Ch. 10
How we may discover the duties of life from names.
CONSIDER who you are. In the first place, you are a man282
and this is one who has nothing superior to the faculty of
the will, but all other things subjected to it; and the
faculty itself he possesses unenslaved and free from subjection. Consider then from what things you have been
separated by reason. You have been separated from wild
beasts: you have been separated from domestic animals
(προβάτων). Further, you are a citizen of the world,283 and
a part of it, not one of the subservient (serving), but one
of the principal (ruling) parts, for you are capable of comprehending the divine administration and of considering
the connexion of things. What then does the character
of a citizen promise (profess)? To hold nothing as profitable to himself; to deliberate about nothing as if he
were detached from the community, but to act as the
hand or foot would do, if they had reason and understood
the constitution of nature, for they would never put themselves in motion nor desire any thing otherwise than with
reference to the whole. Therefore the philosophers say
well, that if the good man had foreknowledge of what
would happen, he would co-operate towards his own sickness and death and mutilation, since he knows284 that these
things are assigned to him according to the universal
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arrangement, and that the whole is superior to the part,
and the state to the citizen.285 But now because we do not
know the future, it is our duty to stick to the things
which are in their nature more suitable for our choice, for
we were made among other things for this.
After this remember that you are a son. What does
this character promise? To consider that every thing
which is the son's belongs to the father, to obey him in
all things, never to blame him to another, nor to say or
do any thing which does him injury, to yield to him in all
things and give way, co-operating with him as far as you
can. After this know that you are a brother also, and
that to this character it is due to make concessions; to be
easily persuaded, to speak good of your brother, never to
claim in opposition to him any of the things which are
independent of the will, but readily to give them up, that
you may have the larger share in what is dependent on
the will. For see what a thing it is, in place of a lettuce,
if it should so happen, or a seat, to gain for yourself
goodness of disposition. How great is the advantage.286
Next to this, if you are a senator of any state, remember
that you are a senator: if a youth, that you are a youth:
if an old man, that you are an old man; for each of such
names, if it comes to be examined, marks out the proper
duties. But if you go and blame your brother, I say to
you, You have forgotten who you are and what is your
name. In the next place, if you were a smith and made
a wrong use of the hammer, you would have forgotten the
smith; and if you have forgotten the brother and instead
of a brother have become an enemy, would you appear not
to have changed one thing for another in that case? And
if instead of a man, who is a tame animal and social, you
are become a mischievous wild beast, treacherous, and
biting, have you lost nothing? But, (I suppose) you must
lose a bit of money that you may suffer damage? And
does the loss of nothing else do a man damage? If you
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had lost the art of grammar or music, would you think
the loss of it a damage? and if you shall lose modesty,
moderation (καταστολήν) and gentleness, do you think the
loss nothing? And yet the things first mentioned are lost
by some cause external and independent of the will, and
the second by our own fault; and as to the first neither to
have them nor to lose them is shameful; but as to the
second, not to have them and to lose them is shameful and
matter of reproach and a misfortune. What does the
pathic lose? He loses the (character of) man. What
does he lose who makes the pathic what he is? Many
other things; and he also loses the man no less than the
other. What does he lose who commits adultery? He
loses the (character of the) modest, the temperate, the
decent, the citizen, the neighbour. What does he lose who
is angry? Something else. What does the coward lose?
Something else. No man is bad without suffering some
loss and damage. If then you look for the damage in
the loss of money only, all these men receive no harm
or damage; it may be, they have even profit and gain,
when they acquire a bit of money by any of these deeds.
But consider that if you refer every thing to a small coin,
not even he who loses his nose is in your opinion damaged.
Yes, you say, for he is mutilated in his body. Well; but
does he who has lost his smell only lose nothing? Is there
then no energy of the soul which is an advantage to him
who possesses it, and a damage to him who has lost it?
Tell me what sort (of energy) you mean.Have we not a
natural modesty?We have.Does he who loses this
sustain no damage? is he deprived of nothing, does he part
with nothing of the things which belong to him? Have
we not naturally fidelity? natural affection, a natural disposition to help others, a natural disposition to forbearance?
The man then who allows himself to be damaged in these
matters, can he be free from harm and uninjured287 What
then? shall I not hurt him, who has hurt me?288 In the
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first place consider what hurt (βλάβη) is, and remember
what you have heard from the philosophers. For if the
good consists in the will (purpose, intention, προαιρέσει),
and the evil also in the will,289 see if what you say is
not this: What then, since that man has hurt himself
by doing an unjust act to me, shall I not hurt myself
by doing some unjust act to him? Why do we not
imagine to ourselves (mentally think of) something of
this kind? But where there is any detriment to the body
or to our possession, there is harm there; and where the
same thing happens to the faculty of the will, there is
(you suppose) no harm; for he who has been deceived or
he who has done an unjust act neither suffers in the head
nor in the eye nor in the hip, nor does he lose his estate;
and we wish for nothing else than (security to) these
things. But whether we shall have the will modest and
faithful or shameless and faithless, we care not the least,
except only in the school so far as a few words are con-
cerned. Therefore our proficiency is limited to these few
words; but beyond them it does not exist even in the
slightest degree.290
