure3 but he who has not been puffed up by success1 does not collapse after failure3 he possesses a mind of tried constancy1 superior to the influences of either state2 for even in the midst of prosperity he has experimented upon his powers of enduring adversity4 ,consequently ,i have always believed that there was no real good in any of those things which all men desire3 ,i then found that they were empty1 and merely painted over with artificial and deceitful dyes1 without containing anything within which corresponds to their outside3 ,i now find nothing so harsh and fearful as the common opinion of mankind threatened me with in this which is known as adversity3 the word itself1 owing to the prevalent belief and ideas current about it1 strikes somewhat unpleasantly upon one's ears1 and thrills the hearers as something dismal and accursed1 for so hath the vulgar decreed that it should be3 but a great many of the decrees of the vulgar are reversed by the wise4 ,,vi4 ,setting aside1 then1 the verdict of the majority1 who are carried away by the first appearance of things and the usual opinion about them1 let us consider what is meant by exile3 clearly a changing from one place to another4 ,that ,i may not seem to be narrowing its force1 and taking away its worst parts1 ,i must add1 that this changing of place is accompanied by poverty1 disgrace1 and contempt4 ,against these ,i will combat later on3 meanwhile ,i wish to consider what there is unpleasant in the mere act of changing one's place of abode4 0,it is unbearable10 men say1 8to lose one's native land40 ,look1 ,i pray you1 on these vast crowds1 for whom all the countless roofs of ,rome can scarcely find shelter3 the #cbf greater part of those crowds have lost their native land3 they have flocked hither from their country towns and colonies1 and in fine from all parts of the world4 ,some have been brought by ambition1 some by the exigencies of public office1 some by being entrusted with embassies1 some by luxury which seeks a convenient spot1 rich in vices1 for its exercise1 some by their wish for a liberal education1 others by a wish to see the public shows4 ,some have been led hither by friendship1 some by industry1 which finds here a wide field for the display of its powers4 ,some have brought their beauty for sale1 some their eloquence3 people of every kind assemble themselves together in ,rome1 which sets a high price both upon virtues and vices4 ,bid them all to be summoned to answer to their names1 and ask each one from what home he has come3 you will find that the greater part of them have left their own abodes1 and journeyed to a city which1 though great and beauteous beyond all others1 is nevertheless not their own4 ,then leave this city1 which may be said to be the common property of all men1 and visit all other towns3 there is not one of them which does not contain a large proportion of aliens4 ,pass away from those whose delightful situation and convenient position attracts many settlers3 examine wildernesses and the most rugged islands1 ,sciathus and ,seriphus1 ,gyarus and ,corsica3 you will find no place of exile where some one does not dwell for his own pleasure4 ,what can be found barer or more precipitous on every side than this rock8 what more barren in respect of food8 what more uncouth in its inhabitants8 more mountainous in its configuration8 or more rigorous in its climate8 yet even here there are more strangers than natives4 ,so far1 therefore1 is the mere change of place from being irksome1 that even this place has allured some away from their country4 ,i find some writers who declare that mankind has a natural itch for change of abode and alteration of #cbg domicile3 for the mind of man is wandering and unquiet2 it never stands still1 but spreads itself abroad and sends forth its thoughts into all regions1 known or unknown2 being nomadic1 impatient of repose1 and loving novelty beyond everything else4 ,you need not be suprised at this1 if you reflect upon its original source3 it is not formed from the same elements as the heavy and earthly body1 but from heavenly spirit3 now heavenly things are by their nature always in motion1 speeding along and flying with the greatest swiftness4 ,look at the luminaries which light the world3 none of them stands still4 ,the sun is perpetually in motion1 and passes from one quarter to another1 and although he revolves with the entire heaven1 yet nevertheless he has a motion in the contrary direction to that of the universe itself1 and passes through all the constellations without remaining in any3 his wandering is incessant1 and he never ceases to move from place to place4 ,all things continually revolve and are for ever changing2 they pass from one position to another in accordance with natural and unalterable laws3 after they have completed a certain circuit in a fixed space of time1 they begin again the path which they had previously trodden4 ,be not surprised1 then1 if the human mind1 which is formed from the same seeds as the heavenly bodies1 delights in change and wandering1 since the divine nature itself either takes pleasure in constant and exceeding swift motion or perhaps even preserves its existence thereby4 ,,vii4 ,come now1 turn from divine to human affairs3 you will see that whole tribes and nations have changed their abodes4 ,what is the meaning of ,greek cities in the midst of barbarous districts8 or of the ,macedonian language existing among the ,indians and the ,persians8 ,scythia and all that region which swarms with wild and uncivilized tribes boasts nevertheless ,achaean cities along the shores of the ,black ,sea4 ,neither the rigours of eternal winter1 #cbh nor the character of men as savage as their climate1 has prevented people migrating thither4 ,there is a mass of ,athenians in ,asia ,minor4 ,miletus has sent out into various parts of the world citizens enough to populate seventy-five cities4 ,that whole coast of ,italy which is washed by the ,lower ,sea is a part of what once was 8,greater ,greece40 ,asia claims the ,tuscans as her own3 there are ,tyrians living in ,africa1 ,carthaginians in ,spain2 ,greeks have pushed in among the ,gauls1 and ,gauls among the ,greeks4 ,the ,pyrenees have proved no barrier to the ,germans3 human caprice makes its way through pathless and unknown regions3 men drag along with them their children1 their wives1 and their aged and worn-out parents4 ,some have been tossed hither and thither by long wanderings1 until they have become too wearied to choose an abode1 but have settled in whatever place was nearest to them3 others have made themselves masters of foreign countries by force of arms3 some nations while making for parts unknown have been swallowed up by the sea3 some have established themselves in the place in which they were originally stranded by utter destitution4 ,nor have all men had the same reasons for leaving their country and for seeking for a new one3 some have escaped from their cities when destroyed by hostile armies1 and having lost their own lands have been thrust upon those of others3 some have been cast out by domestic quarrels3 some have been driven forth in consequence of an excess of population1 in order to relieve the pressure at home3 some have been forced to leave by pestilence1 or frequent earthquakes1 or some unbearable defects of a barren soil3 some have been seduced by the fame of a fertile and over-praised clime4 ,different people have been led away from their homes by different causes2 but in all cases it is clear that nothing remains in the same place in which it was born3 the movement of the human race is perpetual3 in this vast world some changes #cbi take place daily4 ,the foundations of new cities are laid1 new names of nations arise1 while the former ones die out1 or become absorbed by more powerful ones4 ,and yet what else are all these general migrations but the banishments of whole peoples8 ,why should ,i lead you through all these details8 what is the use of mentioning ,antenor the founder of ,padua1 or ,evander who established his kingdom of ,arcadian settlers on the banks of the ,tiber8 or ,diomedes and the other heroes1 both victors and vanquished1 whom the ,trojan war scattered over lands which were not their own8 ,it is a fact that the ,roman ,empire itself traces its origin back to an exile as its founder1 who1 fleeing from his country after its conquest1 with what few relics he had saved from the wreck1 had been brought to ,italy by hard necessity and fear of his conqueror1 which bade him seek distant lands4 ,since then1 how many colonies has this people sent forth into every province8 wherever the ,roman conquers1 there he dwells4 ,these migrations always found people eager to take part in them1 and veteran soldiers desert their native hearths and follow the flag of the colonists across the sea4 ,the matter does not need illustrations by any more examples3 yet ,i will add one more which ,i have before my eyes3 this very island#a has often changed its inhabitants4 ,not to mention more ancient events1 which have become obscure from their antiquity1 the ,greeks who inhabit ,marseilles at the present day1 when they left ,phocaea1 first settled here1 and it is doubtful what drove them hence1 whether it was the rigour of the climate1 the sight of the more powerful land of ,italy1 or the want of harbours on the coast3 for the fact of their having placed themselves in the midst of what were then the most savage and uncouth tribes of ,gaul proves that they were not driven hence by the ferocity of the natives4 ,subsequently #ccj the ,ligurians came over into this same island1 and also the ,spaniards1#b which is proved by the resemblance of their customs3 for they wear the same head-coverings and the same sort of shoes as the ,cantabrians1 and some of their words are the same3 for by association with ,greeks and ,ligurians they have entirely lost their native speech4 ,hither since then have been brought two ,roman colonies1 one by ,marius1 the other by ,sulla3 so often has the population of this barren and thorny rock been changed4 ,in fine1 you will scarcely find any land which is still in the hands of its original inhabitants3 all peoples have become confused and intermingled3 one has come after another3 one has wished for what another scorned3 some have been driven out of the land which they took from another4 ,thus fate has decreed that nothing should ever enjoy an uninterrupted course of good fortune4 ,,viii4 ,varro1 that most learned of all the ,romans1 thought that for the mere change of place1 apart from the other evils attendant on exile1 we may find a sufficient remedy in the thought that wherever we go we always have the same ,nature to deal with4 ,marcus ,brutus thought that there was sufficient comfort in the thought that those who go into exile are permitted to carry their virtues thither with them4 ,though one might think that neither of these alone were able to console an exile1 yet it must be confessed that when combined they have great power3 for how very little it is that we lose6 whithersoever we betake ourselves two most excellent things will accompany us1 namely1 a common ,nature and our own especial virtue4 ,believe me1 this is the work of whoever was the ,creator of the universe1 whether he be an all-powerful deity1 an incorporeal mind which effects vast works1 a divine spirit by which all things from the greatest to the smallest are equally pervaded1 or #cca fate and an unalterable connected sequence of events1 this1 ,i say1 is its work1 that nothing above the very lowest can ever fall into the power of another3 all that is best for a man's enjoyment lies beyond human power1 and can neither be bestowed or taken away3 this world1 the greatest and the most beautiful of ,nature's productions1 and its noblest part1 a mind which can behold and admire it1 are our own property1 and will remain with us as long as we ourselves endure4 ,let us therefore briskly and cheerfully hasten with undaunted steps whithersoever circumstances call us3 let us wander over whatever countries we please2 no place of banishment can be found in the whole world in which man cannot find a home4 ,i can raise my eyes from the earth to the sky in one place as well as in another2 the heavenly bodies are everywhere equally near to mankind3 accordingly1 as long as my eyes are not deprived of that spectacle of which they never can have their fill1 as long as ,i am allowed to gaze on the sun and moon1 to dwell upon the other stars1 to speculate upon their risings and settings1 their periods1 and the reasons why they move faster or slower1 to see so many stars glittering throughout the night1 some fixed1 some not moving in a wide orbit but revolving in their own proper track1 some suddenly diverging from it1 some dazzling our eyes by a fiery blaze as though they were falling1 or flying along drawing after them a long trail of brilliant light3 while ,i am permitted to commune with these1 and to hold intercourse1 as far as a human being may1 with all the company of heaven1 while ,i can raise my spirit aloft to view its kindred sparks above1 what does it matter upon what soil ,i tread8 ,,ix4 8,but this country does not produce beautiful or fruit-bearing trees2 it is not watered by the courses of large or navigable rivers2 it bears nothing which other nations would covet1 since its produce barely suffices to support its inhabitants3 no precious marbles are quarried here1 no veins #ccb of gold and silver are dug out40 ,what of that6 ,it must be a narrow mind that takes pleasure in things of the earth3 it ought to be turned away from them to the contemplation of those which can be seen everywhere1 which are equally brilliant everywhere3 we ought to reflect1 also1 that these vulgar matters by a mistaken perversion of ideas prevent really good things reaching us3 the further men stretch out their porticos1 the higher they raise their towers1 the more widely they extend their streets1 the deeper they sink their retreats from the heats of summer1 the more ponderous the roofs with which they cover their banqueting halls1 the more there will be to obstruct their view of heaven4 ,fortune has cast you into a country in which there is no lodging more splendid than a cottage3 you must indeed have a poor spirit1 and one which seeks low sources of consolation1 if you endure this bravely because you have seen the cottage of ,romulus3 say1 rather1 8,should that lowly barn be entered by the virtues1 it will straightway become more beautiful than any temple1 because within it will be seen justice1 self-restraint1 prudence1 love1 a right division of all duties1 a knowledge of all things on earth and in heaven4 ,no place can be narrow1 if it contains such a company of the greatest virtues2 no exile can be irksome in which one can be attended by these companions4 ,brutus1 in the book which he wrote upon virtue1 says that he saw ,marcellus in exile at ,mytilene1 living as happily as it is permitted to man to live1 and never keener in his pursuit of literature than at that time4 ,he consequently adds the reflexion3 #8,i seemed rather to be going into exile myself when ,i had to return without him1 than to be leaving him in exile4' ,o how much more fortunate was ,marcellus at that time1 when ,brutus praised him for his exile1 than when ,rome praised him for his consulship6 what a man that must have been who made any one think himself exiled because he was leaving him in exile6 what a man that #ccc must have been who attracted the admiration of one whom even his friend ,cato admired6 ,brutus goes on to say3-- #8,gaius ,caesar sailed past ,mytilene without landing1 because he could not bear to see a fallen man4' ,the ,senate did indeed obtain his recall by public petition1 being so anxious and sorrowful the while1 that you would have thought that they all were of ,brutus's mind that day1 and were not pleading the cause of ,marcellus1 but their own1 that they might not be sent into exile by being deprived of him3 yet he gained far greater glory on the day when ,brutus could not bear to leave him in exile1 and ,caesar could not bear to see him3 for each of them bore witness to his worth3 ,brutus grieved1 and ,caesar blushed at going home without ,marcellus4 ,can you doubt that so great a man as ,marcellus frequently encouraged himself to endure his exile patiently in some such terms as these3 8,the loss of your country is no misery to you3 you have so steeped yourself in philosophic lore1 as to know that all the world is the wise man's country8 ,what6 was not this very man who banished you absent from his country for ten successive years8 he was1 no doubt1 engaged in the extension of the empire1 but for all that he was absent from his country4 ,now see how his presence is required in ,africa1 which threatens to re-kindle the war1 in ,spain which is nursing up again the strength of the broken and shattered opposite faction1 in treacherous ,egypt1 in fine1 in all the parts of the world1 for all are watching their opportunity to seize the empire at a disadvantage4 ,which will he go to meet first8 which part of the universal conspiracy will he first oppose8 ,his victory will drag him through every country in the world4 ,let nations look up to him and worship him3 do thou live satisfied with the admiration of ,brutus40 ,x4 ,marcellus1 then1 nobly endured his exile1 and his change of place made no change in his mind1 even though it was accompanied by poverty1 in which every man who #ccd has not fallen into the madness of avarice and luxury1 which upset all our ideas1 sees no harm4 ,indeed1 how very little is required to keep a man alive8 and who1 that has any virtue whatever1 will find this fail him8 ,as for myself1 ,i do not feel that ,i have lost my wealth1 but my occupation3 the wants of the body are few3 it wants protection from the cold1 and the means of allaying hunger and thirst3 all desires beyond these are vices1 not necessities4 ,there is no need for prying into all the depths of the sea1 for loading one's stomach with heaps of slaughtered animals1 or for tearing up shell-fish#c from the unknown shore of the furthest sea3 may the gods and goddesses bring ruin upon those whose luxury transcends the bounds of an empire which is already perilously wide4 ,they want to have their ostentatious kitchens supplied with game from the other side of the ,phasis1 and though ,rome has not yet obtained satisfaction from the ,parthians1 they are not ashamed to obtain birds from them3 they bring together from all regions everything1 known or unknown1 to tempt their fastidious palate3 food1 which their stomach1 worn out with delicacies1 can scarcely retain1 is brought from the most distant ocean3 they vomit that they may eat1 and eat that they may vomit1 and do not even deign to digest the banquets which they ransack the globe to obtain4 ,if a man despises these things1 what harm can poverty do him8 ,if he desires them1 then poverty even does him good1 for he is cured in spite of himself1 and though he will not receive remedies even upon compulsion1 yet while he is unable to fulfil his wishes he is as though he had them not4 ,gaius ,caesar1 whom in my opinion ,nature produced in order to show what unlimited vice would be capable of when combined with unlimited power1 dined one day at a cost of ten millions of sesterces3 and though in this he had the #cce assistance of the intelligence of all his subjects1 yet he could hardly find how to make one dinner out of the tribute-money of three provinces4 ,how unhappy are they whose appetite can only be aroused by costly food6 and the costliness of food depends not upon its delightful flavour and sweetness of taste1 but upon its rarity and the difficulty of procuring it3 otherwise1 if they chose to return to their sound senses1 what need would they have of so many arts which minister to the stomach8 of so great a commerce8 of such ravaging of forests8 of such ransacking of the depths of the sea8 ,food is to be found everywhere1 and has been placed by ,nature in every part the world1 but they pass it by as though they were blind1 and wander through all countries1 cross the seas1 and excite at a great cost the hunger which they might allay at a small one4 ,one would like to say3 ,why do you launch ships8 why do you arm your hands for battle both with men and wild beasts8 why do you run so riotously hither and thither8 why do you amass fortune after fortune8 ,are you unwilling to remember how small our bodies are8 is it not frenzy and the wildest insanity to wish for so much when you can contain so little8 ,though you may increase your income1 and extend the boundaries of your property1 yet you never can enlarge your own bodies3 when your business transactions have turned out well1 when you have made a successful campaign1 when you have collected the food for which you have hunted through all lands1 you will have no place in which to bestow all these superfluities4 ,why do you strive to obtain so much8 ,do you think that our ancestors1 whose virtue supports our vices even to the present day1 were unhappy1 though they dressed their food with their own hands1 though the earth was their bed1 though their roofs did not yet glitter with gold1 nor their temples with precious stones8 and so they used then to swear with scrupulous honesty by earthenware #ccf gods2 those who called these gods to witness would go back to the enemy for certain death rather than break their word4#d ,do you suppose that our dictator who granted an audience to the ambassadors of the ,samnites1 while he roasted the commonest food before the fire himself with that very hand with which he had so often smitten the enemy1 and with which he had placed his laurel wreath upon the lap of ,capitolian ,jove1 enjoyed life less than the ,apicius who lived in our own days1 whose habits tainted the entire century1 who set himself up as a professor of gastronomy in that very city from which philosophers once were banished as corrupters of youth8 ,it is worth while to know his end4 ,after he had spent a hundred millions of sesterces on his kitchen1 and had wasted on each single banquet a sum equal to so many presents from the reigning emperors1 and the vast revenue which he drew from the ,capitol1 being overburdened with debt1 he then for the first time was forced to examine his accounts3 he calculated that he would have ten millions left of his fortune1 and1 as though he would live a life of mere starvation on ten millions1 put an end to his life by poison4 ,how great must the luxury of that man have been1 to whom ten millions signified want8 ,can you think after this that the amount of money necessary to make a fortune depends upon its actual extent rather than on the mind of the owner8 ,here was a man who shuddered at the thought of a fortune of ten million sesterces1 and escaped by poison from a prospect which other men pray for4 ,yet1 for a mind so diseased1 that last draught of his was the most wholesome3 he was really eating and drinking poisons when he was not only enjoying1 but boasting of his enormous banquets1 when he was flaunting his vices1 when he was causing his country to follow his example1 when he was inviting youths to imitate him1 albeit youth is quick #ccg to learn evil1 without being provided with a model to copy4 ,this is what befalls those who do not use their wealth according to reason1 which has fixed limits1 but according to vicious fashion1 whose caprices are boundless and immeasurable4 ,nothing is sufficient for covetous desire1 but ,nature can be satisfied even with scant measure4 ,the poverty of an exile1 therefore1 causes no inconvenience1 for no place of exile is so barren as not to produce what is abundantly sufficient to support a man4 ,,xi4 ,next1 need an exile regret his former dress and house8 ,if he only wishes for these things because of their use to him1 he will want neither roof nor garment1 for it takes as little to cover the body as it does to feed it3 ,nature has annexed no difficult conditions to anything which man is obliged to do4 ,if1 however1 he sighs for a purple robe steeped in floods of dye1 interwoven with threads of gold and with many coloured artistic embroideries1 then his poverty is his own fault1 not that of ,fortune3 even though you restored to him all that he has lost1 you would do him no good2 for he would have more unsatisfied ambitions1 if restored1 than he had unsatisfied wants when he was an exile4 ,if he longs for furniture glittering with silver vases1 plate which boasts the signature of antique artists1 bronze which the mania of a small clique has rendered costly1 slaves enough to crowd however large a house1 purposely overfed horses1 and precious stones of all countries3 whatever collections he may make of these1 he never will satisfy his insatiable appetite1 any more than any amount of liquor will quench a thirst which arises not from the need of drink but from the burning heat within a man2 for this is not thirst but disease4 ,nor does this take place only with regard to money and food1 but every want which is caused by vice and not by necessity is of this nature3 however much you supply it with you do not quench it but intensify it4 ,he who restrains himself within the limits prescribed by #cch nature1 will not feel poverty2 he who exceeds them will always be poor1 however great his wealth may be4 ,even a place of exile suffices to provide one with necessaries2 whole kingdoms do not suffice to provide one with superfluities4 ,it is the mind which makes men rich3 this it is that accompanies them into exile1 and in the most savage wildernesses1 after having found sufficient sustenance for the body1 enjoys its own overflowing resources3 the mind has no more connexion with money than the immortal gods have with those things which are so highly valued by untutored intellects1 sunk in the bondage of the flesh4 ,gems1 gold1 silver1 and vast polished round tables are but earthly dross1 which cannot be loved by a pure mind that is mindful of whence it came1 is unblemished by sin1 and which1 when released from the body1 will straightway soar aloft to the highest heaven3 meanwhile1 as far as it is permitted by the hindrances of its mortal limbs and this heavy clog of the body by which it is surrounded1 it examines divine things with swift and airy thought4 ,from this it follows that no free-born man1 who is akin to the gods1 and fit for any world and any age1 can ever be in exile3 for his thoughts are directed to all the heavens and to all times past and future3 this trumpery body1 the prison and fetter of the spirit1 may be tossed to this place or to that2 upon it tortures1 robberies1 and diseases may work their will3 but the spirit itself is holy and eternal1 and upon it no one can lay hands4 ,,xii4 ,that you may not suppose that ,i merely use the maxims of the philosophers to disparage the evils of poverty1 which no one finds terrible1 unless he thinks it so2 consider in the first place how many more poor people there are than rich1 and yet you will not find that they are sadder or more anxious than the rich3 nay1 ,i am not sure that they are not happier1 because they have fewer things to distract their minds4 ,from these poor men1 who often are not #cci unhappy at their poverty1 let us pass to the rich4 ,how many occasions there are on which they are just like poor men6 ,when they are on a journey their baggage is cut down1 whenever they are obliged to travel fast their train of attendants is dismissed4 ,when they are serving in the army1 how small a part of their property can they have with them1 since camp discipline forbids superfluities6 ,nor is it only temporary exigences or desert places that put them on the same level as poor men3 they have some days on which they become sick of their riches1 dine reclining on the ground1 put away all their gold and silver plate1 and use earthenware4 ,madmen6 they are always afraid of this for which they sometimes wish4 ,o how dense a stupidity1 how great an ignorance of the truth they show when they flee from this thing and yet amuse themselves by playing with it6 ,whenever ,i look back to the great examples of antiquity1 ,i feel ashamed to seek consolation for my poverty1 now that luxury has advanced so far in the present age1 that the allowance of an exile is larger than the inheritance of the princes of old4 ,it is well known that ,homer had one slave1 that ,plato had three1 and that ,zeno1 who first taught the stern and masculine doctrine of the ,stoics1 had none3 yet could any one say that they lived wretchedly without himself being thought a most pitiable wretch by all men8 ,menenius ,agrippa1 by whose mediation the patricians and plebeians were reconciled1 was buried by public subscription4 ,attilius ,regulus1 while he was engaged in scattering the ,carthaginians in ,africa1 wrote to the ,senate that his hired servant had left him1 and that consequently his farm was deserted3 whereupon it was decreed that as long as ,regulus was absent1 it should be cultivated at the expense of the state4 ,was it not worth his while to have no slave1 if thereby he obtained the ,roman people for his farm-bailiff8 ,scipio's daughters received their dowries from the ,treasury1 because #cdj their father had left them none3 by ,hercules1 it was right for the ,roman people to pay tribute to ,scipio for once1 since he had exacted it for ever from ,carthage4 ,o how happy were those girls' husbands1 who had the ,roman people for their father-in-law4 ,can you think that those whose daughters dance in the ballet1 and marry with a settlement of a million sesterces1 are happier than ,scipio1 whose children received their dowry of old-fashioned brass money from their guardian the ,senate8 ,can any one despise poverty1 when she has such a noble descent to boast of8 can an exile be angry at any privation1 when ,scipio could not afford a portion for his daughters1 ,regulus could not afford a hired labourer1 ,menenius could not afford a funeral8 when all these men's wants were supplied in a manner which rendered them a source of additional honour8 ,poverty1 when such men as these plead its cause1 is not only harmless1 but positively attractive4 ,,xiii4 ,to this one may answer3 8,why do you thus ingeniously divide what can indeed be endured if taken singly1 but which all together are overwhelming8 ,change of place can be borne if nothing more than one's place be changed3 poverty can be borne if it be without disgrace1 which is enough to cow our spirits by itself40 ,if any one were to endeavour to frighten me with the number of my misfortunes1 ,i should answer him as follows3 ,if you have enough strength to resist any one part of your ill-fortune1 you will have enough to resist it all4 ,if virtue has once hardened your mind1 it renders it impervious to blows from any quarter3 if avarice1 that greatest pest of the human race1 has left it1 you will not be troubled by ambition3 if you regard the end of your days not as a punishment1 but as an ordinance of nature1 no fear of anything else will dare to enter the breast which has cast out the fear of death4 ,if you consider sexual passion to have been bestowed on mankind not for the sake of pleasure1 but for #cda the continuance of the race1 all other desires will pass harmlessly by one who is safe even from this secret plague1 implanted in our very bosoms4 ,reason does not conquers vices one by one1 but all together3 if reason is defeated1 it is utterly defeated once for all4 ,do you suppose that any wise man1 who relies entirely upon himself1 who has set himself free from the ideas of the common herd1 can be wrought upon by disgrace8 ,a disgraceful death is worse even than disgrace3 yet ,socrates bore the same expression of countenance with which he had rebuked thirty tyrants1 when he entered the prison and thereby took away the infamous character of the place2 for the place which contained ,socrates could not be regarded as a prison4 ,was any one ever so blind to the truth as to suppose that ,marcus ,cato was disgraced by his double defeat in his candidature for the praetorship and the consulship8 that disgrace fell on the praetorship and consulship which ,cato honoured by his candidature4 ,no one is despised by others unless he be previously despised by himself3 a grovelling and abject mind may fall an easy prey to such contempt3 but he who stands up against the most cruel misfortunes1 and overcomes those evils by which others would have been crushed--such a man1 ,i say1 turns his misfortunes into badges of honour1 because we are so constituted as to admire nothing so much as a man who bears adversity bravely4 ,at ,athens1 when ,aristides was being led to execution1 every one who met him cast down his eyes and groaned1 as though not merely a just man but justice herself was being put to death4 ,yet one man was found who spat in his face3 he might have been disturbed at this1 since he knew it could only be a foul-mouthed fellow that would have the heart to do so2 he1 however1 wiped his face1 and with a smile asked the magistrate who accompanied him to warn that man not to open his mouth so rudely again4 ,to act thus was to treat contumely itself #cdb with contempt4 ,i know that some say that there is nothing more terrible than disgrace1 and that they would prefer death4 ,to such men ,i answer that even exile is often accompanied by no disgrace whatever3 if a great man falls1 he remains a great man after his fall1 you can no more suppose that he is disgraced than when people tread upon the walls of a ruined temple1 which the pious treat with as much respect as when they were standing4 ,,xiv4 ,since1 then1 my dearest mother1 you have no reason for endless weeping on my account1 it follows that your tears must flow on your own3 there are two causes for this1 either your having lost my protection1 or your not being able to bear the mere fact of separation4 ,the first of these ,i shall only touch upon lightly1 for ,i know that your heart loves nothing belonging to your children except themselves4 ,let other mothers look to that1 who make use of their sons' authority with a woman's passion1 who are ambitious through their sons because they cannot bear office themselves1 who spend their sons' inheritance1 and yet are eager to inherit it1 and who weary their sons by lending their eloquence to others3 you have always rejoiced exceedingly in the successes of your sons1 and have made no use of them whatever3 you have always set bounds to our generosity1 although you set none to your own3 you1 while a minor under the power of the head of the family1 still used to make presents to your wealthy sons3 you managed our inheritances with as much care as if you were working for your own1 yet refrained from touching them as scrupulously as if they belonged to strangers3 you have spared to use our influence1 as though you enjoyed other means of your own1 and you have taken no part in the public offices to which we have been elected beyond rejoicing in our success and paying our expenses3 your indulgence has never been tainted by any thought of profit1 and you cannot regret the loss of your son for a reason which never had any weight with you before his exile4 #cdc ,,xv4 ,all my powers of consolation must be directed to the other point1 the true source of your maternal grief4 ,you say1 8,i am deprived of the embraces of my darling son1 ,i cannot enjoy the pleasure of seeing him and of hearing him talk4 ,where is he at whose sight ,i used to smooth my troubled brow1 in whose keeping ,i used to deposit all my cares8 ,where is his conversation1 of which ,i never could have enough8 his studies1 in which ,i used to take part with more than a woman's eagerness1 with more than a mother's familiarity8 ,where are our meetings8 the boyish delight which he always showed at the sight of his mother80 ,to all this you add the actual places of our merrymakings and conversation1 and1 what must needs have more power to move you than anything else1 the traces of our late social life1 for ,fortune treated you with the additional cruelty of allowing you to depart on the very third day before my ruin1 without a trace of anxiety1 and not fearing anything of the kind4 ,it was well that we had been separated by a vast distance3 it was well that an absence of some years had prepared you to bear this blow3 you came home1 not to take any pleasure in your son1 but to get rid of the habit of longing for him4 ,had you been absent long before1 you would have borne it more bravely1 as the very length of your absence would have moderated your longing to see me3 had you never gone away1 you would at any rate have gained one last advantage in seeing your son for two days longer3 as it was1 cruel ,fate so arranged it that you were not present with me during my good fortune1 and yet have not become accustomed to my absence4 ,but the harder these things are to bear1 the more virtue you must summon to your aid1 and the more bravely you must struggle as it were with an enemy whom you know well1 and whom you have already often conquered4 ,this blood did not flow from a body previously unhurt3 you have been struck through the scar of an old wound4 #cdd ,,xvi4 ,you have no grounds for excusing yourself on the ground of being a woman1 who has a sort of right to weep without restraint1 though not without limit4 ,for this reason our ancestors allotted a space of ten months' mourning for women who had lost their husbands1 thus settling the violence of a woman's grief by a public ordinance4 ,they did not forbid them to mourn1 but they set limits to their grief3 for while it is a foolish weakness to give way to endless grief when you lose one of those dearest to you1 yet it shows an unnatural hardness of heart to express no grief at all3 the best middle course between affection and hard common sense is both to feel regret and to restrain it4 ,you need not look at certain women whose sorrow1 when once begun1 has been ended only by death3 you know some who after the loss of their sons have never laid aside the garb of mourning3 you are constitutionally stronger than these1 and from you more is required4 ,you cannot avail yourself of the excuse of being a woman1 for you have no womanish vices4 ,unchastity1 the greatest evil of the age1 has never classed you with the majority of women2 you have not been tempted either by gems or by pearls2 riches have not allured you into thinking them the greatest blessing that man can own2 respectably brought up as you were in an old-fashioned and strict household1 you have never been led astray by that imitation of others which is so full of danger even to virtuous women4 ,you have never been ashamed of your fruitfulness as though it were a reproach to your youth3 you never concealed the signs of pregnancy as though it were an unbecoming burden1 nor did you ever destroy your expected child within your womb after the fashion of many other women1 whose attractions are to be found in their beauty alone4 ,you never defiled your face with paints or cosmetics3 you never liked clothes which showed the figure as plainly as though it were naked3 your sole ornament has been a consummate #cde loveliness which no time can impair1 your greatest glory has been your modesty4 ,you cannot1 therefore1 plead your womanhood as an excuse for your grief1 because your virtues have raised you above it3 you ought to be as superior to womanish tears as you are to womanish vices4 ,even women would not allow you to pine away after receiving this blow1 but would bid you quickly and calmly go through the necessary amount of mourning1 and then to arise and shake it off3 ,i mean1 if you are willing to take as your models those women whose eminent virtue has given them a place among even great men4 ,misfortune reduced the number of ,cornelia's children from twelve to two3 if you count the number of their deaths1 ,cornelia had lost ten3 if you weigh them1 she had lost the ,gracchi3 nevertheless1 when her friends were weeping around her and using too bitter imprecations against her fate1 she forbade them to blame fortune for having deprived#e her of her sons the ,gracchi4 ,such ought to have been the mother of him who1 when speaking in the ,forum1 said1 8,would you speak evil of the mother who bore me80 ,the mother's speech seems to me to show a far greater spirit3 the son set a high value on the birth of the ,gracchi2 the mother set an equal value on their deaths4 ,rutilia followed her son ,cotta into exile1 and was so passionately attached to him that she could bear exile better than absence from him2 nor did she return home before her son did so3 after he had been restored1 and had been raised to honour in the republic1 she bore his death as bravely as she had borne his exile4 ,no one saw any traces of tears upon her cheeks after she had buried her son3 she displayed her courage when he was banished1 her wisdom when he died3 she allowed no #cdf considerations either to interfere with her affection1 or to force her to protract a useless and foolish mourning4 ,these are the women with whom ,i wish you to be numbered3 you have the best reasons for restraining and suppressing your sorrow as they did1 because you have always imitated their lives4 ,,xvii4 ,i am aware that this is a matter which is not in our power1 and that none of the passions1 least of all that which arises from grief1 are obedient to our wishes2 indeed1 it is overbearing and obstinate1 and stubbornly rejects all remedies3 we sometimes wish to crush it1 and to swallow our emotion1 but1 nevertheless1 tears flow over our carefully arranged and made-up countenance4 ,sometimes we occupy our minds with public spectacles and shows of gladiators2 but during the very sights by which it is amused1 the mind is wrung by slight touches of sorrow4 ,it is better1 therefore1 to conquer it than to cheat it2 for a grief which has been deceived and driven away either by pleasure or by business rises again1 and its period of rest does but give it strength for a more terrible attack2 but a grief which has been conquered by reason is appeased for ever4 ,i shall not1 then1 give you the advice which so many1 ,i know1 adopt1 that you should distract your thoughts by a long journey1 or amuse them by a beautiful one2 that you should spend much of your time in the careful examination of accounts1 and the management of your estate1 and that you should keep constantly engaging in new enterprises3 all these things avail but little1 and do not cure1 but merely obstruct our sorrow4 ,i had rather it should be brought to an end than that it should be cheated3 and1 therefore1 ,i would fain lead you to the study of philosophy1 the true place of refuge for all those who are flying from the cruelty of ,fortune3 this will heal your wounds and take away all your sadness3 to this you would now have to apply yourself1 even though you #cdg had never done so before2 but as far as my father's old-fashioned strictness permitted1 you have gained a superficial1 though not a thorough knowledge of all liberal studies4 ,would that my father1 most excellent man that he was1 had been less devoted to the customs of our ancestors1 and had been willing to have you thoroughly instructed in the elements of philosophy1 instead of receiving a mere smattering of it6 ,i should not now need to be providing you with the means of struggling against ,fortune1 but you would offer them to me3 but he did not allow you to pursue your studies far1 because some women use literature to teach them luxury instead of wisdom4 ,still1 thanks to your keen intellectual appetite1 you learned more than one could have expected in the time3 you laid the foundations of all good learning3 now return to them3 they will render you safe1 they will console you1 and charm you4 ,if once they have thoroughly entered into your mind1 grief1 anxiety1 the distress of vain suffering will never gain admittance thither3 your breast will not be open to any of these2 against all other vices it has long been closed4 ,philosophy is your most trustworthy guardian1 and it alone can save you from the attacks of ,fortune4 ,,xviii4 ,since1 however1 you require something to lean upon until you can reach that haven of rest which philosophy offers to you1 ,i wish in the meantime to point out to you the consolations which you have4 ,look at my two brothers--while they are safe1 you have no grounds for complaint against ,fortune2 you can derive pleasure from the virtues of each of them1 different as they are2 the one has gained high office by attention to business1 the other has philosophically despised it4 ,rejoice in the great place of one of your sons1 in the peaceful retirement of the other1 in the filial affection of both4 ,i know my brothers' most secret motives3 the one adorns his high office in order to confer lustre upon you1 the #cdh other has withdrawn from the world into his life of quiet and contemplation1 that he may have full enjoyment of your society4 ,fortune has consulted both your safety and your pleasure in her disposal of your two sons3 you may be protected by the authority of the one1 and delighted by the literary leisure of the other4 ,they will vie with one another in dutiful affection to you1 and the loss of one son will be supplied by the love of two others4 ,i can confidently promise that you will find nothing wanting in your sons except their number4 ,now1 then1 turn your eyes from them to your grandchildren2 to ,marcus1 that most engaging child1 whose sight no sorrow can withstand4 ,no grief can be so great or so fresh in any one's bosom as not to be charmed away by his presence4 ,where are the tears which his joyousness could not dry8 whose heart is so nipped by sorrow that his animation would not cause it to dilate8 who would not be rendered mirthful by his playfulness8 who would not be attracted and made to forget his gloomy thoughts by that prattle to which no one can ever be weary of listening8 ,i pray the gods that he may survive us3 may all the cruelty of fate exhaust itself on me and go no further2 may all the sorrow destined for my mother and my grandmother fall upon me2 but let all the rest flourish as they do now3 ,i shall make no complaints about my childlessness or my exile1 if only my sacrifice may be received as a sufficient atonement1 and my family suffer nothing more4 ,hold in your bosom ,novatilla1 who soon will present you with great-grandchildren1 she whom ,i had so entirely adopted and made my own1 that1 now that she has lost me1 she seems like an orphan1 even though her father is alive4 ,love her for my sake as well as for her own3 ,fortune has lately deprived her of her mother3 your affection will be able to prevent her really feeling the loss of the mother whom she mourns4 ,take this opportunity of forming and strengthening her principles2 nothing sinks #cdi so deeply into the mind as the teaching which we receive in our earliest years2 let her become accustomed to hearing your discourses2 let her character be moulded according to your pleasure3 she will gain much even if you give her nothing more than your example4 ,this continually recurring duty will be a remedy in itself3 for when your mind is full of maternal sorrow1 nothing can distract it from its grief except either philosophic argument or honourable work4 ,i should count your father among your greatest consolations1 were he not absent3 as it is1 judge from your affection for me what his affection is for you1 and then you will see how much more just it is that you should be preserved for him than that you should be sacrificed to me4 ,whenever your keenest paroxysms of grief assail you and bid you give way to them1 think of your father4 ,by giving him so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren you have made yourself no longer his only daughter2 but you alone can crown his prosperous life by a happy end3 as long as he is alive it is impiety for you to regret having been born4 ,,xix4 ,i have hitherto said nothing of your chief source of consolation1 your sister1 that most faithful heart which shares all your sorrows as fully as your own1 and who feels for all of us like a mother4 ,with her you have mingled your tears1 on her bosom you have tasted your first repose3 she always feels for your troubles1 and when ,i am in the case she does not grieve for you alone4 ,it was in her arms that ,i was carried into ,rome3 by her affectionate and motherly nursing ,i regained my strength after a long period of sickness3 she enlarged her influence to obtain the office of quaestor for me1 and her fondness for me made her conquer a shyness which at other times made her shrink from speaking to1 or loudly greeting her friends4 ,neither her retired mode of life1 nor her country-bred modesty1 at a time when so many women display such boldness of manner1 her placidity1 nor her habits of solitary seclusion #cej prevented her from becoming actually ambitious on my account4 ,here1 my dearest mother1 is a source from which you may gain true consolation3 join yourself1 as far as you are able1 to her1 bind yourself to her by the closest embraces4 ,those who are in sorrow are wont to flee from those who are dearest to them1 and to seek liberty for the indulgence of their grief3 do you let her share your every thought3 if you wish to nurse your grief1 she will be your companion1 if you wish to lay it aside she will bring it to an end4 ,if1 however1 ,i rightly understand the wisdom of that most perfect woman1 she will not suffer you to waste your life in unprofitable mourning1 and will tell you what happened in her own instance1 which ,i myself witnessed4 ,during a sea-voyage she lost a beloved husband1 my uncle1 whom she married when a maiden2 she endured at the same time grief for him and fear for herself1 and at last1 though shipwrecked1 nevertheless rescued his body from the vanquished tempest4 ,how many noble deeds are unknown to fame6 ,if only she had had the simple-minded ancients to admire her virtues1 how many brilliant intellects would have vied with one another in singing the praises of a wife who forgot the weakness of her sex1 forgot the perils of the sea1 which terrify even the boldest1 exposed herself to death in order to lay him in the earth1 and who was so eager to give him decent burial that she cared nothing about whether she shared it or no4 ,all the poets have made the wife#f famous who gave herself to death instead of her husband3 my aunt did more when she risked her life in order to give her husband a tomb3 it shows greater love to endure the same peril for a less important end4 ,after this1 no one need wonder that for sixteen years1 during which her husband governed the province of ,egypt1 she was never beheld in public1 never admitted any of the natives to her house1 never #cea begged any favour of her husband1 and never allowed anyone to beg one of her4 ,thus it came to pass that a gossiping province1 ingenious in inventing scandal about its rulers1 in which even the blameless often incurred disgrace1 respected her as a singular example of uprightness1#g never made free with her name1--a remarkable piece of self-restraint among a people who will risk everything rather than forego a jest1--and that at the present time it hopes for another governor's wife like her1 although it has no reasonable expectation of ever seeing one4 ,it would have been greatly to her credit if the province had approved her conduct for a space of sixteen years3 it was much more creditable to her that it knew not of her existence4 ,i do not remind you of this in order to celebrate her praises1 for to take such scanty notice of them is to curtail them1 but in order that you may understand the magnanimity of a woman who has not yielded either to ambition or to avarice1 those twin attendants and scourges of authority1 who1 when her ship was disabled and her own death was impending1 was not restrained by fear from keeping fast hold of her husband's dead body1 and who sought not how to escape from the wreck1 but how to carry him out of it with her4 ,you must now show a virtue equal to hers1 recall your mind from grief1 and take care that no one may think that you are sorry that you have borne a son4 ,,xx4 ,however1 since it is necessary1 whatever you do1 that your thoughts should sometimes revert to me1 and that ,i should now be present to your mind more often than your other children1 not because they are less dear to you1 but because it is natural to lay one's hands more often upon a place that pains one2 learn how you are to think of me3 ,i am as joyous and cheerful as in my best days3 indeed these #ceb days are my best1 because my mind is relieved from all pressure of business and is at leisure to attend to its own affairs1 and at one time amuses itself with lighter studies1 at another eagerly presses its inquiries into its own nature and that of the universe3 first it considers the countries of the world and their position3 then the character of the sea which flows between them1 and the alternate ebbings and flowings of its tides2 next it investigates all the terrors which hang between heaven and earth1 the region which is torn asunder by thunderings1 lightnings1 gusts of wind1 vapour1 showers of snow and hail4 ,finally1 having traversed every one of the realms below1 it soars to the highest heaven1 enjoys the noblest of all spectacles1 that of things divine1 and1 remembering itself to be eternal1 reviews all that has been and all that will be for ever and ever4 #a ,corsica4 #b ,seneca himself was of ,spanish extraction4 #c ,qu41 oysters from ,britain4 #d ,the allusion is evidently to ,regulus4 #e ,i think ,madvig's ademisset spoils the sense4 ,dedisset means3 8when you bid me mourn the loss of the ,gracchi you bid me blame fortune for having given me such sons40 8',tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all40--,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,m4 #f ,alcestis4 #g ,the context shows that sanctitas is opposed to 8rapacity10 8taking bribes10 like the ,celaeno of ,juv4 viii4--,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,m4 #cec ,,the ,,twelfth ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogues ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,polybius4 ,,of ,,consolation4 ,i4 4444 compared with ours is firm and lasting2 but if you transfer it to the domain of ,nature1 which destroys everything and calls everything back to the place from whence it came1 it is transitory4 ,what1 indeed1 have mortal hands made that is not mortal8 ,the seven wonders of the world1 and any even greater wonders which the ambition of later ages has constructed1 will be seen some day levelled with the ground4 ,so it is3 nothing lasts for ever1 few things even last for long3 all are susceptible of decay in one way or another4 ,the ways in which things come to an end are manifold1 but yet everything that has a beginning has an end also4 ,some threaten the world with death1 and1 though you may think the thought to be impious1 this entire universe1 containing gods and men and all their works will some day be swept away and plunged a second time into its original darkness and chaos4 ,weep1 if you can1 after this1 over the loss of any individual life6 ,can we mourn the ashes of ,carthage1 ,numantia1 ,corinth1 or any city that has fallen from a high estate1 when we know that the world must perish1 albeit it has no place #ced into which it can fall4 ,weep1 if you can1 because ,fate has not spared you1 she who some day will dare to work so great a wickedness6 ,who can be so haughtily and peevishly arrogant as to expect that this law of nature by which everything is brought to an end will be set aside in his own case1 and that his own house will be exempted from the ruin which menaces the whole world itself8 ,it is1 therefore1 a great consolation to reflect that what has happened to us has happened to every one before us and will happen to every one after us4 ,in my opinion1 nature has made her cruellest acts affect all men alike1 in order that the universality of their lot might console them for its hardship4 ,,ii4 ,it will also be no small assistance to you to reflect that grief can do no good either to him whom you have lost or to yourself1 and you would not wish to protract what is useless3 for if we could gain anything by sorrow1 ,i should not refuse to bestow upon your misfortunes whatever tears my own have left at my disposal3 ,i would force some drops to flow from these eyes1 exhausted as they are with weeping over my own domestic afflictions1 were it likely to be of any service to you4 ,why do you hesitate8 let us lament together1 and ,i will even make this quarrel my own3--8,fortune1 whom every one thinks most unjust1 you seemed hitherto to have restrained yourself from attacking one who by your favour had become the object of such universal respect that--rare distinction for any one--his prosperity had excited no jealousy3 but now1 behold6 you have dealt him the cruellest wound which1 while ,caesar lives1 he could receive1 and after reconnoitring him from all sides you have discovered that on this point alone he was exposed to your strokes4 ,what else indeed could you have done to him8 should you take away his wealth8 he never was its slave3 now he has even as far as possible put it away from him1 and the chief thing that he has gained by his unrivalled facilities #cee for amassing money has been to despise it4 ,should you take away his friends8 you knew that he was of so loveable a disposition that he could easily gain others to replace those whom he might lose3 for of all the powerful officers of the ,imperial household he seems to me to be the only one whom all men wish to have for their friend without considering how advantageous his friendship would be4 ,should you take away his reputation8 it is so firmly established1 that even you could not shake it4 ,should you take away his health8 you knew that his mind was so grounded on philosophical studies1 in whose schools he was born as well as bred1 that it would rise superior to any sufferings of the body4 ,should you take away his breath8 how small an injury would that be to him8 fame promised his genius one of the longest of lives3 he himself has taken care that his better part should remain alive1 and has guarded himself against death by the composition of his admirable works of eloquence3 as long as literature shall be held in any honour1 as long as the vigour of the ,latin or the grace of the ,greek language shall endure1 he will flourish together with their greatest writers1 with whose genius he has measured1 or1 if his modesty will not let me say this1 has connected his own4 ,this1 then1 was the only means you could devise of doing him a great injury4 ,the better a man is1 the more frequently he is wont to suffer from your indiscriminate rage1 you who are to be feared even when you are bestowing benefits upon one4 ,how little it would have cost you to avert this blow from one upon whom your favours seemed to be conferred according to some regular plan1 and not to be flung at random in your wonted fashion60 ,,iii4 ,let us add1 if you please1 to these grounds of complaint the disposition of the youth himself1 cut off in the midst of its first growth4 ,he was worthy to be your brother3 you most certainly did not deserve to be given #cef any pain through your brother1 even though he had been unworthy4 ,all men alike bear witness to his merits3 he is regretted for your sake1 and is praised for his own4 ,he had no qualities which you would not be glad to recognize4 ,you would indeed have been good to a worse brother1 but to him your fraternal love was given all the more freely because in him it found so fitting a field for its exercise4 ,no one ever was made to feel his influence by receiving wrongs at his hands1 he never used the fact of your being his brother to threaten any one3 he had moulded his character after the pattern of your modesty1 and reflected how great a glory and how great a burden you were to your family3 the burden he was able to sustain2 but1 ,o pitiless ,fate1 always unjust to virtue--before your brother could taste the happiness of his position1 he was called away4 ,i am well aware that ,i express my feelings inadequately2 for nothing is harder than to find words which adequately represent great grief3 still1 let us again lament for him1 if it be of any use to do so3--8,what did you mean1 ,fortune1 by being so unjust and so savage8 did you so soon repent you of your favour8 ,what cruelty it was to fall upon brothers1 to break up so loving a circle by so deadly an attack2 why did you bring mourning into a house so plenteously stocked with admirable youths1 in which no brother came short of the high standard of the rest1 and without any cause pluck one of them away8 ,so1 then1 scrupulous innocency of life1 old-fashioned frugality1 the power of amassing vast wealth wielded with the greatest self-denial1 a true and imperishable love of literature1 a mind free from the least spot of sin1 all avail nothing3 ,polybius is in mourning1 and1 warned by the fate of one brother what he may have to dread for the rest1 he fears for the very persons who soothe his grief4 ,o shame6 ,polybius is in mourning1 and mourns even though he still enjoys the favour of ,caesar4 ,no doubt1 ,fortune1 what you aimed at in #ceg your impotent rage was to prove that no one could be protected from your attacks1 not even by ,caesar himself40 ,,iv4 ,we might go on blaming fate much longer1 but we cannot alter it3 it stands harsh and inexorable3 no one can move it by reproaches1 by tears1 or by justice4 ,fate never spares any one1 never makes allowances to any one4 ,let us1 then1 refrain from unprofitable tears3 for our grief will carry us away to join him sooner than it will bring him back to us3 and if it tortures us without helping us1 we ought to lay it aside as soon as possible1 and restore the tone of our minds after their indulgence in that vain solace and the bitter luxury of woe3 for unless reason puts an end to our tears1 fortune will not do so4 ,look around1 ,i pray you1 upon all mortals3 everywhere there is ample and constant reason for weeping3 one man is driven to daily labour by toilsome poverty1 another is tormented by never-resting ambition1 another fears the very riches that he once wished for1 and suffers from the granting of his own prayer3 one man is made wretched by loneliness1 another by labour1 another by the crowds which always besiege his antechamber4 ,this man mourns because he has children1 that one because he has lost them4 ,tears will fail us sooner than causes for shedding them4 ,do you not see what sort of a life it must be that ,nature has promised to us men when she makes us weep as soon as we are born8 ,we begin life in this fashion1 and all the chain of years that follow it is in harmony with it4 ,thus we pass our lives1 and consequently we ought to be sparing in doing what we have to do so often1 and when we look back upon the mass of sorrows that hangs over us1 we ought1 if not to end our tears1 at any rate to reserve them4 ,there is nothing that we ought to husband more carefully than this1 which we are so often obliged to expend4 ,v4 ,it will also be no small assistance to you to consider that there is no one to whom your grief is more offensive #ceh than he upon whom it is nominally bestowed3 he either does not wish you to suffer or does not understand why you suffer4 ,there is1 therefore1 no reason for a service which is useless if it is not felt by him who is the object of it1 and which is displeasing to him if it is4 ,i can boldly affirm that there is no one in the whole world who derives any pleasure from your tears4 ,what then8 do you suppose that your brother has a feeling against you which no one else has1 that he wishes you to be injured by your self-torture1 that he desires to separate you from the business of your life1 that is1 from philosophy and from ,caesar8 that is not likely3 for he always gave way to you as a brother1 respected you as a parent1 courted you as a superior4 ,he wishes to be fondly remembered by you1 but not to be a source of agony to you4 ,why1 then1 should you insist upon pining away with a grief which1 if the dead have any feelings1 your brother wishes to bring to an end8 ,if it were any other brother about whose affection there could be any question1 ,i should put all this vaguely1 and say1 8,if your brother wishes you to be tortured with endless mourning1 he does not deserve such affection3 if he does not wish it1 dismiss the grief which affects you both3 an unnatural brother ought not1 a good brother would not wish to be so mourned for10 but with one whose brotherly love has been so clearly proved1 we may be quite sure that nothing could hurt him more than that you should be hurt by his loss1 that it should agonize you1 that your eyes1 most undeserving as they are of such a fate1 should be by the same cause continually filled and drained of never-ceasing tears4 ,nothing however will restrain your loving nature from these useless tears so effectually as the reflexion that you ought to show your brothers an example by bearing this outrage of fortune bravely4 ,you ought to imitate great generals in times of disaster1 when they are careful to affect #cei a cheerful demeanour1 and conceal misfortunes by a counterfeited joyousness1 lest1 if the soldiers saw their leader cast down1 they should themselves become dispirited4 ,this must now be done by you also4 ,put on a countenance that does not reflect your feelings1 and if you possibly can1 cast out conceal it within you and hide it away so that it may not be seen1 and take care that your brothers1 who will think everything honourable that they see you doing1 imitate you in this and take courage from the sight of your looks4 ,it is your duty to be both their comfort and their consoler2 but you will have no power to check their grief if you humour your own4 ,,vi4 ,it may also keep you from excessive grief if you remind yourself that nothing which you do can be done in secret3 all men agree in regarding you as an important personage1 and you must keep up this character3 you are encompassed by all that mass of offerers of consolation who all are peering into your mind to learn how much strength it has to resist grief1 and whether you merely know how to avail yourself cunningly of prosperity1 or whether you can also bear adversity with a manly spirit3 the expression of your very eyes is watched4 ,those who are able to conceal their feelings may indulge them more freely2 but you are not free to have any secresy3 your fortune has set you in so brilliant a position1 that nothing which you do can be hid3 all men will know how you have borne this wound of yours1 whether you laid down your arms at the first shock or whether you stood your ground4 ,long ago the love of ,caesar raised you1 and your own literary pursuits brought you1 to the highest rank in the state3 nothing vulgar1 nothing mean befits you3 yet what can be meaner or more womanish than to make oneself a victim to grief8 ,although your sorrow is as great as that of your brothers1 yet you may not indulge it as much as they3 the ideas which the public have formed about your philosophic #cfj learning and your character make many things impossible for you4 ,men demand much1 and expect much from you3 you ought not to have drawn all eyes upon yourself1 if you wished to be allowed to act as you pleased3 as it is1 you must make good that of which you have given promise4 ,all those1 who praise the works of your genius1 who make copies of them1 who need your genius if they do not need your fortune1 are as guards set over your mind3 you cannot1 therefore1 ever do anything unworthy of the character of a thorough philosopher and sage1 without many men feeling sorry that they ever admired you4 ,you may not weep beyond reason3 nor is this the only thing that you may not do3 you may not so much as remain asleep after daybreak1 or retreat from the noisy troubles of public business to the peaceful repose of the country1 or refresh yourself with a pleasure tour when wearied by constant attendance to the duties of your toilsome post1 or amuse yourself with beholding various shows1 or even arrange your day according to your own wish4 ,many things are forbidden to you which are permitted to the poorest beggars that lie about in holes and corners4 ,a great fortune is a great slavery2 you may not do anything according to your wish3 you must give audiences to all those thousands of people1 you must take charge of all those petitions3 you must cheer yourself up1 in order that all this mass of business which flows hither from every part of the world may be offered in due order for the consideration of our excellent emperor4 ,i repeat1 you yourself are forbidden to weep1 that you may be able to listen to so many weeping petitioners3 your own tears must be dried1 in order that the tears of those who are in peril and who desire to obtain the gracious pardon of the kindest-hearted of ,caesars may be dried4 ,,vii4 ,these reflexions will serve you as partial remedies for your grief1 but if you wish to forget it altogether1 remember ,caesar3 think with what loyalty1 with what #cfa industry you are bound to requite the favours which he has shown you3 you will then see that you can no more sink beneath your burden than could he of whom the myths tells us1 he whose shoulders upheld the world4 ,even ,caesar1 who may do all things1 may not do many things for this very reason3 his watchfulness protects all men's sleep1 his labour guarantees their leisure1 his toil ensures their pleasures1 his work preserves their holidays4 ,on the day on which ,caesar devoted his services to the universe1 he lost them for himself1 and like the planets which ever unrestingly pursue their course1 he can never halt or attend to any affair of his own4 ,after a certain fashion this prohibition is imposed upon you also2 you may not consider your own interests1 or devote yourself to your own studies3 while ,caesar owns the world1 you cannot allow either joy or grief1 or anything else to occupy any part of you3 you owe your entire self to ,caesar4 ,add to this that1 since you have always declared that ,caesar was dearer to you than your own life1 you have no right to complain of misfortune as long as ,caesar is alive3 while he is safe all your friends are alive1 you have lost nothing1 your eyes ought not only to be dry1 but glad4 ,in him is your all1 he stands in the place of all else to you3 you are not grateful enough for your present happy state 7which ,god forbid that one of your most wise and loyal disposition should be7 if you permit yourself to weep at all while ,caesar is safe4 ,,viii4 ,i will now point out to you yet another remedy1 of a more domestic1 though not of a more efficacious character4 ,your sorrow is most to be feared when you have retired to your own home3 for as long as your divinity is before your eyes1 it can find no means of access to you1 but ,caesar will possess your entire being2 when you have left his presence1 grief1 as though it then had an opportunity of attack1 will lie in ambush for you in your loneliness1 and creep by degrees over your mind as it rests from its labours4 #cfb ,you ought not1 therefore1 to allow any moment to be unoccupied by literary pursuits3 at such times let literature repay to you the debt which your long and faithful love has laid upon it1 let it claim you for its high priest and worshipper3 at such times let ,homer#a and ,virgil be much in your company1 those poets to whom the human race owes as much as every one owes to you1 and they especially1 because you have made them known to a wider circle than that for which they wrote4 ,all time which you entrust to their keeping will be safe4 ,at such times1 as far as you are able1 compile an account of your ,caesar's acts1 that they may be read by all future ages in a panegyric written by one of his own household3 for he himself will afford you both the noblest subject and the noblest example for putting together and composing a history4 ,i dare not go so far as to advise you to write in your usual elegant style a version of ,aesop's fables1 a work which no ,roman intellect has hitherto attempted4 ,it is hard1 no doubt1 for a mind which has received so rude a shock to betake itself so quickly to these livelier pursuits3 but if it is able to pass from more serious studies to these lighter ones1 you must regard it as a proof that it has recovered its strength1 and is itself again4 ,in the former case1 although it may suffer and hang back1 still it will be led on by the serious nature of the subject under consideration to take an interest in it3 but1 unless it has thoroughly recovered1 it will not endure to treat of subjects which must be written of in a cheerful spirit4 ,you ought1 therefore1 first to exercise your mind upon grave studies1 and then to enliven it with gayer ones4 #cfc ,,ix4 ,it will also be a great solace to you if you often ask yourself3 8,am ,i grieving on my own account or on that of him who is gone8 if on my own1 ,i have no right to boast of my affectionate sensibility2 grief is only excusable as long as it is honourable2 but when it is only caused by personal interests1 it no longer springs from tenderness3 nothing can be less becoming to a good man than to make a calculation about his grief for his brother4 ,if ,i grieve on his account1 ,i must necessarily take one of the two following views3 if the dead retain no feeling whatever1 my brother has escaped from all the troubles of life1 has been restored to the place which he occupied before his birth1 and1 being free from every kind of ill1 can neither fear1 nor desire1 nor suffer3 what madness then for me never to cease grieving for one who will never grieve again8 ,if the dead have any feeling1 then my brother is now like one who has been let out of a prison in which he has long been confined1 who at last is free and his own master1 and who enjoys himself1 amuses himself with viewing the works of ,nature1 and looks down from above the earth upon all human things1 while he looks at things divine1 whose meaning he has long sought in vain1 from a much nearer standpoint4 ,why then am ,i wasting away with grief for one who is either in bliss or non-existent8 it would be envy to weep for one who is in bliss1 it would be madness to weep for one who has no existence whatever40 ,are you affected by the thought that he appears to have been deprived of great blessings just at the moment when they came crowding upon him8 after thinking how much he has lost1 call to mind how much more he has ceased to fear3 anger will never more wring his heart1 disease will not crush him1 suspicion will not disquiet him1 the gnawing pain of envy which we feel at the successes of others will not attend him1 terror will not make him wretched1 the fickleness of fortune who quickly transfers her favours from one man #cfd to another will not alarm him4 ,if you reckon it up properly1 he has been spared more than he has lost4 ,he will not enjoy wealth1 or your influence at ,court1 or his own3 he will not receive benefits1 and will not confer them3 do you imagine him to be unhappy1 because he has lost these things1 or happy because he does not miss them8 ,believe me1 he who does not need good fortune is happier than he on whom it attends3 all those good things which charm us by the attractive but unreal pleasures which they afford1 such as money1 high office1 influence1 and many other things which dazzle the stupid greed of mankind1 require hard labour to keep1 are regarded by others with bitter jealousy1 and are more of a menace than an advantage to those who are bedecked and encumbered by them4 ,they are slippery and uncertain2 one never can enjoy them in comfort2 for1 even setting aside anxiety about the future1 the present management of great prosperity is an uneasy task4 ,if we are to believe some profound seekers after truth1 life is all torment3 we are flung1 as it were1 into this deep and rough sea1 whose tides ebb and flow1 at one time raising us aloft by sudden accessions of fortune1 at another bringing down low by still greater losses1 and for ever tossing us about1 never letting us rest on firm ground4 ,we roll and plunge upon the waves1 and sometimes strike against one another1 sometimes are shipwrecked1 always are in terror4 ,for those who sail upon this stormy sea1 exposed as it is to every gale1 there is no harbour save death4 ,do not1 then1 grudge your brother his rest3 he has at last become free1 safe1 and immortal3 he leaves surviving him ,caesar and all his family1 yourself1 and his and your brothers4 ,he left ,fortune before she had ceased to regard him with favour1 while she stood still by him1 offering him gifts with a full hand4 ,he now ranges free and joyous through the boundless heavens2 he has left this poor and low-lying region1 and has soared #cfe upwards to that place1 whatever it may be1 which receives in its happy bosom the souls which have been set free from the chains of matter3 he now roams there at liberty1 and enjoys with the keenest delight all the blessings of ,nature4 ,you are mistaken6 your brother has not lost the light of day1 but has obtained a more enduring light3 whither he has gone1 we all alike must go3 why then do we weep for his fate8 ,he has not left us1 but has gone on before us4 ,believe me1 there is great happiness in a happy death4 ,we cannot be sure of anything even for one whole day3 since the truth is so dark and hard to come at1 who can tell whether death came to your brother out of malice or out of kindness8 ,x4 ,one who is as just in all things as you are1 must find comfort in the thought that no wrong has been done you by the loss of so noble a brother1 but that you have received a benefit by having been permitted for so long a time to enjoy his affection4 ,he who will not allow his benefactor to choose his own way of bestowing a gift upon him1 is unjust3 he who does not reckon what he receives as gain1 and yet reckons what he gives back again as loss1 is greedy3 he who says that he has been wronged1 because his pleasure has come to an end1 is ungrateful3 he who thinks that we gain nothing from good things beyond the present enjoyment of them1 is a fool1 because he finds no pleasure in past joys1 and does not regard those which are gone as his most certain possessions1 since he need not fear that they will come to an end4 ,a man limits his pleasures too narrowly if he believes that he enjoys those things only which he touches and sees1 if he counts the having enjoyed them for nothing3 for all pleasure quickly leaves us1 seeing that it flows away1 flits across our lives1 and is gone almost before it has come4 ,we ought1 therefore1 to make our mind travel back over past time1 to bring back whatever we once took pleasure in1 and frequently to ruminate over it #cff in our thoughts3 the remembrance of pleasures is truer and more trustworthy than their reality4 ,regard it1 then1 among your greatest blessings that you have had an excellent brother3 you need not think for how much longer you might have had him1 but for how long you did have him4 ,nature gave him to you1 as she gives others to other brothers1 not as an absolute property1 but as a loan3 afterwards when she thought proper she took him back again1 and followed her own rules of action1 instead of waiting until you had indulged your love to satiety4 ,if any one were to be indignant at having to repay a loan of money1 especially if he had been allowed to use it without having to pay any interest1 would he not be thought an unreasonable man8 ,nature gave your brother his life1 just as she gave you yours3 exercising her lawful rights1 she has chosen to ask one of you to repay her loan before the other3 she cannot be blamed for this1 for you knew the conditions on which you received it3 you must blame the greedy hopes of mortal men's minds1 which every now and then forget what ,nature is1 and never remember their own lot unless reminded of it4 ,rejoice1 then1 that you have had so good a brother1 and be grateful for having had the use and enjoyment of him1 though it was for a shorter time than you wished4 ,reflect that what you have had of him was most delightful1 that your having lost him is an accident common to mankind4 ,there is nothing more inconsistent than that a man should grieve that so good a brother was not long enough with him1 and should not rejoice that he nevertheless has been with him4 ,,xi4 8,but10 you say1 8he was taken away unexpectedly40 ,every man is deceived by his own willingness to believe what he wishes1 and he chooses to forget that those whom he loves are mortal3 yet ,nature gives us clear proofs that she will not suspend her laws in favour of any one3 the funeral processions of our friends and of strangers alike #cfg pass daily before our eyes1 yet we take no notice of them1 and when an event happens which our whole life warns us will some day happen1 we call it sudden4 ,this is not1 therefore1 the injustice of fate1 but the perversity and insatiable universal greediness of the human mind1 which is indignant at having to leave a place to which it was only admitted on sufferance4 ,how far more righteous was he who1 on hearing of the death of his son1 made a speech worthy of a great man1 saying3 8,when ,i begat him1 ,i knew that he would die some day40 ,indeed1 you need not be surprised at the son of such a man being able to die bravely4 ,he did not receive the tidings of his son's death as news3 for what is there new in a man's dying1 when his whole life is merely a journey towards death8 8,when ,i begat him1 ,i knew that he would die some day10 said he3 and then he added1 what showed even more wisdom and courage1 8,it was for this that ,i brought him up40 ,it is for this that we have all been brought up3 every one who is brought into life is intended to die4 ,let us enjoy what is given to us1 and give it back when it is asked for3 the ,fates lay their hands on some men at some times1 and on other men at other times1 but they will never pass any one by altogether4 ,our mind ought always to be on the alert1 and while it ought never to fear what is certain to happen1 it ought always to be ready for what may happen at any time4 ,why need ,i tell you of generals and the children of generals1 of men ennobled by many consulships and triumphs1 who have succumbed to pitiless fate8 whole kingdoms together with their kings1 whole nations with all their component tribes1 have all submitted to their doom4 ,all men1 nay1 all things look forward to an end of their days3 yet all do not come to the same end3 one man loses his life in the midst of his career1 another at the very beginning of it1 another seems hardly able to free himself from it when worn out with extreme old age1 and eager to #cfh be released3 we are all going to the same place1 but we all go thither at different times1 ,i know not whether it is more foolish not to know the law of mortality1 or more presumptuous to refuse to obey it4 ,come1 take into your hands the poems#b of whichever you please of those two authors upon whom your genius has expended so much labour1 whom you have so well paraphrased1 that although the structure of the verse be removed1 its charm nevertheless is preserved2 for you have transferred them from one language to another so well as to effect the most difficult matter of all1 that of making all the beauties of the original reappear in a foreign speech3 among their works you will find no volume which will not offer you numberless instances of the vicissitudes of human life1 of the uncertainty of events1 and of tears shed for various reasons4 ,read with what fire you have thundered out their swelling phrases3 you will feel ashamed of suddenly failing and falling short of the elevation of their magnificent language4 ,do not commit the fault of making every one1 who according to his ability admires your writings1 ask how so frail a mind can have formed such stable and well-connected ideas4 ,,xii4 ,turn yourself away from these thoughts which torment you1 and look rather at those numerous and powerful sources of consolation which you possess3 look at your excellent brothers1 look at your wife and your son4 ,it is to guarantee the safety of all these that ,fortune#c has struck you in this quarter3 you have many left in whom you can take comfort4 ,guard yourself from the shame of letting all men think that a single grief has more power with you than these many consolations4 ,you see all of them cast down into the same despondency as yourself1 and you know that they cannot help you1 nay1 that on the other hand they look to #cfi you to encourage them3 wherefore1 the less learning and the less intellect they possess1 the more vigorously you ought to withstand the evil which has fallen upon you all4 ,the very fact of one's grief being shared by many persons acts as a consolation1 because if it be distributed among such a number the share of it which falls upon you must be small4 ,i shall never cease to recall your thoughts to ,caesar4 ,while he governs the earth1 and shows how far better the empire may be maintained by kindnesses than by arms1 while he presides over the affairs of mankind1 there is no danger of your feeling that you have lost anything3 in this fact alone you will find ample help and ample consolation2 raise yourself up1 and fix your eyes upon ,caesar whenever tears rise to them2 they will become dry on beholding that greatest and most brilliant light2 his splendour will attract them and firmly attach them to himself1 so that they are able to see nothing else4 ,he whom you behold both by day and by night1 from whom your mind never deviates to meaner matters1 must occupy your thoughts and be your defence against ,fortune2 indeed1 so kind and gracious as he is towards all his followers that he has already1 ,i doubt not1 laid many healing balms upon this wound of yours1 and furnished you with many antidotes for your sorrow4 ,why1 even had he done nothing of the kind1 is not the mere sight and thought of ,caesar in itself your greatest consolation8 ,may the gods and goddesses long spare him to the earth3 may he rival the deeds of the ,emperor ,augustus1 and surpass him in length of days6 as long as he remains among mortals1 may he never be reminded that any of his house are mortal3 may he train up his son by long and faithful service to be the ruler of the ,roman people1 and see him share his father's power before he succeeds to it3 may the day on which his kindred shall claim him for heaven be far distant1 and may our grandchildren alone be alive to see it4 #cgj ,,xiii4 ,fortune1 refrain your hands from him1 and show your power over him only in doing him good3 allow him to heal the long sickness from which mankind has suffered2 to replace and restore whatever has been shattered by the frenzy of our late sovereign3 may this star1 which has shed its rays upon a world overthrown and cast into darkness1 ever shine brightly3 may he give peace to ,germany1 open ,britain to us1 and lead through the city triumphs1 both over the nations whom his fathers conquered1 and over new ones4 ,of these his clemency1 the first of his many virtues1 gives me hopes of being a spectator3 for he has not so utterly cast me down that he will never raise me up again2 nay1 he has not cast me down at all2 rather he has supported me when ,i was struck by evil fortune and was tottering1 and has gently used his godlike hand to break my headlong fall3 he pleaded with the ,senate on my behalf1 and not only gave me my life but even begged it for me4 ,he will see to my cause3 let him judge my cause to be such as he would desire2 let his justice pronounce it good or his clemency so regard it3 his kindness to me will be equal in either case1 whether he knows me to be innocent or chooses that ,i should be thought so4 ,meanwhile it is a great comfort to me for my own miseries to behold his pardons travelling throughout the world3 even from the corner in which ,i am confined his mercy has unearthed and restored to light many exiles who had been buried and forgotten here for long years1 and ,i have no fear that ,i alone shall be passed over by it4 ,he best knows the time at which he ought to show favour to each man3 ,i will use my utmost efforts to prevent his having to blush when he comes to me4 ,o how blessed is your clemency1 ,caesar1 which makes exiles live more peacefully during your reign than princes did in that of ,gaius6 ,we do not tremble or expect the fatal stroke every hour1 nor are we terrified whenever a ship comes in sight3 you have set bounds to the cruelty of ,fortune towards #cga us1 and have given us present peace and hopes of a happier future4 ,you may indeed be sure that those thunderbolts alone are just which are worshipped even by those who are struck by them4 ,,xiv4 ,thus this prince1 who is the universal consoler of all men1 has1 unless ,i am altogether mistaken1 already revived your spirit and applied more powerful remedies to so severe a wound than ,i can3 he has already strengthened you in every way3 his singularly retentive memory has already furnished you with all the examples which will produce tranquillity3 his practised eloquence has already displayed before you all the precepts of sages4 ,no one therefore could console you as well as he3 when he speaks his words have greater weight1 as though they were the utterances of an oracle3 his divine authority will crush all the strength of your grief4 ,think1 then1 that he speaks to you as follows3--8,fortune has not chosen you as the only man in the world to receive so severe a blow3 there is no house in all the earth1 and never has been one1 that has not something to mourn for3 ,i will pass over examples taken from the common herd1 which1 while they are of less importance1 are also endless in number1 and ,i will direct your attention to the ,calendar and the ,state ,chronicles4 ,do you see all these images which fill the hall of the ,caesars8 there is not one of these men who was not especially afflicted by domestic sorrows3 no one of those men who shine there as the ornament of the ages was not either tortured by grief for some of his family or most bitterly mourned for by those whom he left behind4 ,why need ,i remind you of ,scipio ,africanus1 who heard the news of his brother's death when he was himself in exile8 he who saved his brother from prison could not save him from his fate4 ,yet all men saw how impatient ,africanus's brotherly affection was even of equal law3 on the same day on which ,scipio ,africanus rescued his brother from the #cgb hands of the apparitor1 he1 although not holding any office1 protested against the action of the tribune of the people4 ,he mourned for his brother as magnanimously as he had defended him4 ,why need ,i remind you of ,scipio ,aemilianus1#d who almost at one and the same time beheld his father's triumph and the funeral of his two brothers8 yet1 although a stripling and hardly more than a boy1 he bore the sudden bereavement which befel his family at the very time of ,paulus's triumph with all the courage which beseemed one who was born that ,rome might not be without a ,scipio and that she might be without a ,carthage4 ,,xv4 ,why should ,i speak of the intimacy of the two ,luculli1 which was broken only by their death8 or of the ,pompeii8 whom the cruelty of ,fortune did not even allow to perish by the same catastrophe2 for ,sextus ,pompeius in the first place survived his sister1#e by whose death the firmly knit bond of peace in the ,roman empire was broken1 and he also survived his noble brother1 whom ,fortune had raised so high in order that she might cast him down from as great a height as she had already cast down his father2 yet after this great misfortune ,sextus ,pompeius was able not only to endure his grief but even to make war4 ,innumerable instances occur to me of brothers who were separated by death3 indeed on the other hand we see very few pairs of brothers growing old together3 however1 ,i shall content myself with examples from my own family4 ,no one can be so devoid of feeling or of reason as to complain of ,fortune's having thrown him into mourning when he learns that she has coveted the tears of the ,caesars themselves4 ,the ,emperor ,augustus lost his darling sister ,octavia1 and though ,nature destined him for heaven1 yet she did not relax her laws to spare him from mourning while on earth3 nay1 he suffered every kind of bereavement1 #cgc losing his sister's son1#f who was intended to be his heir4 ,in fine1 not to mention his sorrows in detail1 he lost his son-in-law1 his children1 and his grandchildren1 and1 while he remained among men1 no mortal was more often reminded that he was a man4 ,yet his mind1 which was able to bear all things1 bore all these heavy sorrows1 and the blessed ,augustus was the conqueror1 not only of foreign nations1 but also of his own sorrows4 ,gaius ,caesar1#g the grandson of the blessed ,augustus1 my maternal great uncle1 in the first years of manhood1 when ,prince of the ,roman ,youth1 as he was preparing for the ,parthian war1 lost his darling brother ,lucius#h who was also #8,prince of the ,roman ,youth1' and suffered more thereby in his mind than he did afterwards in his body1 though he bore both afflictions with the greatest piety and fortitude4 ,tiberius ,caesar1 my paternal uncle1 lost his younger brother ,drusus ,germanicus1#i my father1 when he was opening out the innermost fastnesses of ,germany1 and bringing the fiercest tribes under the dominion of the ,roman empire2 he embraced him and received his last kiss1 but he nevertheless restrained not only his own grief but that of others1 and when the whole army1 not merely sorrowful but heartbroken1 claimed the corpse of their ,drusus for themselves1 he made them grieve only as it became ,romans to grieve1 #cgd and taught them that they must observe military discipline not only in fighting but also in mourning4 ,he could not have checked the tears of others had he not first repressed his own4 ,,xvi4 8,marcus ,antonius1 my grandfather1 who was second to none save his conqueror1 received the news of his brother's execution at the very time when the state was at his disposal1 and when1 as a member of the triumvirate1 he saw no one in the world superior to himself in power1 nay1 when1 with the exception of his two colleagues1 every man was subordinate to himself4 ,o wanton ,fortune1 what sport you make for yourself out of human sorrows6 ,at the very time when ,marcus ,antonius was enthroned with power of life and death over his countrymen1 ,marcus ,antonius's brother was being led to his death3 yet ,antonius bore this cruel wound with the same greatness of mind with which he had endured all his other crosses2 and he mourned for his brother by offering the blood of twenty legions to his manes4 ,however1 to pass by all other instances1 not to speak of the other deaths which have occurred in my own house4 ,fortune has twice assailed me through the death of a brother2 she has twice learned that she could wound me but could not overthrow me4 ,i lost my brother ,germanicus1 whom ,i loved in a manner which any one will understand if he thinks how affectionate brothers love one another2 yet ,i so restrained my passion of grief as neither to leave undone anything which a good brother could be called upon to do1 nor yet to do anything which a sovereign could be blamed for doing40 ,think1 then1 that our common parent quotes these instances to you1 and that he points out to you how nothing is respected or held inviolable by ,fortune1 who actually dares to send out funeral processions from the very house in which she will have to look for gods3 so let no one be surprised at her committing any act of cruelty #cge or injustice2 for how could she show any humanity or moderation in her dealings with private families1 when her pitiless fury has so often hung the very throne#aj itself with black8 ,she will not change her habits even though reproached1 not by my voice alone1 but by that of the entire nation3 she will hold on her course in spite of all prayers and complaints4 ,such has ,fortune always been1 and such she ever will be in connexion with human affairs3 she has never shrunk from attacking anything1 and she will never let anything alone3 she will rage everywhere terribly1 as she has always been wont to do3 she will dare to enter for evil purposes into those houses whose entrance lies through the temples of the gods1 and will hang signs of mourning upon laurelled door-posts4 ,however1 if she has not yet determined to destroy the human race3 if she still looks with favour upon the ,roman nation1 may our public and private prayers prevail upon her to regard as sacred from her violence this prince1 whom all men think to be sacred1 who has been granted them by heaven to give them rest after their misfortunes3 let her learn clemency from him1 and let the mildest of all sovereigns teach her mildness4 ,,xvii4 ,you ought1 therefore1 to fix your eyes upon all the persons whom ,i have just mentioned1 who have either been deified or were nearly related to those who have been deified1 and when ,fortune lays her hands upon you to bear it calmly1 seeing that she does not even respect those by whose names we swear4 ,it is your duty to imitate their constancy in enduring and triumphing over suffering1 as far as it is permitted to a mere man to follow in the footsteps of the immortals4 ,albeit in all other matters rank and birth make great distinctions between men1 yet virtue is open to all2 she despises no one provided he thinks himself #cgf worthy to possess her4 ,surely you cannot do better than follow the example of those who1 though they might have been angry at not being exempt from this evil1 nevertheless have decided to regard this1 the only thing which brings them down to the level of other men1 not as a wrong done to themselves1 but as the law of our mortal nature1 and to bear what befals them without undue bitterness and wrath1 and yet in no base or cowardly spirit3 for it is not human not to feel our sorrows1 while it is unmanly not to bear them4 ,when ,i glance through the roll of all the ,caesars whom fate has bereaved of sisters or brothers1 ,i cannot pass over that one who is unworthy to figure on the list of ,caesars1 whom ,nature produced to be the ruin and the shame of the human race1 who utterly wrecked and destroyed the state which is now recovering under the gentle rule of the most benign of princes4 ,on losing his sister ,drusilla1 ,gaius ,caesar1 a man who could neither mourn nor rejoice as becomes a prince1 shrank from seeing and speaking to his countrymen1 was not present at his sister's funeral1 did not pay her the conventional tribute of respect1 but tried to forget the sorrows caused by this most distressing death by playing at dice in his ,alban villa1 and by sitting on the judgment-seat1 and the like customary engagements4 ,what a disgrace to the ,empire6 a ,roman emperor solaced himself by gambling for his grief at the loss of his sister6 ,this same ,gaius1 with frantic levity1 at one time let his beard and hair grow long1 at another wandered aimlessly along the coast of ,italy and ,sicily4 ,he never clearly made up his mind whether he wished his sister to be mourned for or to be worshipped1 and during all the time that he was raising temples and shrines#aa in her honour he punished those who did not manifest sufficient #cgg sorrow with the most cruel tortures3#ab for his mind was so ill-balanced1 that he was as much cast down by adversity as he was unbecomingly elated and puffed up by success4 ,far be it from every ,roman to follow such an example1 either to divert his mind from his grief by unreasonable amusements1 to stimulate it by unseemly squalor and neglect1 or to be so inhuman as to console himself by taking pleasure in the sufferings of others4 ,,xviii4 ,you1 however1 need change none of your ordinary habits1 since you have taught yourself to love those studies which1 while they are pre-eminently fitted for perfecting our happiness1 at the same time teach us how we may bear misfortune most lightly1 and which are at the same time a man's greatest honour and greatest comfort4 ,now1 therefore1 immerse yourself even more deeply in your studies1 now surround your mind with them like fortifications1 so that grief may not find any place at which it can gain entrance4 ,at the same time1 prolong the remembrance of your brother by inserting some memoir of him among your other writings3 for that is the only sort of monument that can be erected by man which no storm can injure1 no time destroy4 ,the others1 which consist of piles of stone1 masses of marble1 or huge mounds of earth heaped on high1 cannot preserve his memory for long1 because they themselves perish2 but the memorials which genius raises are everlasting4 ,lavish these upon your brother1 embalm him in these3 you will do better to immortalise him by an everlasting work of genius than to mourn over him with useless grief4 ,as for ,fortune herself1 although ,i cannot just now #cgh plead her cause before you1 because all that she has given us is now hateful to you1 because she has taken something away from you1 yet ,i will plead her cause as soon as time shall have rendered you a more impartial judge of her action3 indeed she has bestowed much upon you to make amends for the injury which she has done you1 and she will give more hereafter by way of atonement for it3 and1 after all1 it was she herself who gave you this brother whom she has taken away4 ,forbear1 then1 to display your abilities against your own self1 or to take part with your grief against yourself3 your eloquence1 can1 no doubt1 make trifles appear great1 and1 conversely1 can disparage and depreciate great things until they seem the merest trifles2 but let it reserve those powers and use them on some other subject1 and at the present time devote its entire strength to the task of consoling you4 ,yet see whether even this task be not unnecessary4 ,nature demands from us a certain amount of grief1 our imagination adds some more to it2 but ,i will never forbid you to mourn at all4 ,i know1 indeed1 that there are some men1 whose wisdom is of a harsh rather than a brave character1 who say that the wise man never would mourn4 ,it seems to me that they never can have been in the position of mourners1 for otherwise their misfortune would have shaken all their haughty philosophy out of them1 and1 however much against their will1 would have forced them to confess their sorrow4 ,reason will have done enough if she does but cut off from our grief all that is superfluous and useless3 as for her not allowing us to grieve at all1 that we ought neither to expect nor to wish for4 ,let her rather restrain us within the bounds of a chastened grief1 which partakes neither of indifference nor of madness1 and let her keep our minds in that attitude which becomes affection without excitement3 let your tears flow1 but let them some day cease to flow3 groan as deeply as you will1 but let your #cgi groans cease some day3 regulate your conduct so that both philosophers and brothers may approve of it4 ,make yourself feel pleasure in often thinking about your brother1 talk constantly about him1 and keep him ever present in your memory2 which you cannot succeed in doing unless you make the remembrance of him pleasant rather than sad3 for it is but natural that the mind should shrink from a subject which it cannot contemplate without sadness4 ,think of his retiring disposition1 of his abilities for business1 his diligence in carrying it out1 his loyalty to his word4 ,tell other men of all his sayings and doings1 and remind your own self of them3 think how good he was and how great you hoped he might become3 for what success is there which you might not safely have wagered that such a brother would win8 ,i have thrown together these reflexions in the best way that ,i could1 for my mind is dimmed and stupefied with the tedium of my long exile3 if1 therefore1 you should find them unworthy of the consideration of a person of your intelligence1 or unable to console you in your grief1 remember how impossible it is for one who is full of his own sorrows to find time to minister to those of others1 and how hard it is to express oneself in the ,latin language1 when all around one hears nothing but a rude foreign jargon1 which even barbarians of the more civilised sort regard with disgust4 #a 8,the ,latins had four versions of ,homer 7,fabric1 tom4 i4 #a4 ii4 ch4 #c1 p4 #big71 yet1 in spite of the phraises of ,seneca1 ,consol1 ch4 #bf 7viii471 they appear to have been more successful in imitating than in translating the ,greek poets40--,gibbon's 8,decline and ,fall10 ch4 #da1 ad init41 note4 ,polybius had made a prose translation of ,homer1 and a prose paraphrase of ,virgil4 #b ,see note ante1 ch4 viii4 #c 8,fortune hath parted stakes with thee1 in taking away thy brother1 and leaving thee all the rest in securitie and safetie40--,lodge4 #d ,see 8,on ,benefits10 v4 #af4 #e ,scipio ,africanus minor1 the son of ,paulus ,aemilius4 #f ,marcellus4 ,see 8,virgil's well-known lines1 ,aen4 ,,vi41 #hfi1 sqq41 and 8,consolatio ad ,marciam10 #b4 #g ,g4 ,caesar1 d4 at ,limyra1 a4d4 #d4 #h ,lucius ,caesar1 d4 at ,marseilles1 ,a4,d4 #b4 #i ,drusus died by a fall from his horse1 ,b4,c4 #i4 8,a monument was erected in his honour at ,moguntiacum 7,mayence71 and games and military spectacles were exhibited there on the anniversary of his death4 ,an altar had already been raised in his honour on the banks of the ,lippe40 ,tac4 ,ann4 ii4 #g4 8,the soldiers began now to regard themselves as a distinct people1 with rites and heroes of their own4 ,augustus required them to surrender the body of their beloved chief as a matter of discipline40 ,merivale1 ch4 #cf4 #aj ,pulvinaria4 ,see note1 ch4 xvii4 #aa ,pulvinaria4 ,this word properly means 8a couch made of cushions1 and spread over with a splendid covering1 for the gods or persons who received divine honours40 #ab ,merivale1 following ,suetonius and ,dion ,cassius1 says3 8,he declared that if any man dared to mourn for his sister's death1 he should be punished1 for she had become a goddess3 if any one ventured to rejoice at her deification1 he should be punished also1 for she was dead40 ,the passage in the text1 he remarks1 gives a less extravagant turn to the story4 #chj ,,the ,,first ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogue ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,nero ,,caesar4 ,,on ,,clemency4 ,i4 ,i have determined to write a book upon clemency1 ,nero ,caesar1 in order that ,i may as it were serve as a mirror to you1 and let you see yourself arriving at the greatest of all pleasures4 ,for although the true enjoyment of good deeds consists in the performance of them1 and virtues have no adequate reward beyond themselves1 still it is worth your while to consider and investigate a good conscience from every point of view1 and afterwards to cast your eyes upon this enormous mass of mankind-- quarrelsome1 factious1 and passionate as they are2 likely1 if they could throw off the yoke of your government1 to take pleasure alike in the ruin of themselves and of one another --and thus to commune with yourself3--8,have ,i of all mankind been chosen and thought fit to perform the office of a god upon earth8 ,i am the arbiter of life and death to mankind3 it rests with me to decide what lot and position in life each man possesses3 fortune makes use of my mouth to announce what she bestows on each man3 cities and nations are moved to joy by my words3 no region #cha anywhere can flourish without my favour and good will3 all these thousands of swords now restrained by my authority1 would be drawn at a sign from me3 it rests with me to decide which tribes shall be utterly exterminated1 which shall be moved into other lands1 which shall receive and which shall be deprived of liberty1 what kings shall be reduced to slavery and whose heads shall be crowned1 what cities shall be destroyed and what new ones shall be founded4 ,in this position of enormous power ,i am not tempted to punish men unjustly by anger1 by youthful impulse1 by the recklessness and insolence of men1 which often overcomes the patience even of the best regulated minds1 not even that terrible vanity1 so common among great sovereigns1 of displaying my power by inspiring terror4 ,my sword is sheathed1 nay1 fixed in its sheath3 ,i am sparing of the blood even of the lowest of my subjects3 a man who has nothing else to recommend him1 will nevertheless find favour in my eyes because he is a man4 ,i keep harshness concealed1 but ,i have clemency always at hand3 ,i watch myself as carefully as though ,i had to give an account of my actions to those laws which ,i have brought out of darkness and neglect into the light of day4 ,i have been moved to compassion by the youth of one culprit1 and the age of another3 ,i have spared one man because of his great place1 another on account of his insignificance3 when ,i could find no reason for showing mercy1 ,i have had mercy upon myself4 ,i am prepared this day1 should the gods demand it1 to render to them an account of the human race40 ,you1 ,caesar1 can boldly say that everything which has come into your charge has been kept safe1 and that the state has neither openly nor secretly suffered any loss at your hands4 ,you have coveted a glory which is most rare1 and which has been obtained by no emperor before you1 that of innocence4 ,your remarkable goodness is not thrown away1 nor is it ungratefully or spitefully undervalued4 ,men feel #chb gratitude towards you3 no one person ever was so dear to another as you are to the people of ,rome1 whose great and enduring benefit you are4 ,you have1 however1 taken upon yourself a mighty burden3 no one any longer speaks of the good times of the late ,emperor ,augustus1 or the first years of the reign of ,tiberius1 or proposes for your imitation any model outside yourself3 yours is a pattern reign4 ,this would have been difficult had your goodness of heart not been innate1 but merely adopted for a time2 for no one can wear a mask for long1 and fictitious qualities soon give place to true ones4 ,those which are founded upon truth1 and which1 so to speak1 grow out of a solid basis1 only become greater and better as time goes on4 ,the ,roman people were in a state of great hazard as long as it was uncertain how your generous#a disposition would turn out2 now1 however1 the prayers of the community are sure of an answer1 for there is no fear that you should suddenly forget your own character4 ,indeed1 excess of happiness makes men greedy1 and our desires are never so moderate as to be bounded by what they have obtained3 great successes become the stepping-stones to greater ones1 and those who have obtained more than they hoped1 entertain even more extravagant hopes than before2 yet by all your countrymen we hear it admitted that they are now happy1 and moreover1 that nothing can be added to the blessings that they enjoy1 except that they should be eternal4 ,many circumstances force this admission from them1 although it is the one which men are least willing to make3 we enjoy a profound and prosperous peace1 the power of the law has been openly asserted in the sight of all men1 and raised beyond the reach of any violent interference3 the form of our government is so happy1 as to contain all the essentials of liberty except the power of destroying itself4 ,it is #chc nevertheless your clemency which is most especially admired by the high and low alike3 every man enjoys or hopes to enjoy the other blessings of your rule according to the measure of his own personal good fortune1 whereas from your clemency all hope alike3 no one has so much confidence in his own innocence1 as not to feel glad that in your presence stands a clemency which is ready to make allowance for human errors4 ,,ii4 ,i know1 however1 that there are some who imagine that clemency only saves the life of every villain1 because clemency is useless except after conviction1 and alone of all the virtues has no function among the innocent4 ,but in the first place1 although a physician is only useful to the sick1 yet he is held in honour among the healthy also2 and so clemency1 though she be invoked by those who deserve punishment1 is respected by innocent people as well4 ,next1 she can exist also in the person of the innocent1 because sometimes misfortune takes the place of crime2 indeed1 clemency not only succours the innocent1 but often the virtuous1 since in the course of time it happens that men are punished for actions which deserve praise4 ,besides this1 there is a large part of mankind which might return to virtue if the hope of pardon were not denied them4 ,yet it is not right to pardon indiscriminately2 for when no distinction is made between good and bad men1 disorder follows1 and all vices break forth2 we must therefore take care to distinguish those characters which admit of reform from those which are hopelessly depraved4 ,neither ought we to show an indiscriminate and general1 nor yet an exclusive clemency2 for to pardon every one is as great cruelty as to pardon none2 we must take a middle course2 but as it is difficult to find the true mean1 let us be careful1 if we depart from it1 to do so upon the side of humanity4 ,,iii4 ,but these matters will be treated of better in their own place4 ,i will now divide this whole subject into #chd three parts4 ,the first will be of gentleness of temper3#b the second will be that which explains the nature and disposition of clemency2 for since there are certain vices which have the semblance of virtue1 they cannot be separated unless you stamp upon them the marks which distinguish them from one another3 in the third place we shall inquire how the mind may be led to practise this virtue1 how it may strengthen it1 and by habit make it its own4 ,that clemency1 which is the most humane of virtues1 is that which best befits a man1 is necessarily an axiom1 not only among our own sect1 which regards man as a social animal1 born for the good of the whole community1 but even among those philosophers who give him up entirely to pleasure1 and whose words and actions have no other aim than their own personal advantage4 ,if man1 as they argue1 seeks for quiet and repose1 what virtue is there which is more agreeable to his nature than clemency1 which loves peace and restrains him from violence8 ,now clemency becomes no one more than a king or a prince2 for great power is glorious and admirable only when it is beneficent2 since to be powerful only for mischief is the power of a pestilence4 ,that man's greatness alone rests upon a secure foundation1 whom all men know to be as much on their side as he is above them1 of whose watchful care for the safety of each and all of them they receive daily proofs1 at whose approach they do not fly in terror1 as though some evil and dangerous animal had sprung out from its den1 but flock to him as they would to the bright and health-giving sunshine4 ,they are perfectly ready to fling themselves upon the swords of conspirators in his defence1 to offer their bodies if his only path to safety must be formed of corpses3 they protect his sleep by nightly watches1 they #che surround him and defend him on every side1 and expose themselves to the dangers which menace him4 ,it is not without good reason that nations and cities thus agree in sacrificing their lives and property for the defence and the love of their king whenever their leader's safety demands it2 men do not hold themselves cheap1 nor are they insane when so many thousands are put to the sword for the sake of one man1 and when by so many deaths they save the life of one man alone1 who not unfrequently is old and feeble4 ,just as the entire body is commanded by the mind1 and although the body be so much larger and more beautiful while the mind is impalpable and hidden1 and we are not certain as to where it is concealed1 yet the hands1 feet1 and eyes work for it1 the skin protects it2 at its bidding we either lie still or move restlessly about2 when it gives the word1 if it be an avaricious master1 we scour the sea in search of gain1 or if it be ambitious we straightway place our right hand in the flames like ,mucius1 or leap into the pit like ,curtius1 so likewise this enormous multitude which surrounds one man is directed by his will1 is guided by his intellect1 and would break and hurl itself into ruin by its own strength1 if it were not upheld by his wisdom4 ,,iv4 ,men therefore love their own safety1 when they draw up vast legions in battle on behalf of one man1 when they rush to the front1 and expose their breasts to wounds1 for fear that their leader's standards should be driven back4 ,he is the bond which fastens the commonwealth together1 he is the breath of life to all those thousands1 who by themselves would become merely an encumbrance and a source of plunder if that directing mind were withdrawn3-- ,bees have but one mind1 till their king doth die1 ,but when he dies1 disorderly they fly4 ,such a misfortune will be the end of the peace of ,rome1 it will wreck the prosperity of this great people2 the nation #chf will be free from this danger as long as it knows how to endure the reins3 should it ever break them1 or refuse to have them replaced if they were to fall off by accident1 then this mighty whole1 this complex fabric of government will fly asunder into many fragments1 and the last day of ,rome's empire will be that upon which it forgets how to obey4 ,for this reason we need not wonder that princes1 kings1 and all other protectors of a state1 whatever their titles may be1 should be loved beyond the circle of their immediate relatives2 for since right-thinking men prefer the interests of the state to their own1 it follows that he who bears the burden of state affairs must be dearer to them than their own friends4 ,indeed1 the emperor long ago identified himself so thoroughly with the state1 that neither of them could be separated without injury to both1 because the one requires power1 while the other requires a head4 ,v4 ,my argument seems to have wandered somewhat far from the subject1 but1 by ,hercules1 it really is very much to the point4 ,for if1 as we may infer from what has been said1 you are the soul of the state1 and the state is your body1 you will perceive1 ,i imagine1 how necessary clemency is2 for when you appear to spare another1 you are really sparing yourself4 ,you ought therefore to spare even blameworthy citizens1 just as you spare weakly limbs2 and when blood-letting becomes necessary1 you must hold your hand1 lest you should cut deeper than you need4 ,clemency therefore1 as ,i said before1 naturally befits all mankind1 but more especially rulers1 because in their case there is more for it to save1 and it is displayed upon a greater scale4 ,cruelty in a private man can do but very little harm2 but the ferocity of princes is war4 ,although there is a harmony between all the virtues1 and no one is better or more honourable than another1 yet some virtues befit some persons better than #chg others4 ,magnanimity befits all mortal men1 even the humblest of all2 for what can be greater or braver than to resist ill fortune8 ,yet this virtue of magnanimity occupies a wider room in prosperity1 and shows to greater advantage on the judgment seat than on the floor of the court4 ,on the other hand1 clemency renders every house into which it is admitted happy and peaceful2 but though it is more rare1 it is on that account even more admirable in a palace4 ,what can be more remarkable than that he whose anger might be indulged without fear of the consequences1 whose decision1 even though a harsh one1 would be approved even by those who were to suffer by it1 whom no one can interrupt1 and of whom indeed1 should he become violently enraged1 no one would dare to beg for mercy1 should apply a check to himself and use his power in a better and calmer spirit1 reflecting3 8,any one may break the law to kill a man1 no one but ,i can break it to save him08 ,a great position requires a great mind1 for unless the mind raises itself to and even above the level of its station1 it will degrade its station and draw it down to the earth2 now it is the property of a great mind to be calm and tranquil and to look down upon outrages and insults with contempt4 ,it is a womanish thing to rage with passion2 it is the part of wild beasts1 and that1 too1 not of the most noble ones1 to bite and worry the fallen4 ,elephants and lions pass by those whom they have struck down2 inveteracy is the quality of ignoble animals4 ,fierce and implacable rage does not befit a king1 because he does not preserve his superiority over the man to whose level he descends by indulging in rage2 but if he grants their lives and honours to those who are in jeopardy and who deserve to lose them1 he does what can only be done by an absolute ruler2 for life may be torn away even from those who are above us in station1 but can never be granted save to those who are below us4 ,to save men's lives #chh is the privilege of the loftiest station1 which never deserves admiration so much as when it is able to act like the gods1 by whose kindness good and bad men alike are brought into the world4 ,thus a prince1 imitating the mind of a god1 ought to look with pleasure on some of his countrymen because they are useful and good men1 while he ought to allow others to remain to fill up the roll2 he ought to be pleased with the existence of the former1 and to endure that of the latter4 ,,vi4 ,look at this city of ,rome1 in which the widest streets become choked whenever anything stops the crowds which unceasingly pour through them like raging torrents1 in which the people streaming to three theatres demand the roads at the same time1 in which the produce of the entire world is consumed1 and reflect what a desolate waste it would become if only those were left in it whom a strict judge would acquit4 ,how few magistrates are there who ought not to be condemned by the very same laws which they administer8 ,how few prosecutors are themselves faultless8 ,i imagine1 also1 that few men are less willing to grant pardon1 than those who have often had to beg it for themselves4 ,we have all of us sinned1 some more deeply than others1 some of set purpose1 some either by chance impulse or led away by the wickedness of others2 some of us have not stood bravely enough by our good resolutions1 and have lost our innocence1 although unwillingly and after a struggle2 nor have we only sinned1 but to the very end of our lives we shall continue to sin4 ,even if there be any one who has so thoroughly cleansed his mind that nothing can hereafter throw him into disorder or deceive him1 yet even he has reached this state of innocence through sin4 ,,vii4 ,since ,i have made mention of the gods1 ,i shall state the best model on which a prince may mould his life to be1 that he deal with his countrymen as he would that #chi the gods may deal with himself4 ,is it then desirable that the gods should show no mercy upon sins and mistakes1 and that they should harshly pursue us to our ruin8 ,in that case what king will be safe8 ,whose limbs will not be torn asunder and collected by the soothsayers8 ,if1 on the other hand1 the gods are placable and kind1 and do not at once avenge the crimes of the powerful with thunderbolts1 is it not far more just that a man set in authority over other men should exercise his power in a spirit of clemency and should consider whether the condition of the world is more beauteous and pleasant to the eyes on a fine calm day1 or when everything is shaken with frequent thunder-claps and when lightning flashes on all sides6 ,yet the appearance of a peaceful and constitutional reign is the same as that of the calm and brilliant sky4 ,a cruel reign is disordered and hidden in darkness1 and while all shake with terror at the sudden explosions1 not even he who caused all this disturbance escapes unharmed4 ,it is easier to find excuses for private men who obstinately claim their rights2 possibly they may have been injured1 and their rage may spring from their wrongs2 besides this1 they fear to be despised1 and not to return the injuries which they have received looks like weakness rather than clemency2 but one who can easily avenge himself1 if he neglects to do so1 is certain to gain praise for goodness of heart4 ,those who are born in a humble station may with greater freedom exercise violence1 go to law1 engage in quarrels1 and indulge their angry passions2 even blows count for little between two equals2 but in the case of a king1 even loud clamour and unmeasured talk are unbecoming4 ,,viii4 ,you think it a serious matter to take away from kings the right of free speech which the humblest enjoy4 8,this10 you say1 8is to be a subject1 not a king40 ,what1 do you not find that we have the command1 you the subjection8 #cij ,your position is quite different to that of those who lie hid in the crowd which they never leave1 whose very virtues cannot be manifested without a long struggle1 and whose vices are shrouded in obscurity2 rumour catches up your acts and sayings1 and therefore no persons ought to be more careful of their reputation than those who are certain to have a great one1 whatsoever one they may have deserved4 ,how many things there are that you may not do which1 thanks to you1 we may do6 ,i am able to walk alone without fear in any part of ,rome whatever1 although no companion accompanies me1 though there is no guard at my house no sword by my side4 ,you must live armed in the peace which you maintain4#c ,you cannot stray away from your position2 it besets you1 and follows you with mighty pomp wherever you go4 ,this slavery of not being able to sink one's rank belongs to the highest position of all2 yet it is a burden which you share with the gods4 ,they too are held fast in heaven1 and it is no more possible for them to come down than it is safe#d for you2 you are chained to your lofty pinnacle4 ,of our movements few persons are aware2 we can go forth and return home and change our dress without its being publicly known2 but you are no more able to hide yourself than the sun4 ,a strong light is all around you1 the eyes of all are turned towards it4 ,do you think you are leaving your house8 nay1 you are dawning upon the world4 ,you cannot speak without all nations everywhere hearing your voice2 you cannot be angry1 without making everything tremble1 because you can strike no one without shaking all around him4 ,just as thunderbolts when they fall endanger few men but terrify all1 so the chastisement inflicted by great potentates terrify more widely than they injure1 and that for good reasons2 for in the case of one whose power is absolute1 men do not think of what he has done1 so much as of what he may do4 ,add to this that #cia private men endure wrongs more tamely1 because they have already endured others2 the safety of kings on the other hand is more surely founded on kindness1 because frequent punishment may crush the hatred of a few1 but excites that of all4 ,a king ought to wish to pardon while he has still grounds for being severe2 if he acts otherwise1 just as lopped trees sprout forth again with numberless boughs1 and many kinds of crops are cut down in order that they may grow more thickly1 so a cruel king increases the number of his enemies by destroying them2 for the parents and children of those who are put to death1 and their relatives and friends1 step into the place of each victim4 ,,ix4 ,i wish to prove the truth of this by an example drawn from your own family4 ,the late ,emperor ,augustus was a mild prince1 if in estimating his character one reckons from the era of his reign2 yet he appealed to arms while the state was shared among the triumvirate4 ,when he was just of your age1 at the end of his twenty-second year1 he had already hidden daggers under the clothes of his friends1 he had already conspired to assassinate ,marcus ,antonius1 the consul1 he had already taken part in the proscription4 ,but when he had passed his sixtieth#e year1 and was staying in #cib ,gaul1 intelligence was brought to him that ,lucius ,cinna1 a dull man1 was plotting against him3 the plot was betrayed by one of the conspirators1 who told him where1 when1 and in what manner ,cinna meant to attack him4 ,augustus determined to consult his own safety against this man1 and ordered a council of his own friends to be summoned4 ,he passed a disturbed night1 reflecting that he would be obliged to condemn to death a youth of noble birth1 who was guilty of no crime save this one1 and who was the grandson of ,gnaeus ,pompeius4 ,he1 who had sat at dinner and heard ,m4 ,antonius#f read aloud his edict for the proscription1 could not now bear to put one single man to death4 ,with groans he kept at intervals making various inconsistent exclamations3--8,what6 shall ,i allow my assassin to walk about at his ease while ,i am racked by fears8 ,shall the man not be punished who has plotted not merely to slay but actually to sacrifice at the altar0 7for the conspirators intended to attack him when he was sacrificing71 8now when there is peace by land and sea1 that life which so many civil wars have sought in vain1 which has passed unharmed through so many battles of fleets and armies80 ,then1 after an interval of silence1 he would say to himself in a far louder1 angrier tone than he had used to ,cinna1 8,why do you live1 if it be to so many men's advantage that you should die8 ,is there no end to these executions8 to this bloodshed8 ,i am a figure set up for nobly-born youths to sharpen their swords on4 ,is life worth having1 if so many must perish to prevent my losing it80 ,at last his wife ,livia interrupted him1 saying3 8,will you take a woman's #cic advice8 ,do as the physicians do1 who1 when the usual remedies fail1 try their opposites4 ,hitherto you have gained nothing by harsh measures3 ,salvidienus has been followed by ,lepidus1 ,lepidus by ,muraena1 ,muraena by ,caepio1 and ,caepio by ,egnatius1 not to mention others of whom one feels ashamed of their having dared to attempt so great a deed4 ,now try what effect clemency will have3 pardon ,lucius ,cinna4 ,he has been detected1 he cannot now do you any harm1 and he can do your reputation much good40 ,delighted at finding some one to support his own view of the case1 he thanked his wife1 straightway ordered his friends1 whose counsel he had asked for1 to be told that he did not require their advice1 and summoned ,cinna alone4 ,after ordering a second seat to be placed for ,cinna1 he sent every one else out of the room1 and said3--8,the first request which ,i have to make of you is1 that you will not interrupt me while ,i am speaking to you3 that you will not cry out in the middle of my address to you3 you shall be allowed time to speak freely in answer to me4 ,cinna1 when ,i found you in the enemy's camp1 you who had not become but were actually born my enemy1 ,i saved your life1 and restored to you the whole of your father's estate4 ,you are now so prosperous and so rich1 that many of the victorious party envy you1 the vanquished one3 when you were a candidate for the priesthood ,i passed over many others whose parents had served with me in the wars1 and gave it to you3 and now1 after ,i have deserved so well of you1 you have made up your mind to kill me40 ,when at this word the man exclaimed that he was far from being so insane1 ,augustus replied1 8,you do not keep your promise1 ,cinna2 it was agreed upon between us that you should not interrupt me4 ,i repeat1 you are preparing to kill me40 ,he then proceeded to tell him of the place1 the names of his accomplices1 the day1 the way in which they had arranged to do the deed1 and which of them was to give the fatal stab4 #cid ,when he saw ,cinna's eyes fixed upon the ground1 and that he was silent1 no longer because of the agreement1 but from consciousness of his guilt1 he said1 8,what is your intention in doing this8 is it that you yourself may be emperor8 ,the ,roman people must indeed be in a bad way if nothing but my life prevents your ruling over them4 ,you cannot even maintain the dignity of your own house3 you have recently been defeated in a legal encounter by the superior influence of a freedman3 and so you can find no easier task than to call your friends to rally round you against ,caesar4 ,come1 now1 if you think that ,i alone stand in the way of your ambition2 will ,paulus and ,fabius ,maximus1 will the ,cossi and the ,servilii and all that band of nobles1 whose names are no empty pretence1 but whose ancestry really renders them illustrious--will they endure that you should rule over them80 ,not to fill up the greater part of this book by repeating the whole of his speech--for he is known to have spoken for more than two hours1 lengthening out this punishment1 which was the only one which he intended to inflict--he said at last3 8,cinna1 ,i grant you your life for the second time3 when ,i gave it you before you were an open enemy1 you are now a secret plotter and parricide4#g ,from this day forth let us be friends3 let us try which of us is the more sincere1 ,i in giving you your life1 or you in owing your life to me40 ,after this he of his own accord bestowed the consulship upon him1 complaining of his not venturing to offer himself as a candidate for that office1 and found him ever afterwards his most grateful and loyal adherent4 ,cinna made the emperor his sole heir1 and no one ever again formed any plot against him4 ,x4 ,your great-great-grandfather spared the vanquished3 for whom could he have ruled over1 had he not spared them8 ,he recruited ,sallustius1 the ,cocoeii1 the ,deillii1 and the whole #cie inner circle of his court from the camp of his opponents4 ,soon afterwards his clemency gave him a ,domitius1 a ,messala1 an ,asinius1 a ,cicero1 and all the flower of the state4 ,for what a long time he waited for ,lepidus to die3 for years he allowed him to retain all the insignia of royalty1 and did not allow the office of pontifex maximus to be conferred upon himself until after ,lepidus's death2 for he wished it to be called a honourable office rather than a spoil stripped from a vanquished foe4 ,it was this clemency which made him end his days in safety and security3 this it was which rendered him popular and beloved1 although he had laid his hands on the neck of the ,romans when they were still unused to bearing the yoke3 this gives him even at the present day a reputation such as hardly any prince has enjoyed during his own lifetime4 ,we believe him to be a god1 and not merely because we are bidden to do so4 ,we declare that ,augustus was a good emperor1 and that he was well worthy to bear his parent's name1 for no other reason than because he did not even show cruelty in avenging personal insults1 which most princes feel more keenly than actual injuries2 because he smiled at scandalous jests against himself1 because it was evident that he himself suffered when he punished others1 because he was so far from putting to death even those whom he had convicted of intriguing with his daughter1 that when they were banished he gave them passports to enable them to travel more safely4 ,when you know that there will be many who will take your quarrel upon themselves1 and will try to gain your favour by the murder of your enemies1 you do indeed pardon them if you not only grant them their lives but ensure that they shall not lose them4 ,,xi4 ,such was ,augustus when an old man1 or when growing old3 in his youth he was hasty and passionate1 and did many things upon which he looked back with regret4 ,no one will venture to compare the rule of the #cif blessed ,augustus to the mildness of your own1 even if your youth be compared with his more than ripe old age3 he was gentle and placable1 but it was after he had dyed the sea at ,actium with ,roman blood2 after he had wrecked both the enemy's fleet and his own at ,sicily2 after the holocaust of ,perusia and the proscriptions4 ,but ,i do not call it clemency to be wearied of cruelty2 true clemency1 ,caesar1 is that which you display1 which has not begun from remorse at its past ferocity1 on which there is no stain1 which has never shed the blood of your countrymen3 this1 when combined with unlimited power1 shows the truest self-control and all-embracing love of the human race as of one's self1 not corrupted by any low desires1 any extravagant ideas1 or any of the bad examples of former emperors into trying1 by actual experiment1 how great a tyranny you would be allowed to exercise over his countrymen1 but inclining rather to blunting your sword of empire4 ,you1 ,caesar1 have granted us the boon of keeping our state free from bloodshed1 and that of which you boast1 that you have not caused one single drop of blood to flow in any part of the world1 is all the more magnanimous and marvellous because no one ever had the power of the sword placed in his hands at an earlier age4 ,clemency1 then1 makes princes safer as well as more respected1 and is a glory to empires besides being their most trustworthy means of preservation4 ,why have legitimate sovereigns grown old on the throne1 and bequeathed their power to their children and grandchildren1 while the sway of despotic usurpers is both hateful and shortlived l8 ,what is the difference between the tyrant and the king--for their outward symbols of authority and their powers are the same--except it be that tyrants take delight in cruelty1 whereas kings are only cruel for good reasons and because they cannot help it4#h #cig ,,xii4 8,what1 then10 say you1 8do not kings also put men to death80 ,they do1 but only when that measure is recommended by the public advantage3 tyrants enjoy cruelty4 ,a tyrant differs from a king in deeds1 not in title3 for the elder ,dionysius deserves to be preferred before many kings1 and what can prevent our styling ,lucius ,sulla a tyrant1 since he only left off slaying because he had no more enemies to slay8 ,although he laid down his dictatorship and resumed the garb of a private citizen1 yet what tyrant ever drank human blood as greedily as he1 who ordered seven thousand ,roman citizens to be butchered1 and who1 on hearing the shrieks of so many thousands being put to the sword as he sat in the temple of ,bellona1 said to the terror-stricken ,senate1 8,let us attend to our business1 ,conscript ,fathers2 it is only a few disturbers of the public peace who are being put to death by my orders40 ,in saying this he did not lie3 they really seemed few to ,sulla4 ,but we shall speak of ,sulla presently1 when we consider how we ought to feel anger against our enemies1 at any rate when our own countrymen1 members of the same community as ourselves1 have been torn away from it and assumed the name of enemies3 in the meanwhile1 as ,i was saying1 clemency is what makes the great distinction between kings and tyrants4 ,though each of them may be equally fenced around by armed soldiers1 nevertheless the one uses his troops to safeguard the peace of his kingdom1 the other uses them to quell great hatred by great terror3 and yet he does not look with any confidence upon those to whose hands he entrusts himself4 ,he is driven in opposite directions by conflicting passions3 for since he is hated because he is feared1 he wishes to be feared because he is #cih hated3 and he acts up to the spirit of that odious verse1 which has cast so many headlong from their thrones-- 8,why1 let them hate me1 if they fear me too60-- not knowing how frantic men become when their hatred becomes excessive3 for a moderate amount of fear restrains men1 but a constant and keen apprehension of the worst tortures rouses up even the most grovelling spirits to deeds of reckless courage1 and causes them to hesitate at nothing4 ,just so a string stuck full of feathers#i will prevent wild beasts escaping3 but should a horseman begin to shoot at them from another quarter1 they will attempt to escape over the very thing that scared them1 and will trample the cause of their alarm underfoot4 ,no courage is so great as that which is born of utter desperation4 ,in order to keep people down by terror1 you must grant them a certain amount of security1 and let them see that they have far more to hope for than to fear3 for otherwise1 if a man is in equal peril whether he sits still or takes action1 he will feel actual pleasure in risking his life1 and will fling it away as lightly as though it were not his own4 ,,xiii4 ,a calm and peaceful king trusts his guards1 because he makes use of them to ensure the common safety of all his subjects1 and his soldiers1 who see that the security of the state depends upon their labours1 cheerfully undergo the severest toil and glory in being the protectors of the father of their country3 whereas your harsh and murderous tyrant must needs be disliked even by his own janissaries4 ,no man can expect willing and loyal service from those whom he uses like the rack and the axe1 as instruments of torture and death1 to whom he casts men as he would cast them to wild beasts4 ,no prisoner at the bar is so full of agony and anxiety as a tyrant2 for while he dreads both gods and men because they have witnessed1 #cii and will avenge his crimes1 he has at the same time so far committed himself to this course of action that he is not able to alter it4 ,this is perhaps the very worst quality of cruelty3 a man must go on exercising it1 and it is impossible for him to retrace his steps and start in a better path2 for crimes must be safeguarded by fresh crimes4 ,yet who can be more unhappy than he who is actually compelled to be a villain8 ,how greatly he ought to be pitied3 ,i mean1 by himself1 for it would be impious for others to pity a man who has made use of his power to murder and ravage1 who has rendered himself mistrusted by every one at home and abroad1 who fears the very soldiers to whom he flees for safety1 who dare not rely upon the loyalty of his friends or the affection of his children3 who1 whenever he considers what he has done1 and what he is about to do1 and calls to mind all the crimes and torturings with which his conscience is burdened1 must often fear death1 and yet must often wish for it1 for he must be even more hateful to himself than he is to his subjects4 ,on the other hand1 he who takes an interest in the entire state1 who watches over every department of it with more or less care1 who attends to all the business of the state as well as if it were his own1 who is naturally inclined to mild measures1 and shows1 even when it is to his advantage to punish1 how unwilling he is to make use of harsh remedies2 who has no angry or savage feelings1 but wields his authority calmly and beneficially1 being anxious that even his subordinate officers shall be popular with his countrymen1 who thinks his happiness complete if he can make the nation share his prosperity1 who is courteous in language1 whose presence is easy of access1 who looks obligingly upon his subjects1 who is disposed to grant all their reasonable wishes1 and does not treat their unreasonable wishes with harshness--such a prince is loved1 protected1 and worshipped by his whole empire4 ,men talk of such a one in private in the same #djj words which they use in public3 they are eager to bring up families under his reign1 and they put an end to the childlessness which public misery had previously rendered general3 every one feels that he will indeed deserve that his children should be grateful to him for having brought them into so happy an age4 ,such a prince is rendered safe by his own beneficence2 he has no need of guards1 their arms serve him merely as decorations4 ,,xiv4 ,what1 then1 is his duty8 ,it is that of good parents1 who sometimes scold their children goodnaturedly1 sometimes threaten them1 and sometimes even flog them4 ,no man in his senses disinherits his son for his first offence3 he does not pass this extreme sentence upon him unless his patience has been worn out by many grievous wrongs1 unless he fears that his son will do something worse than that which he punishes him for having done2 before doing this he makes many attempts to lead his son's mind into the right way while it is still hesitating between good and evil and has only taken its first steps in depravity2 it is only when its case is hopeless that he adopts this extreme measure4 ,no one demands that people should be executed until after he has failed to reform them4 ,this which is the duty of a parent1 is also that of the prince whom with no unmeaning flattery we call 8,the ,father of our ,country40 ,other names are given as titles of honour3 we have styled some men 8,the ,great10 8,the ,fortunate10 or 8,the ,august10 and have thus satisfied their passion for grandeur by bestowing upon them all the dignity that we could3 but when we style a man 8,the ,father of his ,country0 we give him to understand that we have entrusted him with a father's power over us1 which is of the mildest character1 for a father takes thought for his children and subordinates his own interests to theirs4 ,it is long before a father will cut off a member of his own body3 even after he has cut it off he longs to replace it1 and in cutting it off he laments #dja and hesitates much and long3 for he who condemns quickly is not far from being willing to condemn2 and he who inflicts too great punishment comes very near to punishing unjustly4 ,,xv4 ,within my own recollection the people stabbed in the forum with their writing-styles a ,roman knight named ,tricho1 because he had flogged his son to death3 even the authority of ,augustus ,caesar could hardly save him from the angry clutches of both fathers and sons3 but every one admired ,tarius1 who1 on discovering that his son meditated parricide1 tried him1 convicted him1 and was then satisfied with punishing him by exile1 and that1 too1 to that pleasant place of exile1 ,marseilles1 where he made him the same yearly allowance which he had done while he was innocent3 the result of this generosity was that even in a city where every villain finds some one to defend him1 no one doubted that he was justly condemned1 since even the father who was unable to hate him1 nevertheless had condemned him4 ,in this very same instance ,i will give you an example of a good prince1 which you may compare with a good father4 ,tarius1 when about to sit in judgement on his son1 invited ,augustus ,caesar to assist in trying him3 ,augustus came into his private house1 sat beside the father1 took part in another man's family council1 and did not say1 8,nay1 let him rather come to my house10 because if he had done so1 the trial would have been conducted by ,caesar and not by the father4 ,when the cause had been heard1 after all that the young man pleaded in his own defence and all that was alleged against him had been thoroughly discussed1 the emperor begged that each man would write his sentence 7instead of pronouncing it aloud71 in order that they might not all follow ,caesar in giving sentence3 then1 before the tablets were opened1 he declared that if ,tarius1 who was a rich man1 made him his heir1 he would not accept the bequest4 ,one might say 8,it showed a paltry mind in him #djb to fear that people would think that he condemned the son in order to enable himself to inherit the estate40 ,i am of a contrary opinion--any one of us ought to have sufficient trust in the consciousness of his own integrity to defend him against calumny1 but princes must take great pains to avoid even the appearance of evil4 ,he swore that he would not accept the property4 ,on that day ,tarius lost two heirs to his estate1 but ,caesar gained the liberty of forming an unbiassed judgement3 and when he had proved that his severity was disinterested1 a point of which a prince should never lose sight1 he gave sentence that the son should be banished to whatever place the father might choose4 ,he did not sentence him to the sack and the snakes1 or to prison1 because he thought1 not of who it was upon whom he was passing sentence1 but of who it was with whom he was sitting in judgement3 he said that a father ought to be satisfied with the mildest form of punishment for his stripling son1 who had been seduced into a crime which he had attempted so faintheartedly as to be almost innocent of it1 and that he ought to be removed from ,rome and out of his father's sight4 ,,xvi4 ,how worthy was he to be invited by fathers to join their family councils3 how worthy to be made co-heir with innocent children6 ,this is the sort of clemency which befits a prince2 wherever he goes1 let him make every one more charitable4 ,in the king's sight1 no one ought to be so despicable that he should not notice whether he lives or dies3 be his character what it may1 he is a part of the empire4 ,let us take examples for great kingdoms from smaller ones4 ,there are many forms of royalty3 a prince reigns over his subjects1 a father over his children1 a teacher over his scholars1 a tribune or centurion over his soldiers4 ,would not he1 who constantly punished his children by beating them for the most trifling faults1 be thought the worst of fathers8 ,which is worthier to impart #djc a liberal education3 he who flays his scholars alive if their memory be weak1 or if their eyes do not run quickly along the lines as they read1 or he who prefers to improve and instruct them by kindly warnings and moral influence8 ,if a tribune or a centurion is harsh1 he will make men deserters1 and one cannot blame them for desertion4 ,it is never right to rule a human being more harshly and cruelly than we rule dumb animals2 yet a skilled horse-breaker will not scare a horse by frequent blows1 because he will become timid and vicious if you do not soothe him with pats and caresses4 ,so also a huntsman1 both when he is teaching puppies to follow the tracks of wild animals1 and when he uses dogs already trained to drive them from their lairs and hunt them1 does not often threaten to beat them1 for1 if he does1 he will break their spirit1 and make them stupid and currish with fear2 though1 on the other hand1 he will not allow them to roam and range about unrestrained4 ,the same is the case with those who drive the slower draught cattle1 which1 though brutal treatment and wretchedness is their lot from their birth1 still1 by excessive cruelty may be made to refuse to draw4 ,,xvii4 ,no creature is more self-willed1 requires more careful management1 or ought to be treated with greater indulgence than man4 ,what1 indeed1 can be more foolish than that we should blush to show anger against dogs or beasts of burden1 and yet wish one man to be most abominably ill-treated by another8 ,we are not angry with diseases1 but apply remedies to them3 but this also is a disease of the mind1 and requires soothing medicine and a physician who is anything but angry with his patient4 ,it is the part of a bad physician to despair of effecting a cure3 he1 to whom the care of all men's well-being is entrusted1 ought to act like a good physician1 and not be in a hurry to give up hope or to declare that the symptoms are mortal3 he should wrestle with vices1 withstand them1 reproach #djd some with their distemper1 and deceive others by a soothing mode of treatment1 because he will cure his patient more quickly and more thoroughly if the medicines which he administers escape his notice3 a prince should take care not only of the recovery of his people1 but also that their scars should be honourable4 ,cruel punishments do a king no honour3 for who doubts that he is able to inflict them8 but1 on the other hand1 it does him great honour to restrain his powers1 to save many from the wrath of others1 and sacrifice no one to his own4 ,,xviii4 ,it is creditable to a man to keep within reasonable bounds in his treatment of his slaves4 ,even in the case of a human chattel one ought to consider1 not how much one can torture him with impunity1 but how far such treatment is permitted by natural goodness and justice1 which prompts us to act kindly towards even prisoners of war and slaves bought for a price 7how much more towards free-born1 respectable gentlemen871 and not to treat them with scornful brutality as human chattels1 but as persons somewhat below ourselves in station1 who have been placed under our protection rather than assigned to us as servants4 ,slaves are allowed to run and take sanctuary at the statue of a god1 though the laws allows a slave to be ill-treated to any extent1 there are nevertheless some things which the common laws of life forbid us to do to a human being4 ,who does not hate ,vedius ,pollio#aj more even than his own slaves did1 because he used to fatten his lampreys with human blood1 and ordered those who had offended him in any way to be cast into his fish-pond1 or rather snake-pond8 ,that #dje man deserved to die a thousand deaths1 both for throwing his slaves to be devoured by the lampreys which he himself meant to eat1 and for keeping lampreys that he might feed them in such a fashion4 ,cruel masters are pointed at with disgust in all parts of the city1 and are hated and loathed2 the wrong-doings of kings are enacted on a wider theatre3 their shame and unpopularity endures for ages3 yet how far better it would have been never to have been born than to be numbered among those who have been born to do their country harm6 ,,xix4 ,nothing can be imagined which is more becoming to a sovereign than clemency1 by whatever title and right he may be set over his fellow citizens4 ,the greater his power1 the more beautiful and admirable he will confess his clemency to be3 for there is no reason why power should do any harm1 if only it be wielded in accordance with the laws of nature4 ,nature herself has conceived the idea of a king1 as you may learn from various animals1 and especially from bees1 among whom the king's cell is the roomiest1 and is placed in the most central and safest part of the hive2 moreover1 he does no work1 but employs himself in keeping the others up to their work4 ,if the king be lost1 the entire swarm disperses3 they never endure to have more than one king at a time1 and find out which is the better by making them fight with one another3 moreover the king is distinguished by his statelier appearance1 being both larger and more brilliantly coloured than the other bees4 ,the most remarkable distinction1 however1 is the following3 bees are very fierce1 and for their size are the most pugnacious of creatures1 and leave their stings in the wounds which they make1 but the king himself has no sting3 nature does not wish him to be savage or to seek revenge at so dear a rate1 and so has deprived him of his weapon and disarmed his rage4 ,she has offered him as a pattern to great sovereigns3 for she is wont to practise #djf herself in small matters1 and to scatter abroad tiny models of the hugest structures4 ,we ought to be ashamed of not learning a lesson in behaviour from these small creatures1 for a man1 who has so much more power of doing harm than they1 ought to show a correspondingly greater amount of self-control4 ,would that human beings were subject to the same law1 and that their anger destroyed itself together with its instrument1 so that they could only inflict a wound once1 and would not make use of the strength of others to carry out their hatreds3 for their fury would soon grow faint if it carried its own punishment with it1 and could only give rein to its violence at the risk of death4 ,even as it is1 however1 no one can exercise it with safety1 for he must needs feel as much fear as he hopes to cause1 he must watch every one's movements1 and even when his enemies are not laying violent hands upon him he must bear in mind that they are plotting to do so1 and he cannot have a single moment free from alarm4 ,would any one endure to live such a life as this1 when he might enjoy the privileges of his high station to the general joy of all men1 without injuring any one1 and for that very reason have no one to fear8 for it is a mistake to suppose that the king can be safe in a state where nothing is safe from the king3 he can only purchase a life without anxiety for himself by guaranteeing the same for his subjects4 ,he need not pile up lofty citadels1 escarp steep hills1 cut away the sides of mountains1 and fence himself about with many lines of walls and towers3 clemency will render a king safe even upon an open plain4 ,the one fortification which cannot be stormed is the love of his countrymen4 ,what can be more glorious than a life which every one spontaneously and without official pressure hopes may last long8 to excite men's fears1 not their hopes1 if one's health gives way a little8 to know that no one holds anything so dear that he would not be glad to give it in exchange for the health of his sovereign8 8,o1 may #djg no evil befall him60 they would cry3 8he must live for his own sake1 not only for ours3 his constant proofs of goodness have made him belong to the state instead of the state belonging to him40 ,who would dare to plot any danger to such a king8 ,who would not rather1 if he could1 keep misfortune far from one under whom justice1 peace1 decency1 security and merit flourish1 under whom the state grows rich with an abundance of all good things1 and looks upon its ruler in the same spirit of adoration and respect with which we should look upon the immortal gods1 if they allowed us to behold them as we behold him8 ,why6 does not that man come very close to the gods who acts in a god-like manner1 and who is beneficent1 open-handed1 and powerful for good8 ,your aim and your pride ought to lie in being thought the best1 as well as the greatest of mankind4 ,,xx4 ,a prince generally inflicts punishment for one of two reasons3 he wishes either to assert his own rights or those of another4 ,i will first discuss the case in which he is personally concerned1 for it is more difficult for him to act with moderation when he acts under the impulse of actual pain than when he merely does so for the sake of the example4 ,it is unnecessary in this place to remind him to be slow to believe what he hears1 to ferret out the truth1 to show favour to innocence1 and to bear in mind that to prove it is as much the business of the judge as that of the prisoner2 for these considerations are connected with justice1 not with clemency3 what we are now encouraging him to do is not to lose control over his feelings when he receives an unmistakeable injury1 and to forego punishing it if he possibly can do so with safety1 if not1 to moderate the severity of the punishment1 and to show himself far more unwilling to forgive wrongs done to others than those done to himself3 for1 just as the truly generous man is not he who gives away what belongs to others1 but he who deprives himself of what he gives to another1 so also ,i should not call a prince clement #djh who looked goodnaturedly upon a wrong done to someone else1 but one who is unmoved even by the sting of a personal injury1 who understands how magnanimous it is for one whose power is unlimited to allow himself to be wronged1 and that there is no more noble spectacle than that of a sovereign who has received an injury without avenging it4 ,,xxi4 ,vengeance effects two purposes3 it either affords compensation to the person to whom the wrong was done1 or it ensures him against molestation for the future4 ,a prince is too rich to need compensation1 and his power is too evident for him to require to gain a reputation for power by causing any one to suffer4 ,i mean1 when he is attacked and injured by his inferiors1 for if he sees those who once were his equals in a position of inferiority to himself he is sufficiently avenged4 ,a king may be killed by a slave1 or a serpent1 or an arrow3 but no one can be saved except by some one who is greater than him whom he saves4 ,he1 therefore1 who has the power of giving and of taking away life ought to use such a great gift of heaven in a spirited manner4 ,above all1 if he once obtains this power over those who he knows were once on a level with himself1 he has completed his revenge1 and done all that he need to towards the punishment of his adversary3 for he who owes his life to another must have lost it1 and he who has been cast down from on high and lies at his enemy's feet with his kingdom and his life depending upon the pleasure of another1 adds to the glory of his preserver if he be allowed to live1 and increases his reputation much more by remaining unhurt than if he were put out of the way4 ,in the former case he remains as an everlasting testimony to the valour of his conqueror2 whereas if led in the procession of a triumph he would have soon passed out of sight4#aa ,if1 however1 his kingdom also may be safely left in his hands #dji and he himself replaced upon the throne from which he has fallen1 such a measure confers an immense increase of lustre on him who scorned to take anything from a conquered king beyond the glory of having conquered him4 ,to do this is to triumph even over one's own victory1 and to declare that one has found nothing among the vanquished which it was worth the victor's while to take4 ,as for his countrymen1 strangers1 and persons of mean condition1 he ought to treat them with all the less severity because it costs so much less to overcome them4 ,some you would be glad to spare1 against some you would disdain to assert your rights1 and would forbear to touch them as you would to touch little insects which defile your hands when you crush them3 but in the case of men upon whom all eyes are fixed1 whether they be spared or condemned1 you should seize the opportunity of making your clemency widely known4 ,,xxii4 ,let us now pass on to the consideration of wrongs done to others1 in avenging which the law has aimed at three ends1 which the prince will do well to aim at also3 they are1 either that it may correct him whom it punishes1 or that his punishment may render other men better1 or that1 by bad men being put out of the way1 the rest may live without fear4 ,you will more easily correct the men themselves by a slight punishment1 for he who has some part of his fortune remaining untouched will behave less recklessly2 on the other hand1 no one cares about respectability after he has lost it3 it is a species of impunity to have nothing left for punishment to take away4 ,it is conducive1 however1 to good morals in a state1 that punishment should seldom be inflicted3 for where there is a multitude of sinners men become familiar with sin1 shame is less felt when shared with a number of fellow-criminals1 and severe sentences1 if frequently pronounced1 lose the influence which constitutes their chief power as remedial measures4 ,a good king establishes a good standard of morals for his #daj kingdom and drives away vices if he is long-suffering with them1 not that he should seem to encourage them1 but to be very unwilling and to suffer much when he is forced to chastise them4 ,clemency in a sovereign even makes men ashamed to do wrong3 for punishment seems far more grievous when inflicted by a merciful man4 ,,xxiii4 ,besides this1 you will find that sins which are frequently punished are frequently committed4 ,your father sewed up more parricides in sacks during five years1 than we hear of in all previous centuries4 ,as long as the greatest of crimes remained without any special law1 children were much more timid about committing it4 ,our wise ancestors1 deeply skilled in human nature1 preferred to pass over this as being a wickedness too great for belief1 and beyond the audacity of the worst criminal1 rather than teach men that it might be done by appointing a penalty for doing it3 parricides1 consequently1 were unknown until a law was made against them1 and the penalty showed them the way to the crime4 ,filial affection soon perished1 for since that time we have seen more men punished by the sack than by the cross4 ,where men are seldom punished innocence becomes the rule1 and is encouraged as a public benefit4 ,if a state thinks itself innocent1 it will be innocent3 it will be all the more angry with those who corrupt the general simplicity of manners if it sees that they are few in number4 ,believe me1 it is a dangerous thing to show a state how great a majority of bad men it contains4 ,,xxiv4 ,a proposal was once made in the ,senate to distinguish slaves from free men by their dress3 it was then discovered how dangerous it would be for our slaves to be able to count our numbers4 ,be assured that the same thing would be the case if no one's offence is pardoned3 it will quickly be discovered how far the number of bad men exceeds that of the good4 ,many executions are as disgraceful to a sovereign as many funerals are to a physician3 #daa one who governs less strictly is better obeyed4 ,the human mind is naturally self-willed1 kicks against the goad1 and sets its face against authority2 it will follow more readily than it can be led4 ,as well-bred and high-spirited horses are best managed with a loose rein1 so mercy gives men's minds a spontaneous bias towards innocence1 and the public think that it is worth observing4 ,mercy1 therefore1 does more good than severity4 ,,xxv1 ,cruelty is far from being a human vice1 and is unworthy of man's gentle mind3 it is mere bestial madness to take pleasure in blood and wounds1 to cast off humanity and transform oneself into a wild beast of the forest4 ,pray1 ,alexander1 what is the difference between your throwing ,lysimachus into a lion's den and tearing his flesh with your own teeth8 it is you that have the lion's maw1 and the lion's fierceness4 ,how pleased you would be if you had claws instead of nails1 and jaws that were capable of devouring men6 ,we do not expect of you that your hand1 the sure murderer of your best friends1 should restore health to any one2 or that your proud spirit1 that inexhaustible source of evil to all nations1 should be satisfied with anything short of blood and slaughter3 we rather call it mercy that your friend should have a human being chosen to be his butcher4 ,the reason why cruelty is the most hateful of all vices is that it goes first beyond the ordinary limits1 and then beyond those of humanity2 that it devises new kinds of punishments1 calls ingenuity to aid it in inventing devices for varying and lengthening men's torture1 and takes delight in their sufferings3 this accursed disease of the mind reaches its highest pitch of madness when cruelty itself turns into pleasure1 and the act of killing a man becomes enjoyment4 ,such a ruler is soon cast down from his throne2 his life is attempted by poison one day and by the sword the next2 he is exposed to as many dangers as there are men to whom he is dangerous1 and he #dab is sometimes destroyed by the plots of individuals1 and at others by a general insurrection4 ,whole communities are not roused to action by unimportant outrages on private persons2 but cruelty which takes a wider range1 and from which no one is safe1 becomes a mark for all men's weapons4 ,very small snakes escape our notice1 and the whole country does not combine to destroy them2 but when one of them exceeds the usual size and grows into a monster1 when it poisons fountains with its spittle1 scorches herbage with its breath1 and spreads ruin wherever it crawls1 we shoot at it with military engines4 ,trifling evils may cheat us and elude our observation1 but we gird up our loins to attack great ones4 ,one sick person does not so much as disquiet the house in which he lies2 but when frequent deaths show that a plague is raging1 there is a general outcry1 men take to flight and shake their fists angrily at the very gods themselves4 ,if a fire breaks out under one single roof1 the family and the neighbours pour water upon it2 but a wide conflagration which has consumed many houses must be smothered under the ruins of a whole quarter of a city4 ,,xxvi4 ,the cruelty even of private men has sometimes been revenged by their slaves in spite of the certainty that they will be crucified3 whole kingdoms and nations when oppressed by tyrants or threatened by them1 have attempted their destruction4 ,sometimes their own guards have risen in revolt1 and have used against their master all the deceit1 disloyalty1 and ferocity which they have learned from him4 ,what1 indeed1 can he expect from those whom he has taught to be wicked8 ,a bad man will not long be obedient1 and will not do only as much evil as he is ordered4 ,but even if the tyrant may be cruel with safety1 how miserable his kingdom must be3 it must look like a city taken by storm1 like some frightful scene of general panic4 ,everywhere sorrow1 anxiety1 disorder2 men dread even their own pleasures2 they cannot even dine with one another in safety #dac when they have to keep watch over their tongues even when in their cups1 nor can they safely attend the public shows when informers are ready to find grounds for their impeachment in their behaviour there4 ,although the spectacles be provided at an enormous expense1 with royal magnificence and with world-famous artists1 yet who cares for amusement when he is in prison8 ,ye gods6 what a miserable life it is to slaughter and to rage1 to delight in the clanking of chains1 and to cut off one's countrymen's heads1 to cause blood to flow freely wherever one goes1 to terrify people1 and make them flee away out of one's sight6 ,it is what would happen if bears or lions were our masters1 if serpents and all the most venomous creatures were given power over us4 ,even these animals1 devoid of reason as they are1 and accused by us of cruel ferocity1 spare their own kind1 and wild beasts themselves respect their own likeness3 but the fury of tyrants does not even stop short at their own relations1 and they treat friends and strangers alike1 only becoming more violent the more they indulge their passions4 ,by insensible degrees he proceeds from the slaughter of individuals to the ruin of nations1 and thinks it a sign of power to set roofs on fire and to plough up the sites of ancient cities3 he considers it unworthy of an emperor to order only one or two people to be put to death1 and thinks that his cruelty is unduly restrained if whole troops of wretches are not sent to execution together4 ,true happiness1 on the other hand2 consists in saving many men's lives1 in calling them back from the very gates of death1 and in being so merciful as to deserve a civic crown4#ab ,no decoration is more worthy or more becoming to a prince's rank than that crown 8for saving the lives of fellow-citizens03 not trophies torn from a vanquished enemy1 not #dad chariots wet with their savage owner's blood1 not spoils captured in war4 ,this power which saves men's lives by crowds and by nations1 is godlike3 the power of extensive and indiscrimate massacre is the power of downfall and conflagration4 #a ,nobilis4 #b ,the text is corrupt4 ,i have followed ,gertz's conjectural emendation1 mansuefactionis1 but ,i believe that ,lipsius is right in thinking that a great deal more than one word has been lost here4 #c ,pace4 #d ,tutum4 #e ,gertz reads sexagesimum1 his sixtieth year1 which he calls 8the not very audacious conjecture of ,wesseling10 and adds that he does so because of the words at the beginning of chap4 xi4 and the authority of ,dion ,cassius4 ,the ordinary reading is quadragesimum1 8his fortieth year10 and this is the date to which ,cinna's conspiracy is referred to by ,merivale1 8,history of the ,romans under the ,empire10 vol4 iv4 ch1 #cg4 8,a plot10 he says1 8was formed for his destruction1 at the head of which was ,cornelius ,cinna1 described as a son of ,faustus ,sulla by a daughter of the ,great ,pompeius40 ,the story of ,cinna's conspiracy is told by ,seneca1 de ,clem1 i1 #i1 and ,dion iv4 #ad1 foll4 ,they agree in the main fact2 but ,seneca is our authority for the details of the interview between ,augustus and his enemy1 while ,dion has doubtless invented his long conversation between the emperor and ,livia4 ,seneca1 however1 calls the conspirator ,lucius1 and places the event in the fortieth year of ,augustus 7,a4,d4 #gca71 the scene in ,gaul3 ,dion1 on the other1 gives the names of ,gnaeus1 and supposes the circumstances to have occured twenty-six years later1 and at ,rome4 ,it may be observed that a son of ,faustus ,sulla must have been at least fifty at this latter date1 nor do we know why he should bear the name of ,cinna1 though an adoption is not impossible4 #f ,see ,shakespeare's 8,julius ,caesar10 ,act ,,iv1 ,sc4 #a4 #g ,in allusion to the title of 8,father of his country10 bestowed by the ,senate upon ,augustus4 ,see ,merivale1 ch4 #cc4 #h ,this whole comparison1 which reads so meaninglessly both in ,latin and in ,english1 is borrowed from the eternal declamations of ,plutarch and the ,greek philosophers about and 4 ,see ,plutarch1 ,lives of ,philopoemen and ,aratus1 ,plato1 ,gorgias and ,politicus2 ,arnold1 8,appendix to ,thucydides10 vol4 i41 and 8,dictionary of ,antiquities10 s4v4 #i ,de lra1 ii4 #aa4 #aj ,vedius ,pollio had a villa on the mountain now called ,punta di ,posilippo1 which projects into the sea between ,naples and ,puteoli1 which he left to ,augustus1 and which was afterwards possessed by the ,emperor ,trajan4 ,he was a freedman by birth1 and remarkable for nothing except his riches and his cruelty4 ,cf4 ,dion ,cassius1 liv4 #bc2 ,pliny1 ,h4 ,n4 ix4 #bc2 and ,seneca1 8,on ,anger10 iii4 #dj1 #b4 #aa ,the conquered princes who were led through ,rome in triumphs were as a rule put to death when the procession was over4 #ab ,the 8civic0 crown of oak-leaves was bestowed on him who had saved the life of a fellow-citizen in war4 ,it was bestowed upon ,augustus1 and after him upon the other emperors1 as preservers of the state4 #dae ,,the ,,second ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,dialogue ,,of ,l4 ,,annaeus ,,seneca1 ,,addressed ,,to ,,nero ,,caesar4 ,,on ,,clemency4 ,i4 ,i have been especially led to write about clemency1 ,nero ,caesar1 by a saying of yours1 which ,i remember having heard with admiration and which ,i afterwards told to others3 a noble saying1 showing a great mind and great gentleness1 which suddenly burst from you without premeditation1 and was not meant to reach any ears but your own1 and which displayed the conflict which was raging between your natural goodness and your imperial duties4 ,your prefect ,burrus1 an excellent man who was born to be the servant of such an emperor as you are1 was about to order two brigands to be executed1 and was pressing you to write their names and the grounds on which they were to be put to death3 this had often been put off1 and he was insisting that it should then be done4 ,when he reluctantly produced the document and put it into your equally reluctant hands1 you exclaimed3 8,would that ,i had never learned my letters60 ,o what a speech1 how worthy to be heard by all nations1 both those who dwell within the ,roman ,empire1 those who enjoy a debatable independence upon its borders1 and those who either in will or in deed fight against it6 ,it is a speech which ought to be spoken #daf before a meeting of all mankind1 whose words all kings and princes ought to swear to obey3 a speech worthy of the days of human innocence1 and worthy to bring back that golden age4 ,now in truth we ought all to agree to love righteousness and goodness2 covetousness1 which is the root of all evil1 ought to be driven away1 piety and virtue1 good faith and modesty ought to resume their interrupted reign1 and the vices which have so long and so shamefully ruled us ought at last to give way to an age of happiness and purity4 ,,ii4 ,to a great extent1 ,caesar1 we may hope and expect that this will come to pass4 ,let your own goodness of heart be gradually spread and diffused throughout the whole body of the empire1 and all parts of it will mould themselves into your likeness4 ,good health proceeds from the head into all the members of the body3 they are all either brisk and erect1 or languid and drooping1 according as their guiding spirit blooms or withers4 ,both ,romans and allies will prove worthy of this goodness of yours1 and good morals will return to all the world3 your hands will everywhere find less to do4 ,allow me to dwell somewhat upon this saying of yours1 not because it is a pleasant subject for your ears 7indeed1 this is not my way2 ,i would rather offend by telling the truth than curry favour by flattery74 ,what1 then1 is my reason8 ,besides wishing that you should be as familiar as possible with your own good deeds and good words1 in order that what is now untutored impulse may grow into matured decision1 ,i remember that many great but odious sayings have become part of human life and are familiar in men's mouths1 such as that celebrated 8,let them hate me1 provided that they fear me10 which is like that ,greek verse1 1 in which a man bids the earth perish in flame after he is dead1 and others of the like sort4 ,i know not how it is1 but certainly human ingenuity seems to have found it #dag easier to find emphatic and ardent expression for monstrous and cynical sentiments3 ,i have never hitherto heard any spirited saying from a good and gentle person4 ,what1 then1 is the upshot of all this8 ,it is that1 albeit seldom and against your will1 and after much hesitation1 you sometimes nevertheless must write that which made you hate your letters1 but that you ought to do so with great hesitation and after many postponements1 even as you now do4 ,,iii4 ,but lest the plausible word 8mercy0 should sometimes deceive us and lead us into the opposite extreme1 let us consider what mercy is1 what its qualities are1 and within what limits it is confined4 ,mercy is 8a restraining of the mind from vengeance when it is in its power to avenge itself10 or it is 8gentleness shown by a powerful man in fixing the punishment of a weaker one40 ,it is safer to have more than one definition1 since one may not include the whole subject1 and may1 so to speak1 lose its cause3 mercy1 therefore1 may likewise be termed a tendency towards mildness in inflicting punishment4 ,it is possible to discover certain inconsistencies in the definition which comes nearer the truth than all the rest1 which is to call mercy 8self-restraint1 which remits some part of a fine which it deserves to receive and which is due to it40 ,to this it will be objected that no virtue ever gives any man less than his due4 ,however1 all men understand mercy to consist in coming short of the penalty which might with justice be inflicted4 ,,iv4 ,the unlearned think that its opposite is strictness3 but no virtue is the opposite of another virtue4 ,what1 then1 is the opposite of mercy8 ,cruelty3 which is nothing more than obstinacy in exacting punishments4 8,but10 say you1 8some men do not exact punishments1 and nevertheless are cruel1 such as those who kill the strangers whom they meet1 not in order to rob them1 but for killing's sake1 and men who are not satisfied with killing1 but kill #dah with savage tortures1 like the famous ,busiris1#a and ,procrustes1 and pirates who flog their captives and burn them alive40 ,this appears to be cruelty3 but as it is not the result of vengeance 7for it has received no wrong71 and is not excited by any offence 7for no crime has preceded it71 it does not come within our definition1 which was limited to 8extravagance in exacting the penalties of wrongdoing40 ,we may say that this is not cruelty1 but ferocity1 which finds pleasure in savagery3 or we may call it madness2 for madness is of various kinds1 and there is no truer madness than that which takes to slaughtering and mutilating human beings4 ,i shall1 therefore1 call those persons cruel who have a reason for punishing but who punish without moderation1 like ,phalaris1 who is not said to have tortured innocent men1 but to have tortured criminals with inhuman and incredible barbarity4 ,we may avoid hairsplitting by defining cruelty to be 8a tendency of the mind towards harsh measures40 ,mercy repels cruelty and bids it be far from her3 with strictness she is on terms of amity4 ,at this point it is useful to inquire into what pity is2 for many praise it as a virtue1 and say that a good man is full of pity4 ,this also is a disease of the mind4 ,both of these stand close to mercy and to strictness1 and both ought to be avoided1 lest under the name of strictness we be led into cruelty1 and under the name of mercy into pity4 ,it is less dangerous to make the latter mistake1 but both lead us equally far away from the truth4 ,v4 ,just as the gods are worshipped by religion1 but are dishonoured by superstition1 so all good men will show mercy and mildness1 but will avoid pity1 which is a vice incident to weak minds which cannot endure the sight of another's sufferings4 ,it is1 therefore1 most commonly #dai found in the worst people2 there are old women and girls#b who are affected by the tears of the greatest criminals1 and who1 if they could1 would let them out of prison4 ,pity considers a man's misfortunes and does not consider to what they are due3 mercy is combined with reason4 ,i know that the doctrine of the ,stoics is unpopular among the ignorant as being excessively severe and not at all likely to give kings and princes good advice2 it is blamed because it declares that the wise man knows not how to feel pity or to grant pardon4 ,these doctrines1 if taken separately1 are indeed odious1 for they appear to give men no hope of repairing their mistakes but exact a penalty for every slip4 ,if this were true1 how can it be true wisdom to bid us put off human feeling1 and to exclude us from mutual help1 that surest haven of refuge against the attacks of ,fortune8 ,but no school of philosophy is more gentle and benignant1 none is more full of love towards man or more anxious to promote the happiness of all1 seeing that its maxims are1 to be of service and assistance to others1 and to consult the interests of each and all1 not of itself alone4 ,pity is a disorder of the mind caused by the sight of other men's miseries1 or it is a sadness caused by the evils with which it believes others to be undeservedly afflicted3 but the wise man cannot be affected by any disorder3 his mind is calm1 and nothing can possibly happen to ruffle it4 ,moreover1 nothing becomes a man more than magnanimity3 but magnanimity cannot coexist with sorrow4 ,sorrow overwhelms men's minds1 casts them down1 contracts them3 now this cannot happen to the wise man even in his greatest misfortunes1 but he will beat back the rage of ,fortune and triumph over it3 he will #dbj always retain the same calm1 undisturbed expression of countenance1 which he never could do were he accessible to sorrow4 ,,vi4 ,add to this1 that the wise man provides for the future and always has a distinct plan of action ready3 yet nothing clear and true can flow from a disturbed source4 ,sorrow is awkward at reviewing the position of affairs1 at devising useful expedients1 avoiding dangerous courses1 and weighing the merits of fair and just ones3 therefore the wise man will not feel pity1 because this cannot happen to a man unless his mind is disturbed4 ,he will do willingly and highmindedly all that those who feel pity are wont to do2 he will dry the tears of others1 but will not mingle his own with them2 he will stretch out his hand to the shipwrecked mariner1 will offer hospitality to the exile1 and alms to the needy--not in the offensive way in which most of those who wish to be thought tender-hearted fling their bounty to those whom they assist and shrink from their touch1 but as one man would give another something out of the common stock--he will restore children to their weeping mothers1 will loose the chains of the captive1 release the gladiator from his bondage1 and even bury the carcase of the criminal1 but he will perform all this with a calm mind and unaltered expression of countenance4 ,thus the wise man will not pity men1 but will help them and be of service to them1 seeing that he is born to be a help to all men and a public benefit1 of which he will bestow a share upon every one4 ,he will even grant a proportional part of his bounty to those sufferers who deserve blame and correction2 but he will much more willingly help those whose troubles and adversities are caused by misfortune4 ,whenever he is able he will interpose between ,fortune and her victims3 for what better employment can he find for his wealth or his strength than in setting up again what chance has overthrown8 ,he will not show or feel any #dba disgust at a man's having withered legs1 or a flabby wrinkled skin1 or supporting his aged body upon a staff2 but he will do good to those who deserve it1 and will1 like a god1 look benignantly upon all who are in trouble4 ,pity borders upon misery3 it is partly composed of it and partly derived from it4 ,you know that eyes must be weak1 if they fill with rheum at the sight of another's blearedness1 just as it is not real merriment but hysteria which makes people laugh because others laugh1 and yawn whenever others open their jaws3 pity is a defect in the mind of people who are extraordinarily affected by suffering1 and he who requires a wise man to exhibit it is not far from requiring him to lament and groan when strangers are buried4 ,,vii4 ,but why should he not pardon8#c ,let us decide by exact definition this other slippery matter1 the true nature of pardon1 and we shall then perceive that the wise man ought not to grant it4 ,pardon is the remitting of a deserved punishment4 ,the reasons why the wise man ought not to grant this remission are given at length by those of whom this question is specially asked3 ,i will briefly say1 as though it were no concern of mine to decide this point1 8,a man grants pardon to one whom he ought to punish3 now the wise man does nothing which he ought not to do1 and omits to do nothing which he ought to do3 he does not1 therefore1 remit any punishment which he ought to exact4 ,but the wise man will bestow upon you in a more honourable way that which you wish to obtain by pardon1 for he will make allowances for you1 will consult your interests1 and will correct your bad habits3 he will act just as though he were pardoning you1 but nevertheless he will not pardon you1 because he who pardons admits that in so doing he has neglected a part of #dbb his duty4 ,he will only punish some people by reprimanding them1 and will inflict no further penalty if he considers that they are of an age which admits of reformation3 some people who are undeniably implicated in an odious charge he will acquit1 because they were deceived into committing1 or were not sober when they committed the offence with which they are charged3 he will let his enemies depart unharmed1 sometimes even with words of commendation1 if they have taken up arms to defend their honour1 their covenants with others1 their freedom1 or on any other honourable ground4 ,all these doings come under the head of mercy1 not of pardon4 ,mercy is free to come to what decision it pleases3 she gives her decision1 not under any statute1 but according to equity and goodness3 she may acquit the defendant1 or impose what damages she pleases4 ,she does not do any of these things as though she were doing less than justice requires1 but as though the justest possible course were that which she adopts4 ,on the other hand1 to pardon is not to punish a man whom you have decided ought to be punished2 pardon is the remission of a punishment which ought to be inflicted4 ,the first advantage which mercy has over it is that she does not tell those whom she lets off that they ought to have suffered3 she is more complete1 more honourable than pardon40 ,in my opinion1 this is a mere dispute about words1 and we are agreed about the thing itself4 ,the wise man will remit many penalties1 and will save many who are wicked1 but whose wickedness is not incurable4 ,he will act like good husbandmen1 who do not cultivate only straight and tall trees1 but also apply props to straighten those which have been rendered crooked by various causes2 they trim some1 lest the luxuriance of their boughs should hinder their upward growth1 they nurse those which have been #dbc weakened by being planted in an unsuitable position1 and they give air to those which are overshadowed by the foliage of others4 ,the wise man will see the several treatments suitable to several dispositions1 and how what is crooked may be straightened4 4 4 4 #a ,a king of ,egypt1 who sacrificed strangers1 and was himself slain by ,hercules4 #b 8,three or four wenches where ,i stood1 cried #8,alas1 good soul6--' and forgave him with all their hearts3 but there's no heed to be taken of them2 if ,caesar had stabbed their mothers1 they would have done no less40--8,julius ,caesar10 act i4 sc4 #b4 #c ,see above1 chap4 v4 ,,the ,,end4 #dbe ,,index4 ,a ,alexander the ,great1 #gh1 #ih1 #ace1 #ada1 #daa4 ,alexandria1 ,library of1 #bgj4 ,anger1 #dh2 signs of1 #di2 results of1 #ej2 definitions of1 #ejn2 animals not subject to1 #eb2 not natural1 #ed2 should be resisted at the beginning1 #eg2 examples of its results1 #fj2 not necessary against enemies1 #fj2 nor useful1 #fc2 not necessary for punishment1 #fh2 contrasted with reason1 #fi2 creates vain-glory1 but not magnanimity1 #gc2 cannot act without the approval of the mind1 #gg2 contrasted with ferocity1 #hj2 the wise man will never be angry1 #ha2 anger and fear1 #hg2 anger ought to be done away with1 #hh2 must never become a habit1 #ij2 remedies for1 #ic2 some men more prone to1 than others1 #ic2 influence of education1 #ie2 and of prosperity1 #if2 cause of1 #ig2 effect of trifles1 #ii2 delay the best remedy1 #ajd2 anger caused by ignorance or arrogance1 #ajf2 or by desire for revenge1 #ajh2 its hideousness and danger1 #aaa2 its power1 #aad2 contrasted with other vices and passions1 #aaf2 how to avoid it1 #abj2 examples of anger indulged in1 ,cambyses1 #aca1 #aci2 ,astyages1 #acc2 ,darius1 #ace2 ,xerxes1 #ace2 ,alexander1 #ace2 ,lysimachus1 #acf2 ,caligula1 #acg1 #aci2 ,rhinocolura1 #ach2 ,cyrus1 #aci2 examples of anger controlled1 ,antigonus1 #adj2 ,philip1 #ada2 ,augustus1 #adb2 how injuries ought to be bourne1 #add2 better to heal than to avenge them1 #adf2 the evils of anger1 #adg2 its trifling beginnings1 #adi2 money1 #aea2 other causes1 #aeb2 value of self-examination1 #aed2 how to soothe the anger of others1 #aef2 ,augustus and ,vedius1 #aeh2 anger should be got rid of altogether1 #aei4 ,animals1 anger in1 #di1 #eb4 ,antigonus 7monophthalmus71 #ada4 ,antisthenes1 #de4 ,antonius1 ,m41 #cgd1 #cia4 ,aristides1 #cda4 ,aristotle1 #ean1 #eb1 #eh1 #fh1 #aah1 #ace1 #bhg1 #bhh4 ,apicius1 the glutton1 #bag1 #ccf4 ,asinius ,pollio1 #adb1 #bhe4 ,astyages1 ,king of ,persia1 #acc4 ,augustus4 ,see ,caesar4 #dbf ,avarice1 conquered by anger1 #aad4 ,athenodorus1 quoted1 #bei1 #bfe4 ,b ,bees1 #dje4 ,bibulus1 ,l41 #aha4 ,bion1 quoted1 #bfg1 #bhb4 ,books1 should be bought to read1 not for show1 #bgj4 ,brutus1 ,l4 ,junius1 #ahc4 ,brutus1 ,m4 ,junius1 #ccj4 ,burrus1 prefect of ,nero1 #dae4 ,c ,caelius 7,antipater71 #abe4 ,caesar1 ,augustus1 #adb1 #aeh1 #afe1 #ahb1 #bic1 #cgb1 #cia1 #cic1 #dja4 ,caesar1 ,claudius1 #cfj1 #cfi1 #cgj4 ,caesar1 ,gaius 7,caligula71 #dd1 #gd1 #aji1 #acg1 #adj1 #bgf1 #bhj1 #caf1 #ccd1 #cgf4 ,caesar1 ,gaius1 grandson of ,augustus1 #cgc4 ,caesar1 ,gaius ,julius1 #ih1 #adi1 #aha1 #ccc4 ,caesar1 ,germanicus1 brother of ,claudius1 #cgd4 ,caesar1 ,lucius1 grandson of ,augustus1 #cgc4 ,caesar1 ,nero1 #chb1 #cif1 #dae4 ,caesar1 ,tiberius1 #aa1 #ahb1 #cgc4 ,caligula4 ,see ,caesar1 ,gaius4 ,calmness1 a sign of wisdom1 #bg4 ,cambyses1 #aca1 #aci4 ,cato1 ,m41 #e1 #g1 #aj1 #bc1 #ca1 #dj1 #ajh1 #aef1 #aib1 #aif1 #bbh1 #bhe1 #bhf1 #cda4 ,chaerea1 #dd4 ,chrysippus1 #bdb1 #bdg1 #bdh1 #beb4 ,cicero1 #aib1 #bgd1 #bie4 ,cimber1 ,tillius1 #adi4 ,cinna1 ,l41 #cib4 ,claudius ,caudex1 #cjg1 ,cleanthes1 #bdg1 #beb4 ,clemency1 #chj2 becomes no one more than a king1 #chd1 #chf2 clemency of ,augustus1 #cia2 and of ,nero1 #cif2 distinguishes between kings and tyrants1 #cig2 makes a king beloved1 #cii2 ,tarius1 #dja2 clemency towards slaves1 #djd2 the king-bee1 #dje2 clemency in inflicting punishment1 #djg2 makes men ashamed to do wrong1 #daj2 clemency of ,nero1 #dae2 definitions of ,mercy1 #dag2 of cruelty1 #dag2 of pity1 #dah2 of pardon1 #dba4 ,clitus1 killed by ,alexander1 #ace4 ,cloelia1 #ahc4 ,comfort1 excess of1 #ac4 ,consolation1 #afb1 #cbj1 #cec4 ,contempt1 #cf4 ,cordus1 ,a4 ,cremutius1 #afb1 #aif1 #aig4 ,cornelia1 wife of ,l4 ,drusus1 #ahc4 ,cornelia1 mother of the ,gracchi1 #ahc1 #cde4 ,corvinus1 ,m4 ,valerius1 #cjg4 ,cotta1 ,c4 ,aurelius1 #cde4 ,courage1 aims high1 #ah2 born of desperation1 #cih4 ,cruelty1 caused by anger1 #hj2 cannot be left off1 if once begun1 #cii2 inhumanity of1 #daa2 shown in kings1 #daa2 and in private men1 #dab2 the opposite of mercy1 #dag4 ,cyrus 7the elder71 #aci4 ,d ,darius1 #ace4 ,death1 quickness of1 #ba2 not an evil1 #bc2 a release from pain1 #aij4 #aia4 #dbg ,delay1 a remedy for anger1 #ajd1 #aae1 #abi2 and for grief1 #agb4 ,demetrius the ,cynic1 quoted1 #g1 #af4 ,demetrius ,poliorcetes1 #bh4 ,demochares 7,parrhesiastes71 #ada #adb4 ,democritus1 #ah1 #he1 #abb1 #bee1 #bgh4 ,dentatus1 ,curius1 #bfd1 #cjg4 ,desperation1 breeds courage1 #cih4 ,diodorus1 the ,epicurean1 #bee4 ,diogenes1 the ,cynic1 #bbe1 #bfg1 #bfh1 ,diogenes1 the ,stoic1 #aef1 ,dionysius1 of ,syracuse1 #ahf1 #cig1 ,drusilla1 #cgf4 ,drusus1 ,livius1 #ahc1 #bie4 ,drusus1 ,n4 ,claudius1 senior1 #cgc4 ,drusus1 ,n4 ,claudius1 #aff1 #afi4 ,duillius1 ,c4 #cjg4 ,e ,education1 should be carefully regulated1 #ie4 ,epicurus1 and ,epicureans1 #da1 #db1 #bah1 #bai1 #bdb1 #bdh4 ,exile1 #cbe4 ,f ,fabianus 7,papirius71 quoted1 #cjb1 #cji4 ,fabius 7,cunctator71 #fa1 #ajf4 ,fabricius1 #g1 #h4 ,fear1 felt by those who inspire it1 #hg2 in moderation restrains men1 #cih4 ,ferocity1 contrasted with anger1 #hj2 and with cruelty1 #dah4 ,firmness1 the1 of a wise man1 #bb1 sqq4 ,friendship1 #bfe4 ,g ,good1 the highest1 definition of1 #bjh4 #bab1 #bae1 #bba1 #bdd4 ,gracchi1 the1 #ahc1 #cde4 ,grief1 examples of1 #afe2 extreme grief unnatural1 #aga2 cured by time1 #agb2 counterfeited1 #bhb2 should be countered by reason1 #cdf2 its unprofitableness1 #ceg2 cannot co-exist with magnanimity1 #dai4 ,h ,hannibal1 #fa1 #gh1 #hj4 ,happiness1 #bjd2 how to gain it1 #bjf2 definitions of1 #bjh2 in connexion with pleasure1 #baa2 consists in virtue1 #bbb2 excess makes men greedy1 #chb4 ,harpagus1 #acc4 ,heraclitus1 #he4 ,hieronymus1 quoted1 #ga4 ,hippias1 #ih4 ,i ,injury1 cannot touch a wise man1 #be1 #cb1 #da1 #db2 distinguished from insult1 #bg1 #ce2 can be endured1 #add4 ,insult1 distinguished from injury1 #bg1 #ce2 how received by ,diogenes and ,cato1 #aef4 ,irascibility1 contrasted with anger1 #ec1 #ga4 ,j ,julia ,augusta 7title of ,livia71 #afh4 ,k ,kanus1 ,julius1 #bhj1 #bha4 #dbh ,l ,laberius1 quoted1 #hg4 ,lacedaemonians1 the1 #ac4 ,leisure1 advantages of1 #bdj1 sqq4 ,life1 shortness of1 #afj1 #afa1 #age1 #aic1 #bhh2 its misery1 #age2 three kinds of1 #bdh2 divided into three parts1 #cjb4 ,livia1 wife of ,augustus 7afterwards ,julia ,augusta71 #afe1 #afh1 #cib4 ,livius1 ,t41 quoted1 #gd1 #bgj4 ,love1 conquered by anger1 #aad4 ,lucretia4 #ahc4 ,lucretius1 quoted1 #beh4 ,luxury1 #bah1 #cjf4 ,lysimachus1 #acf1 #daa4 ,m ,maecenas1 #i4 ,magnanimity1 repels insult1 #cf2 not caused by anger1 #gc1 #abb2 does not feel blows1 #add2 befits all men1 #chg2 cannot co-exist with sorrow1 #dai4 ,marcellus1 ,m4 ,claudius1 #ccb4 ,marcellus1 ,m4 ,claudius1 son of ,octavia1 #afe1 #cgc4 ,mercy1 inclines men to innocence1 #daa2 definitions of1 #dag2 distinguished from pardon1 #dbb4 ,metellus1 ,l4 ,caecilius1 #cji4 ,mindyrides1 the ,sybarite1 #ii4 ,misfortunes1 how regarded by the wise man1 #c2 are to the advantage of those to whom they happen1 #f2 are the test of brave men1 #aa1 #ab1 #ag2 generally come unexpectedly1 #agc2 attack all alike1 #agh2 alleviated by habit1 #bga1 #cbb4 ,money1 evils of1 #aea4 ,see ,riches4 ,mucius1 #g4 ,n ,nero4 ,see ,caesar4 ,nomentanus1 #bag4 ,o ,octavia1 sister of ,augustus1 #afe1 #cgb4 ,oeobazus1 #ace4 ,ovid1 quoted1 #ah1 #eb1 #hd1 #bbh4 ,p ,pardon1 definition of1 #dba4 ,pastor1 #aji4 ,paulus1 ,l4 ,aemilius1 #ahj4 ,peace of mind1 definition of1 #abb1 #bee2 how to attain it1 etc41 #bee1 sqq4 ,peripatetics1 the1 #ejn4 ,phaethon1 #ah4 ,phalaris1 #dah4 ,philip1 of ,macedon1 #ada1 #adb4 ,philip1 physician of ,alexander1 #ih ,pisistratus1 #abh4 ,piso1 ,gnaeus1 #gj4 ,pity1 definition of1 #dah1 #dai2 borders on misery1 #dba4 ,plato1 #ee1 #gb1 #ie1 #ig1 #abi1 #aih #bhf4 ,pleasure1 has no connexion with virtue1 #baa1 #bab2 belongs to good and bad alike1 #bac2 not the 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