1. It was late before I received your letter, wherein you make it your request that I would write something to you concerning the tranquillity of the mind, and of those things in the Timaeus which require a more perspicuous interpretation. At the same time a very urgent occasion called upon our common friend and companion Eros to sail directly to Rome; that which quickened him to a greater expedition was a dispatch he received from Fundanus, that best of men, who, as his custom is, always enjoins the making haste. Therefore, wanting full leisure to consummate those things justly which you requested, and being on the other side unwilling to send one from me to your dear self empty handed, I have transcribed my commonplace book, and hastily put together those collections which I had by me concerning this subject; for I thought you a man that did not look after flourishes of style and the affected elegance of language, but only required what was instructive in its nature and useful to us in the conduct of our lives. And I congratulate that bravery of temper in you, that though you are admitted into the confidence of princes, and have obtained so great a vogue of eloquence at the bar that no man hath exceeded you, you have not, like the tragic Merops, suffered yourself to be puffed up with the applause of the multitude, and transported beyond those bounds which are prescribed to our passions; but you call to mind that which you have so often heard, that a rich slipper will not cure the gout, a diamond ring a whitlow, nor will an imperial diadem ease the headache. For what advantage is there in honor, riches, or an interest at court, to remove all perturbations of mind and procure an equal tenor of life, if we do not use them with decency when they are present to our enjoyment, and if we are continually afflicted by their loss when we are deprived of them? And what is this but the province of reason, when the sensual part of us grows turbulent and makes excursions, to check its sallies and bring it again within the limits it hath transgressed, that it may not be carried away and so perverted with the gay appearances of things. For as Xenophon gives advice, we ought to remember the Gods and pay them particular devotions when our affairs are prosperous, that so when an exigency presseth us we may more confidently invoke them, now we have conciliated their favor and made them our friends. So wise men always ruminate upon those arguments which have any efficacy against the troubles of the mind before their calamities happen, that so the remedies being long prepared, they may acquire energy, and work with a more powerful operation. For as angry dogs are exasperated by every one’s rating them, and are flattered to be quiet only by his voice to which they are accustomed; so it is not easy to pacify the brutish affections of the soul but by familiar reasons, and such as are used to be administered in such inward distempers.
1. Πλούταρχος Πακκίῳ εὖ πράττειν. ὀψέ σου τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐκομισάμην, ἐν παρεκάλεις περὶ εὐθυμίας σοί τι γραφῆναι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν Τιμαίῳ δεομένων ἐπιμελεστέρας ἐξηγήσεως. ἅμα δέ πως τὸν ἑταῖρον ἡμῶν Ἔρωτα κατελάμβανεν αἰτία τοῦ πλεῖν εὐθὺς εἰς Ῥώμην, παρὰ Φουνδάνου τοῦ κρατίστου γράμματα δεδεγμένον, οἷος ἐκεῖνος, ἐπιταχύνοντα. μήτε δὲ χρόνον ἔχων, ὡς προῃρούμην, γενέσθαι πρὸς οἷς ἐβούλου μήτε ὑπομένων κεναῖς παντάπασι τὸν ἄνδρα χερσὶν ὀφθῆναί σοι παρʼ ἡμῶν ἀφιγμένον, ἀνελεξάμην περὶ εὐθυμίας ἐκ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων ὧν ἐμαυτῷ πεποιημένος ἐτύγχανον ἡγούμενος καὶ σὲ τὸν λόγον τοῦτον οὐκ ἀκροάσεως ἕνεκα θηρωμένης καλλιγραφίαν ἀλλὰ χρείας βιωτικῆς ἐπιζητεῖν, καὶ συνηδόμενος, ὅτι καὶ φιλίας ἔχων ἡγεμονικὰς καὶ δόξαν οὐδενὸς ἐλάττονα τῶν ἐν ἀγορᾷ λεγόντων τὸ τοῦ τραγικοῦ Μέροπος οὐ πέπονθας, οὐδʼ ὡς ἐκεῖνον εὐδαιμονίζων ὄχλος ἐξέπληξε σε τῶν φυσικῶν παθῶν ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ἀκηκοὼς μνημονεύεις ὡς οὔτε ποδάγρας ἀπαλλάττει πατρίκιος οὔτε δακτύλιος πολυτελὴς παρωνυχίας οὔτε διάδημα κεφαλαλγίας. πόθεν γε δὴ πρὸς ἀλυπίαν ψυχῆς καὶ βίον ἀκύμονα χρημάτων ὄφελος ἢ δόξης ἢ δυνάμεως ἐν αὐλαῖς, ἂν μὴ τὸ χρώμενον εὐχάριστον ᾖ τοῖς ἔχουσι καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀπόντων μὴ δεόμενον ἀεὶ παρακολουθῇ; τί δὲ τοῦτʼ ἐστὶν ἄλλο ἢ λόγος εἰθισμένος καὶ μεμελετηκὼς τοῦ παθητικοῦ καὶ ἀλόγου τῆς ψυχῆς ἐξισταμένου πολλάκις ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι ταχὺ καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν ἀπορρέον καὶ καταφερόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν παρόντων; ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ Ξενοφῶν παρῄνει τῶν θεῶν εὐτυχοῦντας μάλιστα μεμνῆσθαι καὶ τιμᾶν, ὅπως, ὅταν ἐν χρείᾳ γενώμεθα, θαρροῦντες αὐτοὺς παρακαλῶμεν ὡς εὐμενεῖς ὄντας ἤδη καὶ φίλους· οὕτω καὶ τῶν λόγων, ὅσοι πρὸς τὰ πάθη βοηθοῦσι, δεῖ πρὸ τῶν παθῶν ἐπιμέλεσθαι τοὺς νοῦν ἔχοντας, ἵνʼ ἐκ πολλοῦ παρεσκευασμένοι μᾶλλον ὠφελῶσιν ὡς γὰρ οἱ χαλεποὶ κύνες πρὸς πᾶσαν ἐκταραττόμενοι βοὴν ὑπὸ μόνης καταπραΰνονται τῆς συνήθους, οὕτω καὶ τὰ πάθη τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς διαγριαινόμενα καταπαῦσαι ῥᾳδίως οὐκ ἔστιν ἂν μὴ λόγοι παρόντες οἰκεῖοι καὶ συνήθεις ἐπιλαμβάνωνται τῶν ταραττομένων.
2. Besides, he that affirmed that whosoever would enjoy tranquillity of mind must disengage himself from all private and public concerns, would make us pay dear for our tranquillity by buying it with idleness; as if he should prescribe thus to a sick man: —Lie still, poor wretch, and keep thy bed.Now stupefaction is a bad remedy for desperate pain in the body, and verily he would be no better physician for the soul who should order idleness, softness, and neglect of friends, kinsfolk, and country, in order to remove its trouble and grief. It is likewise a false position that those live most contentedly who have the least to do; for then by this rule women should be of more sedate dispositions than men, since they only sit at home and mind their domestic affairs. Whereas in fact, as Hesiod expresseth it, —The virgins’ tender limbs are kept from cold;Not the least wind to touch them is so bold;but nevertheless we see that grief and troubles and discontentments, arising from jealousy or superstition or vain opinions, flow as it were with a torrent into the apartments of the females. And though Laertes lived twenty years in the fields secluded from the world, andOnly a toothless hag did make his bed,Draw him his drink, and did his table spread,though he forsook his house and country, and fled from a kingdom, yet grief with his sloth and sadness still kept him company. There are some to whom idleness hath been an affliction; as for instance, —But raging still, amidst his navy satThe stern Achilles, steadfast in his hate;Nor mix’d in combat, nor in council join’d;But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind:In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll,And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul. And he himself complains of it, being mightily disturbed, after this manner: —I live an idle burden to the ground. Hence it is that Epicurus adviseth those who aspire to glory not to stagnate in their ambition, but be in perpetual motion, and so obey the dictates of their genius in managing the commonwealth; because they would be more tormented and would suffer greater damages by idleness, if they were disappointed of that they were in the eager pursuit of. But the philosopher is absurd in this, that he doth not excite men who have abilities to qualify themselves for charges in the government, but only those who are of a restless and unquiet disposition. For the tranquillity and perturbation of the mind are not to be measured by the fewness or multitude of our actions, but by their beauty or turpitude; since the omission of what is good is no less troublesome than the commission of evil.
2. ὁ μὲν οὖν εἰπὼν ὅτι δεῖ τὸν εὐθυμεῖσθαι μέλλοντα μὴ πολλὰ πρήσσειν μήτε ἰδίῃ μήτε ξυνῇ, πρῶτον μὲν ἡμῖν πολυτελῆ τὴν εὐθυμίαν καθίστησι, γιγνομένην ὤνιον ἀπραξίας· οἷον ἀρρώστῳ παραινῶν ἑκάστῳ μένʼ, ὦ ταλαίπωρʼ, ἀτρέμα σοῖς ἐν δεμνίοις καίτοι κακὸν μὲν ἀναισθησίας σώματι φάρμακον ἀπονίας· οὐδὲν δὲ βελτίων ψυχῆς ἰατρὸς ὁ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ καὶ μαλακίᾳ καὶ προδοσίᾳ φίλων καὶ οἰκείων καὶ πατρίδος ἐξαιρῶν τὸ ταραχῶδες αὐτῆς καὶ λυπηρόν. ἔπειτα καὶ ψεῦδός ἐστι τὸ εὐθυμεῖν τοὺς μὴ πολλὰ πράσσοντας· ἔδει γὰρ εὐθυμοτέρας εἶναι γυναῖκας ἀνδρῶν οἰκουρίᾳ τὰ πολλὰ συνούσας· νυνὶ δʼ ὁ μὲν βορέας διὰ παρθενικῆς ἁπαλόχροος οὐ διάησιν ὥς φησιν Ἡσίοδος, λῦπαι δὲ καὶ ταραχαὶ καὶ κακοθυμίαι διὰ ζηλοτυπίας καὶ δεισιδαιμονίας καὶ φιλοτιμίας καὶ κενῶν δοξῶν, ὅσας οὐκ ἂν εἴποι τις, εἰς τὴν γυναικωνῖτιν ὑπορρέουσιν ὁ δὲ Λαέρτης εἴκοσιν ἔτη καθʼ αὑτὸν ἐν ἀγρῷ διαιτώμενος γρηὶ σὺν ἀμφιπόλῳ, ἥ οἱ βρῶσίν τε πόσιν τε παρτίθει, τὴν μὲν πατρίδα καὶ τὸν οἶκον καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἔφυγε, τὴν δὲ λύπην μετʼ ἀπραξίας καὶ κατηφείας ἀεὶ συνοικοῦσαν εἶχεν. ἐνίους δὲ καὶ τὸ μὴ πράσσειν αὐτὸ πολλάκις εἰς ἀθυμίαν καθίστησιν, ὡς τοῦτον·αὐτὰρ ὁ μήνιε νηυσὶ παρήμενος ὠκυπόροισιδιογενὴς Πηλέως υἱός, πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύςοὔτε ποτʼ εἰς ἀγορὴν πωλέσκετο κυδιάνειραν,οὔτε ποτʼ ἐς πόλεμον, ἀλλὰ φθινύθεσκε φίλον κῆραὖθι μένων, ποθέεσκε δʼ ἀυτήν τε πτόλεμόν τε.καὶ λέγει περιπαθῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ ἀσχάλλων αὐτός ἀλλʼ ἧμαι παρὰ νηυσὶν ἐτώσιον ἄχθος ἀρούρης. ὅθεν οὐδʼ Ἐπίκουρος οἴεται δεῖν ἡσυχάζειν, ἀλλὰ τῇ φύσει χρῆσθαι πολιτευομένους καὶ πράσσοντας τὰ κοινὰ τοὺς φιλοτίμους καὶ φιλοδόξους, ὡς μᾶλλον ὑπʼ ἀπραγμοσύνης ταράττεσθαι καὶ κακοῦσθαι πεφυκότας, ἂν ὧν ὀρέγονται μὴ τυγχάνωσιν. ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἄτοπος οὐ τοὺς δυναμένους τὰ κοινὰ πράσσειν προτρεπόμενος ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν μὴ δυναμένους. δεῖ δὲ μὴ πλήθει μηδʼ ὀλιγότητι πραγμάτων, ἀλλὰ τῷ καλῷ καὶ τῷ αἰσχρῷ τὸ εὔθυμον ὁρίζειν καὶ τὸ δύσθυμον· τῶν γὰρ καλῶν ἡ παράλειψις οὐχ ἧττον ἢ τῶν φαύλων ἡ πρᾶξις ἀνιαρόν ἐστι καὶ ταραχῶδες, ὡς εἴρηται.
3. As for those who think there is one positive state of life, which is always serene, — some fancying it to be of the husbandmen, others of those which are unmarried, and some of kings, — Menander clearly shows them their error in these verses: —I thought those men, my Phania, always best,Who take no money up at interest;Who disengaged from business spend the day,And in complaints don’t sigh the night away,Who, troubled, lamentable groans don’t fetch,Thus breathing out, Ah! miserable wretch!Those whom despairing thoughts don’t waking keep,But without startings sweetly take their sleep.He goes on and observes to us, that the same lot of misfortune falls to the rich as well as the poor: —These neighbors slender confines do divide, —Sorrow and human life are still allied.It the luxurious liver doth infest,And robs the man of honor of his rest;In stricter ties doth with the poor engage,With him grows old to a decrepit age.But as timorous and raw sailors in a boat, when they grow sick with the working of the waves, think they shall overcome their pukings if they go on board of a ship but there being equally out of order, go into a galley, but are therefore never the better, because they carry their nauseousness and fear along with them; so the several changes of life do only shift and not wholly extirpate the causes of our trouble. And these are only our want of experience, the weakness of our judgment, and a certain impotence of mind which hinders us from making a right use of what we enjoy. The rich man is subject to this uneasiness of humor as well as the poor; the bachelor as well as the man in wedlock. This makes the pleader withdraw from the bar, and then his retirement is altogether as irksome. And this infuseth a desire into others to be presented at court; and when they come there, they presently grow weary of the life.Poor men when sick do peevishly complain,The sense of want doth aggravate their pain.For then the wife grows officious in her attendance, the physician himself is a disease, and the bed is not made easy enough to his mind; even his friend importunes him with his visits: —He doth molest him when he first doth come,And when he goes away he’s troublesome,as Ion expresseth it. But when the heat of the disease is over and the former temperature of the body is restored, then health returns, and brings with it all those pleasant images which sickness chased away; so that he that yesterday refused eggs and delicate cakes and the finest manchets will now snap eagerly at a piece of household bread, with an olive and a few water-cresses.
3. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἀφωρισμένως ἕνα βίον ἄλυπον νομίζοντας, ὡς ἔνιοι τὸν τῶν γεωργῶν ἢ τὸν τῶν ἠιθέων ἢ τὸν τῶν βασιλέων, ἱκανῶς ὁ Μένανδρος ὑπομιμνήσκει λέγωνᾤμην ἐγὼ τοὺς πλουσίους, ὦ Φανία,οἷς μὴ τὸ δανείζεσθαι πρόσεστιν, οὐ στένειντὰς νύκτας οὐδὲ στρεφομένους ἄνω κάτωοἴμοι λέγειν, ἡδὺν δὲ καὶ πρᾶόν τιναὕπνον καθεύδεινεἶτα προσδιελθών, ὡς καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους ἑώρα ταὐτὰ πάσχοντας τοῖς πένησιν,ἆρʼ ἐστί φησὶ συγγενές τι λύπη καὶ βίος;τρυφερῷ βίῳ σύνεστιν, ἐνδόξῳ βίῳπάρεστιν, ἀπόρῳ συγκαταγηράσκει βίῳ.ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ δειλοὶ καὶ ναυτιῶντες ἐν τῷ πλεῖν, εἶτα ῥᾷον οἰόμενοι διάξειν, ἐὰν εἰς γαῦλον ἐξ ἀκάτου καὶ πάλιν ἐὰν εἰς τριήρη μεταβῶσιν, οὐδὲν περαίνουσι, τὴν χολὴν καὶ τὴν δειλίαν συμμεταφέροντες ἑαυτοῖς· οὕτως αἱ τῶν βίων ἀντιμεταλήψεις οὐκ ἐξαιροῦσι τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ λυποῦντα καὶ ταράττοντα· ταῦτα δʼ ἐστὶν ἀπειρία πραγμάτων, ἀλογιστία, τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι μηδʼ ἐπίστασθαι χρῆσθαι τοῖς παροῦσιν ὀρθῶς· ταῦτα καὶ πλουσίους χειμάζει καὶ πένητας, ταῦτα καὶ γεγαμηκότας ἀνιᾷ καὶ ἀγάμους· διὰ ταῦτα φεύγουσι τὴν ἀγορὰν εἶτα τὴν ἡσυχίαν οὐ φέρουσι, διὰ ταῦτα προαγωγὰς ἐν αὐλαῖς διώκουσι, καὶ παρελθόντες εὐθὺς βαρύνονται. δυσάρεστον οἱ νοσοῦντες ἀπορίας ὕπο· καὶ γὰρ ἡ γυνὴ λυπεῖ καὶ τὸν ἰατρὸν αἰτιῶνται καὶ δυσχεραίνουσι τὸ κλινίδιον, φίλων δʼ ὃ τʼ ἐλθὼν λυπρὸς ὃ τʼ ἀπιὼν βαρύς ὡς ὁ Ἴων φησίν. εἶτα τῆς νόσου διαλυθείσης καὶ κράσεως ἑτέρας ἐγγενομένης, ἦλθεν ἡ ὑγίεια φίλα πάντα ποιοῦσα καὶ προσηνῆ. ὁ γὰρ ἐχθὲς ᾠὰ καὶ ἀμύλια καὶ σητάνειον ἄρτον διαπτύων, τήμερον αὐτόπυρον ἐπʼ ἐλαίαις ἢ καρδαμίδι σιτεῖται προσφιλῶς καὶ προθύμως τοιαύτην ὁ λογισμὸς εὐκολίαν καὶ μεταβολὴν ἐγγενόμενος ποιεῖ πρὸς ἕκαστον βίον.
4. So reason makes all sorts of life easy, and every change pleasant. Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds, and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: Do not you think it a matter worthy of lamentation, that, when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one? But Crates with only his scrip and tattered cloak laughed out his life jocosely, as if he had been always at a festival. The great power and command of Agamemnon gave him an equal disturbance: —Look upon Agamemnon, Atreus’s son,What mighty loads of trouble he hath on.He is distracted with perpetual care;Jove that inflicts it gives him strength to bear. Diogenes, when he was exposed to sale in the market and was commanded to stand up, not only refused to do it, but ridiculed the auctioneer, with this piece of raillery: What! if you were selling a fish, would you bid it rise up? Socrates was a philosopher in the prison, and discoursed with his friends, though he was fettered. But Phaeton, when he climbed up into heaven, thought himself unhappy there, because nobody would give him his father’s chariot and the horses of the sun. As therefore the shoe is twisted to the shape of the foot and not in the opposite way, so do the affections of the mind render the life conformable to themselves. For it is not custom, as one observed, which makes even the best life pleasant to those who choose it, but it must be prudence in conjunction with it, which makes it not only the best for its kind, but sweetest in its enjoyment. The fountain therefore of tranquillity being in ourselves, let us cleanse it from all impurity and make its streams limpid, that all external accidents, by being made familiar, may be no longer grievous to us, since we shall know how to use them well.Let not these things thy least concern engage;For though thou fret, they will not mind thy rage.Him only good and happy we may callWho rightly useth what doth him befall.
4. Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀναξάρχου περὶ κόσμων ἀπειρίας ἀκούων ἐδάκρυε, καὶ τῶν φίλων ἐρωτώντων ὅ τι πέπονθεν, οὐκ ἄξιον ἔφη δακρύειν, εἰ κόσμων ὄντων ἀπείρων ἑνὸς οὐδέπω κύριοι γεγόναμεν; Κράτης δὲ πήραν ἔχων καὶ τρίβωνα παίζων καὶ γελῶν ὥσπερ ἐν ἑορτῇ τὸν βίον διετέλεσε. καὶ μὴν καὶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα τὸ πολλῶν βασιλεύειν ἐλύπει,γνώσεαι Ἀτρείδην Ἀγαμέμνονα, τὸν περὶ πάντωνΖεὺς ἐνέηκε πόνοισι διαμπερέςΔιογένης δὲ πωλούμενος ἔσκωπτε τὸν κήρυκα κατακείμενος· ἀναστῆναι δʼ οὐκ ἐβούλετο κελεύοντος, ἀλλὰ παίζων καὶ καταγελῶν ἔλεγεν εἰ δʼ ἰχθῦν ἐπίπρασκες; καὶ Σωκράτης μὲν ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ φιλοσοφῶν διελέγετο τοῖς ἑταίροις· ὁ δὲ Φαέθων ἀναβὰς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἔκλαιεν, εἰ μηδεὶς αὐτῷ τοὺς τοῦ πατρὸς ἵππους καὶ τὸ ἅρμα παραδίδωσιν. ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ὑπόδημα τῷ ποδὶ συνδιαστρέφεται καὶ οὐ τοὐναντίον, οὕτω τοὺς βίους αἱ διαθέσεις συνεξομοιοῦσιν αὑταῖς. οὐ γὰρ ἡ συνήθεια ποιεῖ τοῖς ἑλομένοις τὸν ἄριστον βίον ἡδὺν ὥς τις εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ φρονεῖν ἅμα τὸν αὐτὸν βίον ποιεῖ καὶ ἄριστον καὶ ἥδιστον. διὸ τὴν πηγὴν τῆς εὐθυμίας ἐν αὐτοῖς οὖσαν ἡμῖν ἐκκαθαίρωμεν, ἵνα καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς ὡς οἰκεῖα καὶ φίλα μὴ χαλεπῶς χρωμένοις συμφέρηταιτοῖς πράγμασιν γὰρ οὐχὶ θυμοῦσθαι χρεών·μέλει γὰρ αὐτοῖς οὐδέν· ἀλλʼ οὑντυγχάνωντὰ πράγματʼ ὀρθῶς ἂν τιθῇ, πράσσει καλῶς Κυβείᾳ γὰρ ὁ Πλάτων τὸν βίον ἀπείκασεν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ βάλλειν δεῖ τὰ πρόσφορα, καὶ βαλόντα χρῆσθαι καλῶς τοῖς πεσοῦσι.
5. For Plato compared our life to a game at dice, where we ought to throw for what is most commodious for us, but when we have thrown, to make the best of our casts. We cannot make what chances we please turn up, if we play fair; this lies out of our power. That which is within our power, and is our duty if we are wise, is to accept patiently what Fortune shall allot us, and so to adjust things in their proper places, that what is our own may be disposed of to the best advantage, and what hath happened against our will may offend us as little as possible. But as to men who live without measures and with no prudence, like those whose constitution is so sickly and infirm that they are equally impatient both of heats and colds, prosperity exalts them above their temper, and adversity dejects them beneath it; indeed each fortune disturbs them, or rather they raise up storms to themselves in either, and they are especially querulous under good circumstances. Theodorus, who was called the Atheist, was used to say, that he reached out his instructions with the right hand, and his auditors received them with their left hands. So men of no education, when Fortune would even be complaisant to them, are yet so awkward in their observance, that they take her addresses on the wrong side. On the contrary, men that are wise, as the bees draw honey from the thyme, which is a most unsavory and dry herb, extract something that is convenient and useful even from the most bitter afflictions.
5. τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν βάλλειν οὐκ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, τὸ δὲ προσηκόντως δέχεσθαι τὰ γιγνόμενα παρὰ τῆς τύχης καὶ νέμειν ἑκάστῳ τόπον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ὠφελήσει μάλιστα καὶ τὸ ἀβούλητον ἥκιστα λυπήσει τοὺς ἐπιτυγχάνοντας, ἡμέτερον ἔργον ἐστίν, ἂν εὖ φρονῶμεν. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἀτέχνους καὶ ἀνοήτους περὶ τὸν βίον, ὥσπερ τοὺς νοσώδεις τοῖς σώμασι μήτε καῦμα φέρειν μήτε κρύος δυναμένους ἐξίστησι μὲν εὐτυχία συστέλλει δὲ δυστυχία· ταράττονται δʼ ὑπʼ ἀμφοτέρων, μᾶλλον δʼ ὑφʼ αὑτῶν ἐν ἀμφοτέροις καὶ οὐχ ἧττον ἐν τοῖς λεγομένοις ἀγαθοῖς. Θεόδωρος μὲν γὰρ ὁ κληθεὶς ἄθεος ἔλεγε, τῇ δεξιᾷ τοὺς λόγους ὀρέγοντος αὐτοῦ, τῇ ἀριστερᾷ δέχεσθαι τοὺς ἀκροωμένους· οἱ δʼ ἀπαίδευτοι πολλάκις τὴν τύχην δεξιὰν παρισταμένην ἐπαριστέρως λαμβάνοντες ἀσχημονοῦσιν οἱ δὲ φρόνιμοι, καθάπερ ταῖς μελίτταις φέρει μέλι τὸ δριμύτατον καὶ ξηρότατον ὁ θύμος, οὕτως ἀπὸ τῶν δυσχερεστάτων πολλάκις πραγμάτων οἰκεῖόν τι καὶ χρήσιμον αὑτοῖς λαμβάνουσι.
6. This therefore let us learn and have inculcated upon us; like the man who threw a stone at a bitch, but hit his step-mother, on which he exclaimed, Not so bad. So we may often turn the direction of what Fortune obtrudes upon us contrary to our desires. Diogenes was driven into banishment, but it was “not so bad” for him; for of an exile he became a philosopher. Zeno of Citium, when he heard that the only ship he had left was sunk by an unmerciful tempest, with all the rich cargo that was in her, brake out into this exclamation: Fortune, I applaud thy contrivance, who by this means hast reduced me to a threadbare cloak and the piazza of the Stoics. What hinders then but that these examples should be the patterns of our imitation? Thou stoodst candidate for a place in the government, and wast baulked in thy hopes; consider that thou wilt live at ease in thy own country, following thy own affairs. Thou wast ambitious to be the confidant of some great person, and sufferedst a repulse; thou wilt gain thus much by it, that thou wilt be free from danger and disembarrassed from business. Again, hast thou managed any affairs full of intricacy and trouble? Hot water doth not so much cherish the soft members of the body, as Pindar expresseth it, as glory and honor joined with power sweeten all our toils and make labor easy. Hast thou met with any unfortunate success? Hath calumny bit, or envy hissed at thee? There is yet a prosperous gale, which sits fair to convey thee to the port of the Muses and land thee at the Academy. This Plato did, after he made shipwreck of the friendship of Diogenes. And indeed it highly conduceth to the tranquillity of the mind, to look back upon illustrious men and see with what temper they have borne their calamities. For instance, doth it trouble thee that thou wantest children? Consider that kings of the Romans have died without them, — had kingdoms to leave, but no heirs. Doth poverty and low condition afflict thee? It is put to thy option, wouldst thou not rather of all the Boeotians be Epaminondas, and of all the Romans Fabricius? But thy bed is violated, and thy wife is an adulteress. Didst thou never read this inscription at Delphi? —Here am I set by Agis’ royal hand,Who both the earth and ocean did command.And yet did the report never arrive thee that Alcibiades debauched this king’s wife, Timaea? — and that she herself whispered archly to her maids, that the child was not the genuine offspring of her husband, but a young Alcibiades? Yet this did not obstruct the glory of the man; for, notwithstanding his being a cuckold, he was the greatest and most famous among the Greeks. Nor did the dissolute manners of his daughter hinder Stilpo from enlivening his humor and being the jolliest philosopher of his time; for when Metrocles upbraided him with it, he asked him whether he was the offender or his mad girl. He answered, that it was her sin but his misfortune. To which Stilpo replied: But are not sins lapses? No doubt of it, saith Metrocles. And is not that properly called lapse, when we fall off from the attainment of those things we were in the pursuit of? He could not deny it. He pursued him further with this question: And are not these unlucky traverses misfortunes to them who are thus disappointed? Thus by a pleasant and philosophical reasoning he turned the discourse, and showed the Cynic that his calumny was idle and he barked in vain.
6. τοῦτʼ οὖν δεῖ πρῶτον ἀσκεῖν καὶ μελετᾶν, ὥσπερ ὁ τῆς κυνὸς ἁμαρτὼν τῷ λίθῳ καὶ τὴν μητρυιὰν πατάξας οὐδʼ οὕτως ἔφη κακῶς· ἔξεστι γὰρ μεθιστάναι τὴν τύχην ἐκ τῶν ἀβουλήτων. ἐφυγαδεύθη Διογένης, οὐδʼ οὕτω κακῶς ἤρξατο γὰρ φιλοσοφεῖν μετὰ τὴν φυγήν. Ζήνωνι τῷ Κιτιεῖ μία ναῦς περιῆν φορτηγός· πυθόμενος δὲ ταύτην αὐτόφορτον ἀπολωλέναι συγκλυσθεῖσαν εὖγʼ εἶπεν ὦ τύχη ποιεῖς, εἰς τὸν τρίβωνα καὶ τὴν στοὰν συνελαύνουσʼ ἡμᾶς. τί οὖν κωλύει μιμεῖσθαι τούτους; ἀρχὴν παραγγέλλων διήμαρτες; ἐν ἀγρῷ διάξεις ἐπιμελόμενος τῶν ἰδίων. ἀλλὰ φιλίαν μνώμενος ἡγεμόνος ἀπώσθης; ἀκινδύνως καὶ ἀπραγμόνως βιώσῃ. πάλιν ἐν πράγμασιν ἀσχολίας ἔχουσι καὶ φροντίδας γέγονας; οὐδὲ θερμὸν ὕδωρ τοσόνδε τέγξει μαλθακὰ γυῖα κατὰ Πίνδαρον, ὡς δόξα ποιεῖ καὶ τὸ τιμᾶσθαι μετά τινος δυνάμεως πόνον ἡδὺν κάματὸν τʼ εὐκάματον. ἀλλά τις ἀπήντησεν ἐκ διαβολῆς ἢ φθόνου δυσημερία καὶ σκορακισμός; ἐπὶ τὰς Μούσας οὔριον τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὴν Ἀκαδήμειαν, ὥσπερ Πλάτωνι χειμασθέντι περὶ τὴν Διονυσίου φιλίαν. διὸ καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς εὐθυμίαν μέγα, τὸ τοὺς ἐνδόξους ἀποθεωρεῖν, εἰ μηδὲν ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν πεπόνθασιν. οἷον ἀπαιδία τὸ λυποῦν ἐστι; τοὺς Ῥωμαίων ὅρα βασιλεῖς, ὧν οὐδεὶς υἱῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπέλιπε πενίᾳ δυσφορεῖς παρούσῃ; καὶ τίς ἂν ἐβούλου μᾶλλον εἶναι Βοιωτῶν ἢ Ἐπαμεινώνδας; τίς δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἢ Φαβρίκιος; ἀλλὰ διέφθαρταί σου τὸ γύναιον; οὐκ ἀνέγνωκας οὖν τοὐπίγραμμα τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ὑγρᾶς καὶ τραφερᾶς βασιλεὺς Ἆγίς μʼ ἀνέθηκεν· οὐδʼ ἀκήκοας, ὅτι τούτου τὴν γυναῖκα Τιμαίαν Ἀλκιβιάδης διέφθειρε, καὶ τὸ γεννηθὲν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐκάλει ψιθυρίζουσα πρὸς τὰς θεραπαινίδας; ἀλλὰ τοῦτʼ Ἆγιν οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν ἐνδοξότατον Ἑλλήνων εἶναι καὶ μέγιστον ὥσπερ οὐδὲ Στίλπωνα τῶν κατʼ αὐτὸν φιλοσόφων ἱλαρώτατα ζῆν ἀκόλαστος οὖσʼ ἡ θυγάτηρ· ἀλλὰ καὶ Μητροκλέους ὀνειδίσαντος ἐμὸν οὖν ἔφη ἁμάρτημα τοῦτʼ ἐστὶν ἢ ἐκείνης; εἰπόντος δὲ τοῦ Μητροκλέους ἐκείνης μὲν ἁμάρτημα σὸν δʼ ἀτύχημα· πῶς λέγεις; εἶπεν οὐχὶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα καὶ διαπτώματʼ ἐστί; πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη. τὰ δὲ διαπτώματʼ οὐχ ὧν διαπτώματα καὶ ἀποτεύγματα; συνωμολόγησε καὶ ὁ Μητροκλῆς. τὰ δʼ ἀποτεύγματʼ οὐχ ὧν ἀποτεύγματʼ καὶ ἀτυχήματα; πράῳ λόγῳ καὶ φιλοσόφῳ κενὸν ἀποδείξας ὕλαγμα, τὴν τοῦ κυνικοῦ βλασφημίαν.
7. But there are some whom not only the evil dispositions of their friends and domestics, but those of their enemies, give disturbance to. For a proneness to speak evil of another, anger, envy, ill-nature, a jealous and perverse temper, are the pests of those who are infected with them. And these serve only to trouble and exasperate fools, like the brawls of scolding neighbors, the peevishness of our acquaintance, and the iniquity or want of qualifications in those who administer the government. But thou seemest to me to be especially concerned with affairs of this nature; for, like the physicians mentioned by Sophocles, —Who bitter choler cleanse and scourWith drugs as bitter and as sour, —thou dost let other men’s enormities sour thy blood; which is highly irrational. For, even in matters of private management, thou dost not always employ men of wit and address, which are the most proper for such an execution, but sometimes those of rough and crooked dispositions; and to animadvert upon them for every peccadillo thou must not think belongs to thee, nor is it easy in the performance. But if thou makest that use of them, as chirurgeons do of forceps to pull out teeth or ligatures to bind wounds, and so appear cheerful whatever falls out, the satisfaction of thy mind will delight thee more than the concern at other men’s pravity and malicious humor will disturb thee. Otherwise, as dogs bark at all persons indifferently, so, if thou persecutest everybody that offends thee, thou wilt bring the matter to this pass by thy imprudence, that all things will flow down into this imbecility of thy mind, as a place void and capable of receiving them, and at last thou wilt be filled with nothing but other men’s miscarriages. For if some of the philosophers inveigh against compassion which others’ calamities affect us with, as a soft affection (saying, that we ought to give real assistance to those in distress, and not to be dejected or sympathize with them), and if — which is a thing of higher moment — they discard all sadness and uneasiness when the sense of a vice or a disease is upon us, saying that we ought to cure the indisposition without being grieved; is it not highly consonant to reason, that we should not storm or fret, if those we have to do with are not so wise and honest as they should be? Let us consider the thing truly, my Paccius, lest, whilst we find fault with others, we prove partial in our own respect through inadvertency, and lest our censuring their failings may proceed not so much from a hatred of their vices as from love of ourselves. We should not have our passions moved at every provocation, nor let our desires grow exorbitant beyond what is just; for these little aversions of our temper engender suspicions, and infuse moroseness into us, which makes us surly to those who precluded the way to our ambition, or who made us fall into those disastrous events we would willingly have shunned. But he that hath a smoothness in his nature and a talent of moderation can transact and converse with mankind easily and with mildness.
7. τοὺς δὲ πολλοὺς οὐ μόνον τὰ τῶν φίλων καὶ οἰκείων ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀνιᾷ καὶ παροξύνει κακά. βλασφημίαι γὰρ καὶ ὀργαὶ καὶ φθόνοι καὶ κακοήθειαι καὶ ζηλοτυπίαι μετὰ δυσμενείας αὐτῶν μέν εἰσι τῶν ἐχόντων κῆρες, ἐνοχλοῦσι δὲ καὶ παροξύνουσι τοὺς ἀνοήτους· ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ γειτόνων ἀκραχολίαι καὶ συνήθων δυσκολίαι καὶ τῶν περὶ τὰς πράξεις ὑπουργῶν μοχθηρίαι τινές. ὑφʼ ὧν οὐχ ἣκιστά μοι δοκεῖς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιταραττόμενος, ὥσπερ οἱ Σοφοκλέους ἰατροὶ πικρὰν χολὴν κλύζουσι φαρμάκῳ πικρῷ οὕτως ἀντιχαλεπαίνειν καὶ συνεκπικραίνεσθαι τοῖς ἐκείνων πάθεσι καὶ νοσήμασιν, οὐκ εὐλόγως. ἃ γὰρ πράττεις πράγματα πεπιστευμένος, οὐχ ἁπλοῖς ἤθεσιν οὐδὲ χρηστοῖς ὥσπερ εὐφυέσιν ὀργάνοις ἀλλὰ καρχάροις τὰ πολλὰ καὶ σκολιοῖς διακονεῖται. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀπευθύνειν ταῦτα μὴ νόμιζε σὸν ἔργον εἶναι μηδʼ ἄλλως ῥᾴδιον· ἂν δʼ ὡς τοιούτοις αὐτοῖς πεφυκόσι χρώμενος, ὥσπερ ἰατρὸς ὀδοντάγραις καὶ ἀγκτῆρσιν, ἤπιος φαίνῃ καὶ μέτριος ἐκ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων, εὐφρανῇ τῇ σῇ διαθέσει μᾶλλον ἢ λυπήσει ταῖς ἑτέρων ἀηδίαις καὶ μοχθηρίαις· καὶ ὥσπερ κύνας ἂν ὑλακτῶσι, τὸ προσῆκον αὐτοῖς ἐκείνους οἰόμενος περαίνειν, ἐπιλήσῃ πολλὰ λυπηρὰ συνάγων, ὥσπερ εἰς χωρίον κοῖλον καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐπιρρέοντα, τὴν μικροψυχίαν ταύτην καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἀλλοτρίων ἀναπιμπλαμένην κακῶν. ὅπου γὰρ ἔνιοι τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ τὸν ἔλεον ψέγουσι πρὸς ἀτυχοῦντας ἀνθρώπους γιγνόμενον, ὡς καλοῦ τοῦ βοηθεῖν οὐ τοῦ συναλγεῖν καὶ συνενδιδόναι τοῖς πλησίον ὄντος· ὃ δὲ μεῖζόν ἐστιν, οὐδʼ αὑτῶν ἁμαρτανόντων καὶ διακειμένων φαύλως τὸ ἦθος αἰσθανομένους ἀθυμεῖν καὶ δυσφορεῖν ἐῶσιν, ἀλλὰ θεραπεύειν ἄνευ λύπης τὴν κακίαν δεῖ· σκόπει πῶς οὐκ ἄλογόν ἐστι περιορᾶν αὑτούς, ὅτι μὴ πάντες εἰσὶν οἱ χρώμενοι καὶ προσιόντες ἡμῖν ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ χαρίεντες, ἀχθομένους καὶ δυσκολαίνοντας. ἀλλʼ ὅρα, φίλε Πάκκιε, μὴ λανθάνομεν ἑαυτοὺς οὐ τὸ καθόλου τῆς μοχθηρίας τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ἀλλὰ τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὑπὸ φιλαυτίας τινὸς οὐ μισοπονηρίας προβαλλόμενοι καὶ δεδοικότες. αἱ γὰρ σφοδραὶ περὶ τὰ πράγματα πτοῖαι καὶ παρʼ ἀξίαν ἐφέσεις καὶ διώξεις ἢ πάλιν ἀποστροφαὶ καὶ διαβολαὶ τὰς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐγγεννῶσιν ὑποψίας καὶ δυσκολίας, ὑφʼ ὧν τὰ μὲν ἀποστερεῖσθαι τοῖς δὲ περιπίπτειν δοκοῦμεν. ὁ δὲ τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐθισθεὶς ἐλαφρῶς συμπεριφέρεσθαι καὶ μετρίως εὐκολώτατος ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλεῖν γίγνεται καὶ πραότατος;.
8. Let us recapitulate therefore what we have said. When we are in a fever, every thing that we taste is not only unsavory but bitter; but when we see others relish it without any disgust, we do not then lay the blame either upon the meat or drink, but conclude that only ourselves and the disease are in fault. In like manner we shall cease to bear things impatiently, if we see others enjoy them with alacrity and humor. And this likewise is a great promoter of the tranquillity of the mind, if, amongst those ill successes which carry a dismal appearance, we look upon other events which have a more beautiful aspect, and so blend them together that we may overcome the bad by the mixture of the good. But although, when our eyes are dazzled with too intense a splendor, we refresh our sight by viewing something that is green and florid, yet we fix the optics of our minds upon doleful objects, and compel them to dwell upon the recital of our miseries, plucking them perforce, as it were, from the consideration of what is better. And here we may insert that which was said to a pragmatical fellow, handsomely enough: —Why so quick sighted others’ faults to find,But to thy own so partially art blind?’Tis malice that exasperates thy mind. But why, my friend, art thou so acute to discern even thy own misfortunes, and so industrious to renew them and set them in thy sight, that they may be the more conspicuous, while thou never turnest thy consideration to those good things which are present with thee and thou dost enjoy But as cupping-glasses draw the impurest blood out of the body, so thou dost extract the quintessence of infelicity to afflict thyself. In this thou art no better than the Chian merchant, who, while he sold abundance of his best and most generous wine to others, called for some that was pricked and vapid to taste at supper; and one of his servants asking another what he left his master doing, he made this answer, that he was calling for bad when the good was by him. For most men leave the pleasant and delectable things behind them, and run with haste to embrace those which are not only difficult but intolerable. Aristippus was not of this number, for he knew, even to the niceness of a grain, to put prosperous against adverse fortune into the scale, that the one might outweigh the other. Therefore when he lost a noble farm, he asked one of his dissembled friends, who pretended to be sorry, not, only with regret but impatience, for his mishap: Thou hast but one piece of land, but have I not three farms yet remaining? He assenting to the truth of it: Why then, saith he, should I not rather lament your misfortune, since it is the raving only of a mad man to be concerned at what is lost, and not rather rejoice in what is left? Thus, as children, if you rob them of one of their play-games, will throw away the rest, and cry and scream; so, if Fortune infest us only in one part, we grow fearful and abandon ourselves wholly to her attacks.
8. ὅθεν ἐκεῖνον αὖθις τὸν περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων λόγον ἀναλάβωμεν. ὡς γὰρ ἐν τῷ πυρέττειν πικρὰ πάντα καὶ ἀηδῆ φαίνεται γευομένοις, ἀλλʼ ὅταν ἴδωμεν ἑτέρους ταὐτὰ προσφερομένους καὶ μὴ δυσχεραίνοντας, οὐκέτι τὸ σιτίον οὐδὲ τὸ ποτὸν ἀλλʼ αὑτοὺς αἰτιώμεθα καὶ τὴν νόσον· οὕτω καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι παυσόμεθα μεμφόμενοι καὶ δυσχεραίνοντες, ἂν ἑτέρους ταὐτὰ προσδεχομένους ἀλύπως καὶ ἱλαρῶς ὁρῶμεν. ἀγαθὸν τοίνυν ἐν τοῖς ἀβουλήτοις συμπτώμασι πρὸς εὐθυμίαν καὶ τὸ μὴ παρορᾶν ὅσα προσφιλῆ καὶ ἀστεῖα πάρεστιν ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ μιγνύντας ἐξαμαυροῦν τὰ χείρονα τοῖς βελτίοσι. νῦν δὲ τὰς μὲν ὄψεις ὑπὸ τῶν ἄγαν λαμπρῶν τιτρωσκομένας ἀποστρέφοντες, ταῖς ἀνθηραῖς καὶ ποώδεσι χρόαις παρηγοροῦμεν τὴν δὲ διάνοιαν ἐντείνομεν εἰς τὰ λυπηρὰ καὶ προσβιαζόμεθα τοῖς τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἐνδιατρίβειν ἀναλογισμοῖς, μονονοὺ βίᾳ τῶν βελτιόνων ἀποσπάσαντες. καίτοι τό γε πρὸς τὸν πολυπράγμονα λελεγμένον οὐκ ἀηδῶς δεῦρʼ ἔστι μετενεγκεῖντί τἀλλότριον, ἄνθρωπε βασκανώτατε,κακὸν ὀξυδορκεῖς, τὸ δʼ ἴδιον παραβλέπεις;τί τὸ σεαυτοῦ κακόν, ὦ μακάριε, λίαν καταβλέπεις καὶ ποιεῖς ἐναργὲς ἀεὶ καὶ πρόσφατον ἀγαθοῖς δὲ παροῦσιν οὐ προσάγεις τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ αἱ σικύαι τὸ χείριστον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς ἕλκουσιν, οὕτω τὰ κάκιστα τῶν ἰδίων συνάγεις ἐπὶ σαυτόν, οὐδὲν τι τοῦ Χίου βελτίων γενόμενος ὃς πολὺν καὶ χρηστὸν οἶνον ἑτέροις πιπράσκων ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὸ ἄριστον ὀξίνην ἐζήτει διαγευόμενος, οἰκέτης δέ τις ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑφʼ ἑτέρου τί ποιοῦντα τὸν δεσπότην καταλέλοιπεν ἀγαθῶν ἔφη παρόντων, κακὸν ζητοῦντα; καὶ γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ τὰ χρηστὰ καὶ πότιμα τῶν ἰδίων ὑπερβαίνοντες ἐπὶ τὰ μοχθηρὰ καὶ δυσχερῆ τρέχουσιν. ὁ δʼ Ἀρίστιππος οὐ τοιοῦτος, ἀλλʼ ἀγαθὸς ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ζυγοῦ πρὸς τὰ βελτίονα τῶν ὑποκειμένων ἐξαναφέρειν καὶ ἀνακουφίζειν αὑτόν· χωρίον γοῦν ἀπολέσας καλὸν ἠρώτησεν ἕνα τῶν πάνυ προσποιουμένων συνάχθεσθαι καὶ συναγανακτεῖν οὐχὶ σοὶ μὲν χωρίδιον ἓν ἔστιν, ἐμοὶ δὲ τρεῖς ἀγροὶ καταλείπονται; συνομολογήσαντος δʼ ἐκείνου, τί οὖν εἶπεν οὐ σοὶ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς συναχθόμεθα μανικὸν γάρ ἐστι τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις ἀνιᾶσθαι μὴ χαίρειν δὲ τοῖς σῳζομένοις, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ τὰ μικρὰ παιδάρια, ἀπὸ πολλῶν παιγνίων ἂν ἕν τις ἀφέληταί τι, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα προσρίψαντα κλαίει καὶ βοᾷ, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἡμᾶς περὶ ἓν ὀχληθέντας ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ποιεῖν ἀνόνητα ἑαυτοῖς ὀδυρομένους καὶ δυσφοροῦντας.
9. But somebody will object to me, What is it that we have? Rather, What is it that we have not? One is honorable, the other is master of a family; this man hath a good wife, the other a faithful friend. Antipater of Tarsus, when he was upon his death-bed and reckoning up all the good events which had befallen him, would not omit a prosperous voyage which he had when he sailed from Cilicia to Athens. Even the trite and common blessings are not to be despised, but ought to take up a room in our deliberations. We should rejoice that we live, and are in health, and see the sun; that there are no wars nor seditions in our country; that the earth yields to cultivation. and that the sea is open to our traffic; that we can talk, be silent, do business, and be at leisure, when we please. They will afford us greater tranquillity of mind present, if we form some just ideas of them when they are absent; if we often call to our remembrance how solicitous the sick man is after health, how acceptable peace is to put out a war, and what a courtesy it will do us to gain credit and acquire friends in a city of note, where we are strangers and unknown; and contrariwise, how great a grief it is to forego these things when we once have them. For surely a thing does not become great and precious when we have lost it, while it is of no account so long as we possess it; for the value of a thing cannot be increased by its loss. But we ought not to take pains to acquire things as being of great value, and to be in fear and trembling lest we may lose them, as if they were precious, and then all the time they are safe in our possession, to neglect them as if they were of no importance. But we are so to use them that we may reap satisfaction and gain a solid pleasure from them, that so we may be the better enabled to endure their loss with evenness of temper. But most men, as Arcesilaus observed, think they must be critics upon other men’s poems, survey their pictures with a curious eye, and examine their statues with all the delicacy of sculpture, but in the meanwhile transiently pass over their own lives, though there be some things in them which will not only detain but please their consideration. But they will not restrain the prospect to themselves, but are perpetually looking abroad, and so become servile admirers of other men’s fortune and reputation; as adulterers are always gloating upon other men’s wives and contemning their own.
9. καὶ τί, φήσαι τις ἄν, ἔχομεν; τί δʼ οὐκ ἔχομεν; ὁ μὲν δόξαν ὁ δʼ οἶκον ὁ δὲ γάμον τῷ δὲ φίλος ἀγαθός ἐστιν. Ἀντίπατρος δʼ ὁ Ταρσεὺς πρὸς τῷ τελευτᾶν ἀναλογιζόμενος ὧν ἔτυχεν ἀγαθῶν, οὐδὲ τὴν εὔπλοιαν παρέλιπε τὴν ἐκ Κιλικίας αὐτῷ γενομένην εἰς Ἀθήνας. δεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ κοινὰ μὴ παρορᾶν ἀλλʼ ἔν τινι λόγῳ τίθεσθαι καὶ χαίρειν, ὅτι ζῶμεν ὑγιαίνομεν τὸν ἣλιον ὁρῶμεν· οὔτε πόλεμος οὔτε στάσις ἐστίν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ γῆ παρέχει γεωργεῖν καὶ θάλασσα πλεῖν ἀδεῶς τοῖς βουλομένοις· καὶ λέγειν ἔξεστι καὶ πράττειν καὶ σιωπᾶν καὶ σχολάζειν. εὐθυμήσομεν δὲ τούτοις μᾶλλον παροῦσιν, ἂν μὴ παρόντων αὐτῶν φαντασίαν λαμβάνωμεν ἀναμιμνήσκοντες αὑτοὺς πολλάκις, ὡς ποθεινόν ἐστιν ὑγεία νοσοῦσι καὶ πολεμουμένοις εἰρήνη, καὶ κτήσασθαι δόξαν ἐν πόλει τηλικαύτῃ καὶ φίλους ἀγνῶτι καὶ ξένῳ· καὶ; τὸ στέρεσθαι γενομένων ὡς ἀνιαρόν. οὐ γὰρ τότε γίγνεται μέγα καὶ τίμιον ἕκαστον ἡμῖν, ὅταν ἀπόληται, σῳζόμενον δὲ τὸ μηδέν ἐστιν· οὐδενὶ γὰρ ἀξίαν τὸ μὴ εἶναι προστίθησιν. οὐδὲ δεῖ κτᾶσθαι μὲν ὡς μεγάλα καὶ τρέμειν ἀεὶ δεδιότας ὡς ὑπὲρ μεγάλων μὴ στερηθῶμεν, ἔχοντας δὲ παρορᾶν καὶ καταφρονεῖν ὡς μηδενὸς ἀξίων ἀλλὰ χρῆσθαι μάλιστα ἐπὶ τῷ χαίρειν καὶ, ἀπολαύειν αὐτῶν, ἵνα καὶ τὰς ἀποβολάς, ἂν συντυγχάνωσι, πραότερον φέρωμεν. οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ ποιήματα μέν, ὡς ἔλεγεν Ἀρκεσίλαος, ἀλλότρια καὶ γραφὰς καὶ ἀνδριάντας οἴονται δεῖν ἀκριβῶς καὶ κατά μέρος ἕκαστον ἐπιπορευόμενοι τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ τῇ ὄψει θεωρεῖν, τὸν δʼ ἑαυτῶν βίον ἔχοντα πολλὰς οὐκ ἀτερπεῖς ἀναθεωρήσεις ἐῶσιν, ἔξω βλέποντες ἀεὶ καὶ θαυμάζοντες ἀλλοτρίας δόξας καὶ τύχας, ὥσπερ μοιχοὶ τὰς ἑτέρων γυναῖκας αὑτῶν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων καταφρονοῦντες.
10. Besides, this is a thing highly conducing to the tranquillity of the mind, for a man chiefly to consider himself and his own affairs. But if this always cannot take place, he should not make comparisons with men of a superior condition to himself; though this is the epidemical frenzy of the vulgar. As for instance, slaves who lie in fetters applaud their good fortune whose shackles are off; those who are loosed from their bonds would be free men by manumission; these again aspire to be citizens; the citizen would be rich; the wealthy man would be a governor of a province; the haughty governor would be a king, and the king a God, hardly resting content unless he can hurl thunderbolts and dart lightning. So all are eager for what is above them, and are never content with what they have.The wealth of golden Gyges has no delight for me.Likewise, —No emulation doth my spirits fire,The actions of the Gods I don’t admire.I would not, to be great, a tyrant be;The least appearances I would not see.But one of Thasis, another of Chios, one of Galatia, and a fourth of Bithynia, not contenting themselves with the rank they enjoyed amongst their fellow-citizens, where they had honor and commands, complain that they have not foreign characters and are not made patricians of Rome: and if they attain that dignity, that they are not praetors; and if they arrive even to that degree, they still think themselves ill dealt with that they are not consuls; and when promoted to the fasces, that they were declared the second, and not the first. And what is all this but ungratefully accusing Fortune, and industriously picking out occasions to punish and torment ourselves? But he that is in his right senses and wise for his own advantage, out of those many millions which the sun looks upon,Who of the products of the earth do eat,if he sees any one in the mighty throng who is more rich and honorable than himself, he is neither dejected in his mind nor countenance, nor doth he pensively sit down deploring his unhappiness, but he walks abroad publicly with an honest assurance. He celebrates his own good genius, and boasts of his good fortune in that it is happier than a thousand other men’s which are in the world. In the Olympic games you cannot gain the victory choosing your antagonist. But in human life affairs allow thee to excel many and to bear thyself aloft, and to be envied rather than envious; unless indeed thou dost match thyself unequally with a Briareus or a Hercules. Therefore, when thou art surprised into a false admiration of him who is carried in his sedan, cast thy eyes downward upon the slaves who support his luxury. When thou art wondering at the greatness of Xerxes crossing the Hellespont, consider those wretches who are digging through Mount Athos, who are urged to their labor with blows, blood being mixed with their sweat; call to mind that they had their ears and noses cut off, because the bridge was broken by the violence of the waves; think upon that secret reflection they have, and how happy they would esteem thy life and condition. Socrates hearing one of his friends crying out, How dear things are sold in this city! the wine of Chios costs a mina, the purple fish three, and a half pint of honey five drachms, — he brought him to the meal-shop, and showed him that half a peck of flour was sold for a penny.’Tis a cheap city, said he. Then he brought him to the oil-man’s, and told him he might have a quart of olives for two farthings. At last he went to the salesman’s, and convinced him that the purchase of a sleeveless jerkin was only ten drachms.’Tis a cheap city, he repeated. So, when we hear others declare that our condition is afflicted because we are not consuls and in eminent command, let us then look upon ourselves as living not only in a bare happiness but splendor, in that we do not beg our bread, and are not forced to subsist by carrying of burthens or by flattery.
10. καίτοι καὶ τοῦτο μέγα πρὸς εὐθυμίαν ἐστί, τὸ μάλιστα μὲν αὑτὸν ἐπισκοπεῖν καὶ τὰ καθʼ αὑτόν, εἰ δὲ μή, τοὺς ὑποδεεστέρους ἀποθεωρεῖν καὶ μή, καθάπερ οἱ πολλοί, πρὸς τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας ἀντιπαρεξάγουσιν. οἷον εὐθύς, οἱ δεδεμένοι εὐδαιμονίζουσι τοὺς λελυμένους, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ τοὺς ἐλευθέρους οἱ δʼ ἐλεύθεροι. τοὺς πολίτας, οὗτοι δὲ πάλιν αὖ τοὺς πλουσίους, οἱ δὲ πλούσιοι τοὺς σατράπας οἱ δὲ σατράπαι τοὺς βασιλεῖς, οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς τοὺς θεούς, μονονοὺ βροντᾶν καὶ ἀστράπτειν θέλοντες. εἷθʼ οὕτως ἀεὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοὺς ἐνδεεῖς ὄντες οὐδέποτε τοῖς καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς χάριν ἔχουσιν. οὔ μοι τὰ Γύγεω τοῦ πολυχρύσου μέλει· καίοὐδʼ εἷλὲ πώ με ζῆλος, οὐδʼ ἀγαίομαιθεῶν ἔργα, μεγάλης δʼ οὐκ ἐρέω τυραννίδοςἀπόπροθεν γάρ ἐστιν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐμῶν.Θάσιος γὰρ ἦν ἐκεῖνος· ἄλλος δέ τις Χῖος, ἄλλος δὲ Γαλάτης ἢ Βιθυνὸς οὐκ ἀγαπῶν, εἴ τινος μερίδος ἦν ἢ δόξαν ἢ δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πολίταις εἴληχεν, ἀλλὰ κλαίων ὅτι μὴ φορεῖ πατρικίους ἐὰν δὲ καὶ φορῇ, ὅτι μηδέπω στρατηγεῖ Ῥωμαίων ἐὰν δὲ καὶ στρατηγῇ, ὅτι μὴ ὑπατεύει· καὶ ὑπατεύων, ὅτι μὴ πρῶτος ἀλλʼ ὕστερος ἀνηγορεύθη. τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶ τί ἄλλο ἢ συλλέγοντα προφάσεις ἀχαριστίας ἐπὶ τὴν τύχην αὐτὸν ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ κολάζεσθαι καὶ διδόναι δίκην; ἀλλʼ ὅ γε νοῦν ἔχων σωτήρια φρονοῦντα τοῦ ἡλίου μυριάδας ἀνθρώπων ἐφορῶντος εὐρυεδοῦς ὅσοι καρπὸν αἰνύμεθα χθονός, οὐκ εἴ τινων ἧττον ἔνδοξός ἐστι καὶ πλούσιος, ὀδυρόμενος κάθηται καὶ ταπεινούμενος, ἀλλʼ ὅτι μυρίων μυριάκις ἐν τοσούτοις εὐσχημονέστερον ζῇ καὶ βέλτιον, ὑμνῶν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δαίμονα καὶ τὸν βίον ὁδῷ πρόεισιν. ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι νικᾶν ἐκ λεγόμενον ἀντιπάλους· ἐν δὲ τῷ βίῳ τὰ πράγματα δίδωσι περιόντα πολλῶν μέγα φρονεῖν, καὶ ζηλωτὸν εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ ζηλοῦν ἑτέρους· ἄν γε δὴ μὴ τοῦ Βριάρεω μηδὲ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ποιήσῃς σεαυτὸν ἀνταγωνιστήν. ὅταν οὖν πάνυ θαυμάσῃς ὡς κρείττονα τὸν ἐν τῷ φορείῳ κομιζόμενον, ὑποκύψας θέασαι καὶ τοὺς βαστάζοντας· καὶ ὅταν διαβαίνοντα τὴν σχεδίαν μακαρίσῃς τὸν Ξέρξην ἐκεῖνον, ὡς ὁ Ἑλλησπόντιος, ἴδε καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ μάστιξι διορύττοντας τὸν Ἄθω καὶ τοὺς περικοπτομένους ὦτα καὶ ῥῖνας ἐπὶ τῷ διαλυθῆναι τὴν γέφυραν ὑπὸ τοῦ κλύδωνος, ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων ἀποθεωρῶν διάνοιαν ὅτι τὸν σὸν βίον καὶ τὰ σὰ πράγματα μακαρίζουσιν. ὁ Σωκράτης ἀκούσας τινὸς τῶν φίλων λέγοντος ὡς πολυτελὴς ἡ πόλις μνᾶς ὁ Χῖος οἶνος, ἡ πορφύρα τριῶν μνῶν, τοῦ μέλιτος ἡ κοτύλη πέντε δραχμῶν· λαβὼν αὐτὸν προσήγαγε τοῖς ἀλφίτοις ὀβολοῦ τὸ ἡμίεκτον, εὐτελὴς ἡ πόλις· εἶτα ταῖς ἐλαίαις δυεῖν χαλκοῖν ἡ χοῖνιξ, εὐτελὴς ἡ πόλις· εἶτα ταῖς ἐξωμίσι δέκα δραχμῶν, εὐτελὴς ἡ πόλις. οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὅταν ἀκούσωμεν ἑτέρου λέγοντος, ὡς μικρὰ τὰ καθʼ ἡμᾶς πράγματα καὶ λυπρὰ δεινῶς, μὴ ὑπατευόντων μηδʼ ἐπιτροπευόντων, ἔξεστιν εἰπεῖν λαμπρὰ τὰ καθʼ ἡμᾶς πράγματα καὶ ζηλωτὸς ἡμῶν ὁ βίος, οὐ προσαιτοῦμεν οὐκ ἀχθοφοροῦμεν οὐ κολακεύομεν.
11. But such is our folly, that we accustom ourselves rather to live for other men’s sakes than our own; and our dispositions are so prone to upbraidings and to be tainted with envy, that the grief we conceive at others’ prosperity lessens the joy we ought to take in our own. But to cure thee of this extravagant emulation, look not upon the outside of these applauded men, which is so gay and brilliant, but draw the gaudy curtain and carry thy eyes inward, and thou shalt find most gnawing disquiets to be dissembled under these false appearances. When the renowned Pittacus, who got him so great a name for his fortitude, wisdom, and justice, was entertaining his friends at a noble banquet, and his spouse in an angry humor came and overturned the table; his guests being extremely disturbed at it, he told them: Every one of you hath his particular plague, and my wife is mine; and he is very happy who hath this only.The pleading lawyer’s happy at the bar;But the scene opening shows a civil war.For the good man hath a domestic strife,He’s slave to that imperious creature, wife.Scolding without doors doth to him belong,But she within them doth claim all the tongue.Pecked by his female tyrant him I see,Whilst from this grievance I myself am free. These are the secret stings which are inseparable from honor, riches, and dominion, and which are unknown to the vulgar, because a counterfeit lustre dazzleth their sight.All pleasant things Atrides doth adorn;The merry genius smiled when he was born.And they compute this happiness from his great stores of ammunition, his variety of managed horses, and his battalions of disciplined men. But an inward voice of sorrow seems to silence all this ostentation with mournful accents: —Jove in a deep affliction did him plunge.Observe this likewise: —Old man, I reverence thy aged head,Who to a mighty length hast spun thy thread;Safe from all dangers, to the grave goest downIngloriously, because thou art unknown. Such expostulations as these with thyself will serve to dispel this querulous humor, which makes thee fondly applaud other people’s conditions and depreciate thy own.
11. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ πρὸς ἑτέρους μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸς αὑτοὺς ὑπʼ ἀβελτερίας εἰθίσμεθα ζῆν, καὶ πολὺ τὸ δύσζηλον ἡ φύσις ἔχουσα καὶ τὸ βάσκανον, οὐ χαίρει τοσοῦτον τοῖς ἰδίοις, ὅσον ἀνιᾶται τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ἀγαθοῖς· μὴ μόνον ὅρα τὰ λαμπρὰ καὶ τὰ περιβόητα τῶν ζηλουμένων ὑπὸ σοῦ καὶ θαυμαζομένων, ἀλλʼ ἀνακαλύψας καὶ διαστείλας ὥσπερ ἀνθηρὸν παραπέτασμα τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, ἐντὸς γενοῦ καὶ κατόψει πολλὰ δυσχερῆ καὶ πολλὰς ἀηδίας ἐνούσας αὐτοῖς. ὁ γοῦν Πιττακὸς ἐκεῖνος, οὗ μέγα μὲν ἀνδρείας μέγα δὲ σοφίας καὶ δικαιοσύνης κλέος, εἱστία ξένους· ἐπελθοῦσα δʼ ἡ γυνὴ μετʼ ὀργῆς ἀνέτρεψε τὴν τράπεζαν· τῶν δὲ ξένων διατραπέντων ἑκάστῳ τι ἔφη ἡμῶν κακὸν ἔστιν· ᾧ δὲ τοὐμόν, ἄριστα πράττει.οὗτος μακάριος ἐν ἀγορᾷ νομίζεται,ἐπὰν δʼ ἀνοίξῃ τὴν θύραν, τρισάθλιος·γυνὴ κρατεῖ πάντων, ἐπιτάσσει, μάχετʼ ἀεί.ἀπὸ πλειόνων ὀδυνᾶτʼ, ἐγὼ δʼ ἀπʼ οὐδενός.τοιαῦτα πολλὰ καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ δόξῃ καὶ βασιλείᾳ πρόσεστιν ἄδηλα τοῖς πολλοῖς· ἐπιπροσθεῖ γὰρ ὁ τῦφος. ὦ μάκαρ Ἀτρείδη, μοιρηγενές, ὀλβιόδαιμον ἔξωθεν οὗτος. ὁ μακαρισμός, ὅπλων καὶ ἵππων καὶ στρατιᾶς περικεχυμένης· αἱ δὲ τῶν παθῶν φωναὶ πρὸς τὴν κενὴν δόξαν ἔνδοθεν ἀντιμαρτυροῦσι Ζεύς με μέγα Κρονίδης ἄτῃ ἐνέδησε βαρείῃ. καὶζηλῶ σε, γέρον,ζηλῶ δʼ ἀνδρῶν ὃς ἀκίνδυνονβίον ἐξεπέρασʼ ἀγνὼς, ἀκλεής.ἔξεστιν οὖν καὶ τούτοις τοῖς ἐπιλογισμοῖς ἀπαρύτειν τοῦ πρὸς τὴν τύχην μεμψιμοίρου καὶ διὰ τὸ θαυμάζειν τὰ τῶν πλησίον ἐκταπεινοῦντος τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ καταβάλλοντος.